Page 103 of Wicked Deceit
“Targets, dead. Threat neutralized. Scene clear! Make it rain!” he shouts, waving a hand without an ounce of urgency. I grind my teeth when he walks away from the dead bodies, almost reveling in the chaos consuming the area.
I whip my head when Hadley thumps to the ground with a man on top of her, forcing her hands behind her back. “Ow!” Hadley shrieks with green grass blades resting between her teeth. The man behind her presses a knee into her back, forcefully pulling her hands behind her. Cuffs clink into place as she slurs obscenities at them for touching her. “You can’t do this! They manipulated me! It wasn’t me!” she slurs out a cry as they bring her to her feet, exposing the bloody mark lining her cheek. I reel back at the carnage, only then noticing her broken teeth when she growls at me and bares her teeth.
“Save it,” the man grunts, forcing her to walk forward on shaky legs. She shrieks and thrashes as he pushes her forward. “We all know about you, Hadley Lacey, and your disgusting family. It looks like rotting in prison is a new family trait.” He grumbles, keeping her at bay with the barrel of his gun tucked between her shoulder blades. It’s only then does she straighten up and shut her mouth, especially when someone mentions their lawyer.
I shake off the heavenly scene of her getting sat on the ground near an idling prison bus, and my breaths shudder. Thank fucking fuck these assholes showed up when they did. If they hadn’t, we would all be as dead as a fucking doornail. I wipe a hand down my face, looking back to my pale brother, who stares at the craziness happening around us.
“Fuck,” Zepp hisses, pressing his hand into the wound of his bicep. Tears leak down his cheeks, and he shakes his head trying as hard as he can to look reassuring to me. “I’ll be fine,” he rasps through a thick voice and wipes away his tears. “Worry about her and him, okay?” He asks with heavy emotions twisting his voice. “I’ll be fine,” he says one last time before leaning in and resting his forehead on my shoulder.
“Totally fucking fine,” I murmur, wrapping my arm around him. My other fucking half, the man I shared a womb with, is not bleeding before me as we wait for an EMT.
We watch with tears in our eyes as a frantic medical team descends on Kaycee and begins to examine her. Through rough voices, they yell out to more paramedics who quickly bring a gurney and load her onto it. A paramedic hops up on top of her and begins chest compressions, yelling that they need to get her to surgery right away. I close my eyes when the whisper of one paramedic meets my ears saying the dreaded words I never want to hear.
“I don’t think she’s going to make it. She’s lost too much blood.” They could have said more. They could have said that they were wrong and that she’d live. But the blood rushed to my ears, drowning out the noise around me, and watched with longing in my frantically beating heart. My fucking life sped away with a knife in her fucking gut and an EMT pumping at her chest, frantically trying to bring her back to life.
“Carter,” Zepp croaks, trying to climb to his feet, but he stumbles back and lands on his ass.
“Is he okay?” I shout to the EMTs loading his lifeless body onto a stretcher. “Is he fucking okay?” I shout, forcing my legs beneath me, and march toward their frantic voices. I push through the crowds of agents and criminals with their hands behind their backs until I run up to them and shove my way through.
My heart fucking stops at the sight of the blood pouring from his chest and beaten face, and my mouth pops open.
“Son,” barks an EMT, grabbing me by the shoulder and pulling me back. I fucking let him as sobs rip through me, and the man I once deemed an evil bastard fights for his life in an ambulance destined for the hospital.
“Will he live?” I beg, turning to the lone EMT who stayed behind, and he pats my shoulder. Sympathy roars through his eyes, and his lips tighten.
“The truth?” He whispers softly, and I nod, urging him to continue. “It’s a miracle he was still up and moving. His injuries are more than severe, they’re life-threatening. If you believe in God, I’d start praying for that one.” He taps my shoulder a few times and goes to walk away, but I pull him by the shirt.
