CHAPTER 4 The car came out of nowhere, it's tires sqealing as it chased Tai from behind the warehouse. He was less than a quarter mile from the house. He could make it. He just had to, he yelled to himself as he ran, darting into alleyways trying to use shortcuts to make the car loose length behind him. He hadn't been able to see the driver or the passenger as they sped toward him, too concerned with his own life. *** Tori looked down the street then back at Dom who was leaning far over the car. She had given up and taken to just watching him work. Tai should have been back by then. Turning back to Dom she smiled. "Hey Dom, I'm gonna go see what's taking Tai so long. Be right back." she said with a smile. He looked up briefly, returning her smile. "K, babe." he said before turning back to his work, his tough working face back in place. Tori smiled before turning back to the street and starting down it. When she reached the corner, her eyes went wide and her crossed arms fell to her sides. "Oh god!" she whispered before rushing down the street at top speed. "Oh shit. Oh shit!" Tai yelled as he jumped the fence moments before the car crashed into it. The driver quickly backed up and took another way as Tai didn't even bother to look back, running across an open road. The car came speeding around the corner behind him and he yelled even as he heard the warning of his sister before she tackled him. "TAI!" Tori screamed rushing out into the road, pushing Tai and herself off the street just as the Camaro sped by, then screeched to a hault mere hundreds of feet from then, then quickly made it's way toward them again. "Split up!!!" Tori yelled and pushed Tai to another direction as they both took off. The car decided to take the fight on her and began it's trek chasing her through the alleyway she had darted down. She turned to look behind her as the car got closer and closer. Yelling out, she ran out of the alleyway seconds before the car, quickly turning right and running as fast as she could out in the street toward the left side, nearer to Dom's house than ever. If she could only get there! The car's wheels sqealed in protest as it took a sharp more than nintey degree angle and started at full speed toward her again, gaining up as it came. Tori dashed from side to side, breathless as the car chased after her. "TORI!" she heard the screech of her name from her brother from behind her. Turning quickly, she spun just in time to see the driver of the car as the left front bumper slammed into her, sending her tumbling over the top of the car, hitting the windsheild before falling to the ground. The car didnt stop as it sped off down the street, taking a corner quickly and then dissapearing behind a building before anyone could follow. Tori gripped her stomach and side and curled into a fetal ball whimpering as a crying Tai ran the fastest his legs could carry him, ran to her side. Skidding down onto the ground beside her, Tai put his hand on her forhead and pulled one of her hands away from her side to examine it. Tori moaned with a sob as pain wracked her body. "...tai..." she croaked out. Tai leaned down to hear her."...get..help........Dom.....get..." "Ok,.....ok, i'm going Tor, just stay here, don't move ok? Please, I'll be right back, ok!" he yelled already running down the street towards Dom's house, not three blocks away. Tori moaned in pain and watched as the world before her took on a redish tint. She hoped Tai would hurry. She knew that the sleepy feeling wasn't a good thing to have right now. *** A frantic knocking on the door brought Mia from the living room and the television. Opening the door, she was greeted by a shaking, sweaty and very pale Tai. "Tai, what's wrong??" she asked pulling the boy into the house. "Dom.....Tori. You have to help! Please. Dom, get Dom!" he yelled frantically, new tears gracing his delicate cheeks as he started to cry, loosing his composure. "Oh god. DOM!" Mia screamed up the stairs. Dominic came pounding down quickly only mere seconds later. "WHAT? What is it??" he asked then saw the shape Tai was in. "Tai, what the hell is wrong? Where's Tori?!" he all but yelled. His heart skipped it's beating as he thought of all that could be wrong. "Help. Dom you gotta help. Torigothit! Hewaschasingusandshepushed meawayandhe-" "TAI!" Dom yelled, stopping the boy and grabbing his shoulders. "What happened so that I can understand it!" "It's Tori. She got hit by some fucking asshole. He was chasing us with his