5 The Ascension Day Massacre

Luke and Lisa chugged along the snowy streets of Beacon, headed for a lower-east-side apartment to have a 'chat' with a man named Colin, who, according to the information that Sunny had given them at the club, lived just off of Cross and Garden, in apartment 305. Lisa stared at the paper, trying to remember exactly where his apartment building was. It had been quite some time since she had been to this part of the city, and she liked to pretend that part of her life didn't exist as much as she could.

She was born there in a small hospital that happened to only be a few blocks away from where they were now. She had a fairly normal childhood, as normal as a person whose family was dirt poor could have. She never had much, but she was always happy as a kid. While her parents were busy ignoring her and spending the little credits they made from odd jobs on various dubious substances, she learned a way to provide for herself. When she was young, she had discovered her love for music, and eventually found an instrument that was easy and fun to play as well as quite portable in the lyre.

She was even able to earn some money busking down by the port on Cruzchen Drive. It wasn't enough to keep food on her plate for long though, and she had to resort to less pleasant methods of earning money. After being spotted playing on the streets near downtown by Sunny, she was offered a job. At first it was small things like helping clean some money through shows around the area. Then occasionally someone would need a little roughing up to get in line. Lisa discovered then that she had some pent-up anger that she had repressed with music when she was younger.

At first, she was uneasy about it all. It never seemed right, but she needed to survive and was willing to compromise her morals occasionally to make it happen. Eventually, she put her feelings aside to try and make a better life for herself. Sunny had even made her a deal to send her to the music academy as long as she kept working for her when she needed it. It was there that things started to change for her. That was when she first got acquainted with Vicky and Luke, who were also about to head into music school. She was a little surprised she hadn't met them sooner, but they became fast friends, more so Vicky than Luke, but he was fine too.

On the first winter break from school she went to visit some family in Endlane (mostly cousins, as she hadn't spoken to either of her parents since she started working with Sunny). She had never been before. On the first morning in town she was looking for something sweet to eat and walked into the local candy shop. That day her life changed forever.

She saw the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, a young and amazingly handsome man by the name of Albert, who was a candy maker in training. Lisa had never been hit so hard in her life. She fell in love almost instantly. Every weekend for the next month she would make her way to Endlane just to chat with Al, getting to know him little by little. Eventually, she decided to ask him on a date, and when he agreed, Lisa was over the moon.

Things went fast after that. They were spending so much time together that Lisa started to skip out on classes and spend all of her time in Endlane. When Al found out, he wouldn't let that happen. He loved Lisa's music so much. It was one of the things that had made him fall in love with her on their first date when Lisa had played a song that she had written just for him. A compromise was made, and they decided to move to Beacon together with Al striking out on his own and opening a bakery and candy shop for himself to support the two while Lisa finished school.

Things were looking up. Al was making plenty of credits, and had even had made friends with Vicky and Luke. The only thing that was asked of her by Al was that Lisa leave Sunny's employ. He couldn't stand the thought of his beautiful, sweet girlfriend assaulting other people and stealing for a living. Sunny had given her blessing and said that she wouldn't get in the way of love. She would even continue to pay for her schooling, which Lisa was very happy to hear as she dreaded for weeks in advanced telling Sunny that she couldn't work anymore.

Just before graduation, Al proposed to Lisa, and soon after, they had their wedding. It was the happiest day in her entire life. Things were starting to look up for the couple. Al's business even seemed to be doing surprisingly well. Or at least that's what she thought at the time. She now knew just how much debt that her husband was in and the reason behind him running out. He couldn't take the pressure of trying to provide for them.

Lisa's memories had been the only thing holding her together the past week, but she would eventually start to crack when she got to the end of the story. She knew that if she could take care of the debt then he would be able to come back home. That was the one thing that kept her sane when she started cracking like this. It was time to focus on the task at hand and get as many credits as she could as fast as she could. She didn't mind doing this kind of work, especially if it meant getting the love of her life back.

With that in her mind, she steeled her resolve. They were coming up the street that the apartment building was on and it was time to get into character.

