Chapter Text
April - Junior year
“You are so wrong!! There’s definitely more doors!!” Jack yells as Dean, Maya, and Carina walk alongside him through the quad on their way to the library.
“You are so unbelievably stupid and wrong!!! There are more wheels! In every office building in the world, there is an office chair that has eight wheels compared to one door . Plus think about cars! There are more than just four wheels there. Within the engine itself, there’s got to be more wheels.” Maya says with confidence knowing she’s right.
“I don’t know I have to agree with Jack there are way more doors. Every house has multiple doors within it as well as office buildings and schools. There are more doors.” Carina says.
“I don’t think I have ever heard the words ‘I agree with Jack’ come out of your mouth before. I’m also broken-hearted to tell you how insane and wrong you are,” Maya says.
“Maya’s right, there are more wheels and she’s also right that both of you are insane ,” Dean says splitting the group in half.
Before any of them have a chance to say anything more there is a popping sound coming from behind them. They all turn around seeing a guy with two assault rifles, one in his hands and one strapped to his chest.
It takes them all a few seconds too many to realize what is happening. There are screams coming from every direction as he fired off rounds anywhere he could. Everyone in the immediate vicinity starts running wherever they can to find cover. He starts turning towards the group when it suddenly hits them what’s happening.
“Run!” Dean yells shaking them all out of their shock. They make a run for a building to their immediate right but aren’t fast enough to miss the onslaught of bullets. Maya gets hit in her shoulder and Dean gets hit on the top of his thigh resulting in them hobbling as fast as they can into the first open classroom to their right and locking the door behind them.
They luck out having run into the science building and into a lab room which has an extensive first aid kit.
“Over here, as far away from the door as we can get.” Jack says going into the back corner making sure no one could see them through the window on the door.
Jack and Carina both set Maya and Dean down on the floor sitting them against the cabinets. Dean is moaning in pain as blood is gushing out of the bullet wound. Jack applies as much pressure as he can resulting in him screaming out in pain.
“ARGH!!” Dean screams huffing out breaths trying and failing not to focus on the searing pain radiating through his whole leg.
“Shit man,” Dean mumbles under his breath.
“I know, I’m sorry. Carina, what do we do?” He asks feeling helpless, not knowing what to do. So he asks the only person he thinks might know what to do.
Carina looks up from Maya’s shoulder wound to look at Jack a terrified look in her eyes.
“I-I don’t know. Give me a minute to think,” Carina looks around trying to think of anything from any of her pre-med classes that could be of any use to them right now. She sees Maya still has her track bag and thinks there might be something useful in there.
“Okay take one of the t-shirts from Maya’s bag and apply as much pressure as you can to the wound to try and stop the bleeding.” Carina lists off everything she can think of to do.
“Okay, that I can do,” Jack says talking to himself trying to stay as calm as he can for his friend as he watches him bleed out onto the floor.
“Don’t screw this up many I really need my leg,” Dean says trying to joke his way through the pain.
“I don’t know man, some girls like a guy with only one leg,” Jack jokes back knowing it’s what his friend needs at the moment and he applies as much pressure as he can to his wound.
Meanwhile, Carina focuses on Maya noticing the bullet went right through her shoulder which is a good sign. Carina takes a deep breath and shuts off all her emotions, she can’t about how her best friend who she is in love with has been shot and is bleeding from a bullet wound directly in front of her. She feels frustrated and helpless and like there’s not a lot she can do.
“Car…” Maya whimpers out wanting the pain to stop, it’s so blinding she can’t concentrate on anything else besides this. It’s searing and feels like her shoulder is on fire she needs this pain to stop.
“I know bambina, I know it hurts,” Carina sympathizes taking one of the pairs of yoga pants out of the bag and finding a pair of scissors on the counter above Maya’s head. She cuts along the seams and cuts it apart in long strips hoping this is going to work. She loops it around Maya’s shoulder and ties it tight around Maya’s shoulder so the knot is right against the bullet wound. She hopes it will help the bleeding but isn’t too confident.
“Ahhh, fuck!” Maya cries writhing in pain and it breaks Carina’s heart hearing it knowing she is the one who is making her hurt.
Carina runs over to the first aid kit which is right next to the door grabbing everything she can think they may need.
As she is gathering supplies she hears the door to the building open and freezes. She hears steps coming closer to the door and her stomach instantly sinks as she tries not to make any noise. She hears the footsteps getting closer and closer before someone jiggles the handle trying to see if they could open the door.
Jack freezes as well covering Dean's mouth with his hand to muffle the sounds of his cries wanting whoever it is at the door to leave. He looks over to the door but all of the tables in the room block his line of sight.
Maya who is more aware of her surroundings tries her best to stay quiet and make her sobs as silent as she can. She opens her eyes and looks at Jack who has a look of terror on his face which mirrors her own.
“Police! Open up!” The person at the door yells causing confusion to fall across Carina’s face as she looks back to Jack whose brow is also furrowed.
Neither one of them know what to do or if they should believe whoever is at the door. Carina thinks there is no way the police would have gotten there this fast and be here evacuating this quickly. But what if it actually is the police?
Jack cranes his head just enough to see through the window to see it was in fact not the police and the shooter. His eyes grow wide and he shakes his head quickly telling Carina not to go to the door. Carina tenses, adrenaline pumping faster through her veins as tears finally start to fall down her face. Everything suddenly hits her, how her life and her friend’s lives were being threatened by a crazy man with a gun.
Eventually, the footsteps move away from the door and Carina relaxes as much as she can given the situation. She runs back over to where they were with gauze, bandages, alcohol, and some tweezers. There is hardly anything of use to them but they are going to have to make due.
“Carina he’s bleeding pretty quickly,” Jack says and Carina looks at Dean’s leg.
“Well, the bullet didn’t hit the femoral artery so that’s good. The best thing we can do and find something to tie around his leg above to bullet wound. It should help slow the bleeding down until the actual police show up.” Carina and Jack both look around trying to find something to use.
Jack spots a piece of rope on the counter, “there, will that rope work?”
Carina spots it and get’s up grabbing it and nodding, “yes this will do perfectly, tie it as tight as it will go a few inches above the bullet wound. We also, unfortunately, should get the bullet out as well if we can.” Carina takes a deep breath trying to steady herself.
Jack nods and gets up grabbing the rope from on a counter across the room. He runs back and starts doing as Carina says focusing on the task at hand wanting to focus on one thing at a time.
Dean yells out in pain once more from the way the rope is pulling on his skin which makes the pain worse. He looks to Jack just as he looks up and takes a shaky breath with a sobering look on his face.
“You think we’re gonna make it out of here man?”
Jack looks at him and shakes his head with a shrug, “I honestly don’t know.”
Before they can make another sound they hear more gunshots down the hall and they all flinch Maya whimpering once again making Carina focus back on her. She has already started to bleed through the strip of yoga pant on her shoulder and Carina can’t think of much else they can do to help them. She gets frustrated at herself for not being able to do anything, she feels like she is failing. She needs to be strong though, For all of them, she knows she has to be the one to keep the level head and think things through rationally.
Both Carina and Jack pause for a few minutes waiting in silence for more gunshots but don’t hear anything. Carina takes another breath and focuses again on Maya praying she can get the bleeding to stop.
“Carina?” Jack asks a tremor in his voice not knowing what they are going to do next. They are stuck in a shitty situation with no way out. “What’re we going to do?”
Carina looks between both Maya and Dean and sees both of them look at her as well and her stomach drops. They are all looking to her as the pre-med student to know what to do next and frankly, she has run out of ideas.
“I don’t know.”