The poll is closed! If you didn't vote, I DID TELL YOU! Anyway, I had some very interesting death threats for the last chapter and two people threatened to drown me in my own blood. I also posted those death threats on Facebook for the amusement of my friends ('friends' and friends).
Tobias had caught up with the fleeing gang, snatching his brother from the crowd. Tobias didn't care at that point, his anger getting the better of him. He slammed Max against the wall, his hands at his throat. Max pulled pathetically at his fingers.
"Why did you do that?!" He demanded.
"I… I d-didn't p-p-push him…"
"It was your bloody friends! I told you they were trouble, but you didn't fucking listen to me! Now look what's happened!"
"I- I'm s-s-sorry…"
"Sorry doesn't help Alvie!" Tobias growled, his fingers tightening. Max choked, still trying to free himself. Kane and the others were long gone, but Tobias would track them down later and then there would be hell to pay.
Max had started turning blue when someone wrestled Tobias away. Max crumpled to the floor, choking and coughing, breathing in raggedly. Tobias was floored and pinned down, someone pulling his hands behind his back. It took him a few seconds in his anger to realise the police had arrived and had put him in hand cuffs. He tried to get up, but someone was there to pin him down. Tobias noticed Max being checked over by a police medic before someone recognised him and put him in hand cuffs as well. Max's so-called 'friends' and 'brothers' had escaped, leaving Max to pick up the pieces and go to jail for the crimes they forced him to do.
Tobias was hauled to his feet as two police officers flanking Max marched past. Tobias tried to break free of those restraining him and Max flinched, but Tobias was manhandled into the back of a police car, Max cooperating and sitting in the back of another.
Crystal went with Alvie in the ambulance. The paramedic had cleaned and bandaged Alvie's head wound and put one of those neck braces on Alvie as well as putting his left leg in a splint. They feared it was broken. Alvie had also been put on oxygen and they had injected him with an appropriate dose of morphine. Crystal was only allowed to hold his hand, tears finally emerging from behind her shock, falling freely down her cheeks. At some point, she was handed a tissue, but it wasn't used.
At the hospital, Alvie was taken away and Crystal was taken to another room, where a kindly nurse talked to her and reassured her they were going to do everything they could for her friend. The nurse also checked her wrist and went off to organise an x-ray scan.
During the following ten minutes of solitary silence while waiting for the nurse to return, Crystal couldn't understand why Alvie had risked himself to save her. Where had he been to be there in time to push her out of harm's way? Did he realise that it was his brother's friend that had pushed her into the road? Alvie wasn't the most observant of people, but could he have noticed?
The nurse returned and took her away for an x-ray. Her wrist wasn't broken, but it was put in a protective cast and a sling she had to wear for a few weeks.
Crystal asked to see Alvie, but her request was only filled to the point of being allowed to stand outside his room. The neck brace was still there and he had a dark blue cast on his left leg. His head injury must have been checked over and had been given new bandages as the blood stain was noticeably smaller on the left side of his head. He was still on oxygen and morphine.
Tobias was pacing his new cell, trying to work off his anger. The police had rung his parents and they were on their way to… what? Tobias had tried to kill Max and Max was here for his previous crimes. As far as Tobias knew, there was a police squad out on the hunt for the rest of Max's gang.
Max was sitting on his bed nervously, staring into space. When questioned by the police on why Tobias had attacked him and on his previous offences, Max had found his voice was croaky. The paramedics that had turned up reckoned his vocal cords had been damaged slightly by Tobias strangling him. They assured him that there was a slim chance of lasting damage; he just needed to rest his voice. There was also a thick layer of blue and purple bruises around his throat from Tobias's attack. Max understood why Tobias had flipped, but he hadn't pushed Crystal. He had let her go and had all intentions of letting her carry on, but Kane stepped in when she failed to hide her annoyance at them. That's when it all went wrong. The gang had run to avoid the authorities. Max had gone with them to avoid his murderous brother.
Tobias's cell door opened and he looked round. A middle aged police man motioned for him to get out, so he did.
"Tobias, what happened?" Annabeth demanded firmly, her fists bunched.
"Where's Dad?"
"He's taking Sage and the triplets to Lou's. What happened?" She repeated slowly and firmly.
"Well…" Tobias sighed.