“They’ve been gone for almost a half an hour! Why haven’t they called?” Brian whispered, trying not to show his frustration too much.
“Charlie left only about five minutes ago. He said he’d make sure Kevin called as soon as possible. I’m sure they would have called earlier if everything wasn’t okay.” AJ reasoned, standing in front of the only window in Brian’s room. “There’s storm clouds headed this way,” he observed.
“Good!” I blurted. Brian gave me a skeptical look and I smiled in return. “I love storms.” I was sitting cross-legged on the end of his bed. Brian had the head of his bed about halfway up and was propped up further on several pillows. It was nice to see him sitting up. “Hey, I could go ask Shari to call the ER, maybe she can get an update for us.” I suggested, already getting off the bed.
“It’s worth a try, I guess.” Brian shrugged.
I started to pull the door opened and jumped when a huge clap of thunder made its ominous presence known. “And here it comes,” I muttered. Again, I reached for the door handle, but this time it flew open first, causing me to take a couple of startled steps back.
“I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere.” Leon growled, advancing towards me.
I gasped, quickly turning to Brian and AJ. Their faces must have looked how mine did. Shocked.
Without turning his back on us, Leon softly closed the door and jerked the curtain all the way around. He was wearing hospital scrubs again, but still, how the hell had he gotten in here?! Out of the corner of my eye I saw Brian move his hand carefully to the nurse call button.
Leon saw it too. “Don’t even think about it,” he threatened, holding up a gun. I’d never seen one in real life, but I guessed the black thing on the end was a silencer. “Push it away from you. Now.”
Brian did as he was told. The heart monitor started pulsing faster and Leon snickered. “Scared, Brian? Well, you should be. You want to know why? Cause I’m going to shoot you.”
“No!” Both AJ and I shouted at the same time. I still stood between Leon and Brian and I didn’t intend on moving. I tried not to notice that because I was standing in front of Brian, that gun was more or less pointed at me. AJ started to move around the end of the bed.
“Stop right there, punk.” Leon ordered, his voice calm. He shifted the gun towards AJ and AJ immediately tensed.
“How’d you get in here?” AJ demanded, trying to keep the quiver from his voice.
Leon tipped his head back and laughed. “I just arranged to have no one guarding Brian’s door. It was really quite easy. This whole plan has gone just perfectly. Do you want to hear it?” His eyes lit up and I shuddered. “Gosh, this brings back fond memories.”
Without waiting for an answer, he continued. “Getting me fired from my job is basically what started this all. But then I realized something. Becoming famous for catching the scoop on you little brats would have been great. Remember that interview I wanted?” He stopped.
“You can have it. You can have whatever you want. Just put the gun down, Leon. Let’s work something out, okay?” AJ suggested nervously. He held hands up, as if to say he wasn’t going to try anything.
“Oh no, we’re way past that. Cause I realized something, ya know? No one is ever going to put my story on the air, not when I have this huge manhunt after me. Besides, I want more. I want to reach legendary status. It’s already leaking out that I kidnapped Carter and drugged his sorry ass.” He grinned, his gun waving back and forth between AJ and I. “And when the world finds out what I’m going to do now, no one will ever forget who I am.”
“And what are you going to do?” Brian asked, softly.
“Kill you.”
“No!” I shouted, lunging forward. But then I found myself with a gun shoved into my chest.
“Ellie!”
AJ moved forward again, but jerked to a stop when Leon jabbed the gun against me. I flinched, but was too frozen in fear to move back.
“I already said not to come any closer!” Leon snapped angrily, his eyes narrowing towards AJ.
“You’ll never make it out of here alive.” I whispered.
“Wanna bet? There are three of you. One of you’s is gonna be my hostage. Excluding Brian, of course. Now get out of my way.”
I didn’t budge. My heart hammered in my chest and I could hardly breathe as I felt him jab the end of the silencer into me. I hatedguns.
“I said move!” He snarled.
“You’ll have to kill me first,” I hissed back, a streak of defiance pushing itself through.
“Fine.”
In that next split second, I thought I was going to die. He was going to shoot me point blank and then kill Brian. Somewhere, far away it seemed, I could hear Brian and AJ yelling my name. A million thoughts raced through my mind, but I don’t think I comprehended any of them. Except the last one; it was of Jack.
“Stupid girl!” Leon sputtered.
I opened my eyes just in time to see his hand whip back and then pain exploded in the side of my head. I felt myself flying and everything went black before I hit the ground.
“You asshole!” AJ raged.
Brian only gasped. Leon had brutally pistol-whipped her across the side of her head. While it wasn’t hard enough to kill her, Brian hoped, she still could be hurt pretty bad.
Leon only shook his head. “Stupid girl, that what she gets for not getting out of my way.” He shrugged, before leveling the gun back at Brian.
Brian’s stomach flip-flopped when he saw a wet, sticky looking substance covering the end of the silencer. Ellie’s blood.
“Any last words before you die?” Leon asked, a sick smile twisting his hard features.
Brian didn’t say a word, his eyes trained on the end of the gun. He was shaking visibly now and Leon took every pleasure in Brian’s fear.
“All right, then. Say good-bye, Brian.” Leon’s smile fell and a serious expression took its place. He shifted the gun so it aimed at Brian’s heart and pulled the trigger. The silencer did its job and the bullet exploded from the gun, the deafening sound muted.
