A/N: And here's the second part to that shocking cliffhanger from the last chapter! ENJOY!


Bart felt his heart hammer against his ribcage at fast speeds. Though he was quite familiar about the scene of being held at gunpoint by a criminal, for he had seen a lot of action movies, the ten-year-old never thought that he'd actually be staring straight at the barrel of an actual gun himself. It was certainly a frightening experience, and it left him rooted to the spot, a hot sweat breaking out on his forehead as the gears in his mind whirred, trying to find a safe escape strategy for him and his sisters.

"I don't know what you're doing driving a car, kid," the robber snarled, smirking, "but I'm glad the opportunity presented itself. A getaway car and a trio of young hostages! The perfect means of escape!" He gestured his rifle towards the passenger seat, which was occupied by the still-unconscious Lisa. "Get over there, and move that girl to the back seat. I'm taking over! HA HA!"

Gulping, Bart decided to oblige, moving over toward the passenger seat and carefully relocating his sister's form to the back seat, next to a sobbing Maggie. The robber snarled angrily and pointed his rifle at the infant.

"And shut that baby up too! Or else..."

"Okay, okay!" replied Bart fearfully, moving over to the back seat and trying his best to soothe Maggie. The robber climbed into the driver's seat, closed the door, and backed the still-operating sedan out of the Kwik-E-Mart parking lot, just as officers sprayed gunfire at the vehicle. A bullet penetrated the windshield, ripped through the passenger seat, and struck Lisa's uninjured arm.

"OH, GOD!" Bart screamed. "LISA!"

"SHUT UP, WILL YA?!" the robber yelled back. "I'M TRYING TO MAKE MY GETAWAY!"

Just then, something collided with the sedan's trunk, and the world flew before Bart's eyes. He hit his back hard against the door and he screamed in both horror and pain as the world continued to spin. He could also hear the robber yelling out in surprise and cursing endlessly. Then, the sedan collided with something else, and Bart, not wearing his seatbelt, was thrown forward from the abrupt jerk caused by the car; he hit his head hard on the door window. Groaning, he watched as his vision blurred for almost a minute, and then fade into black.

Aside from Maggie's wailing, he could hear Lisa's voice say something before he blacked out completely.

"Mommy?..."


"What was that?" Marge asked, holding her forehead, which was oozing a small trickle of blood. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah," replied Brad, groaning. "I'm okay."

"So am I," Homer added, climbing up from the back seat, a cut on his arm.

Marge looked at the car she ran into, identifying it as a red sedan. She instantly noticed the bullet hole decorating the windshield, then looked around.

They were at the Kwik-E-Mart parking lot.

Marge, Brad, and Homer watched as officers slowly crept towards the sedan, their guns ready. They could hear one barking orders at the others, something about shooting the suspect at sight. Marge glanced at the red sedan and noticed something else about it. The driver's door was open, but the seat was unoccupied.

"Stick 'em up, lame-o's."

Marge gasped upon looking into the robber's eyes as he aimed his rifle at her.

"So my first attempt at making a clean getaway wasn't a success, but this one will be!" he cried triumphantly. "Now, get out. NOW!"

"FREEZE, JAILBIRD!" an officer shouted as he and several others aimed their guns at the robber.

"EAT BULLETS, BITCHES!" the robber roared as he fired his rifle again.

"Quick, let's get away!" whispered Marge. The three all meticulously crawled out of the opposite doors as the robber continued to engage the officers in a gun battle.

The moment Brad crawled out of Marge's wrecked station wagon, he heard a wail that instantly caught his attention.

"Maggie?"

Before Marge and Homer could stop him, Brad had already completely stood up and dashed towards the red sedan, where Maggie's wails were emanating from.

"BRAD, NO!" Marge screamed.

But it was too late. The robber had spotted Brad and instinctively aimed and fired his rifle at Brad's direction. Marge and Homer screamed with utmost horror as they watched several bullets strike Brad in the torso and limbs. By some odd shred of luck, no bullets hit him squarely in the head, but Brad fell to the ground, considerably large amounts of blood oozing from his gunshot wounds.

