The following night the 22 were spread out all across Toronto. A few had stayed at the hotel, but most of them were out enjoying themselves. Owen, Izzy, Eva, and Noah had decided to go out to dinner at a relatively fancy place not far from the hotel. After eating their fill the four of them went for a nice little stroll around downtown. As they were heading back to the hotel Izzy dropped her cell phone in the middle of the street. The four reached the sidewalk before she realized what she had done. "Oh crap, my phone." Izzy muttered as she retreated back to get it. As she bent down to retrieve her phone a black SUV came speeding out of nowhere. Eva saw it first and screamed "Izzy watch out." but she was to late. The SUV slammed into Izzy throwing her into the air. She hit the ground with a sickening thud and was still.
"IZZY" Owen shouted as he ran into the street, "Izzy talk to me." He dropped to his knees at her side and grasped her slight frame, but she did not respond. "Oh God, Izzy, please wake up, please wake up." Owen sobbed, shaking her slightly.
"Oh God, oh God." said Eva who was now kneeling by Owen.
Noah somehow managed to keep his cool long enough to dial 911. He also managed to get the license plate number, which he relayed to the cops when they arrived. Owen was still freaking out when the paramedics arrived but Noah and Eva managed to clam him down. Noah turned to one of the paramedics as they loaded Izzy into the ambulance and asked, "Is it okay if he rides with you?"
"Yeah, sure." the paramedic replied. "We can arrange for you two to come along too."
"No that's fine, we have some friends who need to know what happened." said Noah. He turned to Owen, who Eva was still holding and said, "Owen, you go with Izzy. Eva and I will go get the others and meet you at the hospital, okay." Owen nodded and Eva released him. She and Noah waited until the ambulance had left and then tore off in the direction of the hotel.
They arrived to find the others gathered in the lobby waiting. "There you guys are." said Gwen. "We've been waiting for nearly an hour, where've you been? We thought maybe you got lost or-" she stopped suddenly seeing the looks on their faces. "What's wrong, where's Izzy and Owen?"
Noah looked Gwen in the eye and began, "Izzy, she, she's-" but he couldn't go on, finally overcome with emotion at what had just happened.
"Noah! Quit bawling like a baby and tell us what happened." Duncan shouted.
"Would you shut up for once, you arrogant, criminal bastard." snapped Eva. Duncan moved towards her ready for a fight, but Courtney stopped him.
In an attempt to diffuse the situation, Bridgette stepped forward and took hold of Noah, who was shaking with anger, fear, and frustration. "Noah," Bridgette said gently, "Noah look at me. Just calm down and tell us what happened." After several tense seconds Noah finally quit shaking and looked up at the others.
"It's Izzy." he said, his voice shaking slightly. "She was hit by a SUV and was taken to the hospital. Owen's with her."
"Oh God." said Gwen, "how did- I mean what-?" She was unable to complete her thoughts as the shock of the situation hit her.
"Is she okay?" Cody asked looking hopefully at Noah.
"I don't know." Noah replied. "It all happened so fast. She dropped her phone, went back to get it and then-", once again Noah succumbed to his emotions.
"You sure you saw what you saw Noah?" asked Trent. "Cause if you're joking I'm gonna kick your ass."
"Trent!" cried Gwen. "How can you say that? Isn't it obvious-"
"What? It would be just like Izzy to play a joke like this on us. And it would be just as likely that Noah, Eva and Ow-" WHAM! Eva's fist collided with Trent's face.
"Shut up! Shut up you stupid fuck." Eva bellowed. "This is no joke. I was there too. I saw it happen, saw the damned SUV, tried to warn Izzy, but-" and she to faltered under her emotions. It was the first time any of them had seen Eva cry.
"Alright, okay I was just asking." said Trent, his hand over his face covering his bloody nose. He looked away from the others, ashamed by his outburst.
"We should get to the hospital. I told Owen we'd meet him there." said Noah.
"Yeah the big guy needs us right now." agreed D.J. And with that they set off for the hospital, arriving to find it crawling with paparazzi. "Oh shit." said D.J. "Just what we need a fuckin' media circus." Apparently the media had gotten wind of the fact that the 22 were in town and had been waiting for something like this to happen.
"Alright, everyone out!" shouted Duncan as the paparazzi pushed in around them.
"No I don't know anything and I don't want my picture taken." shouted Justin. "We're here to see a friend and we don't want to deal with you, now piss off!"
"Justin, use your 'powers'" Katie cried. "Lure these lunatics outside." Justin nodded, ripped off his shirt, and headed for the door. Sure enough the crowd followed him, and he managed to ditch them a few blocks from the hospital. He made it back just in time to find the room the others had been ushered into. For two and a half hours they waited for news, but none came. Finally Owen appeared in the doorway, his head hanging and tears falling from his eyes.
"Owen?" Beth asked. "Owen is Izzy alright? Is she gonna be okay?" Owen shook his head and did not answer.
"She's not-" Sadie began, but Owen cut her off.
"No she's not dead." he said sadly, "she's in a coma and they don't know if she'll come out." He collapsed into a chair and began crying harder. Courtney, Duncan, and D.J. came over to him.
D.J. placed a hand on Owen's shoulder and said "It'll be okay, she'll be okay."
"How can you say that?" Owen asked. "You don't know, you can't know-"
"Owen, D.J.'s just trying to help." said Courtney. "Izzy's been in tough scrapes before and she always comes out on top."
"D.J. and Courtney are right." said Duncan. "Izzy's tough, tougher than any of us. If anyone can get through this it's her."
"Don't worry Owen, we'll be here for you, no matter what." said Lindsey.
"Yeah bro, we totally got your back, eh." said Ezekiel.
"Thanks guys." said Owen. "I knew I could count on you."
Later that night, as he got up to take a piss, Duncan found something sticking out under the door. He retrieved the object, a piece of paper with a note scribbled on it in a hand he did not recognize. It said, Izzy was the first, she will not be the last. You are all in danger now. "Shit." Duncan muttered, "now what?"
