"He smashed your head against the wall?"

"Yeah."

"And punched you?"

"Well, it was more of a-- no, yeah. He did."

"And then he knocked you out?"

I stare at Zombie for a long moment. He lost a lot of blood, which I know for a fact because it's all over the floor in the hall. "Yes, he did. Would you care to relive your dying moments, too, or do you want to shut it?"

He squints. "You got meaner in the past ten minutes."

"It's been an hour. And meaner is not a word."

He sighs. Turns to Dumbo with a grimace. "He gonna wake up?"

"He's messed up bad," Dumbo tells us.

I think about how beaten and broken Evan looked when we stripped him down earlier, to let Dumbo get a look at the damage. I purse my lips at the boy. We already knew that, Bo.

"Sepsis," Dumbo mutters, and when Cassie sends him a blank stare he adds, "When the infection gets into your bloodstream."

I shift my weight on to my other leg. Standing up was hard, sitting down was harder, and laying down was a complete nightmare. I was going to sleep standing up tonight-- if I slept at all.

"What can we do?" Cassie asks.

"Antibiotics," I but in, looking at her. "Which we don't have."

Cassie sits on the bed opposite Evan. Faces Zombie, who leans against the wall and cradles his rifle, staring at Evan with narrowed eyes. "He didn't have a choice," she stresses. "How could he just stroll up in the dark without somebody shooting him?"

I almost but in that he didn't actually have to sneak in and attack everyone. The second he saw Zombie, or even me, he should have known we stayed with Cassie until he managed to get his alien ass here, but of course he thought it was too fucking risky to chance it.

"I want to know where Poundcake and Teacup are," Zombie says through gritted teeth.

Dumbo tells him to get off his feet, Zombie waves him off. He pushes away from the wall, hobbles to Evan, and backhands him. "Wake up!" Smack. "Wake up, you son of a bitch!"

Cassie lurches forward to stop him from harming her precious Silencer. Dumbo and I share a knowing look but say nothing.

"Ben, this won't--"

"Fine," he snaps, yanking his arm away. He hobbles towards the door, slowly, "I'll find them myself."

Sam, jumping off the edge of the bed to run to Zombie. "Zombie! I'll come, too!"

I roll my eyes. A crip and a five-year-old was going to save us, undoubtedly.

"Cut it out, both of you!" Cassie snaps. "Nobody's going anywhere until we--"

"What, Cassie?" Ben yells. "Until we what?"

Cassie is silent for a long moment. I glare at them all, and shut Cassie up with one sentence. "Until we find out what the hell is going on here."

Everyone looks at me, notes the anger on my face, and shuts up. Good.

"Zombie, you're not going anywhere because if you do, then we might lose you, too." It's an order, but I'm not sure if he'll follow it. "For all we know, Cake and Cup are on their way back right now. Evan wouldn't have attacked two people leaving the hotel if he didn't have to."

Zombie shakes his head in defiance. "You don't know that--"

Zombie sways. His already pale skin gets paler and he drops to one knee, breathless. Sam tugs on his sleeve, as if that would help him stay up.

He swears at me, at Evan Walker, at Cassie and Dumbo who pull him to the empty bed and let him fall back. Dumbo stares at Cassie and I, wondering if we have the answers.

I glance at her. She tilts her head.

We don't.

"Nobody goes after Teacup and Poundcake," I say, and ignore Zombie's protests about it. "We're not going to chance Vosche or either of those squads finding us by sending more of us out after them. If they make it back, then that's great, but we don't have the men to go after them."

Nobody says anything. I continue. "We're blind on all sides. Picking up Dumbo's rifle, shoving it into his chest. "Stairway, both hall windows, east-side rooms, west-side rooms. Keep moving and keep your eyes open. I'll be out in a minute to help."

"I'll stay with the alpha males and try to keep them from killing each other," Cassie says. I nod, and glance at Dumbo who still isn't moving.

