Author's Note: Thanks to Farfisa for a bit of research help and BluCrayons for my beta!
Chapter 43: Escape
"Now you all be good little boys and girls," Cole said pressing the gun firmly against Rose's head, "and do as you're told. Come with me quietly and maybe your little mommy will go easy on you. But I doubt it." Micky met Rose's eyes. They were defiant; she wasn't going to give in. Almost as though they could talk to each other, they figured out a plan.
"See, now, we've come a hell of a long way to give up now," Micky answered. "So no. We aren't." Without hesitation, Rose reached back with her free hand and grabbed his crotch, squeezing hard and doubling over. Cole reared back a little in pain, but still had the sense of mind to not let her go. It gave Micky just enough of an opening, however to take the steel bar in his hand and thrust it forward, right into Cole's neck. Cole let go of Rose and fell onto the ground shouting in pain and dropping his gun. Blood poured from him and pooled beneath him on the ground. Mike ran to Rose and pulled her away from where Cole lay lifeless on the ground.
"Are you ok?" Mike asked Rose.
"Fine," Rose answered. "We have to leave."
"Where do we go?" Micky asked not sure of what to do anymore. "We can't go very far with Peter like this."
"The church," Davy said.
"The church?" Mike asked. "You mean the church right next door to where we're trying to escape from?"
"That's what makes it so perfect!" Davy said. "They wouldn't think to look for us there, would they? They'd think we'd run as far as possible. Not stay right next door. It would be too stupid. It's genius."
"That actually makes sense," Micky said leaning down to pick Peter back up again. "Let's go."
"How are we going to explain any of this?" Mike asked bending down to help Micky.
"We'll deal with that later," Rose said grabbing Cole's gun and putting it with the other one in her waistband. Mike shot her a questioning look and she just shrugged. "Better to be armed than sorry. Let's go. We have to hurry." Davy and Sarah gripped Heather tighter and pushed her forward as Micky and Mike lifted Peter off the ground.
"Is...is he...is he dead?" Peter asked softly.
"Peter, we had no choice," Davy said. "He was gonna kill us."
"We...we can't just...we can't leave him…" Peter said.
"Peter, what do you want us to do?" Mike snapped. "Want us to bury him right here, right now?"
"Mike," Micky cautioned. "Peter, we can't do anything about it. I'm sorry. We have to leave now or you'll die."
"I'm sorry, Peter," Mike said. "I shouldn't have snapped."
"It's...it's…" Peter said softly. Micky could feel him shaking even as they dragged him through the orchard.
"It's ok, Peter," Micky said. "We'll take care of you. Just relax." They walked for a few more minutes before finally reaching the church. Rose threw the doors open for them and quickly shut them behind him. They set Peter down on a nearby pew and Davy and Sarah pushed Heather down so she was sitting on another one.
"Now what?" Mike asked.
"What in the world?!" the priest said coming out of a side room with a younger woman and seeing them.
"I know this looks weird," Micky said standing up and putting his hands slowly in the air in an attempt to show that they weren't going to hurt him. "But I promise we just need a place to stay. To hide out. I don't have a lot of time to explain it, but…"
"You came from the hospital?" the priest asked.
"How did you know?" Davy asked.
"I know her," the priest nodded to Heather who looked at him confused. "I know of the things she's done. You're friend is hurt, please come with me."
"Thank you," Micky said a little confused, but he didn't have time to figure it out. Peter had already lost a lot of blood. So Micky and Mike grabbed Peter one more time and followed the priest and young woman back through the church with the others following. They entered a room with a bed against the back wall which they promptly carried Peter to.
"Can you help him?" Mike asked worriedly setting Peter's head in his lap and gripping onto his hand to comfort him. Davy and Sarah immediately moved to tie Heather to a wooden support column.
"Yes," Micky said before turning to the priest. "I'm gonna need a knife though. Small and sharp. Do you have anything like that, Father?"
"I might," the priest answered. "I will look in the kitchen. Do you need anything else?"
"A bowl of water to keep the wound clean," Micky said.
"Of course," the priest said before leaving.
"Are you sure you can do this?" Davy asked nervously. There was worry etched all over Mike's face as well, but Micky didn't really have time to dive into their worries.
"Yes," Micky answered moving to carefully remove Peter's pants so he could get to the wound easier. Peter groaned a little, but was otherwise really to weak to fight back out of modesty.
