Run. Just Run.

Chapter 63

Ashley's eyes snap open and she's staring at a ceiling. Her mind begins to race, trying to recall what had happened.

She was standing there with James, and he was holding her hand protectively. Suddenly, she saw her aunt move and she saw the glint of polished metal. Too late she realized what it was, and she felt the feeling of falling, and then everything went black.

She suddenly feels pain throbbing from all over her body, and she forces her eyes to look down. Her eyes get huge. Her lower body was being crushed by James' weight. He must have grabbed her and dove to the ground! She quickly sorts through all the pain she was feeling. Everything just feels like she took a hard fall! She couldn't feel any gunshot wound!

Then Ashley reaches up and touches her head, where it feels like it's throbbing and winces in pain. Then her brain clears and it all makes sense. She had hit her head when she fell! That's why she blacked out for a second, and why everything was foggy at first! Then an awful thought enters he mind. If she hadn't gotten shot.... What if....

"James!" She screams while trying to scoot down closer to him. "James! Are you okay? Were you shot?"

James looks up at Ashley, and cracks a smile when he hears her spitting out a million words a minute.

"Ash, I'm fine." He says as he runs his thumb down her cheek. "Sorry I tackled you, I just had to do it because..." Then he stops and his body stiffens. His eyes grow huge at what he sees behind Ashley.

Ashley slowly turns around and she sees Boomer rolling over on the floor, and then she sees that her aunt is laying on the floor, in the space that Boomer just left, motionless. He must have been laying on top of her!

Jeff sprints up, kicks the gun across the floor, away from them, and kneels down by Boomer. He turns and looks over his shoulder, away from James and Ashley.

"Danny!" He hisses. "Go get the doctor! Now!"

The door to the sheriff's office swings open, and Danny disappears in a flash. James and Ashley hurriedly crawl over to Boomer who is laying on the floor with his eyes closed.

"Looks like he took the bullet when he knocked your aunt down." Jeff says quickly, while he's pressing down on the big man's stomach with a jacket that was hanging nearby on the wall.

"Oh.....Boomer....I....why did....please don't...." Ashley rants, not even forming complete thoughts.

James wraps his arms around her and hugs her tight, burying her face in his shoulder. Ashley slowly lets tears fall down her face. Why does everything bad have to happen to her? It's so unfair. She squeezes her arms around James tighter, and squeezes her eyes shut.

Suddenly she feels James drop his arms from around her and pull his body out of her grasp. She quickly glances up and sees Jeff leaning over Boomer, with his back to the door, and her aunt Margaret slowly and shakily standing up behind him. Then suddenly the light glints off a piece of metal in her hand. She's holding a knife.