The Things I Can Do Without [Karate Kid Fanfic]

The World Was Silent

They stared a moment before John jumped out of the car and rushed to the girl.

"Fuck, fuck, Terry," John reached for her neck and felt for a pulse. It was steady and there, but she was cold –almost icy to the touch.

"Is she breathing?" Terry yelled out as he restarted the car.

"Yeah," John affirmed, scooping her into his arms and then running back to the car.

He felt something drip down his arm from her, but the rain was just starting to stop and it couldn't be the rain from the angle. He looked down and saw blood and he cringed, remembering the state they saw her in.

She was standing there still as a statue, just staring at them. Her black dress was torn and roughed up at places, and her face looked like she'd been smacked around a few times.

Her legs trembled and she fell to the ground.

"You got her, John?" Terry asked as he started driving.

John gave a grunt, adjusting the girl in his arms and keeping a general hold on her as he sat uncomfortably on the seat.

"I've got her," he held tight as Terry raced down the road. "Are you heading to the hospital?"

"Of course I am," Terry said. He looked over and saw the dubious look John gave him. "Hey, man! I can be heartless, but I'm not that heartless! Whatever grief we have with her doesn't mean I'd just leave her or dump her somewhere."

John winced. "I know. Sorry...Just...we do have a lot of grief with her. I don't want that to fuck up our thinking about this kind of thing, you know?"

"Don't be an ass," Terry scowled, pushing down on the pedal more to hurry it up. "I ain't going to be an asshole to her when whatever happened to her happened. And that Jap mentor of hers just died –we know he was important to her. That makes us more than assholes to treat her like shit after, I guess, his funeral."

John had never felt right instigating the fight with her again, with this whole stupid business about that tournament. Or the first time around, when he'd pushed his ex-students to defeating her at all costs. But it had been his pride and teachings versus her and that slope.

Fuck, when did everything go wrong and get so complicated?

"I never even touched her," Terry huffed, continuing. "That's why I hired that kid for –Barnes was supposed to beat her down in the tournament. We had a sound strategy –shitty and messed up, but it was sound and legal enough! Basketball does it all the time, intentional fouling and hell!"

"I don't think it's the same," John muttered, tightening his hold on the girl as Terry made a sharp turn into a more civilized and populated area.

"You didn't touch her either, right? You went after the teacher, yeah –but that's teacher to teacher! You left her for your students to go up against in the tournament."

"Stop panicking and ranting and get to the hospital!" John snapped at him.

"I'm trying!" Terry shouted back. "But if you haven't noticed, we've got a girl who looks like she was attacked in your arms right now!"

"I noticed," John was muttering again. "Just get there."

Terry did, running a few red lights and driving too fast for the speed limit and cutting cars repeatedly. With no time to spare, they were finally in front of the hospital, and thankfully closer to the Emergency Room part of it. They both rushed out of the car and then headed towards the entrance of the ER, where Terry shouted out for help.