Disclaimer – And now, the next chapter. Still own nothing. The memory in this chapter is also inspired/based from a scene in the movie Heaven is for Real. This chapter has a cliffhanger as well, but it's not as bad as last chapter's. Enjoy.
Chapter 14
Now You Will Fall
Time seemed to slow as the Overlord pulled his knife out of Hal's chest. Hal fell to the ground, as Tom, who had come running over after hearing Ben scream, fired his gun at the Overlord. The Overlord stumbled a little, before falling down. He was dead before he hit the ground.
"Oh my ***!" Tom cursed as he fell to his knees and slid to Hal's side as Ben slowly stood up from where he'd fallen. Blood was gushing out of Hal's chest, soaking his camo jacket.
Hal felt an immense pressure on his chest, as though someone was sitting on him. His lungs were starving for air. He barely heard his father's voice telling him to breathe, and that everything was going to be okay. He didn't even notice his Dad had started to pull his jacket out of the way.
"Hal?" The name slipped out of Ben's mouth as he started heading towards his fallen brother. Tom looked up and saw Ben coming towards him. Ben slid down to Hal's other side tried to help his father remove the jacket.
"Hal look at me, everything's gonna be fine." Tom said, looking over the injury on Hal's chest. He could barely see where the wound was, there was so much blood. Tom pulled the coat away as gently as he could but Hal was still gasping in pain.
"Hal don't move, okay? We're gonna get you to Anne, okay? Just stay still." Tom repeated. Tom pushed away his own desire to panic and placed his hands on his son's chest and pushed, trying to stop the bleeding. Hal screamed.
"We have to get him out of here." Ben told his father.
"I know. ANTHONY, DENI! COVER US!" Tom ordered the two fighters, as he pulled Hal's head and shoulders against his chest and Ben grabbed his legs.
Hal could feel the world around him slipping away, he could barely hear his Dad begging him to hold on. The last thing he saw, was the full moon shining down on his face, and the world was gone.
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"ANNE!" Tom screamed as he and Ben lowered Hal down onto the table. Anne looked over from the patient she was with and gasped as she ran over to her husband.
"Oh my ***. What happened?" Anne asked, looking over her stepson, seeing the blood pouring out from his chest.
"An Overlord stabbed him." Tom explained, his fear evident on his face.
A nurse, who Tom recognized as Mia, started to push him and Ben out of the way as Anne started cutting Hal's shirt so she could get a better look at the wound. She looked up when she heard Tom's voice protesting at something, and saw Mia trying to get him out of the room.
"Tom, I got him." Anne assured him. Tom looked at his son lying on the table, and nodded, letting Mia usher him and Ben out the door.
FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS
The minute the doctor had pulled Hal's jacket and shirt off of him, she quickly found the stab wound. It was on his left side, right through his rib cage, and it was deep. Anne started to dig in to his chest, and found that the knife had indeed punctured his lung, very badly.
"We need to intubate him." Anne realized, and Bree, the other nurse in the room, handed her the tube.
Anne was gentle, but quick and efficient as she pushed the tube down her stepson's throat, despite the fear that was threatening to overcome her. She had to keep herself together. There wasn't another doctor available to do this.
"Come on Hal, just stay with me." She whispered in Hal's ear, unaware of his eyelids fluttering.
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"Hal, stay with me, okay?" Rebecca asked Hal's 9-year-old self. He was sitting in the backseat of a car, his Mom beside him, his Dad driving and his entire body filled with pain.
"Momma, it hurts." Hal whispered, tears falling from his eyes, his hand on his stomach.
"I know baby. But I need you to be strong right now okay? Just stay awake, just stay with me." Rebecca pleaded, her own eyes filling with tears.
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Tom and Ben stood out in the waiting room. Tom looking out the window, watching the battle, feeling as though he should be back out there, doing something that was productive, but knew he couldn't leave. He looked over at Ben, who had sat down on one of the chairs, face pale and blank.
"Ben?" Tom called, watching his middle son with concern.
"It's my fault." Ben whispered, but Tom caught it. He went over and knelt down in front of Ben.
"How is this your fault?" Tom asked, fearing he already knew the answer.
"I left our hiding spot, to get at a skitter that had gotten through the barrier. Hal came out to save me from a harnessed kid that had attacked me. If I had just stayed behind that car," Ben's voice broke as tears started falling from his eyes. Tom lifted his hands to cradle Ben's face, thumbs brushing away the tears.
