His hands
were instantly made slippery and sticky with its blood. "Shh." Something
sharp pricked at his hand.
Now that he had it up close, he could see where the blood was coming
from: A broken-off sewing needle, shoved rudely through its distended
abdomen.
"Cover up," Bradley said, "I'm coming up." They heard his lopsided tread
on the steps.
Mimi pulled the blanket up around her chin. "Okay," she said.
Bert opened the door quickly. He wore nothing but the oversized jeans
that Alan had given him, his scrawny chest and mutilated feet bare.
"It's going to die," Brad said, hunkering down beside the bed. "Davey
pinned it and then sent Link over with it. It can't last through the
night."
Adam felt like he was choking. "We can help it," he said. "It can
heal. It healed before."
"It won't this time. See how much pain it's in? It's out of its mind."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"We need to put it out of its misery," Brad said. "It's the right
thing."
In his hands, the thing squirmed and made a small, hurt sound. "Shhh,"
Alan said. The sound it made was like sobbing, but small, so small. And
weak.
Mimi said, "I think I'm going to be sick."
"Yeah," Brian said. "Yeah, I can see that."
She lifted herself out of bed, unmindful of her nudity, and pushed her
way past him to the door, to the bathroom.
"Stop being such a baby," she told Trey as he clutched at his
foot.
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