Innocent Murderers

Twenty Five - The One Where We End It All PART TWO

Aaron's PoV
The world has come to a standstill.
Everything has stopped. I have forgotten how to breathe.
"Is there anything else we should know before you kill us?" My voice echoes out and I cringe.
Kennedy stirs in my arms and I remember I'm holding her.
She's here. In my arms.
"Oh yes, I'm sure you now know that Rose is my sister. Or didn't you? I don't know. She's adopted. Anyway, Kennedy's name had to be changed after we took her memories because it was a trigger to remembering. So did Lucy's. I give you Eva Harper and Þórdís Yellowbrick. (Can i have an applause for my authentic Icelandic names? They are actual Icelandic names tho).
I find myself numb, and I have to lay Kennedy, sorry, Eva on the ground before my knees give out.
There's no way this can be right.
Right?
I close my eyes, but Adam is still there like a bad dream.
"Oh, and also, Oslo is dead. Good day."
The speakers crackle to an end and we are left in silence. I'm still paralysed, left frozen. Nobody moves for ten minutes. The first to move is Kennedy and I'm suddenly forced into reality as she lets out a soft whimper of pain.
"Aaron?" She asks. Her voice is run dry and my heart breaks in two.
"Hey, it's okay." I whisper. She opens her eyes. They're still blue, but all of the colour has been muffled and morphed into pain.
"No it's not. As long as he alive than nothing is okay." She whispers. Lucy comes over, and sits down next to us.
"Kennedy, hey." Lucy says.
Kennedy manages a smile.
"Lucy, you okay?"
Lucy nods.
"Yes, but now we have to make sure you're okay."
Then, she looks up at me.
"I was about a year into medical school when all this happened." She explains.
Hope suddenly appears, like an old memory, ironically.
Lucy grabs a very mini first aid kit from her jacket pocket.
She waves it, grinning.
"Nice one," Derek is next to us, and then Jackson and Penny join our little circle.
We all watch in silence as Lucy pulls a wad of bandage from the kit and starts to bandage Kennedy's leg, where multiple wires had been stabbed into her skin. Blood trickles out of the six cuts, but it's nothing compared to the long cut going across her forehead. Lucy layers several bandages across the slash, and sticks them down with butterfly stitches.
"That should do for now, but she really has to go to the hospital." Lucy finishes up with the bandaging.
I nod, sucking in a breath. Kennedy manages a weak smile.
"Just get us out of here."
"How are we going to get out?" Jackson asks. I shake my head.
"No idea. The only door is locked, I'm assuming. And Adam can see everything we're doing. There are cameras everywhere." I say.
Jackson stands up, walks over to the door, and opens it.
"It's not locked," he says.
"We can see that," Penny mutters.
"Has everyone still got their guns?" Derek asks. I pull mine from my pocket and wave it. Lucy's face crumples up.
"Mines empty." She says.
Derek smacks a hand to his forehead.
"Here, have Oslo's." Jackson says, suddenly holding out Oslo's gun.
"What? Where did you get this from?" Lucy asks, taking it and snapping it to her jeans.
"When we were running, he handed it to me and said, 'take it. I'll never make it,'" Jackson explains.
"Right, guys, Jackson and Penny, take the lead. I'll go second with Kennedy and Derek and Lucy you guys bring up the rear. Got it?" I order. The others nod.
"If anyone goes down, bring them, but whatever you do, don't stop running. Don't look back." Derek adds. I nod. My gun feels right for the first time.
I grip it hard, and hoist Kennedy into my arms. She's so light I can hold her with one arm and her head rests on my shoulder.
I hold the gun in front of me as Derek opens the door wide. The first shots are fired in quick succession. One after the other, at us. Somehow, we manage to dodge them all. The corridor is l shaped, and out door is at the end so we don't have to worry about both ways. Lucy and Derek turn around and walk backwards behind me. Penny and Jackson are leading our mad sprint down the hallway. We can't see where the bullets are coming from, but the hallway is lit by ugly fluorescents.
I squint into the dim lights, and another bullet flies forward. We all duck down at the same time, and it flies over our heads, penetrating the wall behind us.
After a few minutes of heavy running, we reach another door. Derek opens it, and we find ourselves face to face with the ladder we climbed down to get here in the first place. We make it up one by one, and return to the same dilapidated room we had our first shootout in.
Adams men surround us in a large circle. The man himself is looking very smug, a gold plaited pistol in his hands.
He smirks at us and my blood boils. Kennedy suddenly feels heavy on my arm. I put my gun into my back pocket and shift her non existent weight across both arms.
"You son of a-" Lucy cries, launching herself forward. Derek grabs her by the waist.
"He's not worth it." He says in her ear. She scowls but relaxes into his embrace.
I avert my eyes to Adam. Then, to Jackson.
I nod.
I place Kennedy gently over my shoulder, and she whimpers in pain.
"I'm sorry, but trust me this is the only way." I say. She nods.
I pull my gun from my pocket and Jackson does the same.
Penny and Derek catch on, Lucy soon after.
Guns ablaze, we sprint across the ruins. It's actually quite cinematic.
I shake my head. Not the time, Aaron. Not the time.
Bullets manage to dodge us, but we run faster anyways. One nearly clips my leg, but I leap over it.
Nothing is in slow motion like the books suggest.
Everything is blurry, wind slaps me across the face but eventually we make it onto the main road and it's only then that we slow down. I pull Kennedy back across my body. She's unconscious, probably from the amount of bouncing around.
My eyebrows furrow in concern, but my heart still leaps.
We all stop at a lay-by, and I call an ambulance.
When the sirens start up in the distance, all of us look at each other.

And, despite everything and the half dead Kennedy.

We smile.

-
Welp, we did it peoplez. A book that I have written in just over a month. A month and two days.
For the last time until the sequel,

love you beautiful people, x