"HA HA!" shouted the robber. "Got one! I told those idiots back at jail I would off someone, but they laughed at me! Just wait till they see the news, and now, they'll remember the name of Snake Jailbird! YYYAAARRRGGGHHH!"

Snake fell to the ground in pain, as an officer seized the opportunity of his distraction to shoot the thief in the leg.

"Or maybe you can just see 'em in jail and break the news to 'em," the blue-haired officer replied tauntingly. Growling, Snake aimed his gun and fired a shot, grazing the officer's shoulder.

"HA HA!" Snake cried as he stood up with some difficulty. "I got a COP! I'm definitely on fire today!" Just then, a fire emerged from the engine of Marge's station wagon and some of its flames caught Snake's vest, setting it on fire. "OW OW OW! OW OW! OH, GOD! OH NO! I DIDN'T MEAN IT LITERALLY! AAAHHH! HELP! HELP ME! AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"

Dropping his rifle and waving his arms like flails, Snake stumbled further onto the street and was instantly hit by another car, which brought him to the ground. This gave the officers the opportunity to surround him and begin beating him with batons as he was still ablaze.

"OW! OW OW OW! HEY! YOU DON'T HAVE TO TAKE THE FIRE OFF LIKE THAT, YA KNOW?!"

"We're not trying to put the fire out, Jailbird," an officer snarled as he continued swinging his baton.

Marge glanced at the car that hit Snake and gasped upon seeing Eliza emerge from the driver's seat. Her eyes then narrowed and she asked tauntingly as Eliza approached her, "What? Came here to watch your own kids die?"

"I-" Eliza began, but then, she spotted Brad being tended to by Homer and gasped with shock. "OH MY GOD! BRAD!"

She ran forward and pushed Homer aside, kneeling down before her fallen husband who looked up at her.

"E-Eliza?..." he croaked feebly.

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Eliza, taking Brad's head into her lap. "No, it's gonna be okay, Brad. Just hang in there!"

"You...you c-came..."

"Yes, yes I did."

Brad let out a short, strained laugh. "N-Never thought...you h-had it...in y-you...to come t-to...my aid or...our children's..."

Eliza paused for a second, registering the meaning of Brad's words before replying, "Look, I came and it's done. Now hang in there, Brad! Don't speak anymore. You'll lose more energy that way! The paramedics are on the way; I see bystanders calling 911 right now! Just hang in there!"

"No, Eliza," Brad replied, sighing. It sounded more like a deep, low rattling than a sigh, though. "I think...it's t-too late...for me. I f-feel like I'm...l-losing my grip on...t-the world. Everything's...become b-blurrier and blurrier...b-by the minute..."

"NO! DON'T SAY THAT TO ME, YOU BASTARD!" Eliza screamed, but it was more of concern and anguish rather than fury. "YOU'RE GONNA MAKE IT, I TELL YOU!"

"Eliza... I love you... Take care of the children...and properly too, please..."

"No, that's your job!"

Brad laughed again, small specks of blood spitting out as a result. "O-Oh, really? Then...w-why'd you come...a-all t-the way...h-here, then?"

Eliza didn't answer that, but she looked up and gazed emptily towards the nighttime sky. She honestly didn't know the answer. The moment she heard about the shootout on the news, and the fact that the children might be there, she acted not from thought, but from reflex. It wasn't in her nature to go after the kids and bring them to safety; she'd rather see them die. So why did she come here?

She felt a hand place itself around her shoulder. Looking at her right, she saw that it was Marge.

"I'm so sorry, Eliza," she said.

Eliza scoffed, though there was no reason behind it. "For what?" she asked. At that response, a look of worry flooded Marge's eyes, and she sighed and looked down at Brad. Eliza's eyes widened and she looked down as well.

