Only in the News

By: caramelo

I do not own One Tree Hill or anything related to it.

Chapter Six: No Guarantees but the Grave

They were drawing near to the door when faint screams and moans suddenly became considerably louder around the corner. One of the shrieks ended, and another one began, outraged and terrified. The group pressed against the wall, out of sight, and Nathan and Lucas exchanged stricken glances above Haley's head.

Brooke, they mouthed simultaneously.

What sounded like an explosion went off, and the scream cut off abruptly. Nathan felt sick to his stomach. There were those footsteps again, just walking away from the crime they had committed. Luckily, they were walking in another direction, towards the library.

The three were faced with two options. Turn to the left now, and forget about Brooke, or walk ahead a few feet more and make a slight detour to the right to see what had happened, possibly risking their lives for someone who might already be dead.

It seemed so awfully silent…

"No," Lucas whispered.

Nathan swallowed, hard. He gestured to the hallway to their left. "We should…"

"No," Lucas said more fiercely. He stepped forward, toward the direction where they had last heard her. "We don't know if she's…"

"Chances are, she is," Nathan pointed out.

"But we don't know," Lucas said desperately.

Nathan's gaze flitted down to Haley, who had remained silent through the exchange. Her expression was impassive and gave away nothing. If it had been her, Nathan thought, I would have torn through Lucas even if I had seen a bullet shot right through her heart, just to make sure.

"Fine," he said, "but we have to be careful."

Lucas nodded and clapped Nathan on the shoulder gratefully. He walked ahead, his steps light and fast, anxious.

Nathan followed reluctantly with Haley latched on to his hand. She gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You did the right thing," she said.

Nathan cocked a brow. "You think?"

Haley nodded. "Yeah, I do. You know none of us would ever be able to live with ourselves if we just left Brooke behind."

"You're right," Nathan said. "I'm just…"

"Scared?" Haley filled in the blank for him. "It's okay. We all are. But it'll be okay; I know it will."

They came up on Lucas and he shushed them. The hallway was just around the corner. "Do you hear anything?" he hissed.

Nathan and Haley shook their heads. Everything was silent, besides the distant gunshots coming from the library.

Lucas scampered out, and what he saw made his blood run cold. Brooke and Peyton were there, collapsed on top of each other. Beside him, Nathan averted his eyes, and Haley gasped, horrified. The two cheerleaders were a bloody mess, leaving little doubt to the matter of whether they had survived or not.

Lucas was eerily still. His body was rigid, and his fists were clenched tightly. Nathan put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed hard, far from reassuring, but a reminder that there were people suffering with him. He swallowed as his eyes fell on Peyton and Brooke again, unable to tear his gaze away again. He wanted to say something, something to console Lucas or perhaps to remind them all that they were all still in danger standing here, but all he managed was a low, guttural sound from his throat. It took a good number of seconds to pull himself together long enough to try to direct Lucas and Haley to the back door again, their original destination.

"Come on," he muttered. "We should…" He was about to turn around, away from the horror in front of him, and try not to look back as he dragged his other friends to safety.

But then…movement.

Just as Nathan was about to pull Lucas away, Brooke stirred on top of Peyton. Slowly, she lifted her head up. Frightened, haunted eyes met Lucas, Nathan, and Haley. "Peyton," she whispered hoarsely. "She's bleeding…under me…"

Haley choked back a cry, and Lucas and Nathan moved forward at once. The gunshots were getting closer again. There was no time. Nathan paused as his fingers slipped away from Haley's, but she pushed him along. "Brooke needs you more than I do," she said.

Nathan nodded and grabbed Brooke by the shoulders, hauling her up, and Lucas gathered Peyton in his arms. Peyton was unconscious, and Brooke seemed to be going into some type of shock. Nathan was dragging her more than she was moving on her own. It was hard, considering the shooting pain in his side that only grew in intensity as he put more stress on it, but there were bigger things going on around them at the moment. Now wasn't the time to give in.

The screams, presumably belonging to those who had escaped from the library, and guns were just behind them now. The group ran as fast as they could. They were so close to the exit now, and it was unblocked thankfully. Nathan pulled Brooke along harder, and Lucas panted as he ran with the added weight of Peyton.

One by one, the screams died down behind them as the bullets felled their classmates. A group of them were still running though and Nathan looked farther back behind them to see a kid with a hockey mask covering his face, raising the gun again, past the crowd, ready-to-fire…

Nathan froze. It was pointed straight at Haley.

He opened his mouth to yell, but the words caught in his throat. Haley turned to see what was wrong, and too late, she saw the gun pointed at her.

