KIDS. tmr, minho.

Chapter nine.

Leo coughed and spluttered, keeling over. AJ dropped Minho's hand and rushed forward, falling to her knees beside her best friend. 

"Leo, hey look at me-"

"AJ-" He started, tears rolling down his face. 

"Hey, what's up" She smiled, trying not to let the boy see her visible panic. 

"You have to... you have to go- AJ-"

"Sh- just talk to me, we can help you-" 

"No AJ- you can't-"

"Leo," She whispered, placing her hands on his face. "We're going to get you help, okay? You have to tell me how long you've been like this-"

"It was- was when we met Brenda," He whispered, "I pushed Teresa back- I got scratched."

"Okay, okay. It's going to be fine-" AJ looked up to see that Harriet and Sonya had their guns raised as they pushed the rest of the teenagers and Jorge away from the scene. 

"The Right Arm can help him, right?" She asked as Leo lay in her arms. 

Harriet looked to Aris in disbelief. "No. He's too far gone- I'm sorry-"

"No- they need to help him, that's what the Right Arm is, no? They're supposed to help us-"

"AJ-" Minho muttered, stepping forward. 

"No- no." She continued, trying to convince the group that Leo could in fact be saved, he had to be, right? There was no way they were just going to leave him! "We can just-" Tears had begun rolling down her face. "We can fix this!" 

"AJ, I need you to look at me." Jorge whispered, "You need to move now." 

Looking down she saw it, Leo was gone. In his place was a boy with bloodshot eyes and black liquid running down his chin. The girl froze. As much as she hated it, she just froze. How was she supposed to run away from the boy she had known for as long as she could remember? The boy who played hide and seek with her and who cooked her bacon extra crispy because he knew she liked it that way. The boy who stayed up with her when she couldn't sleep and who was a flower girl with her at a wedding within the Sanct. How was she supposed to scream and attack the boy who trusted her with all of his secrets and she trusted him with hers? That was impossible, even for AJ to do. So, she froze. 

Leo- no, the crank roared tackling AJ, spitting and screaming in her face as she just sobbed. Her body shook as she attempted to fight him off. "Leo- no- Leo this isn't-" She cried, pushing the boy as hard as she could. 

She just couldn't fight him, she had no strength to fight her best friend. His eyes stared down at her, they were still his eyes. All AJ could think about was who he was, not this monster. The crank snapped and clawed at her while she just sobbed and cried, repeating his name over and over.

Minho ran forward pushing the crank off of his girlfriend and wrapping his arms around her, restraining her. 

A gunshot then rang out. 

"No!" AJ cried, her body lurching forward. Choking out sobs, she clawed at Minho's arms. "Let go of me!" She cried, throwing herself as hard as possible, doing anything to be at Leo's side. 

She finally ripped her way out of her boyfriend's arms and fell to Leo's side. 

His eyes were innocent once more. AJ just stared at him in disbelief. Her best friend tried to kill her and now he was dead. This wasn't his fault- this wasn't fair. She slowly lifted her hand and placed it on his face, clenching her eyes shut she let the tears roll down her face.