She wasn't what most people would think of as intimidating in her everyday life. While Luke had a really cold stare that could stop most people in their tracks, and you could almost smell the crazy coming off of Vicky from a mile away, Lisa didn't really have anything like that. She was generally bubbly and happy most of the time, and had to really work at being feared. Conjuring up thoughts of her parents usually did the trick back in the day, but now she knew that just focusing on her goal of getting Al back would be motivation enough to do whatever she needed to.

As they pulled up to the building Luke shut off the engine and looked to Lisa.

"Are you ready?" He asked in a serious, but still caring tone. He couldn't afford Lisa losing her nerve or causing some kind of a scene when they got in there. Lisa just put on her best intimidating face and nodded her head. That was enough, he just hoped that Lisa wouldn't lose her nerve when they got inside.

They made their way out of the car and walked slowly into the back entrance of the large brown building. They tried to be as quiet as they could, so they took the stairs. It was only three floors up, so it didn't take long. The building was pretty run down. They could see cockroaches scattering on the walls as Lisa's lighter illuminated their path. The walls were cracked, and there wasn't any heating.

It seemed like a good place for a person who didn't want to be found to hide out. As they approached door 305, Lisa put out her light. Luke gave her one last glance before they went in, asking her if she was ready with just a stare. Lisa nodded and Luke pulled the pistol from his coat pocket as Lisa went to check the door. It was unlocked, a huge mistake by the person inside.

In one fluid motion Lisa opened the door and they both stepped inside. It was a small place with the bed in the center of the room. Colin was passed out on the bed with an empty bottle of whiskey on the floor next to his left hand and a small silver pistol sitting just next to his other hand. Luke slowly crept around the passed-out man, with his pistol still pointed at him, as Lisa shut and locked the door behind them. She then walked over by Luke and slowly picked his gun up turning it around and aiming it at him as she backed up.

They moved next to each other at the foot of the bed. Lisa turned her head to Luke and whispered.

"So what's our next move here?"

Luke took a second to think. They needed to wake him up but couldn't risk him reacting too fast or making too much noise. They had to make sure that they got all the information that they came for at least, before things got out of hand. They had to find a way to make sure he didn't do anything crazy. An idea struck him. He had been passed out on just the mattress. In the corner, Luke noticed the crumpled heaps of the discarded sheets from the bed. He guessed the alcohol was all he needed to keep himself warm on this freezing winter night.

His mind went to work fast, whispering to Lisa. "Can you take those sheets and tie him to the bed post and cover his mouth? It needs to be delicate so we don't wake him until it's done."

Lisa nodded and slowly set down the gun and picked up the sheets as quietly as she could. It was time to put her years of practicing the delicate art of lyre strumming to work. She was able to pick up the sheets and weave them into knots around the bedposts and his arms with grace and expert precision. Of course, it probably helped that he was blackout drunk and wasn't going to be responding to much.

Once he was fully tied, she set to work on the extremely touchy procedure of tearing off a few strips from the remaining sheets and making something to keep him from talking. She multi-tasked the strips of fabric in one hand while started to gently lift his head off of the mattress when, suddenly, he opened his eyes. Out of reflex she dropped his head back onto the mattress and took a step back, grabbing the pistol back from the floor and pointing it directly at him.

He shook his head around for a second trying to focus on just what was going on. "What in Empress' name is this? Who the fuck are you two?" He slurred out. He then looked at his hands, noticing that he was very much incapacitated, and started trying to break free.

Luke stepped forward and pressed his snub-nosed pistol to his forehead. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, pal. I've decided, in the spirit of Ascension Day, I don't want to have to use mister pistol here make a mess of your head. Don't make me regret it and change my mind. As to who we are, that doesn't really matter. What matters is who sent us. Do you know a woman named Sunny Morella?"

His eyes went wide with fear at the mention of Sunny's name. "Look," he started frantically, "whatever it is that she thinks I did, I swear I didn't. Please just let me go. I didn't do anything. I haven't even spoken to her in months."

He started speaking faster and faster and was starting to get loud.

