Chapter 59

“Goodbye, my friend. I hope to see you on the other side,” Oran whispered.

Eli wiped the tear that ran down his cheek as he barely whispered. “Goodbye. It’ll be lonely without you.”

“You will never be alone. You will have Micha. And you’ll have me, watching over you.” Oran disconnected the phone.

Eli braced his back against a wall near the hospital entrance. He hadn’t cried for a long time, and he let the tears fall without stopping them. 8

Adam stepped away from the hospital bed. Josh rested, his eyes closed as Sully held his hand. The nurse had finally provided OxyContin to Josh, but only upon Adam’s insistence that the attending physician prescribe it to reduce the pain.

Adam’s stomach growled. Besides the two hours it took to get from the ruins to the hospital, they’d spent half an hour in triage before Josh could be evaluated, and only got in then because Eli had smooth-talked the intake nurse who’d flirted with him.