Run, run Young Blood!

Chapter Two

"Get him out. Now"

By now the group had travelled several hours heading south for London. They were just outside the capital when they decided they had to stop, when Patrick's groans had become too loud and painful for them to stand the sound any longer.

Pete and Andy lifted Patrick from the floor of the van being careful not cause too much pain for him, not that it would matter now, he had almost bled to death and little time left. They stopped at a house, just on the outskirts of London. To Luce it seemed quite drab and creepy with the way the windows were boarded by dirt. It made feel rather uneasy and she wondered why the boys would stop here.

"Why are we here?" Lucrezia quietly asked with a nervous edge to her voice.

"Because we're safe here. For now." Joe answer carefully, as if talking to a scared child. He noticed the worried look on Luce's face and continued. "Don't worry, we'll not be here long, we just need to get Patrick fixed up and we'll be on our way again. And it's not as bad inside, no matter how bad it looks out here."

Andy and Pete had already entered the house and set Patrick down on a small metal table -like the one's you'd find in an operating room- when Luce and Joe entered. The room was small but rather clean, a difference from the outside that settled Luce slightly.

"So, what have we got here?" A ragged man standing at the metal table asked.

"He got stabbed, he should be dead by now. I don't know why he's still breathing but he won't be if we don't get that sorted soon." Pete spoke clear so everyone could hear him.

"Okay, they things are in the first aid box on the top shelf over there" The ragged mad pointed to a tall bookshelf at the other end of the room. "By the way.. Who's the kid?"

Lucrezia's head snapped to the side where the ragged man stood and her brows knitted into a furious scowl. "My name is Lucrezia, and I could ask the same of you!"

"This kid has guts." He said while pointed his left thumb to the side in her direction. "I doubt she'll last that long with you guys though, you know where you're going, does she?"

A silence fell in the room after that and Pete and Joe hung their heads slightly at the weight of the man's words. Luce felt a tight knot in her stomach, she knew something bad was happening with the boys but maybe she had underestimated her situation.

"She'll be fine, she may not know as much as we do but she's already proved that she willing to fight. Not many people would give up their friends that fast." Joe said sternly as he passed the first aid box to the man. "And besides, if it wasn't for her Patrick would be dead by her. She was the one saved him, protected him when he got stabbed. Is that not good enough for you Davies?"

Everyone was surprised by the edge to Joe's voice, protective and annoyed. He turned to Luce and shot her a small smile, the kind a brother would give his younger sister.

"Okay Joe, I get it. The kid will do fine, you obvioulsy think she will anyway." Davies replied.

Luce rolled her eyes at the use of the word "kid" when refering to her.

"Now, this is probably going to be painful Patrick so I suggest you bite down on this" Davies said a he placed a wooded bar between his teeth.

At first nothing happened, the needle and thread were sterilised and then Davies poured half a bottle of vodka over the stab wound on Patrick's stomach to clear it. At that point Patrick's stranged scream broke past the wood as he waved his arm out of pure pain. Luce blinked back tears at the sight of him. After a second she grabbed his hand and held it to the side while stroking the back of it with her thumb. Her other hand -the right- went up to Patrick's face. Her cool palm laid on his burning face. Sweat from his face pooled around her hand, she didn't notice though, she was trying too hard to hold back the tears that threatned to fall.

After a few minutes Patrick's hand fell weak in Luce's. Her hand dropped to her side as the thought of him dying ripped through her mind. Now she couldn't hold back the tears as they rolled down her cheeks. A sob broke from her throat as a hand moved up and wiped a tearfrom her cheek.

"I thought you would've realised by now that I'm not going anywhere" A small voice came from Patrick's throat, you could hardly hear it but Luce caught ever word. She placed her hand on top of his and smiled.

Realising her right hand was still on Patrick's cheek she moved it away and grabbed a small cloth laid on a table next to her that had been soaked in cold water and wiped it over his brow, ridding it of his sweat.