Hi darlings! Yes, I know! She finally updates. Not as depressing as the last chapter but that's not saying much. lol. Feedback is always welcome...
If Tomorrow Never Comes
Chapter 23
"Carly!" The door flew open, banging hard against the wall. "Zander! Mike!" Sonny looked around the downstairs rooms, opening doors at random. Zander wasn't planted in front of the television with Mikey in the rec room. He peeked into the kitchen hoping that he'd find Leticia arguing with his father about dinner. It was empty. He took the steps two at a time, opening the door to his son's room.
"Michael? Leticia?" There was no movement or sound. He left the door opened, moving swiftly down the hall to the room he shared with his wife. It was as they'd left it earlier that day. Her robe thrown haphazardly on the bed. His shoes on the floor. Nothing seemed out of place but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Really wrong.
He pulled his cell phone out of his jacket, pressing the memory button for Carly's phone. It rang once. Twice. Three times and then voicemail picked up. Her recorded voice coming over the line.
"Hi, you've reached Caroline Corinthos. I'm sorry I missed your call. Leave your name, number and if I like ya, I'll you back."
"Babe," Sonny sighed into the phone," I need you to call me as soon as you get this message. Please." He pushed the off button, tapping the phone against his hand impatiently.
Something was definitely wrong.
"Damn coppers." Luke hissed, glancing behind him at the uniformed men. "I swear they get a kick out of keeping us here this long."
Johnny rubbed his hands together, trying to get some warmth back into them. "Yeah, well..."
"Kyle."
"Stan! Dude, I'm glad you're all right."
Johnny cut himself off, staring at the two boys next to him.
"So you heard about Kelly's?"
"Yeah, I freaked out cause I remembered you -"
"Kelly's?" Luke stepped forward, looming over the two kids. "What about Kelly's?"
Stan backed away a step but Kyle squinted up at Luke. " Wait, aren't you..."
"Yes. Luke Spencer. I own the diner."
"It's been all over the news. Kelly's was bombed."
"What?" Johnny threw a panicked glare at the boys, calmly walking to their side. "Are you serious?"
Kyle directed his response to Luke, glancing back and forth between the two men. "Well, haven't you heard? It blew a few minutes after the Recovery Room."
"Oh shit." Luke and Johnny locked gazes, reading the same thought in each other's eyes. Johnny motioned to the police. "Go. I'll cover."
Luke patted his friend on the shoulder and set off at a full run.
He'd never seen the ER in so much chaos. Juan assimilated the scene before him, holding onto Shari and stepping out of the elevator. The images would stay with them for a long time to come. Every corner, every inch of the room was filled with injured patients. Amy leaned over a bloodied little boy who cried for his mother. Monica and Alan assisted the less injured to one room while Tony directed the critical cases into the operating rooms. Doctors and nurses ran around frantically, trying to help everyone as best they could knowing GH was completely unequipped and unprepared for the kind of carnage they were seeing.
"Jesus." Juan scanned the room for any sign of Lucky, Emily or Laura. He knew that Nikolas was doing fine. Only a fractured shoulder. Only... He noticed Shari shift her arm; the temporary sling the EMT's had given her seemed to make her uncomfortable. "Let's go find someone to take a look at that, sweetheart."
"Juan, no."
"Shari."
"Look around us. I can wait."
He began to protest when his eye caught a familiar face on a stretcher a few feet away. "Tammy." Shari followed his stare. Tammy lay a few feet from them, her lifeless blue eyes looking blankly at the ceiling. They watched, horrified, as a nurse pulled the sheet over Tammy's face. Shari buried her face in his shirt, her tears soaking into his skin.
Juan rubbed his face hard. There was time enough later for tears. He needed to find his friends.
"Juan."
Mike rolled up to them in a wheelchair. Shari squeezed Juan's hand tightly, and he paused to glance at her. She seemed to be soaking in the sight of the older man. He pulled his hand away from hers and she looked away quickly. Bending down, he came eye to eye with Mike.
"Are you kids okay?" He inspected first Juan than Shari, cringing at the sight of their blood-soaked clothes. "Where you at Kelly's?"
Juan shook his head. "Nik's cottage was attacked."
Mike closed his eyes. "Oh God. Is everyone...?"
Shari spoke up softly, her eyes tearing up. "Nikolas was shot and Gia was pretty hurt. What happened to you?"
"The Recovery Room blew up. And Kelly's, too."
Juan glanced at Tammy's covered body then back at Mike. "We know." He massaged his forehead. "Mike, why don't we find a quiet corner to talk?"
Mike shook his head. "Have you seen Zander?"
"Zander?" Shari asked confused.
"He was with me at the Recovery Room. I haven't seen him since."
"What?"
They turned seeing Emily rushing over to them. "Zander was with you?" She spoke to Mike. Juan moved to her side, placing a hand her arm.
"Yes. But I haven't seen him here anywhere."
"Was he hurt?"
"I don't know, Emily."
"Oh God." Emily pushed her hair away from her face. "No."
"Emily, I'm sure he's okay." Juan soothed. God please let him be all right.
