Reconstructing Amelia (unedited)

Chapter 47

December 1st, 2019

*Cato*

"Kill me," my little sister begged again, her green eyes dull. Her words made my heart hurt, and I struggled even harder to get to her. Alan was screaming for her, screaming at Ben to let her go. His voice was completely raw - as all of ours were too - but he continued to yell.

Ben dragged the blade down her forearm, blood dripping down her pale skin as she winced but didn't scream. How could someone not scream? Just watching it made me sick to my stomach.

The boys continued to shout as Ben dug his heavy boot into the wound on her arm, and I watched her finally start to cry as she lied helplessly on the cold concrete flooring, blood soaking her clothes as it pooled around her.

"Cato, move your hands!" Eli hissed from beside me, grabbing the rope and beginning to saw at it with a pocket knife. I blinked in surprise, shifting my wrists away from the blade as I noticed Colton sprinting towards Ben, tackling him to the floor.

Eli cut the ropes clean off, moving to help the others as I sprinted towards my youngest brother, who was wrestling with Ben on the floor.

"Help Mia!" Colton told me as he fought. I didn't want to leave him, but I took once glance towards our sister and quickly realised she wasn't going to last much longer. I scrambled over to her, pulling her into my arms as gently as I could. Her eyes followed the rays of sunlight streaming in from the windows, glinting a brilliant green in the light.

I tried shaking her gently, to keep her awake, but she blinked in confusion, her eyes focused on something behind me. She made a tiny breathy noise, looking completely scared, but a gunshot went off before I had time to turn around.

My ears were ringing from the noise, but I immediately whipped around, watching Xander, Des, and Alan tackling Ben to the floor again, trying to wrestle the gun from his hands.

Colton let out a mangled scream, snapping my attention to where he lay on the floor, his trembling hands clutching his upper arm that was now bleeding profusely.

I didn't know what to do; both my siblings needed help, but I wasn't sure Amelia would survive if I left her.

"Amelia," I said, my voice thick with fear. "Amelia, don't close your eyes," Her entire body was shaking, her chest heaving. "Amelia," Tears slid down my cheeks as I shook her again, holding her tighter to my body. "Guys!" I screamed. "Somebody help me!" I had no idea what was happening around me, I was too focused on my sister.

Felix appeared beside me, fumbling to get his belt off. "Keep her awake," he advised me tautly, kneeling down beside her and looping his belt around her upper arm. "This is going to hurt," he told her, though neither of us could tell if she was actually listening. Felix tightened the belt, ignoring Amelia's sudden whimper as she pulled away.

"Hey hey, it's okay," I comforted, managing to flash her a gentle smile as her eyes searched mine. "It's okay, just stay awake,"

"Hi, Mia," Alan crouched down with us, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. She barely even glanced at him, her breaths slowing. I glanced over to where Xander and Eli were tying Ben to the pillar with the ropes. Ben was unconscious and his face was badly damaged, but I was secretly glad my brothers had beat him up. He deserved it. He deserved worse.

Felix finished applying his homemade tourniquet, the blood lessening from her arm. "She doesn't have much time," he told me warily, his expression grim. "I called the paramedics already. They're coming but I don't know if it'll be quick enough,"

"How far out are they?" I asked, staring back down at my sister.

"About three minutes,"

Alan squeezed her hand again, his brow furrowing. "Don't close your eyes," he instructed her. "Come on, Mia, just stay awake for me, okay?"

"Alan, take her," I said quietly, shifting Amelia from my arms to his. "Don't let her fall asleep," I rose to my feet, wiping the blood from my hands off on my jeans, making my way to where Calvin was trying to help stanch the bleeding from Colton's arm.

"Hey Kid, how are you feeling?" His face was white with shock, his teeth clenched in pain.

"I've been fucking shot, I'm doing just peachy," he snapped, letting out a shaky breath.

"Paramedics are coming, they're almost here," I told him, choosing to ignore his language.

"How's Mia?" Calvin asked nervously, trying to see what was happening behind us. I didn't answer. I had no idea how to break the news.

"Cato?" Colton whispered, his voice trembling. "How is she?" I sighed.

"You need to focus on you," I reminded him, leaning over to examine his arm. Calvin momentarily released his grip, allowing me to see.

Colton was trying to pull away from me, far too concerned with Amelia. "No, Cato, you need to help her! Don't worry about me, just go help Mia!"

At that point, the paramedics burst in, sirens wailing behind them. Several of them went immediately towards Amelia, while two went to Des and Neo, and one came to us.

The lady set her bag down, quickly looking at Colton's wound. Colton was still trying to refuse treatment, aggressively telling the medic to help Amelia instead.

I placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "Colton, you need to calm down and let her help you,"

Xander came over and hugged him from behind, brushing his hair from his sweaty forehead. "She's gonna be fine, just focus on you,"

"Colton?" The lady said softly. "My team is doing everything they can right now, but when she wakes up, the last thing we want is for her to be worrying about you, okay? So I need you to let me help you," Colton nodded slowly, glancing at me for support.

I nodded at him supportively and he grabbed my hand, gripping it tightly as the paramedic began removing the bullet from his arm.

"I got it," she said after a few minutes, and Colton finally eased his grip, biting back a groan as she began disinfecting and bandaging his arm.

He glanced at me with watery eyes. "How is she?" he asked.

I turned to look at the scene behind us, but I could hardly see anything from the swarm of paramedics around her.

"They're trying," I answered as Alan made his way over, looking completely broken.

"She's unconscious," he told us grimly. "It's not looking good,"

The medic finished setting up the IV drip in Colton's arm, giving us instructions not to move him before she left to go help Neo.

Police were entering the warehouse now, surveying the situation and escorting Ben to their cars.

The rest of our brothers filed over, looking miserable. Eli was carrying Javi, who was sobbing into his shoulder, and Cayden was with them too, cradling his broken finger.

"Cayden, how are you doing?" I asked quietly.

He shrugged. "Fine," His glasses were crooked and his eyes were red from crying, but he seemed to be okay.

I watched the medics taking Neo and Amelia to aid cars, Des and Felix trudging over to join us. The paramedic from earlier came back over and helped Colton to his feet, assisting him to the aid car even though he didn't want to leave us.

"Take your boy to an urgent care," Felix advised, gesturing to Cayden. "The rest of us will head back and get the other cars,"

I nodded, taking Cayden by the shoulders. "Yeah, okay," I said softly.

We all filed out of the warehouse, trudging through the snow to where the car was waiting, the ambulances already long gone.

"Eli, keys," I instructed gently. Eli shifted Javi and fished the car keys from his pocket, handing to them me. Cayden tried to reach out for Calvin as we walked away but I nudged him forward anyway. I knew how much the triplets hated to be split up, but I had to do what needed to be done.

"Text me everything," I told Xander over my shoulder.

"I will," he promised. "Meet us there as soon as you can,"

"We will," I helped Cayden into the car before climbing in myself and speeding away.