AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Guess he was wrong.
As much as I want to keep beating the fuck out of this guy, I only have time to subdue him before I fire back at the first two men. Isaac hits one of them in the forehead, and in a moment of panic, the other freezes before I shoot him in the chest.
He falls to the ground on his knees, falling backward and bending his legs in the least natural way possible. If I hadn’t seen much darker shit all my life, I would be sickened by the sight.
There are only two more left, and Isaac takes them on alongside James, who hits one of them directly in the middle of his abdomen on the first shot. James was always a better shot than Isaac, but I need as much backup as possible.
Had I known Josiah had fucked up so badly, I would have at least brought another three men.
It’s almost like he’s trying to get me killed.
I move to get up when I feel a searing pain in my left shoulder. Immediately, blood spurts from an entrance wound as I realize that I’ve been hit. The force behind the blood suggests that I’ve been hit in my subclavian artery, which means I need to get out of here and into the Emergency Room before I bleed to death. I have minutes, barely.
Isaac fires another round of hail Marys into the heads of the men approaching us, miraculously hitting them both and sending them to the ground. One of them retains his ability to fire his weapon clumsily, firing a shot toward Isaac’s head and missing as the bullet flies into a window and shatters it.
James takes the initiative, peppering their bodies with bullets to prevent any more wild shots from occurring.
“Guys,” I groan as the room falls silent. “This ain’t looking too good.”
Isaac and James both run to help me up, but I feel like my body weighs triple what it usually does. The blood loss is getting to me already.
“I know it’s hard, but weneedto get you up, or you’re going to fucking die,” James insists, taking the lead and placing my right arm around his neck. He lifts me from the floor as Isaac rushes to assist, trying desperately to find a place to support my body without touching my wounded shoulder or left arm.
The pain is completely paralyzing.
I’ve experienced significant injuries before. They’re a part of the life I lead. They’re the price I pay for the lifestyle I enjoy. But the sensation of hot metal embedded in my muscle makes me want to saw the entire left side of my body completely off.
James and Isaac drag me to James’ car, trying to balance the patience needed to avoid injuring me further while also not wasting time as the minutes fly past us. It’s a delicate balance, and every second that goes by has me wondering if they’ve managed to find it.
I know James was a paramedic when he was in his early twenties, but he’s without any medical supplies. All he can do is drive me while Isaac applies pressure to my wound.
“I need to call someone,” I say, groaning as the sting of the wound penetrates deeper.
“Right now? You want to make a phone call right now?” Isaac asks incredulously.
“Yes! Give me my phone,” I demand weakly.
Isaac fishes my phone out of my pocket and hands it to me.
I dial Cambria’s number, anxiously waiting to hear her voice.
The line rings endlessly until I finally get her voicemail. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing. “Cam, I’m so sorry about everything. I got shot at the warehouse. I need you right now,” I plea. “Nothing about before matters to me right now. I just need you here.”
I try to think of something more eloquent to say, something that will intrigue her instead of forcing her to hear my pathetic voice as it wavers from pain. When I can’t think of anything more, I hang up and drop the phone on the floor in agony.
As we speed out of the parking lot, I can feel the grip of hypovolemic shock beginning to take place. The sensation in my limbs has lessened, and my fingers and toes are overtaken by the feeling of radio static. My head swims, and I’m so weak that I couldn’t sit up on my own if I wanted to. I feel so heavy, so helpless as the noise around me becomes a vague, grey wall of sound.
Isaac asks me a question, but I can’t hear him.
My vision begins to tunnel, and the sight of high-rise buildings outside as we pass them sends me into a vortex of nausea that seizes me completely.
When we arrive at the hospital, Isaac sprints through the front doors of the Emergency Department while James takes over the pressure on my shoulder. He’s saying something, but I can’t hear him or read his lips at all.
My head feels like it’s floating separately from my body. I’m forgetting everything the longer this takes. My personhood is unraveling into the ether.
James smacks my face a few times, but I feel nothing. Even the wound in my shoulder that had been causing me such agony before feels like a distant, blurry memory.
Within a few minutes, I’m being loaded onto a stretcher with what feels like twenty hands grabbing and poking me from all angles. As my brain loses blood, I feel as though all of the hands are those of angels lifting me from the earth as I shake this mortal coil.
If I thought I was going to heaven, I might believe it.
My fevered vision is clouded by the rush of a morphine drip as all sensation ceases. Suddenly, my struggle, fear, and pain are dissolved, smoothed over like the surface of a lake on a day with no wind. I don’t feel my breaths. I don’t feel my heart.
All I feel is complete peace.
I close my eyes, enveloped by a womb of eternal black velvet.
