Their Lies

Chapter 9

Clinton, New York
“So this is it, huh?” Hannah said. “The big scary government lab.” All seven of them were standing a quarter mile away from the lab. Their plan was to just walk around the perimeter and try to find a way in. They didn’t have a clue of how to get in.
   “Should we leave Loki out here?” Jax asked.
   “Yeah, he’s a good boy. He does whatever I say,” Colby said confidently. Loki looked up at Colby with love in his big brown eyes. Colby patted his head. “Stay here boy.” Loki sat down, everyone started to leave him, but when Alexis and Devin left Loki followed.
   “Sit,” Devin said. “Now stay.” Loki sat down and stayed. Alexis kissed the top of his head and Devin scratched him behind his ears.
   “What a good boy,” Alexis said looking straight at Colby. They started walking towards the lab.
“How come he loves you so much?” Colby asked.
“Well, we give him a lot of food scraps,” Devin said.
“And we give him attention whenever he wants, he loves when you scratch his feet,” Alexis chimed.
“He does NOT like his feet scratched,” Colby scoffed.
“Have you ever tried it?” Devin quipped. Colby didn’t say anything else.
By now they had arrived outside the fence of the building. Jax went up to the fence and peered through the holes. He saw guards by every door.
   “Yeah, we’re screwed.” He said. “Let’s group up. Devin, Alexis, Colby, you go to the right. Me, Mils, Hannah, and Chris will go left. We’ll meet in the middle.”
   “Why’s Chris going with you?” Alexis asked.
   “I don’t trust him with you. He’ll get himself killed,” Jax solemnly said.
   “Yesth siw, I’ll stay wiff you the whowe time mista Torres,” Chris bubbled.
   “How in the world do you know my last name?” Jax asked. “And please never do that voice ever again.”
   “I have my ways,” Chris smirked.
   “Anyways, let's go. We’ll meet in the middle.” Jax, Mils, Hannah, and Chris set off to the left and Devin, Alexis, and Colby went right.
   “You see anything?” Colby asked. Devin and Alexis looked through the holes in the fence. A group of people wearing gray jumpsuits with the lab logo on the breast pocket.
“Those guys are going in a door without any guards or even being questioned. We could easily get in by just buying outfits similar to that,” Alexis pondered.
“Sounds good. We should definitely wait and make a plan,” Colby suggested. There was a bang in the distance. They ignored it, assuming it was a hunter from the nearby woods. They walked for another minute when Jax came up behind them.
“Yo, you guys find anything?” Jax asked.
“Yeah, we found an easy way in.”
“We should go now. You guys are ALL about fighting! No need to think about it, right Hannah? Impulse decisions are the best decisions,” Colby fumed.
“Colby, you’re making a racket, we are gonna get shot at, you never act like this,” Jax said.
“We did a vote to fight without thinking or make a plan while you were gone at the bus station. More of us wanted to fight rather than make a plan. We would’ve been killed had those guys still been in that station.”
“I get what you’re saying, but we are literally gonna get shot at, like, we came back to you because we were getting shot at. We need to leave, you can tell us about the way in la-” Jax was cut off by a deafening bang. Everyone looked around at each other.
“Oh sugar,” Colby groaned as he fell to his knees. His hand was on his forehead. Blood was gushing through his fingers.
“Oh god, oh god! What do we do! Colby is the doctor guy but he’s the one who’s hurt!” Mils panicked.
“Um, um, we need to...stop the bleeding!” Devin stuttered.
“WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” Chris shouted, putting his hands above his head.
“We need to get him out of here!” Jax yelled. There was another gunshot. Everyone ducked and looked around. “Is anyone hurt?”
“HOLY SH-”
“Chris there is a hole in your hand!” Alexis hollered.
“Oh my god, I’m gonna pass...out…” Chris fell over on top of Colby, who was now lying on the ground.
“Come one, quickly, we need to get them both out of here. Hannah, get Chris, he’s small. Devin, Alexis, Mils, help me with Colby,” Jax commanded. Jax put his arms under Colby’s shoulders and pulled him up. Alexis and Devin grabbed his legs. Mils tried to help but ended up helping Hannah with Chris. They carried Chris and Colby to the nearby woods where Loki awaited.
