Life Support
‚Can't you driver faster?' Felicity's voice was tight.
'If you want us to get arrested, sure, but then we'd be no good to Oliver!' John snapped as a reply.
He veered around a corner, the van nearly spinning out of control, before speeding on through the snow covered streets of Starling City.
Five minutes later he came to a screeching halt in front of an old storage unit at the docks. None of them said a word as they jumped out of the car, torches already in their hands, and hurried into the container. The bleeping red dot on Felicity's screen led them to the back corner where a hooded figure lay sprawled on the ground.
'He isn't moving.' Felicity's voice rose an octave while she was trying to feel for Oliver's pulse.
'Get back to the van and open the back.' Diggle instructed, before hoisting the limp body of the arrow over his shoulder. Please let him be just unconscious…
This time it was Felicity's foot that drove the pedal into the floor while John tried assessing the damage that had been done to their friend. He cut open the leather jacket and located the source of the bleeding.
'Not good…' He muttered under his breath, when he noticed a second hole gaping in the right side of his lower abdomen. 'Definitely not good.' The few short breaths Oliver had taken so far had made him cough up blood and John knew that one of his lungs had collapsed. There wasn't much time to lose.
'Felicity!' He shouted. 'We have to get him to a hospital!'
'We can't!' She screamed back. 'Too much exposure!'
'To hell with exposure! If we don't get him to a hospital right now he'll die!'
That seemed to register, the shock almost made Felicity drive into oncoming traffic. She gripped the wheel tighter until her knuckles went white and took the next turn right, headed for Starling City Central Hospital at neck-breaking speed. Dig did everything he could to make Oliver seem as little as himself as possible, smudging dirt onto his face, rubbing paint into his hair, before spotting another wound on his left thigh.
'Dammit!' He cursed, slicing off the pants to bandage the damaged area. 'He's lost too much blood…' He said involuntarily but immediately wanted to slap himself. You can't think about that right now!
When they arrived he jumped out of the van, almost falling over, while carrying a half-naked Oliver into the entrance hall.
'HELP!' He screamed. 'He's been shot, he's lost a lot of blood! Please!'
He didn't need to say more as nurses and doctors seemed to drop everything to get the dying man out of his arms and on a stretcher.
'Who is he?' Someone asked him.
'I don't know, I found him lying in the street…' He said, exhaustion and emotional stress catching up to him. He thought Felicity was beside him, but when he turned around there was no one to be seen.
Smart girl, he thought, we can't be seen together. What he wouldn't have given for a comforting hand on his shoulder though. With a huge effort he pulled himself to his feet and turned to sit in the waiting area when a sole Christmas ball ornament caught his eye. Soon he realized it wasn't only one, but a myriad of them, hung all over the entrance hall, small or big colorful globes, making the hospital seem more cheerful and less… hollow. It wrenched his heart. Somewhere a radio station was playing happy holiday songs. John turned around to see a family with Christmas sweaters huddling together, the kids sleeping while the parents were holding them. Probably waiting for another kid. Or a grandparent or something. The door opened and the smell of cinnamon and chocolate hit him. It was too much. He left the hospital without another word. He'd have to call Felicity to pick Oliver up. He couldn't take it. Couldn't take all the cheer , while his friend was dying in the hospital. And now his friend was dying alone.
I'm a coward, John thought before the heavy snowfall swallowed him, making sure to cover his tracks on the ground.