Riley

Chapter 36

Peter POV

A shot is fired and the weight of the man were assisting in walking, gets exceedingly heavier. He grunts as we try to drag his body through the door.

"I thought I heard some finger bones crunching back there. How did he handle a gun?" I ask Riley.

We get the man out the doors and away from harms way.

"Put me down." He says

We let his body loose and slump against he wall. He takes of his mask and his brown face knits in pain.

"Leave me here. I will only slow you all down. " he says solemnly

"If we leave you here with that psycho maniac, you'll die. " I say quickly

He heaves out and struggles for breath. I can't see where he's been hit. Blood starts to pool in his mouth as he gasps for breath. He must've been shot in his back.

"Leave. This is a long hallway, he will have a clear shot of all of you. "

I look to Riley and her eyes are watering up. I can't leave this man here to die. It'll hurt Riley to do so, and he helped us.

I grab him and sling him over my shoulders and start to run down the hall as quick as I can.

Riley and Daniel catch up to me and pass me, his weight slowing me down some. He chokes and sputters as I run and I can feel it running down my bare back.

Riley and Daniel hold the doors open for me to run through, I'm almost there. Riley's eyes go wide and she yells my name.

There's a gunshot, and a bullet hits me in the back of my right calf as I run through the doors. I make a turn so that we're no longer in the gun shot danger area of the hallway.

My leg stings but I keep going until I get to the van. It's still opened from when we were taken inside the building. Daniel hops in the back and helps me as I put the mans body in the back of the van as Riley hops in the driver side and starts the vehicle.

As soon as the doors close Riley speeds off. I smile to myself and chuckle. We made it out with minor injury, and I saved a life. And the duffles are in the van! My leg stings but I ignore it and refocus my attention in the man.

His breathing has gone quiet and my smile fades. I check to see if there is a pulse, but I don't find one.

"You all okay back there?" Riley asks as she hits some bumps.

"We are, but he didn't make it. " Daniel replies.

Riley doesn't respond, but keeps her eyes glued on the road. I start to take my pants off to check my wound.

"Woah, what are you doing?" Daniel asks

"Stripping from my pants. I got shot, man. " I chuckle.

"You alright from that wound?" Daniel asks

"Yea, I'm good."

"Hey, when you fell from the car and landed on the side of your face, your wound healed instantly. you know that right?" Riley asks

"Yea, I noticed. "

I kicked the second pant leg off and examine my wound. The bullet is still lodged in there but the entry hole has started to close and heal itself.

Ever since I saw Riley get wounded by that guy, when he hit her with his gun, when we were in the woods, I have been healing like crazy ever since. Riley slows to a stop.

"Where are we at Riles?" Daniel asks the question I was about to ask.

"My grand fathers house. I don't think it's a coincadence that Michael picked a building that was close to my granddads house. "

"You know he's not...here though right?" I say slowly. I'm not sure how she will react, but surely she remembers her mom saying that he was in the hospital. I contemplate telling her that, but I don't want to sour her mood more by bringing up her mom.

"Yes, but I need to shower and change. And so do you guys if we're going to go into a hospital, or anywhere for that matter. We can't walk around in public bloody." She sighs.

She hops out the van and opens the back doors for us.

"Come on, hurry up. I need to start checking hospitals." She looks at me with sad eyes. "You okay, can you walk?"

"Riley, I'm fine, I promise. " I reply looking her into her eyes.

She breaks the gaze, and Daniel and I climb out the back of the van. My calf stinging in protest at the movements. We walk up the driveway casually to this massive brick house.

"Is your grandmother home?" Daniel asks "or anyone at all?"

"My grandmother passed away from breast cancer about a year and a half ago. There only children are Elisabeth and Lorraine, and we know how that ends. So no, nobody should be here. " she explains sadly.

Riley casually pulls a key from the flower pot near the door and let's us in.

The living room is almost as big as Riley's living room and has a low hanging chandelier. There's a flat screen tv over the built in fire place on the wall to the left. A glass tables sits I the middle of he room and a couch is pushed against the wall across from the door.

"Okay, take your shoes off. Granddad hates a mess. "

I awkwardly step from my dress shoes that I never changed from as Riley takes off her chucks. Daniel steps from his dress shoes and we both look at each other unsure of what to do, as Riley stands still, deep in thought.

"Okay come upstairs, but try not to touch anything because we're all filthy and dirty with blood. " she tells us carefully

We follow Riley up the stairs and make a left into a large room. There's a king sized bed on the right wall and a dresser against the wall opposite from the door. The closet is on the right.

Riley starts to move, but then stops to turn to us.

"You two stay there, I don't need anything dirty. " she demands.

"What is there to get dirty Riley." Daniel chuckles, making me laugh.

She walks past us and down the hall. Water runs seconds later, I assume she is washing her hands.

"Okay. " Riley says with a determined look on her face.

She goes through the closet and pulls out grey joggers. She throws them at me and then pulls out a pair of black joggers and throws them at Daniel.

I examine them, they look clean and rather stylish for an old man to be wearing.

"How old is your granddad?" I ask her, eyeing these joggers.

"63 and was perfectly healthy."

She pulls out two white plain v necks and throws those at us too.

"Daniel go take a shower. Soap, shampoo, conditioner, towels and everything is already in there. "

Daniel leaves and I hear the door shut and the water come on. Riley walks over to me and throws her arms around my neck and looks into my eyes.

"Peter, I think you should go, it'll be much safer for you. Take Daniel with you. I'm not...good for yo-"

I cut her off with a kiss and kiss her like life depends on it. She depends the kiss and our tongues fight for dominance. How dare she even begin to think that way. I break the kiss

"Riley, I'll never leave you. These bullets can't hurt me...well they can. But I will heal in like an hour or so. I can protect you."

She looks down and I pull tip her chin back up so I can look into her eyes. "even if bullets could injure me and take my life...id never leave. "

I kiss her face. "Riley I'm in love with you."