Pinch Me

Her Final Battle

Clem POV

 My  eyes widened as I saw AJ, gun pointed at Lilly's head. I glanced at Lilly, who was reacting the same way.

"AJ, wait! I give up! I will give up!"

It was almost amusing how easily Lilly was willing to surrender; even Abel had held out longer than she had.

"Put down the gun," Lilly pleaded, "I'll let everyone leave. My crew and I will leave, we won't bother you anymore!"

Bullshit, I thought.  There was no way Lilly would ever leave us alone.  

"AJ!" James was slowly making his way toward him. "She's not a threat. Lower the gun."

"You weren't down there!" Alvin Junior argued, "You didn't see what she did!"

Lilly continued to plead with him, "You don't have to do this, please!"

"It's a trick!" cried Tenn.

"Just give me the gun," James said calmly.  

Tenn raised his voice, trying to talk over James, saying, "You can't let her hurt anyone else!"

"I don't want to do die!" The older woman exclaimed.

   The little boy looked to me, asking for help, for guidance. I was just about to tell AJ to shoot, to end all of our trouble, when I made eye contact with James. His eyes were wild. He shook his head, telling me that no, AJ shouldn't shoot Lilly, tell him to put down the gun. I thought back to our conversation from earlier, about how taking to many people's lives could break something in AJ. 

I hesitated. Was getting rid of Lilly really worth the chance of destroying AJ for good?

By the time I had made up my mind, it was too late. Lilly lunged forward, snatching the gun. Before I even had time to think, Lilly had the weapon pointed at me, and was shooting.

Bang. Bang. The first shot hit me on her left shoulder, and the second found it's way a few inches to the right of my belly button.

Louis POV

After Clementine had left to go find AJ, the remaining kids were supposed to get off of the boat before the bomb went off, but I had refused to leave Violet behind.

 "Louis, we have to go!" Aasim was pulling on my arm, trying to pull him along with him, but I stood firm.

 "We can't leave Violet," I said as she cradled her motionless ex behind me. "You two go, and I'll meet you out there."  Aasim started to object, but I wouldn't have it. "I'm not leaving here without her, Aasim."

Omar said, "If she doesn't come with you in two minutes, leave her. If you guys don't come running out by then, we're coming back in here to get you."

"Ok, fine! Now go, get outta here!" I ordered, shooing them off.

Omar and Aasim ran off in the other direction, and I  ran to Violet's side. "We have to go, Vi,"  I stated, placing a hand on her shoulder.  I tried to hide the panic in my voice, but was having trouble. "This ship's gonna blow any second!"

Violet jerked away from my touch, refusing to listen. "I don't care, Louis! I'm not leaving her!" My mind was running in circles as I tried to think of a way to change her mind.

"What about the rest of us, Violet? Are you really gonna abandon us for this---this," I struggled to think of a word to describe Minerva, then decided on, "This traitor?"