Luke pressed the gun harder into his head. "Shh. If you start getting loud this, this conversation is going to end with mister pistol getting a whole lot fucking louder. Just tell me where the box is, and the rest of the credits you owe her in back pay, and we can be on our way."

He started to sputter and mumble. "I really don't know what you're talking about. I don't know anything about any box, and I've paid my dues. I've been robbed twice in the last three months and she was nowhere to be seen. If she isn't going to actually protect me, then I'm going to pay someone else to do it."

Lisa stepped forward. "Look buddy, we aren't here to listen your little stories. Give us what we want, and we'll get out of here. We've got stuff to do tonight too you know. As cliché as it sounds, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. If you want to do it the hard way it's fine by us, so it's time to decide."

Luke was a little taken aback by Lisa's forwardness. He had heard that Lisa worked for Sunny in the past, but they had never worked together. He was getting a taste of just how far Lisa would go to get Al back; something that he hoped would never come back against him.

His train of thought was cut off by Colin speaking again.

"I really don't know what you're talking about. I don't have any box or any money to give you. Look around, do you think I would be here if I had credits?"

Lisa just grunted in frustration. "Fine buddy, it's obvious that you want to do this the hard way."

She took the strip of sheet that she was going to use to gag him and began to press down on his throat with it as hard as she could. His eyes went wide and he started struggling against his bonds and cry out, but nothing would come. After a few seconds she took it away. He began cough and she could see tears starting to fall from his eyes.

"Now," Luke started, pressing his gun to his head again. "Do we need to keep doing this until you finally can't fight it anymore and die, or are you going to tell us where it is?"

He was sobbing now, realizing the gravity of the situation that he was in. They weren't going to leave without what they came for, there was no other way around it. He finally broke. "It's… It's under the bed. All of it. Just take it and go, please."

Luke motioned for Lisa to check while she kept the gun to his head. Lisa got down and of course it was there. She opened it up, amazed at what she saw inside.

"Is it in there?" Luke asked, but Lisa didn't respond, she just kept staring into the box.

"Lisa? Hello?" She finally snapped out of it and looked back at Luke. He asked again, "Is it in there?"

Lisa looked bewildered and slowly closed the box. "Yeah," she started slowly. "It's in there. What is… never mind, I don't want to know. Let's just get out of here."

Luke nodded to her. "Go get the car started and pull it around. I need to have a little talk with our friend here. Just need to make sure he forgets what we look like, and that he understands what will happen to him if he does something like this again."

Lisa turned quickly to the door with the box in hand. As she made her way out, Luke turned to look at Colin. He was trying to make his way out of his binds again.

"See," Luke said, staring down at Colin. "I told you it would be easy once you handed it over. I don't know why you people always have to make it hard on yourselves."

Luke walked around the edge of the bed, grabbing Colin's discarded pistol his pistol off of the floor.

"Now let's have a little chat shall we?"

Luke cracked a smile.

Lisa reached the car and put the box in the trunk and let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding as she got into the car and turned it on, taking around to the front of the apartment building. Empress only knew what would happen if they got pulled over and the guards found that in their possession. She couldn't understand why some random person had it, it or how he could have possibly gotten it from Sunny in the first place. On top of that, how did Sunny even get it? That she surely didn't even want to know.

As she snapped out of her thoughts, she realized that Luke was taking a really long time. She hoped everything had been okay. What if Colin tried to start something when he untied him?

Then she heard a muffled bang from the apartment. It sent a deep shiver down her spine. She immediately started looking around frantically. At first, she wanted to hop out of the car and go check on Luke, but if they needed to make a quick escape, she wouldn't be ready. She figured Luke could most likely handle it on his own if he had to.

She'd never done work like this before, but she figured Luke had. She had seen the blank slate behind the often-fake smiles that Luke gave, and knew that there was a terrible darkness hiding somewhere in there. She used to wonder the extent of the things he and Vicky did for Sunny.

