Page 147 of Wyatt

Her chin disappeared beneath the collar of the neck.

Yes!

She wiggled harder—

Something snapped. She didn’t know what she’d done, but she’d seen movies and knew that probably the vest wasn’t made for tampering with.

The beeping started again.

No—!

She pulled her feet along the bed, her hands now clearing the outside of the vest. Gripping the lower edge of the vest, she fought to push it over her head. The vest fully engulfed her head now, but a couple more pushes and she slid free.

She scrambled onto her knees.

Yes, the timer was counting down, two minutes from detonation.

She moved the vest aside, rolled to her back, brought up her legs, and kicked the skylight hard. It cracked, but didn’t shatter.

Covering her face, she kicked it again, and the glass broke, sheeting down on top of her, the glass littering the bed around her.

Birds chirruped, as if cheering her on.

She eased her head through the opening, aware of the jagged glass around the edges, but what choice did she have? She wiggled one shoulder through without cutting herself, but the next grazed a crease down her arm.

She could call for help, but the parking lot was empty. Her captor had set her in the corner of the parking lot of —oh,no.

She was back at the Children’s Hospital.

Coco dragged herself up and stood on the bed, stuck at waist height, her legs still bound.

One minute. She had to get out.

You are strong, maya lapichka. You will survive this.

Yes, she would.

She jumped off the bed, lunging out of the window toward the curved back of the camper. The glass bit into her body, and she cried out as it tore into her, but she fell off the back side of the camper.

Rolled.

She hit the sidewalk, the pathway that circled the hospital, and for a second lay there, the wound in her gut threatening to curl her into herself.

Not yet.

Run!

She rolled over to her knees and tried to hop and scrabble toward the forest.

The explosion blew her forward, propelling her into the woods and shrubbery.

She slammed against a massive cedar tree. It shucked out her breath, and she dropped hard, the world spinning.

The fire turned to an inferno ten feet away, spitting off debris, embers, and black smoke, the heat blistering her skin.

Coco let out a scream as she lay like a worm, unable to move under the lethal haze of black smoke.

Sparks fell to the earth, lighting puddles of fire around her.