Make It Out Alive

Chapter 4

James stayed still beside Jake for a minute longer, tracing his thumb slowly over the smoothed back hair at his temple. Closing his eyes while he said a silent prayer, he kissed his temple again gently. "Please, Jake," he pleaded softly, pushing himself up slowly. Looking up at the window, he felt beyond defeated at the distance between him and the ledge. "I can't reach. Danny isn't leaving, why doesn't he have to leave?" He questioned loudly, his voice broken through his tears despite trying to reach the frame of the window. Dropping his arms back down when he couldn't reach, he hung his head quickly, covering his face with his bloody hands.

The exchange was breaking Cameron's heart more and more by the second. Looking back at Sam and the crew, he reached back to put Sam's hands over his ankles, ignoring the shooting pain when it was touched. "Don't let go," he instructed, keeping his eyes focused on Sam. "No matter what happens, what's said or any screams, no matter what, do not let go." He laid on his stomach, breathing slowly to calm himself while he carefully lowered the top half of his body to hang over the edge of the window, reaching for James' hands. "I need you to help me, James. Climb on anything you can. We need Danny to help get Jake out, but we need you out here," he tried to reason with him, grabbing for his wrists when James reached up again, struggling to get his footing against the leather couch. Cameron gripped his wrists tightly, pulling him up with the help of what traction he could get. There was a sharp, splitting pain in his side, but he pushed through it until James' hands were outside the window with crew waiting to pull him up with extra leverage.

Once James was safely out of the bus, Cameron pushed himself up again, turning back to Sam once more. "Are you sure you're okay?" He questioned again, moving his hand to lay against Sam's cheek momentarily. Leaning closer to kiss him quickly, he took a deep breath, dropping his legs through the window again. "I need light," he instructed, passing off the flashlight to the first hand he came in contact with to shine it into the bus. Pushing himself to drop down into the bus again, he moved as quickly as he could, finding the coffee table to turn it upright again. Moving into the hallway, he knelt beside Danny, laying his hand between his shoulder blades. "Danny? Danny the medics are on the way to help Ben, but I need your help to get Jake out of here," he requested softly.

Sam did as instructed, keeping his hands wrapped tightly around his ankles. He took several deep breaths, thankful his reasoning seemed to have worked since James was getting out. He let out a sigh of relief when James was pulled out, his eyes slipping closed for a moment until he heard Cameron's voice again. "I'm fine, baby" he said softly, bringing his hands up to cup either side of cams face "please be careful" he started, leaning in to whisper against his ear "I can't lose you. You hear me?" He asked, nodding as he headed back inside the bus. Keeping close to the door, he wrapped his arms around James, lightly running across his back "everything's going to be okay mate" he said softly "I promise"

Danny looked up slowly, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand when he heard the guitarist. He nodded as he pressed a kiss to Ben's lips, "I'll be back baby. I promise. We're going to get you out of here" he got up slowly, shaking his head as he looked down at jake, then back to Cameron. "He doesn't look good, Cameron" he said, tears continuing to slide down his cheek. He glanced back at Ben once more, speaking softly "how are we going to do this?" He asked as he turned to Cameron once more.

Cameron nodded quickly to assure Sam silently that he'd be careful before he moved back into the bus. Looking to Danny, then to Ben, he moved his hand down to Danny's wrist, tugging it lightly. "I know, I know, but we need to get Jake out so they can get in here to help him," he reasoned quickly, thinking very little of the situation through, trying to act as quickly as possible. He looked back at Jake, then the table. "We're going to move him onto the table, then lift the entire thing up to keep him stable. Everyone's up there to help, so we just need to get it up and over our heads so they can reach." In his head it made perfect sense. With Danny's height and his own, coupled with the added inches from the legs of the table, there was no reason it couldn't work. Moving to Jake's head, he slid his arms under his shoulders, bracing his head against his arms to keep it still. "On three," he instructed, counting off slowly to lift Jake up and off the floor as he hit three, moving quickly to settle him gently on the surface of the coffee table. Standing up straight again, he looked back to Danny before nudging the leg with his foot. "Let's lift from the legs so there's another added foot." Moving back to grab the base of the legs, he waited until Danny was ready to count off again, carefully and slowly lifting the table up and over his head until his arms were extended, trembling and weak while blood seeped down his side from the shard of glass that pierced through his shirt and into the skin, unnoticed as of yet.

James leaned against Sam's chest, shaking violently while he gripped the front of his shirt tightly, eyes wavering while he tried to keep them open, though he was failing quickly. He felt like he'd pass out at any second, and as Jake's body was raised from the bus, it only got worse. He looked so much worse in the beam of the flashlight, and the severity hit him all at once, eliciting another loud cry while he started toward him, blocked by Sam's hold on him.

Danny followed Cameron's instructions, carefully lifting jakes body onto the table. He nodded as he knelt down slightly, grabbing the table legs. He waited until three to lift the table, extending his arms up and over his head. He released a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding in once jake was safely outside. He was about to go back to Ben when he noticed Cameron's side. "Cam, your side is bleeding" he said, carefully lifting Cameron's shirt to reveal the piece of glass sticking out his side. "Fuck" he mumbled, suddenly concerned for Cameron's safety too. Hearing the faint sound of an ambulance in the back he turned to Ben. "Get out of here. Get that checked out. I'm staying with Ben"

Sam tried his best to comfort James while keeping his own emotions under control. His mouth dropped and eyes widened when he saw jake. He knew the situation was bad, just didn't realize quite how bad he truly was. He kept his arms around the drummer, until he heard the ambulance and saw the paramedics running up to them. "There's 3 still inside. One is unconscious with what could be a head injury" he told them

Cameron glanced down when Danny reached for his shirt, the physicality of the situation having likely exacerbated the wound. Suddenly lightheaded at the sight of it, he shook his head slightly. Torn between rejoining Sam and staying with Danny, he glanced back up toward the opening, a little unsure of whether or not he'd actually make it back up. Looking back to Danny, he shook his head again. "I'm not leaving you down here alone," he assured him, moving closer to Ben, scared to look. He exhaled a relieved sigh when he heard the rush of the paramedics, moving his hand up and through his hair while he started to feel a little weaker from the attention being drawn to the glass in his side. Grabbing quickly onto the door frame, he looked up as the paramedics flooded the scene, dropping in one by one and immediately pushing past them toward Ben. Cameron grabbed for Danny's wrist, tugging him toward the lounge again. "Danny, we need to move, we need to give them space," He reminded him softly.