Tiffany’s head was in an awful position against the wall. Bones had been broken and flesh had been torn from her, but she would not die this easily, Nathaniel knew. Seeing her in this condition, he felt pity for her. What must have been a lovely young woman in life was gone, irretrievably. She might heal, and heal well, but she would never be the same. A part of him felt bad about the girl who had been, but he knew that it was already too late for her now. Perhaps there would be time for mourning later. Right now, they only had time to do this once.
“Is everyone well?” He shouted the question as he quickly crossed the short distance to the place where Michael was covering his children. Vanessa was shaking there in a ball on the floor, but did not move otherwise.
“Yes,” Michael said.
A quick glance across their three faces showed some shock in the oldest child, but only peace in the other two. Michael began to gather them up in his unsteady arms and climbed to his feet.
“We must leave at once!” Nathaniel said. “Take your son and the woman.”
Michael looked at his empty hands in disbelief as he discovered that Nathaniel had removed the toddlers from them without him realizing it. He was holding them now and they, to their credit, seemed perfectly fine with it.