“Yes, they should be here any second.”
We work in silence, and I check Henry’s pulse. Therapid thumping under my fingers helps me take a deep inhale of breath, feeling the proof of life beneath me.
Henry groans again, this time, trying to sit up. “What the fuck?” he grumbles.
“Stay down, man.” I push on his other shoulder to get him to lay back down, as the ambulance arrives on the scene. I let out a sigh of relief when two familiar faces climb out of the rig. Henry loses consciousness before they reach us.
Hannah starts calling out information. “GSW to the left shoulder, heavy blood loss. Thomas, what was his pulse?”
I blink as I watch her work. “I-uh, I didn’t count.”
She nods, and turns back to the paramedics. “Respirations are shallow and labored.”
They transfer him onto the gurney, throwing an oxygen mask over his mouth.
Hannah steps aside to let them work, and I reach for her arm. “Are you okay?” I ask her, my panic starting to rise as the adrenaline shifts.
“I’m okay,” she assures me, snapping her gloves off and dropping them to the ground for now. “Thomas, are you okay?” Hannah reaches out, resting her hands on my chest. Her touch is grounding.
“I’m okay,” I say, hopefully in a convincing tone. Physically, I’m okay. Mentally though?What the actual fuck?
I don’t even know how to start processing what has happened. The most important thing right now is that Hannah is here, she’s okay, and I’m okay, and Henry is getting the help he needs.
Minutes pass as they work to get Henry’s bleeding semi under control before heading to the hospital, but it’s not long before they’re loading him into the back of the rig and takingoff.
I hold Hannah, not even caring that I’m covered in blood.
Officers that I recognize filter into view. My chief appears in my line of sight, and I let out a deep sigh.
“Jesus, Tommy. You okay?” Chief asks.
“Yeah. I couldn’t get a good view of the guy, though. He had his face covered,” I tell him. “I have to tell you everything while it’s fresh, Chief.”
“Alright,” he agrees. “Let’s get you two cleaned up. Hannah, you okay?”
Hannah nods. “I was hiding. I could barely see what was going on.”
“We’ll still have some questions for you, if you can come down to the station.”
She agrees, and Chief leads us to his vehicle. I slide in the back with Hannah as I try to process the last fifteen minutes.
14
HANNAH
My hands shake in my lap as we ride in the back of the police car to the station. Thomas is sitting as close to me as physically possible without having me in his lap. He didn’t even bother putting on his seatbelt.
He’s covered in blood. There’s even some on his face and in his hair from when he tried to push some of his blonde strands out of his eyes. Though, I suppose I am too. My hands aren’t quite as covered, but my arms and thighs have blood spattered all over them. It’s stupid in hindsight, but my clothes are ruined, and I loved how good I felt in them tonight.
Now that we aren’t at the scene, I start to lose my grip on reality. I stayed calm for as long as I could and did my job to save Henry, but now, I’m slowly deteriorating.
The police station comes into view, and it all hits me like a freight train. My vision narrows, my pulse skyrockets, and my breathing goes shallow.
I keep it together as Thomas helps me out of the back of the car, and into the station. He leads me to the women’s bathroom to clean up, and as soon as he drops my hand, Ipush through the door, and collapse to the ground as it shuts behind me.
Should I care that I’m sitting on the floor of a dirty police station bathroom? Yes. Do I have it in me to care right now?Not a chance in hell.
I sit against the wall, staring down at my blood-covered arms and try to breathe. Sobs wrack my body, and the gut-churning fear eats at me. I was more scared tonight than I have ever been in my entire life.
