This Would Be Paradise (Book 3)

Chapter 30

We both took one of John's arms and wrapped them around our shoulders. This position made it difficult to hold up my weapon, but not impossible. John was still able to use his other leg and limped along with us pretty good despite the fact that we were both shorter than him. It was a slow go getting over all the men we had gunned down. I couldn't even bring myself to feel bad about it, even if I had wanted to.

The hotel had taken on an eerie silence. My ears were sting ringing from all the gunfire and adrenaline pumping my blood at warp speed. We nearly dropped John as Lucas came around the corner.

"Don't shoot!" he barked as he retreated back around the corner.

I lowered my weapon and shuffled John's arm back in place. He had almost slipped off when I'd jumped at the sight of Lucas. Rose and I helped John onto one of the shredded couches. I winced in sympathy as he let out a grunt when his leg hit the cushion. The sitting area and bar were a mess. The expensive furniture had been destroyed in the firefight. Bodies were lying all over the place. Blood was everywhere. I didn't imagine there would be so much blood ...

Rose hurried over to Leo's fallen body after we dumped John. Everyone else had survived. I gave Lucas, Ethan and Sheri a weak smile. Lucas kneeled down and began to examine John's leg wound.

"Looks like the bullet went right through, tore up your muscle pretty good though," Lucas said. "We just gotta get the bleedin' to stop and you'll be fine-eventually."

John shuffled off the backpack he still had on and handed it to Lucas. "There's a small bit of first aid supplies. I figured we might need 'em."

Lucas pulled out a small jar of peroxide and other first aid fixings. He untied the windbreaker around John's leg and ripped his jeans all the way around until the entire rest of the material came off. It was like John was wearing a pair of jeans on one leg and jean shorts on the other. Lucas dumped some of the peroxide on the wound and John let out a hiss. Blood and liquid poured onto the floor, streaking the white linoleum pinkish.

"You pack a needle and thread?" Lucas looked up at John.

John nodded grimly. Lucas kept digging in the backpack until he pulled out a spool of medical thread and a needle encased in plastic. He ripped the plastic off the needle with his teeth, then threaded the needle with surprisingly steady hands. My own were still shaking slightly. When Lucas sunk the needle into John's leg I turned away and went over to Rose. Sheri was talking to her lightly, trying to coax her from hovering over Leo's body.

I closed my eyes for a brief second and took a breath, then looked down. Rose had maneuvered Leo so that he was no longer hunched over the dead girl but was lying beside her, his eyes closed. I was about to place a hand on her shoulder when a loud bang on the floor above us had me jerking my head toward the ceiling. My eyes flashed to Ethan who was at the ready with his own semi-automatic rifle.

Lucas hurried to finish tying off John's wound. He made a loop and cut the rest of the thread with his teeth. Ick. He pushed himself up and got his own gun ready.

"We did a sweep down here. The rest must be upstairs," he said, ejecting his magazine and stuffing it full again.

I sprinted over to the them and did the same, filling up my first AR15 magazine.

"Did you see any of the girls?" Sheri asked.

She had managed to get Rose up and back over to us. Rose looked lost, her cocky and rude demeanor completely washed away. Don't think about Leo, there's still work to do.

"Just the one in the bar area. They gotta be on the next floor," Lucas answered.

Another bang above us had everyone spurring into action.