x

The gun is ice cold, contrast to the warm bed you're lying in, like licking an icicle at the beach. Slowly and subtly, you take the needles out of your arm, trying ever so hard not to heave your guts at the sight. You hate needles, oh so much. The officers freeze, exchanging glances at each other.

"If you even try to make a move, her brains are splattered all over the wall," Jaxx says, cocking the gun. He pulls you up out of bed, and you realize with distaste you are wearing difficult to maneuver in hospital slacks. You are also barefoot. "And to show you I'm not bluffing," Jaxx continues, he moves the gun steadily down, to your injured hand.

He shoots.

Blood gushes out, and you stare agape in horror. Mizzy screams, but you can barely hear it. There's a ringing in your ears from the gunshot, and the officers are talking into their mikes and ordering back up.

"Wouldn't do that," Jaxx says, and raises the gun back up to your head. Your hand is screeching in agony, but you keep your mouth shut, biting your tongue to a violent degree and feeling a tear drip down your cheek. "Let's go," he whispers to the others, and they nod numbly. He turns his back to the door, backing out with you pressed against his chest, gun still steadily held to forehead. The officers watch in horror, a mere kid being upfronted by an adult. You all keep moving, through the hallways and corridors, until you're out the backdoor. Jaxx said to give them fifteen minutes, or you're dead. There's a van parked outside of the hospital, and Tio gets out his keys and unlocks it, hurrying into the driver's seat and jamming the keys into the ignition.

"Come on, come on!" he shouts. We pile into the back, and Let closes the door with a slam. You whimper, trying hard to keep quiet but still letting one outburst escape your lips. Cole quickly hurries over to you, and Tio tosses a first aid kit to the back. The van is unsteady, constantly shifting you back and forth, but you hardly notice it. He quickly makes work of your hand, biting his lip and hurridly taking out supplies. Tio pulls out a slim white laptop, brand new, out of her bag, opening it.

"What's their assessment?" Mizzy asks, breaking out of her shocked mode from Jaxx's ubrupt shooting.

"Once they knew about Thief's little theft, which was stealing eight-hundred thousand smackaroos and transferring it into her account," Let begins, giving a pointed glance at you. You wither, shrinking back into Cole's comforting work. "they began looking at the whole slew of of activity that was found on that IP address. It was your computer, Cole."

He doesn't look particularly angry about you completely ruining his entire career possibly, and the work he had built up for months now on that virus, he just nodded for her to continue. "How did they find out where the hack had come from?"

"She transferred into her own account, it was pretty obvious," Let says. "And..." she adds, sheepishly, "it's easy to figure out who is still logged into the account, you don't even need a hack for that."

"You didn't log out of the f*****g system when you were done?" Jaxx asked incredulously. "Have we taught you nothing?"

You think about saying,'No, you have not taught me anything, you banned me from even learning about hacking', but you feel guilty. They trusted you, took care of you, and yet you ruined their lives with one click.

"Tio, you have a lighter up there?" Cole asks calmly, ignoring the chaos. Tio tosses one back, and he sticks it in his back pocket. "Thief, this is one makeshift operation I'm about to do, but please, stick with me, alright?" he turns to Jaxx. "Whiskey?"

Jaxx pulls out a flask from a pocket in his jacket, handing it to him. Cole gently pours some on the wound, and you hiss from the pain. "It numbs it, trust me," he says. He pulls out a pocket knife, and with a whish, the blade slinks out. You shrink back in alarm. "Thief, this is going to hurt like nothing you've ever felt before, so--"

"Here," Jaxx says, taking the flask from Cole and putting it in your good hand. "Take a big gulp, sweetheart." he says 'sweetheart' with spite and malice, but you ignore it, and follow his advice. It stings the back of your throat, but you aren't focused on that. The pain is getting worse, and you want it to be over with already.

Tio is driving farther and farther out of San Francisco. Night is falling fast and hard, and you can barely see anything out of the tinted windows.

Cole digs in the knife.

There's so much screaming, so loud, so many, and it rings throughout the van. You want to tell Mizzy to shut up, but her lips are pursed in horror. Oh, you realize. You're the one screaming. You start to squirm, and Cole shouts to keep her still. It's the first time you've seen him snap, and it's understandable. Sweat is pooling on his forehead, and he wipes it away quickly. Mizzy hugs you from behind, keeping your other arm back and holding you in place. She shushes you, humming a lullaby. This does nothing to calm you, or null the pain.

There is so much blood.

Let is letting out a stream of curses, in French, German, anything. Jaxx takes off his shirt, pressing it to the blood staunches forming, working around Cole.

"It's out," he says, and you quickly shut your eyes, not wanting to see the bullet. It's disposed of, and Cole pulls out the lighter. "Need to sterilize it." He heats the blade of the knife, pressing it to your skin. It burns, literal steam rising up, but you're used to the feel of burns, so it's not as bad as you'd thought. “It's not working fast enough,” Cole says.

“How are we supposed to heat it up? All you have is a wimpy knife to press against the wound,” Jaxx asks, moving closer to you. “She's losing blood fast. Hurry up and think.”

“Use her goddamn power!” Tio shouts from up front. Everyone blinks, and stares at you.

“Would that work?” Let asks.

“A bolt of lightning is hotter than the surface of the sun,” Cole says. You are panting heavily, fading in and out of reality.

“Roll down the window,” Mizzy snaps, and Tio obeys. Quicly glancing out, she nods. “A lot of streetlights out. Think you can get all of that power?”

You nod weakly, shakily sitting up and holding up your good hand. You feel the energy humming in their places. Flicking your fingers, you try with all of your might, will, and hope, to harness fifteen streetlamp lights, letting it flow through the air and enter the van. The glow is powerful, blinding everyone in the van. Tio swerves the van back and forth, dangerous for a crowded city such as San Francisco. Police sirens start to wail in the distance; your fifteen minutes are long up. Concentrating to an extreme degree, you focus the light on the other hand, feeling it completely fry the wound, cauterizing it shut.

Pant. Pant. Pant.

The orb of light is significantly smaller now, so you keep it resting in your palm, just in case you need it. Everyone blinks, adjusting to the lower light, and Cole peers at your wound.

“Beautiful,” he murmurs. Looking up, he sighs with relief. “That was some intense s**t right there. But the wound has closed wonderfully.” He takes out his bandages, wrapping them extra tight.

“Yep, everything is wonderful and beautiful,” Jaxx announces, rubbing his face with his hands. “Except for the f*****g cops after us.”

Oh, right.

Author's Note

This was by far the funnest scene to write during the entire month of November. Though, I really hope no one sees that I searched "how to dig bullet out with knife" on google.