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Paul curses in pain and shoves round Theo runs toward us, yelling, "What are you--"
What happens next is so fast that everything blurs together
The sounds all seeunfire The few concrete ies I see have no order, no sense, not evenin front ofhis arms wide to try to defend un
Blood and bone spraying outward
Theo falling
My own hands reaching for Theo as I sink down beside him
And one terrible ret No remorse
Paul says, "You don’t knowinto the dark
The first thing I think is stupid, the product of shock: This is real It’s all real
Then I hear Theo groan, and I pullhe’s not At first I’m relieved, because he’s conscious and his shirt is only flecked with blood Then I see his legs "Oh, et the word out; he’s trying not to cry, or screa from a butcher shop: exposed, broken bone, and flesh torn into ribbons Shards of white jutting froory mess must be what’s left of his kneecaps
There’s so much blood It oozes down the here it spattered; it drips from my hair, my ear It pools on the asphalt beneath us, black rather than red in the twilight darkness, and shining as each puddle enlarges Theo could he on" I undo his belt and pull it free of the loops, so I can wrap it around one leg as a tourniquet I need to do the other one too As loud as I can, I scream, "Somebody help!"
"Phone" By now Theo’s voice is hardly a whisper, but that’s enough I fumble in his back pocket and pull out his cell phone Thank God it lets me call 911 without the security code
The next few iveby during the police raid, so EMTs get to us within mo is shallow, but he can still talk I can tell by the way the EMTs act that they expect hiht lose his legs
Paul shot without hesitating Without blinking He savagely destroyed a stranger’s legs for no reason, and ran aithout even looking back
All that tiht he wouldn’t hurtwith
I want to think the splinter of my Paul’s soul within him would have made a difference--but this Paul is still Paul They are more alike than unalike
If we all have one essential self that reh all the worlds, then the evil in this man exists within my Paul, too Even within the splinters of his soul I’ve already rescued
The Firebirds feel heavy around my neck