Underdawgs

Chapter 24

The rear ambulance doors slam in my face and I run around to the passenger-side window.

      'Which hospital are you taking her to?' I yell frantically.

      'St Andrews,' says the stony-faced paramedic. 'Can you contact her guardians or next of kin?'

      'If you let me in ...'

      'We already told you ...'

      Despite everything, I don't really blame them. For all they know, I might have deliberately pushed Lily out onto the road.

      'Her parent's numbers are in her phone,' I say, defeated.

      The paramedic asks something of his colleague in the back. 'Yep, we've got it,' he tells me. Somehow the phone survived the accident.

      The ambulance takes off, leaving me dizzy and sick with shock. I turn back to the park and a crowd of terrified onlookers meets my eyes. The dark-skinned Graffer is nowhere to be seen.

      A wail of sirens pierces the air. The cops have arrived. They move in, pushing back the crowd of onlookers, who either retreat or direct the cops and paramedics to those who need help. Feeling helpless, I spot DJ and Spike a little distance away, huddled over the limp body of Oxy. I make my way towards them when some police activity to my right catches my attention. I look over and see Kev arguing furiously with a bunch of cops, as Tyler, handcuffed and bloody, is wrestled yelling and screaming into the back of a paddy wagon.

      The cops slam the back door on Tyler. Kev tries to make his way towards the vehicle but a young constable pushes him back. Kev pauses for a moment, eyes ablaze. My heart jackknifes – I know that look. Quick as lightning, Kev belts the cop as hard as he can in the jaw.

      The cops head snaps back and he hits the ground, out cold.

      The cop's colleagues pounce on Kev and he is kicked, hit and cuffed before being dragged to another wagon nearby.

      This is bad. The rest of us need to get out of here before we all get picked up.

      Something snags my foot and I stumble forwards. I glance back only to see that I've tripped over the white, blood-soaked body of Scumface. He looks bad, real bad. There's no way to tell if he's alive or dead – if DJ has killed him in retribution. I continue on towards the others. No matter what, we have to protect DJ from the cops. If they get him, it's game over.

      'Wha-what's going on?' I stutter, coming up beside DJ.

      'He's fucked, man,' DJ says, pointing at Oxy who's just beginning to wake up, as Spike sits behind him nursing his lolling head. 'There's no way he's gonna be able to get out on his own. We'll have to carry him.'

      Cheers and screams explode from the crowd behind us. I turn around and see Cupcakes and Dustin bolting as fast as they can across the grass, pursued by four cops. I watch in awe as they jump the low fence that marks the western edge of the park, dodge around a cop car that screeches to a halt in front of them, and jump into Dustin's car, which sits unguarded a little way down the street. The engine explodes into life and the two of them depart in a cloud of spinning tyres and smoke. Cupcakes hangs out the passenger-side window, giving the cops the finger, as three cop cars take off in pursuit.

      'Fuuuuuck,' DJ groans, shaking his head. He isn't wrong, we have to get out of here soon. In no time the cops will be headed our way and it won't take a genius to work out the four of us have been involved in the fight.

      'Come on, help me,' DJ insists, kneeling down and looping Oxy's arm around his shoulder. Together the three of us hoist him onto his feet.