car and he hit her! She's hurt real bad!! She-" "Oh god..." Dom said, not letting Tai finish as he ran out the door followed by a frantic Tai. "Mia! Get the car and follow us!" he said as he ran after a quickly fleeing Tai. Mia dashed into the house to grab the keys to the Supra, making sure she knew which direction they ran off to. Dominic's stomach dropped out from under him as they turned the corner from his street onto another road that ran beside an old factory. There in the middle of the road not two blocks from them lay an unmoving Tori. Speeding up and running past the worn out Tai, Dominic felt his lungs squeeze in fear and exertion. "Tori!!!" he yelled as he came to a skidding hault, falling to the ground before scrambling back up to her. Her eyes were half closed and she was white and shaking. There was a puddle of blood on the ground and her shirt was soaked with the deep crimson liquid. Reaching into his shirt pocket, Dominic pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911. Tai finally reached them and fell to his knees. Dom put a hand on his shoulder then looked up at the sound of a car coming. The Supra's tires squeeled as Mia came around the corner and sped toward them, coming to a quick stop beside them. She gasped as she got out and saw Tori's condition. "Yeah! We have an emergency! A woman has been hit by a car! Yes! It's on the south part of Murphy. Yeah! We'll be here, hurry!!" Dominic yelled into the cell phone before he hung it up, turning back to the bleeding woman beside him. "Tori! Tori... come back to me baby, come on, you gotta wake up!" he said loudly, gaining her attention, what was left of it. She was quickly loosing all conciousness. "..dom..." she moaned, her head rolling from side to side as she moaned. "That's right, babe. I'm here, don't worry. Where the fuck is the ambulance??!" he yelled looking up. Just then, he heard the sound of a distant siren. "Alright. Alright! Their on their way baby! Stay awake for me!" he grabbed Tori's face gently, forcing her to focus on him. "Stay with me, girl." The ambulance pulled up not five minutes later, which seemed like five hours to the group. Two men unloaded from the inside of the back with a stretcher and examined her before getting her up onto the stretcher and up into the ambulance. Dominic quickly climbed up with them and told Mia to bring Tai and follow them. Mia grabbed Tai, who was still crying and put him into the passengers seat and then took off behind the ambulance. Mia reached over and ran her hand through Tai's hair as he sobbed quietly for his injured sister and sighed, murmering soft things to reasure him. Dominic grabbed Tori's cool, clammy hand, paying no heed to the medics as they yelling things back and forth to each other and the loud beeps and shrills of the machinery. Nor did he pay any attention to the rocking and bumping of the ambulance or the loud sirens as they rushed to the hospital. The entire time, his eyes were on her face. She looked so dead lying there. She was cool to the touch, not quite cold, but a terrible temperature. Her skin was white and clammy, dry. A tube had been inserted into her mouth as well as a mask placed over her mouth and nose and IV's had been inserted into her arms. Cloths had been layed over and around the area of most bleeding and her eyes closed slowly, peacefully as they made their way. Dominic's eyes widened until someone layed a hand on his shoulder and told him not to worry, it was normal for her to pass out, that they would do their best and for him to relax. Dominic sighed and closed his eyes, letting his head drop, but he never relaxed. *** The thick sanitized and sickening smell of the hospital reeked through their senses as the three sat in the emergency waiting room. They were three of hundreds that sat. Most of the injuries were minor. They had been able to get Tori in on account of her extreme condition. Now here they sat, four hours later, restless and tired and impatient. Tai slept soundlessly next to Dominic, who simply stared as he had for hours strait ahead of him at a blankish painting on the wall. Some abstract peice of art that was there for the simple purpose of calming those patrons who were frantic and impatient. "Here ya go." Mia said softly as she came around the corner with two cups of 'gormet' hospital coffee from the machine down the hall. She handed one to Dominic and sipped from the other herself, scrunching her nose in distaste at the cardboarded flavored