Closer: Bay City Paranormal Investigation, Book 4

his light trained. “His back’s sliced up pretty badly. If whatever cut him had hit him in the front, it would’ve torn him open.” Dean glanced at Sam, his face solemn. “Looks like you saved his life by getting him to turn around like that.”
Against his better judgment, Sam leaned over to look, and instantly wished he hadn’t. A deep gash ran from Bo’s right shoulder diagonally to his left hip. Blood poured from the wound to form a red river that trickled over the rocks and washed away in the rain.
Sam sat back, fighting nausea. “We need to get him to the hospital.”
“I know.” Jumping to his feet, Dean hurried around to kneel at Bo’s other side. He pulled his T-shirt off and used both forearms to press it hard against Bo’s back.
“How are we gonna get him out of here? The gate’s locked.” Sam’s eyes widened as he realized what would have to happen. “Shit, Dean, we’ll have to get the police or somebody to open it. They’ll find out Bo broke in.”
“And us,” Dean added, his face grim.
“They’ll arrest us all. Fuck.” Sam grimaced. “But we don’t have any choice. We have to get him out of here, fast.” He reached for his cell phone.
“Wait.”
Sam looked up at Dean, eyebrows raised, one hand curled around the phone in his pocket. “Yes?”
“There’s a spot about twenty feet up the inland side where the fence has been cut.” Dean nodded to a spot behind Sam and a bit to his right. “I noticed it the other night when we were investigating out here. Call Kyle first, tell him to meet us there with the car. There’s a road to the right of the gate that goes straight down this side of the fence. We’ll call the ambulance, then take Bo out through the break in the fence.”
Sam took his phone out of his pocket and was already dialing while Dean talked. Kyle picked up on the second ring. “Sam?”
“Yeah. Listen, Bo’s hurt. Dean says drive down the side road to the right of the gate. We’re on the other side of the fence, near the end. Dean says there’s a place where the fence is cut. I’m not sure where exact—”
“I know the place,” Kyle interrupted. “I’m on my way.”
Sam clicked the phone closed. “He knows where the cut in the fence is. He’s on his way.”
Dean looked surprised, but pleased. “Okay, good. You go ahead and call 911, then we can carry him out to Kyle’s car.”
Nodding, Sam fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed 911. He wished his hands wouldn’t shake so much. He told the operator Bo had been attacked by an unknown assailant, with what Sam believed to be a knife, just outside the fence on the north side of Fort Medina. It surprised him how easily the lie rolled off his tongue. Maybe because Bo’s injury and his unconscious state— and Sam’s resulting worry and fear—were all too true.
Once the operator hung up, Sam clicked his phone closed and pocketed it. “They’ll be here in five minutes. I hope this place isn’t far.” He glanced toward the road, which lay about twenty yards away on the other side of the chainlink fence.
At that moment, Bo stirred and opened his eyes. He blinked, looking confused. “Wh…? Where…? S-Sam?”
“Right here.” Giddy with relief, Sam leaned down to kiss Bo’s brow. “Bo, we need to move you, okay?”
Bo’s throat worked. “Sick.”
For a second, Sam had no idea what he meant. He got it just as Bo turned his head to the side. Sam held Bo’s head off the rocks while he threw up.
When he finished heaving up the contents of his stomach, Bo curled into a ball. Violent shudders shook his body. His lips looked almost purple, and Sam couldn’t tell if it was just the faint, sickly yellow light or something more sinister.
“Hurts,” Bo whispered, his voice raspy.
“I know it hurts.” Sam stroked Bo’s shoulder. “An ambulance is on the way. We just need to move you a little ways before they get here, all right?”
Bo nodded, his eyes fluttering closed. Dean, who still had his T-shirt pressed to Bo’s back, glanced toward the road. “Kyle’s coming. I can see his headlights. Let’s go ahead and start moving. We need to get Bo in the car and out of the elements. We’ll do what we can for that wound while we wait for the ambulance to get here.”
The thought of tending the bleeding slash in Bo’s back made Sam’s stomach roll, but he nodded. Moving as carefully as he could, he slipped an arm beneath Bo’s shoulders and hauled him into a sitting position. Bo let out a