Ho'shit. This story is doing really well, honest. I'm sorry for current and future delays, because I'm trying to update Chase and get Heaven's above started. So yeah.
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People have strange dreams when their half conscious. Kevin's was, of course, no exception. In his dream, he was standing along in a park. All around him with thousands upon thousands of white doves, and even though there was a clear path that led out of the park, Kevin was lost. Then, as if he had appeared from nowhere, Lee was there.
The captain of the white tigers looked at the younger teen in disgust. Kevin couldn't figure out why until he looked down at himself. He was drenched in blood, and his shirt read in big, black, bold letters;
PLEASED TO BE DYING
Kevin's head snapped back up to face Lee, and tried to call out that it wasn't true. But no sound came out of his mouth, and before he could try again, Lee turned and walked away, disappearing into the whiteness that was quickly surrounding Kevin. Kevin tried to follow you, but every time he moved, he bumped into something. He would stagger backwards to find blood smeared on whatever he smacked into. Very quickly, the white became red, and the sound of Mariah screaming filled his head.
Kevin's eyes burst open. Standing above him with her arms crossed in front of her chest was the very women that shot him. There wasn't even time for Kevin to feel relieved that it was only a dream. He could feel his limbs shivering, and he could see his chest heaving up and down as he tried to catch his breath.
Despite Kevin's condition, the woman simply continued to stair down at him with interest. "At least you're awake." She said blandly, before lifting a cell phone up to her eyes level and punching in a number on the key pad.
"Hello, Leroy."
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Lee opened his eyes. The only other person to call him by his whole name was his grandfather.
"What." It was more of a grunt then a question, but Lee was done with trying cooperate. Rei had told him only a few moments after her last call that she suggested a trade; something or someone for Kevin. Though he wasn't sure how, the news had given him some hope.
That was over an hour ago.
"You better move fast, hun. Your friend is bleeding out, and your cell phone is dying. Unless you can somehow buy more time, I'd suggest you get that money fast."
Lee had been thinking about that. "Give us Kevin's cell phone." He said calmly. There was a laugh on the other end, followed by a pause.
"He has a sliver. It can fit under the door there."
"Who says he has it?"
"It's in his pocket, giving you didn't shoot it."
Another pause. Longer this time, as if she were thinking. "Fine." Then the line went dead. Lee closed his phone, and fixed his eyes on the crack between the door and the floor.
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Kevin opened his eyes just in time to see the woman's hand reaching for his leg. He squirmed out of her way, and found that it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. Of course, she wasn't shot, so she moved much faster them him. Her fingers wrapped around his arm where she had shot him the second time, and he yelled out in pain. While Kevin was distracted, the woman slipped her hand into his right pocket and pulled out his phone.
"Thanks sweetie." She said, far too sweetly for Kevin to feel safe. She concluded their interaction by kissing his forehead, and then stood back up. She moved towards the door, and then paused, looking back to Kevin.
From the look on her face, she was getting an idea that was otherwise bad news to Kevin. She swiftly slipped back over to him and slid the side of the phone through the wound on his arm like a shopper would slide their credit card through the reader. Kevin groaned openly at the pain, and looked at his phone. A drop of blood dripped off of it as she quickly moved back to the door and slid it through the crack.
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Mariah muffled the scream with her hands. Kevin' phone slid out from under the crack, leaving a trail of red behind it. Lee stared at it in horror, but only for a moment. Gingerly, he reached down and picked it up. The blood was warm, and dripped off the phone onto the leg of Lee's pants.
The black sliver looked menacing in the dim light of the hallway, and the only thing that ran through everyone's heads was how awful Kevin's leg must have looked.
It was that second that the phone rang. The ring tone was only familiar to Mariah, who had heard it a myriad of times. My December, by Linkin Park. Kevin loved that song. It made her cry. Lee wiped the blood away from the earpiece, and answered. Lee really didn't care if he got some blood on his face, he only cared that the source of the blood was taken cared of.
"How much charge?"
"Full." Kevin didn't use his phone that much, but kept it with him for emergencies. That little passing thought made Lee smile weakly.
"Then you made a good call."
"Yup. Is he awake?"
"No."
Lee thought about this for a moment. Hadn't he heard someone groan?
"Yes, he is."
A laugh. "Alright then. He is."
"Let me talk to him."
"Oh, no Lee. I couldn't do that to the little sweetie, what with him being so busy talking to Mr. Dickinson."
Lee didn't reply to that. She had more then one phone, and contacts to the outside. That was helpful information.
"Then tell him this;" Lee looked towards Rei for any sign of acceptance, and found it. "If he holds out, I'll take him to a Panic at the disco concert."
