Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 49589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
The kid laughed before wincing and clutching his side. I urged his hand underneath mine, so he held my shirt tightly.
“What’s your name, kid?” I needed to keep him talking until Roberts got the all-clear for us to go to the infirmary.
“Jermaine.” It was easy to see his strength was fading fast, but he looked up at me like he thought I was going to save him.
Another kid about the same age crawled toward us. When he got close, I pinned him with my gaze. “Where do you think you’re goin’, huh?”
“Jermaine’s my cellie.” The kid had white hair and eyes that were a curious shade of almost violet. At least, his irises were blue, but there was some red bleeding through where he had no pigment. Poor kid. His coloring almost guaranteed prison was not going to be kind to him.
“Give me your shirt.” I didn’t phrase it as a question and the kid wiggled out of his white, prison-issue tee and handed it to me. I shoved it over the wound in the Jermaine’s chest. “Roberts, let medical know he’s got a sucking chest wound.”
Roberts keyed his mic, relaying the information. “Sounds bad.” He made the comment to me as things calmed down in the yard.
“It is. They’re going to have to medevac him out.”
“Great,” Jermaine said, his voice getting weaker, sounding slightly drowsy now. “My first time flying and I’m probably gonna die.”
“I mean, with that attitude…” I trailed off and Jermaine barked out a small laugh before motioning me to come closer to him.
“Listen, man. I deserve to be here. But Chuck over there, he’s just a scared kid.”
“And you’re not?” Surprisingly, that comment came from Roberts.
“Yeah, I guess I am. But I’ve been tryin’ to look out for Chuck.”
“I know.” Roberts didn’t turn around. “I’ll watch him while you’re gone. But I don’t babysit. You’ll get your ass back here and take back over.”
OK. I’d tolerated Roberts before. I might have just a tiny bit of respect for him now. I didn’t know the guy well, but I knew from watching him he was a man of his word. If he said something definitively, he stood by it. Of course, more often than not, he would give a non-answer or deflect. But if he said something, he meant it. I also had the suspicion he’d phrased himself the way he did so the kid knew he wasn’t going to die. Which I hoped gave Jermaine something to fight for, too.
“How’d you two click up?” As I continued to talk with Jermaine, I noticed a medical team was coming with a gurney. Maybe the kid would get a fighting chance.
“We went to school together,” Chuck spoke up.
“Yeah. And Chuck knew I didn’t have money for breakfast or lunch and would order doubles for himself and give me half.”
“Christ,” I bit out. “You two got no business in this fuckin’ place.”
“Tell me about it.” I could practically see Roberts rolling his eyes.
The gurney stopped in front of us. All the prisoners in the yard had been moved back to their cells and it was only me, Chuck, and Jermaine in the yard other than the medical staff and Roberts. Another two guards emerged from the building hurrying to Roberts.
“Go with this one to the infirmary.” Roberts indicated Jermaine. “I’ll take these two back to their cells.”
“I got a gash on my side,” I said, turning so Roberts could see the wound. I really wanted to go to make sure Jermaine got the treatment he deserved. I only had about three months left before I finished my sentence, but Knuckles had managed to get me a job in the infirmary for the duration. Which had the added benefit of getting to know Nadine better.
Roberts snorted. “Uh-huh. Go on, then.” He grinned with genuine amusement. “Tell Nadine I said hi.”
“Fucker.” My retort had no heat in it, but it had to be said.
“Yep. I’ll look out for Chuck.” He grabbed the kid by the upper arm. “Gonna have to lock you in your cell, though. You good with that?”
“He’s good with it.” Jermaine bit out. “He’s perfectly good with it.”
The kid’s face was ashen now. He was still fighting, but I could see fear creeping into his eyes as he realized he was in pretty bad shape.
They carefully rolled Jermaine onto a backboard before lifting the backboard onto the stretcher and heading for the infirmary. I followed close behind. Jermaine turned his head so he could see me, clinging to my gaze like I was his lifeline. Fuck. I didn’t need anyone looking at me like that. Not here. Because I knew there was no way in hell I could save him beyond the immediate situation.
Roberts must have cleared a path to medical because we rolled with the stretcher straight inside the infirmary without stopping. I had my attention on Jermaine, not paying much attention to anything around me, which hadn’t happened since before I went inside. It was disconcerting in some ways because not paying attention in here could get me killed. But also, I was amazed at how easy it was to slip back into my old life. Even if it was only a few minutes.