The employees' parking lot was full and dark as Jude drove through the gates. He was about to park to his own spot, near the entrance of the arena, when he realized someone had parked his car there. Jude cursed silently as he drove to look for available spot. All the lights were out which only momentarily crossed his mind. It was odd because all the other lamp-posts had been lit around the arena. But Jude was busy thinking more important things. He was on the phone, trying to reach Zero. It was in vain, since Zero's voicemail started, which was expected. He was probably in the middle of the game.
"Zero, it's me. Sorry, I'm late. Had to pick up something." Jude started to speak as the voicemail ended. "Anyway, I'm at the parking lot right now so if you get this before I get there, meet me halfway."
Jude ended the call and dropped his phone to the passenger's seat so he could park his car to a spot a little further away. He was just about to turn off the car when his phone rang. Jude quickly grab his phone and answered without looking who was calling.
"No one crosses me." Instead of Zero's voice he expected to hear, another familiar voice reached his ear.
Jude looked ahead just in time to see two flashes of light followed by a sound of something hitting the windshield and agonizing pain in his body. It immobilized his whole body, making him drop his phone which slid to the passenger's seat legroom. He looked down to his chest but saw nothing out of ordinary. With shaking hands he pulled his suit coat aside and saw two tiny holes in his dress shirt. Jude knew immediately what it meant and he panicked. He started to feel something warm pour down his back. His hands started to shake even more and then all his limbs went numb. Without any strength to support them, his hands fell to his side and his head lolled back against the seat.
Jude looked in front of himself and saw a dark figure standing few feet away from his car. Another, much shorter, figure joined him. Jude tried to make out who they were, but his eyesight seemed to have blurred. He tried to blink, but it didn't help. Soon the shorter figure started to walk closer. Jude followed him with his eyes. The man stopped next to the Jude and leaned against the door with his hands. Jude lifted his gaze up to the man's face and saw the owner of the voice who had called him.
"I didn't want to go this far with you, Jude." Oscar said or more like whispered to him. His voice was cold and steady. Nothing indicated that he regretted what he was about to do, or had already done. "But I couldn't let you go behind my back any longer. If you were anyone else, I would've taken you out weeks ago."
Jude felt spit and blood rice to his mouth. He swallowed and opened his mouth, trying to say something but only a pathetic whimper escaped his mouth. He could hear his own rasping breathing as he tried to form any words.
"What is it?" Oscar asked and leaned closer, so that his face was inches away from Jude's.
Jude gathered all the hatred and power he had left and spat the blood and spit to Oscar's face. The man grunted in surprise and slowly withdrew further away. He wiped the spit away from his eyelid to his sleeve and then smiled at Jude.
Jude wanted to scream and shout to the man. Hit that smug smirk away from his face, but right at the moment even breathing was causing him difficulties. He couldn't feel the blood on his back anymore but instead on the bench, forming a pond. Every breath he drew caused him agonizing pain.
The other figure, dressed completely in dark, walked beside Oscar. Jude saw the gun in his gloved hand and he panicked again. His eyesight blurred again and even though he blinked again, it didn't help. He didn't know if it was because of tears or something else. The figure released the gun's safety catch and was just about to raise the gun when Oscar stopped him.
"Stop." He said and stretched his left hand. "Let me."
Jude watched as the other man gave the gun to Oscar, who examined it with unreadable expression. Then he changed the gun to his other hand pointed it towards Jude and all Jude could think about how unfair it all was. He had just started his life with Zero, just got to know Gideon and now it was all ripped away from him. All he wanted was to see Gideon's face one more time, to hear his voice and apologize for having to leave him behind when his phone started to rang. Jude had just enough strength to look down where his phone laid. The image of Zero flashed on the screen. Jude wanted to reach for the phone so bad, but all he was able to do was to twist his fingers towards it. The frustration made him rest his head back to the seat again and close his eyes.
Jude felt the cold end of the gun being pressed against his forehead. He looked up to Oscar, refusing to look anywhere else, and maybe it was because of loss of blood and maybe Jude was hallucinating but it looked like the man, who was supposed to be his father, was sad.
Jude listened to his ringtone and waited for the end when a familiar voice reached his ear...
"Jude, where the hell are you? Either you've bought yourself a poorer car or some asshole has parked to your space…" Zero eyed the white Mercedes in disapproval as if the owner could see him. He looked around to see where Jude could've parked. He barely saw anything beyond the front row of cars because of the dim light that arena provided. All the other lights were out. "The game ended in disaster. Could you just answer to me? How am I supposed to spot your car since it camouflages so well in this fucking darkness." Zero knew he would hear later, how it was him, who had picked up the color for Jude.
