Root's back collided harshly with the road pavement, almost as harshly as the SUV derailed and crashed against two parked cars further down the road. Shaw knew that the other two SUV's would probably soon follow and open fire, but she didn't think twice before slipping two guns from her bag on the waistband of her black jeans and running to where Root was lying motionless on the cold floor, almost dragging Claire behind her.
"Root!" She called as she crouched beside Root, one knee on the concrete pavement. She lifted the other woman's head carefully, placing her head on her thigh and her left hand resting softly on her hair, Claire's arm sliding along due to the cuffs linking them together. Root's eyes were wide open, her lips parted as she inhaled and exhaled intensely. Shaw looked down Root's body, trying to locate where the bullet had hit. The blood was spreading on Root's dark grey shirt, dripping to the floor under her, a small pond starting to form, the dark red liquid contrasting against the grey that surrounded.
Shaw pulled the sides of Root's leather jacket away from her torso with her free hand, revealing the bullet's entrance wound. It was right under her ribcage, slightly on the left side of her body. Shaw's hand slide to Root's back, careful not to hurt her even more, her fingertips searching for an exit wound. There wasn't any. It meant less bleeding, which was good, but it also meant the bullet was stuck inside her body, maybe even fragmented, which was not good and meant more damage inside.
"I'm okay." Root gasped, trying to hide the pain with a grin, but it failed in lighting up her face. She tried to push herself up but it seemed like a thunder striking her and she couldn't avoid the strangled cry that left her throat.
Shaw's right hand was now pressed strongly against the wound in Root's abdomen, trying to minimize the bleeding.
"You are not okay. And stop trying to move. The bullet is somewhere inside you and we don't know what damage it can make if you keep on making it shift!" Shaw was now almost yelling, but there wasn't only anger in her voice. She was sincerely worried. Worried with Root.
"And you need to get out of here." Root said stoically even though the sentence came out hardly above a whisper. As she said it, Shaw saw the other two SUV's turning to the street where they were, the wheels and brakes screeching due to speed of the vehicles.
"I'm not leaving you here. They'll fucking kill you!" Shaw exclaimed as she took her left hand from Root's head, she reached for one of the guns on her back and started shooting the cars, the inertia from having Claire's arm attached to hers not making a real difference on Shaw's strong arm. She managed to shoot the car's windows and wheels, forcing them to stop a few dozen feet away from them. The agents opened the doors and ducked behind them as Shaw kept firing until the gun had no more bullets. She cursed the fact that no one had yet invented a gun with infinite ammo. It only took her a second to reach out to the waistband of her black jeans and take out the second semi-automatic, starting to shoot again.
"We need her, Shaw. You have to get her out of here." Root said, trying to convince her to go. "The Machine will find a way to give you the address. Take her there."
"I'm not leaving you!" Shaw repeated. Her heart was beating its way to her throat, she felt the pressure of each pump against her chest, powerful and tightening. She wasn't going to let anyone – Root - die that day, at least not before she died first.
She turned to Claire and asked her to replace her hand on Root's wound, putting pressure on it. The girl moved to the other side of Root, in front of Shaw, her back to Samaritan's SUVs. Shaw turned on her earpiece with her bloody hand.
"Finch, we need help over here! Root needs a hospital as soon as possible!" The angry woman growled. Root started shaking her head, her eyes begging as she gripped Shaw's upper arm with a trembling hand.
"No, no, no! Shaw, we can't! You have to take Claire out of here. Just, go! Don't worry about me!" The words entered Shaw's ears at the same time she heard Finch's deeply concerned voice through the ear piece, asking her what was going on, where they were and another bunch of questions.
Samaritan's agents weren't firing back, and Shaw took a second to understand why. She stared at the girl in front of her, full of fear in her eyes as she pressed her free hand into a strangers bleeding abdomen. They weren't firing because they didn't have a clear shot with Claire there, they didn't want to shoot her by accident. Leverage, Shaw thought as she came up with a plan to get them out of there alive. She looked from Claire to the parked car behind them, next to which her arsenal bag was, and then to Root's pale face, her muscles contracted with pain.
"Miss Shaw?" She heard Finch's voice buzz in her ear again, reminding her that he was still there, waiting for her to tell him how he could help.
"I'll call you later, Finch." She said, turning the ear piece off. As soon as she did, she turned to Claire, pointing the gun at her as she spoke. "Claire, I need you to cooperate with me here. If you don't, I'll put a bullet in you. And not in one of those spots that kill, but in one of those that hurt like hell."
Claire swallowed hard and eventually nodded.
"You should just leave me and go, Shaw." Root managed to say, her words shaky and her breath unsteady.
Shaw rolled her eyes and told her to shut up, turning her face to Claire.
"We'll take cover behind that car again" She said to Claire, "I'll carry her, and you will put yourself between them and us. Ever been a human shield before?" Shaw continued, forcing a tired smile. Claire shook her head.
