Night shift - Completed

Chapter 68

Poppy's POV

I screamed no as I barged Calum out of the way with my body, the only way to give him enough clearance not to be injured by this weapon. He stumbled into the wall and fell to the floor as this guy landed on top of me with a thump. We grappled, trying to get the upper hand and keep the weapon away but he was too strong for me. I was fighting a losing battle as the knife got closer, finally my arms giving in. The small blade was thrust into my stomach and as I let out a groan, the guy stood up and ran, not even glancing behind him to see the damage that he had done. I lay on the floor, exhausted, and stared up at the dark starry night.

"Poppy?" Calum said from against the wall. I could barely find it in me to answer him, I just began to cry. He shuffled himself over to me across the floor and finally, his beautiful face came into my view and made me smile. "Are you okay?" I knew I wasn't. I knew he didn't know I was hurt. Did I tell him the truth and scare him or did I lie and hope he didn't notice and get mad at me? His eyes looked hopeful as they scanned my face, waiting for my answer.

"I'm sorry Cal." I said, hoping that would be enough. His face dropped as his eyes began to scan my body, his face leaving my view before I heard him gasp.

"No!" He muttered. "No. No. No." He moved back into my vision, his eyes looking glassy. "You're okay, right? You're going to be fine." He began to hyperventilate, his head darting  around to find someone. "Guys? Diego? Jack? Ashton? Michael? Luke? Fuck!! Anyone?!" His shaking hands moved on top of mine which were surrounding the blade, trying to steady the bleeding. "I need help!!"

"Cal it's okay." I soothed, his eyes falling back on mine just as a single tear rolled down his face. I took one hand away from the blade and held his with it, trying to calm him down. "Don't worry about me."

"You barged me out of the way to stop that hitting me." He stated obviously, his body barely moving as reality sunk in. "Why did you do that?"

"You're needed a lot more than I am. And this is my past coming back to bite me. No one should be taking hits for me." I stated. "I love you, I couldn't bear to see you get hurt." I tried to smile but a shooting pain caught me off guard and caused me to flinch.

"But it's okay for me to see you like this?" He questioned, knowing I couldn't answer it. I remained silent for a second and just as I was about to answer, we heard heavy footsteps coming our way.

"Calum!" Jack called, rushing over. "Man we've been looking for you everywhere. Diego called a code red and made everyone go back inside, we-" Jack ground to a halt right before us and suddenly saw me. "Shit." He grabbed his phone and dialled quickly, letting the others know what had happened. Within seconds the rest of the band were there, as was Diego, who kept them away from seeing me.

"Calum I need you to get in the vehicle with your band mates. This area isn't safe." Diego said as his eyes scanned the darkness.

"You don't think I fucking know that?" Calum snapped at him. "We need to get to a hospital now." Diego shook his head and stood firmly.

"No, we don't. She does. I've radioed in for one but I need to get you all out of here." Diego said.

"Fuck your fucking rules!" Calum snapped again, his body tensing against mine. "Do none of you have any compassion?" Jack walked over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Cal, I love you man but you've got to listen. If this guy is out here he could get you. I'll go with Poppy to the hospital, I owe her that at least. Just make sure you're safe." Jack said softly. Calum sighed and turned to me, kissing me once more.

"Forgive me for this." He said as he stood up and was led over to the van, which pulled away without hesitation. Jack sat with me, his uninjured hand helping me with the wound. The ambulance arrived almost instantly after that and I was loaded onto the trolley, which they wheeled in the back of the ambulance. The paramedics worked on me, trying to bring my vital signs to a steady rate despite the blood loss.

"Jack?" I whispered as the ambulance took off, lights and sirens flashing and blaring to make the traffic mode aside. I was once again a priority call and it was once again to do with my past.

"You shouldn't be talking. They told you to rest." He soothed as he put a hand on my shoulder.

"Just shut up and listen." I said humorously, causing him to smile. "That guy knows what Calum looks like now, he was sent by Kyle, the guy from my past who tried to hurt us before. He needs security to stop him getting hurt. Promise me you won't let anything happen to him?" Jack stared blankly at me as I rambled on. Finally he nodded.

"We'll keep a close eye on all of them, an even closer one on Cal." He said back, as if agreeing to my promise. I smiled at him, my muscles struggling to hold it for long. I was feeling really tired.

"Thank you." I said softly.

"Poppy, please try not to talk. Save your energy." The paramedic said as they looked down upon me. I nodded as my eyes began to droop. This was never a good sign in all my years of working in nursing. My mind flashed back to the countless people I'd saved in my job but also the countless number we had lost. They'd always deteriorated so quickly and it was often difficult to work out why. This time I knew. My body was shutting down because the knife had hit something big. The adrenaline can only keep you going for a certain amount of time before you lose that and your energy and you sleep. Well, for you it's sleep but for everyone else, you've just crashed and they need to revive you as soon as possible. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The trouble was, this was my line of work and I knew all about it. Too much. This put me in a bad position because whilst I've been here in this ambulance, I've run through every outcome of it and half of them are not pretty. I groaned out in pain as I clutched the knife wound once more.

"And Jack?" His eyes were on me in a second. "If I don't make it out of this. Tell Calum I love him. He was the best thing to ever happen to me." He smiled but there was sadness behind it.

"Don't talk like that! You can tell him that at the hospital when you..." his voice fades away, sounding like it was far away and echoing, as if I were underwater or in a bubble. The tiredness took over and I could barely keep my eyes open. I was fighting so hard but it wasn't working, I was too exhausted. As I faded in and out of consciousness, I muttered one last word.

"Calum."