Sanctuary by Alan Janney Read Free Book Online

into his chest like a battering ram, driving with my shoulder. He landed nine feet away and slid across the thin carpet into the far wall.
    “Chase! Move!” Puck cried, but it was too late.
    Carla spun around the corner, and she fired. I caught the entire shotgun blast in my midsection. Pain ! My consciousness flickered. The hospital whirled. I found myself on the carpet several feet away, unable to breathe, the heady smell of gunpowder thick in my nose. The mob of attackers were screaming and holding their ears. My chest roared and ached.
    “Holy god, please don’t be dead,” Puck said, barely discernible from the ringing in my ears.
    Carla. She glared and jacked another round into the chamber. I was dead. The body armor and my freakish skin absorbed the attack, and I’d heal from inner injuries. But she could take my head off with the next shot.
    To my surprise, she snapped, “You don’t use guns. Why not?” She wore a fierce scowl and her hair was tightly cornrowed around her skull. I sucked in lungfuls of air but got only a trickle. I tried and failed to say, I don’t kill people . “We shouldn’t be fighting, Outlaw. You and me. Us. You agree?” she asked. I nodded and winced. “You agree? This is stupid? This fighting?” Her words stunned me as much as the shotgun had. I nodded again. She was pleading, hoping I could reason with her. “You and I, we think alike. I can tell. We need each other. You hear me?”
    Thunk . Carla’s eyes rolled up and she fell, unconscious. Samantha Gear was behind her, holding a heavy leather blackjack. She'd hit Carla behind the ear; lights out. Samantha stuffed the blackjack into her side pocket and said, “You two have a nice conversation?”
    I nodded and she pulled me to my feet. “Oooooooouch.” I couldn’t raise upright completely.
    “Did she shoot you? With her shotgun?”
    “It was great,” I wheezed in agony.
    “Even with your skin hard as a rock, I bet that hurt.” She indicated the gorgeous girl on the floor and said, “How’d you do with Blue Eyes?”
    “Blue Eyes. Good name for her. She’s like a witch or something,” I said, partially unzipping my busted vest and inspecting the damage. The shot hadn’t pierced.
    “I should have told you,” Gear nodded. “Leave her to me.”
    “How does she do that?”
    “I’ll explain later. Where is Walter?” she asked.
    I pointed but Walter was gone. “Crud. Puck,” I said. “Where’d they go? Walter and that kid and the patient?”
    “I’m so glad you’re not dead,” he said in a heavy rush. “I’m trying not to cry.”
    “Aw. That’s nice,” I smiled.
    Samantha stared incredulously at me. “Really? You two need a moment? Right now ?”
    “Thought she’d blown you in half,” Puck sniffed. “I was praying so hard. Huh…I believe in God, apparently.”
    “ Puck !!”
    “Okay, okay. I’m scanning. You have no soul, Samantha.”
    “Hurry up.”
    “Shut it. Found them. Boarding the far elevator. If you hurry you can head them off at the pass.”
    We ran, no words. Well, she ran. I winced and shuffled. She jumped down the stairs to the first floor. I mostly fell.
    We arrived at the lobby before the elevator did. Samantha pulled out two pistols and aimed them at the unopened silver doors. Young orderlies down the hall screamed.
    “Puck, how much longer before police arrive?” I asked.
    “Dunno, dude,” he said, typing furiously. “Any minute. At least five calls to 911 have gone out from the hospital.”
    “Samantha, if possible…” I said carefully. “Try not to kill anyone.”
    “Shut up, Chase.”
    I sighed, which made my chest hurt. “I can’t believe Puck said head them off at the pass .”
    “Focus Outlaw.”
    “Like we ride horses or something.”
    “Oh… crap !” Puck cried. “The elevator went up , not down! My mistake. They’re on the top floor!”
    “Puck, kill the power,” Samantha directed. We were moving, already at the second floor