Chapter 3

Don felt something propel him toward the large shade trees several yards away from the walkway. Instinctively, he rolled and ducked behind one of the large trees. Pulling his gun, he looked for where the shots came from. Not seeing anything at first, he turned to see where Charlie was hiding. A wave of annoyance then fear washed over him when he realized his younger brother was lying on the walkway in plain sight of whoever was shooting at them. He could see Charlie's shoulders were quaking – probably from fear he surmised.

"Charlie, you need to move. They could come back!" Don yelled at his brother but was annoyed that his brother seemed frozen in place. "Charlie! MOVE NOW!" A cold knot formed in the pit of his stomach. Charlie hadn't even signaled that he heard Don. "Charlie, answer me!"

Squealing tires distracted Don from his younger brother. The black Cadillac was circling back toward them. Don feared the worst; Charlie was in the direct line of fire, and there was no way he could reach him in time to drag him back toward the trees. Suddenly, campus security screamed onto the scene, and the black Cadillac decided to run for the main roads. Don scrambled toward his brother who had stopped moving all together. Don strained to see any sign of life. Charlie was curled on his side facing away from Don.

"Charlie? They're gone. It's ok, Buddy." Don stopped a few feet from his younger brother. A cold wave of fear mixed with an odd sense of relief washed over his senses.

The sounds of his brother's breathing thrust him back to the last time he saw his mother alive. He had stood just inside her hospital room, and listened to the sounds of the medical machines. The beeping and the clicking, mingled with her quiet breaths. He needed those sounds; they assured him that his mother was still there with him - that she was hanging on. He needed those sounds to prove she was alive because she didn't look like his vibrant, young mother. She looked frail, old, and one step, one breath, away from Heaven.

While the sound of Charlie breathing was comforting, each breath was an obvious struggle for him, and to Don, each shallow breath told him that his brother was one step, one breath, away from Heaven. And it scared him that the it was his vribant, young brother lying on the pavement while his life escaped him; Or maybe it was a shell of a former self gone home. Don stood rooted to the ground. He couldn't move, he couldn't breath, he couldn't lose his brother too, damnit! And that, coupled with Amita's scream of his name, was what propelled him the remaining few feet to his brother's side.

TBC;)