A Single Shot

4

A hot flash of pain. That's all Erin felt. She fell into the wall, which was probably the only thing keeping her upright. She she held onto her gun although she knew there was no way on earth she'd be able to get off a clear shot. Still, she held onto it as if it were a life line. Ironic, right? Guns were meant to take lives not save them. This is what went through her head as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. Everything was moving in slow motion. The rest of the unit was rising from their crouched positions and ducking behind the auditorium chairs, pointing their weapons up to the balcony. Another bang. Erin turned her head and saw Voight yelling something at her. And then, everything sped up, almost as if for a spilt second everything was being fast forwarded to make up for lost time and everything hit her at once.

"Get down!"  Voight's gravelly voice yelled at her. Erin complied, dropping into a squat, her hand between her legs balancing her but keeping her ready to pop up at any moment, the adrenaline numbing the pain in her chest to a dull throb. She knew she had been shot, but assumed the vest had taken the bullet. She stayed in that position for what seemed like hours but was really only a few minutes. A few more shots were exchanged between the shooter and Intelligence until a shot from Antonio's gun hit it's mark. The auditorium was silent as the unit listened, making sure the shooter was down before moving out of their cover. The adrenaline was slowly wearing off and Erin began to feel the pain in her chest. With every breath the pain increased until it was almost excruciating.  She looked at the rest of the unit and realized they hadn't noticed that she had been hit. She stood slowly, grabbing the wall when the room started to spin. She looked up when she heard footsteps coming towards her. 

"Erin, what the hell do you think you were doing?" Voight asked, fuming. 

"It- I- everything" she stammered, not able to form a sentence.

"I don't want excuses, Erin, you know better than to ignore a direct order!" Voigt yelled. 

"Hank, I-" she started to apologize when the room started spinning again. She reached out and grabbed his arm to keep herself from falling over. 

"Erin?" Voight asked, the previous anger replaced by concern. He grabbed her shoulder to stabilize her  and looked at her face. 

"You okay?" He asked, still confused as to why Erin looked like she was about to faint. He looked down, his heart dropping to his stomach when he saw blood seeping out from behind her vest and everything clicked.

"Oh my God Erin, were you hit?" He asked grabbing her other shoulder to look her in the eye. Erin just nodded, blinking her eyes and letting out a wheeze. At this point, the rest of the unit had noticed that something wasn't right and had made their way over. Voight looked over his shoulder.

"Get an EMT in here now!" He ordered to no one in particular. He and Jay grabbed Erin by her upper arms and carefully lowered her to the ground, propping her up against the wall. They had her vest off in seconds, the sight before them making them all gasp. Her entire shirt was covered in blood. 

"Oh my God Erin" Jay muttered, taking off his jacket to use as a towel. He handed it to Voight who was  trying to see where the bullet had hit. 

"I-I though my vest- had taken it" Erin wheezed. Antonio had taken the vest from them and looked at the bullet hole in the black material. 

"The bullet went through the Kevlar" he said in disbelief, kneeling down in front of Erin, taken aback by how pale her face had grown in such a short period of time. 

"Don't go to sleep Erin, okay? You gotta stay with me until the paramedics come. Keep breathing" Voight said, pushing the towel into the bullet wound. Erin groaned and pulled away from the pressure, closing her eyes. She felt a hand under her neck, checking her pulse and a voice telling her something, but she couldn't make out what. A sharp pain on her cheek forced her to open her eyes again, finding Voight. She saw Jay to her left and tried to ignore the worried look on his face. She turned to back to Voight. 

"Thank you" she muttered, her eyes slipping closed.

"No, Erin. Stay with me" He said, desperately feeling for a pulse. Before he could say anything else, a paramedic grabbed his arm and gently pushed him out of the way before moving in and blocking his view.