Island of Stoicheía

Chapter II

Jackson, Kieran and Torrence raid Ruby's house.

The boom of the explosion made his ears ring. He hadn't gotten there in time, and he started to worry for her life.

It wasn't that Oliver had feelings for her. He just cared for people's safety. He watched as she flew back from the impact of the explosion. He watched her hit her head on the cement surrounding the park. He saw everything.

And everything seemed to watch him.

He felt pieces of shrapnel fly into his arm and his side. It hurt like crazy, and he almost fell to his knees. It felt like time had slowed as he made the decision to risk his own health for hers, and everyone else's. He dashed to see if she was still breathing. When he got to her side he felt for her pulse. It was slow, but still beating. He saw as Kieran came to his side almost automatically after he found it.

"Hold her up, I need to feel the back of her head, and I don't want to injure her neck anymore than it might be." Kieran said, and it seemed that he knew more than they thought he did. But Oliver did what Kieran had told him to do, not wanting to argue right now. He shivered when he heard her shallow breathing, and looked to Kieran frantically. He cursed under his breath, knowing he couldn't move her, or her injuries would get worse.

Kieran intensely scanned the back of her head, feeling around. Aaron and Jackson showed up now, and Jackson seemed even more frantic than Oliver. Both were injured. Jackson hade a bad cut on his arm, and his other arm was burned from the heart of the explosion. Aaron had a cut on his forehead that was just thin enough that it bled like crazy, probably blurring his eyesight. He had a cut on his leg as well, and it was deep. Oliver was surprised he had made it without collapsing in pain.

Jackson's eyes widened. He covered his mouth when he saw her blood stained face. She must've been cut by a flying piece of debris because there was a thin but rapidly bleeding cut on her forehead, kind of like Aaron's, that Oliver hadn't noticed before.

Jackson shook his head with denial. "No..." He said, a single tear rolled down his cheek, and over his hand.

"Don't worry! Sh-She's alive- but, she needs medical attention.. fast." Oliver told Jackson, and he immediately knew where to go.

"Ruby's mother has this massive first-aid kit at their home." Jackson thought out loud, and started heading to the front of the school where he would go to her home.

"Wait!" Torrence called after them, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. "You can't go alone, and it must be too far to save her in time." He said, grabbing Jackson's shoulder. Surprisingly, he seemed barely hurt. Maybe it was because he was on the far side of the field at the time.

Jackson turned around, his sad expression had suddenly turned into a weak smirk. "You'd be surprised." He said, and dashed away, Torrence chasing after him. Kieran grumbled with frustration.

"Look, Oliver. She has a concussion. I'm gonna leave my sweater under her head as a pillow. You can put her down, but make sure she doesn't move much. I've gotta go with them; they don't know what they need to grab and I don't think they can hold an entire first aid kit that big over here without one or two breaks. Trust me." Kieran informed Oliver, and before he could reply, Kieran was already turning around the corner.

Oliver sighed and laid Ruby's head on the pillow. He felt her flinch as her head touched the pillow, but once she was down she was fine.

"Look who's helping out." Aaron said from behind him. It didn't really surprise Oliver at all, but he turned around anyways. Matt was just behind him. For once, all of them looked a little shaken up and scared, and they couldn't hide it.