“No,” Bodhi said, then pointed at the second chair the doctor usually sat in. “I brought another pair.”
“Smart.”
“I thought so.”
Rolling his eyes, Freddie grinned at me. “Okay, Boo-Boo, don’t take this the wrong way, but you need to strip so we can clean you up and put you in fresh clothes.”
“Okay.”
Mouth open, Freddie hesitated then glanced behind him at Bodhi then back at me. “You know what, Boo-Boo. Back into the bathroom a little more and let’s get that off all careful like. I can help, or not. What do you want?”
I wanted his blood off of me.
“I want to go home.”
Head tilted, he studied. “Home—home or…”
“The clubhouse. Liam’s. Home.”
The corners of his mouth curved. “Good. That’s where you belong. Okay. Let’s get you changed.”
Once I got out of the top, I spotted all the blood on my chest. It had soaked through. I didn’t have on a bra, but I didn’t care about that as much. Freddie didn’t even so much as playfully leer at me or comment while he bagged up the clothes in the plastic liner he’d taken out of the trash can. Once I changed pants, we realized the shoes had to go too. They were slippers.
“It’s time,” Bodhi said. The floor was cold under my feet, but I didn’t care. Freddie frowned, then looked back.
“Yeah, we need to go. We’ll get you shoes out there.”
Out where?
Bodhi was already out the door and going when Freddie clasped my hand. “Stay with me, okay, Boo-Boo? No running off. Trust me.”
I did, but the earlier shaking was back. Before he could pull me out of the bathroom, I grabbed the stapler. I didn’t want to leave it there. “I promise.”
Shooting me another small smile, Freddie headed for the door. We were in the doctor’s office. The doctor was dead—how were we—an alarm started ringing out in the hall. Its shrill scream punched through my skull at an unrelenting cadence and painful decibel.
As soon as it went off, Freddie moved faster, pulling me with him. I had to take two steps for every single one of his. There were flashing lights along the corridors. I had no idea where we were going, but I didn’t ask. Instead of going out, we went down a flight of stairs and then along a hallway. Where were the people?
The alarm changed, growing more intense. Then Freddie opened a set of doors I didn’t recognize. This part of Pinetree wasn’t nice at all. It looked like a prison. Even the doors looked like cells. They were open too. All of them.
“Freddie—”
“Hang on, Boo-Boo, almost there.”
Where were all the people?
At the end of the corridor, he hit the crash bar on the door and another set of alarms went off. I could barely hear anything beyond the cacophony. The fresh air slapped me in the face as soon as we were outside. There was a driveway there, circling a couple of dumpsters tucked into a bricked cubby. The light actually hurt my eyes. It was so bright.
The sun blinded me and I squinted and tried to stay close to Freddie. We didn’t head up the driveway, instead, he headed for the grass and the woods. It was soft against my feet, but I didn’t care if it was rough or cold. I just wanted to go.
I glanced back to see the bellows of huge black smoke escaping one side of the building. There were people everywhere—out front. But it was pure chaos. Orderlies. Nurses. Patients. More smoke, and I tripped.
Freddie kept me from falling and I twisted to face front, but a movement behind us made me jerk back.
“What—” Freddie started to ask, but I pulled the stapler up like I could throw it at the huge orderly charging us. “Stay behind me,” was all Freddie said before he went for the big man. The guy was huge, he could hurt Freddie. The plastic bag was at my feet, where Freddie dropped it and there was silver in Freddie’s hand. The sun glinted off it.
The big man barely said anything as Freddie cut him. He never stopped moving and the guy never touched him. Little rips of blood began to soak through his white shirt, and pants. One minute he was on his feet and the next he staggered to his knees. Then he had both hands on his throat, but blood rushed through his clenched fingers.
Freddie retreated from him and then he shot the guy the finger. “Fuck you very much, Ox. Good riddance and good night.”
The man crumpled and then Freddie faced me. His grin demanded I smile, and I couldn’t help it. Even the gleam in his eyes was happier. The buzz under my skin and the static in my head couldn’t compete with it, especially after the deafening cacophony. Despite the shakes still gripping me, I took Freddie’s offered hand as he snagged the bag with my bloodied clothes.
Then we were off again.
Behind, there was the sound of an explosion, shattering glass, and screams. The smell of smoke clung to the air, but Freddie kept us moving. I fought to stay on my feet, despite stumbling over what amounted to air. It was like my limbs were too heavy to be graceful.
Freddie only slowed when we got to the huge brick wall. It was at least eight feet high. Not a problem. I could climb that normally. The sound of leaves crunching behind us, had us both turning. Bodhi was there, with another guy who wore—was that a straight jacket? Only it was all loosened up.
Grinning, he passed Freddie a bag. “This was fun,” he said. “Definitely invite me to the next party.”
“Thanks man,” Freddie told him.
The other two didn’t even slow down as they climbed over the wall. We waited a minute, then Freddie hoisted himself up and I had to pass him my stapler before I scrambled up after him. At the top of the wall, I looked back one more time.
Pinetree was burning. The smell carried. More glass shattered in the distance and there was another boom.
“Come on, Boo-Boo,” Freddie said and I looked down. He was already on the ground and when I pushed off, he caught me. Hand in hand, we ran. There were more woods. I was panting when he finally slowed down. We were right at the edge of the woods and there was a road below us when he urged me to stop.
I leaned against a tree while he rooted through the bag Bodhi gave him. The sound of sirens carried on the wind. When he pulled out a phone, I nearly sagged with relief.
“Come on,” Freddie murmured as he powered it up. When the company logo appeared on the screen, I sagged. “Told you we had this.” Then he pressed a button and put it to his ear.
Whoever he called must have answered on the first ring. “I got her and we’re out.” After hitting the speaker button, he held the phone out toward me. “Say hi, Boo-Boo.”
“Hi,” I said and it came out really shaky.
“Goddammit, Hellspawn, if it wasn’t so good to hear your voice I might threaten to beat your ass when I see you. Where the fuck are you two?”
I hit my knees at the sound of Liam’s voice. A crazy little laugh bubbled up out of me. I was so happy to hear him, I just might let him.
“We’re—at—mile marker twelve,” Freddie said. “On that winding fucking road we took.”
“We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Five,” Rome said and tears burned in my eyes.
“Right, Rome’s driving,” Liam said. “We’ll be there soon, Hellspawn. And Freddie?”