Chapter 20
AVA
Ava ended the call and refocused her flashlight beam on Sebastian’s wound before she glanced around in search of anything she could use to staunch the blood. With nothing in sight, she shimmied out of her hoodie and pressed it against his abdomen, eliciting a pained groan from the man.
She glanced at his face, assessing if he’d woken or remained unconscious. “Sebastian?”
The steady pressure on the wound made her arms ache as his head lolled from side to side, another groan escaping him.
With a jolt, he awoke, throwing her off him with a shove.
“Ow, Shadow, watch it,” she groaned as she smacked into the undressed mattress behind her before she righted herself.
“A–Ava?” His voice, slurred and weak, sent a shiver down her spine.
“Yes, of course, it’s Ava. Who else would find you?” She scrambled back to him, retrieving her blood-stained hoodie and pressing it against his abdomen.
He groaned, gritting his teeth as he tightened his fingers into fists, his breathing ragged.
“You’ve lost a good amount of blood, it looks like,” she said.
“No hospital,” he said through clenched teeth.
“No kidding. I called Doc.”
Sebastian flailed his head back and forth. “No.”
Ava clicked her tongue, arching an eyebrow at him. “Really? You’re shot and you’re going to argue with me that you don’t want Doc removing this bullet?”
“Ch-check for an exit wound.”
“I did. Why do you always think I regress to some level of utter stupidity when there is a crisis? Just lay there and stop insulting me while I save your life, okay?”
He moaned again, his legs shifting as he tried to ride out the pain from the bullet wound.
“You’re not going to pass out on my again, are you?” she asked.
He didn’t respond, and she flicked her gaze to his face. “Come on, Shadow, stay with me.”
He growled again before he swallowed hard, sweat beading on his brow. “H-How did you find me?”
“Oh, yeah, good story. You called me at the cabin, and I hacked into Alex’s system, grabbed his phone tracker, tracked your phone, and then followed the blood trail you left when you weren’t in the van.”
He panted for breath as he locked eyes with her.
She grinned at him, wiggling her eyebrows. “Smart, right?”
“Smart,” he said with a crooked smile.
Footsteps approached them, and she whipped her head in the direction of the hall, her heart hammering. She snapped her gaze back to him. “Where’s your gun?”
He shifted his eyes to his left arm. She leaned across him and retrieved the weapon from the holster. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“Funny,” he groaned.
She rose to a crouch, inching her way toward the hall with the gun extended in front of her. As two dark, shadowy figures appeared at the door, she shouted, “Freeze! Don’t move.”
“Geez, Avs, put that away,” Alex hissed.
She dropped the gun to her side with a shake of her head. “Sorry, come in.”
“You told us to come, why are you pulling a gun on us?” Kyle asked as they hurried to Sebastian.
“Because you took forever. Where have you been? It’s literally like two minutes away.”
“Sorry, Julia has us practically on house arrest,” Alex answered, his features scrunching with disgust as he stared down at the bloody hoodie.
“Yeah,” Kyle said with a nod as he carefully removed it and held his flashlight over the wound. “Sierra made us play Clue for like three hours.”
“What?” Ava drew her chin back to her chest.
“It was as horrific as you can imagine,” Kyle said before he clicked his tongue. “No exit wound? Come on. Why can’t these guys get a clean shot off, huh?”
“No exit wound,” she answered.
Kyle glanced up at Sebastian. “Well, he’s conscious.”
“He wasn’t when I got here.”
“I’m not surprised, probably the pain brought him back,” Kyle said. “He needs a hospital.”
“No!” Sebastian barked.
Kyle screwed up his face. “Easy, Shadow, I get it. Like I was saying, he needs a hospital. This bullet needs to come out, and he really should have some blood, but clearly that’s not an option.”
“Nope,” Ava said. “Can you remove the bullet here?”
“Here?” Kyle asked as he glanced around. “It’s gross here. I wouldn’t bandage a paper cut here let alone remove a bullet.”
“Can he be moved?” she questioned.
Kyle winced. “He’s going to have to be. But to where? We can’t exactly roll him into your place along with you who is supposed to be dead.”
“The cabin,” she answered.
“That’s an hour away,” Alex answered. “Is he going to make that?”
“He’s going to have to. It’s our only option.”
She dug the van’s keys from Sebastian’s pocket and tossed them to Alex. “You’re driving, babe.”
“Anyone have any ideas how we move Muscles here? He’s not exactly light,” Alex said.
Ava held a finger in the air. “I don’t know where you came in at, but I came past the laundry. There were laundry carts.”
“Too bad the elevators don’t work, Sparky.”
“It’ll be better than carrying him down the stairs,” she shot back over her shoulder as she hurried from the room.
She raced down toward the laundry room, veering off as she spotted room service carts. “Perfect,” she said as she grabbed one and pushed it toward the stairs before she tugged it up them.
She wheeled it into the room, catching her breath as she positioned it next to him.
“Nice, Ava,” Kyle said. “Flat surface. Better than stuffing him into the cart. You grab his feet, Mav, and I’ll get his arms.”
Sebastian groaned in pain as they lifted him and struggled to set him on the table.
“Wow, he’s heavy. Why is he so heavy?” Kyle asked as he puffed for breath.
“Next time, don’t bench press your weight, bro,” Alex said with a shake of his head. “Come on.”
Kyle and Alex manipulated the table into the hall and carefully down the stairs with an intense effort before they could finally wheel him out in the night air.
After loading Sebastian into the back, Alex climbed into the drive seat of the van and fired the engine.
Kyle kept pressure against Sebastian’s wound as Ava held him steady. Every bump and bend made her wince as she tried to keep close tabs on his vitals.
“How are we looking?” she said as they pulled onto the winding road leading to the cabin.
