Page 62 of Fractured Hope
I pushed Atticus off myself and checked him over. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Oh my God.” Atticus stood and froze, going completely pale.
I slowly stood and took in the scene of horror. Seb was on the floor not moving, blood pooling from his stomach. Lyric was panicking and trying to push the blood back in with his bare hands.
Derek was sprawled in a heap off to the side, blood trickling from his head and a bloodied torque wrench beside him.
“Seb!” I jumped into action, rushing to the cabinets, and grabbed as many dish towels as I could. I nudged Lyric out of the way as I went about assessing Seb’s wound. Moving his shirt up, I could see the bullet wound on the upper right side of his abdomen and covered it with the dish towels. I applied as much pressure as I could.
Lyric had fallen back onto his butt, clearly in shock.
“Lyric, is Max on his way?”
No response.
“Lyric!”
Still nothing.
“Atticus! You need to call 9-1-1. Seb needs an ambulance!” At the mention of his brother, Atticus snapped out of his trance and quickly called, mechanically answering the dispatcher’s questions before hanging up and calling Max. The ringing echoed nearby. I almost sagged in relief when Max came in, gun drawn, and took in the scene.
He called out, “Clear.” Then, Sam came in followed by Theo. Sam quickly assessed and handcuffed Derek’s prone, but still breathing, form as Theo took in the scene. He froze for a second, then jumped into action, quickly shifting to his EMT persona.
I could hear Max talking and barking orders as the action happened around us, but I focused on Seb and Theo.
“He’s been shot and hasn’t regained consciousness. I don’t know if the bullet is still in him or not. I can’t seem to stop thebleeding,” I said, trying to think of things an EMT would need to know, not a brother. Theo was checking Seb’s pulse.
“An ambulance is on the way,” Atticus added as he knelt by Seb.
“We need to stop the bleeding,” Theo stated, sounding detached. “Call Doc. We need sterile gauze and wound packing supplies as soon as possible.”
Atticus quickly went to do as instructed while I kept pressure on Seb’s abdomen. I was scared to move as blood soaked the dish towels and pooled between my fingers.
I kept the pressure on Seb’s wound while we waited for Doc to arrive with supplies. Time felt like it was moving as slow as molasses. Theo added another dish towel to the drenched pile I was pushing into Seb. I could hear my pulse ringing in my ears as Seb continued to pale even more before my eyes.
This can’t happen.
“Come on Seb, fight,” I croaked out, my voice thick with fear.
Movement continued around us as time blurred until, finally, Doc came racing in with medical supplies. He and Theo quickly took over. Gently moving me and all the bloodied towels out of the way, they hastily cut off his shirt, then began packing the gunshot wound, checked his pulse, and started to talk in medical terms with numbers and stats I didn’t understand. Hopelessness swamped me while we waited for the ambulance.
They shifted Seb, noting an exit wound, and began packing the wound on his back, then added more to the front, while continually monitoring his pulse and breathing. Seb was still unconscious. The sterile white gauze was darkening with blood faster than they could pack the wound and apply pressure.
I froze in fear as dread settled in my stomach. I was pulled to my feet by strong hands and enveloped in Atticus’s comforting embrace as we watched Seb fight for his life.
After too long, the ambulance finally arrived. Seb was rushed to the hospital with Theo and Doc along for the ride, rattling off all the stats and things they’d done to help keep Seb hanging on.
I was slowly sinking into a quagmire, trying to fight my way through to the other side as we answered questions. We were shifted from the break room, then out to the garage, then the street, before we were finally allowed to leave to go to the hospital.
Thankfully, Sam was directed to drive us because none of us were in any state to do it.
We were all shuffled into Sam’s deputy vehicle. I was in the middle of the back seat and we were moving by the time I came back to myself.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I brought Derek into your lives.” Derek was an abuser and a bully, but I didn’t realize how unhinged he had become, or how truly dangerous he was to those around me.
“Shh, it’s not your fault,” Atticus said robotically.
Lyric grunted in the affirmative from my other side.