Then the gunman pulled the trigger.

It hit her square in the chest, right about where her heart should be. Nathan didn't even take to time to notice the bitter irony as he let go of Brooke and moved towards Haley. Her eyes were still open. He didn't notice the classmates stampeding towards him, or Lucas's yells.

Haley's eyes caught his, and Nathan was horrified to see how dulled they had become within a matter of seconds. "Haley," he whispered.

Haley struggled to speak. It was obviously was taking her a good deal of effort. When she did manage to say something, it was just a whisper, but for as much as Nathan was concentrated on her, it might as well have been a yell. "Go," she commanded weakly.

Nathan was ready to protest, but before he could, she seemed to deflate right before his very eyes. Her eyes flickered shut, and her labored breathing came to a stop. There was no doubt about it; she was dead. Nathan felt a grisly pain wash over him and knew it wasn't from the wound in his side. He knew this was what a heart breaking felt like. His heart, specifically.

A bullet went by, centimeters away from Brooke's ankle, and she shrieked, bringing Nathan back to the reality of the situation. He looked up to see the group that had separated them from the gunman was all but gone, and he was pulling on the trigger again…

Nathan felt adrenaline course through him like never before. He grabbed Brooke and tucked her safely against his chest before he launched both of them through the door. The last thing he was aware of was a sudden, shooting sting in his thigh before he hit his head on the cement outside and rolled, knocked completely unconscious.


It was like a stampede coming towards them, Brooke thought vaguely, as men in black uniforms ran past her. The conscious, stable part of her mind recognized the herd as the local police, but the thought did little to pull her out of her almost-drunken state of misery. Too late, she thought bitterly, you're too late.

Too late for what, exactly?

It was hard to keep her mind in this mess, and Brooke couldn't seem to escape the dizzying confusion that had descended on her after watching her best friend get shot.

Best friend…

Peyton. Brooke twisted her head around wildly, but it did her little good as there was a something heavy draped across her, making movement difficult. She tried to push it away from her half-heartedly. She wanted to find Peyton.

Brooke grabbed blindly at the thing. Why wouldn't it budge? She had to find Peyton before…before…

Her vision was blurring. It would be impossible to find anyone soon. There was an occasional, sharp burst of focus, and Brooke knew she would have to rely on that to find her friend while it lasted. But first, she had to get this thing off her. It was getting hard to breathe.

Brooke looked down and waited for her vision to right itself. When it did, she most certainly wished it hadn't.

It was a body. Dark hair, good build, and blood leaking from the side and thigh. Something inside Brooke's mind lit up with recognition, but she was unable to make the connection. And so she started screaming.

The last thing she heard was a yell, "Brooke!" from a voice that she knew she should know the owner of but didn't, and a blur of white descending on her.


When Lucas had tumbled out the door with Peyton in his arms as police rushed in the opposite direction around him, he imagined he should feel an overwhelming sense of relief. While relief was present, it wasn't a particularly powerful emotion as he was still responsible for the heavily injured, possibly even…no, he wouldn't think that word, cheerleader in his arms.

"I need help!" he yelled, to no one in particular, "Please, help!"

He was staggering under Peyton's weight now from physical and emotional exhaustion and was unbelievably thankful as he saw paramedics rushing towards them, taking her from his arms. "What happened?" one of them demanded.

Lucas thought this was a rather pointless question as the answer should be fairly obvious but complied anyway. "She got shot. There, I guess," he said, gesturing to the blood fanning out around a hole in the front of her top. His voice was high-pitched and strange, panicked. "I don't know much else. I wasn't with her. But she was with…"

He looked around, his attention drawn to a sudden burst of shrill screams, noticing for the first time the crumbled heap just outside the school. "Brooke!" he yelled in worry and shock as he saw her struggling, half-covered by an immobile Nathan. The paramedics obviously had noticed too, Lucas realized, once his eyes fell onto a group of three or four running over to his friends. He wanted to go over too, to see if they were going to be okay, but one glance at Peyton, pale as death, held him back. Lucas sent one, last reluctant glance over in Nathan and Brooke's direction, dismayed to see that Brooke's struggles had ceased, and she had become as still as his brother.

All this combined with the not-entirely-believable fact that Haley hadn't made it out of the school was enough to bring Lucas to his knees.


Nathan awoke in the hospital a few hours later, dazed. His mom's concerned face hovered above him…Why did she look like she was about to cry?