“Okay, somebody give me their shirt or sweatshirt or ANYTHING to just stop this bleeding, oh who am I kidding he’s gonna die!” Devin croaked. She checked his pulse while Alexis handed Devin her sweatshirt.
“D-did the bullet go through him?” Hannah asked. She turned his head to the side. “Oh god, it’s still inside him!” Hannah gasped. “I think I see his brain!”
“Anyone have tiny hands?” Devin asked. Everyone looked at Chris, then back at Devin and shook their heads. “It wouldn’t have worked anyways. The bullet is probably stopping the bleeding. Could the bullet harm him if we keep it in?” Devin asked looking at Jax. He shrugged. Devin put the sweatshirt on the wound. “Alexis put your hand over his head and put as much weight on it as you can.”
“What? That’ll kill him!” she awed.
“It won’t,” Devin insisted. “I think.” Alexis put her hand on top of Colby’s wound. The sweatshirt was absorbing the blood, but it was not stopping it.
Devin moved over to Chris and wrapped his hand in her sweatshirt. “Jax can you squeeze his hand. I’m pretty sure he’ll be fine as long as the bleeding stops, but he’s gonna get one nasty infection.”
   “The bleeding isn’t stopping!” Alexis said jumping away from Colby. The sweatshirt was soaked in blood. Loki started licking Colby’s head. Hannah ran over to Colby and batted Loki away. He went over to Alexis and Devin. Devin didn’t know what to do anymore. Hannah looked into the bullet entrance and saw the bullet about an inch deep.
“I’m gonna get the bullet,” Hannah said with a determined look in her eyes. No one stopped her. They were losing hope. Hannah stuck her middle finger in the bullet hole. By now Colby had already passed out, so, fortunately, he was not in too much pain. Hannah pushed the bullet further.
“He’s not breathing!” Mils wailed.
“I can’t do CPR! I have twig arms!” Devin cried. “Jax, you do it! Just push down super hard thirty times then breathe in his face.”  Jax proceeded to do his best version of CPR. It wasn’t working.
“Is it working?” Hannah asked.
“NO!” Alexis yelled. Chris sat up amongst the chaos.
   “What’s going on?” He drearily mumbled. He looked at Alexis, Devin, and Loki watching impatiently as Jax punched Colby in the chest over and over again. Then he looked over at Hannah who was pacing around and Mils who was sitting on the ground ready to pass out herself. Chris looked at his hand, then the chaos unfolding in front of him. “I think I’m ready for another nap,” he whispered.
Nobody had even noticed Chris waking up. Colby still wasn’t breathing. Devin checked Colby’s pulse by his neck and Alexis checked it on his wrist.
“Frick!” No pulse,” Devin sighed. “You got a pulse, Alexis?” She shook her head no. Jax stopped the compressions.
“No, don’t stop!” Hannah screamed at Jax. “You can keep him alive if you keep doing compressions!”
“Then what?” Jax snapped. “Then what? We keep him barely alive, drag him along with us to get Axel? Keep him brain dead in the corner of Devin’s grandma’s house? Is that what you want?” Jax asked. Hannah said nothing, her eyes filling with tears. “I didn’t think so. We have to let him go.” Jax stepped away from Colby. “Love ya, bro,” he said.
“Axel and I love you, we’ll see you soon buddy,” Mils sniffled.
“Sometimes you had a stick up your butt, but boy were you a great friend. Love ya,” Hannah wept.
“Didn’t know you for long, but you seemed pretty great, see you on the other side,” Alexis sighed.
“Ditto,” Devin whimpered. She looked into Colby’s cold dead eyes and took off his glasses. She carefully closed his eyelids. “Goodbye, dude.”
“Let’s… take his body. He deserves a proper burial,” muttered Jax. Jax took Colby’s arm. Nobody helped. “Well?” He sniffled, “Does anyone want to help or are we going to drag him through the dirt?” Hannah stepped up and took his other arm. Devin and Alexis each picked up one of Colby’s legs. Mils took Chris by the arm.
“Do you think Axel is still alive?” Hannah asked. Mils turned away from her. Jax spoke instead.
“I really want to think that. I really hope that, but deep down I just have a...a feeling that he’s not. I’m worried about him. Really worried.”