The Secrets My Four Walls Keep

Twelve

2 months later..

I woke up in the school hallway with my ears ringing, my head pounding, and my thigh throbbing. People were running around and screaming all around me and as I opened my eyes, everything was blurry. I laid there for a minute until I remembered what happened and my heart started to race. The bad feeling. The fucking gut feeling that Monty started having two months ago.. it was about this. "Montgomery." I panicked while forcing myself up. I glanced over and my eyes landed on him. He was laying on his back in the hallway, he was either unconscious or dead, and there was a giant pool of blood around him that just kept growing. "Baby." I cried while crawling towards him, causing me to realize that there was blood pouring out of my thigh that hurt. I looked down and realized that they shot me in the leg. What did they do? Try to kill him and then try to trap me by shooting me in the thigh after he took the original bullet for me? I ignored the blood and pain and crawled for Monty before I immediately checked his pulse. He was alive. "Thank God." I sobbed while clutching his white v neck in my hands as tight as I could as I rested my forehead on his chest and sobbed. "Someone please help me!" I cried out to everyone running past but they just kept running, terrified themselves. I have to get him up and to safety and since I don't know where any of our friends are since this happened after we snuck off to have sex during school like we used to do, I'm gonna have to do it alone. I don't know if I can do anything with him though because he's so much bigger than me but I have to try. For him, for Addilyn.. and for me. "Baby." I cried while shaking him, trying to wake him up. "Come on, babe. You can do it." I said while I kept shaking him. "Montgomery, I'm fucking begging you. Please." I pleaded with his unconscious body through sobs. "Monty!" I scream cried while shaking him harder. Finally, a minute later, his eyes just barely fluttered open. He gasped loudly and then suddenly yelled out in pain as his whole body tried to flail around. "Hey.. hey, I'm here." I soothed through sniffles while putting my hands on his cheeks and getting in his line of sight. "Baby." He painfully whispered out and then he started to cough up blood.. even worse than after our wreck. "I-I c-cant.." "It's okay, Monty. I'm gonna get you out of here." I assured him as tears streamed down my face. I looked down slowly and noticed that I was sitting in his blood and we were both soaked at this point. It was all over the both of us, like we had just murdered multiple people. "Y-you c-can't.." He started but then he drifted off and started to mumble in Spanish. He was mixing English and Spanish as he talked and I've literally never heard him do that in our entire relationship. He doesn't even speak Spanish unless he either has to or someone begs him to. And he damn sure doesn't mix up the two languages. He's completely fluent in both, so he's not a person who struggles to speak in either one. He was raised as both of them being his first language.. learning them both at the same exact time. He knows what he's doing and right now, he's talking like someone who's fluent in Spanish and only knows English to a certain extent. I had to really pay attention and think hard to understand what he was trying to say because I'm not pretty much full Spanish like he is. I only can speak it to any extent because of what he's taught me while I was taking Spanish as a class. Him going back and forth between the two languages wasn't making it any easier either. "Okay.. okay, yeah." I whispered while nodding once I understood what he was trying to say. He was saying that the only way for me to get him anywhere was if I physically got him off the floor and into a standing position myself. He doesn't think I can do it but I have so much adrenaline pumping and I love him so much, I think I can. "Here we go." I took a deep breath before I used every bit of strength that I had to get him up. "Aaahhhh!" I screamed out both in pain from my leg and because of how heavy he is. He started saying something in Spanish and English again and I cut him off. "Babe, hang on.. I can't concentrate." I grunted while pulling him up. I did it. I fucking did it. I got this 6'3-6'4, 250 pound man that's nothing but solid muscle off the ground while he's pure dead weight and I'm only 5'0 and weigh maybe 110 pounds. As soon as I had him in a standing position, his whole body weight fell into me and since he's so much bigger than me and I wasn't expecting it, we went flying into the lockers and crashed into them hard. "Oh God." I cried while trying to steady us both onto our feet. "Can you help us?" I rushed out to a group of 3 girls that went running past us but they just glanced at us and then kept going. "What?" I gasped out through tears, shocked that they saw what's going on and just kept going. I got us steady on our feet but Montgomery had to lean his whole body into mine and he wrapped his arms around me tight as he rested his head into the crook of my neck. His entire body was trembling, he was so weak, he was getting cold which is very unlike him, and I knew that the amount of blood he's losing right now can't be good. I wrapped my arms around him and ignored the feeling of his blood continuing to soak me as I started to slowly walk us down the hall as best I could. "Baby, just leave me.." He lowly slurred before he started mixing Spanish in there again. "No. Never." I said firmly through gritted teeth as I continued trying to get us somewhere safe. We slammed back into the lockers and I yelled out in pain because not only did it hurt my thigh, but the way my shoulder slammed into the metal lockers with the force of his body slamming into me at the same time hurt pretty bad. "Baby, I.." "I'm okay, Montgomery. I'm getting you out of here." I said as confidently as I could before I stood us back up straight and went back to walking. "Hey, can you.." I drifted off once the people kept running past us. I was desperately trying to find someone with a decent enough heart to help us. He's a fucking dad for Christ sake.. and yet no one will help us still. He started to slouch down into me again and almost made us fall but I forced him back up. "Think about Addilyn, babe. Okay? Just think about Addilyn." "And you." He slurred back immediately. "And me. And our future together and our future kids and our grandkids and everything." I responded before I started to sob again because what if.. what if he doesn't get to experience any of that with me? He started whispering something to me in Spanish but I just kept focusing on walking because I didn't have the time to try to understand