𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞¹ (𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)

124. at war in peace

The gun had been fired too quickly, not leaving enough time for any of us to try and stop the attack.

Bullets flew in every direction as he walked toward us, a blank stare beneath his usually friendly eyes. 

It was Marcus Kane holding the gun, but there seemed to be no remnants of his previous self. He was chipped. 

I had ended up on the floor, I'm not really sure how. All I knew was that I was frozen in place, my eyes wide and breaths laboured as the gun fire finally stopped. 

Miller's face popped into my line of vision, his own eyes wild as he grabbed onto me, pulling me behind one of the walls. 

It was then that I felt the blinding pain, the shock finally beginning to subside...I had been shot. 

I looked down at my torso, my hands shaking more than ever as they reached up, feeling the hole in my abdomen. 

"Oh no." I whispered, pulling my hand back to see it covered in blood. 

My wide eyes looked around, taking in the scene around me and I soon realized it wasn't good. 

Bryan was propped up against the wall beside me, his own leg coated in blood from a bullet hole. Pike lay by the wheel, a bullet wound in his abdomen as well. And as much as I hated him, him being hurt really damaged our chances of pulling this thing off. 

"Back to the wheel!" Pike ordered, his voice laced in pain. 

Luckily, both Indra and Octavia were unharmed, and had managed to disarm and momentarily disable Kane. 

Unluckily, voices from deep within the corridor rang off, signalling that there were about to be more attackers making their way toward us. 

"We're about to have company!" Octavia announced, her worried eyes landing on me. 

 "You want to bet?" Bryan muttered, reaching behind him. "We need to seal the corridor!" he called, then passing a detonator to Miller, "Nate..."

Miller took it without any hesitation and instantly took off toward the entrance of the corridor. 

I let out quick, laboured breaths, doing my best to hold pressure to my own wound. I knew if I lost too much blood, I was as good as gone. 

"Hang in there, Avery." Bryan ordered, wincing from the pain of his own wound. 

I nodded, shifting slightly, "I will if you will." I bargained, giving him a pained smile. 

"Take cover!" Miller yelled as he threw the explosive down the corridor. 

Bryan wrapped his arms around me, hunching us both over to avoid any flying debris. 

Once the dust had settled, he pulled away, another pained look spreading across his face. 

I pressed my hand harder into my stomach, watching as Miller, Pike and Octavia began turning the wheel again. 

Hopefully, with the entrance to the corridor now blocked off we had bought ourselves some time. 

Indra arrived next to Bryan and I, her eyes scanning over both of our wounds. "Come on," she whispered, "Let's get you two up. We need to be ready to move."

She grabbed onto Bryan first, pulling him to his feet before leaving him leaning against one of the walls.

As she stood in front of me, I looked up at her through weak eyes. "I don't think I can." I admitted, feeling weaker and weaker by the second.

Indra ignored me, reaching out to lock her arms around me. "Yes, you can." she promised, wasting no time in pulling me up off the ground. 

The pain was excruciating the minute I moved at all, warm pain searing through my stomach.