Now though, a person was most likely dead up there. She had always known somewhere in her heart that Sunny did more than just intimidate and extort other people, but she would try not to think about it. She tried even then to put it out of her mind. What would Al say if she knew that Lisa had taken part in a murder, whether it was out of self-defense or not? Lisa couldn't think of that now. Al had to come home, no matter the cost.

Still though, didn't Sunny say there wouldn't be any heavy work on this job? And what was the deal with that box? Sunny never said anything to her about a box, especially nothing about one that was filled with…that. The hair on the back of her neck stood up just thinking about what she had seen. She needed the credits though, and fast. Now wasn't the time to get picky about how she got them. As she was pondering this, she heard Luke hop into the passenger seat of the car.

"Time to go now dear, quickly."

Lisa's mind pulled back into the moment, and she put the car in gear and chugged down the street away from the building.

"So…" she started, looking over at Luke briefly in between watching the road. "What happened up there?"

At first Luke didn't answer. He just pulled a cigarette from his pack and lit it, rolling down his window and taking a slow drag.

He started slowly, "Our friend didn't take to kindly to losing that package and all of his money. He went for his gun as soon as I untied him, and we got into a little tussle. Obviously, I came out ahead. Don't worry though, it's taken care of."

He exhaled what seemed like a large cloud of smoke when it mixed with the fogging of his breath from the cold night air.

Lisa was having trouble processing it. She believed Luke but couldn't believe that he could be so calm about it. This definitely wasn't his first time. Maybe he was just in shock, and that's why he didn't have much of a reaction. Lisa had nothing else to go on, so she assumed that must have been it. Anything else was too much to consider after how strange the night had been. So she just kept quiet and drove on.

About an hour later after making their way across town they sat parked out in front of the bakery.

"Thanks for bringing me along tonight," Lisa said, slowly at first. Luke hadn't said much since they left. She just figured that having to shoot Colin was weighing heavily on his mind. "I really appreciate the extra work and I'm always ready for more."

Luke took a few seconds, but he finally turned to Lisa and gave her a small smile. "It's no problem at all, it was nice having you around. As much as I love working with Vicky, she can be a bit…heavy handed sometimes when it comes to getting information. It's a shame how it ended up, but at least we got what we came for."

He then tossed the bag of credits to her that they'd collected from Colin. "This is for tonight, and there'll be plenty more where that came from if you need work. Let's keep the business about the box just between us, shall we? Let's just say that what's in there is very important to Sunny, as you no doubt could have guessed, and keep it at that, eh?"

Lisa was confused, but the bag was quite full, and she was definitely grateful for it. She had assumed by then that the box was what they had actually come for, and that Sunny, for some reason, didn't want to tell her about it. She figured it would be best not to press the issue.

"Thank you," she said with a large smile. "I'll be back for more as soon as she has more to do. There aren't really words for how much I appreciate this chance to save our bakery and bring Al back."

Luke put a hand on Lisa's shoulder, looking at her with a smile that mirrored her own. "Why don't you stop by the club tomorrow evening? I can't imagine how hard it's been for you with Al gone, and no one deserves to spend Ascension Day alone. We are having a little party after the big re-enactment. It should be quite fun. You'll get to spend time with some friends if nothing else."

A tear came to Lisa's eyes. She hadn't even been thinking about how hard it would be to spend the holiday alone. It was always one of her favorites. It was a time for giving and friendship and family. She couldn't bear the thought of spending the night in her empty apartment thinking about where her husband had gone and what he could be doing. She grabbed Luke's hand from her shoulders and wrapped him in an awkward hug over the car's center console.

"Thank you so much, Luke." she said with a sniffle, the tears beginning to flow. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

They continued the hug for a few seconds then both got out of the car with Lisa bidding him goodnight with a wave as she went inside, and Luke hopping back in the driver's seat, heading home for the evening.

As the early morning sun rose, Luke was already up and ready for the day. He was going to head into work soon and see how well they had done from the first nights take of their new supply, and deliver the box to Sunny as soon as he could. He didn't want that thing in his possession any longer than it had to be. He brought an evening suit with him for the party that night. He didn't want to be in it all day and risk getting it dirty.

