~AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I'm back with a new chapter! I feel rejuvenated and ready to work on some more. So Dan's obviously in critical condition. Hopefully the doctor's know what they're doing. I'll try and get 13 out as soon as possible! Let me know what you guys think of the recent occurrences!
Chapter 12
The door slammed open, revealing Chris and Elise. And oh man did Chris look mad. His eyes looked like pools of molten lava as he glared at Dan*. His powerful gaze shifted to Jason who was still kneeling beside the boot, his hands still placed on the wheel. Elise walked over to Gilbert and carefully removed the metal toothpicks of sorts from his red, swollen eyes. Dan* sat there quietly, his breath catching in his throat. They were very early.
"Where is he?" Chris asked. Dan* could tell he meant business, but he couldn't lose face.
"Whatever do you mean? Why, he's right here." Dan* gestured in front of him.
Chris looked at Elise. She had a shocked look on her face. Chris moved forward, slowly making his way past Dan's* seat. Chris's hands fell to his sides as he collapsed onto his knees. Before him sat, what might as well have been, a shell of the man he called his best friend. Dan's skin tone appeared almost a milky white with splotches of red where he was currently bleeding. There were dark circles under his usually fiery emerald green eyes; they now looked glazed over. He had no form of clothing on and was covered in bruises, cuts, and bandages on some places. He must have been crying too, because Dan's eyes were red and swollen. Another indicator were the dried streaks that ran down his slightly dirty cheeks. Chris stared and tears welled up in his eyes as he saw the look on his friend's face. Dan was smiling.
"Took you long enough buddy." Dan's voice was weak and slightly raspy.
Elise had untied Gilbert from the target a few moments ago. Gilbert stared at Chris, and the sadness and horror present in his countenance. Even Gilbert hadn't felt as destroyed as Chris looked over Dan's dilemma. A thought occurred to Gilbert at that moment.
I will never be able to cherish Dan nearly as much as Chris does. It's a bond that I will never be able to have.
Elise slowly made her way over to Chris, placing a loving hand on his shoulder. Dan* stood and began to slither towards the exit like the snake he was. Dan* turned to make a run for it only to bash into something; knocking him to the floor. He looked up to find a very displeased Gilbert looking down at him, his arms crossed over his toned chest. Gilbert just shook his head, which told Dan* that he had better stay put.
"Jason, twist the wheel and pull Dan's leg out of there." Gilbert snarled.
"Y-yes sir." Jason squeaked. He actually looked a tad relieved at not having to do this anymore.
Jason quickly twisted it to the left. Dan drew in a sharp breath and flinched every now and then as the boot was loosened. His leg was obviously very sensitive right now. Dan slowly began to lift his leg, only to cry out in pain and quickly lower it back into place. Chris buried his face in his hands.
"Dan...I-I am so sorry we weren't here sooner." He blubbered. His shoulders shook violently as he sobbed into his hands.
Dan looked at him with a sympathetic expression on his face.
"It's okay. I'll be fine, it'll jus-"
"It's not OKAY!" Chris yelled, interrupting Dan; startling him a little.
"You look so terrible like you should be dead right now, and-and I feel like all this stupid crap happened because of me. I'm the one that convinced you to get a computer. I'm the one that had you sign up for that chatting site." Chris choked out. He was finding it hard to continue.
"I-I yelled at you when you accused me of not wanting you around. I am the worst friend in the entire universe." Chris couldn't speak coherent sentences anymore at that point.
"Chris." Dan whispered. All he could do was watch his friend have a mental breakdown.
Dan gripped the arms of the chair and quickly stood himself up. He would have lost his balance if Jason hadn't grabbed and held onto his arm. Dan nodded in thanks as he wrapped his arm around Jason's shoulders.
"Are you ready?" Jason asked nervously.
"Y-yeah." Dan nervously stated.
Jason lifted Dan up in one, swift movement. Dan yelped as his leg was pulled out of the boot. After taking in a few quick breaths Dan began to slowly make his way over to Chris.
"You'd better leave Jason. You don't wanna' be arrested do you?" Dan looked back, a slight smirk on his face.
Jason stared in disbelief at the kind gesture and after thanking him, he ran off. Gilbert had strapped Dan* into the chair with the leather straps so he couldn't escape. Gilbert noticed that Dan was trying to hobble over to Chris, without much success. As Dan was about to fall Gilbert rushed over, catching him just in time. Gilbert couldn't help staring at Dan's leg. There were splinters of bone sticking out of his leg in various places and blood was steadily flowing from his leg, that looked significantly smaller. It had been partially crushed after all.
Dan* knew he was finished. He would probably spend the rest of his life in prison if the people here didn't kill him first. He looked on as Dan finally reached Chris with Gilbert's help. That man was hopelessly in love, and Gilbert knew it too. Dan* could tell he had come to the conclusion that he'd never hold a special place in Dan's heart.
"Chris." Dan quietly spoke.
Chris turned his head, looking Dan in the eyes.
"This is all my own fault. Please don't blame yourself, please." Dan's last few words were mumbled as he nearly toppled to the floor. He was out cold.
"DAN!" Chris hurriedly placed him on his back.
Elise put her head to his chest, then his mouth.
"He's still breathing, but it's very shallow. We need to get him to a hospital, and we need to do it NOW." Elise commanded.
Elise took Dan's* belt off and heading back over to where Dan laid, tightly fastened it above the part of his leg that was bleeding. Hopefully that would deter the blood loss at least a bit. Next she had Chris hand her his outer shirt and she tightly tied it around part of Dan's leg, to help keep it somewhat clean.
"Okay, Chris and I will get Dan to the hospital. Gilbert, you keep Dan* here and feel free to rough him up a bit. I would prefer you didn't kill him, even though I kind of want to myself." Elise stated as she shot an angry look Dan's* way.