"If you try something funny, I will shoot you, Claire." Shaw added and the girl simply nodded, unable to say a word. Then Shaw turned to the woman lying by her feet. "Root, I need you to put pressure on the wound yourself. Can you do that for me?"
Root nodded, biting the inside of her lower lip as she moved her trembling palms to the wound, replacing Claire's hand. She winced in pain.
"I know it hurts, but you have to press it as hard as you can." Shaw added.
Claire prepared to get up as soon as Shaw did the same, given that their arms were still cuffed together, she didn't have that much freedom in her movements.
Shaw grabbed Root from behind, dragging her whilst Claire shielded them from the possible gunfire. As she did, Root cried loudly, the movement producing an horrific pain. She brought her right hand to Shaw's arm, gripping it hard as she begged her to stop. But Shaw didn't stop until they were behind the vehicle. As she predicted, they didn't fire a single bullet, and now Shaw was again beside her heavy bag of guns. But it weren't guns she wanted, rather something else she had put in the bag: grenades. She helped Root lean against the car's tire before looking for her grenades in the bag.
"You're blowing them up?" Claire asked, her voice pitchy and her eyes terrified.
Shaw looked at her, annoyed. "Yeah, that's the idea." She took two grenades in her right hand, pulling the pins out and throwing them both to the SUV's on the other side of the road, her arm strong enough for them to fall right where she needed them to. She and Claire ducked over the car as the grenades blew up, shattering everything around them, blowing up the SUV's and who was near them. It had been a long time since she had actually killed someone. With Finch and John it had mainly been all kneecaps and shoulders. But she was sure it was a good day to break her fasting.
After she made sure the damage done was effective, she looked at Root again, her head resting backwards, against the car's cold metal, her breaths quick and uneven as she pressed one hand in the wound, her jaws clenched whilst she tried to hide the pain. Shaw felt admiration for her in that moment, because Root always tried her best to hide her weaknesses, kind of like Shaw did, but mostly because Root never put herself first, never wanted to put anyone in jeopardy, even if it meant dying in the process, alone. But Shaw wasn't going to let her do that now.
"They are sending more agents." Root informed her as the Machine screeched in her implant.
Shaw nodded slightly, understanding that their window of escape was short.
"C'mon Claire. Root, don't go anywhere, we'll be right back." Shaw said, and Root threw her a skeptic look.
Shaw shrugged and got up, Claire being pushed along, they moved around the car that had given them cover, seeing if it was okay. Unfortunately one tire was flat. Shaw cursed their luck and then walked to the next car, assuring that I was okay, then she smashed the driver's window with the back of her gun. Small pieces of glass scratched her hand, but she didn't feel any pain. She opened the door from the inside and sat down on the driver's seat, bending down to take the access panel and the wires out from underneath the steering wheel, Claire being forced to kneel down on the floor just outside the car as Shaw pushed her hand in. Shaw hotwired the car, a sensation of relief adorning her when the car's engine started.
She opened the back door of the sidewalk's side and then they walked back to Root. The blood still slowly spreading around her body. Shaw calculated that Root had probably lost almost a liter already. If she lost more than 1.5 liters, things would start to get complicated.
She kneeled down beside Root, putting two fingers in the other woman's pulse point, checking her pulse, right above the dressing in her neck, the dressing that hid the cut Shaw had produced in Root's flesh.
With Claire's help, and to Root's despair, Shaw dragged her up and inside the backseats of their soon-to-be stolen car, starting to hear police sirens at the distance.
"You know, this would be a lot easier if you gave me the key to open this handcuffs." Shaw said.
Root licked her dry lips before answering. "It's in your pants' pocket."
Shaw looked at her incredulous, then checked her pockets and found the small key in one of them. How did Root managed to put the key in her pocket?!
Anyway… She shook her head and then grabbed Claire by the collar of her sweatshirt and shoved her in the driver's seat.
"I hope you can drive." Shaw told her, a threatening tone in her voice. Shaw took the cuff from her own wrist and curled it around the steering wheel, the other half still on Claire's arm. Only then Shaw noticed the bruising around her wrist, she stroked it while she sat on the back sit with Root, taking the other woman's head and shoulders on her lap, then trading Root's hands with her own over the wound. Root grunt in pain, her legs twisting a little before Shaw's hand steadied in her abdomen. Shaw murmured relaxing words in Root's ear, removing a strand of hair away from Root's face with her fingers. Root closed her eyes shut, agonized by the throbbing she felt travel all over her body, but slowly calming down as Shaw's words and human heat comforted her.
Shaw could hear the sirens getting closer, still out of sight though. She told Claire to drive, clicking the gun softly against the girl's shoulder, over the seat, to make sure she followed the instructions Root started giving them as the Machine told her where Claire had to turn and go.
A/N: Hey guys! Hope you liked the new chapter. And as I'll probably not update again before 2015 arrives, I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! :D