"Fucking now, damn it!" Riley yelled, her patience gone.
A pudgy guy dug into the pocket of his baggy pants, his hands shaking, and pulled out a pack of smokes. He slipped the plastic away from the outside, and held it out. They were scared. They were all scared, but someone needed to take control, and Riley had no problem being that person.
"Kitty, grab that. I need a flat sheet, so open it up. Someone get ahold of 9-1-1?"
"Yeah," a man behind her said. "I'm on with them."
"Tell them it's a sucking chest wound. I can't tell if there's an exit. Gamer guy? You holding up? C'mon man, you got this."
"What happened?" he asked.
Kitty passed over the cellophane, and Riley looked at it once before wiping at the blood on the kid again, then pressing it over the wound. "Sorry, bro," she whispered before applying pressure. Holding it in place with her own strength, she hoped to slow the bleeding.
Someone rushed in beside her and dropped to his knees. Right now, she didn't even care who. This guy was willing to jump in, so that made him a hero. Like a pro, he reached up and felt the kid's pulse, finding it without groping.
"He's shocky," Riley warned.
"Pulse is good," he told her, and she recognized the voice. Of all the people in the world, Cynister had shown up.
"Keep him talking, bro?" she begged.
His attention was on the wounded kid. "You know what you're doing, Q?"
"Yeah, Cyn, I do. Might have learned how to do this on animals, but humans are pretty much the same. I'm just sitting here holding this so he can keep breathing." She looked over her shoulder at the guy talking to 9-1-1. "ETA on medics?"
"Two minutes, Q."
She didn't even ask how he knew her name, she just went with it. "Cyn, what kinda heart rate we got?"
"Ninety-seven, but he's already got the sweats. I'm not seeing signs of an exit."
She sighed. "Me either, but I don't want to turn him. Good chance this nicked his lung. If it collapses, we're screwed."
"I need a drink," the kid said. "So thirsty." And someone offered the one in their hand.
"No," Riley told them, shaking her head. "He can't."
That was when Logan finally managed to shove through the crowd. "Riley!" he yelled.
"I'm fine," she called out. "We got this. Can you clear out the crowd a bit? So paramedics won't need to struggle to get in? Where's the shooter?"
He tilted his head to the side, indicating the direction. "Down."
Cynister made a noise at her, making her turn back to him. He gave her a piercing look. His eyes were almost green, but mostly grey, and very hard to forget. "Not now," he said softly.
"Right." She wondered how much he'd seen, but he turned back to their patient before she could ask.
"You good, bro?" he asked the kid.
The guy just mumbled something incoherent.
Riley checked the wound again, looking to see if there was pressure from the inside. "How's his color, Cyn?"
"We're good, Q. Just a waiting game now."
"Kitty?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
"I need you to put on your big girl panties and help Logan. Think you can?"
"What am I doing?" Kitty asked.
"Get all of these people moved to the side," Riley told her, but her words were really for Logan. "Check for more wounded. We're fine, hun. We're ok, and we got this."
"Yeah," Kitty breathed. "I'm freaking out a bit."
"Later. It's just like when Calliope hit the fence," Riley said. "We deal with it first, and we get to freak later, right? Logan, where's Knock?"
"He's fine, baby," Logan said, reaching down for Kitty's arm. "I got ya. Stick with me. If you're gonna lose it, just tell me, ok?"
"Yeah," Kitty agreed, sounding very distracted.
"Knock!" Logan yelled behind him.
"Fucking let me through, you dumb shits!" Knock yelled from the back of the crowd.
Finally, Riley was able to see him. He was fine; he'd just been on the other side of the club. Her little brother rushed to their side, his eyes widening as he glanced between his friends. Logan just nodded at Kitty.
Now that Riley could see her, she realized just how shaken Kitty was. As a child, she'd watched her father kill her mother. While her memories of the event were hazy, this was way too close for her mind to accept, and she'd never been able to handle either guns or blood. In other words, this was her own personal nightmare.
"Take her somewhere," Logan said softly to Knock. "Do not leave her alone, bro."
Knock nodded, then did the last thing Riley would have expected. He picked Kitty up, holding her tightly to his chest as he made his way to the chairs and tables on the far side.
"Where's Murder?" Riley asked.
"He's ok. We're all ok. It was just the one guy shot," Logan assured her.
Riley nodded. "Ok. Then clear this shit out, Mr. Weiss. Don't let them leave, just clear it all away from the floor."
"You heard her!" Logan yelled. "When QQ says to get back, you get the fuck back. Come on, everyone. Find a table or a wall, but stop crowding them. Let's go - move, move!"
It worked. People began to move back, clearing away from the spectacle on the floor, leaving a clear path from Riley to the front door. It also allowed her to hear Cynister talking softly and the kid's confused responses.
"Q?" Cynister said.
"Yeah, bro?"
"What did you see?"
"All of it," she said softly. "I was looking right at him."
"Was he aiming?" Cynister demanded, somehow making that sound intense without raising his voice.
"Yeah," Riley said. "I thought he was aiming at me. He looked me right in the eye."
"Did you know him?"
"No," she said, realizing that she'd never seen him before in her life. "He just looked like he'd given up, and it didn't fit."
"Gotcha. I need you to do me a big favor and not ask why. Can you do that?"
Riley huffed in amusement. "Why?"
"Fuck off," he replied with a bit of a chuckle himself. "Thing is, you're too damned smart for your own good. If anyone asks, I just did what you said, got it? I just deliver pizza."
"No medical knowledge," she agreed. "I got it, bro."
"Not even Void or Kitty, babe. No one."
"Why?"
He looked over his shoulder again, and their eyes met. His icy-green gaze looked hollow. "Fucking trust me."
Chapter 4
The paramedics arrived not long after that and took over. Riley told them the basics she knew, like his heart rate, that he'd already begun showing signs of shock, and that the bullet had likely pierced the thorax with no sign of an exit wound. When they started an IV and began administering oxygen, she stepped back, giving them room to work, yet available if they needed to ask something else. After the initial flurry slowed, one of the paramedics stood and made his way to her side.