Then Zero saw two red dots of rear lights little further away. "Wait a minute. I think I see your car…" He briskly walked towards it, wondering why Jude wasn't picking up his phone. Maybe Jude was moping about Oscar or maybe he was angry at Zero, for god knows what reason. As he came closer to the spot he recognized the shape of Jude's Porsche which indeed blended into the darkness of the night.
Zero ended the phone call as he approached the car from rear left. He couldn't see to the front of the car because of the bushes and billboard blocking the view. But he knew Jude was waiting there, because otherwise they would've met in the locker rooms. And Jude would never leave his car's lights on.
"Jude, you have no idea how hard it was for me to find your car. I should've picked bright yellow if this keeps up."
Zero's voice reached Jude's ears. He turned his eyes towards the sound but couldn't see him. He wanted to shout for him to hurry up, but he knew he couldn't do that. The gun was pulled away from his head. Jude looked up to Oscar who shared a look with the stranger. The two of them backed off into the darkness.
Zero walked around the billboard and his smile grew even wider when he saw Jude sitting on the drivers' bench. He couldn't see Jude's face but he guessed the man was either asleep or sulking. Both were possible scenarios since Jude had been working 24/7 for the last two weeks. His smile however faded when a smell of iron filled his nose.
"Jude?" For the first time since calling Jude, Zero felt that something was wrong. He was now only few feet away from Jude and he hurried his steps. When he saw Jude's face, Zero's felt like he was kicked to stomach. Normally little tanned Jude was completely pale from neck to forehead. Even his lips had loosen their color.
Zero hurriedly opened the door and crouched next to Jude. "Jude, what happened? Look at me." Zero took Jude's head between his hands and shook a little to get his boyfriend's attention. Jude's eyes slowly focused on his, but the gaze was dim. A ghost of a smile appeared on Jude's lips and Zero gave him a tiny smile back, but he soon got serious.
"Who did this to you?" Zero looked around to see if he could see anybody when his eyes were caught on the windshield; there were two holes there. Zero follow the angle of the aperture to Jude's chest. He quickly pulled the suit out of his way and saw two wounds on Jude. One was almost middle on his left chest and another was little above on his shoulder. Wounds were small and bled only a little. Then Zero felt something warm cover his knee and he looked down to see something red drip from the bench.
"Come on… Let me see." Zero wrapped his arms around Jude and carefully leaned the man forward. Jude let out a little whimper as Zero moved him. "Shhh… it's okay." At first Zero didn't see anything odd but when he traveled his hand down Jude's back, he felt something warm and sticky. As he lifted his hand it was covered in blood. Jude's dark suit and black seat made it impossible to actually see the it but Zero felt his man was bleeding, a lot.
Jude rested his chin against Zero's shoulder. From there he saw Oscar standing a little further away in the shadows with a gun still clutched in his hand. Only then Jude realized in how much danger Zero was. He wanted to tell Zero to run, but still no sound came out. His breathing was getting more difficult. Oscar seemed to ponder something before he lowered the gun. Jude saw him and the other figure disappear to the darkness.
Zero rested Jude back to the seat and saw that tears were falling from Jude's eyes. "It's okay. I'm here. You're going to be alright." Zero muttered to Jude and cupped his face, wiping the tears away with his thumbs. His right thumb left a trace of blood below Jude's eye. Zero winced at the sight and looked at his hand where he had hold on to his phone but it wasn't there. He quickly looked around and saw it on the ground; smashed to pieces. He must've dropped it in shock of seeing Jude, without even noticing.
"Fuck." He muttered under his breath and looked around for Jude's phone. "Where's your phone?" He asked even though he knew Jude wasn't going to answer to him. Zero traveled his hand against Jude's body but couldn't feel it anywhere in his pockets. Then he checked the legroom and saw it on the passenger's side. He quickly crawled over Jude to get it, careful not to put too much pressure on him. As he fumbled with the phone, he kept his other hand on Jude's shoulder, partly to make Jude feel he wasn't leaving him and partly because he needed to reassure himself that Jude was still warm.
When he finally managed to get a good hold onto the phone he tried to dial the emergency number. His hands were shaking and for a moment he couldn't even remember what the freaking number was. It seemed to take forever for Zero to finally press to call. He put the phone on speaker and threw it to the passenger's seat.
"Jude, please, speak to me." Zero resumed to his earlier position and put his hands on both sides of Jude's face.
Jude opened his mouth and the words came out so silently that Zero almost missed them: "Sleeve..."
"What?" Zero looked at Jude with puzzled expression.
Jude closed his eyes and tried again, but this time his voice was barely audible: "Sorry." He said instead and Zero felt even more scared than before. He had no idea what Jude was apologizing about. Maybe he was just hallucinating. It pained Zero to think how long Jude had just sat there in his own blood and in pain without no one knowing.
