Well... let's just say that I've been productive today...
Here's another chapter...
"Stop." Dean commanded after a little while. He was about to drop to the floor, but that was not the main reason that he had commanded Jake to stop.
Jake did as he was told. Dean leaned heavily on his shoulder, as he tried to gather enough breath for what he was going to say next…
"We should pace ourselves a bit… If there's a maniac with a gun just around the next corner, he'll hear us coming! And he'll be prepared…" he heaved for air, "Beside… I'm about to keel!"
"Okay… Good point!" Jake said and took a look at Dean.
Sweat was dripping from his face, onto his shirt. And he looked like crap, in general…
"Do you need to sit down?" Jake was worried, afraid that he might be killing his new friend.
"Hell no! But I do need to just stop and lean on you or the wall for a few…"
As he helped Dean over to the wall, he felt how tired he started feeling himself and wondered how Dean was still conscious.
They both dried off the sweat on their faces. Gathered themselves, tried to cook up a plan… Not that it would matter, this was one of those 'just make the best of it' situations. No matter what they planned, that scenario was the only thing that wouldn't happen.
…
"A little further then…?" Dean asked when he felt okay-enough.
"Ready if you are!" Jake said and pushed himself off the wall. Ready to help Dean move around again.
Dean held out his right arm, ready to be helped. As Jake placed himself by Dean's right arm, Dean pushed himself away from the wall too.
His breath caught as the sudden shift caused him a world of purple, yellow, red, black, white, grey, green and blue pain… He had never thought about it before, that pain could come in such many different shapes, sizes and colors.
…
He had been shot before, and it had hurt like hell before too… But usually when he got shot, his dad was there to help him back to the car. He would carry him if he had to…
'usually when he got shot…' That was one of the most fucked up things he had ever thought… And it was scary, 'cause it was true…
This was the one, two… thirteenth time he'd been shot… No wait, thirteenth occasion…
On thirteen different days he'd been shot… It varied from grace wounds, to near lethal shots… Most of them had been fixed at Bobby's. With whatever they could find as painkiller and disinfectant…
The first time, he'd been twelve… He had managed to get in the path of a bullet from some old guy's rifle. It had only graced his shoulder, but the pure shock of actually being shot at had taken its toll…
There had been a lot of people going missing in a specific area. Most people thought it was a bear, they'd thought it was a pack of vampires… Turned out it was an old man, with a rather disgusting diet…
…
"You good?" Jake asked as he kept Dean from stumbling to the ground.
"No" Dean figured lying was overrated in this situation, "But sitting around here probably won't help me much…"
Jake nodded. The hallway was a dangerous place.
So they kept on walking. Not as fast as they had, but in a good pace…
After another turn, they found the teacher's office. They opened the door, but it was quiet inside. Just as you would expect a room to be when someone is shooting inside a building. If you're hiding somewhere, you don't shout out 'I'm over here!' whenever someone opens the door to the room you're in… That's rule number one…
They stepped inside, and Dean let out a painful hiss as the last hop jarred the bones inside his leg. He automatically reached for the closest desk, and half sat on it. Tears blurred his vision for the nth time that day, and he had to concentrate not to hurl.
Jake had released him from his grip and went to look in the other parts of the office, and he was glad that they had picked up an extra knife from Dean's locker. That way they could away from each other. But he wished that he would have been a little more proficient with a knife himself.
He thought he would be able to defend himself…
… if he was lucky, and the shooter he would meet was blind and in a wheelchair!
He was in no way worried about leaving Dean to himself with a knife as a weapon… After all… He had witnessed some mad skills earlier!
"Try find a phone!" Dean's voice sounded from the entry, "Call 9-1-1, ask them to send the troops if they can!"
His voice was strained, hurt. Jake felt the knot in his stomach, the one he had sported for an hour-an hour and a half now, tightened and grew bigger. He imagined how bad Dean was feeling, and it only made it worse.
Just as he was about to enter one of the office rooms, he realized that there was blood on the floor beside the principal's office. A pool, and drag-marks…
The impossibly big knot of pain and angst in his stomach grew impossibly larger, as he tippy toed back to Dean.
"Someone's been in here…" he stated just above whisper, a grave expression sprawled across his face.
Dean only looked at him, waiting for more information.
"There's a pool of blood there, someone has been dragged away from it…"
Dean didn't say anything, but pushed off the desk. Pain and agony all across his face as his breath caught, but he somehow managed to stay quiet.
He used every handhold he could find as support, and gripped the knife out of his boot. He moved slowly, but determined. He deliberately moved right in front of Jake, blocking his path, as a human shield.
They reached the point where the trail of blood went below a closed door. A locked door.
"Anybody in there?" Dean took a chance, "I understand you could probably use help with a blood situation… So could I…"
He paused and waited for an answer that never came,
"Okay, I'll get through this door anyway… Please don't lash out on us before you see us!" he said before he turned his upper half towards Jake, "In that desk right there… I'll bet there are some paper clips… I could use a few…"
Jake skipped over to the desk and quickly found a handful of clips.
Dean took three and straightened them, then he set to work. It was a painful and problematic situation, because he couldn't hunch down the way he normally would. He had to stand and bend at his hips.
