Jamie

 

I’d been here about a day, and already, I was so frustrated I could scream. Alex wasn’t bad company necessarily, but I found that he was a bit of a motor mouth. And he was only nineteen. I’d actually made a point of asking him because I was really worked up by the idea that he might be sixteen or seventeen and already part of a gang.

 

Club, whatever.

 

But he was nineteen, which made him a legally consenting adult yet still a jackass. Boys didn’t get out of that jackass phase until about thirty, I’d decided, and for Alex, it might even take longer.

 

Still, he seemed like a good kid. Very eager to please. But right in that moment, I didn’t want to have a conversation. We were sitting at the kitchen table, having coffee and some semblance of breakfast. Alex had tried to cook, despite me insisting that I could handle it. He seemed eager to impress, but unfortunately, he’d mostly just managed to burn everything.

 

I sipped at my coffee, which was lukewarm now. My eyes were bloodshot, and I felt pale, tired. I was tired. I’d slept pretty terribly the night before. I was plagued by terrible dreams about men with guns, men running me off the road, and men pinning me to the ground and trying to hurt me. In the dreams, I’d always awoken before things got really bad, but that didn’t mean they weren’t still terrifying.

 

At least half a dozen times I’d woken up in the night, sweating and panting, my heart racing from fear.

 

The whole experience had left me cranky, and I was trying to be friendly with Alex, but he was just grating on my nerves. Of course, he was still a better option than Kato.

 

Kato was still feeling poorly after his ordeal, not that I could blame him. Although he was up and moving around with no real trouble, it was clear that it wore him out quickly. He was often pale and out of breath, no doubt a result of his injuries. Yesterday, after Pax had left, I’d tried to give him a quick check up, but he’d brushed me off like an annoying bug.

 

“What is your problem with me?” I’d demanded angrily.

 

He’d turned his sharp eyes on me, his brows pulled low over them, tension radiating from him. “I don’t fucking trust you. Don’t think for a minute that I do.”

 

Well, I definitely didn’t after that. I didn’t know why, and I’d thought about asking for an answer, but he’d stormed off quickly after that. And while I was okay pushing Pax’s buttons—for reasons I didn’t wholly understand given how well I didn’t know him—I didn’t feel comfortable doing the same with Kato. There was something about Pax that had me convinced he wouldn’t hurt me, at least not deliberately. But I didn’t share that same feeling with Kato.

 

“What do you think?”

 

I was brought back to the present by Alex’s question. I shook my head to refocus on him and found that he was staring at me, his expression open, his head cocked slightly to the side. He looked like a damn puppy.

 

“Um, I’m sorry, what?” I had completely missed whatever it was he was talking about. What did I think about what?

 

“Kato,” he prompted. When I still stared at him blankly, he added in annoyance, “Do you think he’s doing okay? I mean, is he recovering right and stuff?”

 

Oh, Kato. Of course. Really, I wanted to tell him that Kato needed to be checked into a hospital—both a regular one and a mental one. But that seemed bitchy, and I already knew what they thought about taking people to hospitals.

 

Because they’re all crazy.

 

“I guess he’s recovering fine,” I told Alex. I didn’t really feel like talking about it.

 

“But he seems really…slow. Not like, mentally but you know. Slow. Moving. Like he’s got a limp or something.” Alex prattled on for several more long sentences, and the urge to shove something in his mouth just to shut him up was pretty strong.

 

It was going to be a long couple of days being stuck here with him. I missed Pax already.

 

“His body is just trying to finish repairs,” I told him blandly. I glanced out the window at the pretty scenery outside. It really was a beautiful location. The trees outside were a combination of conifers and deciduous, their leaves just starting to change color. There were wildflowers in the cleared area surrounding the house, and from the back patio, I could see the mountains off in the distance.

 

Gorgeous.

 

But a gorgeous prison was still a prison.

 

I opened my mouth to say more on the subject of Kato’s recovery when I froze. Did I just see something move outside? Something that was definitely not a cute and furry animal? “Did you see—?” But I didn’t get the chance to ask if Alex had seen anyone.

 

Glass shattered from the window I’d just been staring out when a rock smashed through it. I let out a yell of surprise, and Alex got up so fast that he knocked his chair back. “What the fuck?” he got out, then a gunshot rang out through the otherwise still air. I dropped down to the ground, falling out of my chair.

 

Alex let out a cry of pain, then stumbled back into the kitchen counter, his left hand pressing against his right shoulder.

 

When I looked up at him, I saw blood seeping from between his fingers. He’d been hit. Oh my God, he was shot. I scrambled over to him, still low on the ground. Just as I was about to get up to check on his wound, another shot rang out. This one also hit Alex. But not in the shoulder. No, it hit him in the guts, blood pouring from his abdomen.

 

This was bad. Very bad. Shoulder wounds hurt and they could be fatal, but they were easier to treat. Easier to take the bullet out. But a hit to the stomach? The bullet could move around in there. It could hit vital organs. And if it wasn’t operated on quickly, it almost always resulted in a slow, painful death.

 

I scrambled the rest of the way over to him as he slid down the counter to slump onto the floor. He was crying out in pain now, forgetting his shoulder in favor of clutching at his stomach. Blood was pouring out, coating everything, and I felt tears sting my eyes. As a nurse, I knew without being told what was going to happen.

 

Alex, barely more than a boy, was going to die.

 

“It’s okay,” I told him, kneeling in front of him. I grabbed a nearby dishtowel and pressed it against his stomach. He cried out in pain. “It’s going to be okay.” But it was a lie. I really doubted it would be okay for him.

 

I heard more shots being fired, more crashing. There were stomping boots, and I realized that if I’d wanted to run, I had already wasted that opportunity. Instead, I’d crawled over here to Alex and that wasted time—because it was time wasted; there was nothing I could do—had cost me. The footsteps stomped into the kitchen, but I didn’t look up. I kept my eyes trained on Alex. “It’s going to be okay,” I told him again, trying to sound soothing. I didn’t think he believed me though. It was hard to believe someone comforting you when they were crying.

 

Alex moaned and groaned, holding his belly.

 

“Get up!” someone, a man, yelled. I felt something cold pressing against the back of my neck. I clenched my eyes shut as fear washed over me. I heard Alex mutter something but couldn’t make it out. He was losing blood fast and fading already.

 

“I said fucking get up!” the man yelled again.

 

When I still didn’t move, the man said, “Bitch,” then reached down and grabbed me under one arm. His grip was hard and bruised me, but I was barely paying attention to that. I was too busy thinking about the gun and the horrible way that Alex was dying.

 

Jerking me to my feet, I stumbled a little against him, then tried to jerk back. I didn’t want to touch this man. But he yanked me back to him and shoved me to move forward. “Fucking move,” he yelled. He shoved me out of the cabin. I caught glimpses of the hall; things were trashed. There was more yelling, and after a moment, I saw two huge men half-dragging Kato down the stairs. He looked bloodied up and pale. I had the feeling that if he hadn’t been so badly wounded, he might have put up a better fight, but I didn’t know.

 

They had guns. There were more of them. And they’d shot Alex twice and were now leaving him for dead.

 

But what were they going to do with us?