Deb Scott sighed in unimaginable relief and joy when Nathan's eyes opened. "Thank God, you're awake," she said. "I'll go get a doctor." She paused in her retreat, hesitantly, before adding, "Your father was here, but they recruited him to help out back at the school." As if this was the pressing issue of the moment.

"Wait," Nathan said groggily, throwing a hand out to stop her. "What's going on?" Why am I so tired? Where did this awful headache come from? What's wrong with my leg? Why am I here? He wanted to ask her all of these questions, but Nathan knew when his mom got overwhelmed, she tended to shut down. It was better to keep it down to one at a time.

Deb's eyes filled with tears as she studied her son. Wordlessly, she grabbed a remote off the bedside table and turned on the small television monitor. It could explain things better than she ever could.

Nathan's attention flickered over to the small screen near the ceiling. It was a news broadcast, with Breaking! This just in! written all over it. A lady with big blonde hair was speaking, but what grabbed Nathan was the picture of his high school in the background. "Wha--" he began, looking to his mother, uncomprehending. She shook her head and gestured to the television again.

He looked again. If he concentrated closer, he could see people running about, in and out of his school, frantic.

"Two of the gunmen have been apprehended," said the blonde lady, "but it is believed that the last one committed suicide before the authorities reached him. Police are working to find those still missing, both inside the school and in neighboring areas."

A flash. Brooke was staring at him, her eyes wide and empty, a smear of red across her cheek. "She's bleeding under me." That's when Nathan noticed her white cheerleading blouse was stained with a huge blotch of red.

Nathan started. What?

"It all started during the first lunch period, when shots tore apart a relatively average scene in the cafeteria…"

Another flash. Almost all the life had been sucked out of her. She looked up at him. It was almost as if she didn't see him. Her eyes were so glassy... "Go," she commanded.

Nathan gasped with the sudden pain as everything hit him at once. Deb glanced over sharply and turned off the television, reaching his side in less than a second. He shrugged her away, and she tried again. Nathan pushed harder. Deb backed away. Her expression was filled with confusion and hurt. Nathan didn't care.

Haley was dead.

Goddamn it. Haley was dead.

Nathan's expression screwed painfully as he tried to physically shake the thoughts away from him. No. No. Haley couldn't be dead. She couldn't leave him.

He honestly believed that he could've married her someday.

Hell, he loved her so much, he could've married her today.

But that dream had just been shot to hell. He could rip apart the bastard who killed her with his bare hands.

Nathan looked over at his mom, who was hovering cautiously a few feet away. She had never been good at the whole close-family thing.

"My friends," he said, almost dreading the answer. "What about the rest of my friends?"

Deb hesitated. "Well. Lucas is okay. Bruises mostly, a few cuts from falling on concrete."

He didn't fall, Nathan wanted to tell her. He hit the ground on purpose, to avoid getting shot. Not that it helped much, Nathan thought grimly as he noticed his heavily bandaged leg. He cut his mother off, mid-sentence.

"I got shot, didn't I?"

Deb nodded, looking sick. "A couple times, but the one in your thigh was the only real problem. But the doctors said it should heal really soon," she said quickly. "You'll just have to get around on crutches for the next couple of weeks. Maybe a wheelchair. And your side just needed a few stitches, that's all."

Wheelchair. The word stung. To Nathan, it meant he was crippled, if only for a short time.

"What about everybody else?"

"Who do you want to know about first?"

Nathan threw his hands in the air. "I don't know. Brooke, Peyton, Jake …anybody who means something to me, Mom."

"They think Brooke will be okay," Deb said. "It's mostly emotional damage. Apparently she ended up right in the middle of some type of…conflict."

Shooting spree, Nathan filled in silently. His mom wasn't giving it to him straight. But he had been there; he had seen the concentration of bodies around her.

"And Peyton and Jake both got hurt pretty badly. They're sure Jake will come out of it all right, but nobody's really sure about Peyton."

Nathan's stomach twisted as he remembered how Peyton had looked when Lucas had lifted her off the ground. He had been almost positive that she wouldn't make it. It was still hard to believe that she could pull through.

Deb broke into his thoughts. Her next words were soft, tentative. Nathan could see the pity in her eyes. "And Haley and Tim…"

"I know about Haley and Tim," he cut her off sharply.

Deb's mouth shut abruptly, and her face twisted into an expression of distress for her son. She reached out to brush his hair back, but Nathan flinched away. "I'm actually getting really tired now," he said. "I think I should get some rest."

"Nathan," Deb began, "Nathan, I…"

"Please, Mom," he said tightly. "I really want to be alone."