Lee hung up the phone. Now he could only hope that she would deliver the message, and that Kevin could find its hidden meaning.
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"Kevin, my boy, are you alright?" The head chairmen of the BBA looked down at the police 'do not cross' line with a worried expression on his face.
"No. I'm the one she shot."
The elder man narrowly avoided letting the phone slip from his fingers. "You? Where, when, why?
"Y-yeah. Me. She shot me just as I was leaving the room about six or so hours ago. In the leg, and then again in the arm."
This news made Mr. Dickinson's head spin. "Are you still with her?"
"Yeah, she's in the other room." The neko-jin's voice was uneven and shaky.
"And the others?"
"In the hall. Listen, I can't talk for long. You need to give her eighty million dollars." Mr. Dickinson first thought that Kevin was simply exaggerating, but when he asked for the number again, Kevin insured him that that was the amount.
"How much time do we have?"
"Until I die."
This last reply made the old man's heard drop to the souls of his shoes. "W-what?!"
"I've been b-bleeding for a little over six hours straight. I can't hold out much longer, and she might-" Kevin paused to cough. "S-she might sh-shoot me again."
Mr. Dickinson nodded to no one in particular. "Y-yes." He stuttered. "Eighty million dollars... I'll get it."
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Rei regretted laughing at Kevin's expense while he looked for his iPod. He regretted not talking Kai, Kenny, and Hilary out of going to that stupid movie. But most of all, he regretted not being there to protect Kevin.
He could have saved him, and avoided all of this. He much rather would prefer to be the one lying on the floor in that room, with Kevin out here. But no, he had to go ahead. He had to leave Kevin alone.
Next to him, Mariah was cradling Kevin's phone in her hands. Tears streamed down her swollen face, and she looked like she was lost in regret of her own.
"It's not your fault Mar. It's none of ours."
"Yes it is!" She turned towards him, looking at him pleadingly, as if he could take her pain away. "We could have helped him!"
"No, we had no idea this was going to happen." Rei said quietly. "We couldn't have stopped it."
Mariah excepted his words without much further denial, because the phone in her hands rang. Before the ring tone could make her cry again, she handed it to Lee.
"Hello?" What a stupid thing to say. He knew who it was.
"Oliver, please." The female voice demanded. Lee looked down the hall towards Oliver with a puzzled expression on his face, but stood and walked over to him.
Max watched him walk past, and swallowed. It was the first up close look to the phone that made Mariah scream he had had. And he quickly saw why. It was covered in blood, mostly dry now.
"Oliver... She want's to talk to you."
The Frenchman looked scared, then confused, then scared again, but took the phone.
He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the woman herself. Up until now, only Rei and Lee had spoken to her.
"Oliver, darling, I have a question of utter importance for you. Who would make a good trade for my little sweetheart?"
It took Oliver a moment to understand who her 'sweetheart' was, but realized it was Kevin.
"A... A good trade?!" Those three words made Rei jump up and race over. His heart rate picked up along with his breath rate.
"Yes, for Kevin. I'll give you and the others two minutes, and if no answer by then... Let's just say I can see a nice fresh bullet wound trailing across Kevin's back."
Oliver's eyes were wide and horrified. "We... She says we have five minutes to find a good trade, or she'll shoot Kevin again." He stammered. Lee and Rei both bit their lips.
"Ok." Lee said slowly, nodding. "I'll go."
"No, I will." Rei looked towards his best friend. "You're better at medicine that me."
"He likes you better." Lee replied, before Oliver lifted a finger to silence them. On the other end, the woman was speaking.
"Let me help you; No Lee. He's to likely to try and escape. No Rei, because that would make things to emotional for my liking. I think Mariah would spare Kevin another bloody scar."
Oliver swallowed. "One minute."
He lowered the phone and looked up at Rei and Lee.
"Mariah." He said, almost silently. There was a pause, and then Rei and Lee looked at each other.
"No." They said in unison.
"We have to." Oliver whispered. "Or she's going to shoot Kevin again. I'm sure of it." Lee stiffened. Mariah was standing there, looking at him. She no longer looked scared, but brave.
"He's my best friend, Lee. I'm going." She said, forcefully. Lee wanted to deny it, but he knew she had to go. He nodded numbly, as did Rei. Oliver handed the phone to her, and she lifted it to her ear.
"How do you we do this?" She asked, turning back to face the door.
"You first."
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xChewy; Oh, what a cliff hanger. :D
Kai; -ahem- I seem to have NOT been in that chapter.
xChewy. Oh. Fancy that.
Kai; -.-; Jerk.
xChewy; Don't worry, you'll be in the next one. ((Unless I kill you))
Kai; you don't have the backbone.
xChewy; Eh. Up your's.