"No, Ben, that's not your fault. If you're going to blame anybody, blame me okay? I shouldn't have let him go out, I should've made him stay here, okay? It's my fault, not yours." Tom tried to convince his son. Ben shook his head, clearly not convinced and Tom pulled him into his arms, and held him as he cried.
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Tom and Ben had been waiting for an hour, when Matt, Weaver, Maggie, and to their surprise, Cochise came into the waiting area. Matt had a big smile on his face and didn't hesitate to explain why.
"Dad, it was so cool. Just as we thought we were going to be overwhelmed, Cochise and his fighters showed up and killed all the skitters with just one shot from their weapon. And, Cochise brought the machine that can fix Hal." Matt told his Dad.
"I am sorry it has taken so long, Tom Mason. If I could have gotten the machine and the weapon here sooner, I would have." Cochise told the human.
"I know. Thank you." Tom answered.
"Hal's going to be okay now." Matt said, and Tom felt a part of his heart break, as he realized, that Matt might be wrong.
"Tom, what's wrong?" Weaver asked, seeing the change in Tom's expressions, and noticing Ben sitting in a chair, staring at the ground. Tom raised his eyes to see Weaver and Maggie looking worried, and Matt and Cochise looking confused.
"There's something I need to tell you."
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Tom sat between Ben and Matt, his hand rubbing his youngest son's back while Matt stared off into space. It had been two hours since Tom had told him, as well as Weaver, Maggie and Cochise about what happened to Hal, making it three hours in total since Anne started Hal's surgery. There was still no word about what was going on.
Maggie stood by the window, watching the full moon begin to descend from its place in the sky. Had it really been only a few hours ago thought she and Hal were watching it rise? Had it really been only a few hours since she had last talked to him, had last kissed him?
Maggie didn't understand how she didn't know something bad had happened. She still had the spikes, she should've felt Ben's emotions from when it happened. The more she thought about it, the more she realized, that ever since she and Hal had gotten back together, she hadn't been feeling really any emotion from the spikes. It was almost as though they were being blocked somehow. She wondered it Ben had something to do with it.
Ben stared at his feet. Despite what his Dad had told him, he knew it was still his fault. He should never had gone after that skitter. He could still hear Matt crying and denial when Tom told them what happened. He looked up, no longer being distracted by all the details in his shoes that his eyes, with help from his spikes, could now see.
Weaver and Cochise had moved a little farther away to give the family some privacy, but remained close so they would know when something happened. They were currently looking over a Washington city map, making a plan or something. Ben didn't listen in because he didn't want to know. The only thing he wanted to know was whether or not Hal was going to be okay.
That was when his ears caught the noise of Anne's footsteps on the floor, coming towards them. Ben stood up, just as Anne entered the waiting area.
"How is he?" Ben asked as Tom and Matt also got off their chairs and came over to the doctor. Maggie turned around when she heard Ben's question and joined them along with Weaver and Cochise.
"Not good. The knife went through his rib-cage and punctured his lung, causing massive bleeding, internal and external. I did manage to fix the lung and stitch him up, but he's lost a lot of blood. I had to intubate him and put in a chest tube to make sure no extra air or blood does anymore damage. He is stable for the moment, but still in pretty serious condition. He's borderline comatose." Anne informed them, trying to be as professional as possible.
"Will he be okay?" Tom asked, almost scared of the answer.
"As long as there is no infection, and no more bleeding, I would say yes, but with the fact we're in a war zone and with the situation with his brain as it is, I don't know if that's going to have an effect on his healing or not." Anne replied honestly, wishing with all her heart that she could give a better answer. It was then that she noticed Cochise's presence.
"Will it effect his healing?" Anne asked him. Cochise shook his head.
"No, not with that injury, but it will still effect his brain, though most likely at a slower rate with his being comatose. Unfortunately though, that also makes the odds of the drug and machine working worse." Cochise told them.
"So we have to wait for Hal to wake up before we can even think of using the machine on him." Anne clarified.
"Yes." Cochise answered.
AN – And another chapter done. Only four more to go. So, spoiler alert, this is actually kind of the last cliffhanger of the story. Thank you to all who continued to read despite my evilness. I hope you enjoy the next chapter of the story which I will post as soon as I can.
