The Fast Lane

Chapter 40

Harry fell on across the couch and onto the floor in front of me, hitting his head on the table as he fell.  I winced at the *THUD* and stared at his body for a moment, completely shocked and dazed. 

Caleb’s voice erupted once more in the room as he shouted my name over and over. “TRIS! TRIS, TOSS ME YOUR GUN!” I looked across the room until I saw Caleb crouched behind a chair, yelling at me.  I shifted my gaze to look at Rich. He was standing where he had been before, pointing his gun at Harry as Harry laid at my feet.  I glanced down at him, unconscious, and noticed that there was blood beginning to seep through his plaid shirt near his right shoulder. 

Seeing the blood coming from Harry set something off in me.  Instead of throwing my gun to Caleb, I jumped over Harry and snatched my gun off of the table, immediately turning to shoot the guard standing behind Rich.  Rich backed up as I ran toward him and raised his own gun, aiming right for my chest.  Before he could pull the trigger, I shot him in the hand.  His gun fell from his fingers.

Rich stumbled backward, shouting out in agony and then falling to the floor.  He reached for his gun with his good hand, but I shot it before he could close his fingers around the weapon. I swallowed hard as I saw blood splatter onto his cream colored suit. I walked closer and stood over Rich as he rolled around on the ground in pain. 

I heard a deep groan come from Harry and immediately ran to him, lifting his head onto my lap and brushing some of the hair from his face. “Harry? Harry, look at me.” He opened his eyes and looked up at me, his green eyes dark. 

I peeled back his shirt and looked at the dark blood that was lightly flowing from the hole in his shoulder.  He reached up to touch my face as a tear fell from my eyes. “Am I dead? Because I’m looking at an angel.” 

I giggled through my tears and reached for his hand on my cheek, relieved that he was at least okay enough to use a corny line on me. “Why would you jump in front of me like that?” I whispered seriously. 

"I have to fight for you. I will always fight for you. Or in this case, protect you," he said, chuckling weakly and moving his shoulder a little bit.  I furrowed my brow when he winced.

Caleb moved around the room to us and looked at Harry’s wound. “Hospital? Or you want me to try and get it out?” 

Harry chewed his lip, thinking about his two options. My eyes widened at him. “You need to go to the hospital!” 

Harry raised his eyebrows and laughed lightly.  ”Love, Caleb has been shot like, 40 times. He’s an expert at getting bullets out.” 

"Get this bullet out," a voice growled from across the room.  Rich had sit up and managed to pick up the gun through the pain of having both his hands shot.  His face was filled with furry as he pointed the gun straight at Harry’s face. Almost instinctively, I scooped up my gun from the floor next to me and shot at Rich, closing my eyes right before it hot and spiraling bullet hit him in the forehead. 

I turned my head to look back at Harry before I opened my eyes.  He was staring over in Rich’s direction, eyes wide and suddenly beginning to glow a little bit more.  Caleb was staring over at Rich as well.  Neither of them said anything for a while.  Harry finally looked back at me, and I felt Caleb put a comforting hand on my shoulder. 

"I’m sorry that took so long…" I whispered.  Harry grinned and shook his head, reaching up to me and pulling my lips down to his own for an upside-down kiss.  I pulled away after a moment and put my hands on either side of Harry’s face. "Can we please leave?" 

Caleb knew some people who could clean up the whole mess.  I was completely worried that neighbors would call the cops when they heard the gunshots or something, but surprisingly we saw no cops, even as we drove out of the neighborhood. When we came back to check the house the next morning, all of the bodies had been removed and anything that had been broken or stained was replaced.  When Melissa, Katie, and Ellie showed up later, they wouldn’t even know that there had been a complete bloodbath in the house the night before.