“Don’t say that shit!” I roar, getting in his face with tears pouring from my eyes. My vision blurs, and the world swirls together in one color. “Don’t say it.” My voice squeaks as the emotions grab me tight, and my entire body shakes.
“I’m so sorry, kid.” he murmurs, peeling my hand away from his uniform, and turns away without another word.
I stand there in a sea of people running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Some black-robed fuckers try to escape through campus, thinking they’re sneaky. Sharp cries sound in the distance as more and more of the Apocalypse Society falls to their knees at the hands of the government. I take a deep breath, moving once again to find my brother still in the grass holding his arm. I wipe the tears from my cheeks with my arm and march toward him, determined to get him to a doctor, too. He may not have been shot in the chest or stabbed, but he sure as hell will need someone to look at the gaping bullet wound on his bicep.
Chaos swirls around us when I drop to my knees in front of Zepp, grabbing his face.
“They’re both at the hospital now. You doing okay?” I whisper, moving his head back and forth and examining every inch. He grunts, knocking my hands off him and knocking me onto my ass. For the first time tonight, I bark out a laugh, throwing my head back and looking at the innocent stars twinkling above us. Fuck.
“I’ll be fine,” he whispers in anguish, attempting to move but grunts more.
“You will be once you’re looked at,” I mutter through a deep breath, praying that everyone hurt gets the surgeries or whatever the fuck they need ASAP. I need to know what’s going on, but first, I have to take care of my brother.
When I turn my head to look around the area, my eyes fall to the spot my love laid in for the longest time. Terror fills every inch of me when I lick my lips, and my limbs freeze at the sight of the blood pooling in the grass where she was laying. With trembling fingers, I run my fingers over the spot and bring them back to in front of my eyes. Her warm blood paints my fingers red, and I finally fucking lose my dinner. I heave and choke, pouring the contents of my stomach out onto the grass until there isn’t anything else to purge. Sweat coats my forehead when I finally sit back and look at my sympathetic brother. His brows furrow when his good hand rubs up and down my back, and I grunt, throwing him off, and nod.
“I’m good,” I breathe, tasting the aftereffects and cringe.
“Right,” he hums through a pained expression, pushing into the wound on his arm again with my shirt.
“You need to go to the hospital,” I say to Zepp, getting to my feet. I stumble slightly as the adrenaline ebbs out of my body and right myself. I reach down, pulling my brother to his feet too. He winces, tamping down the pained whine that escapes through his tight lips. He shakes his head, fear brewing in the back of his eyes.
Yeah, my scaredy-pants brother is about to go to the one place he fucking hates. But he has no damn choice in the matter. I’ll drag him there kicking and screaming before I let him fucking die of infection.
“They fucking shot you,” I grunt, throwing my arm around his shoulders and directing him toward the flashing lights of the ambulances lining up in a neat row. His feet drag with every step, and I know if it were up to him, he’d hightail it to, well---I don’t know where. Our home is nothing but ashes, and all our shit is gone. All our memories are lost because the Apocalypse tainted everything about this place.
I frown, turning my head toward the maze. This campus was once our reprieve from our shitty stepmom and her annoying ways. This was our home away from home, the one place we felt safe and secure. And in the blink of an eye, it’s all gone. Tears form in my eyes at everything we’ve lost and everything we might lose in a matter of seconds. Life is so fucking precious, and we’re still not safe.
Carter, Kaycee, and Chase are fighting for their lives. Our home may be gone and nothing more than ashes, but I can make another home as long as they’re with us. Home isn’t four walls built with nails and boards. Home is where your fucking heart resides—and that’s what they are. They’re my goddamn home, and I’ll be damned if they fucking die.
He snorts at my words, nodding his head. “I know, brother. They shot me, and I’m going to get looked at,” Zepp says in a weakened voice but gives me a thumbs up anyway with a grimace. Yeah, not so fucking convincing there, brother. I roll my eyes and drag him toward the nearest ambulance with an available paramedic.