Across town in the back room behind the office of the club, Vicky had just finally gotten to sleep when the club's phone rang, shaking her back awake. Her head felt like someone had hit her nose with a hammer, and her whole body was aching. Next to her, still very much passed out, was the bruised and scratched form of Rose. The memory of the night that they spent together came back to her, and she cracked a sly smile. Rose was different from the others. She loved everything that Vicky had to dish out and then some, and she would always ask for more.

As she took another look at her sleeping form while she stumbled her way to the phone in the office, she thought to herself that hiring Rose had been a pretty good idea. She was learning how to serve drinks fast, and she'd learned how to serve her even faster. She finally managed to stumble to the phone, cursing to herself about who would have the gall to call her at this hour.

"Yo," she answered in a gruff tone, the phone shaking in her trembling hand.

"Why, Vicky, sweetie, is that any way to talk to your dear Auntie?" Sunny said on the other end before breaking into a chuckle. "Did I wake you up dear?" She asked, her voice taking a mockingly concerned tone.

"Very funny, Auntie." Vicky answered flatly. "I just got to sleep probably like ten minutes ago or less. That shit you brought over last night was bomb. We already got rid of probably over a third of it and it wasn't even on a rave night. I can't wait until tonight, we're going to be rich by morning. Hell, we may even need another shipment to get ready for it."

Sunny laughed again. "That's great to hear. That's actually why I was calling. I wanted to make sure everything was going well. Not that I had any doubts of course. I'd be more than happy to have some extra sent over. I was going to personally attend, but I'm needed in a bit of an upper-class soirée in the castle this evening. Sorry I can't make it. I'm sure you will have plenty of fun without me. I saw you flirting with the new girl when I left, how did that go?"

At the question, Vicky's mind again shot back to the frantic antics that had played out in her drug-induced haze the night before, and she cracked a smile again.

"I would say it went pretty well. She's passed out on the bed right now. I think I'm going to have to keep this one. She's a lot of fun."

She could almost hear her aunt shaking her head over the phone. "Just be careful dear. We wouldn't want to have a repeat of what happened last time, would we?"

Vicky grunted. "How many times do I have to tell you and Luke that it was an accident?" She said in an angry whisper, trying to not wake up Rose in the other room. "I told her to let me know if she was having trouble breathing. It's not my fault that she never said anything. Besides, it's not like anyone was going to miss her anyways. It won't happen again, I promise."

Sunny paused for a second. "Whatever you say darling, just be careful. Empress knows I'm not judging you. We all make mistakes. It's learning from them that makes us better people. Anyway, I'm off to get ready for the day. I'll have someone come down before you open up with enough to tide you over through the party tonight. I've got a few other major deliveries to make too, apparently it's selling well all over the city. Have a good Ascension Day my little Vicky. I love you."

"I love you too, Auntie. Have a good Ascension Day. I'll call you sometime tomorrow so we can meet up and have lunch or something. I'm gonna go pass out for a couple more hours so I'm not a zombie tonight."

She hung up and promptly did exactly what she said she was going too. Rose stirred a little bit but never woke up, so she wrapped her arms around her bruised sides and quickly went back to sleep.

Unfortunately, it didn't last long, as Luke showed up less than an hour later. Vicky didn't have any more patience for disturbance and simply yelled out "Fuck off!" to the knocking at the door. Luke peeked in and saw her frame wrapped around a bruised but very satisfied looking Rose.

He was relieved that Vicky hadn't killed this one. They'd need all the help they could get for the big party. Vanessa and Max would be there soon to start prepping, so Luke took some time to tally the profits from the night before.

He was amazed to say the least. They had taken in over 20,000 in profit in one night. Of course, half of that was going to Sunny and the other half was going to be split between him and Vicky, with some left over to pay the employees. Still though, he would net around 4,000 or so which was pretty fantastic for a single night. They had even gone through quite a bit of their supply, and with the party tonight he was sure that they would be swimming in credits by the time the sun came up on the next day.

