Shit, shit, shit. It took a moment for the pain to register. When it did, it was excruciating. Edward screamed as he fell to his knees, breathing heavily.
He shot me.
He sank to his knees and gave the man in front of him a hard, shocked look. The man raised his gun again, this time for a kill shot, and Edward froze.
He shot me. He's going to kill me.
Alphonse barreled into the cloaked man with a wrath that Ed had never seen in him before. The gun clammered to the ground before it had a chance to fire. The cloaked man staggered to the side and looked up, terrified, but Al didn't care about him, now that he was no longer holding a gun. The man ran, hard and fast.
"Brother! Brother!" Alphonse cried out. He kneeled down and looked at his brother's wounds. "Are you alright?"
"Fine, Al. Just fine, " Ed answered through gritted teeth.
Alphonse put his hand on his brother's shoulder, looking worried. "Can you stand?"
"Al," Edward growled. "I need... you to go after... him."
"What? No way, I won't leave you behind!" Al sounded offended at the suggestion.
"Dammit, Al, he's our only lead!"
"I don't care! It's not worth it, Ed." Alphonse moved his hand underneath Ed's armpits and lifted. Ed grunted in pain but didn't struggle.
Most of Ed's weight rested on his armored brother as they trudged slowly out of the alleyway. His wound hurt like hell and every movement sent a spike of pain through him, so leaning on Al was much less painful then walking.
Blood had already soaked through his shirt and it was dripping down onto the ground, leaving splotches of crimson on the concrete. Although Ed had an extremely high pain tolerance, a gunshot wound felt like nothing he'd ever felt before. Excluding when he'd lost his arm and leg, anyway.
It felt hot and searing, and incredibly intense, and now the adreniline that had come with being shot had left his body, he was left with nothing but pain and anger.
"God dammit..." Ed hissed. "We where... so close."
He could only imagine the look that bastard colonel would have when he'd heard that Ed had been shot. He would probably send someone else down - Havoc, maybe - to investigate in Ed's place. Ed would be pulled off the mission.
God dammit.
"Alphonse..."
"Easy, brother." Alphonse sounded concerned.
"Colonel... Bastard... can't know about this. He'd send... someone else down here instead."
Al made a noise that was as close to a sigh as a suit of armor could get. His brother always refused to give up on job assignments. "Sure, brother." He'd argue later.
It was a minute at most before they arrived at the inn, but it felt like hours.
Alphonse slammed the inn door open, hollering for someone to come help. One of the waitresses - the same one that had pointed out the cloaked man in the first place - gasped.
"What happened?" She demanded.
"No time! Where's the nearest hospital!? We need to get him medical attention... Can anybody drive us there?" Al sounded panicked.
The waitress hesitated. "The criminal is gone, don't worry," Al added.
She nodded. "Alright, I... I can drive you there."
"Thank you."
A couple minutes later, Alphonse placed Ed carefully in the car seat beside him. Ed winced as the car started and hit a dip in the road, jostling his injury.
While Al began to explain Ed's injuries to the waitress, Ed leaned on the car door. His eyelids closed and he realized he was on the brink of passing out.
He forced his eyes back opened and looked down. He winced at the sheer amount of blood that was covering both him and the car seat. It was a frightening thing, to see his own blood spilling out of him like a crimson river.
Al watched him worriedly, a hand on his brother's shoulder. Ed attempted a weak smile. This did nothing to reassure Al.
"Damn..." Ed muttered. "Really should have expected this... We already knew they had... guns."
"How far away are we?" Al asked the driver. Ed could see her paled face as she glanced back, and he noted that her hands where shaking as she drove.
Ed didn't hear her answer. His consciousness began to fade and his vision swam. He let out a low groan and felt Al's hand tighten on his shoulder. For a while, Ed just sat there, Al continually asking how long it would be, before Edward finally passed out.