Through the Ashes (The Light Book 2)

by Jacqueline Brown

Blaise stood beside me, clasping my hand.

  “I’m sure your skull is fractured. There’s no way for it not to be, with that kind of direct blow. When did this happen?” the doctor asked.

  “Yesterday morning,” I said, straightening up. With a side glance, I saw Sara. Tears were filling her eyes.

  “You need to be careful,” the doctor said. “My advice is for you and your friends to find somewhere you can stay for a few days, or a week or two. The less you move, the better. Ideally, you would be spending a week or two in a dark, quiet room and you would have a clean wound and stitches. But I guess we are far from ideal,” he said, stepping back, his eyes still focused on my head.

  “Will she be all right?” Blaise asked, still holding my hand.

  “She has a concussion, but the wound doesn’t seem to be infected yet, so that’s in her favor, especially now, with almost no antibiotics. Try and keep the wound dry and get her somewhere safe and quiet,” he said, putting the lantern on the desk.

  I couldn’t help but wonder if such a place existed inside the beltway.

  “What will happen if we don’t get her somewhere safe and quiet?” Haz asked, his arms folded, his body leaning against the large desk. He was watching every move of his friend.

  “Are you having any problems with your vision?” he asked.

  “No,” I answered.

  “That’s surprising given the site of impact was the occipital lobe,” he said more to himself than to the rest of us. “Regardless, the more her brain is pushed physically or emotionally, the more her symptoms will increase. The more she exerts herself, the longer and harder the healing process will be. Ultimately, if not given a chance to heal, the damage could become permanent. I encourage you to avoid making it permanent,” he said, looking at me. “Your brain is in a rather delicate state at the moment. Any additional head trauma will cause that much more damage. Our brains are quite resilient and to some extent can repair themselves, but I would avoid stressors, physical or emotional.” He leaned his head to one side.

  “Do the best you can,” he added, his tone pessimistic at best.

  It felt as if he knew the words he spoke were impossible for me to achieve.

  Blaise rubbed my arm.

  “Where are their friends?” Haz asked, nodding toward us.

  “Upstairs. The yellow exam room. It’s now a hospital room—or the best I can do, anyway. They are both beat-up pretty bad, but they’ll live. She appears to have some broken ribs and he is badly bruised. I can’t believe his leg didn’t snap, but I couldn’t feel a break. He might have a fracture, but not a total break. It would be better for them not to travel, though perhaps they’re willing to take that risk. There are soldiers guarding them,” he said, touching his chin as he spoke.

  “How many?” Haz asked.

  “Two. They’re fairly inept, but they are armed. I have other patients up there, not to mention equipment. I don’t want any stray bullets.”

  “Understood,” Haz said. “You stay down here. Say I tied you up or something, if someone asks.”

  The man nodded.

  “Will I see you again?”

  Haz looked at him. “I don’t know.”

  “There’s nothing here for you. Not anymore,” the man said, fighting back tears.

  “I guess there isn’t,” Haz said. “What about you? Will you come with me?” Haz stared into his friend’s eyes.

  The man pointed upstairs. “I can’t leave them and all the others. It’s my calling, what I was put here to do. I will serve until I’m no longer able, and on that day I’ll happily join my Jan, your parents, and all the others I have loved.”

  “I will miss you,” Haz said, lowering his head.

  “We will see each other again, in a better place,” the man said, his hand behind Haz’s neck, pulling him into an embrace.

  “Perhaps,” Haz said with a deep sadness in his voice as he hugged the man tightly and released him.

  Haz took the lantern and started for the door.

  “Haz,” the man called from his spot near the desk.

  We all turned to face him.

  “No father was prouder of a son than yours was of you. I know he didn’t tell you. It wasn’t his way, but it’s true. He was proud you chose your own way and did your own thing, even though it made your mother worry incessantly. They both loved you with everything they had.”

  Tears welled in Haz’s eyes. “I know,” he said, giving the man a tired smile. He raised the lantern and led us out the door.

