Dying in Your Arms Tonight - Chapter Six

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Joey glanced around the room nervously, looking at the three men ten times more than anything else in the room.

The burly man, that was now smoking a cigar behind the bar, had hauled Chandler off more than half an hour ago.

He had heard Chandler yell for him but had been forced back by the other two men. What had happened to him? Was he still alive? How far from death was he?

He had watched his best friend get shot and there was nothing he could do to protect him.

It was nearing three in the morning and exhaustion was bearing down on him hard. Every once in a while, one of the men would yell something at them and wave his gun around, giving Joey little, but not much, of an adrenaline rush, just enough to keep his body awake and alert.

The police seemed to have the mens' attention and were distracting them. Joey took this opportunity to quietly sneak away from the group and slip into the back hallways to search for his lost friend.

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"Chandler?'' Joey half-whispered, half-screamed as he proceded down the hallway, knees bent and slightly crouched as if he were deep in enemy territory. "Chandler, where are you?"

"The hallway seemed to have no purpose other than to house cardboard boxes and other various racks and carts.

A door, towards the end of the hallway. A dim light was coming out from underneath it.

Joey sped forward and opened the door slowly. He crept inside, looking over his shoulder to make sure nobody was following as he did so, and shut the door behind him.

A small lamp sat on a stack of cardboard boxes, providing very little light, but enough to see with.

A figure dangling from the wall in the shadows caught his eye and he cautiously apporached it. Upon seeing that it was Chandler, he stood up straight and stared at him in awe.

His face and clothes were dirty, most likely from the condition of the room, and blood was trailing down from the side of his face from a large gash above his left eyebrow. A small stream of blood trickled down the right side of his chin from the corner of his mouth.

Joey's eyes moved lower, down to his chest. A large crimson dot covered the bullet wound and his shirt was soaked with blood.

"Chandler?" he asked, creeping forward and placing his hands on Chandler's stomach and right chest to shake him a little.

Chandler grunted in response and lifted his head a little, his eyes still shut.

"Let's get you down from here," Joey said, wrapping his arm around Chandler's legs and reaching up for the rope with the other.

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There was somebody there, in front of me, talking to me. It sounded like Joey, I could tell by the worried, but always curious, tone of voice. He shook me a little and I grunted in pain, any slight movement was killing me just a little more. I didn't open my eyes, I didn't have any strength left.

I felt his arm wrap around me and his other arm reach up for the rope above me. He shifted me up a little, which was enough for the pipe to let it's presence be known. My eyes shot open and a pain I had never known before spread to every nerve in my body.

I screamed in pain and shoved Joey away from me the best I could.

"Hey! Pipe!" I screamed and pointed down to my leg. "There's a pipe in my leg!"

Joey stared at the pipe questionably for a few seconds before moving forward again and grabbing hold of the bent end.

"Ah! What are you doing!" I screamed and punched him on the shoulder as hard as I could.

"Sh!" He yelled back at me and we both quieted down. "Do you hear that?" he asked.

"Footsteps. Joey, you gotta get out of here!" I whisper-yelled at him. I didn't want to know what they'd do to him if they found him in here.

He didn't say anything but turned back to me, grabing the pipe again.

He bent the top back so it was straight and grabbed the end of the pipe that was sticking out of the back of my thigh.

"Joey, wait!" I pleaded but he clamped a hand over my mouth and yanked on the pipe. I yelled out and struggled against him. I knew he was trying to help me, but it hurt like hell.

The footsteps were getting louder, closer.

The pipe was out and Joey's hand was off my mouth. I dangled there with sweat pouring down my face. My body had had enough and I was starting to lose conciousness again.

Joey was looking around the room. "Here," he grabbed a wooden crate and stuck it under my feet and made me use my good leg to stand on it, taking the tension off the rope so he could get if off the hook. It was hell to stand, even with Joey half holding me up.

The rope was off the hook just as the door knob turned and Joey kicked the box away so he could lay me down. I was half-sitting half-laying. I looked up at Joey. He was protectively standing in front of me, ready to fight.

The door opened the whole way and I saw half a man creap around it before my strength ran out and I was submerged into darkness again.

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I was being aroused once again, this time by the large guy that had brought me back here in the first place. He was kicking me in the leg, trying to wake me up. I hoped he wasn't married, and if he was, I felt bad for what his wife must have to go through every morning.

Joey was gone again. I hated this place, everybody was always coming and going, nobody ever just stayed with me.

My strength was draining away quickly this time, I had only been unconcious for mere minutes. I imagined that it was from the great amount of blood I had lost, and was still losing.

The hole in my leg was making a great escape for blood and I wondered if I would be better off if Joey had just left the pipe alone.

The man standing above me looked angry. Another one of the guys came in and started talking to him in a hushed voice. The thinner guy motioned towards me and said something, I couldn't hear him though and I didn't know why. It made me uncomfortable not being able to understand them.

The big guy came toward me, crouched down, looked me straight in the eye like he was trying to see if I was dead or not, then whacked me right between the eyes with his giant fist.

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to be continued...

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Ok, wow, sorry for taking so long to get this chapter up (do I say that everytime?). The last day of school was last thursday and I've been busy as hell since then, and my summer's only going to get more busy! My birthday's on Friday though, so WOO! Thank you so much for all the reviews and thank you for sticking with me and putting up with my bull crap on how soon I'm going to get these chapters up! I hope crosses fingers to get another chapter up within a week. It's just a matter of me finding time to type it up. Pretty much the whole story but the last chapter (which isn't written yet) is all in one of my school notebooks, I just have to get it all typed up on the computer.

Thanks for reading, please review!