Chapter
16
A.J.
sat up slowly. His heart was beating so
quickly he thought it would leap out of his chest. When the gun was fired, he had thrown himself
across Brian and Lila. He hadn’t been
entirely sure who the bullet was intended for.
Both guns had been drawn and pointed, one at the three of them, one at
the other two seated a little further down the wall. In his panic, A.J. had been unable to figure
who was the designated executor, and his reaction was instinctive.
In
the moment before the reality of what had just happened, Brian gazed in
wonderment at his friend. A.J. had
volunteered to sacrifice his own life to save his. In the middle of the chaos and fear that
surrounded them all, Brian suddenly felt more loved than he ever had in his
life. He had always known that what the
five of them had was special, something that not everyone was lucky enough to
find. He knew that all of them shared
the same belief that any of them would do anything to help each other, but
thankfully none of them had had to make good on that unspoken vow, until
now. Sure, when Brian had gone through
surgery, he had known just how much the four of them loved him. But all they could do was be here for him. It had been enough, and they had all gotten
through it, but this was different. A.J.
had just tried to take a bullet for him.
The
moment passed, and the panic took over.
Brian grabbed his shoulder as he tried to sit up.
“Are
you ok?” he asked urgently. He too
needed a moment to figure out that nether of them was hurt.
“Yeah,”
he said after a moment. He turned to
face Brian. “Are you?”
Brian
nodded. They book looked over and saw
the other woman who had been shopping lying lifeless on the linoleum. One of thieves was in the process of dragging
her out of sight. It wasn’t that much
better, she had left a big mess on the floor.
She had been shot in the head. It
was the second person Brian had seen killed that day. He didn’t know how much more he could
take. He shut his eyes and looked away
from the hideous sight. When he opened
them, he found himself looking down at Lila, who lay limp in his arms.
Terror
overtook him.
“No! No, no no…” He shook her, and got no response. “No!” he cried again. “A.J., help me!”
They
wasted no time in resting her flat on the floor. A.J. took her pulse. He shook his head tersely. Brian swore.
“CPR,”
A.J. murmured. “She needs CPR.”
Brian
didn’t hesitate. He straddled her waist,
placed one hand over the other and used the palm of his hand to press on her
chest. A.J. tilted her head back to
clear her airway.
One,
two, three, four, five, Brian counted silently as he thrust upwards with his
palms. He pinched her nose and breathed
into her mouth. Still nothing. He repeated the process, growing more frantic
with each try. A.J. swallowed with
difficulty. He said a quick prayer. No one else needed to die today.
After
several more attempts, Brian almost gave up, but some inner force drove him to
continue. The two criminals noticed the
problem and had moved over in their direction.
“Remember,
she dies you die.”
A.J.
wanted to kill him right there. “You
kill him you lose out on more money,” he said angrily. They relaxed their hold on their guns ever so
slightly. He was fairly sure they saw
the sense in his claim, but he had no doubt his friend would suffer if Lila
died. The thought made him bristle with
a newfound source of hatred.
Brian
was working furiously, and A.J. knew that it had nothing to do with the fear of
losing his own life, despite the threat.
A minute passed, and he began to give up hope.
“Brian,”
A.J. said brokenly. “Brian. Enough.”
“No.”
The
determination in his voice surprised him.
The look on Brian’s face plainly said that he was going to save this
girl’s life if he had to grab onto her spirit and force it back into her body
with his bare hands.
Brian
leaned back from her mouth and prepared to continue chest compressions. All of the sudden, her still form
gasped. A.J.’s
heart did a somersault.
Lila
sputtered for breath, and A.J. propped her up a little.
“Thank
God,” Brian exhaled. “You scared the
shit out of me.”
“Wh-what
happened?”
“Say
hello to your savior,” A.J. said, a joyful smile tugging at the corners of his
mouth. “Brian here just brought you back
to life.”
She
stared at him, her blue eyes wide in disbelief.
“Don’t
make me do it again,” he warned. She
smiled weakly. Their two captors backed
off a bit, and Brian checked the wound on her side again.
“Who
died?” she asked him quietly.
He
refused to look at her. “The other woman
who was shopping in here.”
“I
want to get out of here,” she said softly.
“So
do I. Believe me, so do I.”
***