Kai

Chapter 9

The shrill sound of the phone ringing had both of us jumping, me crying in pain, and her screaming again. The car swerved and when my head hit the window, a profuse amount of apologies followed by "shit- fuck, I'm sorry, what!?"
She answered the phone and I shook my head, I was so, so, tired but I couldn't fall asleep. How can I truly trust her? At least if I'm awake I know I won't be given sleep gas or anything. I swallowed thickly and felt as I was slowly fading in and out. I couldn't even focus on the conversation at hand.
It wasn't until I had a really, really great- terrible- idea. I closed my eyes for a second apologizing to myself before I took my left hand and placed it over my wound. I took a deep breath, biting the inside of my lip and squeezed lightly with my first two fingers directly over the wound.
I hissed in a breath but steadied myself from jumping so as not to scare her again. The adrenaline shot through my body so fast, my heart raced and I felt like my side was on fire. It was incredibly painful but, I was definitely awake and not falling asleep anytime soon.
She grumbled and made some noise of agreement before hanging up and sighing/ yelling at nothing in general.
"I can't leave my caaaAAaar" she yelled tearfully and I silently raised a questioning brow at her. I'd learned to be mostly patient when waiting for someone to tell you something.
Whenever the Doc tried to get me to cooperate with him, he'd give me half information. When I was younger, I'd always trip over myself trying to get him to give me more.
As I aged, I realized what he was doing and, though the urge to do something to please him was always there, I sort of let go of that. I just simply waited and stayed silent until he deemed it a good time to tell me what he wanted/ was talking about.
Apparently, this tactic also worked on this girl- whose name I still don't know. Why do I feel like this is going to be a recurring theme?
Silence stretched out and when I looked over at her she was making a pouting face.
"I'm not gonna cry," she sobbed, "I'm not- no," she shook her head adamantly. "I'm fine, we're fine, it's fine."
I tried to find something to say that would help, but nothing came to mind. When people cried around me, they were taken from the room. I'd never had to deal with it and when I cried...... I mostly just fell asleep in silence. So that wasn't helpful.
Just as I opened my mouth, she spoke again but her voice was shaky and thick with tears. "I'm sorry, I don't wanna cry. I'm so mad, this car is my everything- I can't just leave it!" Tears streamed freely now and I pursed my lips thinking about what she said.
"Why would you have to get rid of the car" I asked quietly, trying to help her through her issue.
"It's just the- ugh!" She yelled and punched the steering wheel in anger. She took a moment to breathe before she spoke again, when she did she was a lot calmer but tears were definitely threatening still. "Jerome said the boss won't allow it," she said the last part in a high voice that cracked.
"Apparently, it's traceable. So I can't have it. This isn't fair!" She punched the steering wheel again and I grimaced just as she cried louder. "Owwwwwww, I think I broke my fucking hand!" There was a shrill ringing sound again as she wailed and cried and I grabbed the phone. The screen said 'Jerome' and had a little picture of sunglasses next to it.
"H-hello?" I answered unsure how to explain to this person that the girl driving me was having a mental breakdown weaving in and out of traffic. I was pretty sure we were going to die at some point.
"So you are alive, good." My stomach dropped at his voice. It was like nothing I'd ever heard before. Kind of low with a gravelly sound to it that turned to velvet with the last word. That shouldn't have sounded as good as it did, I thought in shock.
"Give the phone to the girl," the voice spoke again and my stomach warmed. I felt like I was going to be sick but not in a bad way. "I uh-"
There was a sigh on the other end, "right. We'll come to you, do be sure to wear a seatbelt, yes? Can't have the goods getting damaged." With that, the line went dead and I stared in confusion as the girl drove on.
"What did he say," she asked glumly. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to answer just as something popped up in front of us. "What's that?" I asked looking ahead, the girl made a face and squinted her eyes badly while speaking in a really old sounding voice.
"What's what, I can't see anything." I gave her an incredulous look but instantly turned back to the road when we slammed against something. "No!" She screamed, "not my car! Jerome I swear to fuck I will kick your ass if you take my car from me."
Her voice was angry now as she glared out the windshield and as soon as I looked I shut my eyes. What is going on my mind screamed at me. I couldn't open my eyes to look though. In that second that I did, I saw we were suspended pointing nose first to the ground.
Apparently, I had a new found fear of heights, and learned the girl too had this fear.
She screamed and clung to the steering wheel crying profusely and I sat trying not to shove my fingers in my side greeeeeeat.
"I'm sorry Kai!" I made a groaning sound but decided to swallow past my fear and open my eyes.
When I did, I saw Michaela standing at the front of the car with her right hand outstretched. I focused solely on her not anything else, I knew if I did I'd pass out for sure.
"Sorry, let me just- here," she said and lowered her hand. As she did, I felt us slowly go back to being firmly on the road.
My seatbelt was off in a second and the door was ripped open. Next thing I knew, I was next to Cal and Ryan. "Micki!" Cal called and she came running up, "he's got a wound. I knew he'd been hit. Shit," he ran his hand through his hair as Michaela came toward me.
"Sorry," she said calmly and lifted my shirt. Cal snorted when he saw the makeshift bandage and I turned beet red. I'd forgotten about it, Michaela waved her hand and Cal was ripped from my side.
Ryan made a noise but held me steady as I groaned at the quick pace of everything. "It's not too deep but there definitely is a bullet still in there." She bit on her lip and her brows knitted together as she gently touched the area around the wound.
My vision blurred when she hit one spot and I sucked in my breath. My heart rate spiked and I felt over heated all of the sudden, "oh no." She said fearfully, "Ryan, he's going out!" I felt as Ryan steadied me and I shook my head trying to keep consciousness.
No no no. We cannot fall asleep in front of this many people. Especially not in this open a space. Not gonna happen.
I heard footsteps coming closer through my haze as I looked up I saw the outline of a man. His footsteps stopped beside Michaela and when he spoke I couldn't help but gasp.
"Aw, someone doesn't wanna go out- does he?" His voice was that smooth, gravely, tone from the phone. He chuckled softly before walking up to me and I had to blink to see him. Even then, I still couldn't make much out on him.
I felt as one hand supported my neck from behind and the other tilted my chin up to look at him. "Don't worry lost one," he said lowly looking down at me.
His eyes were a muted blue color and they were wrapped behind dark lashes that seemed to fan out perfectly. I'd never noticed anyone's eyelashes like I did this man. Some people would say he looked feminine but that wasn't it. He looked otherworldly- at least to me.
Though I'd seen plenty of people throughout the years, I'd never actually been up close and personal to anyone.
He chuckled and I saw as something shined in his hand that had been under my chin. I heard as he spit something to the side before he spoke. "Don't worry, you're with the good guys. This is just gonna knock you out so Micki can work on you. Take a nap, you deserve it," with that I felt a sharp pain in my neck that had me gasping and pulling from him.
"Ah ah ah," he said calmly holding me in place. I blinked and felt as my eyelids got heavier and my knees buckled. I suddenly felt like I hadn't slept in years.
"No," I whimpered and saw a look of concern flash across his face before my eyes rolled back. I failed. I fell asleep. Who knows how much time will pass now?