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Remorse rattled my very being.
Regret destroyed my tattered soul.
“I tortured her like you've been torturing us,” she shrieked. “But the damn girl won't even stay awake for it. Every time I cut your K in her, she passes out. How could you ever be with such a weak bitch?”
Memphis snuck in through the back. She looked to me first. Our eyes met for a moment before she drew out her gun and shot Junebug in the head. Memphis was a great shot. Junebug had just turned, and the bullet went cleanly right between her eyes. Memphis hadn’t wanted her to suffer. After all, she was her family.
Boy, how Junebug would’ve suffered by my hand.
It was too late now, Memphis put her down like an injured horse. Junebug’s body fell like a sack of potatoes.
On high alert from the gunshot, the others darted in. Penelope made it to Sky first and checked her pulse. Rushing behind her, I scooped her up, held her in my arms, hugged her drooping and gory body to me.
“She’s alive,” the nurse said. “But not for long.”
I had to push my sorrow aside. It was time to act.
“If she dies, you die.”
Penelope began working on her, basically trying to keep all her blood in. I helped put pressure on her wounds, bandaging her while everyone ripped their clothes into strips. It’s not that there weren’t enough bandages in the nurse’s bag, slashes littered Sky’s body. There were just so many gashes. Once the nurse and I did all we could, we took Sky out of the house to prepare her to go down the hill without injuring her further. Levi tore a board off the side of the cabin. Pagan found the rope. We made a sled.
Thorn showed up with a spotlight and with three of our members.
“Y’all done here,” he asked.
“Almost.”
I told Memphis to take out the rest of the trash. But when she produced her weapon, I took it from her and shot Penelope myself. Not once or twice, I emptied the clip into her. It was all I had time for and not even enough to satisfy my need for revenge.
Levi took note, but he was smart enough not to mention it.
It took ages to take Sky down the hill in the dark. But eventually, we got her to the road and then to the hospital. As bad as Junebug hurt Sky, she was still breathing when she went back to be worked on.
Pagan, Levi, and Memphis stayed with me in the waiting room. Hanging my head, I thought of dad’s service and bargained with the God I was raised on. I begged for him to take me instead. I’d have given anything for another chance with her. I’d even let her go back to Fresno if she wanted it, as long as she was going to pull through.
When the doctor came out and told me Sky lost too much blood, it hit me like a blow to the chest. My prayers hadn’t worked. I cursed God and punched the wall beside the doctor, scaring him to death.
“Wait,” he said, physically trying to stop me. “She’s not dead. Sky needs a transfusion, or she and her baby will die.”
“She’s alive? Her baby survived?”
It seemed too good to be true. I didn’t trust it.
“Yes. But she’s not out of the woods.”
The doctor hadn’t known how cruel that sentence had been.
We all gave blood to see if we could help Sky. Memphis ended up matching. Reluctantly, she agreed to go through with a transfusion.
“Only for you,” she said.
“Yes, saving Sky is the only thing I want.”
As they prepped her for it, she went on, “I promise I meant the girl no harm. I only wanted you back. I wouldn’t have done what Junebug did, not in a million years.”
“You didn’t know anything about her plans?”
“I didn’t. I never want to hurt you. That’s why I’m going through with this. I want you to have a choice. I want you to choose me someday.”