“It’s not great. Do you happen to know your blood type?”
“I’m A positive which doesn’t help unless he is, too, but you may be happy to know Alex is a universal donor.”
Kyle snapped his gaze to her. “You’re sure he’s O negative?”
“Positive.” She winced before quickly adding, “I mean, I’m sure. He’s O negative.”
“Because we may need the blood.”
Ava shifted, her gaze questioning. “How are you going to transfuse him?”
“You’d be surprised what you can rig up when you have to,” he answered. “I have some field training, so we’ll see what we can do.”
Ava grinned at him, offering him an impressed glance. “Look at you, Mr. Prepared.”
“Ah, that’s Dr. Prepared, and thanks, yeah, I’m handy in a crisis.” He smiled back at her as he pressed his fingers against Sebastian’s throat again while holding the hoodie against the wound with his other hand.
“Well?”
“Weak and thready, but there. Thank goodness it’s not too much further.”
After what seemed like an eternity, the van bounced across the gravel drive before coming to a stop.
The door rolled open a few seconds later.
“Let’s get him in the house,” Kyle said, already shifting Sebastian toward the door.
They carried him through the front door with Ava leading them to the rustic dining room table. With Sebastian sprawled across it, Ava turned on the chandelier before Kyle returned to the van for his medical bag.
“Sebastian,” Ava said, patting his cheeks. “Wake up, buddy. Where is your alcohol?”
“What?” He groaned, his forehead warm to the touch.
“Alcohol. You’re going to need it. Where is it?” she asked.
“I’m going to need it,” Alex added as he opened and closed cabinets on the server and buffet.
“Liquor cabinet, living room.”
She bobbed her head as she raced from the room. “Alex, watch him.”
With a scan of the room, she found the tall cabinet tucked in the corner and hurried toward it. She found a variety of liquors inside, grabbing a nearly full bottle of vodka.
When she returned to the dining room, she found Kyle already assessing the wound.
“How’s it look, Doc?” Ava asked as she set the vodka bottle down next to Sebastian.
Alex grabbed it, taking a swig. “Ugh,” he said with a retch. “That was nasty.”
“Stop drinking that, Ace,” she said with a shake of her head. “Go sit down before you pass out.”
“Do not sit down, Mav. I’m going to need you.”
“Bro, I can’t assist. Ask Ava. I’m not good with blood.”
“He’s not,” Ava confirmed.
Kyle huffed out a chuckle. “I’m going to need you to assist, and Alex to hold him down. This bullet is deep, but luckily, it didn’t hit any major organs or arteries. Dodged a bullet there…literally.”
Kyle glanced up at them with a grin. “Did you guys get that one? Dodged a bullet?”
“Got it,” Ava said with a confused glance. “Really, though?”
Sebastian groaned, writhing on the dining room table. “Please stop making jokes and get this bullet out.”
“Sorry.”
“Doc’s convinced he’s the comic relief in the group. You know, like if they made a movie, he’s the witty banter guy,” Alex said.
“Aww, yeah, I could see that,” Ava said with a smile. “You’re also the really cool guy who removes a bullet from Sebastian and saves his life, right?”
Kyle poked a finger at her. “Yep. Now, let’s do this the smart way. Ava, run upstairs and find any gauze and medical supplies that you can. Sebastian, do you happen to have a baster?”
“Oh, no,” Alex said, his already pale skin turning ashen. “Do I even want to know what that’s for?”
“Suction,” Kyle said as he headed for the kitchen.
Ava raced upstairs to search the bathrooms for any medical supplies. As she opened and closed cabinets, her mind raced five steps ahead. Would they be able to save Sebastian or would he die on their makeshift operating table?
With an armload of supplies, she returned downstairs. “Are we ready?”
“Ready,” Kyle said. “Alex, hold him down…”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Ava said as she unscrewed the cap off the vodka and pressed the bottle to Sebastian’s lips. “Drink up. This will dull the pain a little.”
“Good thinking, Ava. And I’m going to need that to clean the wound a bit. After I do that, Alex, hold him down. Ava, use the baster to suction out blood while I carefully remove the bullet, got it?”
“Got it,” they both said as Alex placed his hands on Sebastian.
Kyle sucked in a deep breath, tweezers in one hand and the vodka bottle in the other. “Brace yourself. This going to hurt.”
He doused the wound with the clear liquor as Sebastian screamed in pain. Alex struggled to hold him as he bucked against him, struggling to deal with the pain.
“Easy, Shadow, easy,” Ava said, pressing her hands against his chest.
“Suction, Ava,” Kyle said.
Ava used the baster to suck up blood and discard it into a pot as Kyle searched for the bullet.
He sucked in a sharp breath as he shook his head.
“What’s wrong?” Ava asked.
“I can’t see it.”
She toggled on her phone with her bloodstained fingers and held it above the wound.
“Thanks,” he answered, digging into the wound again. “Suction.”
Ava worked to remove the pooling blood again before Kyle clenched his jaw. “I see it. Trying to extract now.”
Ava removed the baster, angling the light so he could see into the wound where blood pooled again.
“Almost,” he answered. “Can you suction again?”
Ava withdrew another baster full of blood as Kyle began to lift the bullet from Sebastian’s gut. Sebastian gritted his teeth, groaning in pain as he shifted on the table.
“Hold him,” Kyle barked.
He successfully pulled the bullet free, but before they could celebrate a spray of red blood squirted into the air, soaking Ava’s cheek and hair and Kyle’s face.
“Oh no,” Kyle murmured as he glanced down at the wound. “I must have nicked an artery. If we don’t find the bleeder…he’s going to bleed out in minutes.”
Ava’s stomach plummeted at the words, her heart pounding hard against her ribs They couldn’t let Sebastian die…but they may be out of options.