More and more sniffles and sobs started to fill the air as people took stock of the aftermath.
Olivia and Henry, Mr. Takata, and a handful of other people who’d been hidden away came out of a back corridor. Olivia and Henry went straight to their children as others started to help tend to the wounded.
A spark of electricity drew my eyes to a spot nearby, near where I’d tackled Davis to the ground.
Zara was on her back, her left leg twisted at an unnatural angle, her face scrunched up in pain as sparks flitted over her skin. I stumbled over to her, the guys sticking close by, and dropped to my knees.
“Eve.” Her eyes widened, then scrunched up in pain as another flash of electricity skittered over her body. “Are you . . . is he . . . did we win?”
I nodded, swallowing around the ever-present lump in my throat. “He’s dead.”
She smiled, showing teeth covered in blood. She moaned in pain, and the electricity came more suddenly this time, a violent bolt shooting out of her chest and connecting with the high ceiling above.
“I can’t . . . hold . . . you have to . . . Eve, you have to . . .” She was struggling to control Rick’s ability. With all the pain she was in and how weak she was, I was surprised she hadn’t fried us all already.
“Someone find Dana!” Tyler roared, and several agents dropped what they were doing to rush in various directions. But they didn’t get far before Dana came running up.
“I’m here.” She sprinted directly for us, a big group of paramedics rushing up behind her. The electricity stopped sparking as Dana approached, and Zara sighed in relief.
Dana skidded to a stop and took Zara’s hand. “I told you not to die, you bitch.”
Zara laughed, then coughed, the sound wet and dangerous sounding. “Fuck you.”
A paramedic appeared next to her, and we backed up so they could work. I wasn’t sure if Zara would make it. The blood she was coughing up indicated internal bleeding, and that was pretty fucking serious. But with paramedics here, she had a fighting chance. That was more than I could say for her mom, whose body lay lifeless several feet away.
Had Zara killed her own mother, just as Rick had? Or was she felled by another’s hand? Was it Zara’s own mother who’d inflicted such damage on her body? It was beyond disturbing to think about, but then, my own father had been beating me only minutes earlier. Had it only been minutes?
“Where the fuck did all these humans come from?” Tyler scratched his head and winced when he accidentally scraped the gash in his forehead. The paramedics were moving through the wounded quickly, prioritizing the worst cases.
“Oh, that was me.” Dana waved a hand dismissively, her worried gaze fixed on Zara. “I’ve been working with some HEN groups in the area. I took a chance and told them what was happening, and most of them decided they wanted to help.”
“Why didn’t you say something when I called you?” I asked. I’d been so worried after our talk.
“Couldn’t. I was about to go into a meeting with Variant Valor—too many of Davis’s people around.”
The sneaky bitch had been playing both sides, biding her time to make the best move.
“I’m really fucking glad you’re not a treacherous bitch,” I told her.
As the paramedics lifted Zara’s body up on the stretcher, Dana finally looked at me and smiled. “Had you going.”
“Yes, you did.” I pulled her into a hug.
“And I’m glad you’re not, like, dead and shit. I guess.” She shrugged, but it didn’t escape my notice how tightly she was returning my hug.
“This will never not be weird.” Alec sounded disturbed, and we pulled apart. I couldn’t believe I was able to smile so soon, but if we were to have any chance of getting through this, we had to hold on to these moments of positivity.
Dana rushed off with Zara and the paramedics as they evacuated the worst of the injured. The few people on Davis’s side who’d managed to survive were being led away in handcuffs. Karen was one of them. She was cuffed to a stretcher, her head wrapped in bandages, blood seeping through the crisp, white fabric already.
“Eve.” Tyler pulled on my good elbow, his voice laced with urgency.
I turned to look behind us.
Near what used to be the windows and was now a big gaping hole in the