Heartstrings

Chapter 45

                              Hearbeats
*Heaven's POV*
I felt slightly relieved as I jumped in-front of the bullet for Justus. I had quickly grabbed a pillow off the coach. Even though I knew a pillow won't stop the bullet, it would still slow it down, thus it shouldn't enter too deep and hit a vital organ.

But my relief was replaced with pain, as the bullet grazed my shoulder. Then I turned to check on Justus. He smiled at me, thanking me. I hugged him, glad I was able to help him. As I released him from my embrace, I could feel my shirt becoming soggy, stained with crimson. Justus then closed one eye, wincing in pain, and his face scrunching up.

It was at that moment, any slimmer of relief was replaced with panic. The man that was shooting at Justus now escaped, but as soon as he ran out of the room, another gunshot was heard, and the masked man fell back into the space we stood in, dead. Then Javier and his men swarmed the living space, holding up their guns, searching for any signs of danger.

Javier immediately ran towards Landon, now sprawled on the floor bleeding out gasping for breath. Two men ran over to Athena, unconscious on the white rug, now transformed into a burgundy red one.

Behind me, a loud thud was heard. I turn around only to take in blood permeating Justus's shirt. Especially on the left side of his chest. Horror suffused my body, my legs began to tremble and my eyes began to water.

_ "NO! JUSTUS PLEASE NO..." I sob... "g-god p-pl-please" tears began sliding down my battered cheeks, and I could do nothing to stop it. Immediately three men ran to him, picked him up and took him to the car where Athena and Landon were already placed. Agony was the only thing I felt at this moment. The bullet graze on my shoulder, the knife stab that had begun hemorrhaging, all the bruises, cracks, tears, and wounds on my knuckles and face. But most importantly, the thing that made me suffer the most was being the last person standing... and seeing the life slowly drain out of my friends.

My knees gave out, and I completely broke down, palpitating and sobbing uncontrollably. I felt a pair of strong yet gentle hands wrap around me, helping me up. Javier softly picks me off the floor, hushing me. I burry my head into his chest, never stopping the water works. He gently caresses my head, like a loving father I haven't had for so long.

_ "let's go Heaven" he told me, trying to get me on my feet. But my body just wouldn't budge.

_ "come on, let's get to the hospital, no point in dwelling here. The longer it'll take for you to get in the car, the more they'll all bleed, the higher the risks are."

At those words, I finally managed to move my joints and erect off the floor.
...

In the car, I only grew more anxious, agitated and hysterical.

^Landon's POV^
All I saw was black emptiness. All I heard was indistinct shouting and the sound of my own struggling breath. All I felt was a hellish, excruciating pain, like several daggers were being stabbed into my chest.

As I remembered the last scene I saw before blacking out, the way Heaven jumped before the bullet for Justus, but he fell to the ground instead, my eyes shot open. I was laying in someones lap in a van. The soft turning of the wheels mixed in with male voices. On my level of sight, I saw a bruised, swollen faced Athena, unconscious. Next to her, a pale sanguine Justus. The sight of the twins so defeated and hurt made me shudder... Heaven! Where was Heaven!?

My body was paralyzed with affliction, all I could move were my eyes. I look at the face of the person, in who's lap I lay, only to realize it was Heaven herself. Her eyes were puffy, red and drained as she stared around at the three of us completely terrified. Her cheeks were smeared with a mixture of blood and tears. She sat there, dull, trying to hold back her weeps which occasionally escaped her ripped up lips. Her whole shirt, hands, legs and face were smothered with the nauseating scarlet liquid.

_ "H-Heav-" I wheeze before coughing up blood. My lungs tightened and I felt myself suffocate. She immediately looked down at me.

_ "sshh... shhhh don't say anything" she put her finger over my mouth, her bottom lip quivering. She started caressing my face, and a hot tear fell off her face onto mine. She then gently kissed my bloodied lips, and fastened her eyes close.

She didn't comfort me, nor did she ease my fears and tell me that everything would be alright. Because nothing was alright, nothing was going to be fine. My consciousness slowly seeped away once again. Or was it not just consciousness this time...

~Athena's POV~
I arouse as I felt my body being moved constantly and yells reverberated around me. I peered at the passing lights on the hospital ceiling swishing over me with a great speed. The nurses around me were describing cases of different people around me. I could feel myself loosing awareness again, but I tried to stay awake and hear what they were saying.

_ "we have one female, in her twenties. She's suffering from a crack in her jaw, a bullet in her right shoulder and a severe concussion. But she has nothing on the other two. Serena the stats."

_ " two healthy males, also around their twenties, one with a broken rib penetrating his lungs, and the other was shot in the chest, not sure if the bullet reached his heart or just passed near it. Both heartbeats are st-"

_ "WE'RE LOSING ONE! PREPARE THE OPERATING ROOM FOR SURGERY IMMEDIATELY!..."

_ "WE'RE LOSING TWO!"

And then, emptiness...