She leaned over Higgins and sobbed, for how long, Shavian wasn’t sure. It could have been minutes, or it could have been hours. Even a single moment in hell is far too long.
The only thing that she could hear was the blood singing in her ears. It pounded like a gavel of judgment. She looked up, though she couldn’t say why she did that, and there were people looking at her through a broken room. They were yelling, or she assumed they were, as their mouths were open and they were waving franticly.
She didn’t care. None of that mattered. She looked down at Higgins, and at last he looked peaceful. It hadn’t ever really struck her before the difference between stoic and peaceful. She pushed concrete chips away, uncovering Higgins’ pistol. She stood and wiped blood away from her eyes. In the explosion she’d been cut up, but her back was fine as
Jackson had taken the brunt of the explosion. All that was left was a broken wall behind her that looked out over the larger room beyond. The Humvees had been kicked about, their windows blasted out.
She looked to the ground and found what she was looking for: the trail of Jackson’s blood. She staggered to her feet and found it was hard to keep her balance. She couldn’t tell if it was a concussion or if the blast had completely shot her equilibrium. Keeping her eyes on the ground before her, she focused on following the blood trail.
“Shavian!” Elliot’s voice was cracking, but it sounded like it was yelled at her through a swimming pool. She turned back to see his pained face, but whatever it was he saw on her face was enough to turn his expression to one of alarm. “We need to get out of here, Shavian.”
“No, Elliott. I’m not going anywhere right now.” She took a step back from the group to prove she was serious.
“What in the hell are you doing?” he shouted and tried to jump forward but McNabb stopped him, pulling him back. Roger seemed torn on what he wanted to do, but at last he helped McNabb keep a hell-bent Elliott from trying to crash through the extremely unstable and heavy wreckage of the room.
She turned, pulling the clip to check how many rounds she had left. If she could keep her feet under her she had more than enough rounds to kill the backstabbing bastard. “What in God’s name do you think I’m going to do?” she said through gritted teeth.
“Shavian, no, you can’t!” Elliott cried, still trying to struggle away from the men trying to hold him back.
Shavian eyes were swimming with tears now. “I can’t?” She made a fist and pounded into her thigh. “You wanted me to come, you wanted me to help, and you think you can save everyone, Elloitt.” She sniffed and wiped at her face, trying to keep it together. “Well you just can’t, Elloitt, this is the real world and this is what happens!”
With one final glance at Higgins’ still form, she turned, walking into the darkness.