Blackout 3/6
Chapter 3:
Suddenly sirens roared up out of nowhere and harsh lights shone through the windows.
"This is the FBI. Lay down your weapons and come out with your hands up."
Charlie choked back a sigh of relief, knowing they were still at risk as long as the armed men were in his classroom.
Rather than surrender, the men started firing on the agents outside. Charlie could hear the rapid fire of automatic weapons and flinched at how close they sounded.
Deirdre grabbed his arm in a death grip, obviously panicked, and he held onto her as tightly as he could.
They heard one of the armed men let out a cry, as if he'd been hit. Unseen by Charlie and Deirdre, his hand was still on his weapon as he fell, releasing a final spray of bullets that strafed the interior of the classroom, shattering the blackboards as they passed.
Both Charlie and Deirdre screamed, unable to help themselves as the blackboards exploded into shards around them.
In seconds, the remainder of the blackboards were pulled away by the last surviving gunman.
"Hostages," he said with a growl and started raising his gun. A single shot rang out and Charlie flinched, covering Deirdre as best he could. When he looked up, he saw the man had fallen and other shapes were streaming in to the room.
"Charlie?" a familiar voice called out to him.
"Don!" Charlie couldn't have been happier to hear his big brother's voice. "We're over here in the corner."
One of the agents arrived with a flashlight and illuminated the room so they could see Don, in full FBI gear, rushing towards them.
"Are you okay?" He asked, frantic.
"Yeah, yeah. We're okay. You got them just in time." Charlie replied.
"No..." Deirdre said in an unnaturally quiet voice. "Not quite."
Suddenly the power was restored and Charlie could see the telltale red stain rapidly expanding on Deirdre's white shirt.
"Oh, God." Charlie felt weak in the knees. Deirdre only looked down at her blood stained torso then looked back up at him, no longer able to form words.
"We need paramedics up here!" Don barked into his walkie-talkie.
"Wait... I have..." Charlie stuttered, running over to the cabinet to pull out the emergency supply kit again. Tearing it open as he ran back to Deirdre, he quickly pressed a handful of gauze into her wound. She winced in pain, but let him continue. Don grabbed another handful and after checking her back for an exit wound, pressed the gauze where her back was bleeding as well.
Charlie fought down the urge to count the seconds until the paramedics arrived. He tried not to count Deirdre's rapidly slowing rate of breaths per minute. He tried not to think of her heart doing the same.
When the paramedics loaded her into the ambulance Charlie joined her, despite Don's protestations. He'd failed to protect her and he couldn't leave her now.
