There was the silence that followed the loud piercing bang of the gun being fired, and the gasp of breath as it hit it's target. The ringing in my ears slowly died down and I opened my eyes to look around, though my eyes suddenly snapped back to the blonde I was holding in my arms.
Then, it was like it all sped up again.
I had Keeley in my arms, my back facing Luke as I had tried to shield her, though it had been useless. Keeley slowly looked up till her gaze met mine and her hand went to her stomach, she started to sway in my arms. Her face slowly contorted in pain, then she fell.
"No, no... no, no, no, no, no, no," I whispered forcefully in panic as my stomach clenched into a knot. I cradled her fall, tears quickly formed and spilled over my face as I looked down at her. My arms were barely even able to hold her up. "Keeley," My voice was urgent, trying to keep her focusing on me. "Come on, come on Keeley." My voice started to get horse, my throat tightening up to the point I felt like I couldn't breath. "No!" I cried out.
"Garr..." She whispered in a soft yet scratchy voice.
"Keeley, keep your eyes open ...please." I begged, my hands moving to her lower stomach and back. I felt around the warm wetness of the blood soaked cotton and felt where the bullet hit her, confirming my fear. The bullet had not only hit her, but it went straight through her. "Shh, your going to be okay," I whispered, cradling her head in my lap."Garr... " She said my name again hoarsely, a sad smile on her face before she had to squeeze her eyes shut in pain, her breaths started to get jagged and heavy.
That was it for me, I’ve had it.
I whipped my head up to him and gave the most menacing and hate filled glare I could rally, my fist wanting so bad to connect with any part of him that would cause pain. Luke didn't even seem fazed one bit though, instead he smirked down at me, slowly tucking the gun back into his pocket.
I carefully set Keeley's head down on the ground and stood up, my fist clenched and shaking with anger and my jaw hurting from how hard I was gritting my teeth. All I saw at the moment was red.
"You Bastard!" I yelled.
"Ouch?" was Luke's sarcastic response as he looked at me with raised eyebrows and shrugged shoulders.
"You're dead." I whispered, my tone unforgiving as I slowly took a step in his direction. I didn't even care that there were wet streaks running doesn't my face or that my eyes were red, I didn't even care about how painful it was to be standing at the moment. I didn't care that he had hurt me, I had been hurt plenty of times to not care about that any more. All I cared about was getting retribution for Keeley and Alex, they are who what mattered."No, I'm actually going to walk away." Luke said in a boastful tone. "I don't even have to deal with you anymore.”
"You're not walking away from here." I told him firmly as I moved forward some more. "You're either leaving in an ambulance, or in the back of a police car. But there is no way I'm letting you walk away after what you've done, Not even you, Luke.”
"You can't lay a hand on me." He smirked.
I chuckled darkly and took another step towards him, my fist ready to swing at any moment. Then I felt movement behind me, a hand reaching towards me. I quickly ducked out of the way with a spin and grabbed the guy's wrist. I didn't have the strength in me to flip him, but I was able to swing him around and hold his arm at a very painful angle till I heard it snap out of socket. I didn't even flinched when the guy cried out and fell to the ground, cradling his arm in pain.
"Bye, Garret. I hope to never see you again." He chuckled.
"You coward!" I shouted after his retrying figure. "you're still the same as you were back then, even though you say you’ve changed." Luke suddenly halted in his tracks from my words. "You had said Nate taught you how to stand up for yourself, right? Then why, this whole time, have you had other fight your battles for you?”"Why waste the energy?" He shrugged nonchalantly.
"It's because you're still scared... You said he taught you how to make everyone afraid of you so you didn't have to be scared of anyone. But you know what? I'm not scared of you at all. I haven't been scared of you this whole time. No... you've been scared of me." I said loud enough for it to carry over to him clearly.
"You think I'm scared of you?" he chuckled, slightly turning back around with a humorous smile on his face. “really?”
"I've known that you're scared of me ever since that day in the ally." I said calmly. "You can't even seem to face me without any help. Either form your guys or with a gun, because you know that not even a knife could protect you.”
"You know, I'm surprised at you Garret. I thought you would have been begging me to see the light, for me to repent and turn myself in or something, for me to be the boy you remember at the orphanage." He said with interest, deflecting the conversation. "but you're actually threatening me? tut tut, I thought you would know better." he clucked his teeth.
"You're scared," I said again.
"What happened to the guy who was to scared to lift a finger to his friends. Weren't we friends Garret?" he tried taunting again, his back still to me. I just chuckled darkly with disdain."We stopped being friends when you flipped the switch." Just like Nate, I thought to myself. I glared at him, my eyes the only thing showing emotion on my face.
I heard a loud grunt from behind me, then suddenly one of the guy's that was holding me down fell away with a muffled yell. I didn't know what happened, but I took that chance and kicked out my leg, effectively making the guy on my right fall to the ground head first. An arm snaked around my neck and started to choke me, pulling me backwards.
I choked and coughed as I scratched at the persons arm, trying to get a good grip on it. I couldn't do my usual maneuver to get him off because of the injuries inflicted on me, so I was searching my brain for a way to shake him off, but I couldn't see to come up with anything. Then, just as I almost remembered one, the guy was thrown off of me from a heavy kick to his side. Shock coursed through me for a split second before I turned around to see who had helped me, though my shock didn't stop there. Relief also flooded through me at the sight of who was in front of me.
"Alex!" My eye's widened. "you're okay?" I asked in disbelief and relief, taking in his slightly beaten up appearance with a big knock on the side of his head, but nothing worse that I could see than that. He nodded his head, searching for something before looking back at me.
"Yes, I would never leave family alone... Now go! That douche is getting away," Alex pointed quickly towards the retreating figure of Luke before drop kicking a guy that came at him.
"But-" I stuttered, looking back to Keeley for a second.
"I got them! It's your only chance..." He said with force and a promise behind his words. I slowly nodded, though only after seeing the look in his eyes.