Williams staggered backward, one hand clamped over his injured arm while the other tried and failed to keep the blood from pouring through his fingers. It ran hot and fast, slicking his palm, dripping from his wrist, spotting the ground as he reeled away from Keith in a crooked half-step that almost turned into a fall.
The grin he'd been wearing vanished. What took its place looked worse.
He fixed Callighan with a dark, ugly stare but he didn't make another move. Not yet. Hard to indulge your temper when there was a gun aimed squarely at you.
Mei rushed to Keith at once, dropping beside him so fast her knees hit the ground hard enough to sting. Her hands went to him without thinking, one hovering near his face, the other catching his shoulder as she looked him over in a panic. His face was a mess, blood smeared across his skin, his breathing rough, his whole body carrying the aftermath of what had just happened, and still she asked anyway.
"Y—You okay?!"
