TRIXIE CHAPTER 13

Trixie, screaming and twisting had deflected the knife's descent towards Charlie and this gave Don a chance to grab hold of the hand that held the knife to prevent it from getting Charlie.

Even though Don used two hands, only one hand is strong enough to ward off the knife and he felt the knife descending on him and in desperation he twisted to one side hoping to bring the man down with him but Don was hampered by Charlie and he fell on top of Charlie thus pinning him to the floor.

The man held on to the knife now that Don is his target.
He pressed down bring the knife closer to Don's chest but he was unable complete the dastardly deed for Trixie was squirming in his hold.

The man lost momentum but he still held his knife tightly and as Don's strength was fading, he got the leverage and soon the knife was very near to Don's chest. The attacker felt anytime now he could get away with the girl as soon as the knife finds its mark.

Charlie can't do much for Don was on top of him, he wanted to push Don away to help him but he dare not, he was afraid that Don and the knife will have a close encounter. He waited for an opportune moment.

Trixie did it; she squirmed and wriggled to get rid of the hand that held her. The man was forced to let go of the wriggling Trixie, he flung her away.

Now he had the advantage, he held the knife with both hands and Don's struggles to hold him at bay was diminishing; he faltered one time and paid for it. The knife came down and knick his hand and blood flowed down his arm, he tried to strengthen his hold but it was proving to be difficult.

Trixie fell to the ground when the man flung her away. Alan ran up and quickly grabbed her and ran out, "HELP! HELP!"

The nurses were already alerted by the screams of Trixie but they hesitated to go inside as there were 3 adults with her but when she kept screaming and they called security to go in too.

Then Alan came running out with Trixie.

"Help my sons! Please help my sons!"

Through sheer will Don used all his remaining strength to keep the knife from descending, it was a loosing battle and Charlie's moment came, he could move, his hand snaked out and grabbed the man's forearm .

But the brothers were no match for the attacker, Don was weak and Charlie could not hold him off properly with one hand for he was still blocked by Don.

The man noticed their failing strength, he gave a final push and now turned the knife on Charlie, He twisted it in his hands and the knife cut into Charlie's hand.

Charlie cried out and Don turned when he heard Charlie's cry and in doing that the knife turned direction and came towards him again.

The man, with a final push and stab the knife towards Don, but it slashed at Charlie's hand yet again and came to a final stop on Don's shoulder, Don jerked and the attacker suddenly lost the momentum as the two brothers weaken by the knife wounds had let go of his hands.
The attacker fell on top of the brothers and in doing so the knife in his hands plunged deeper into Don's shoulder.

Charlie cried out as the knife sliced open his arm again and lost his grip on the attacker's arm but it was the anguish cry of pain came from Don made him dropped his hand, pain forgotten and he tried to wriggle out from under Don's body

The attacker saw the knife sticking out from Don's shoulder, quickly got up and he could not see the girl anywhere, he dashed out of the door.
As he was out, the security closed round him, he had the surprise on them, gave them a mighty push and managed to elude them.

The nurses screamed when he dashed out with the security chasing after him.

The nurses went into the room, saw the scene of the two bloodied men inside, quickly went into action, Jenny was there issuing orders for a gurney, doctor, towels, two went off and the other two quickly went to help the men.

The attacker saw no way out, he climbed to the window and without hesitation, he jumped down from the second floor, the security ran to the window and saw him limping off.

Meanwhile Don rolled on the floor with pain; he brought his knees up to his chest and one hand held on the arm where the hilt of the knife was sticking out on the shoulder. Blood kept pouring out in thin streams.

Charlie was beside him and despite the open bloody gashes on his arm; he tried to stop Don from moving. He tucked his injured limb to his stomach to staunch the blood flow and the pain. He was more concern for his brother who was turning left and right to minimize the pain.

"Don! Don! Someone help here!" Charlie said and was trying the stop the little streams of blood flowing from the slit with the knife in it.
He used his body to prevent Don from moving.

Don stared at Charlie, tried to speak but it was an effort for him,
"Char…lie…care, take ca..re..."
"Sh.sh. OK I'll take care. " Don was loosing a lot of blood and Charlie's hand pressing on it has no effect.

Charlie had not choice but to used his other hand to press down on the wound.
He ignored the pain but Don noticed Charlie's bloodied hand.
Don gasped , "You ..r hand, Char..lie." Don struggled to get up,
"No..No.. lie still Don, don't move." Charlie was trying to push Don down on to the floor.

Suddenly hands touched Charlie's shoulders and gently pull him off the floor and two other persons bend down to get Don.

Don struggled and panted,"He…lp…Char..lie..He.."

"OK,OK, Don… look he's getting help, lie back, lie back." It was Jenny helping Don to lie back down on the floor.
Someone passed some towels to her and she quickly wadded it around the knife to stop the blood flow.

Charlie was also receiving the same treatment and was gently led away.

Alan was holding on to Trixie who was crying non-stop and he saw Charlie coming out with a nurse holding a towel to his hand. The towel was quickly turning red at an alarming rate. His clothes were red and he looked at Alan.

"Charlie… oh my G…, Charlie where's Don?"
Alan was waiting for Don to come out behind Charlie, he looked at Charlie again.
"Dad…."

"Later Mr.Eppes, your other son is inside, Charlie needs to get his hand looked at now, I'll taking him to emergency." Sara, one of the night nurses, said.

Later Alan saw Don on a gurney being wheeled away, he wanted to go nearer to have a look but the nurses and the standby doctor was already quickly pushing him away.

Trixie had the vantage point for Alan was carrying her, she cried louder when she saw Don being wheeled away.

Everything was going round Alan, he just sat down with Trixie in his lap. Soon Trixie sobbed until she fell asleep.

Alan thought, what had happened, who was that man?
Why was he after his sons?
What did he want? He looked down at the sleeping child. He wanted her? All these questions were floating round his head that he didn't realized that the police and Don's team had arrived.

A hand touched his shoulder.
Megan sat beside him, "Oh Megan what happened? We are joking and laughing and Don's getting out of this hospital tomorrow. What happened?"

The police finally came along with Megan and the rest of the team. Megan went to sit with Alan after rattling off instructions to Colby and David. Get security tapes, question the nurses and security personnel and get a description of the man.

She sat beside him and offered to take Trixie off him.
Alan handed Trixie to her and he said he will go to the nurses' station to enquire about Don and Charlie.

Alan stood up and went to the nurses' station and asked about Charlie and why it's taking so long.

Jenny came by and she whispered to the nurse and hurried away before Alan could ask her about Don.
Alan asked the nurse what happened.
The nurse said they need two units of blood for Don, Alan was shocked.

"What? What's happening." Alan asked, the nurse shook her head, not wanting to say more.

Charlie came staggering out with Sara helping him along.

"He's a bit groggy. The doctor gave him an injection before before stitching up his hand.
He had two rather deep cuts that required some stitching.
He lost a fair bit of blood; he'll be in pain once the numbness wears off. He needs to rest and the doctor wrote down some prescriptions for him.

I'll get it for you, if you will sign here first. I'll get the details from you later on seeing this is an unusual situation."
Sara handed a clipboard for Alan to sign on the documents.

"He didn't want to rest in the room, wanted to come out to you." She explained.

"Thank you very much,..er,Sara. Can you please find out about my other son, Don?"

Tbc.