substance. She sat on the other side of Tai, running her hand over his hair as he slept. "Poor kid." she murmered. "Have they said anything?" she asked as she reached over, touching Dom's hand with her fingertips. He shook his head and sighed, shrinking back into his chair and setting down his coffee, not paying it any attention. "Are you the party for Ms. Whitter?" A balding man in his late fourties with a white medical doctrine coat on asked as he came into the waiting room, carrying a metal clipboard chart in his hand. Dominic stood immediatly."Yeah, we are. How is she? Is she gonna be ok?" he asked in a hurry. The doctor put his hands up before continuing. "My name is Dr. Jasons. I'm going to be her assigned doctor since she doesn't have one registered here. Alright, we are moving her up to the Intensive Care unit on the fourth floor. If you'll come with me, there is a private waiting room there for each of the families and friends. We'll discuss her condition there if you don't mind. For safety and privacy purposes of course. It's hospital policy" the man said. Dominic gently shook Tai awake as Mia grabbed their things and they started of behind the doctor up the elevator to the fourth floor. The private waiting room was a large nicely decorated room with black leather lounge recliners and a large leather sofa. There was also a big screen tv, vcr and a refridgerator. Phones hung on the walls for personal use. "Pretty nice decor for a waiting room." Dom said as he sat down in a chair at a wooden table that had seven other chairs. "We find that the family and friends feel the need to stay with the injured or sick party while they stay here and they can't be in the room all of the time, so we want to make our patients families as comfortable as possible." Doctor Jasons explained, taking a seat and motioning for Mia and Dom to sit as he pulled his up to them. Mia had layed a sleepy Tai on the leather couch, covering him with Dom's jacket. "Alright. First," doctor Jasons said, pulling up his chart from the table where he had set it. "It says here you registered her, but your not registered as family. Do you know how to contact her next of kin? We need to get them the news and we have papers they will be needing to sign." "That's her only next of kin, sleeping over there." Mia said, pointing to Tai. "So she has noone else, just her...." "Brother." Dom put in. "Alright. And your relation to her?" "Friends. Very close friends. Very close." Dominic said and Mia took his hand which he had been rubbing with his other one nervously. The doctor looked up at this gesture then back to his chart before looking back to them. "And you two are..." "He's my brother. The four of us are pretty much all the family we have." Mia smiled slightly. "Ah. Alright, I see. Well, hmm. I suppose the only thing to do that circumstance allows is that I have you sign for the papers. Your going to have to claim her as next of kin, if that's alright. It will be a sorts of secondary kin type of thing, but seeing as how your the only ones of concenting age to sign for her, as her brother is obviously under age, you'll have to be the legal admitters." Doctor Jasons smiled gently at them. "Alright, that's fine. How is she?" Dominic said nervously. "Well, frankly, she's lucky. Most times someone wouldn't have made it this far, especially having lost as much blood as she has. She had some internal bleeding, which we've managed to stop. We had to do a small blood transfusion, which is currently in progress, and we had to reset her hip, which had been knocked out of place. She had some bruising to her lungs so were keeping her on a machine to help her breathe just in case. She also has a few broken and cracked ribs and alot of internal and external tissue bruising. We are keeping her in Intensive Care for a day or two to keep an eye on her. Do you know if she had insurance?" "Oh god..." Dominic sighed, then rolled his head down before coming back up. "Uh....I don't know. I think she does. I think she said both her and Tai do, but it would be in their trailer...oh god.. ..I can't believe." he sighed again and Mia put her hand on his back. "That's alright. I just need those papers before she leaves, which I assume is going to be at least more than a week, so you can get those to me whenever. Mostly she needs to rest and recouperate." Jasons said standing. Mia stood with him. "Is there any way we could see her?" The doctor looked the group over for a moment. "I'll see what I can