"You got it." Gilbert smiled as he cracked his knuckles.
"Wait." Chris stood up.
He walked over to Dan* and delivered a powerful, and very painful punch to Dan's*jaw. He hadn't broken it, but it sure sounded like he should have.
"I just really needed to do that on Dan's behalf." Chris shook out his hand and commenced helping carry Dan to the ship.
"Well Danny, it's just you and me here." Gilbert began.
"I honestly wouldn't mind if I was sent back to prison for killing you, but I won't. It's not because I am pitying you or anything, I just don't think Dan would have wanted me to kill you."
Dan* felt only slightly relived. Just because Gilbert wasn't going to kill him, didn't mean that Gilbert wouldn't leave him three fourths of the way there.
"I would, however, like to join Chris at the hospital. I think I'll make this quick." Gilbert's face became an intense stare. He was giving off a really dangerous aura.
The things done to Dan* by Gilbert in the next few minutes are unspeakable (looking at all that's been written so far, that's scary =_=). So we will now go to Chris and Elise to see how getting Dan to the hospital is going.
Chris had Dan in a princess hold as he ran closely behind Elise. They entered the ship. Just as they were about to take off Gilbert came running towards them. They decided they could trust him and let him in.
"Done already?" Elise smirked as she quickly lifted off the ground, and steered the ship towards the closest town. It would be about a half hour until they reached a hospital.
"Yeah, I roughed him up pretty good and called 911. The cops should arrive to pick him up soon." Gilbert explained, a contented look spread across his face.
Gilbert glanced over at Chris. His shirt and pants were partially soaked through with Dan's blood. Chris stared down at Dan's face, brushing the hair out of Dan's closed eyes occasionally. Chris began taking his shirt off, he gingerly pulled the shirt over Dan's head. It worked because it was practically a dress on Dan's short stature. Chris clung to Dan's limp figure, pulling him closer to his chest.
"You know, you really love Dan don't you?" Gilbert stated softly.
Chris turned his head to look at Gilbert. His eyes were opened a tad wider than usual.
"Um, I guess, but not in the exact way you're thinking." Chris nervously averted his eyes from Gilbert's.
"No no no! I didn't mean it like that!" Gilbert laughed. "I simply meant it in a strictly friends manner."
Chris relaxed a bit.
"Oh. Well, I've known him for thirty years now. Almost thirty-one. We did almost everything together, so of course I care about him a lot." Chris smiled slightly.
"You know, I have a question for you." Chris spoke.
"What is it?" Gilbert was puzzled at what Chris could possibly want to ask him.
"Well a couple actually, but here's the first one. What drew you to Dan? I mean that wasn't exactly the most flattering picture of him on my desk."
Gilbert's eyes widened at the shocking inquiry.
"That's a tough question. I honestly have no rational explanation for it. I suppose it's what some refer to as love at first sight." Gilbert smiled warmly as he continued.
"I never considered myself being gay, but once I caught a glimpse of that photo I was a goner. I could no longer look at women and find them attractive, or men really. I guess that Dan's the only one that can really hold a special place in my heart, or even consider a romantic interest."
Chris looked at Gilbert, he was sad that the man would never be able to find love.
"Well, who knows, maybe after today you've wooed Dan and he'll consider it." Chris chuckled, trying to cheer Gilbert, as well as himself, up with a bit of humor.
"Ha! I can only hope so."
There was a sudden jolt; nearly knocking Chris and Gilbert out of their seats. Luckily Chris had still kept a tight grip on Dan.
"We're here!" Elise exclaimed, opening the door to the ship.
"I've set the ship to auto pilot, it should get back to my friend's, um...garage, just fine."
She equipped all of them with parachutes, taking it upon herself to strap Dan in with her. She was the most experienced at sky diving. They descended upon the hospital, landing just a few meters from the entrance. Elise quickly unstrapped Dan and handed him to Gilbert, whom had quickly stripped himself of the harness. Chris couldn't figure out how to get the dang thing off. Elise assisted him, and they entered the hospital mere seconds after Gilbert. As they ran through the door they saw Dan being rushed off on a gurney by a doctor and three or four nurses. Gilbert walked over.
"All we can do now is wait here. At least they gave us paperwork to fill out in for something to do." Gilbert sarcastically stated rolling his eyes.
"I'll take care of the paperwork." Chris held his hand out, and Gilbert kindly handed him the stack of papers.
"I'll go get us something to eat and drink." Elise suggested.
"I think I'll join you." Gilbert added.
"Alright, Chris we'll be back soon." Elise kissed Chris on the forehead and left him to deal with the various papers.
Chris grabbed a pen from the front desk and got started filling in the various useless pieces of information and answering the questions. At some point he must have fallen asleep, because he woke up to find Elise and Gilbert filling out the last of the paperwork while eating subway.
"Oh you're awake." Elise gave Chris a small hug as she plopped the last bite of her sandwich in her mouth.
"You hadn't slept for a while so I thought with everything that's happened the last few hours that we should let you sleep."
Chris gave an appreciative nod as he rubbed his eyes. Suddenly a nurse in a pink uniform approached. She first grabbed the stack of forms that had just been completed, and with a sweet smile began to fill us in on some information.
"Are you the ones here for Dan?"
Chris shot out of his seat. "Yes! Is-is he okay?"
The young nurse looked at him sympathetically.
"I'm afraid the doctor's are still working to stabilize him. I was just sent here to collect the paperwork. I apologize sir." With that she rushed off down the hall she'd come from.
Chris slumped back down into his chair. He felt his heart sinking down into his stomach.
Dan! You better make it through this! Chris rested his head on Elise's shoulder, and slipped slowly back into the enticing arms of sleep.
