Whodunit

Chapter 26

"Dmitri!" Desi called from his stretcher as they loaded him onto the ambulance. "Thank God."

The paramedics pushed Dmitri out on a stretcher without a blanket covering his body. They pushed him out alive.

Anisa's devilish stare seared through his soul as they rushed him past the squad car. Her lips moved, but Dmitri was too busy fighting for consciousness to read them.

Desi grinned from ear to ear as they loaded his brother from another mother onto the ambulance beside him, ignoring the pain the night of fighting and stab wounds forced onto his weakened body.

"They said they think I'm gon' make it," Dmitri whispered with a hoarse voice.

Desi reached his hand over, despite his lack of energy. Dmitri fought through his throbbing, agonizing discomfort to grab it.

"We won, bruh. We're the final guys."

Then, it clicked. This wasn't the end.

That's what Anisa had been mouthing. She might be down for now, but it wouldn't last long. The demons would never leave him alone after tonight. No matter how much he tried to heal and protect himself. His soul was already theirs.

He clenched his jaw and dropped his hand to let the paramedics fully do their jobs. He could vaguely hear the police calming down Aura as she spewed a parade of creative threats at Anisa. From his leveled position on the stretcher, he saw the faint image of all the ghosts, even Nubia and Jordan, standing in front of the house with somber but encouraging expressions on their faces.

He stared at them until the paramedics shut the door, tears welling up in his eyes for all the people he couldn't save. Final guy or not. He had won nothing.

And lost everything.