Plugged MxM (Staten Krown)

13

Zackery

The girl tries to push through the door.

"Swine."

Zackery has never seen her before. When her head tries to peak through the door he doesn't recognize her. She can't get through even though she is trying. Something is blocking the door. She shoots wildly and then stops. The first shots ring breaking through the door. There is crying. There are people praying in this crowded bathroom. They are all over one another. He's never been so scared in his life. All of a sudden you just think about how human you are. All the fucked up things you've done come in your mind. All the kind things you should have done show up as well. Zackery feels so human at that moment.

The shooting stops for a minute. There is a boy sweating. He looks over at Mariano who is bleeding out underneath the sink. Mariano is crying. Caliph is sitting over Mariano. He's putting pressure on the wound trying to stop it from bleeding but it doesn't stop.

"Shh..." the sweating boy is saying, "She's going to hear us..."

Caliph swings at the boy hitting him hard in the side of the face. The boy squirms in pain, pulls back, pushing past a few people to get away from Caliph. He doesn't fight back. He doesn't even make a sound.He takes the pain because he knows there is something much worse behind the door.

Mariano gets quiet. Regardless of if Caliph hit the boy or not it seems like he heard the boy's concerns.

The girl is behind the door.

"Is he going to die?" Gaige asks.

Gaige looks over at Mariano. Mariano is crying. Tears are rolling down his eyes. He's still bleeding.

"Don't let me die," Mariano states.

Mariano isn't talking to Gaige though. He's talking to Caliph. Zackery watches intently as Caliph holds Mariano close. The rumors were all true between them. It was clear as day especially when Caliph kisses Mariano on his forehead. He kisses him on his cheek. He kisses him on his lips. He slathers Mariano with kisses as though the kisses would take away his pain. He kisses him as though it would end this horror.

"We're going to make it out of here," Caliph promises Mariano, "OK? We're going to make it out of here... I promise."

It's a promise that Zackery is sure that Caliph can be able to keep. That wasn't the point though. The point was comfort.

There is silence again. Maybe she forgot about them. Maybe she tried to get through the door and gave up. Roddy is dead. His huge body is covered in blood. It stains the bathroom floor. Everyone is so quiet.You can almost hear a pin drop. Half are still scared. Half are horrified over Roddy's dead body. His dead body is blocking the door.

Zackery sees Flip. He is still sitting there. At this moment he wants to do what Caliph is doing for Mariano. He wants to comfort Flip but even now in this moment he's not sure how. How does one man just grab another man in public and cuddle him. How do you tell him it was OK? Flip is shaking violently. Zackery wonders if he's having a panic attack. He's not completely sure.

"It's going to be OK," Zackery whispers to him.

"He's dead..." Flip states.

Flip is pointing at Roddy's dead body. He's pointing at the holes in Roddy. There were holes all over his body. He's unresponsive. The bathroom is dark and crowded. Zackery can't see his brother Cody but he could only imagine Cody was around. The two of them were never far away from one another. There is crying in the bathroom. He could imagine it's Cody.

Gunshots again. More gunshots. The gunshots are further away now. Downstairs. She's back downstairs.

"It's OK," Zackery announces to the room specifically looking at Flip as he makes his declaration, "She's downstairs.