Renegade Runaways:: Chapter Three
Kayla's hands shook as she opened the front door of her little brother's house.
"Sweetness," Steve sighed with relief as she walked through the door, "Thank God."
"Steve." Kayla was speechless as a wave of emotion bombarded her unexpectedly. She couldn't believe this was actually happening, "What… What the hell Steve Johnson?!"
"There's no time to explain," Steve gave her an apologetic look as he locked the door behind her. He grabbed her forearm and led her over to where Bo lay on the floor struggling to maintain consciousness.
"Oh my God." Kayla gasped at the sight of her baby brother and hastily wiped at the hot tears that were so eager to escape her eyes.
"Kayla," Steve scolded, "You're a doctor. Be a doctor. Not his sister."
Kayla glared at him before taking a deep breath, "I could kill you."
"You could." Steve agreed with a nod, "But please help Bo before you do."
"Bo?" Kayla stared at her brother, "Do you know where you are?"
"Home." Bo whispered. His voice cracked.
"What the hell happened?" Kayla asked Steve, "Why does my brother look like this?"
She listened carefully to Bo's heart with her stethoscope, then proceeded to check his lungs.
"Take a deep breath for me Bo," Kayla ordered.
Bo shook his head weakly, "Can't. Hurts."
Kayla glared at Steve, "Steve. Give me something here."
"He was being held captive. Who knows what they were doing to him in there. He was already in bad shape. When I busted him out of there, we got a little banged up." Steve confessed.
"A little?" Kayla rolled her eyes, "Thanks for the long version there pal…."
"Sweetness. Come on." Steve sighed, "I know that I am an asshole and we have a lot to talk about. But Bo here has got to have some broken ribs and a serious concussion."
"He probably has internal bleeding." Kayla sighed in distress, "Steve, I can't. I have to take him to the hospital. I need equipment. I need tools. I need medication. What is the problem here?"
"People are after us. It's complicated. Shane is trying to make it look like we went different route, no one can know we're in Salem. We're on the run." Steve replied.
"Shane is involved in this too?" Kayla's jaw dropped.
Steve lifted Bo's shirt and showed Kayla a nasty wound with less than stellar stitches.
"You mind telling me what the hell this is?" Kayla questioned and carefully palpated around the wound.
"Well, little Bo here took a knife to the gut for me." Steve sighed, "Shane stitched him up."
"You guys are all complete idiots." Kayla shook her head with anger, concern for her brother overwhelmed her.
"Kayla," Steve grabbed her hand away from Bo's abdomen and pulled it to his chest, "I swear on my life and all that is holy that I am sorry. We didn't have a lot of choices. We're doing the best we can to keep targets off of our family's backs."
Kayla's heart lurched and she gently pulled her hand away, "I'm calling the hospital. I'll have him admitted as a John Doe and restrict the staff to as few as possible. He'll be put in a private room…. but Steve… I seriously need you to consider getting more help. We need more people we can trust."
They stared at each other in silent understanding. Kayla had her phone out ready to dial. Just as Steve was about to speak, they both turned toward the sound of keys in the front lock.
"What is she doing here?" Steve gasped.
"I don't know!" Kayla whispered back, "She lives here!"
"Hope." Bo whispered.
Steve ran a hand through his hair and let it settle on his mouth, "We are so screwed."