As time seemed to stop, Brian shut his eyes and braced himself in terrible anticipation. Logically, he knew that if Leon was dead on, there would be no pain. Still, he couldn’t stop the trembling that was coming from his body. His thoughts went immediately to his fiance.
“Brian!” AJ cried, already having launched himself in the pathway of the oncoming bullet. He cried out in pain as the bullet tore through his shoulder.
Brian’s eyes flew open as AJ landed in his lap. Blood was already soaking AJ’s shirt and Brian automatically pressed his hand against the wound to staunch the flow. AJ winced and his eyes flew open.
“Brian,” he whispered, gritting his teeth against the excruciating pain that was radiating through his chest and down his arm. “I couldn’t let him...”
Brian bit his lip. There was so much blood. “Oh, AJ...” he whispered, completely overcome.
“Dammit! I didn’t want to shoot you. Now I’m going to have to kill you as well.” Leon hollered, even angrier when he realized that his shouting was going to get him caught. He cocked the gun again, leveling it at AJ. The tattooed singer was sprawled across Brian’s bed, propped somewhat awkwardly up against Brian. Brian had one arm protectively wrapped around AJ, the other pressed up against the wound. Blood was seeping through his fingers and AJ had turned white as a sheet.
“No, please! Leon, don’t do this!” Brian begged, trembling. AJ’s blood was everywhere and there wasn’t anything Brian could do to stop it. Brian’s panic was making it hard to breathe. AJ’s eyes were glazed over in pain, but he was fighting it.
“Why does everyone always try to ruin my plans?!” Leon growled, his eyes narrowing into angry slits. Then almost as if he had a complete personality change, he grinned. “Tell you what, kiddo. You call out for help and if someone comes, they might reach AJ in time. It won’t do you any good cause I’ll still shoot you. Go on, call out. Cry for help.” Leon goaded him, laughing manically.
Brian’s swallowed. He knew there was no way he could bring his voice above a whisper. Leon knew that and was taunting him. AJ didn’t have much time left and if Brian couldn’t think of something, AJ was going to die. God, please...
The wild laughter of a madman brought me out of my unconscious state. I had no idea where I was or why I was in such pain. Gingerly, I moved my hand to the source of the pain, but immediately brought it back when I felt something warm and sticky. A tiny voice in the back of my head warned me that it was blood. My blood. My eyes started to drift shut again, but then I heard Brian’s soft voice. He was pleading with someone. He sounded scared, what the hell was going on? My head was fuzzy and my thoughts were disorganized, but the next thing I heard really shook me.
“Oh God! AJ, open your eyes. Please don’t die! AJ!”
The panic in Brian’s painful whisper brought everything back to me. Still dazed, but now determined, I grabbed the end of the bed and started to pull myself up. Scarcely aware of my own pain or the blood that seemed to be all over me, my only thought was to get to Brian and AJ.
Leon saw Ellie get to her feet, but dismissed her. Her eyes weren’t focused and she was obviously out of it. How she’d woken up so fast was beyond him, but she didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was that he finish what he’d set out to do. “Sorry, Brian, time’s out. AJ got in the way once, but I don’t think he’ll be doing it again. Bye, Brian. Nice knowin’ ya.” Leon stated, flatly. He watched in satisfied amusement as the young singer’s eyes grew wide as his finger tightened over the trigger.
“AHHH!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, hurling myself into Leon just as the gun went off. I heard a sick sounding thwack as I crashed into Leon. I knew I’d thrown his aim off, but had no idea how much. I just prayed it was enough.
Not expecting the attack, Leon was thrown completely off balance. He stumbled backwards before tripping over his own feet. Unfortunately, the window that separated Brian’s room from the rest of the ICU was right there. Leon crashed into it first, taking me with him. Glass shattered everywhere and I groaned as I attempted to roll off of Leon. Thankfully, I’d landed on him, not the other way around. I was coated in glass and I could feel it digging into me whenever I moved. My panicked sense of urgency was more powerful, however, and I tried to get up on all fours. Immediately my right arm buckled and I hit the ground again. Blood had completely soaked that sleeve and I felt a searing pain. I clenched my jaw and used to good arm to get away from Leon. All above me I heard voices. Everything was happening so fast.
“Oh no, you aren’t getting away from me.” Leon hissed. His meaty arm grabbed my by the back of the neck. “I’m going to snap your neck,” he threatened.
I whimpered as his grip tightened.
“Let her go, Leon. Face it, you’ve lost.” Kevin’s voice suddenly rang out clear.
“Never!” Leon yelled. “Back up. Get around to where I can see you. I swear it, I’ll break her neck in one little twist.” He was still laying on the ground by me, frantically trying to crane his head around to where Kevin was standing. I couldn’t look up, but I knew we were surrounded by people.
“I’m not going to say it again. Let her go.” Kevin threatened, his voice low and calculated.
Leon ignored him and continued to squeeze tighter. I could feel myself blacking out and I tried to cry out. Unfortunately, he had closed off my air supply. Suddenly Leon screamed and his hand dropped from its vice grip. Unfortunately, the sudden rush of air into my lungs wasn’t enough. Leon’s scream was the last thing I heard.