Taggert barreled out of the elevator, halting for a second to take in the room. He couldn't comprehend who would do something like this. Hurt so many people. This wasn't a normal mob hit. This wasn't about territory or power. It had been far too personal for that.
He caught sight of Emily and Juan standing together, Mike in a wheelchair a few feet from them, talking to a girl he'd seen around a few times. He paved a path to them through the crowded hall, cursing at the sound of his cell. "Yeah?" His eyes widened and he stopped abruptly. "What?" He surveyed the group and the room once more. "How bad?" He closed his eyes. "Damn. No. I'll do it."
He rushed past Tony Jones. "Taggert, I need to talk to you."
"Not right now."
"But Taggert..." An orderly bumped roughly into Tony and after checking to make sure the young man was okay, Tony found that Taggert was gone.
Ash covered the tables and sidewalk outside of Kelly's. Nothing remained of the inside except for a few broken chairs and the smashed skeleton of the jukebox. Bobbie gazed at the building that had housed her small restaurant. The windows were blown out, pieces of glass everywhere she turned. The Kelly's sign hung limply by one link, swaying silently in the crisp night. She refused to shed tears even though her heart broke at what had become of her Aunt Ruby's work.
"Barbara." Luke found his sister staring blankly at the burned out shell. His hand came to rest on her shoulders and she covered them with her own.
"Oh Luke." She glanced at the sign. "Ruby's turning in her grave."
"She's probably cursing me the fires of hell as we speak"
"I got a call from the hospital," Bobbie's voice broke, "Tammy's dead."
Heart sinking, he pulled his sister closer, closing his eyes from small ache in his chest. His beautiful friend. She' been his salvation once and this was how she'd been repaid. How he'd repaid her. "I'm so sorry, Barbara."
"Leticia and Michael are okay."
Luke spun her around. "They were here?"
"Yes. So was Alexis." Bobbie revealed. "She saved their lives."
"Is Natasha okay?"
"Tony said she broke a few ribs and suffered a concussion but other than that all her injuries were minor cuts and scratches."
"Was Carly here too?"
"God, no. But no one's been able to find her, Luke." Bobbie sobbed, her trembling hands clutching at the material of his shirt. "I have this horrible feeling."
"Hey. None of that, ok? She's probably already at the hospital. Look-" His sentence cut off, his attention drawn to the limping form of Zander. Bobbie turned and gasped. Zander approached them, his shirt and pants covered in blood. His face and hands covered in cuts. He stopped, weakly raising his head to look at the building, and then feeling their gazes, he stared directly at Luke.
After a moment his gaze fell to Bobbie and she saw his reddened eyes mist over.
"Oh god..."
She ran to him and held his face. "Zander?"
He hugged her to him, oblivious to his state of dress, his heart breaking for her and Luke. "I'm so sorry." was all he said.
Luke moved a step closer. "What happened, Zander?" The younger man met his eyes and in them Luke found the answer he'd been dreading.
"Carly, no... not Caroline..."
Johnny stopped at the top of the dock steps, his gaze swept over all the police and medical personnel. He could make out the taillights of a departing ambulance. This is insane.
AJ Quatermaine stood to his right, talking to a police officer and to his left; he recognized the pale blue suit of the body on the ground. Approaching slowly, he looked down to see Rick lying dead. "Jesus." He glanced frantically around him and drew up when he found the familiar red purse at Rick's feet. "No. No. No."
He ran to AJ, pushing past the officer, and grabbing AJ by his shirt, began to shake him roughly. "What happened?"
"Hey, let him go."
"It's okay, "AJ waved the officer off. He pulled Johnny's hands away gently. "Johnny, I don't know what happened. I was coming back from my girl friends to check on Emily when I found Carly and, um..."
"Rick." Johnny spat.
"Rick," AJ repeated. "He was dead but Carly was still alive and semi-conscious. But she was... pretty bad. I tried to help her as best I could. Zander found us a few minutes later. She's on her way to GH." AJ stared at Johnny's already retreating back. He sighed. "I'm sorry."
Sonny paced furiously, checking the time for the hundredth time that hour. He was going crazy with worry. No one was picking up his or her phones. Not Zander or Mike. Not Alexis. Not Leticia and he'd tried Carly four more times. Benny had reported that he had a few men searching for her, though most where still being interviewed about the attack. His first inclination was to run and find her but logic told him she'd return home.
He stopped, finding himself staring at her picture. He picked it up and smiled. "Where are you, baby?" He pushed away the emptiness that seemed to permeate the house. He closed his eyes trying to sense her. He frowned suddenly. He couldn't feel her... at all. Fear won out and he reached for the door, determined to scour the entire town for her. She's fine, Corinthos. She's fine. The elevator door opened and Taggert slammed directly into him.
"Not right now, Lt." He pushed past him, Taggert forcing him to stay.
"Corinthos..."
"I'm serious, Taggert."
"Sonny." Taggert touched his arm lightly but firmly. Sonny looked up at him and saw something unfamiliar in them. Pity. He pulled his arm away. A chill ran through him and he shook his head, not wanted to hear what his mind and heart already knew.
"Sonny... it's Carly."
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