CHAPTER 23 Life and Death

They heard the shots been fired and didn't if know they were the targets. One of them pushed the other out of the way and they both laid on the ground motionless for what seemed to be hours.

Gwen felt her head throbbing. She tried to move but something heavy was on top of her. She opened her eyes and saw that it was Teresa. She shook her.

"Teresa, are you alright?"

Nothing. Teresa's body was limp on top of hers.

"Teresa, wake up....please wake up."

Cars were stopping and people were coming toward them slowly. She could hear the whispers and someone yelling to call an ambulance.

Gwen pushed Teresa off of her and started getting up. She looked at her white blouse. It was drenched with blood. She looked at Teresa whose eyes were still closed. The pink shirt she was wearing had holes in it. She fell to her knees beside her. She searched for a pulse. She breath a sigh of relief when she found it. It was weak, but it'll do for now she thought.

"Teresa, hold on ok."

"Don't worry Miss, we called an ambulance. It should be here any moment now."

Gwen looked at the man and then back at Teresa who had just emitted a sound with her mouth and her eyes flickered open. She looked at Gwen and smiled.

"Were you hit?"

"No. Why did you do this, push me out of the way?"

"Because you have more to live for than I do."

"What about your son?"

"My son was taken, you still have yours."

Her breathing was shallow and she was drifting away.

"Teresa, you have Fox."

"No, I never had him. He's in love with Whitney."

She heard the sirens of the ambulance and it pulled next to them. The paramedics came out with a stretcher.

"I see 5 wounds and there's only one exit. Let's get a move on, she is losing her blood very fast."

Teresa closed her eyes and Gwen could hear the paramedics say that they were losing her. She was dying. She felt tears run down her cheeks and the paramedic telling her to get inside the ambulance. She could hear that the police were there, but she didn't see anything. She picked up her purse from the ground and walked behind the them. She got inside the bus and sat down looking at Teresa. Now that there was a light, she could see that Teresa had been hit pretty badly.

"Is she going to make it?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

She looked inside her purse to find her cell phone. She had to call everyone to let them know what had happened.

"I'm afraid that you cannot use this here."

She looked at him and he pointed at the machines. She understood and put it back in her purse. A noise was heard and the paramedic picked up his defibrillator. Gwen watched him like she was standing in a dream.

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Fox looked at the time for the millionth time. It was midnight and Teresa still wasn't back at the mansion yet. He paced inside the living room, then went to the phone and picked it up. He started dialing but stopped thinking that if Whitney was the one to answer, he wouldn't know what to say to her. He sat in the couch holding the phone is his hand when it started ringing.

"Teresa?"

"No, it's Gwen. You have to come down to the hospital right away."

"Why?"

"There was a shooting drive by between two rival gangs and Teresa and I got caught in the crossfire. She might not make it, Fox."

Fox didn't say anything for a few minutes, like he was trying to absorb the news.

"No, you can't be serious."

"Yes, I am. She was hit 5 times. Fox, call everyone, she's going to need blood and we have to find her a match. We're at the LA."

"I'm on my way."

He went to the front door and picked up his car keys. He looked at his hand and it was shaking. His entire body was shaking. He got in his car and drove to the hospital. He picked up his cell phone and dialed his father's number.

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Both Ethan and Whitney arrived at the hospital together. Whitney handed Gwen a change of clothes.

"Were you hurt?"

"No, it's all Teresa's blood."

Ethan looked at her face. She had blood stains, but the most traumatic for him was the blouse. It was no longer white, it was red and so was the skirt she was wearing.

"She isn't going to make it, is she?"

"I don't know, she is inside the ER. She'll probably need a lot of blood."

Whitney sat on one of the chairs. She looked on her left to see Fox arriving. Gwen went up to him as did Ethan.

"What the hell happened, Gwen?"

"She saved my life."

Both he and Ethan looked at her surprised by what she just told them.

"Shots were fired and she pushed me out of the way. When I came to, she was on top of me, barely alive. She said that she did it because I had more to live for than she did."

"But that's nonsense. She has a son..."

"He was taken from her, Ethan."

The three fell silent. Fox looked up and saw Whitney sitting alone. He walked to her.

"Are you alright, Whit?"

"I guess. But this is so typical of Teresa."

"How do you mean?"

"She's always putting her own life on the line for others. Even for Gwen."

"Excuse me, are you Teresa's family?"

Whitney answered him the man wearing the blue scrubs.

"I'm her best friend."

"I need to see family."

"I'm engaged to her."

Ethan's mouth dropped and so did Whitney's.

"May I speak to you in private?"

Fox got up and followed the doctor.

"What are the news?"

"I'm afraid it's not good at all. We are prepping her for surgery."

He pulled out the ex-ray pictures that he had in an envelope.

"One of the bullets is lodged near her spinal cord. Another one is near a lung while the third one is inside. The fourth one is in her stomach and the fifth one had an exit wound. There is a lot of hemorrhaging also which needs to be stopped. This surgery will take hours."

Fox's heart sank as he watched the ex-rays with the surgeon.

"I will not lie to you. It is a miracle that she held on this long with all the blood she lost. However, given the seriousness of her injuries, I would like you to prepare yourself for the worst. She could die on the operating table."

"No, she has to live."

"And we will do our best."

As he spoke to him, Teresa's stretcher was wheeled by. She was pale and bloody. She was wearing a hospital gown and her face was so pale. She was knocking at death's door it seemed. He left the doctor and walked fast to reach the stretcher.

"Teresa, you have to hold on. We can't lose you."

The doctor he had spoken to went into the elevator with the nurses and Teresa. He smiled at Fox.

"We will do everything we can to save her."

The doors closed behind them. Fox turned around only to see Whitney, Gwen and Ethan devastated by what they had just heard.

"I guess all we have to do is wait and see."

They went to the waiting room and sat down, preparing themselves for a very long night.