Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
She starts to cry when he removes another broken tooth from her mouth. He gives her a bottle of water and instructs her to rinse. Another howl escapes her as she does it, clearly still in pain. Her father has her open her mouth again, shining the light inside.
“Most were knocked out clean.” He counts under his breath. “Three. Three teeth are gone.”
“Oh, honey,” Judy says with a sob, stroking her daughter’s hair from behind. “You must be in so much pain.”
Tyler already has pain reliever tablets out of a packet and ready to administer to her. Dan continues to look inside her mouth. Finally, he sighs with resignation.
“What is it?” I ask, frowning.
“I need to pull this one,” Dan grunts. “It’s broken in half but part of it is still lodged in there. She’s going to be in a lot of pain unless I do something about it.” To Tyler, he says, “Get me some gauze ready to pack this wound. Anyone got any pliers?”
Hailey squeals in horror, but her father isn’t kidding. Jesse and Wayne both agree to look through some abandoned vehicles for a toolbox or something. We’ve passed some work trucks, so it’s possible. While Hailey cries and her parents soothe her, I try not to think about what this young girl is about to have to endure. This whole thing is super fucked up.
Finally, Jesse runs back over to us, a set of pliers in hand. Hailey shakes her head vehemently and starts to scrabble away. It takes Tyler, Wayne, Jesse, and myself to all hold the poor girl down. She swallows down the pain pills that are offered to her and then a gulp of water. But she knows what comes next and stiffens. Her wild eyes lock on to mine, terrified beyond belief. Aaron joins the fray, helping to pry open her mouth forcefully this time. I’m able to get a good look at the damage.
It’s the front, top tooth. Broken, jagged, bleeding.
Dammit.
By the time we have her in position, Judy hands the pliers to her husband. They’ve been cleaned off the best she could. Dan makes quick work of latching the pliers on the sharp, visible end of her tooth and tightening his grip.
“On the count of three, sweetheart,” Dan croons, voice shaking with emotion. “One, two—”
He yanks hard, never making it to three. She screams in horror as tears stream out of her eyes. Blood continues to gush, but Tyler is quick and at the ready with the gauze. He quickly packs that hole plus the others as she sobs uncontrollably. Everyone releases her now that the worst is over. Silas, hugging Pretzel to his chest, cries right along with his big sister, only stopping to cough and then to cry some more.
This, somehow, is worse than Elise or Gerry or what happened to Kyle and those college girls.
No one wants to see a kid in such agony.
Wordless, our group packs back up and continues our trek. Wayne scoops up the crying girl, carrying her as though she’s precious. My heart breaks a little. Tyler shoots me a somber look. We all hate what had to be done.
Another few hours of walking and it’s clearly the middle of the day despite the dark smoke clouding the sky. We’re able to see farther ahead and scope out our resources available to us. When we see a cheap hotel come into view, I nearly choke on my relief.
It appears to also be abandoned, much like the cars we’d first encountered. Though it’s still close to the heart of Vegas, which may as well be Hell for the size of the massive inferno, we decide we can spare a few hours to catch some rest as long as someone keeps watch.
We find rooms on the west side and easily break into them. Dirty, unmade beds and empty takeout boxes litter the spaces in each room, but we’re all too exhausted and spent to care. Shockingly, the water still works here, and once Tyler deems it safe, both of us take turns gulping it from the tap.
“Shower?” he asks with another huge yawn. “I doubt I’ll get sleep but at least I’ll be clean. Then I can go relieve Aaron.”
Aaron chose to stay and watch to make sure the fires didn’t loom too close.
I nod, too sleepy to keep my eyes open. Tyler starts the shower, strips out of his filthy, smokey clothes, and steps in. I get a nice view of his sculpted ass before he disappears behind the curtain. It’s a struggle since my limbs are so weak, but I manage to also get undressed. By the time I join him, he’s already soaped down and his hair is wet. He steps out of the spray to let me get under it.
The hot water feels good on my aching body. I wish I could stay here forever. My eyes have fallen shut and I groan with pleasure when his calloused hands start to soap up my chest.