Kids These Days

Chapter 30: Finn

"Holy shit, that's a lot of blood."

"Are those police lights? Slow down, Talia, you're going twenty over the speed limit!"

"Calm down, they're driving in the opposite direction..."

"Is he still bleeding? Becca, is he still bleeding?"

Harper's BMW bumps over a pothole, jostling my shoulder against the window. I'm not wearing a seat-belt. Why am I not wearing a seat-belt? My mom would ground me for the rest of the summer if she could see me now... of course, she'd probably be more concerned by the boy currently bleeding out in the backseat of a stolen car...

"Keep applying pressure!" Becca snaps, pressing my hand against Ronan's shoulder. That's when it all comes rushing back. The birds. The bullet. Ronan tossing me a pair of car keys before promptly fainting at the sight of his own blood. (Typical.) Watching Harper, Rachel, and her bodyguard disappear in the rear-view, and then the chaos that followed...

As soon as we got Ronan into the middle row, Talia cranked the keys and gunned it out of the parking lot. Andy hollered directions from the passenger seat. Becca stripped off Ronan's army jacket and wrapped it around his shoulder like a makeshift tourniquet. The bullet had gone straight through him, but there was still a lot of blood pouring out.

A lot of blood. Too much blood.

"What the hell is taking so long?" I demand. I'm half-crouched in the foot-well, trying to hold Ronan as steady as possible as the car lurches back and forth. My ears are still ringing from the gunshot and the scent of Harper's lemon air-freshener is making me car-sick. "I thought you said you could heal him!"

Becca is crammed in next to me, her hands fluttering frantically over Ronan's bullet hole. The front of her tank-top is stained a violent red. "I said that I'm trying!"

Oliver taps me on the shoulder, handing over a beach towel from the back seat. His face is almost as pale as Ronan's. Not good around blood, he signs, his fingers trembling.

I nod and press the towel against Ronan's shoulder. "Hang in there, we're almost --"

"Shit, more cops!" Andy exclaims. "Slow down, slow down!"

Talia slams on the breaks as red and blue lights appear on the horizon, distorted by the sizzling heat. I let out a curse as my elbow connects with the center console. "Sorry!" Talia exclaims, flashing me an apologetic look in the mirror. "Andy, where's my next exit? I'd like to get off the main road."

"Exit six should take you to the hospital --"

Ronan sits bolt upright, his eyes as wide as silver dollars. "No!" It's the first word he's spoken since he gave me Harper's car keys and said, drive. He winces and slumps back against the seat. "No... hospitals. Haven't you seen The Godfather?"

A police car screams past us, sirens wailing. They don't spare a second glance for the BMW carefully driving the speed limit in the opposite direction.

"You're bleeding like an extra in a Hitchcock film," Andy says, in the calm, measured tone I've heard her use to win arguments with parents and teachers alike. "But now is not the time for cinematic reviews. You need a doctor."

"I need," Ronan says, through gritted teeth, "for you to listen to me." He grabs a fistful of my shirt, pulling me closer as he goes on, "You know I'm right. Your dad used to be a cop. He'd tell you that the hospital is more trouble than it's worth."

"My dad would also tell you not to step in front of a loaded gun," I say. Ronan gives me a scowl that very plainly says, if I die my ghost will haunt you forever and rearrange your furniture as seen in Poltergeist, and I amend, "Okay, fine. Hospitals sometimes have to report bullet wounds to the police. It's gonna look suspicious if we don't have a good cover story."