  Down the hall, Haz stopped in front of a closed door. He placed a hand on the brass plate, lowered his head, and then looked up to the heavens. He removed his hand. Light from the lantern reflected from the brass, making the etched black letters visible.

  Tears came to my eyes when I read the name: Hazard P. Oliver, M.D.

  Twenty-Nine

  We made our way to the foyer of the first floor. At the base of the stairs Haz turned off the lantern, setting it on the first step of the grand staircase. He pulled out his gun. The rest of us did the same. The stairs were strong and solid, made of wood, the railing carved and smooth. The staircase reminded me of something from an old movie. In the movie, a girl wearing a gown would be descending it, her elegance and charm evident to everyone around. At the foot of the stairs a young man would wait, and seeing her would make him forget everything else in the world. He would escort her to the door and together they would leave for a dance or a ball or some other lavish event filled with a beauty that no longer existed.

  I followed Haz, keeping my back angled against the wall, my gun ready. At the top of the stairs the hallway went in two directions. Haz stopped and listened. I could hear people talking, but the voices were muffled and I couldn’t tell what direction they were coming from.

  Haz hugged the wall as he rounded the corner on our left. We stood beside him. My heart raced and my head throbbed. He signaled for me to advance. The hallway was empty. Moonlight shone in through the window at the end of the hall. All of the exam room doors were closed except the first one. Haz peered in and quickly moved on.

  Sara, Josh, and Blaise followed in silence. Josh walked with his back toward us, watching behind us. Inside the rooms I heard voices. Some laughed, as if playing a game. In another room I heard whistling. I realized for those not imprisoned, this place was a gift: a bed, medicine and a doctor to help them heal, food, and water. It must have been like a vacation for them.

  Haz stood at a door. From the other side we could hear quiet voices. He pointed for me to take the right side of the room and he would take the left. I stilled my heart long enough to nod. He held up five fingers, and methodically lowered one after the other. When his pinky went down he thrust the door open and we entered.

  I immediately found my target and pointed the barrel of my pistol at his head. He didn’t reach for his weapon, but instead raised his hands in the air. Haz’s target must have done the same because, from behind me, Josh and Blaise came forward and took the guns from the hips of the soldiers.

  With the soldiers disarmed and outnumbered, I allowed my focus to move to the two figures lying in the beds.

  I went to Jonah. His left eye was black and purple, his cheeks swollen. The memory of Jonah after Mick nearly killed him flashed in my mind. Emotions surged and tears trickled down my cheeks. That time, he’d barely survived and had needed weeks to heal. This time, he would die if he couldn’t walk out of here tonight. My heart beat violently. I leaned over him and caressed his swollen lips. His eyes fluttered open and closed again. I exhaled.

  This was not like last time.

  Beside me, Sara pulled the sheets from East. She wore pants and a sports bra. An Ace bandage bound her lower ribs. Her bloody shirt lay at the end of the bed. Haz glanced at her and then away. He continued his work of tying up the soldiers.

  “East, wake up. We have to go,” Sara said as she, Josh, and Blaise pulled and pushed her to a sitting position.

  “Dr. Sam must have given
them something to make them sleep,” Haz said, turning his attention to Jonah and me.

  “Jonah, Jonah, wake up. You have to wake up,” I said, lightly tapping his face.

  “We have to get them up and out of here,” Haz said, ripping the covers off Jonah.

  He wore only his boxers. Bruises covered his body. The doctor was right; it seemed impossible that his leg was not broken in several places. It was purple and swollen to about twice its normal size.

  “Josh, help me,” I said, trying to pull up Jonah.

  Josh came behind him and pushed his back forward. Jonah’s eyes opened and closed again. I grabbed his pants from the end of the bed and swung his legs over the edge. I did what I could to put his legs into the pants and pull them up his swollen thighs.

  “Push him up,” I said to Josh.

  Haz helped me pull Jonah up. He stared at Jonah’s tattoos. The blue ink almost disappeared behind the bruises.

  “Have you never seen a tattoo before?” I asked, as Haz’s eyes remained transfixed.

