The Armored Doctor (Curiosity Chronicles Book 2) by Ava Morgan

Author:Ava Morgan [Morgan, Ava]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Curosity Chronicles, Book Two
Published: 2014-02-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

The look on Abigail’s face summarized everything that Jacob spent the past several weeks trying to avoid instilling in her.

Shock. Fear. Confusion. Her lips parted as she stared at the steel and aluminum apparatus that was his mechanical limb situated on the ground beside him. Was it horror? Disgust?

“Are you injured?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” came her small reply.

Jacob dragged himself through the grime and coal dust-encrusted slush of the street to get to his mechanical limb.

Abigail started forward. “I’ll get—”

“No.” He snatched the limb by the boot before she could come closer. His rebuke stopped her short.

In the sting of humiliation, he turned his back to her, set the cane-knife down, and worked furiously to attach the limb back on his knee. He shook his head as he went through the process of rolling up his trouser leg, searching for the straps that were attached to a belt at his waist, yanking them past his thigh, and hooking them through the prosthetic’s closures. All with the indignity of having to do so in the middle of the street. Finally, he cinched the band that strapped over his knee and pulled his trouser leg back down over the top of his boot last.

Jacob pushed himself to his feet, his back still to Abigail. He dared to turn. She remained standing in the same spot. Her eyes were large as she stared at him. “Those men will come back with reinforcements. We’re almost to the main road where we can find a cab.”

He picked up the cane-knife and found the shell of his walking stick nearby. The knife slid in with a small click. But then he noticed that Abigail brought her hand to the corner of her brow and kept it there.

“Abigail, what is it?”

She shook her head, wincing. “Nothing. I thought…that man with the brass knuckles…he grazed me with the side of his fist.”

Jacob crossed the space between them and took her hand away from her face. “You’re bleeding.” He saw the dark wetness that stained her gloves. She winced again as he moved back the hair that stuck to her forehead. Blood trickled from a bludgeon wound.

“Is it bad?” she asked.

“There’s not enough light for me to see the extent of it. Are you dizzy, disoriented?”

“No…” Her halted speech told him that she was still reeling from the shock of being attacked. He had to get her back to his practice. “We’re closer to my residence now than we are the hospital. We can’t linger here.” He withdrew his handkerchief and placed it against her brow. “Keep this pressed to your temple.”

She followed his instructions and started walking beside him again, matching his stride. Jacob’s knee ached from where the gang’s leader Tim pulled him down. If I had both my legs, I could have been faster. Then Abigail wouldn’t have been injured.

But the fault was still his. He took too long making his rounds at the hospital. They should have left earlier. Then they would have had the afternoon light and a cab waiting to take them back to the practice.

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