The door rattles but doesn't give, the lock holding fast. Darlington reels back, breathing hard, unwilling to give up. Not when he knows she's just on the other side, that cold spike of fear returning at the thought of what, exactly, he might find when he gets to her.
Planting one foot, he kicks out with the other, aiming just above the doorknob. That earns him the sound of a crack, the wood starting to fracture. It's the best thing he's heard all day. He kicks again, below the lock, and then once more. At last, the door swings open, stopping when it hits something on the floor. All Darlington sees is a dark spill of hair, one pale hand and a slumped body; he's moving, squeezing past and into the room, going again to his knees for the sake of her.
He can hear himself talking, low murmured pleas of Alex and God, no and Come on come on come on, the movement of his body somehow divorced from the panicked wheel of his thoughts as he opens his bag, taking out the kit and opening it up. If it's not this, if it's something else, he'll meet that disappointment when it comes--but he knows enough of her history, hers and Hellie's, to be certain this instinct is the right one. The kit contains a nasal spray, easy to use and damn near idiot-proof, and Darlington moves Alex's head back, sliding the tip of the spray into one nostril and jamming the plunger down.
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Planting one foot, he kicks out with the other, aiming just above the doorknob. That earns him the sound of a crack, the wood starting to fracture. It's the best thing he's heard all day. He kicks again, below the lock, and then once more. At last, the door swings open, stopping when it hits something on the floor. All Darlington sees is a dark spill of hair, one pale hand and a slumped body; he's moving, squeezing past and into the room, going again to his knees for the sake of her.
He can hear himself talking, low murmured pleas of Alex and God, no and Come on come on come on, the movement of his body somehow divorced from the panicked wheel of his thoughts as he opens his bag, taking out the kit and opening it up. If it's not this, if it's something else, he'll meet that disappointment when it comes--but he knows enough of her history, hers and Hellie's, to be certain this instinct is the right one. The kit contains a nasal spray, easy to use and damn near idiot-proof, and Darlington moves Alex's head back, sliding the tip of the spray into one nostril and jamming the plunger down.