  “I’ve seen plenty,” he said with an edge of disgust.

  I stared at him, not understanding his tone and not having time for explanations.

  Jonah stood, unsteady, his eyes opened halfway. With Josh’s help I pulled Jonah’s pants up over his butt and snapped them in front, trying hard to focus on the situation and not the action I was performing. I grabbed his shirt. Before I pulled it over his head I touched the scar in the middle of the rosary tattoo.

  “Am I dreaming?” he said, sounding drunk.

  “No,” I replied while trying to remain steady beneath his weight.

  “Kiss me,” Jonah said, lifting my chin so our eyes met.

  “What?” I said, knowing I misheard his slurred words.

  “I love you. Kiss me,” he said, his body dangerously wobbly.

  I looped my arms around his waist to keep him from falling. Jonah bent his head to mine and again lifted my chin. His lips pressed against mine. My passion surged and all power of control left. I kissed him back with all the desire I’d felt since the first time we stood together in the barn. I silenced thoughts of my unworthiness and his disinterest and allowed myself to be in the moment with the man I loved.

  From the side of the room I heard Blaise jumping up and down and squealing.

  “Calm down,” Josh whispered.

  “But I’ve been waiting for this moment for months,” she said, still squealing.

  “Something tells me he’s not going to be a priest,” Sara whispered, not bothering to hide her amusement.

  “Seriously, you two pick now to make out?”

  I heard the repulsion in East’s voice, and forced myself to stop kissing Jonah. I pulled away and handed him his shirt. East’s speech was only mildly slurred, much more normal sounding than her brother’s.

  “I was only getting started,” Jonah said, his forehead leaning forward and touching mine as he started to kiss me again … this time slower and more passionately.

  I tried to fight it, knowing we needed to go, but his kiss was like a drug taking away all reason. All I could do was kiss him back, to match his passion with my own. His hands moved from my shoulders, slowly down my back. Heat pulsed through my body igniting a desire I never knew could exist.

  “All right,” Josh said, pulling Jonah away from me. “I’m all for you two getting together, but not now.”

  Jonah glared at Josh. “I thought you were my friend,” he slurred.

  “Jonah, where do you think we are?” Josh said.

  Jonah looked around the room and blinked. “I … don’t know.”

  “That’s what I thought. Put on your shirt and come on,” Josh said.

  Jonah obeyed, pulling his shirt down around his chest and abs. He took my hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed it slowly.

  “You think he’s going to remember any of this?” Sara whispered to Blaise.

  “Probably not,” Blaise replied wistfully.

  I knew they were right; Jonah would probably not remember this. But I would never forget it. I held his hand as we ran from the room, leaving the guards tied in the corner.

  Jonah was wobbly on his feet and almost fell a time or two. He complained of his legs hurting. My own legs hurt when I thought of how much pain he was going to be in when the drugs wore off.

  Haz led the way. Josh and Blaise brought up the rear.

  A block from the hospital, Haz skidded to a halt, barely missing the soldiers that ran in front of us. Dozens more followed as we hid in the shadows.

  “They’ve realized their prison is empty,” Haz whispered. “We have to get off the streets before we’re seen.” He stepped from the shadows and ran his hands along the smooth glass of the building that we were lined up against.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Looking for the door,” he answered.

  “Here it is,” Sara said, pointing to the space between her and East.

  Sara pulled the handle but nothing happened.

  “Let me,” Haz said, slipping off the grunge-covered hoodie he wore. He wrapped it around his gun and swiftly broke a small hole near the door handle. I watched the corner of the building to ensure no one noticed the noise. I jumped when I heard a small chime. I turned to see Haz enter the building. Sara and East followed, then Blaise and Jonah, then me, and last of all, Josh. When the door closed, the chime sounded again. I locked the door behind us, knowing it would never stop anyone, only hoping it would slow them down.

  “These dresses are beautiful,” Blaise exclaimed, in a whisper.