"I don't think that's a…"

"Mom! Please."

Deb stared at her son sadly. Nathan knew he was being callous, but he wasn't in the mood for the compassion or the pity. He didn't want that right then from the woman he barely considered a mother. Deb was a perceptive woman, and she fingered a lock of his hair one more time and brushed away a tear. "You have no idea how happy I am that you're alive, Nathan. I was so scared. I love you so much," she choked out softly before leaving the room.

Nathan resisted the urge to call her back, maybe because he really did need her or maybe just out of guilt, and clicked on the television. "It happened really fast," a girl was saying. "I didn't even have a chance to catch my breath and realize what was going on before it was over." A disgusted click of the remote and off went the television.

She was so wrong.

Nathan shut his eyes in a feeble attempt to shield himself from it all. His girlfriend and his best friend were dead. His ex-girlfriend, who he also considered a good friend, wasn't in good shape either. Another one of his friends was badly injured as well, and yet another, from the sounds of it, was mentally unhinged.

How was it that so much tragedy had befallen them? It was almost as if…

Nathan clicked on the television again, for the last time he promised himself.

"…motive has been established. The gunmen had been the victims of bullying and teasing, particularly by whom students describe as "the athletes" of the school for months, setting a specific group of victims for themselves in mind. Many of the other students, it can be inferred, were just caught in the crossfire."

It was all so untrue, Nathan thought disgustedly. The bastards had gone after every single person in the damned school. They had patrolled, for godsakes.

But as Nathan ran the mental list of those he had seen injured or dead, a wave of nausea hit him. Almost everyone had been a basketball player, or a cheerleader, or one of their close friends.

It was very hard not to break down. Too hard, even.

Author's Note: Well, there you have it. I have a feeling the angry reviews will start coming in soon, which I don't necessarily mind, although I'm hoping there will be some relieved/impartial ones mixed in. It was a tough chapter to write, one that had been finished two weeks ago actually, but I was so unhappy with it that I've spent the last 14 days since then editing and rewriting. Some of you may have read my profile and already know that there's only one more chapter after this one. For those of you who haven't, well, now you know too. Thanks to the people who have reviewed so far, and to those who have also sent me emails to prod me along. The response to this story has been awesome, and I love reading what you guys think. So leave me one!

Reviewer responses for chapter 5:

xocmmox: Wow, um, I didn't exactly follow you through your process of elimination, but I have to give you kudos for getting it right. Though I will say that Nathan was the only person meant to be the for-sure survivor guaranteed in the story. The different points of view weren't supposed to be indicatory of anyone surviving or not—just different perspectives to the story, but I see your point, I think. Maybe. Overall, though, I'm going to have to say I'm impressed lol.

Casandra: Long winded is good. Much more fun to read, which your review was. But yeah, I was trying to keep the focus off romantic relationships in the story (note: Brooke and Peyton have very little contact with Lucas), besides Nathan/Haley because that was the only one that had a purpose. Although I suppose there was arguably some romance between Jake and Peyton or Jake and Brooke. Whichever way you want to read it. But yeah, I'm gonna have to agree—canon couples have a way of screwing themselves over.

Ashley: Hope you get the email that I'm just about to send. Let me know. And Brooke and Peyton are alive, though Peyton isn't looking good. And neither is Brooke, come to think of it, but she's at much less risk of dying.

animeperfect: LOL Yeah, I've read/watched OTH at the same time before. Only once. I got so confused between the two. ;)

brucasfanatic: Wow. Without a doubt, my longest review ever. That's awesome. ;) I'm not sure whether to be flattered or worried that you put off your essay but since you don't seem to regret it…anyway hopefully you finished it on time. It's cool that you can picture parts of my story actually happening; it's a major compliment. I'm glad you like the character relationships in the story-with the exception of Naley, I tried to stick to a friendship focus. I guess, it's a point toward me that Brooke wasn't killed, although she's definitely in a fragile state, since she seemed to be the fan favorite. To be honest, I had the main character death(s) planned out from the beginning though. The turning away part was just a gradual build up of Brooke stressing out completely, and while there were hints here and there, I don't believe there was a major turning point. Like I said, it was all pretty gradual. Mouth and Tim were sad, I agree, as I really, really love them, especially Tim. Subliminal messages, huh? Ever seen the movie Josie and the Pussycats? You reminded me of that lol. And Jake's fine! Please, calm down ;). I'm glad you like the story so much. Though I have my doubts on the whole essay thing lol. Whoa. Long response for a long review. Fair trade off, I hope.

geniunexchild: Thanks so much! If you'll notice, this chapter came out sooner than last chapter. Which I guess isn't a major accomplishment or anything since last chapter took 2 months.

