"Jesus Christ! Scott!" Josh and Riley yelled at the same time as they raced to Scott's side.
Jim paused in the doorway. She had missed. Jim replayed the moment in his mind and it confirmed what he thought. Jessica could have fired as he came in the door and he would've been dead. She had him in her sites ... a bullet between the eyes, but she'd missed. On purpose. He'd seen the momentary hesitation in her eyes. A split second decision, and he was alive.
He looked over at Angus, bent over Jessica's motionless body, pounding away at her with the force of his whole body. There was a sickening thudding sound, much like the sound of a mallet pounding out meat. Then he swung his eyes to Scott's body on the floor, blood pooling out from it. Josh and Riley working frantically over him.
He was rooted to the spot. What to do? He looked over at Angus again. He was still pounding away. There was no way Jessica was going to survive that. He wondered if he should stop Angus. But it was probably too late already. And besides. How could he justify that? Sure, she'd saved his life .. or so it seemed. But she'd taken Scott's.
"It's just his shoulder!" Riley suddenly yelled, a loud laugh escaping him. He fell back onto his haunches, relief evident in his eyes.
"What does that mean?" Josh asked, gawking at Riley from across Scott's body, where he was kneeling. He held his hands in front of him, blood covering them. Jim noticed that Angus had stopped pummeling Jessica and stood looking at Riley.
"It means, he's going to be fine. But we have to get him over to Caleb's, get him some help."
"What about her?" Jim asked, pointing at Jessica's lifeless body.
"Is she still alive?" Riley asked.
Angus nodded. He could see her breathing.
Riley exhaled. They were supposed to break her, they were supposed to win. Riley slid his eyes over to Scott. But, she had gone too far now. He got to his feet and picked up the gun that Angus had knocked from Jessica's hand. His feet felt like they weighed a ton each as he walked to stand over Jessica.
"I guess this couldn't have ended any other way ... " Riley said cocking the hammer and point the gun at Jessica's temple.
Jim couldn't breathe. Part of him wanted to scream at Riley to stop, but another part of him just couldn't. He wanted to close his eyes so he couldn't see it ... but he seemed to have lost command over all parts of his body. Seconds ticked by and nothing happened.
"Shit," Riley swore as he uncocked the gun. He looked up at Jim, Josh and then Angus. Surprise evident on his face. "I can't do it."
"Give me that!" Angus thundered grabbing the gun from Riley and pressing the nozzle up to Jessica's temple. This was it. He was going to put an end to all this shit, finally!
But, he wondered, when Jessica was dead who would he take his frustrations out on? Then the scene from a few minutes earlier played out in his head. Something was off.
He replayed the scene as he came in through the back door. His heart was pounding as he saw Scott laying to the side and Jessica pointing the gun at the front door. If he didn't get to her in time she was going to kill one of the other men. He remembered the fear he felt as he realized that he was not going to get to her before the front door opened and the next victim came in. And it was Jimmy. Jimmy came in, right in Jessica's sights. And then Jessica missed ... on purpose. Yes. He replayed the moment in his mind and he was sure that he hadn't imagined it.
She had Jimmy in her sights and then she moved her aim and shot wide. Why? Why had she done that? If he killed her, he'd never know. And though she had shot Scott, she had spared Jimmy. Why?
From across the room Angus heard Josh say his name ... in a tone that implied that he wasn't eager to have Jessica die either. Angus had to think ... what to do?
Josh stared at the scene before him. He'd muttered Angus' name, unsure what he wanted to tell him. The shock of Jessica gunning Scott down was wearing off, and he was beginning to think again. This was all happening so fast. Jessica deserved to die for what she did ... that was true. But something about it all ending like this just seemed like a cheat. Like they were all being jilted out of something. Josh didn't know what he was going to say next, how to word his thoughts, but it didn't seem to matter. Angus hadn't fired yet and frustration on his face as he stared down at the gun made it pretty clear that Angus was just as unprepared for this as the rest of them.
"Arghhh!!!!" Angus finally growled and threw the gun to the side.
"Jim, Josh?" Riley asked, mystified as to why it was so hard for him and especially Angus, to pull the trigger. Both Jim and Josh shook their heads. "Someone has to stay here with ..."
"I will." Jim said, interrupting Riley.
"Alright. Josh, Angus, help me get Scott to the car." Riley ordered.
The three of them scooped Scott up and thundered out the door. Jim stood watching the car speed out of the driveway. And then he closed the door. He turned back to where Jessica lay on the floor.
He stood looking at her bloodied face, her broken body, and he felt sorry for her. She tried so hard to get away. He knew that if this were a book or movie, he and the men would be the villains and she would be the luckless heroine who simply couldn't catch a break.
