Cassidy and Carter

Chapter 17: Carter

**Trigger warning**
Death, sexual assault and mental health are prevalent topics within the rest of the story.

Benji and I are on the grave shift tonight. We usually only have to work graves one or two nights a week and they are my least favorite nights. I miss putting all three of my girls to bed and I despise leaving them alone overnight. The only reason I'm not crawling out of my skin is because Cassidy let me put the security app on my vidscreen when I moved in. Now I'll be alerted if any of the motion detectors go off or any of the doors or windows are tampered with.

I also finally convinced Dean to give me the channel their security works off of. I got a separate radio that we can hear those calls on. That was a very awkward lunch that resulted in the rehashing of my faux break in months ago. Dean dished out threats and a hand shake that I'm pretty sure broke something, but I took it in stride knowing I would have acted the same way. I understand the guy and I would never admit it to anyone but I kinda like him.

"245 in progress corner of Apple and Swain." The dispatcher relays and the crackle of the radio spikes my adrenaline. My heart rate used to spike because of excitement, but now the call we just received, assault with a weapon, makes me feel uneasy. I have a family I need to return home too.

"In route ETA 5 minutes, any more information?" Benji responds, as I'm driving. We take turns driving and after we ate dinner and vidchatted with Ella and Mia during our break I took over behind the wheel. Benji hates when I drive and complains that I will get us killed before a call will, but I just smile and take a corner even sharper or step on the gas pedal harder.

"Four males, Caucasian, dark colored clothing. Reporting source heard a gun shot and see's one man down and three others in an altercation." My hands tighten on the wheel. Four men. We are only two and the next unit is 15 minutes out, so 10 minutes away from getting to us if we need help. 10 minutes is a long fucking time in this line of work.

"Shit." Benji mutters before he speaks into his radio "Copy. Eta 2 minutes."

Benji looks to me and holds his knuckles out for me to tap mine against.

"Going in alive."

I reach out and fist bump him.

"Coming out the same way."

I'm doing 50 miles an hour in a residential area and slow when we start to round the corner before the one we're headed too. I see the scene exactly as the caller reported and three males turn and run at the sight of our lights. One man is lying motionless on the ground and I see blood pooling at his right side. I slam on the breaks and throw the car in park before I open my door seconds after Benji opens his.

We both pull our guns and survey the area. I bend down and feel for a pulse on the victim, but there isn't one.

"DOA." I call out to Benji.

He nods showing he heard me and we both slink silently to the side of the building. It's an old, run down gas station and we are in a shit part of town full of drugs, gangs and crime. It's mostly an industrial area surrounded by neighborhoods so there isn't anywhere for these assholes to run. Benji looks around the corner of the building and a shot fires dangerously close to his head, but misses and takes a chunk out of the brick building. He quickly comes back into the shelter that's provided by the building.

"Mother fucker tried to fucking shoot me!" He's livid and so am I.

Now these assholes are going to die. We hear the telltale sound of shoes hitting the pavement and he looks back around the side of the building to where the sound is fading. He must see that it's clear because he takes off running with me right on his heels.

There's one man who's slower then his counter parts. Benji fires a shot and gets him straight in his back before the man is able to round the next building. He falls face first into the pavement. Once we reach him I fire another shot into the back of his head. There is no such thing as police brutality anymore. Everything's fucking brutal and no one bats an eye at cops killing people, or scum bags killing cops. Better him then us.

Adios mother fucker.

We stop on the side of the next building and I've taken lead. I turn the corner briefly and see no one. I still to see what I hear and there are no sounds. The sounds echo off of the pavement and warehouses out here so I'm assuming they are stationary. I turn the corner and realize my mistake immediately. I see movement two buildings over on the rooftop a second before I'm hit in my shoulder.

I fall against the building with the force of the gun shot and I feel the shots as Benji fires from directly above my head. The shooter falls from the roof to the pavement with a thud, telling me Benji hit his target. I see the other male drop from the ladder attached to the side of the building and I fire. He goes down feet away from the other. I keep my gun trained on them just in case.

"Officer down. Officer down!" Benji is screaming into his radio as I hear more footsteps approach from behind. I turn my head quickly to see whose approaching as Benji takes a stance in front of me. As I turn my head excruciating pain shoots up my neck and I cry out. I touch my shoulder and pull my hand away to see it covered in blood. I can't move the hand attached to that bleeding shoulder..well that's not fucking good.

Benji puts his gun down when he sees two officers running towards us. He directs them to the bodies and they sprint in that direction, guns drawn. He kneels in front of me between my legs and puts his hand on my shoulder. He pulls me forward to check for an exit wound and must not find one because he pushes my back against the wall, holding his hand over my shoulder. I groan. Fuck this hurts. Why didn't anyone warn me getting shot would hurt so fucking much?!

"Hold on Carter. It's going to be fine. I have to put pressure on it, stop being a pussy. Your going to be fine. Everything's fine bro."

"I'm not the one freaking out bro!" I screech at him and it definitely sounds like I'm freaking out.

I focus on my breathing, trying to pant through the pain. The pain is radiating out towards my chest and I'm fucking terrified. It's hard to tell how close the shot was to my chest verses my shoulder where I felt the hit. The pain is everywhere, I can't pinpoint it. It's on my right so it's furthest away from my heart and that gives me a moment of relief.

"How bad, Ben?"

"I don't know brother. I can't see it. I don't want to take my hand off to look because I'm stopping you from fucking bleeding out right here. It's in your upper shoulder but the bullet is still in there somewhere, there's no exit wound."

He sounds calm, like the trained professional he is. The only way I can tell he's not okay is the trembling hands pressed to my shoulder. I grip one of his arms in my working hand as I start feeling dizzy.

"I can't leave them. I told them I'd never leave them." There are tears streaming down my face and I can't seem to stop. I can't leave those fucking girls. I promised them. I can't leave them like this.

"You're not leaving them Carter. Stay with me. I'm right fucking here. We came in alive and we're going out the same fucking way!" He's in my face trying to get his point across and I can see the tears tracking down his cheeks too. Fuck. That scares me.

"Promise me." He knows what I'm asking. I can see it in his eyes that he knows exactly what I'm asking of him.

"I swear it. If you can't, I will. I'll take care of them. I give you my word." He puts his forehead to mine and I exhale. I know he will. That's the only reason I'm able to slip into unconsciousness..