After a minute or so, the lock popped open and they could enter. The principal sat there on the floor, his hands pressed against one of the teacher's abdomen. She was the one bleeding.
"Where is he?" Dean asked as he leaned on the wall, relieving his sore back and his burning leg.
"I don't know!" the principal managed to say in between sobs. Dean felt sorry for the guy… He had settled for the, believed to be, safe life as a teacher, then a principal… And now someone was shooting up his school… Poor guy, he just wasn't cut out for action…
"Area search… You know what to do if you meet someone who isn't out of it with fear…?"
Jake nodded, "…Ask questions later."
Dean confirmed with a sharp nod.
"I'll take the right, you take the left…" Dean then decided. That way he could lean on the wall as he moved along the big office landscape.
One painful door at the time they secured the area. Dean felt his pulse rising into the high 190's, or at least that was what it felt like…
They both let out a sigh of relief when the two last doors contained nothing, and all their search had found was a male teacher scared out of his wits, hiding beneath a desk with open front…
"Well, I think it's safe to find that phone now…" Jake said, "Hopefully we can get out of here soon…"
Dean nodded, his head felt like a damn hot air balloon… His pulse was still racing, and he was sure his lungs didn't fill even halfway up… "Yeah… and I'll check that teacher the principal's helping…"
He made his way over to the first room, with heavy limping and a few unwillingly gasps and cries…
It looked like the principal managed to keep the blood flow to a minimum. And Dean was relieved when he leaned down and found a strong-ish, steady pulse along the teacher's neck. She was probably better off than himself at the moment.
"Good job…" Dean confirmed, and collided his back with the wall for support, "You're saving her life as long as you keep that pressure on there… She'll make it! Her pulse is great!"
He let his head roll back against the wall. In one way he just wanted to pass out, in another way… He had to find Sammy.
"Are you all right?" the principal asked, his eyes fixed on the blood soaked jeans hugging tight to Dean's right leg.
"No, but I'll survive…" Dean answered like he knew the outcome of this whole situation. Truth was, he was a bit nervous.
Right then Jake came jogging back, "I called 9-1-1, this was the first they had heard of this, but they would send all their cars and people straight away… All three services… Police, Ambulance, Fire…"
"Good…" Dean said, his voice was raw, and ragged. The pain and the fatigue getting worse… "Got to find Sammy…"
Jake had by now realized that the attempt of talking some sense into him, was a lost cause. So he just propped Dean up beside himself. Carrying more of Dean's weight than he had only fifteen minutes ago. He realized that this was bad.
…
Four minutes later, more shots were fired. And they sounded like they were just beyond the corner of the stretch of hallway they were in at the moment.
Dean seemed to re-gain some strength as they realized what they could be walking straight into. They stopped just before the corner. Dean peeped into the hallway on the other side of the corner. Then signaled for Jake to hold his place.
The kid with the gun stood with his back towards them, a mop of brown hair followed the movements of his head. The kid was about 5'6", but was heavy built… Not fat, just dense…
Probably in more ways than one…
Dean grabbed his knife out of his boot again, and took the time to remove his boots from his feet… He felt guilty for taking the time to do so, people were being shot at, but he really didn't want to get caught before he was up close and personal to the guy holding the gun…
Jake decided to do the same, he understood Dean's plan… He also understood that there was no way in heaven, hell or any place in between that Dean would let him go with him. He knew what pain Dean were in, and that he was unable to put weigh on his right leg. And that hopping along hurt damn much too…
"Wait here a sec…" Jake whispered before he sprinted in the other direction. 30 seconds later he returned with a broom.
He was smiling, "saw it in one of those closets we searched earlier…"
He turned the tip towards himself and peeled off his socks. Then proceeded to wrap them around the end. Then he tested using it as a crutch himself…
"There… Soundproof…" he whispered with a satisfied smile spread across his face.
"Thanks!" Dean whispered back, with way more facial expression than the sound demanded…
…
Dean moved soundlessly around the corner, and signaled for those taking cover not to blow his cover…
When he was five feet behind the guy with the gun, he suddenly slipped. And went town with a loud thud… Followed by a very involuntary cry of pain.
He was immobilized by the pain, he couldn't have moved his pinky to save his life!
He saw the gun being pointed at his head, slowly, steady, cold…
This was going to be his last day, this was going to be his final hour… He didn't even have the God damn ability to fear for his life right now!
He saw the blue eyed kid start to squeeze the trigger… Not much longer now…
Dean closed his eyes. He wasn't scared, he just didn't want to see this. He wondered if this was a calm most people felt when there were no way back… He knew that he should be freaked out of his mind, but he was unusually calm.
He heard the shot, felt the bullet enter… But it was wrong…
The gun had been pointed at his head, why was the pain he was feeling spreading from his right leg once more? How could that be?
He managed to open his eyes to half-mast…
He saw another kid, long limbs and a shaggy brown mop of hair... Through his own blurry vision, he could see those hazel eyes watering… Sammy…
He turned his head to see his last shooter lying beside him, a knife lodged in his neck…
As he felt his energy drain from him again, and his breathing was getting shallower, he was only wondering one thing.
'Which one's my last breath…?'
Well... That's a cliffhanger...
Hope you enjoyed!
There will be more chapters!
Don't give up just yet!