do. Once she's settled in the room, I'll have someone let you know, alright?" he walked up to Mia and pulled her to the side so that Dominic couldn't hear. "For right now, I would get some rest, make sure everyone gets some sleep. I've seen this a hundred times, it's just harder if you don't let yourself rest. It's wracks the nerves more. Is he...her?" he asked gesturing toward Dom. At Mia's slight nod, he continued. "I only asked because it's going to be harder for him. You need to probably make sure he eats and sleeps. I'll go see what I can do now to get you all in to see her." Doctor Jasons smiled before leaving the group in the room. *** "oh god..." Mia whispered, covering her mouth and pulling Tai back against her as he struggled not to cry as they entered Tori's hospital room. "Hey baby," Dominic breathed."We're here. Mia and Tai and me. We all came to see you." he was fighting tears of his own as he sat down by the left side of her bed. He sat the flowers he had bought down on the window sil and closed the blinds from the sun. Mia turned and closed the door before steering Tai to a recliner to sit. She didnt want him to have to be too close to Tori while she looked like she did. Take a seat on the right side of the bed and keeping a hand to her mouth, she closed her eyes from the terrible scene in front of her. Tori lay on a bunch of blankets and soft sheets to keep her bruised back softened against the bed. She had a thick tube coming from her mouth that lead up to a breathing machine on the right and two tubes that were just slightly in her nostrils. Her eyes were puffy and closed from the earlier damage. She had bandages wrapped around her middle thickly. IV's were coming from her inner elbow and the back of her hand. A device glowing red was attatched to her index finger on her left hand. She was covered up her legs by blankets of wool and cathider tubes lead down under the bed to a secret place so as not to disgust anyone. She looked to be in a deep sleep. "I'm gonna kill whoever did this." Dominic murmered so softly that Mia almost couldn't hear him. "Dom-" "No, he's right." Tai spoke up in a cracking voice. Mia turned to him. "Tai-" "No. They deserve it. They were coming for me and instead Tori pushed me out of the way. They went after her because they couldn't get me. They deserve whatever Dom wants to give them. They hurt Tori."he said quietly. Mia suddenly realized she wasn't going to win. Whatever his brother had in mind was going to happen whether she liked it or not. She pittied the fool who had dared mess with the love and friend of Dominic Torretto. *** Angela walked into the hospital room with a prearranged bunch of flowers in her hand. Carefully placing them into a vase she had brought and filling it half full with water, she sat them on the sil of the window. Ever since their race at Race Wars, she and Tori had started talking and became good friends pretty quickly. Most poeple didn't give a second thought to the attitude, but Tori had and that's what had made her special. Turning back to Tori, she sighed and gave a sympathetic look towards Dom who was sleeping in the recliner. Walking over to Tori's side, she stroked her friends hair then leaned down to kiss her forehead. "You'd better get well soon, Tor. Don't know what Dom and Tai are gonna do without you. Mia says they are clueless and never leave the hospital." giving a small laugh she continued."says even the cafeteria crew knows their names by now." taking on a more serious note she leaned closer to Tori's ear." You need to wake up, Tor. We're all lost without you. Wake up soon...please?" With a sigh, Angela walked over and gently placed her hand on Dominic's shoulder in sypathy before leaving. On her way down the hall towards the elevator she spotted Mia and Tai coming back with drinks in their hands. "Hey, Angela. Wondered where you'd been. Guess you finally got our messages huh? Dom tried to contact you about a week ago when she first came in, but no luck." Mia said questioningly. