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Even with a hand claer’s lips were peeled back like a feral dog’s as he leaned in toward Crow’s throat and they were less than an inch ahen Norris Shanks yelled, "What the fuck are you doing?"

Hissing, Ruger turned toward the cop who stood in the doorway Shanks held his flashlight to one side and was reaching for his handgun when Ruger grabbed Croith both hands and threw hih the air and crashed into Shanks with a teeth-​jarring iainst the far wall Shanks slid to the floor and Crow landed hip-​first in the officer’s lap,loose all the stitches on both sides of his hips Shanks shrieked with pain and Ruger took two quick strides toward hi his head back with a crunch that silenced the scream at once

Crow rolled off Shanks and spun around on his hands and knees Despite the searing pain in both hips, with the hand reen-​deprived brain orking better now and adrenaline was starting to puh his system

"Cr…Crow…?"

He turned and saw Val’s head and shoulder appear froainst theShe was alive!

Ruger reached for hi the killer and driving his right fist into Ruger’s crotch; then as he bent over the pain Crow reached up with both hands, grabbed his hair, and yanked hier hit chest-​down on the floor with a crash that sent a shock back up through Crow’s arain He could hear bones break

He lifted a third tiht his wrists like two vises After those three blows it was an ier, could have done But there was no loss of strength in those hands and Ruger held the Crow’s fists away from his scalp so forcefully that Crow could feel hair and scalp tearing He still held the position, arer and even in the darkness he could see those fiery red eyes--those impossible eyes--and see the cuts and lacerations on the killer’s face Even the worst one barely bled a drop

Crow knelt there, held by overwhel toNone of this was possible Was he still dreahtmare? For one wild moment Croondered if he had really been shot worse than he thought back there on Val’s far that had happened since then be part of so and the pressure was , drearip as a support, Crow picked up both of his legs at once, poised for the split part of a second like a gys, and then pulled his knees up to his chest so his feet could clear the floor as he brought theth he could le was bad and instead his heels struck Ruger in the hard er howled in pain--the first concession to huered back with bad balance and had to grab the footrest of the bed to keep fro

Instantly Crow ed at hier swatted it out of his hand and the gun flew across the roo a vast spiderweb fracture Ruger again reached down for Crow but Crow threw hier under the chin Once ed to shake it off

"What’s going on?" souely aware of shapes in the doorway--nurses, patients

"Get the cops!" Crow yelled, but he had no idea if anyone went to get help Ruger reached over and swung the door shut with such force that Crow could hear cries of surprise and pain as it struck faces and hands

Then Ruger turned and leered at Crow, showing the uneven row of teeth--the teeth Crow had shattered after they’d fought in the rain--and his grin looked like the ed teeth see to kill you and everything you love," Ruger hissed He was not even breathing hard as he closed in again, bone-​white fingers reaching to grab

Crow kicked up again and caught Ruger in the chest, but it was like kicking a tree trunk It didn’t even slow hied hi in a e his foot, but all he did was tear the skin on his ankle and twist his knee

Ruger reached down to grab Crow’s throat again when the loudest sound Crow had ever heard seeer was knocked forward and almost fell, but took a broad step to clear Crow and somehow remained on his feet He turned and Crow looked up and there was Val on her knees, leaning against the far corner of the bed, holding Shanks’s gun out as ser pulled himself erect and faced Val He hissed at her like a snake and started to reach for her when she shot hiht him in the shoulder and spun him around Crow covered his head with both arer’s upper chest and struck the TV er, but he did not fall