  I turned. Wedding dresses surrounded us. Dozens and dozens of wedding dresses. I touched the smooth satin of the one closest to me. I pulled my hand away, knowing my hands were dirty and I’d probably just ruined the beautiful gown. But long gone was the time when these dresses served a purpose. I doubted many were marrying, at least in the cities. The country was different. In the country, the likelihood of freedom and hope was higher, and marriage at its core was about hope. I glanced at Jonah and couldn’t help but think it may even be about freedom.

  I followed as everyone made their way to the back of the shop, where we found a small office and dressing rooms.

  “We should be safe enough here,” Haz said, opening dressing room doors one by one. “They won’t expect us to be in a building that could be so easily attacked.”

  He was right. This would be the last place I would’ve picked to hide, surrounded by nothing but glass.

  “I’ll take the first watch,” he said.

  “No,” I said, “you didn’t sleep last night. I did. I’ll do it.”

  Blaise placed her hand on my shoulder and said, “You heard the doctor. You need to let your brain rest. You need to sleep more than any of us.”

  I wanted to argue, but my head throbbed and my stomach churned. I needed to sleep.

  “What’s wrong with your brain?” Jonah asked, his voice still sounding drugged.

  I looked at him, but couldn’t answer. He’d forgotten what I wish I could. I didn’t want to remind him of that.

  After a long pause, Sara said, “Trent hit her. You don’t remember?”

  Confusion and then anger registered on his face. “I do now,” he said, his fists tightening and just as quickly relaxing as tears streamed down his face. “I promised I would protect you and I didn’t,” he said with an expression of such innocent sadness that it reminded me more of JP than Jonah. He needed to sleep as badly as I did.

  “You can’t protect me from the world,” I said, touching the whiskers on his face.

  “But that’s why I’m here, and I failed.” Tears rolled down his cheeks.

  “All right. You two go to sleep,” East said. “Neither one of you is on watch for a week.”

  Though her tone sounded irritated, I knew she spoke to keep her brother from saying more than he intended.

  I wanted to comfort Jonah, but the room was spinning. I leaned my head against my hand.

  “Are you
okay?” Blaise asked, placing her hand on my back.

  “I need to lie down,” I said.

  A moment later, Sara handed me a wadded-up wedding dress and told me to lie on it. I didn’t want to mess it up, but I felt too dizzy to argue. I lay on my side. My eyes closed, though I wasn’t asleep. I felt Jonah lie beside me. A second dress covered my body. Someone, probably Blaise, thought it would make a good blanket. Jonah’s breathing quickly changed to sleep. I wondered what, if any of this, he would remember in the morning.

  “How did she escape?” East’s voice whispered.

  “She took pills from the medicine cabinet and put them in oatmeal. Whatever was in them knocked him out,” Haz whispered back.

  “That was brilliant,” Josh said, louder than a whisper.

  “Shhhh,” Blaise said. “They need to sleep. You heard the doctor. She shouldn’t be doing all of this.”

  “Doing all of what?” East asked.

  “Moving around, fighting for her life and ours. She has to rest. She has to be calm to let her brain heal,” Blaise said.

  Haz said, “That’s not going to happen here. If Trent’s alive, he’ll be hunting her and the rest of you too.”

  “What do we do?” Josh asked.

  “You need to get yourselves and her as far from here as you can,” Haz said.

  “Who are you, anyway?” East asked, her voice almost sounding normal.

  “My name’s Haz.”

  “I’m East.”

  “I know,” he said.

  The voices became muffled as sleep overpowered me. I dreamt I was wearing a wedding dress, standing outside under a large apple tree. Eli stood in front of me, JP and Quinn smiled at me from the logs they sat on. Across from me stood Jonah. His beauty took my breath away. Eli’s voice rose into the spring morning: “You may now kiss the bride.”

  Jonah leaned forward, his arm wrapping gently around me, pulling me toward him. Our lips touched and in that instant the day turned to night. Jonah’s lips became rough and violent against my own. I pulled away. Trent was there. I tried to scream, but nothing came.

  My eyes opened. The room around me was unfamiliar, though this unfamiliarity was becoming familiar. I felt Jonah’s chest rise and fall beside me.