TutorGurlTigger: Please don't cry. Really. Her death was one of the few things I had written out from the beginning. But I did save Brooke. And yeah, I guess it was meant to be inferred that pencil guy is one of the gunmen. If you're not entirely put off the story by now, leave a review. Yell at me if you'd like.

Agel15: Um, he did hit one of them. Pretty bad, actually. Missed Brooke though, so she's safe. Thanks so much for the review. It was nice to read such an honest reaction to the chapter.

Faith: Aww, I'm not mean. Not really. I don't think so anyway lol. Does this chapter make me nicer or meaner?

starlet-girl: I could always use another review saying, well, anything really! Don't be shy about leaving one for this chapter lol!

countrybutterfly: I didn'tsay one main character death. I said at least one. Major difference. I agree with the whole drawing it out thing…you can only take a story like this so far, so it's coming to a fast end now. Next chapter, in fact! Thanks for the review.

ForeverInDarkness101: Gotcha? Don't be sad anymore-he's alive!

TVaddict023: Impossible to stop reading, huh? Thanks. I've always thought some parts were a little slow, but I guess everybody is hardest on themselves.

BROOKE LOVER: Wow, definitely one of the more adamant reviews lol. Hopefully, you don't feel as strongly about Haley, or I'm afraid I'll have a very angry reviewer to add to the list. ;)

0621: I'm glad you like it! The direction this story takes is its own really. Nothing is ever really planned. I just sit here and type out whatever comes to mind at the moment. Is it still going the right way?

Mony19: Thanks…for some reason your penname sticks out as one I've seen before. I thought you reviewed before too lol.

Queen2821Bee: I didn't make Brooke die! But I didn't make Peyton die either. This story, however, if you've noticed, deals very little with the romance factor. Speaking of B/L, what did you think of the finale?

HipHopper92: Neither for now, although Peyton's not out of danger yet.

Leah: Thanks so much! Fooled ya! And just about everyone else. I can't kill off Jake.

IntentionallyCruel: I so did not kill off Jake. What kind of person do you take me for? And as for Gooseles…that's insane. 15x? Wow. I'll have to check her stories out. That's amazing. And as for the last question-one more chapter after this. I figure I've stretched it out long enough.

Shauna: Really? Out of breath? Well, by now, you're either relieved or disappointed. Leave a review and let me know which. ;)

Nice-one: I don't mind criticism! I am under the firm belief that unless it's a really stupid flame like OMG tHiS storie S U C K S (which helps nobody), pointing out hard to believe stuff or grammar or anything really can only help you grow as a writer. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading your review, so I'm hoping you'll leave one for this chapter. Please?

Cait: Oh, God, thanks. That was such an awesome review, and I'm so flattered right now. Although I'm afraid you'll have to take up the issue of my "creative mind" with my art teacher. Apparently drawing stick figures and pencils (the only things I can draw properly) makes me "unable to see outside the box."

xxxkattxtienxxx: Well, it came pretty close to nobody dying.

Nate and Jake: Hurried as fast as I could with this chapter. First review I've seen from you so I'm assuming you've just found this story, and I have to let you know: I am an awful updater. This is probably the fastest I've ever gotten a chapter out.

l-a-c-18: The chair through the window idea stuck out in my mind too, but I was forced to disregard it for two main reasons: 1: It would make a lot of noise and could put them in danger if not executed perfectly, and 2 (major reason, lol): I wouldn't really have much of a story if they all escaped like that in the very beginning.

charli: Thanks so much for reviewing! The story is coming to a quick close now, so I guess you can sit a little more comfortably lol.

BrookenLucas12: Nice work, it was Peyton. She wasn't the one to die though. Not yet, anyway. And please do update Secret Love soon!

Princessbm: Yeah, the cops finally make their arrival. But like I said before (in response to another review in another chapter, maybe yours) there's a lot of description for all the introspective stuff going on with the characters, which makes it seem slower for them, and for readers I suppose, while in reality the action is actually happening kind of fast. Thanks for the review!

FriendsFan: Um, faster than last time I think…was it fast enough? But yeah, it was a pretty big cliffhanger.

Cutie Ray: Wow, thanks. So many nice compliments.

A. sawyer: Haha, thanks I think. I guess evil is a good thing sometimes. And Will and Grace is one of the funniest shows ever! I love Karen.

Ellie: Miracle, you say? Was this close enough?