SAMPLE FROM COLOSSUS
BY JETTE HARRIS
That’s when he saw Witt.
Witt was lying prone next to his truck. Z thought at first he was playing a prank. Then he noticed the blood seeping from Witt’s forehead, staining his strawberry-blonde hair a deeper shade of red.
“Witt!” Z ran to crouch by his side. “Witt?” He pressed on his chest and shook him. “Witticus Maximus, wake up!”
“What’s wrong?”
He found Rhodes behind him. “Call an ambulance!” Z said, “He’s hurt–He’s bleeding.”
Rhodes already had his phone in his hand, and dialed 9-1-1. “What intersection is this?” he asked as it rang.
Z had to think for a moment before he could recall the street names he repeated every day. “Dallas and John Ward,” he finally stammered.
“Yes, medical emergency,” Rhodes spoke into the phone. “Please send an ambulance to Dallas and John Ward. There are two boys here, injured… They’re in great danger.”
“I’m not hurt; It’s just Witt,” Z tried to explain as Rhodes ended the call and tucked the phone into his pocket. Slowly, the pieces fell together in Z’s mind. He jumped to his feet, turning to confront Rhodes, but he was hit in the chest by a bolt of lightning.
He hadn’t noticed the Taser in Rhodes’s hand.