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“Well, Jay, we’ve officially survived–” Ruzek started to talk, but Jay cut him off.
“Come on, man! Don’t jinx us. We still have an hour left before midnight. Anything could happen in an hour.”
Ruzek looked at the clock. Halstead was correct. There was, in fact, still an hour left before the year was officially over.
The door swung open and Upton poked her head into the room.
“Hey, Voight says to roll out. He also says you two are temporary partners,” she said, ducking back out when the two men nodded.
They stood up and hurried to Jay’s car. Adam climbed into the passenger seat while Jay hopped into the driver’s side.
“You better not have jinxed us,” Jay muttered, chuckling a bit to show Ruzek he wasn’t in any way angry.
Adam raised his hands in surrender. “Hey, I hope I didn’t jinx us too.”
Jay started the car and they drove away.
They drove in silence until Adam saw something Jay didn’t.
“Jay, look out!” Adam shouted, pointing out the window. But it was too late. A gray sedan going way too fast slammed into the driver’s side of their car, sending it spinning and flipping across the road. It rolled three times before coming to a halt, right-side-up in the middle of the intersection. Cars around them slammed on the brakes to avoid any more collisions.
Adam’s eyes fluttered open. He didn’t even realize he’d passed out. He groaned, turning his head to the side to look at Jay. Jay gritted his teeth and looked as though he was about to cry. At least he was conscious.
“Hey, you okay?” Adam asked and immediately realized it was a stupid question. Of course Jay wasn’t okay, but of course he’d say he was, because he was Jay.
Jay nodded as expected, but he was clearly lying.
“No, you’re not,” Adam replied.
“Are you?”
Adam hadn’t thought about that. The adrenaline that had been coursing through his veins had started to wear off, and he realized that maybe he wasn’t as okay as he had originally thought. He looked down at his arms, torso, and legs. His right arm was misshapen and clearly fractured in several places.
“Didn’t… think so…” Jay murmured, smiling weakly.
Adam turned to look at him again, just in time to see his eyelids begin to flutter closed.
“No, no no no no no, Jay, stay with me, man. You gotta stay awake. Stay with me, Jay.”
“I’m so… tired. I-I don’t… I don’t want to… stay awake,” Jay whispered, his speech slurred.
Adam could hear sirens blaring in the distance. Help was coming.
“Jay, if you pass out on me, man, Hailey’ll kill you.”
“She can’t… kill me… if… I’m already… dead…”
“Jay, don’t talk like that, stay with me, stay awake,” Adam said frantically, desperate to keep his friend from passing out.
The sirens had nearly reached the pair.
“Tell… tell Hailey… I love her…” Jay mumbled as his eyes drifted shut.
“Jay, you’re gonna tell her yourself,” Adam said. “Jay? Jay! Come on, man! You gotta stay awake! Wake up!” he cried desperately. “Please, Jay. Please, don’t die. Don’t do that to us, man. Don’t do that to Hailey,” Adam begged, but to no avail. Jay’s body remained limp and his eyes stayed closed as if all the life had been sucked right out of him.
He looked dead.
A few hours later, Adam woke up in the hospital. He didn’t remember falling asleep.
“Hey, Ruz.”
“Kev?”
“Yeah, bro. It’s me. How are you feeling?” Kevin asked, giving Adam a small smile.
“Is Jay… is he okay?” Adam asked, not entirely sure if he wanted to know the answer.
“‘Okay’ is not the word I’d use, but he’s alive,” Atwater replied.
“Is he awake?”
Kevin nodded. “Yeah, Hailey’s with him.”
“Wow, what a way to end the year,” Ruzek muttered. “I guess I really did jinx us.”