Chapter 8

"Dr. Blake!"

Felicia knelt beside the slightly older man, at the moment not caring about the blood that was soaking through her clothes. Kirk and Eddie ran in moments later, and they stared in shock at the veterinarian. Felicia was in shock herself, but she was forcing herself to not think about it, the adrenaline coursing through her body pushing her through.

Eddie looked like he was about to keel over at any second.

"Is he…" Kirk trailed off, like he was afraid of finishing his sentence.

Felicia pressed two of her fingers against Blake's neck, letting out a sigh of relief. "He has a pulse. It's barely there, but he has one. Eddie, call an ambulance."

She looked up to see that Eddie had a blank expression on his face. "Eddie!"

"There's so much blood…"

"Eddie, snap out of it!" Felicia stood up, shaking Eddie by the shoulders, and he finally looked at her. "Eddie,this man is going to die unless we get him medical attention. I'm going to try and find out where the blood is coming from and try to stop it. Now, I need you to get it together, get your phone out, and call a damn ambulance."

She knelt down beside Blake once more, and when she pulled up his shirt, she saw the the blood was coming from a wound in his chest that looked like it had been caused by a gun.

Blake's eyes suddenly shot open, causing Felicia to let out a small scream of surprise and shock.

Blake gripped her hand as tightly as he could, which in reality wasn't all that tight because of how weak he was.

"I'm sorry." He croaked.

"Dr. Blake, you need to save your strength, don't try and talk-"

"I tried to save him…"

Kirk, who had gone into one of the other rooms, returned carrying a small, black lump that caused Felicia to let out a strangled cry.

The lump in Kirk's arms was Shadow, his fur mangled with blood.

"Felicia, look away." Kirk ordered her.

"Kirk-"

"I said look away."

Felicia then did as she was told, looking away.

Eddie, who had by now called for an ambulance, as well as the police, found a sheet to wrap Shadow in.

"I didn't want her to see him like this." Kirk whispered. The injuries that Shadow had sustained were too gruesome to even mention, and it took everything that Kirk had not to puke.

By the time that the ambulance arrived, Dr. Blake had unfortunately succumbed to his injuries. Felicia was in the back of an ambulance, a shock blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Now that everything was over, the reality of everything that happened was hitting her like a brick. Shadow had been her best friend, her companion, and now he was gone.

A police officer was there as well, asking Felicia all sorts of questions, and Felicia was answering them as best as she could, but that dind't seem to be enough for the officer, who was starting to get more and more agitated with the woman.

"Hey!"

Kirk got into the ambulance, putting himself between Felicia and the officer. "She's had a traumatic night, and all of your questions and general jerky behavior isn't exactly helping things."

"I'm just trying to get all of the information out of her." The officer replied. "And the way that she's answering my questions makes me think that she might have something to do with what happened here tonight."

"She's in shock! She found a man lying in a freaking pool of blood, and as if that wasn't bad enough, her pet was killed as well, its head basically blown off! She can come by the station tomorrow or the day after if you need to talk to her about it that badly."

The officer gritted his teeth, seeing that he wasn't going to be getting his way. "Fine. But tomorrow I want you and that other man to come as well, there's some questions that I want to ask all three of you."

"Alright. Now if you don't mind, I would like to get my friend home."

Wrapping his arm around Felicia's shoulders, Kirk led her off of the ambulance and towards Eddie's car.

Felicia blindly let him lead her away. She just wanted to scream or cry or do something, but she just felt numb. Kirk tried talking to her, but she didn't respond, just nodded her head to acknowledge that she had heard him.

Kirk put her in the backseat, and he got into the back as well, while Eddie got into the driver's seat.

"I'm worried about her." Kirk said to his lover. "Ever since that cop, she hasn't said a word."

"She was probably scared by him, especially when he said that she was a suspect."

"Which is stupid!"

Eddie turned the headlights onto a higher setting as he drove. "Kirk, we're the ones that discovered the body, it wouldn't surprise me if we were all considered to be suspects at this point. When we get back, don't talk about any of this to Felicia, let's just focus on getting her cleaned up. She'll stay with us tonight, and then tomorrow we'll all go down to the station."

~

All the way home, Felicia just sat there, with her head resting on Kirk's shoulder.

"Felicia?" Kirk spoke in a gentle voice, like he was speaking to a wounded animal. "Felicia, we're home. We're going to go inside and get you cleaned up, okay?"

Just like before, Felicia allowed herself to be led into the house.

"Eddie, can you grab some clean clothes for her?" Kirk asked. "She and I are about the same size, so just grab some of my pajamas."

It was clear that Felicia was going to be needing some help cleaning up, so Kirk led her into the bathroom. They had a large tub, and Kirk started to fill it up with warm water before helping Felicia to undress. There was a hollow look in her eyes, the light that had always seemed to be in her eyes had vanished.

Kirk got her into the tub, and then he grabbed a washcloth, wetting it before he gently started to scrub at her body.

"Still not talking?" Eddie asked as he came into the bathroom, setting the requested clothes on the sink.

Kirk shook his head in response. "She's not even looking at me, it's like she's looking through me."

"You just gotta give her some time. Now that she's run through all of her adrenaline, her brain is trying to process everything that's happened tonight all at once."

After Felicia was cleaned up, Eddie helped Kirk to get her dressed, and then they got her situated in the guest room.

"You should get to bed." Kirk told Eddie once they had closed her door.

"Aren't you coming?"

"I will in a bit."

"Okay." Eddie gave him a soft kiss on the lips. "She'll be okay. Try not to stay up too late."

Kirk nodded, returning the kiss. He had just become a lot more invested in this whole situation. Nobody hurt his friends. Nobody.