The day went on, and after Vanessa and Max had spent most of it setting things up with Luke, Rose and Vicky finally woke up around the time it was getting dark and started getting ready themselves. Aside from New Year's, Ascension Day was their biggest night of the year. They had a huge party that started off with softer music and as the night got later eventually turned into a full-on rave sometime after midnight. Hundreds of people would be in and out as the night went on, and almost all of them, especially the rave crowd, were customers of their side business.

Rose was given the night off, despite protesting that she was fine, as to not give off the wrong vibe to customers who would have to stare at a battered bartender all night. Vicky was given the task, since it had been her fault for Rose's appearance in the first place, which she happily agreed to. Nothing was more fun to her than pouring drinks on work nights. She got to talk with all the customers and even take a few shots herself when they offered, which, thanks to her natural charisma, they almost always did. It was pretty much a win-win for her, as far as she was concerned.

As the night came closer to starting, Luke got ready by putting wonderful black and red suit that Sunny had gotten him for his last birthday. It was custom made by an up and coming fashionista from the docks of all places. As he came down from the office, the doors had already opened and people were filing in, with the first band preparing to start their set. He noticed Lisa coming in and walked up to her, offering her a table and ordering the first round of drinks. He hoped that Fran would show up at some point as well, but knew that during major holidays she was always somewhere nice as a part of her cover while researching her newest mark. It was a little disappointing. Why was Vicky the only one getting laid all the time anyway?

For then, it was just them until eventually she had to take a few minutes to prepare Sunny's shipment and get samples ready for Vanessa and Max to distribute to people in need. As the night went on, and he got slightly more intoxicated, things seemed to be going really well. The last band was playing their set before the transition to the rave and he was having a fun conversation with Lisa about school memories.

"Then she actually tried to tell the professor that she tripped and landed on that girl in the locker room and that's why they were like that when he found them. Can you believe how ridiculous she used to be?" Lisa said, before busting up with laughter. It had been a good night. She had even managed to not be intensely worried about what Al was doing for the first time since she had left, something that surprised her.

Luke laughed deeply as well before turning to look at Vicky behind the bar chatting it up and doing shots with people dressed up as Chancellor Mothran and Colonel Ulbrict. She turned back to Lisa.

"As if she's any less ridiculous now," he said, stifling a giggle. Things with Lisa were going well. He was a little disappointed that Fran didn't show up but there was nothing that could be done about that. He hadn't checked recently, but if the occasional whisper from Vanessa was any indication, they were making a mint as the people kept pouring in.

Then all at once, things changed. A group of eight masked men came bursting through the door holding up assault rifles and shotguns. One of them fired a shot in the air and began screaming.

"Everybody hit the fucking floor! This is a robbery!"

People went into a panic, as they tend to do when someone comes into the room and starts shooting, and tried to run for the other exits. Immediately, bullets started flying into the crowd. Vicky dropped behind the bar to pick up the shotgun that was kept under it, and Luke grabbed Lisa and flipped the table that they were sitting at on its side, grabbing his pistol from his jacket pocket. He saw Vanessa grabbing a woman who had been shot in the chest. She was screaming and trying to pull her behind the stage into safety. Everything was moving so fast.

He heard one of them yell, "Grab the shit and lets go. It should be in the office." He knew that this was no random robbery, the robbers knew exactly what they were there for, and he would rather be dead than lose what they had been working so hard for. It wasn't fair. They were just getting started. He immediately sat up and started firing in their direction, clipping one of the ones who was shooting at the crowd just above his right eye and dropping him, his gun still firing as it went wild out of his grip.

When they turned to shoot at the table Lisa and Luke were hiding behind, Vicky raised the shotgun from behind the bar and fired two quick shot at them, missing one entirely but hitting another one of them square in the chest, with some of the rogue pellets taking out another one of the robber's legs.

He let out a piercing scream as he hit the floor, and as two made a break for the office, two more began firing quickly at the bar. Vicky made a quick run for it, but the people who were dressed up as the founders who had hid with her weren't as lucky. They were quickly torn to pieces from the barrage of bullets.

