Machado jerked.Stilled.Then dropped.
I turned my head.
A man stepped out from the shadow of the plane, his gun still raised, smoke curling from the barrel.His expression was hard—until his eyes landed on the ground in front of me.
On Archie.
Something in his face collapsed.
“Archie.”
His voice seemed to break the spell.Everything in me snapped back into place all at once.I moved, although I don’t remember crossing the distance.
One second I was standing.The next I was on my knees beside him, the impact jarring through my bones as I reached for him with shaking hands.
“Help—!”
The word caught somewhere in my throat, splintered on the way up, and what finally escaped was thin, strangled into a broken, high-pitched sound that barely carried past my own lips.
A squeak that was useless.It sounded small and wrong.
I tried again—dragging in air that burned, forcing it up—but it snagged in the same place, breaking apart before it could become real.
“Help—”
My voice was still weak and fractured.
“Somebody help!”
My hands pressed against his chest, right over the wounds, trying to stem the blood that wouldn’t stop coming.It soaked through the fabric of his shirt, drowning him in red.
Hot, wet and sticky.There was way too much blood.
“Call an ambulance!”I shouted, my voice cracking, breaking.“Someone!”
Archie’s skin was slick beneath my hands.His breathing—it was shallow and uneven.
“Archie,” I choked, leaning over him, my hands pressing harder, desperate, trying to stop the bleeding.
“Stay with me.Stay with me?—”
His eyes found mine again.Glazed and unfocused.And instantly, I knew.
He was still with me, but he was going into shock.
No.No, no, no—not when I was right here.
“I’m losing him!”I screamed, panic ripping through me as I cradled his head, pulling him closer.If I could hold him hard enough, maybe I could stop him from slipping away.“I’m losing him—somebody help me!”
“Tone.”
Archie’s voice was barely a whisper.My heart shattered.
“Don’t speak,” I said immediately, shaking my head, tears spilling over before I could stop them.“Don’t speak, Archie.Just—just stay with me.Please.Please?—”
My hands shook against him, pressing, holding, refusing to let go.
“No,” I whispered, the word breaking apart as it left me.“No, no, no, no, no—stay awake.Stay awake, Archie, please?—”