What Have You Done? - Liam Stewart x OC (The Darkest Minds) - Chapter 4
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Tags: @-thatgirloverthere- @neila2001
âWHY THE FUCK DID YOU JUST HIT HER AROUND THE HEAD!â Ruby screamed from the front of the van, still swerving, trying to outrun the League.
âChubs! Chubs listen okay! I need you to tell me what I need to do now!â I was trying to be calm.
âWHO THE HELL IS SHE?â
âCHUBS! NOT NOW I NEED HER ALIVE!â
I look over at Elise and her pain throbs in my own gut, deep and warm in the worst possible way. Â I had no idea how to help her, how to make it all stop.
âWell if you wanted to save her, giving her concussion probably wasnât the best ideaâ Chubs continued.
âSHE CANâT FEEL ANY PAIN IF SHEâS UNCONCIOUS!â I screamed back at him, glancing at Elise for a split second. Zu was beside her, staring in terror at a puddle of blood that was starting to drip onto the floor.
âYOU CANâT JUST BRING RANDOM PEOPLE BACK HERE AND EXPECT ME TO CLEAN UP THE DAMA-â
âSHEâS NOT RANDOM!â Ruby yelled âOne look at his face tells you that Chubs. Just do something!â
Chubs looked at me for a moment, a question appearing on his lips. He started into my eyes, which were brimming with tears and widened in alarm. His features softened. And then his eyes glowed green.
âOkay! Okay! Zu, shut the doors!â. Heâd snapped into action. âLIAM! Weâre going to need direct pressure perpendicular to the entry, elevation 95 degrees at least, pressure bandage the area, maybe a tourniquet as a last resortâ in that order!â
âIn English Chubs!â I shouted back, a warning anger in my voice âYouâre not making any sense!â
âFine! Just let me do it!â
âRuby! How far away are we from them?â I shouted to the front of the van instead.
She kept driving as blood soaked into Eliseâs sleeve, radiating outwards. Chubs stripped the fabric away to show the dark hole puncturing her upper arm. The bullet wound was a mess, as if sheâd been hit with two different kinds of weapon at once.
Chubs looked at the wound and narrowed his eyes, panicking and gulping loudly.
Elise was in so much pain her complexion was ashen. Her natural golden skin had sunken in tone to something so lifeless it scared me just to look at it.
I grabbed her hand and laced my fingers through her.
âItâs going to be alright darlinâ. Youâre going to be fineâ
âHey Chubs,â Ruby tried, her voice softer and calmer than I had been âYouâve got this okay? Youâre the smartest person I know. Deep down you know what to do,â
But he stepped away, shaking his head
I threw my hands against the side of the van, punching it harder and harder until my fists ached, until every ounce of frustration was out. It was eating me up inside, the guilt, it felt as though someone had their hand in the pit of my stomach squeezing my organs as hard as they could. I only stopped hammering the side of the van when I saw Zu run up beside her. She was pointing at her chest frantically, slamming her hands against her torso, tears appearing in her eyes. I rush over to Elise, calling her name, giving him a little shake, thinking Zu was trying to say she was waking up.
She was still prodding at her chest, only more vigorously. She was unresponsive. My fingers fumbled across Eliseâs lips.
There was no warm breath.
Suddenly my stomach dropped with dread.
I finally understood what Zu was trying to say. I pressed my ear to her chest as Chubs ran beside me.
âNO!â I screamed, shaking her harder. There was no strong steady beat of a heart, all I could find was silence. I even resorted to slapping her face, but it was no use. Her heart had failed and I was slapping emptiness. âElise!â
Black Betty juddered and slammed to a halt, propelling us all forwards. I watched Ruby throw herself into the back of the van rushing over to us all.
âIâve got this!â she yelled âZu! I need your help!â
She pushed me out of the way and pinches Eliseâs nose shut, sending me reeling into hysterics.
âItâs CPR idiot!â
She tilted her mouth open and blew air into her lungs, Eliseâs chest rising and falling again. This seemed to throw Chubs back into it too, who pushed hard down on Eliseâs shoulder, applying so much pressure to her arm wound that the sheet he wraps around her becomes crimson within seconds.
âYou need to do the same on the leg wound, okay Liam?â he said to me and I nodded, ripping away at the material and pushing down with all my body weight.
I was back in control of myself.
Ruby started to pump over the spot over Eliseâs heart with the heels of her hands and at some point, Chubs must have found a needle and thread, because he had started to stich up the hole in her arm. I watched him turn it over, whilst I pushed harder and harder on her leg, and stitch up the exit wound on the opposite side.
There was so much blood. So much blood.
But things suddenly seemed manageable.
âFirst bullet wound should be okay!â he says to me and I let out a sigh of relief. âYou keep her arm elevated and weâll swap. Wrap a few bandages around it if you canâ
âNot now,â Ruby said, letting go of her âEverybody let go of her and stand back. Zu are you ready?â
Tiny little Zu nodded, throwing her gloves over her shoulder, electricity sparking in her palms. We sprung backwards as she pushed her palms into Eliseâs chest and she jolted backwards, the current surging through her. And Elise gave a small cough and I was beside her, sweeping strands of hair back from her forehead. Her lashes fluttered open and her eyes met mine.
âOh, hi Elise, such a lovely introductionâ Chubs said in a tone that was anything but friendly, craning over and glaring at her.
âWHAT THE F-â She was cut off when Chubs wedged a thick pair of socks into her mouth and got back to work with digging around in the leg wound.
Her screams where muffled at least.
Her eyes had frozen over like the surface of winter puddles, robbed of their usual warmth. I knew she was in pain that whole time, but now that it was visible on her face, tears squeezing from the corners of her eyes, I wish it would go away. I knew it was selfish, to not want to physically see her suffer, because she didnât ask for it. The pain had appeared like a gift she never wanted
âLiamâ I think she muttered but it was hard to hear for the material in her mouth. She reached a bloodied, shaking hand towards my cheek and looked at me, properly looked at me.
Then the pain pulled her back under.
Zu had retreated back into a corner and Ruby was helping me wrap her arm up in the closest thing to a bandage we could find.
But Chubs had gone silent. He had gone silent staring at her leg.
âEverything okay Chubs?â I asked calmly.
âThereâs erm- thereâs no exit woundâ he said, looking down at his blood-soaked hands.
âAnd there should be one!â He continued âIt means that the bullet must be implantedâ
âOkay okay,â I said âWell letâs get it out then. I mean I can do it, you know with my power and I-â
âYou donât want to remove an implanted bulletâ Chubs continued as if he hadnât heard me âItâs almost impossible to find and it might be lodged in a major blood vessel,â
âFine,â Ruby says, âThen stitch it up with the bullet inside,â
âI canât do that either. Itâs more damage in the long run if we leave it inâ
There was a second of silence.
âWe canât take it out Liam! Didnât you hear me!â
âBut we canât leave it inâ Ruby insisted
âChubs, we canât do this. Yes or no?â I was pleading in my voice.
âWeâll take it out.â He said, suddenly certain âBut you better hope and goddam pray that that bullet isnât holding isnât corking up the Niagara Falls of blood lossâ