Chapter 82

I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I was in a bad dream and if I tried really hard I would wake up and this wouldn’t be happening. My best friend would not be bleeding to death on the floor a few feet away from me. Only I didn’t wake up. No matter how many times I opened and closed my eyes, Drake was still lying on the ground, coughing up blood and clutching his stomach. It was only when he let out a groan of pure agony that I finally found my legs and realised this was not going away. I had to help him. I sprinted over to where he was, collapsing to my knees and grabbing the back of his head gently placing it on my lap. Blood was around his mouth and I placed my hand over his to put more pressure on the bullet wound. “Drake, Drake stay with me!” I almost yelled in his face hysterically. I was barely aware of what was going on around me as all my concentration was on keeping him awake, but I vaguely took in the fact that Jace tackled Holly to the ground and took the gun away from her, knocking her out with one clean punch. Apart from Holly’s unconscious body on the floor, it was only us agents and Jace in the room now. Jace got to his feet and stood next to me with the look of panic on his face as he looked down at Drake. I turned to Chris “Call an ambulance!” Chris was one step ahead and before I even finished my sentence his phone was next to his ear. “My friend has just been shot we need help now!” He ordered down the phone, pausing as he listened to the woman on the other end who spoke loud enough for us to hear a muffled voice. Chris looked confused before he turned to me and Jace “Where the hell are we?! What’s the address?” Jace quickly told him the address of the place and Chris repeated it down the phone, but not before long I could sense he was starting to lose his temper with the woman on the phone. “I just told you my friend has been shot and you’re asking me if I need an ambulance, fire brigade or police?! Are you fucking kiddin’me woman?!” he screamed down the line, the panic of the situation clearly causing him to snap like that “If you ask stupid questions then I will use as much abusive language as I want.” The woman said something down the other end and fury blazed on Chris’s face “I have a friend who is bleeding to death and you’re threatening to hang up on me for abusive language? Listen to me, if you do not send someone here in the next 5 minutes I will personally come down there and bitch slap you myself.” Chris snapped his phone shut, not bothering to waste another minute on the bitch on the phone as he was clearly too worried about Drake. “Mate, someone is on their way. And when they get here I may have to start beating innocent women.” Drake let out a strained laugh which made a pang of hope shoot through me. He was laughing, he would be okay. He had to be okay. I took my attention away from Drake and looked up, finally realising that Connor had not said a word. My eyes landed on him and that was enough to make all hope I had mere seconds ago fade away. Connor is normally the joker of the group. The guy who would laugh and start cracking jokes while being covered in guts and blood. The guy who we all rely on to make the situation brighter when something goes bad. Only now as my eyes landed on him I didn’t see the joker or the guy who would make the situation better. I saw a scared boy who was watching his best friend slowly fade away. He was frozen to the spot, his eyes open an unblinking. His breath was caught in his throat and the pure fear I saw in his eyes was truly frightening. You see Connor and Drake were more than just friends and partners, they were like brothers. When Connor joined the agency Drake took him under his wing, and slowly with them living together and working together they became so close that you forgot they had only met 2 and a half years ago. Drake had been there for Connor at the hardest time of his life where he had to leave his friends and family behind, and in the midst of all of this happening they were like family. So what he was feeling right now as he watched Drake on the floor with a bullet hole in his stomach I could never imagine, because as close as me and Drake were, it didn’t compare to the bond they had. It was only when Drake let out a scream of agony that Connor snapped out of his trance, and in a flash he was by Drakes side on the floor, realising he didn’t have time to freak out or be scared. He had to be here for his brother. “D, D listen to me someone is on their way okay?” Connor tried to say as calmly as possible, but the panic in his voice was unavoidable “You gotta stay awake so you can watch Chris go psycho on the paramedics.” Drake let out another strained laugh, only to scrunch his face in pain shortly after. “You know I’ve been shot before, but this time I can honestly say it hurts like a bitch.” Drake managed to say, his voice was weak and I could tell with every word another shot of pain rain through his body. “You’re going to get through this man, we’re going to get you patched up and spend the next week at home watching Fresh Prince and trying to get all our progress back on COD.” Connor managed to give him a faint smile, the hope filling his voice made everyone in the room feel better. He sounded confident, but I couldn’t help but notice he sounded like he was trying to convince himself as well as everyone else. The corner of Drake’s mouth tugged up faintly “Only if Faith promises not to knock me out with the controller again.” I didn’t even know I was crying until I heard a laugh escape through my tears. I sniffled and smiled down at Drake. “I promise I won’t. All you gotta do is hang in there a little longer and you can play as much Xbox as you want. I will not complain once.” No matter what I said or how confident I tried to sound, my voice came out as a plea. I was begging him to hang in there.