Naia's POV
"I wanna go home," Sophie whimpered, snuggling closer into Nate's side. "I wanna see Mommy and Daddy."
"I know Soph, so do I," Nate managed to reply. I knew he was trying to ignore the fact that his parents could be a victim.
I gave him a comforting squeeze of the shoulder, "They were by The Cloud Gate, you're dad still could have been trying to find parking. We were in the middle of it, they probably ran as soon as they heard the gunshots. They're okay."
To be honest, I was saying that mostly so I could hear it as well. I had to think positive.
Taking a deep breath, I looked over at Nate who looked absolutely petrified. I tried to gather my thoughts but then realized, I didn't really have any.
"Naia!"
At first, I thought I was hallucinating, but I heard it again.
"Naia!"
It was Gabby's voice and it sounded desperate.
Scrambling to my feet, I ran towards where the voice seemed to come from. It didn't even occur to me that I had just abandoned Nate with three little kids.
"Gabby!"
Now in the open, I could see but still couldn't find where Gabby was.
"Naia!"
I did a full 360 before I set eyes on Gabby, frantically running towards me.
"Gabby!" I cried as I hurdled into her arms. She wrapped her arms around me, placing her hand on the back of my head.
"Are you hurt?" She asked as we parted but before she could look me over I grabbed her hand which got her attention.
I pointed behind the column we had hidden behind, "What do we do? We're all okay but there's a little girl who doesn't know where her parents are and Jack was unconscious when I found him and-"
"Do you see the truck?" Gabby cut me off before I could get too worked up. She crouched down and pointed across the field and I could see a firetruck.
I nodded, "Yeah."
"Go there and we'll take you all back to the firehouse and sort things out from there," Gabby said in a rush. I knew she had to get back to saving lives so I quickly nodded.
"Please save them," I pleaded and Gabby gave me a quick kiss on the forehead in return before we parted again.
I hurried back to where Nate was with the younger kids and beckoned for them to get up.
"Let's go," I told them, taking Bella's hand into one and Jack's in the other.
"Where are we going?" Nate asked me as he stood up.
I tilted my head towards where the direction that Gabby had pointed to show me where the firetruck was.
"The firetruck. We'll wait there and then once they're done, we're going back to the firehouse," I explained, leading the way.
"And my parents?"
Shoot.
I'd forgotten about them.
"I'm sure we can call them once we get there," I said, looking behind me to meet Nate's eyes.
He was scared, but he was trying so hard to keep a brave face on.
Nate nodded and I looked back in the direction we were headed. Beside me, still clutching my hand, Bella gave a little sniff.
"What's wrong?" I asked gently, looking down at the little girl.
Bella's lips pursed together and her eyebrows scrunched up, "I want my mommy."
I nodded, "I know, but we'll get her soon okay? We're going to go into a firetruck now."
Bella didn't say anything else and we continued across the field in silence. Within minutes, we were at the firetruck and Nate and I helped Sophie, Jack and Bella into the truck.
They clambered onto the bench at the back and curled up together, snuggling each other as if they were a litter of puppies, even though they just met.
Letting out a big breath of air, I sat down on one of the seats and let my head fall into my hands, my hair draping around my face while I rubbed my scalp with my fingers, massaging my head.
"Everything is going to be alright."
Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to block out what I had seen today. A shiver went down my spine as I remembered the dead man who I found dead and I immediately started to wonder if I could have saved him.
He was dead.
He was a son. Maybe he was a father. Maybe he was a husband, a brother, a friend.
"You're so brave Jane, so brave."
Did he die quickly or did he suffer in agony by himself until he passed?
I squeezed my eyes even harder as I tried to remember what he looked like but it was just a blur in my brain at this point.
"I'm sorry."
My eyes shot open as an image of Jane bleeding out in front of me suddenly appeared in my mind. I looked around the firetruck and saw that the younger kids had fallen asleep practically on top of each other, and what was really sweet was that they were all holding hands. I felt my face relax a little and I looked over at Nate who was looking out the window.
"I'm sorry," I heard myself say.
Nate turned his attention away from the window to look at me, a confused expression on his face.
"For what?" He asked.
"I left you alone so many times, with three little kids," I explained, "I didn't even ask if you were okay with that, I just ditched you."
Nate shook his head, "No, you didn't ditch me. You went to help others. Someone had to stay with them." He nodded his head over to the sleeping trio on the bench.
I bit my lip, "I should have thought more about you though. You're my best friend and I didn't even think about how you might be feeling right now."
"Stop beating yourself up about everything," Nate whispered quietly, "You did the right thing."
Did I though?