A bouncer tried wrestling an assault rifle from one of the robbers. It went wild and started spraying everywhere eventually turning on them both and hitting each of them with a dozen shots each, but not before it had hit at least five people in the crowd. The entire club was erupting in madness, and the robbers knew that the situation wasn't looking good, so the four that remained made a break for the office and kept firing as they ran.

Vicky tried to intercept them, but she ended up catching a bullet in her stomach and went down screaming in pain. Luke saw this and panicked, running towards her and pulling her to safety behind the table. With the front doors now clear, the remaining bar patrons began to rush out of them, nearly trampling the squirming thief who caught shells in the leg and fully trampling a couple of people with longer dresses who tripped.

Luke heard the window in the back office break and figured that they were going to climb out of the back window and make their escape down the fire escape, most likely with all of their powder and whatever credits they could stuff into the bags they brought with them. There was no time to think about that. His brain went into full speed as he tried to make a plan. He looked to Lisa, who was holding Vicky's shoulder and slowly getting covered in her blood, looking shell-shocked.

"Lisa!" He yelled at her, snapping her out of it. "I think they're gone. We need to act fast. I need you to take that wounded robber into the back room and tie him up, put a gag on him and lock the door behind you when you come out. I need to call Sunny before the guards get here and get Vicky to the hospital. This place is going to be a swarming soon and we need to be ready. Okay?"

Lisa vigorously nodded and hopped up quickly, stepping over the screaming downed people and rushing to the wounded robber, scooping him up by the arms and dragging him as quickly as she could towards the office. Vicky was still screaming in pain herself as Luke put pressure over the hole in her chest.

"It's going to be okay," he said as calmly as he could. Then he heard something that she hadn't expected.

"It's funny, Luke." Vicky coughed out, blood starting to come out of her mouth. "I've never actually been shot before. It hurts like a bitch. I kinda feel bad for all the people I've done this to now."

She then started laughing a little bit more until she started coughing up blood onto the floor.

"Shh," Luke cooed to her, "stop talking. You need to save your energy. I didn't realize how bad this was, we need to get going now."

There was no time to wait, if he didn't make a move, Vicky was going to die right there on the floor with all the others. He stood up quickly, picking up Vicky and putting her on his back. "Vanessa! Lisa! If anyone can hear me, someone needs to call Sunny now. Her number is written by the phone in the back. Tell her what happened. I have to go to the hospital!"

There was no time to say anything else. He just hoped someone had heard him over the screams and cries of the injured and dying people on the floor around them as he ran out to his car as fast as he could. He could see the trail of blood that Vicky was leaving behind in the snow as he opened the back door and gently put her inside. He took off his bloody coat and ripped the arm off, handing it to Vicky.

"You need to try and keep pressure on the wound. I'm going to get us to the hospital, I promise." Vicky could only weakly nod as she held the coat arm over the gushing hole in her belly.

Luke jumped in the front seat and started the car, peeling out in the snow and almost crashing right away before speeding down the street. The hospital was almost fifteen minutes away at normal speed. H figured he had five at most before Vicky bled out, so he pushed the pedal to the floor and raced as fast as he could through the snowy streets.

"Luke," he heard Vicky weakly cry out from the back. "I'm pretty sure I'm dying. This is so fucked up. How did this happen?"

He shook his head, trying to focus on the road. "What did I tell you Vicky? You need to save your energy. You're going to be fine. You're not dying. Just stay awake okay?"

Vicky didn't respond.

"Vicky!" He screamed, not wanting to take his eyes off of the road. He finally afforded a second to look behind her and saw that Vicky's eyes were closed. He panicked and started crying out Vicky's name. He couldn't fail now, Vicky couldn't die like this.

He could see the hospital at the end of the street and didn't let off the gas. Unfortunately, when he did finally try to stop, he forgot about the ice that was covering the road and the car started sliding. The last thing he saw was the front end of the car about to smash into one of the large pillars that held up the roof over the bay where the ambulances came in to drop off patients. He heard the sound of smashing metal and rock and felt his head hitting the steering wheel hard. Then everything went black and his problems faded away into the winter night.