"Claire shot me when I was 16," Rose said lifting up her shirt enough to show Mike and Davy a small scar there. "She made Micky go in and dig it out. He barely left a scar. He knows what he's doing."
"Holy shit!" Davy exclaimed. "She shot you just to teach him how to remove a bullet!?"
"Lucky she did," Rose said simply kneeling down to be at eye level with Peter and pulling out a syringe and one of the bottles of morphine out of the bag they'd taken with them. "And after everything you've seen her do, are you really all that surprised?"
"I guess not," Davy answered.
"I understand you boys are very stressed," the priest said coming back into the room, "but I would ask you refrain from such language. This is still a house of God."
"Sorry," Davy muttered.
"Will this do?" the priest asked offering a small knife to Micky. It was a little bigger than Micky needed, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
"It should be fine," Micky answered taking it from him. The priest set a large bowl of water on the table next to them as well. Rose finally found a vein and inserted the needle in Peter's arm. It was difficult because he was shaking so much; his face was pale and he was covered in sweat.
"Why exactly do you need a knife?" Davy asked.
"Because he has to make the wound larger in order to get the bullet out," Mike answered.
"Oh," Davy said.
"How much did you give him?" Micky asked Rose when she finished giving him morphine.
"Enough to knock him out," Rose answered. "Peter, sweetie, I know you're scared and I know it hurts, but you need to go to sleep, ok? I need you to count to three and close your eyes. And when you open them, we're still all gonna be here with you. And you're gonna be a lot better. So get ready...one...two...three…" Micky watched Peter close his eyes on the count of three and slowly saw his body stop shaking. Rose was feeling his pulse in his wrist and looked up at Micky after about a minute.
"He out?" Micky asked.
"Hard to tell," Rose answered. "His pulse was slow to begin with, but it's slower now. Just do it. Not like you have much time to waste."
"Pete, if you're still awake, I'm so sorry," Micky said before taking a deep breath and focusing on the wound. He hadn't done anything like this in a long time, but the experience was so traumatizing to him that it felt like just yesterday; he still knew exactly what to do. He tuned everyone and everything else out so he could focus on his friend.
The wound wasn't that deep, but it had still caused Peter to lose a lot of blood over the time it took them to escape. Micky carefully sliced the wound open further, but he still couldn't see the bullet through all the blood. Rose was ready to help him and quickly washed away the new blood. Micky still couldn't see much in the dim of the room, but he had to get the bullet out fast. Rose handed him tweezers from inside the bag, but he didn't take them right away. He had to find the bullet first.
He closed his eyes for a minute to prepare himself for what he was about to do. He took another breath and stuck his finger carefully in the wound. He briefly heard Davy say something, but he wasn't paying attention. He moved his finger around for what seemed like forever before he finally felt it. Metal.
"Found it," Micky breathed and snatched the tweezers from Rose with his other hand. Rose washed away the fresh blood again as Micky put the tweezers where his finger was. He grabbed onto the bullet tightly and pulled. It came out with relative ease and he felt and heard the entire room breathe a collective sigh of relief at the sight.
"I can't believe you did that," Mike said incredulously. "You really just pulled a bullet out of Peter."
"You saved him," Davy breathed.
"Not done yet," Micky said. "Gotta close him up now. Stop the bleeding." Rose was already handing him a threaded needle and moved to clean the wound once again as Micky put the bullet aside. When she'd cleaned the wound, Micky quickly sewed the wound shut, cutting off the blood flow. Nothing major was hit by the bullet, so Peter should heal on his own just fine.
"You did it?" Mike asked.
"Yeah," Micky answered.
"Go clean up," Rose said. "I'll finish." Micky nodded looking down at himself. His hands were covered in blood. Micky made his way to where the priest told him the bathroom was and nearly collapsed. He didn't realize just how exhausted he was. He'd been focusing on everything else and he didn't even realize he was in pain. The burns on his stomach and chest flared up and he gripped the edges of the sink to keep from crying out.
"Micky," Sarah said softly behind him. He didn't expect her, so he jumped a little when she came in. "Are you ok?"
"I just stuck my finger inside my friend," Micky answered. "I have his blood all over me…"
"Yes, but you saved his life," Sarah said.
