WE ALL DIE ▸ NICK CLARK

vii. at risk youth

The soldiers had taken our car, but Alicia and Chris were okay. I look around and see Ofelia sitting on the floor.

"Hey." I sit at Ofelia's side.

"Why are you with them? Where's your family?" She asks me and I look away.

"My brother jumped in front of a train when I was fourteen, my mother died three years ago, and my father... well... he has his own family. Nick and his family are everything I have." I look back at her. "I know what you're going through."

"How did she die?" She asks and I take a deep breath unable to not answer her question due to what just happened to her.

"She was an addict. She overdose." I tell her and she keeps not looking at me.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's okay."

"Does it get better?"

"No..." I confess "You learn to live with it tho. You have to. If you don't you'll end up like them." I whisper and start to feel tears approaching my eyes so I swallow them. "Common, let's get out of here" I get up and give her my hand for her to hold, and she does.

"Salazar and Perez." We hear someone say and both I and Daniel look from where the voice came from.

The fucking soldier. For fuck's sake!

He's pointing the gun at me and I'm trying my best to keep calm but nothing it's fucking working.

"Andy?" Ofelia asks. "You don't need to do this."

"Hey... man, put it down. Don't do this..." Nick says as I feel like he's about to pull the damn trigger.

"She stuck a fork into my hand! Multiple times. And almost toke my eyes off. He cut me!" Andrew said looking between me and Daniel.

"Look, I'm really sorry about that. Not my finest moments. Now, put it down." I say unable to keep my fucking mouth shut for three seconds.

As I say this the guy shoots the gun but Nick hit's him making him shoot into my side. But the man shoots again, this time into Ofelia's shoulder. Oh, I'm a fucking lucky gal. First my rib. Now my side. On the same side for fuck's sake!

"Kat!" Nick screams and runs towards me. While Travis gets on top of the man and starts pushing the living shit out of him. "Hey, hey, look at me." He tells me as he puts his hand on my wound and I scream in pain.

"Oh my god," Alicia says as she joins the party, replacing Nick's hands and putting pressure on my wound making me scream again.

He has his blood-covered hands on my face keeping me from falling asleep and Maddie starts doing the same thing Alicia is doing.

"Common! Look at me, Kat!" He says as a tear runs down my face.

I'm gonna die. I know it. I didn't expect that it would be a bullet killing me but maybe it will.

"I said you're not dying today." I smile at him as more tears fell.

"Shh..." He tells me as a tear falls down his face, "You're not dying."

"We have to go! She's bleeding out!" Alicia screams as she puts pressure on the wound once again making me scream in pain.

"Travis. Let him be. We have to go. They can't wait." Maddie says to him talking about both me and Ofelia.

The next thing I see is black. Pinch black. It hurts, it hurts so much. My rib because I shouldn't walk, and I most definitely shouldn't run. And the gunshot wound. Fuck this.

"Hey..." I wake up at the sound of Nick's voice and the feeling of a hand on my arm. "Good morning." he says noticing I woke up

I try to move but I can't. It hurts too much.