Chapter 20
Zero Hour
Between Alive and Dead
He drifted, listening to the sounds.
Music was playing, some kind of quiet classical music with violins and piano. The people gathered around him were talking in mechanical voices.
“Scissors. Scalpel. Suction. I said suction! Can’t you clear that out some more?”
“Yes, Doctor.”
Then: “He was lucky. An inch to the left and it would have nicked his aorta. He’d have been dead in a couple of minutes.”
Eldrick wasn’t interested in the doctors, and he wasn’t interested in the body on the table. They were all below him now, and he caught a glimpse of the thing the doctors were working so hard to save. It reminded him of a dead dog by the side of the road. It didn’t seem like something worth saving.
He turned and through the doorway he saw his gr