"Get moving, Bo." He stares at me, looking like he's about to cry, about to explode with all of the weight on his shoulders. I grab his arm and hold it tight, trying to comfort him for the second time today. "He's going to be fine, alright? You did a great job."

Dumbo blinks four times in a row. "I did?"

"'Course," I say. "You're one of the best, kid. Now get going, Bo."

Dumbo leaves and I turn back to Cassie and Zombie, both staring at me like I just grew two heads. Zombie shakes his head, then growls at Cassie, "Why didn't you shoot him in the head? Why in the knee?"

"Poetic justice," Cassie mutters, staring at Evan. Zombie and I glance at each other, but say nothing. It's obvious these two had more history than we realized, and they both cared very deeply for one another. But you don't talk about Evan with Cassie, especially now that the dead silence is no longer dead.

"We can't stay here." My grip on Zombie's pistol tightens as he speaks. "It was a bad call sending Ringer ahead. I knew we shouldn't've split up. We're bugging out of here in the morning."

Cassie is pissed. Nice going, Zombie.

"How are we going to do that?" Cassie asks. "You're hurt. So is Ghost. Evan is--"

"This isn't about him," Ben buts in. Pauses. "Well, I guess it is to you--"

"He's the reason you're alive right now to bitch, Parish."

"I'm not bitching."

"Yes, you are. You're bitching like a junior miss beauty queen."

I snort. Zombie glares at me. Nugget-- or Sam. I still get confused-- laughs. Cassie looks startled.

"Cassie called you a bitch," Sam/Nugget tells Zombie, just in case Zombie didn't hear.

Zombie ignores him. "We waited here for him and now we're trapped here because of him. Do what you want, Sullivan. In the morning, I'm out of here."

"We don't have time to argue about this," I but in, glaring at them both. "I'm going out to help Dumbo. Try and figure out what the fuck we're doing before I get back."

"I'm going with you." Zombie got up, leaned against the side of the bed for a minute to catch his breath, then stumbled to the door. Sam/Nugget (I'm going to start using Sam) followed him.

I crack open the door, call out to Dumbo not to shoot me or I'll kick his ass, and then the three of us walk out.

Dumbo's walking down the hall, checking both windows simultaneously. I sigh and send Zombie down to the one closest to Cassie and Evan, and me to the west-side. Dumbo takes the lobby because Zombie and I would die walking up and down the steps all day.

"Ghost." It's Zombie down the hall, leaning against the window, breathless.

I keep my back to him. It was a miracle that I even heard him from this distance. If I stayed quiet, maybe he would think I didn't hear him and leave me alone. I didn't want to have this conversation right now. I had other things to do.

"I know you can hear me," he calls. I don't have to turn to know he's smiling. "Are you sure you're--"

"Stop fucking asking me that," I snap. Zombie stops talking. I sigh and press a finger to my temple. I was pretty sure I had a concussion. I'd have to ask Dumbo to see, later. A moment passes. "I think we should stay."

"What?"

"I think we should stay," I repeat, slowly. When I turn around, he's staring at me like his eyes are about to pop out of his head. "We didn't wait this long just to leave the fucking alien behind. Besides, he probably has information that we need."

He's angry. "He almost killed all of us, and-- and who knows what he did to Poundcake and Teacup!"

He's right. I don't know why I'm defending him. Maybe because Evan saved my life at Wright-Patterson. But he almost took it today, which should mean I get a free pass.

Or maybe it's because of Cassie. I don't like Cassie, but Cassie likes Evan and claims that Evan loves her, and how can I take that from her? It would be like Cassie killing Zombie-- not that I love him or he loves me. We can't just leave him to die.

"You got soft," Zombie says gently, a small smile inching up at the corner of his lips.

I send him a harsh glare. "Don't ever fucking call me that again."

He shakes his head, turning away to hide his smile. "Alright, Ghost. I won't tell you the truth again."

"Asshole," I mutter, turning away.