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, I was out of town on family buisness. Had a sick aunt in the hospital over in Penn." "Oh, is she alright?" Mia asked worried, placing her arm around Tai's shoulder as he sipped on his Pepsi. Angela sighed, running a hand through her dirty blond hair. "Yeah, she's alright now, just gave us a scare. I'm really worried about Tor, though. She hasn't even woken up yet. Have the doctors said anything?" "No, they still aren't sure. They say she's going to be alright, it's just up to her when she wakes up. But I'm starting to wonder. I mean, aren't they at least supposed to move? It's scary." Mia groaned. "Mia? You guys comin back?" Mia looked past Angela to Dominic who looked absolutely worn out. "Yeah, Dom we're coming. Just went to get a drink. Angela just came by. She was out of town for a family emergency thing." Mia explained. "Ah. That's alright. Hey Ang. Glad you dropped by, I'm sure Tor is too. She'll be around soon, don't worry." he gave a slight smile. "Yeah. Good to see you too Dom. Take good care of her, I'll come by tomorrow." With a smiled, Angela laid a hand on Tai's shoulder before entering the elevator. "I hope she does wake up soon. What are we gonna do if she don't, Mia? She's the one that takes care of me....what's gonna happen if she doesn't wake up?" Tai asked in a small voice. "That won't happen, Tai. She'll be fine. Come on, let's go back in and watch some tv, k?" *** Everything hurt. That was the only thought that ran through Tori's head. Pain. Throbbing, Hurt....Dom...Where was Tai and Dom? Rolling her head carefully to the left with a groan of pain. It hurt to move anything, like she had cricks all over her body. And her abdomen and chest hurt like she had been slugged with a sledgehammer. Carefully and slowly she opened her eyes to see the dark hospital room. Everything was a dim shade of black and a white light eminated from the hallway. A nurse passed by and Tori could hear a few night workers talking in the hall quietly. In a recliner beside her bed with his jacket over his chest was a sleeping Dominic. Two other figures slept on a small couch beyond the recliner. "....." a groan came out as a croak from her extremely dry mouth and Tori moved her lips togather and her tongue around in her mouth in a desperate attempt to create any sort of liquid. It was no use. Her entire mouth and throat were dry as the Sahara. Gathering up her strength, she croaked out the cough again, this time a tad louder. Twitching in his restless sleep, Tai heard coughing distantly in the back of his mind. Forcing the fog to lift he listened again as it came. Sitting up carefully and looking around the room he looked over to where Tori lay and saw her moving under the thick sheets. Her eyes were open and she was coughing. "Tori!" he yelled jerking Dom and Mia awake in the process. Rushing to her bedside, he leaned over as his sister tried to stop coughing. Dominic quickly came up behind Tai and seeing Tori awake grabbed for the service button, pressing it over and over again until three nurses came rushing into the room. "She's awake!" Tai yelled to them. The head nurse told another something and she rushed off, coming back moments later with a doctor. He came over to the bed and told Tori to calm down and the coughing would stop. After about five minutes, her scratchy coughs subsided. "Alright, Tori, I'm going to get this tube out of your throat ok? I need you to take a deep breathe and exhale when I tell you alright?" At Tori's nod, the doctor unhooked all the instruments and counted to three before having Tori inhale then exhale as he pulled the nearly one foot of tubing from her throat. Tori coughed for another five minutes as the nurses brought in more blankets and some ice and water for her. The doctor instructed Dominic to feed her the ice first, small peices to let her see if she could keep it down before letting her have the water. "Thanks doc." Tai said with a huge grin on his face. "..hey...wh-what's a girl gotta do...to get a kiss around here..." Tori croaked out as Dominic fed her the ice. With a laugh, he leaned down and kissed her gently, then deeper on her urging. Pulling away he laughed at her forced pout. "Ice first, lips later." "...damn...cheap hospital...." Tai laughed as Dom fed his sister ice. He had a grin plastered on his face as Mia came up behind him. His sister was back. *** 3 WEEKS LATER... There was a sign hanging above the doorway and she could see people gathered around on the sunny fall day as she approached the house. Dom was helping her walk from her right and Mia was making sure she could support her if needed on the left. Tai was right behind her. She looked up at the porch with a smile on her face. Angela and her new boyfriend were there, a few of Dom's buddies that she had met a few times and a couple others she recognized all stood out on the porch waiting for her arrival. She could feel Dominic lean in close to