Lights, Cameras, Outsiders!

Chapter 77

LCO 77

After every take, I had to go assist Matt and pull the blanks out of the squibs and reattach new squibs. And he thought it would get easier as the night went on and he was repeatedly shot, but it only got harder because he had dozens of flesh wounds by then.

It was take twenty and Francis was nearly done torturing Matt. All he had to do was get through five more takes and he was done.

"Action!"

"You'll never catch me alive!"

"Drop it!" One of the stuntsmen shouted. The gunshots went off and Matt fell to the terrain, rolling down the hill, struggling to get up and pretend to shoot back but he ultimately fell to his knees on the concrete for the twentieth time.

"Ok. That's good. Places! Once again," Francis said. I rushed up, pulled the blanks out successfully, strapped new squibs on and ran back into Emilio's lap.

"Take Twenty One! Marker!"

"And ACTION!"

"Drop it!" One of the stuntmen shouted. Matt was silent and was shot again, pink material falling all over him and into the air. He fell to the ground, but didn't roll. He sat on his knees, bent over, holding his chest.

"Is he alright?" Emilio whispered.

"I don't know. Susie, is he okay?" I said.

"I don't know. Francis, maybe we should cut."

"CUT!"

"ESSIE!" Matt screamed. I released from Emilio's grip and dashed up the hill. Susie and Emilio followed me, with my kit and some rags.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" I got on my knees and lowered my head so he could see me. He had his eyes squeezed shut instead and his fingers digging into his skin.

"Matt, turn over," I said. Without opening his eyes, he rolled onto his back.

"Ow...ow, ow, ow," he practically whispered.

"What's the issue? What's wrong? You're freaking me out, Matt," I said.

"It went through the squib. I know it did," he said.

"Move your hands," behind his hands was a small puddle of blood at the surface of his flesh and underneath was a blank lodged in between the bag of the squib and his flesh.

"Shit. I need some more rags," I said. Emilio ran the other way. Matt squeezed his eyes shut again. Susie slid his jacket off his shoulders and he let her slip it off his arms. Emilio came back with some wet dishrag a and some gauze.

"You know Essie maybe he should see a doctor," Susie said.

"No, I got this. All you have to do is pick it out. He hasn't been fatally shot," I said.

"You're freaking out," Susie said.

"No, I'm not. Now can you please hold him down because what I'm about to do is going to hurt," I said, pushing down on the wound and wiping up blood.

Matt screamed and Susie grabbed his hand and sat behind his head, stroking his hair.

"Is it out?" He said breathlessly.

"No. I need to clean it up."

"No, clean it up later, get it out first. He needs a tourniquet, Essie. EMILIO! GET US A TOURNIQUET!" Susie yelled. Matt squeezed her hand.

"It's alright, you're gonna be okay," I said.

"You know, Essie, maybe I should...see a doctor. It feels like I'm dying," Matt said.

"You're not dying," I said, placing the flashlight overhead so I could see. I shoved my flat head underneath the side of the bullet and Matt hollered.

"JESUS CHRIST!"

"Shhhhh," Susie said.

"What's going on? Is he alright?" Patrick and Francis ran up here.

"He's gonna be fine. It's just hurts," Susie said.

"How you holdin' up, Matt?" Francis said.

"Fine," Matt lied.

"Francis, I think that was his last take. He needs to get in bed and rest for a little while," Susie said.

"Yeah, I think this is it too," Francis said before walking away.

"Hold him down, Susie. He's not gonna like this," I said. She braced herself and grabbed hold of his arm while Patrick came around grabbed his other one. I dug further down into the wound to catch the bottom of the bullet and yanked up. Matt absolutely screamed.

"Shhh."

"No! Jesus Christ, there's a fucking scalpel in my stomach and you're telling me to shh! Oh God!" He winced.

"Okay, this is it," I took a deep breath and pulled up one more time and the blank was out. Meanwhile, his wound bleeder profusely and laid some padding on it before putting my hands on it to apply pressure.

"Here, I'll do that," Patrick said. Matt still winced but he was quiet. I got up and wipe my hands on an unused wet rag while Susie stood up.

"I'll get some bandages," she said. I kneeled by Matt's head and stroked his hair so that no strand was on his face or forehead.

"You did it. You got through it," I said.

"I did?"

"Yeah. You wanna see the bullet?" I teased.

"No! I don't..."

"You okay?"

"It still hurts," he said.

"Well, Patrick's practically laying on you so you don't bleed anymore..."

"Why didn't you want to bring me to a hospital?"

"Because...I was scared, and I didn't want to bring you there and I couldn't be with you," I said.

"You were scared?"

"I mean I still am a little because we're not totally done here, but....yeah."

"If I had died-"

"Don't."

"If I had died, would you still have tried to save me?"

"Yes."

"Thank you...for getting that bullet out."

"No problem," I smiled.

"And I didn't want to scream in front of Francis cause I know Dallas Winston didn't holler when he got shot."

"I'll tell you something."

"What?"

"You're still my gallant Dallas."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."