By all rights, she should have been dead right then. Any one of them should have been able to put the gun to her head and pull the trigger. Jim wasn't sure if the fact that she was still alive was actually a curse or a blessing for her. Probably only time would tell. He didn't know where the men would go as a next step with her. The best he could do was clean her up and wait for their return.
He carried her to his room. Laying her on his bed he got a bowl of warm water and a cloth. "You are going to be in some serious pain." He murmured to her as he began to clean her face. "I hope this is the final straw that gets you in line. It's time you stopped fighting, and started conforming."
As he looked down at her bruised and bloodied face, he replayed the moment again. The terrifying moment that he realized she had the drop on him. And then she shot wide.
He would always be indebted to her for that. The only way he could think to repay the debt was to work harder at making her life here better. He wasn't really sure how much of a repayment that was. He supposed that to really do her the favor she'd done for him, he would have to help her go home. But he couldn't do that. Just the next best thing. Try to make life bearable for her. He looked her over. Bearable. Somehow, Jessica reminded him of his sister. She hadn't found life bearable and Jim had missed the signs. He saw a lot of similarities between Jessica and his sister now that he thought about it. Well, what happened to his sister wasn't going to happen to Jessica. Not if he could help it.
"I promise ..." he whispered. "I don't know how ... but somehow I'll make things better." He began to hum as he worked. It was the song he knew she liked. He'd play it for her after. Maybe it'd help to bring her around.
Jessica shifted and then froze as pain paralyzed her. She held her breath as she waited for what seemed like forever for the pain to subside. Then she cracked her eyes open. Disappointment overwhelmed her. She wasn't dead. She wasn't free and she wasn't dead. Damn it!
She opened her eyes a little more and saw Jim sitting at the foot of his bed. The way he moved, and the music Jessica finally noticed playing around her told her that he was playing his guitar. He wasn't paying any attention to her and as she tried once again to move, she knew why. She couldn't move. Not even her little toe. She was going nowhere.
She must have made a noise of some sort because the music suddenly stopped and Jimmy looked over at her.
"Hey," he said. She wondered how he could do that ... make his eyes look so serious, but his mouth actually smile ... kind of. "Don't try to move." He said putting his guitar down and shifting closer to her. "Here, do you want a sip of water?" he asked picking up a cup from his side table and holding a straw to her mouth.
Despite herself Jessica was grateful. She took a couple of sips as she tried to assess her condition.
"You're a mess." Jim said with a tight laugh. "I'm guessing a fractured jaw, skull. Several broken ribs. I actually wouldn't be surprised if one or both of your arms were fractured as well." He shook his head. "It's as if you were in a car accident." He shook his head again. "Angus is a force to be reckoned with. But I guess you already know that. Scott is going to be fine." He added. "Not what you were hoping to hear?" he asked in a sarcastic yet sad tone when Jessica closed her eyes.
"You're lucky that he's alive. It seems that we're not up to killing you, which means you'd be in for a whole lot more hurt instead, had he died. You do understand that right?" he asked moving closer to look her in the eye. "You understand that this ..." he waved his hand from the top of her face to the bottom, "is only the beginning. I'm not sure what will happen next." She couldn't move a muscle in her face or body, but he could clearly see the terror in her eyes. She knew alright. He exhaled.
"Look. I don't know how I'm going to do it. But somehow I will. Somehow I will make this less ... bad. But you have to help me. Help me to help you. And ..." he said with a laugh that sounded less like a laugh and more like a question, "I don't know how you're going to do that either. But you have to."
He sat looking at her and Jessica began to wonder if his face was double jointed or something. He was doing it again. His eyes pierced into hers, somber, serious, commanding, but his mouth twisted into a smile so disarming that you'd think he was relaxed and without a care in the world. He stared at her a moment longer and then moved back.
"So for now," he said, pausing to look her over from head to toe. "I'm not sure how we're going to do this. You can't move or talk ... so I can only guess when you need to drink or go to the bathroom. I, ah, well, I asked Riley, Josh and Angus to bring home some diapers. You know, the adult ones. Just to make things easier. But I'm not sure they'll be looking to make things easier for you. They may just want to drag you back and forth to the bathroom. We'll see I guess. Anyway. For now I'll ask every hour or so to see if you have to go. If you do, blink twice. 'K?"
He was looking at her expectantly. Jessica had to think for a minute, working through the haze that fogged her mind, before blinking her eyes twice.
"Good. And one blink will be no. They won't be back until tomorrow probably. Maybe not even until later. I imagine you'll want to sleep." He said.
Jessica blinked once. The pain was constant now that her body realized she was conscious. There was no way she could sleep.
