The Race Against Time

Chapter 35

Brooklyn 

My eyes fluttered open. I tried to get up but my stomach burst into pain. I looked down at my stomach and saw that my shirt was covered in dry blood. I lifted up the shirt and saw that a  vest was wrapped tightly around my stomach.

I inspected my surroundings and acknowledged that I was in some sort of shack, I lied down on a soft bed. I sighed in relief knowing that I wasn't in that building again or in the hands of Esmerelda. It must have been dark by now because when I looked out of the window near me, the outside looked pitch black.

Suddenly I was abruptly brought out of my head when I heard a voice calling me. I looked up towards the door of the bedroom and saw Xander leaning against the doorframe.

"How in the world are you not dead." Xander blurted out.

Is that really the first thing he was going to say to me.

"I honestly have no idea, when I woke up I was in some kind of metal box where they keep dead people."

'That's quite insane. First, you were supposed to be dead and now you're here with a bullet wound in your abdomen."

"I just can't get out of trouble, trouble is my middle name," I said jokingly.

A smile made its way to Xander's face intern making me smile even brighter than I already am. I used my arms to put me in a sitting position since lying down was quite uncomfortable.

"Where are the others"

"When we left the building there was a drone following us so we had no choice but to split. I found this shack while I was running from the drone, I don't have a clue where the others are," he answered.

"Then we need to go now, it's already late, we need to find them."

"O, no no no, you're not going anywhere, you're wounded, you can't go anywhere, all you need to do right now is rest. I'm going to go look for them now, I can't leave them out there alone but you're not coming."

"But Xander,"

"Don't Xander me Brooklyn it's not up for discussion."

'Those men could be out there just waiting for you Xander, let me go with you."

"Are you out of your mind Brooklyn didn't you hear the part when I said you're hurt what help are you to me if you can't even lift yourself without wincing in pain."

I would admit his harsh tone did surprise me but I could tell that he was only worried, and I was being quite arrogant.

"Alright, but don't take to long," I said.

He nodded and left the room closing the door in. Now I'm alone, by myself, not a soul in the shack. It felt so disgusting having this bloody t-shirt on, although the blood was dried up just the sight of it made my blood crawl. It now dawned on me that I was shot from the back. I tried raising my back but it was futile because it hurt even more than my stomach did.
This wound was going to take a while to heal I could already tell.

Unexpectedly my body began to heat up and beads of sweat dripped down my forehead. I don't know what was happening to me but it was becoming extremely hard to breathe. I tried taking in more air but it only caused an excruciating amount of pain in both my back and stomach.

My chest exploded in pain making me scream in agony. The bedroom was abruptly slammed open. When I stared at the entrance I saw the two men who were chasing me smiling evilly.

"Well well well, looks like you're not doing too well, I would wait for you to die from the gunshot wound that I inflicted on you but I'll make it quick so you wouldn't have to suffer."

"No, please I'll do anything, please don't kill me." 

"I'll leave you alone if you tell us where your little friends are." 

I honestly didn't know where my friends were either, and even if I did I wouldn't tell them of all people so I kept my mouth shut. The two men both looked at each other and advanced towards me.

I tied to move despite the pain but I simply ended up falling on the ground. One of the men took a pillow from the bed I just fell from and the other stooped to the ground and grabbed both legs holding it down. I tried to remove my legs from his hands however he squeezed my legs holding it down even tighter making his fingernails dig into it.

The other man came on top of me and put the pillow on my face pressing down on it. I tried to scrape him with my hands since it was the only thing I could move at the time but I scrapped air. I tried screaming to the top of my lungs but it just came out as inaudible cries for help.

Giving up I let my hands fall to my sides and I stopped struggling. My heartfelt like it jumped out of my chest when I heard gunshots let loose inside the room. I was in so much pain already that I wouldn't even be able to tell if I got shot or not.

I felt a weight being removed from me and the pillow wasn't in my face anymore. I opened my eyes and noticed that the two men who had invaded the house were now dead on the ground with blood seeping into the wood.

Xander stood in front of me with the gun I had taken from one of the men in his hand. Lucas, Tyler, Yori, and Xiomara were in the back of him looking at me as if they saw a ghost. He bent down and scooped me up into his arm putting me back onto the bed.

"You okay?" Xander inquired

"Yeah I'm okay for now but if I don get medical treatment fast I don't think ill make it."

Xander nodded his head in understanding. We already knew that simply wrapping something around my stomach and back to stop the bleeding wasn't enough, we needed to take out the bullet but at the time being, we don't have any equipment.

"How in the world, are you a ghost or am I dreaming because those are my only two options right now," Yori spoke up making me laugh.

"We saw you die how are you even alive" Tyler blurted out.

"I know you guys have a lot of questions to ask but all I could say at the moment is I don't even know how I'm even alive. One moment I passed out and the other I was in some sort of metal casket where Esmerelda holds dead people."

"Ummm I think I need to stop dreaming because this dream is getting out of hand," Yori announced.

Have mercy on my poor soul.