Isolation

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

"You're not one of daddy's friends." The girl said raising the gun and pointing it at the Canadians chest. He put his hands up not wanting to scare the girl. He knew he could reach for his gun, but he couldn't hurt the kid. The girl watched him closely, her hands shaking. "I don't know you."

"I'm not going to hurt you." Matthew repeated slowly. The girl looked like she was believing the blond, but kept the weapon trained on him. The Canadian heard footsteps coming from upstairs. The girl heard them too and took a step back. He started to take a step back as well, but the girl suddenly fired.

Matthew gasped as the bullet ripped through his shoulder. He grunted clamping his hand over the wound and took a few more steps back. He didn't expect the girl to fire again. The second bullet hit his chest and he collapsed from the pain. He never felt pain that bad before. He coughed trying to catch his breath and get back to his feet. He knew the bullet must have gone through a lung.

The Canadian heard the footsteps grow closer and grunted pushing himself up. He gritted his teeth and looked up to see the girl with the gun still pointed at him. Matthew froze not wanting to get shot again. He knew he needed to get away.

Bryce finally rounded the corner and quickly took in the situation. He saw the blond on the ground with a small pool of blood underneath him and a girl with a gun pointed at him. He quickly took aim at the girl watching her closely stepping forward in front of Matthew.

The girl looked even more terrified as another person appeared and started moving towards her. She shot again and Bryce didn't even flinch at the pain.

"Put the gun down kid." Bryce growled. The girl didn't look like she was going to comply. The ginger aimed at the ground and shot one warning shot at the girl's feet. She yelped and dropped the gun running away. Bryce turned to him and helped him up.

"Mattie?" He asked seeing the damage. He'd seen the Canadian hurt before, but never this bad.

"I'm fine." Matthew said still struggling to catch his breath. He looked down and noticed that Bryce had been hit too. He could see blood seeping through his pants, just above the knee. "You're hurt." He coughed pushing his own pain to the back of his mind.

"We need to move." Bryce said ignoring the blond's concern. Matthew nodded still fighting through the pain. It hurt to breathe, but it was becoming easier. He nodded and the ginger started to help him out. Neither one of them would be able to make it over the back fence and they went out the front door.

It had begun to snow heavily and was hard to see. The blond hoped it would cover their escape. They ducked into a back alley and it quickly turned from Bryce helping Matthew to the Canadian helping him.

"Bryce." The blond said concerned. The ginger was loosing a lot of blood and could barely walk. Matthew tried to carry most of his weight, but with his injuries it was impossible. Bryce leaned against the alley wall sliding down and landing with a grunt. He finally took in his own injury.

"Fuck." He cursed seeing the amount of blood. Matthew was right at his side taking his coat off and putting pressure on the wound. Bryce shook his head. "Must have nicked an artery."

"You need help." The Canadian said eyes wide with panic. He knew the pressure he was putting on the wound wouldn't do too much unless a professional got there and quick. He reached for his cell phone, but Bryce stopped him.

"No, Matthew." The ginger shook his head. The Canadian didn't understand. "That girl could have called the cops. They'd but two and two together." He groaned shifting slightly. Matthew could see the colour starting to drain from his face. "I don't want one of the last things I see being you in hand cuffs."

"But," The Canadian started to argue. He was terrified of losing him. He could feel tears starting to prick at the corners of his eyes. He now understood what Bryce meant. "I need you." He admitted tears starting to spill over.

"You'll be fine without me. You're so strong, lad. You don't need me." Bryce said. His breathing had grown more laboured. He furrowed his eyebrows seeing the blond crying. The ginger reached out and wiped one of his tears away with his thumb. Matthew caught his hand and held on. Bryce lightly squeezed his hand. "Don't worry Matthew, you'll be just fine."

"I don't know what to do." He cried. Bryce was bleeding out in front of him and there was nothing he could do.

"Call TJ. He'll take care of everything." The green eyed man said weakly. Matthew shook his head in denial. He went to wipe his tears away, but realized his hand was covered in blood. "I love you kid." He said eyes closing slowly.

"No!" Matthew yelled seeing his eyes close. He quickly felt for a pulse, but there wasn't one. "No, Bryce, please!" He begged, but he knew he was powerless to do anything. "I love you too." He murmured with his head down.

The Canadian looked up and around. He hadn't noticed how much snow had piled up around them. He didn't want to move, he didn't want to leave Bryce. He just wanted to curl up and die next to him. Matthew just felt numb.

-❄️"The trouble is, you think you have time."❄️-

The blond had managed to call TJ. He went through the motions of telling him like a robot. The bar owner told him to come see him and he'd take care of everything else. He'd made it to the bar through the thick snow. He didn't bother driving there; he didn't think he should drive.

Matthew was sitting at the bar nursing a beer with his head down. TJ had set it in front of him a few hours ago, but he had barely touched it. The bar had been closed when he got there. TJ had closed as soon as the blond had called.

The Canadian still just felt numb. Some pain was starting to break through. His chest ached terribly and he didn't even want to try and move his shoulder. TJ had noticed the holes and blood on his shirt, but didn't say anything. He gave him a new clean shirt. Matthew knew that TJ had been calling people for most of the night. He didn't really pay attention to what they were talking about.

"Matthew?" TJ asked. The blond looked up warily. "Go home and get some rest. I'll call you when I've got everything sorted." He just grunted in response. "You can borrow my coat too, it's still freezing out."

"Thank you." The Canadian mumbled standing up. TJ handed him his coat and he carefully put it on. Every movement shot a bolt of pain through him.

TJ was right it was still freezing out. Even with the sun just rising there was no warmth coming with it. Matthew didn't normally feel the cold, but he sure felt in now.