Kidnapped By Johnnie and Jake

Payback

Who on earth was Bryanstars?

"I told you I'd get you back one day!" yelled Bryan as he approached slowly, visibly struggling to walk with his wounds.

Johnnie crossed his arms and watched, in a confused manner, as Bryan got nearer. "So, you were behind all this?" he asked in a disappointed tone.

"Yeah! Impressed?" replied Bryan.

"No..." said Johnnie.

By this point, Bryan was about ten yards from us. "I told you I'd get you back, even if it was the last thing I ever did!" he exclaimed.

Johnnie laughed a little. "Bryan, your gang is basically all dead now because of this, because of your choices. You haven't got me back at all."

Bryan whipped his hand out of his pocket, and I heard the sound before I felt the pain. A booming gunshot first, and then a warm pain exuding from my chest. "Now I have," Bryan corrected, with a wide, crazy smile spreading across his face.

Before I even had time to react myself, Johnnie took a gun from his back pocket and shot Bryan back as many times as the gun allowed, even after Bryan had collapsed on the ground, until the chamber was completely empty, and no more bullets came out.

Then, Johnnie turned to me as I grasped my chest. Without a second thought, he helped me onto the ground, so that we were sat down, with me between his legs, leaning into him weakly. I remember, even in excruciating pain, on the brink of death...taking pleasure being in Johnnie's grasp. I took in the feeling of his arms around me, of his chest as I put all my weight on it, of his voice as he murmured that I would be okay, that Jake would be there for us in a minute.

My shirt was soaked already. I took one glance down at my chest and, upon seeing the blood, my ears began to ring. I knew that sensation—it meant I was about to faint. First, it was always the ringing ears, then came the colourful, distorted vision...until nothing.

*

I woke up late that night in a cold, hard bed, and when I opened my eyes, I realised it was a familiar place. Isaac's hospital.

I looked beside me and saw a familiar face, too. Johnnie's. He was still awake, even during this dark hour.

"Johnnie," I whispered.

"Brooke. Are you okay?"

"I don't know...what happened?"

"We took down Andrew's gang. You shot down one of their cars, then I totalled another. A guy I know survived, and he came over and shot you, to get me back."

I nodded as I recalled these memories.

"Remember when my ex said someone else was behind the gang? It must've been Bryan," Johnnie continued. "But, how are you feeling?"

"I can't tell, to be honest," I said, trying to sit up, but then feeling a sharp pain in my chest as I did so.

"Sit down." He paused. "Isaac said you had enough breast tissue to take the impact," he said, and I could tell from his eyes that he wanted to smile at that.

"Nice..." I said. "Have you spoke to Jake? Have you been to the house?"

"Jake picked us up off the freeway. Why?"

"Because I want to know how Tara is."

"I don't know...however the fuck she normally is."

"I'm scared, Johnnie."

"Why?"

"Jake has dumped her...or ditched her...however you'd describe it. He's with Kaycee now, he doesn't wanna know Tara anymore. I'm scared he's gonna kill her or something...dispose of her."

"You need to think about yourself right now. You've been shot."

Johnnie's evasive response sent me into a panic. It made it seem like he was avoiding the subject, like something had happened. I sat up suddenly, ignoring the pain. "He hasn't, has he?!"

"I don't fucking know, I haven't asked him about Tara! Now calm the fuck down."

"You're telling me you don't know if my best friend is dead or not, and you want me to just calm down?" I realised that I'd referred to Tara as my best friend. In just a week, she'd soared above Kaycee, whom I'd known forever. I guess it kinda showed what type of friend Kaycee really was to me.

"Stop yelling or I'll tell Isaac to put you under," threatened Johnnie.

"Ugh." I rolled my eyes. "Can you just find out, though? Call Sam and ask him if Tara's okay?"

"Why can't I just call Jake?"

"Because, if you mention it to him, the idea might prompt him to kill her if he hasn't already."

To my surprise, Johnnie actually did as I requested, and woke Sam up by ringing him to ask if he could check on Tara. Sam went down into the basement and let me speak with her for a while. She'd been worried out of her mind for me when I hadn't come back down to the basement after going to the toilet. She was just as relieved to hear from me as I was to hear from her.

After the phone call was over, Johnnie leaned onto my bed and ran his hand through my hair. He said quietly, "You know, if you really want to protect Tara, why don't you kill Kaycee?"

"What?! You're crazy!"

"Tara's the second best thing to Kaycee. Jake would go straight back to her."

"You know nothing about me if you think I'd ever consider doing that for even a second."

Johnnie smiled at my defiance. "I didn't expect you to. It was just a suggestion."

It was quiet for a few moments, and then he took my soft hand into his strong one, one that had shot, fought, and killed so many people.

I fell back to sleep like that, with Johnnie in the chair beside me. It was ironic, and I felt quite guilty, because when Johnnie had been lying in that same bed, with a gunshot wound infected in his stomach, I'd left him there. I'd taken one glance at him, and left without saying goodbye, without giving him any thought, asides from the joy I felt that I had control of walking away from him. But, now that I was in that position, Johnnie waited beside me, and slept with his hand around mine.

*

When I awoke in the actual morning, I overheard Johnnie and Isaac speaking. My mind was still foggy from sleep, but I caught this much of their conversation:

"It's not like you to come all this way to save a girl," said Isaac.

"I know," said Johnnie.

"She seemed unlike the other bitches when I spoke to her last time she was here. I could tell she wasn't in it for the money, or the power, or the sex."

"That's because she doesn't wanna be in it at all. I'm forcing her."

Isaac was quiet for a moment. "I think she's in it for you."

"No," said Johnnie.

"I saw the way she looked at you last time when she left with Jake. There's something there, man."

"The night before that, she told me she could never love someone like me. And then she tried to run away."

"Why do you keep her?" asked Isaac. "Why don't you let her die?"

"She's killing me. I've never cared about anyone like I care about her."