"Is anybody there?" Zero pulled them a little further apart when he heard a female voice coming from the phone. She must've been calling for a few times already.
"Send an ambulance to the Devils' arena! To the employees' parking lot. My boyfriend's been shot." By saying it aloud Zero's voice almost broke.
"Can you tell me your name?"
Zero wanted to throw the phone because of that unnecessary question. She was just wasting time. But he answered quickly just to get help as fast as possible.
"Okay, Zero, do you know who shot him? I want you to make sure you aren't in any kind of danger yourself." The lady said with stern voice.
"I don't know. There's no one else here." Zero had pretty good idea who had done this to Jude, but the time for dealing with that wasn't now.
"Can you tell me where your boyfriend got shot and how many times?"
Zero looked at Jude's chest. "Once to his chest and once to his left shoulder from ahead. He's bleeding… a lot." Zero heard his own voice break at the end.
"Thank you. The ambulance should be there in under a minute. Try to keep him warm and provide him a position in which he is comfortable in. Don't hang up the phone. I'll be on the other end until the ambulance arrives, okay? Inform me if there is any changes in his condition."
"Okay." Zero said and turned his full attention back to Jude again. The man had gone ever paler and his breathing was shallow and rasping. "The ambulance is here soon. Hear that?" The sound of sirens echoed not far away. "You're going to be okay. You're going to be fine." Zero took off his warmup jacket. He had left the court without changing since he knew Jude had been waiting for him.
Zero saw something move in low corned of his eyes. He looked down and saw Jude lift his left hand. Zero quickly wrapped his hands around it. He gave Jude's knuckles a quick kiss before pressing his hand against his chest. Zero felt his own heart beat fast against their hands.
At first Jude was looking at him then he opened his mouth and Zero thought he was going to say something, but instead Jude started to cough. Truly cough, like he couldn't breathe. Jude's whole body convulsed by the strength of it and blood splurged from his mouth. Some of it splattered on Zero's face but he didn't even notice. Jude got even paler, then suddenly blue from the lack of oxygen. He clearly tried to breath, he was gasping for air but with every cough even more blood just came out.
"Jude! Jude!" Zero tried to get Jude to look at him. To relax but Jude just kept on coughing. "There's blood coming out of his mouth!" Zero yelled in hope the lady on the other end could hear him from between Jude's futile attempts of breathing.
Zero was just about to take the phone so he could hear what the woman was saying, when Jude's body went completely limb. His head lolled against his shoulder with eyes closed. Zero quickly lifted Jude's face so he could look at him.
"Jude!" He slapped Jude's cheek a couple of times but there were no response. "He's not breathing!"
"Zero, can you see the ambulance yet?" She asked, clearly thinking there was nothing Zero could do to Jude anymore.
Zero looked around the parking lot just in time to see the ambulance stop near them. Two paramedics ran towards them dragging peer with them.
"It's here." Zero said more to himself and Jude than to her. "He's not breathing!" He yelled at the men. The other focused to Jude straight away and the other took hold of Zero's shoulder.
"You need to move back a little." Zero was about to protest but the man interrupted him. "Give us some space to work, so we can do the best we can."
Hesitantly Zero let go of Jude's hand and took a few steps away. His whole body was shaking and his legs almost gave in underneath him. He couldn't do anything else than to watch. The men lifted Jude's limb body to the peer and they ripped his shirt open. Zero stared at the two bullet holes with shock. His coat was thrown to the ground as the men started to work.
"Pulse is barely palpable. I'll put the I.V on." One of the paramedics said and he stuck a needle to Jude's arm. The other started resuscitation.
Zero looked at his red warmup jacket and Jude's suit jacket that laid on the ground. Without thinking he picked them up and squeezed tightly. He didn't even notice that two police cars had arrived and people had started to gather around them. Most of them were arena's staff members. Some were taking pictures. Zero could see the flashes of light but he couldn't make himself to care. He just stared at Jude.
"We need to move him to the car. Blood is cutting his airways." Zero heard paramedic say and they started to move Jude towards the ambulance. Zero made a move to follow them but a police officer stopped him by taking hold of his shoulder.
"Excuse me, but we need to have a word with you."
"I can't…" Zero tried to pull away from him but the officer held on even tighter.
"It'll take only a moment."
Zero nodded and let himself be guided behind one of the police cars where the onlookers couldn't hear them.
"Can you tell me your name, the victim's name and how you found him?" Officer asked and pulled out his notepad.
