Wanted: Undead or Alive

If You're Going To Lose...

The Organization's officers led Nick away. Price followed, shaking his head as he went. Moose leaned hard on my shoulders and told me he thought he might need a medic.

"You guys hear that?" I asked whoever was on the other end of the comm. "We need medical in the alley behind the club."

"Roger that. Medical is en route."

I took the comm out and stuffed it in my pocket before helping Moose sit down on the pavement. "Who did this to you?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, man. I came around the corner and took the hit at full speed. Never even saw them. Woke up trussed like a pig."

"Did you see Price running?"

"Running away from here," Moose snorted.

"Because he was chasing somebody?"

"Anything's possible."

"Is it possible he's the one who did this?"

Moose's dark eyes searched mine. "I reckon."

The medics came running with emergency kits in hand. I backed off to give them space. After they shined lights in Moose's eyes and asked him questions about his name and the day of the week, they called for a stretcher.

Moose's bleary-eyed gaze drifted toward me. "If only I healed as fast as you."

"What do you mean?"

"I noticed that bruise on your head is already gone. Seems to have happened right around the time that handprint showed up."

I chewed on my thumbnail, completely lacking any response.

"I ain't judging," Moose said as a man wheeled a stretcher through the alley toward us. "Just noticing. I understand why you're so upset."

A single tear spilled from my eye, despite my best efforts to hold it back.

"Were you bluffing?" he asked.

Apparently, he knew after all. "Yeah."

They were helping him up now, loading him onto the bed that looked far too small to hold his impressive bulk.

Once he was laying down, his eyes drifted shut. "Nothing wrong with a good bluff. You can win the whole game that way."

"Or lose spectacularly," I said.

He peeked at me through slitted lids. "If you're gonna lose, that's the best way to do it."

His eyes drifted shut again and, as they wheeled him away, one hand fell limply to the side.

I followed along behind them on wooden legs and watched Moose be loaded into the back of an ambulance. This one had the name of the local hospital on it. Human doctors for the human patient.

"Rough night, sugar?"

Turning, I found the drag queen who'd been smoking earlier, still leaning on the wall but without her joint now. Too bad. If she'd offered, I'd have happily taken a hit. "Right up there in the top ten worst ever," I told her.

"I saw you dancing with your man."

More tears came then. There didn't seem much point in trying to stop them. I wasn't sobbing, just leaking emotions from my eyes in a steady stream.

"He's a pretty one. I saw them taking him away. He hurt you?"

I shook my head and sniffed. "He would never."

"Here, baby." She pulled a travel-sized plastic package of kleenex from her purse and handed it to me.

"Thanks. Were you singing when we danced?"