her ear. "Welcome home, Tor." he whispered for her with a smile on his face. Home. That was a new word for Tori, but when she thought about it, home was right. This was her home now as far as she was concerned. She turned and smiled at him before they reached the porch. All her friends were eager to help her. Angela came and took her left arm as Mia went inside followed by a few other. "Good to have you back, girl." Angela smiled. Vince gave her a thumbs up and a smile as well as a few other people as she sat on the couch with Dominic on her right and Angela on her left. She had bandaging still around her waist and bruises and scars were still evident, but she looked alot better than she had. Tori felt Dom take her hand as Mia handed her a glass of water. "Tori." Dom said catching her attention. Tori turned to look at him. He had such a serious expression on his face. Noone else was watching, they were all talking and laughing. "I know who did it. Who bashed the car, who was chasing you guys....who hurt you. But I need to your permission to go Tori. I won't go if you don't want me to, but I can't promise that if I ever see them that I won't end up killing them." he said quietly. Tori gasped. "You know who...." she swallowed the hard lump in her throat. Dominic nodded, then stood and lifted her up with him carefully. "Come on." he said carefully walking her to the stairs and starting up toward their bedroom that they now shared. Dominic had moved nearly all of her stuff into his room while she was in the hospital and had moved the big full sized bed from her old room into his and switched it out with his old twin. He never did know why he slept on that old thing. He had too many memories of he and Letty there and it was time to move on to something more definate. "Hey, where you guys goin?" asked Angela. "Party just started." she smiled. "I'm gonna let Tori get some rest..." Dom said helping her up the next step. "Ahhhh. ok." Angela grinned, keeping her little thought to herself as Dominic rolled his eyes. He knew what she was thinking. *** Once in the room, Dominic sat her on the edge of the bed and sat down beside her. "Who was it?" she asked quietly. "Remember at race wars. That guy that Tai raced?" "Yeah?" Dom sighed. "His family has always won the races with that car and when he lost his father and brothers blamed him. Guess he got angry and jealous or something. He's set on revenge Tori and if he couldn't win the race, then he'll kill the guy who did. Kid or not. I know these guys Tor, they're not nice at all, they're sick and twisted and mean....and I can't assure I can protect you if something does happen." She sat there just looking strait ahead as he told her what he knew. Tori looked like she was in a trance. After a few moments she spoke. "Dom?" "Yeah, baby?" "What will happen if you don't do something. Will they come again? Will they try to get Tai again?"she asked finally looking at him on her last question. "I don't know for sure. But I'm not gonna say I doubt it. They're ruthless Tor and they don't care who they hurt on their way to the top." After another few moments pause, Tori leaned over and put her head on Dom's shoulder. "Dom? Can I tell you something. I don't want you to leave or anything, but I just really need to say it." Dominic stiffened not sure what she wanted to say. Was she going to stop him? Or worse, tell him that he was no better for wanting to hurt them? "Yeah, what is it babe?" he asked finally. "I love you." Dominic's face lit up in a deep smile and his arm went around Tori's shoulders, pulling her to him for a hug. 'Thank god.' he thought. "I love you too, Tor." he whispered. "Dom?" "Yeah?" "I dont want them to come after me or Tai again, ok?" she said sounding alike a small child asking her older brother or best friend for protection. Dominic understood. She didnt care what he did, she just didnt' want to know about it and she wanted the men that hurt her out of the picture for good. Now Dom had never been a killer, but he could certainly make sure they left town, and he was pretty sure he could get every single one of his friends and their friends to help. In the short time that Tori and Tai had made their presence there, they had made alot of friends and very few enemies and now was the time to use that to their advantage. "Sure thing baby. Noone will ever try to hurt you OR Tai ever again." he whispered before pulling her carefully with him down to the bed to sleep for a while.
EPILOGUE
BACK