Sixty Seconds

Chapter Twenty

AN: Okay, I am soooo sorry I haven't updated in ages but my laptop died and I hate our family computer. I also have exams next Thursday so there may not be another for a while. Oh and guys, mind checking out my other story Rain? Thanks. Please vomment, fan, add to library, all that good stuff that keeps me writing/cramming for exams. 

Jessica

I felt numb. For a few confusing and disorientating seconds I had no idea where I was or how I'd gotten there. Then it all flooded back and my eyes snapped open. The car was a mess, anything that hadn't been secured had been thrown across the bullet infested interior of the scrap metal that used to be a car. Delicate wisps of smoke curls up from the engine, fading into the air as they rose. It only took me a few seconds to take this in before I tried to turn my head to Carter. I couldn't.

I knew I hadn't seriously damaged anything, or I would be in a hell of a lot more pain but I was going to have a rainbow face for a few days to come. I could move my neck slightly, which sent relief flooding through me. It was only bad whiplash. I pushed the deployed air bag out of my way and reached down to my seatbelt, fumbling for a few seconds before I pressed down hard enough and it slid dutifully back to it's original position.

I stayed still for a minute, trying to fight of the overwhelming tiredness that was suddenly upon me as I whispered.

“Carter?” My voice cracked, and I needed water. I waited with eyes closed for Carter to reply but no noise came from the drivers seat. I peeled my eyes open, panic beginning to rise in my throat, speeding up my heartbeat and making my breathing shallow. I gradually began to turn my whole body, checking continually for broken bones. I caught my reflection in the almost intact wing mirror. Purple bruises were already beginning to pattern my face and blood trickled out of a long gash over my eyebrow. Apart from that I was fine, most of the glass having hit the air bag.

I finished my turn and gasped, nearly choking on shock and tears. Carter's air bag hadn't deployed and it was obvious he'd smashed his head against the now bent steering wheel as dried blood had dried under his nose and the dried river had dripped onto his legs, making ugly stains on the black of his trousers. It had been a massive nosebleed but his nose didn't look broken but under the layers of blood it was hard to tell. His body was straight but his head had lolled towards me. Cuts patterned his face and he had an massive bruise forming on his forehead. I pulled a piece of glass from his forehead. Blood still flowed freely from his bullet wound. Refusing to panic, I lifted two of my fingers and put them at his neck. At first I felt nothing, then I felt a faint pulse, I smiled and thanked God.

I knew I had to stop the wound on his arm bleeding. It was the arm further away from me, and I would have to climb on top of him to get to it. I hoped none of his legs were broken. Moving slowly and carefully I shifted my weight from my seat to Carter's lap. One leg on either side. I looked around quickly, taking care not to strain my neck, there was nothing to stop the bleeding that I could see. I sighed quietly in frustration. Then I realised I had a t-shirt on under my shirt. I unbuttoned it quickly, pulling it off my aching shoulders. Blood soaked the shirt as I pulled it tight round his arm, I tied it as tight as my weak arms could manage. I saw the blow flow slow down and sighed again with relief. I reached in again to check his pulse.

“You're considerably closer than I last remember” Carter informed me jokingly. His voice faint and crackly like mine, but it was definitely his.

“Carter!” I squeaked and threw my arm round him. He jerked in pain. Grunting slightly as my hand hit his arm. He looked at me painfully. “Sorry” I mumbled, removing my hands from around his neck.

“I should nearly die more often, If this is the welcome I get” He told me, Grimacing. I climbed back off him and sat in my own seat. I leant back against the headrest, and closed my eyes slightly. Carter didn't move.

There was a tap on the window, I jumped and turned my whiplashed neck too quickly. A firefighter stared back at me.

“You guys alright?” He shouted through the glass.

I nodded, he turned and lifted one of those things that lift the doors of the car off. The door was off within a minute. Someone else moved to Carters side as an oxygen mask was placed over my mouth.

“She's in shock” A paramedic said, checking my pulse and shining a light in my eyes. I turned to see Carter standing, although well supported at his side of the car. He smiled weakly at me before being ordered by a paramedic to lie down on the stretcher. Another car screeched to a halt beside the ambulance as the paramedic sat me down on the steps to the ambulance.

“Jessica? Carter?” I heard Miss Harper call. She and Joshua appeared at the side of the ambulance. I blinked a few times as they blocked the sun. Relief was clear on their faces. “You scared us there” She said, leaning a hand on the ambulance door. She glanced back at the wreck of the car, then looked back, wiping a small frown off her face.

“I don't need to be lying down, I've been shot in the arm, not the heart. God, I hate ambulances.” Carters complaints drifted to us from inside the ambulance.

“I see Carter is fine” Miss Harper smiled. The smile drifted off her face slowly and she asked. “Carter was shot?”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Harper looked like she was about to say more but then she was interrupted by the paramedic insisting that we needed to be taken to hospital immediately.