Purge (Larry Stylinson au)

Chapter 17

Almost as soon as the gunfight starts, Zayn gets shot.

The bullet from the trooper hits him in the shoulder, right above his collarbone. He cries out in pain and collapses to the ground. Liam shouts his name, turning to shoot the trooper that did it in the chest. As soon as he does, he runs to Zayn's side.

Zayn seems to be okay, though. His shoulder is bleeding, and his face is screwed up in pain, but he's conscious and alive.

"Can you stand?" Liam asks.

Zayn nods, getting to his feet shakily. While he does, Niall sends another grenade in the direction of the Purge soldiers. Louis's pulled out one of his pistols, ducking behind a tree to shield Darcy in his arms, but he shoots at troopers from around the trunk. He never misses.

Harry runs over to Louis, dodging a bullet. He grabs Darcy from his boyfriend.

"Go fight, I'll take care of her," he says.

Louis nods and kisses Harry quickly. "Okay, I love you."

"Love you more."

"Impossible."

As Louis runs out from behind the tree, shooting down three troopers in two seconds, Harry rushes over to Ella, who's hiding behind a bush. Occasionally she'll pop out to try to shoot a trooper, but usually she misses.

"Take her," he says, handing the crying baby to his friend. "Take her, and get Zayn, and help them get out of here. I think there's a cave just over the hill; go there. We'll buy you some time."

"What?" Ella protests, looking at him with wide eyes. "You can't be separated from Darcy."

"Nothing's going to happen to me, I promise. But I don't think Niall, Louis, and Liam alone can handle all those soldiers. Zayn needs to get out, and we can't have Darcy in a gunfight either. And no offense, but you're not exactly a great soldier, it would be better if you just got them out of here."

Ella nods. "Okay."

Harry's glad that that's all the convincing it takes. Ella runs over to where Liam is helping Zayn to his feet. Niall's somewhere in front of them, lobbing grenade after grenade at the troopers, taking them down two or three at a time. Louis's using both his guns to shoot them down with deadly, consistent accuracy. 

Harry watches as Ella, Zayn, and Darcy escape, running up the hill as fast as they can. He smiles a little when they get to the top, making it over the crest.

His attention is drawn by a bullet whizzing past his ear. 

Harry whips around to see a trooper approaching him, aiming another shot at his head. Harry races up to him and grabs the gun in his hand, ripping it out of his grasp. The trooper looks at him in shock. 

"Not so tough now, huh?" Harry snarls. He tugs the trooper closer to him and punches him in the face. The trooper stumbles, but regains himself soon, advancing on Harry. Okay, Harry thinks. We're doing the fist-fight thing.

He dodges a punch the trooper throws at him, grabbing his arm and pulling him off balance. The trooper shouts and tries to catch Harry in a chokehold, but Harry escapes quickly. He's been training with Louis as much as he can ever since his last fight with the Purge. He's no longer out of practice. This should be a breeze. 

Harry twists out of the troopers grasp, bending his arm back at a painful angle, making him scream. Harry smirks and draws one of his knives. He kicks the back of the trooper's legs, making him fall to the ground. Kicking him onto his back, Harry pins him to the ground with his foot and holds the knife against his throat.