But I don’t bother to look. Instead, I turn Lilly over and see the gunshot wound pooling over her heart.
“Fuck,” I cry. “Help . . . fuck . . . help now!” In a state of panic, I stare down at Lilly and her lifeless eyes, pale face, my stomach flipping in fear.Where was she shot?There’s so much blood. “Lilly, love, stay with me,” I say just as the doctor comes up next to me with his kit.
“Stand aside,” he says.
“I can’t . . . I can’t lose her,” I say, my throat choking up. “Please, do something.”
“Keller,” Runa says, tugging on my arm. “Give him space.”
“We need to take her to the hospital, now,” the doctor says as he presses gauze against her chest. When I don’t move, he yells, “Keller, now.”
“Okay,” I say standing, unsure of what to do. That’s when I glance around and see Ottar on the ground, his leg bleeding. Fuck.
“Pick her up,” Runa says to me. “I’ll drive.”
“I’ll hold the gauze, you bring her to the car,” the doctor says. “Quickly.”
Panic and fear rip through me as I bend down and lift Lilly’s limp body into my arms, giving the doctor enough room to press against her chest. “Ottar,” I call out.
“I’m fine,” he says.
“I got him,” Lara says, coming out of Harrogate with a sheet for a torniquet. “We’ll be right behind you.”
Glad that Ottar is taken care of, I move Lilly over to the car where Runa opens the back seat for me. I bend at the waist, sitting down first so the doctor can keep his hands on Lilly’s chest, and then I scoot backward until I’m on the other side of the car, the doctor right next to me, applying pressure. Runa gets in the front seat and starts the car.
“Do you have a phone?” I ask her.
“Yes,” she says as she turns the car around.
“Call the police, give them our location, tell them we have the princess in the car with a gunshot wound and to meet us with an escort.”
“Got it,” Runa says, moving with precision while under pressure. She presses on the pedal and propels us forward, flying down the road while she makes the phone call.
I stare down at Lilly, the pounding in my head a distant memory as I quietly say, “Stay with us, love. Please . . . please stay with us.”
Tears cloud my eyes as I watch the doctor’s hands fill with blood and watch as her chest rises and falls slower and slower.
“Hang in there, Lilly,” I plead, my tears falling onto her. “Please hang in there . . .”
* * *
Sirens echooff the buildings around us as we navigate the narrow streets of Houndsburg, the closest city with a hospital, about half an hour away.
It wasn’t long before the police caught up with us and cleared a path while Runa drove dangerously fast, cutting our time down by ten minutes. She loops into the emergency room entrance where at least a dozen nurses and doctors stand by with a gurney, ready to take over. When the car comes to a stop, the door is whipped open. I scoot out the back, holding Lilly, and deposit her on the bed, only to be pushed out of the way. Before my eyes, they wheel her away and into the hospital. I stare off at their retreat, my fucking heart being ripped out of my chest as more and more distance is put between us.
My adrenaline drains out of me, weakening every bone and muscle in my body, causing me to crumple to my knees. With my clothes soaked in Lilly’s blood, I kneel on the asphalt, tears streaming down my face as my breath rapidly escapes my lungs. Runa comes up next to me, her hand on my back as she kneels.
“She’ll be okay, Keller. She has to be okay.”
“Why . . . why did she step in front of me?” I ask, my voice choking on a sob.
“Because that’s how much she loves you, Keller. She would take a bullet for you to make sure you go unharmed.”
“That . . . that should be me,” I say. “Not her. She’s not supposed to get hurt. I’m supposed to protect her, not the other way around.”
Another car pulls into the circle, and Lara calls out for help. I glance over at the car where Ottar is being pulled out, his limp body placed onto a gurney and escorted into the hospital.
“Fuck,” I say as I attempt to stand, but my legs give out on me.
