Beautiful Monster (A Jason Mccann Love Story)

Chapter 8

“Get up,” I heard as I felt a piece of clothing hit my face. The ropes around my wrists lay cut off and beside me.

            “You know, Jason, you’re going to have to buy new ropes if you keep cutting them,” I said as I grunted and stood up.

            “Shut up and change,” he said with a blank look on his face.

            I sighed loudly and did as I was told, changing into a tight black skirt and a tank top. He handed me a pair of black Stilletos, and put them on without saying a word.

            “We’re leaving,” he said, grabbed my arm, and tugged me out of the door.

            “Oh great, the trunk again?” I asked.

            “No. Just get in the front, Natasha.”

            “So,” Johnson grinned. “How did the lovebirds spend their night? Did Natasha get an award for her accomplishment?”

            “Uh,” I started, but Jason cut me off as he hugged my waist tighter, making it unable for me to breathe.

            “I don’t talk about my private life,” Jason said, hugging me but not looking me in the eye.

            Johnson frowned. “C’mon, nothing?”

            “Can we please just work on the bomb?” Jason asked agitatedly, slipping his hand from around my waist and walking towards Johnson’s bomb materials.

            His friend turned to me for an answer to Jason’s odd behavior. I just shrugged, and we walked over to the boxes of supplies.

            “Where’s the C4?” I asked.

            Jason turned to me, surprised that I knew what it was, and then back to Johnson.

            He pointed at a separate box, containing pounds and pounds of the explosive.

            “Well then,” I said. “Let’s get started.”

            Jason and Johnson built the entire bomb within three hours. I sat back and watched as they worked their magic. I didn’t completely understand the mechanics of the bomb, and didn’t try to. We went out to the field of yellowish grass and weeds behind the warehouse, complete with a little shack off to the side. I finally understood why the grass around was yellow and faded, not green and bright. This is where Johnson and Jason had been testing their bomb for the capitol building.

            We all had goggles on, and Jason handed me the detonator.

            “At least show him you know how to set this up,” he said, and motioned for me to walk out and set it.

            “I set it off! Two minutes!” Johnson yelled behind me. My mission was this: sprint out to the place they marked and put it there, then sprint back to the shack and duck and cover. It was exhilarating running out and setting it, then running back. I placed it on the ground, and it was then when I read the time on it.

It read only thirty seconds. It had taken me a minute and a half to get all the way out here.

            But that couldn’t be. There had to be a malfunction.

            “Jason!” I yelled, running back. “There’s something wrong with it!”

            I ran as fast as my legs could take me, but both the shack and safety was a ways away.

            “Something wrong with it?” he yelled back, and came out of the shack to meet me running, except he was too far.

            “It said there was only fifteen seconds!” I screamed, and his eyes got wide.

            He tried to say something, but was cut off by a booming sound.

            The next thing I heard was a loud popping noise behind me, and smoke all around. I started coughing as I fell forward, and my vision got blurry. I felt my breathing slow down, along with the stinging in my eyes.

            “You can’t go there!” I heard Johnson yell.

            “Jason!” I heard more faintly.

            “Natasha!” Jason yelled, closer then Johnson. “Natasha!” he tried again.

            “No, no, no, no!” he yelled. “Johnson get over here! She’s hurt!”

            “That’s not safe!” he yelled back.

            Jason coughed as he got to me through the fire, and I felt him pick up my limp body and carry me out of the fire.

            “Stay with me!” he yelled again. “Stay with me, Tash!”

            “Is she okay?” Johnson asked, and I faintly felt Jason’s fingers on my neck, checking for a pulse. My vision completely blacked out, and I didn’t know whether I closed my eyes or not.

            “Fuck off, man!” I heard him yell as he pressed his head to my stomach and chest. He was listening for a heartbeat, and I wasn’t completely sure if I had one.

            “We need to call an ambulance!” Jason yelled.

            “Are you crazy? We’ll all get locked up for life! Death sentence!” Johnson yelled back.

            “Her pulse is too slow and her heartbeat is too faint. I don’t care, we need an ambulance!”

            Johnson didn’t say anything after that.

            “Natasha! Talk to me! I’m here, Tash, say something!” Jason yelled at me, but I couldn’t respond. I barely even heard him. His voice was getting quieter and quieter.

            “Stay with me,” he probably yelled, but it sounded like a faint whisper.

            I barely felt the touch of his fingers on my neck again as I heard the last thing before the blackness.

            “Her pulse, man! Her pulse is gone!”