The Red Star

Chapter 22

Jay opened her eyes and moaned, rolling over in the gravel. She saw through her blurred vision, Bucky looking down at her.

"Jay!" He said, lifting her up to a sitting position.

"Whoa." Jay said. "That was painful."

"I'm sorry," he said taking her in his arms. " i didn't know how else to stop the car."

"It's okay ," Jay replied . " I would've done the same."

Bucky helped her onto her feet , but found that she was more leaning on him for support than really standing by herself. Then he noticed the large gash on her forehead and took her chin in his hand and turned her face to him.

"What happened?" Bucky said in a concerned and angry tone.

"I umm...I don't know." Jay sounded confused and frustrated. She paused then added , "That creep kissed me."

Bucky looked at her then his expression turned hard.

"Johnny!" He called.

Surprisingly he was not drunk and came quickly, dressed in dark jeans and a red t-shirt with a flame logo on it.

"What?"

"Take her back, I've got some work to do."

"Okay?" Johnny said as he picked up Jay and carried her down the gravel road. However, he suddenly dropped to his knees and let out a shout of pain and dropped Jay in the process. She rolled over and looked about heer as if in a daze to see everyone one their knees. Charles was even holding his head, propped up by a tree. She then felt more pain rushing through her, from her feet to her head. It felt as if flames were burning up her body and she groaned as the pain became more excruciating. Sweat shimmered on her face and all sense of drunkenness was gone. She turned her head, holding back the screams which she could hear muffled in her ears, from the others. She turned her head to see Bucky leaning on the overturned car, holding his head.

"Bucky." She whispered.

She saw Alex stumble about, wiping blood from his face. He saw Jay and was about to walk forward when he saw Bucky.

"You." Alex said, " I was told all about you." He laughed, obviously injured though, "You were no gift to mankind." He backhanded Bucky then stared hard at him as he slipped to the ground. "You were a failure."

Jay was screaming terrible things in her head as she struggled to get up. Alex's power was too strong, she couldn't move.

Alex turned from Bucky to only do a round-house kick and strike Bucky in the jaw. He made his way with a limp, over to Jay, but was stopped short by Crys slamming into him from the side. Her wings erupted white in the darkness of the sky and Alex only had a moment to react before she spun back around and picked him up from the ground.

"You sick bastard." Crys said, struggling to stay in the air.

"You have no idea." Alex said right before Crys let out a scream and dropped him, as she held her own head and fell also.

Bucky saw jay down the road and Alex a few feet from him. Something dark was driving him to move now. He wanted Alex dead. Slowly, as Alex struggled to regain his hold on everyone, Bucky stood, shuffling his feet towards him. Alex looked up, and tried desperately to inflict more pain on Bucky as he dragged himself away. His leg was broken and he knew the murderous look in Bucky's eyes.

Bucky finally grabbed Alex by the collar and lifted him from the ground.

"Barnes!!! DON'T!!" Charles shouted, reading what Bucky was intending in his mind.

Bucky looked at Alex and into his icy eyes. Alex was deathly afraid, and for a moment, Bucky stopped. However, Jay looked up with a grunt of pain, sweat dampening her face and pain racking her body. Bucky saw this, and his blood boiled. He drew Alex's face close and said,

"You hurt my Blue. You even dared to put your filthy little mouth on her." He pause pulling away then said, "kiss this you son of a bitch."

With that, Bucky threw his metal fist forward and all that was heard was a clanck of metal and a crack. Bucky dropped the limp body on the ground and ran to Jay.

She looked up at him. She was horrified that he actually killed Alex. It was too much for her and she just let out a labored breath then blacked out. She fell into a cold darkness that crept over her with no one to catch her.