Zero shook his head. His thoughts were all over the place. He tried to concentrate to the memory of founding Jude but his mind went back to the ambulance. "I… I found him like that. Jude…" Zero took a deep breathe. "Jude Kinkade, he just sat there. I saw no one. There was blood everywhere." When he closed his eyes he could smell the blood and see the scared expression on Jude's face.
"Okay." The officer wrote it down. "And you must be Zero." The man said with one look of Zero's playing shirt.
"Was it all?" Zero made a move to walk away.
"One more question. Do you have any idea who could've done this to him?" The man gestured towards Jude's car, the scene of the crime.
The officer paid attention of how Zero seemed suddenly focus back to this moment and he looked straight at him.
"Oscar Kinkade." Zero said without hesitation. "He shot his own son."
"Why would you think that?"
"You'll find out soon enough." And without any more words Zero walked away. The officer wrote it down.
The ambulance was still there as Zero walked towards it. The paramedic was just about to close the doors when he saw him.
"Hop on." He was normally weary of letting patients relatives and friends inside but this one seemed calm enough not to cause any trouble.
The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever. But apparently Jude was breathing again as the paramedic only gave him oxygen through a tube in his throat. Once in a while he sucked some more blood out of Jude's airways. Zero found himself breathing for the first time since he found Jude.
In the hospital Jude was received by two doctors and nurses. Zero made out only two words from the middle of hospital language: blood and surgery. One nurse suddenly stepped in front of him, blocking Zero from following Jude any further.
"I'm sorry, but you need to stay here. He's in good hands." She said, but failed to confirm him. "Are you hurt, mister?" She asked next as she examined Zero's appearance.
"I'm fine. Where are they taking him?" Zero already knew the answer but he wanted as much information as possible.
"He's going to a MRI so the doctors can see how much the bullets has done damage." Zero felt his throat go dry and he swallowed. "Then they're taking him to surgery. Please, sit down here. We'll inform you of the progress." The woman opened a glass door to a small waiting room.
As the door was shut behind him, Zero felt claustrophobic. For the first time he was alone with his thoughts and he hated it. He had no way of knowing how Jude was doing. Hesitantly Zero sat down on one of the benches. There were magazines, but he couldn't even think about reading them. He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep steadying breath. It didn't help at all. He felt like screaming, kicking, strangling someone. His whole chest felt like someone had driven over it with a car. He looked down his hands and saw that his hands were covered in blood, Jude's blood. The smell of it hit his senses again.
Zero walked out from the waiting room and saw a restroom sign on the other side of the corridor. He quickly crossed it and got inside just before he vomited to the floor. It was like all the emotions he had been feeling just went overboard and came flooding out of him. Zero leaned against the toilet's frame and threw up again. He spat the last pile to the floor and took a shaking breath. He almost fell over as he walked to the sink. He looked his reflection from the mirror. His face was covered with blood as well. With shaking hands he opened the faucet and started to wash the blood out almost violently. After he managed to get most of the blood out of his hands, he washed his face and wiped it to his shirt. He looked back to the mirror and saw a pale, unrecognizable man stare back at him. The smell of vomit soon became enough for him and Zero had to leave the room and return to the waiting area.
The sound of clatter on a tiling floor caught his attention. He knew immediately who it was and soon enough Lionel emerged into the room.
"How is he?" She asked and Zero had never heard such a desperate voice coming out of her.
Zero found himself smirking as he slowly raised his eyes from his hands to Lionel's face. "How is he?" He echoed her earlier words and stood up. "You don't even deserve to know the answer." He hissed as he walked closer to her.
Lionel frowned and looked him up and down taking step back at the same time. "What are you talking about?"
Zero's smile widened and he looked like he had gone mad. "You don't get it, do you?" He stepped even closer so his face was only inches away from Lionel's. "He's out there, in a surgery, fighting for his life, because of you." He emphasized the last words with so much venom in his voice that Lionel started to look scared.
"Because of me? You think I shot him? You've gone mad!" Lionel refused to back off and she stood as tall as she was capable of.
"You let Oscar out of the leash!" Zero yelled at her now and Lionel flinched. "You let him out of the prison! It's all your fault." After that Zero backed off and so did Lionel. She seemed to be in shock as she realized Zero's words were true. She looked away from him and slowly walked backwards towards the door. She reached for the handle and quickly opened it. Without a second look she disappeared to the corridor.
Lionel walked steadily towards the exit. She wanted to run but her pride didn't let her. As she finally reached the open-air. She stopped to lean against the hospital wall. A loud sob escaped her mouth and she felt tears fall down her face. Jude was her best friend. He was like a brother to her… like a son she never had. And now, she had almost killed him with her reckless actions. Lionel heard someone coming, so she quickly wiped her face and walked towards her car.
