Faces, Names, and Memories (completed)

Chapter 44 - Eyes of Cale

The gunfire comes to an abrupt halt the second the girls hit the ground.

            "I told you to stop firing! Look what you've done!" Dr. McAvery shouts. 

            She's not talking to me, but I can't not look.

            Jade is seizing on the ground, occasional streams of electricity reminding us of just how much electricity they've hit her with.

            Tressa isn't doing anything.

            Doctor McAvery runs over to Tressa and puts her fingers on her neck. "She doesn't have a pulse! Get me an AED!"

            She starts pushing into Tressa's chest, and breathing into her mouth. It's CPR; I've seen it done before. We all have.

            "Oh my god!" Tammie cries and starts to sob out loud.

            Spenzo wraps his arms around her and pushes her head into his chest so she doesn't have to watch. He doesn't look away from Dr. McAvery attempting to resuscitate his roommate.

            My eyes return to mine. She's no longer seizing, so I can clearly see the smoking hole in her suit where the blast had it.

Kinnie runs over to her and grabs her wrist.

            "She's alive," she cries with relief.

            That snaps me out of it. I run over and kneel down next to her.

            "Jade, can you hear me?" I ask. There's no response, at all.

            "She'll wake up," Kinnie tells me, putting a hand on my arm. "You're not going to lose another roommate."

            I scoop her into my arms. Even as almost deadweight, she's light.

            "We need to go, now," I realize. I look at Tressa and the crowd of LEs trying to bring her back. They've got an AED on her now.

It's ironic how electricity is what killed her, but it's also what they're using to try defibrillate her.

"Stay with us, Tressa. Stay with us!" Dr. McAvery shouts as she slams the metal prongs into her chest again. "Clear!"

I hurry next to Spenzo, understanding how it feels to watch a roommate die in front of you, but also knowing that we don't have the time to stop and grieve.

"I'm sorry," I tell him, if I wasn't holding Jade, I would put my hand on his shoulder.

            "I know," Spenzo replies.

            "She's dead," Tammie sobs into Spenzo's jumpsuit. "She's the president's daughter and they still killed her."

            Spenzo pats her head and pulls both of them away from the scene to face the exit.

            "I'm really sorry," Deen says, doing what I wished I could have done before, putting a hand on Spenzo's shoulder. "But, we have to leave now while they're distracted."

            "We can't just leave her here," Tammie says, removing herself from Spenzo's arms. "She was one of us."

            "She was also one of them," Kinnie replies. "Jaz was her dad."

            "The code," Deen asks, gesturing to the keypad. "What's the code?"

            I blanch. I forgot the code. Between searching for the exit and everything that just happened, it completely left my mind. I look at Kinnie and realize she's in the same predicament.