The moment she saw Brad's empty eyes, Eliza nearly screamed. But she didn't. All emotions had completely left her, save for two: horror at her husband's death, and confusion as to why she endangered her own life by coming to the ongoing scene of a gun battle.

Just then, Homer shouted, "Oh my God! Marge! The kids are in the sedan!"

Eliza and Marge stood up and ran up to the sedan, where Homer was already carrying out an unconscious body that Eliza immediately identified as Bart. She then looked into the sedan with Marge and saw a bleeding and unconscious Lisa, and an incessantly wailing Maggie. Instinctively, Eliza ran over to the other side, where Lisa was sitting, opened the door, and carried her daughter out. As she did, she heard Lisa moan one single word subconsciously.

"Mommy..."

Soon, the only sound occupying the air was the wailing of ambulance and police car sirens.


At the Springfield General Hospital, Eliza, Marge, and Homer continued to wait worriedly in an ominous silence as they remained seated on small blue chairs positioned opposite of the door where doctors were examining and mending Bart and Lisa. In Marge's arms was Maggie, who had now gone to sleep. Marge wanted Eliza to carry her, but Eliza was too preoccupied with the thought of Brad dying to be capable of taking the responsibility.

Finally, after hours of waiting, a doctor with black hair, a black goatee, and the beginnings of a mustache emerged from the room, sporting a friendly and welcoming yet ridiculous smile. "Hi, everybody!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Marge cried.

The doctor frowned with disapproval. "What, no 'Hi, Dr. Nick!'? Ah, well. Anyway, I have news regarding the status of Bart and Lisa Thompson. Bart sustained some heavy trauma to the head, while Lisa has a severely broken right arm and lost a lot of blood, as the broken bone cut the axillary artery and the blood flowed out of some bad scrapes and cuts. She also received a bad gunshot wound to the left arm. But here's excellent news! Both of them are gonna make it."

Marge and Homer both sighed with relief, while Eliza stood still, a stoic look on her face.

"In fact," Dr. Nick added, "Bart's regained consciousness! You may talk to him, but don't make his mind work too much. It'll give him a powerful ice-cream headache!"

"Thanks, Dr. Nick," Marge replied as she walked into the room, followed by Eliza and Homer.

There, the trio found Lisa lying on a bed, still unconscious and with bandages wrapped around her wounds and blood being pumped into her. Then, they found Bart lying on the next bed, awake and silent. The moment he saw Eliza, his eyes narrowed angrily.

"What're you doing here?" he asked. "Oh, I know! You're here to see me and Lisa suffer from the physical pain we've received. Well, are ya happy now? Huh? Huh?"

"Drop it," snarled Eliza, but the concerned look didn't disappear from her face. Bart then glanced at Marge and Homer, spotting Maggie in the former's arms.

"You've got Maggie. That's good..." He looked around and realized something. "Hey...where's Dad?"

Eliza, Marge, and Homer looked at one another, unsure of what to tell him. But Bart instantly realized what happened and clutched his forehead, beginning to sob.

"No...no, no, no..." he moaned.

Just then, Dr. Nick came into the room, examined Bart, and said, "Oh, I told you not to make him think too much! Now look at him! He looks like he's eaten a week's worth of ice cream!"


A/N: So, the kids are safe, but Brad's dead. Quite a sad shocker, eh?

I'd like to thank those who reviewed:

SideshowJazz1 [Thanks for the review, and here's the update you wanted!]

Galaxina-the-Seedrian

A Gay Elephant Named Jonathan [Of course I mentioned you in the Author's Note! I always mention those who review my stories!]

Hi14 x [Here's the update! Sorry if it was too slow for you.]

Narfy [Hey, thanks for reviewing almost every chapter! I appreciate it very much! More reviews for me, and more satisfaction of pointing out anything from you! A win-win for the both of us! Continue the good, helpful reviews and I'll continue my good writing too!]

Well, hope you enjoyed this sad chapter! TheCartoonFanatic01 is out. PEACE!