"I know," Micky said. "It shouldn't have happened though. Why him? Why did he have to get shot? He's the most innocent of us all. He's the kindest...the purest…"
"He took that bullet for me, Micky," Sarah said gently placing her hand over his heart. "He pushed me out of the way so I wouldn't get hurt."
"I know," Micky answered. "He doesn't deserve this. None of you do."
"Neither do you," Sarah answered. "But life isn't always fair. That's one thing we both learned a long time ago. Now, come on, wash your hands." Sarah turned on the faucet and moved Micky's hands under the water. Micky felt numb at first and couldn't really do much. He just watched Sarah clean his hands; clean his friend's blood from them. He watched the red water flow down the drain and then felt so much anger boiling inside him. And he felt the burns on his stomach and chest sear through him again. He felt dizzy and the lights seemed to flicker a little around him. "Micky?"
"What?" Micky answered barely having heard her.
"What's wrong?" Sarah asked looking deeply into his eyes.
"I don't feel good…" Micky said. "Chest hurts."
"Ok, come out here, sit down," Sarah said leading him back into the room with his friends. She helped him sit down on the floor and Rose and Davy crowded around him.
"What's wrong?" Rose asked kneeling next to him.
"He says his chest hurts," Sarah said.
"I knew we should have waited a little longer for these burns to heal," Rose said chiding herself.
"I'm fine, I just need to rest," Micky answered. "I'm exhausted."
"Are you sure?" Mike asked still sitting on the bed with Peter's head in his lap. He looked like he wanted to join Micky to make sure he was ok, but was torn between leaving Peter.
"I'm fine," Micky said. "Nothing we can do about my pain anyway; Peter needs that morphine more than I do. Father, thank you for helping us. But why did you?"
"I know what goes on in that building," the priest answered turning to the young woman who had so far stayed silent. "This is Willow. She's training to become a nun. She came from there, too."
"I thought I recognized you," Sarah said. "I thought you were dead."
"They all thought I was dead," Willow answered. She had long red hair and brilliant green eyes. She was beautiful. "I remember you, Sarah. You were kind to me. I remember that and I thank you so much."
"I saw them bury her," the priest said. "I wasn't sure I could believe my eyes. I can't explain it for sure, but I truly believe it was the Lord telling me to go dig her up. I found her barely breathing and near death. I brought her back here, not knowing what else to do. Mother superior tended to her and was able to bring her back to life."
"Wow," Davy said. "I'm so sorry."
"We've kept her here ever since," the priest continued. "We tried to go to the police, but…"
"They didn't believe you?" Micky finished for him.
"They laughed in our faces," the priest said. "I...I cannot believe men of the law would do something like that. When Willow told us of the stories…"
"Did you believe her at first?" Sarah asked.
"Not all of it," he answered honestly. "I couldn't believe a doctor would ever harm a woman in such a way. But I kept my eye on that place and I saw them...the babies. Some buried in the orchard, some given to parents. I could only pray for those lost souls and pray the others went to loving homes."
"The cops are in on this," Rose said. "You can't tell anyone we're here. You'll be in danger just for harboring us. You'll be in danger just for knowing what goes on there."
"I can take care of myself," the priest answered. "And I won't tell anyone you are here. Stay as long as you want. There's a shower in the bathroom. You are welcome to it. Willow and I will get some bedding for you and some fresh clothes."
"I'm sure it's been a while since you ate," Willow added. "At least a decent meal. I'll bring you breakfast."
"You don't have to do that," Sarah said.
"Please," Willow said. "You helped me when we were in there together. It is the least I can do to make you a decent meal."
"What about her?" Mike asked nodding at Heather after the priest and Willow left the room.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"You don't think the first thing she's gonna do when she has my baby is tell her parents about them?" Mike asked.
"Who said we were gonna let her go?" Micky asked.
"Micky, you said we'd only kill if we had to," Mike said narrowing his eyes.
"And we may have to," Micky answered. He was really in too much pain to argue with Mike, but he knew what they'd probably have to do. They'd have to keep an eye on her and that meant she would tell their mother everything and that could lead to their re-capture. Micky couldn't risk that. If killing his sister meant keeping his friends safe, he would do it. He didn't see a choice there. It was them or her. Micky laid down on the ground and closed his eyes. "Look, we'll talk about it when the time comes. Right now, I just wanna rest."