what he was saying right now. "Did you hear me?" He whispered in pain, finally speaking in English again. "No. What is it, baby?" I soothed as best I could but I was sweating by this point and so was he. "I wanna. I-I wanna get m-married over the s-summer and I.." He paused for a second because he was in so much pain and we were both really struggling to walk and kept landing into the lockers. He started trying to talk again but he was struggling from the pain and blood loss and he switched back to Spanish. "It's okay, babe. Just shhh." I tried to soothe him but he shook his head as he grunted from pain. He took a deep and shaky breath before he started talking again, unfortunately still in Spanish. I understood what he said though and my eyes widened as they filled with tears. "What?" I whispered in a shaky breath while pausing in the hallway and leaning us up against the lockers for stability. It wasn't bad shock that I was feeling.. it was surprised and oddly happy shock. "I w-want to.. I wanna t-try to h-have another b-baby within the next y-year so they're c-close in a-age." He mumbled while leaning his head down on my shoulder because he couldn't stand up. I could feel his ragged breathing and the sweat on his head and face was getting on me but I didn't care. "So you're saying that you wanna try to get pregnant again within the next year?" I whispered and I felt him nod into my shoulder. I've wanted to do that too but I didn't think he would want to, despite how good of a dad he is to Addy, so I haven't brought it up. But I want Addilyn to have a sibling no more than two years younger than her tops so they can be close and like each other's best friend growing up. Like Justin and I. Addilyn is 6 months old now so if we waited just a few more months, by the time the baby was born, she would be almost 2. We would be 20 by then or at least close to it, out of high school, married, and we're literally more than set on money because my parents left both Justin and I millions a piece plus the house, other property, their music producing business, etc. We could absolutely do it. "Then that's even more reason for us to get out of here. Come on, baby." I finally spoke up again before I grunted as I lifted him back up and then started walking again once he yelled out in pain. "I have to get us somewhere secluded and where I can try to get the bullet out and then pack the wound and hopefully slow the bleeding." I said to myself while my teeth were grit together tight because I was struggling. We took another hard hit to the lockers but I got right back up and kept moving. As we were walking, I suddenly heard a gun shot that didn't sound too far away from us. "No." I gasped as tears flooded my eyes quickly. They're still fucking shooting. "Come on, babe. We've really gotta move." I rushed out while trying to move us faster so we could hide in a classroom doorway for a minute. "Montgomery, please." I begged as I fought back a sob and heard another gun shot, closer than the last one. "Leave me and go." He struggled to get it out but he said it and then he tried to kiss me goodbye but I wouldn't let him. "I'm not leaving you." I said firmly before I kissed him hard and then rushed us to a classroom doorway. I held my hand over his mouth as he was making noises from the pain and then I sat us down on the floor and I wrapped him up in my arms and legs like he was a baby and I laid his head on my chest. I bit my lip to hold in the sobs and squeezed Montgomery tighter as I heard footsteps and low talking starting to walk down the hallway towards us. Both of our bodies were shaking.. his from pain, shock, and blood loss and mine from probably the same but also the worst fear I've ever felt in my life. Not just from the gunmen coming down the hallway, the gunmen who fucking hate us, but also the fear of Montgomery dying. I can't live without him.. I genuinely can't. I'll die too.. just from heartbreak instead of being shot. "Isn't this where you took down De La Cruz?" Andrew, the guy from the party, said. "Yes." I heard Tyler Down mumble. I couldn't believe the dark turn that he took. He was weird and bullied and kind of creepy but I never imagined he would be a school shooter. "I still can't believe his dumb ass really jumped in front of the bullet for that bitch.." "I can. He's a fucking real one who fears nothing and he loves that cunt." Andrew interrupted the other guy who's with them. The guy that I don't know personally but has been in on taking us down since day one. He's apparently Andrew's cousin and was there the night of the infamous party and because of what Monty did to Andrew that night, he decided he wanted to get revenge with everyone else. "They got away." Tyler said and I had to cover my mouth to keep a sob from coming out because I was so scared that they were going to walk in this direction to look for us. "They might've gotten out of the hallway but all they're gonna do is go hide out somewhere as Monty slowly dies and that stupid bitch has to watch it happening." Andrew laughed and I closed my eyes tight as hot tears fell quickly. What he just said is my absolute biggest fear. I kept one hand clasped over my mouth tight and one hand clasped over Montgomery's mouth tight and I silently prayed that they were going to leave so we could get out of here. "So at the end of the day, we finally fucking won." One of the guys laughed before I heard their heavy footsteps walk away and their sadistic laughter went with them. I sat there for a minute and continued to cry until I felt Montgomery's shaky hand cup my face and rub my cheek with his thumb. His hands were covered in blood but so were mine. We were both soaked. "I-I love y-you." He stuttered through pain and once I looked down at his face, I really lost it. "I love you." I sobbed before I leaned down and connected our lips hard, not caring for a second about his blood that I could taste in my mouth. We stayed that way for a minute until I reluctantly pulled back and ran my hand over his face before I stood back up. I struggled a lot to get him up but once again, I did it. I peaked around the corner of the doorway before I drug us back out there and we started trying to walk again. Again, people ran past us frequently but didn't even hesitate to just keep going as we struggled. I saw Troy and a couple other baseball players running through the doors so I thought maybe now was my chance to get some help. "Troy! Guys.. can you help us?" I rushed out through tears and they stared for a second but I could tell by the look in their eyes, like everyone else, they were gonna save theirselves. "Please." I begged through a sob while struggling to hold up Montgomery and I could see the guilt in their eyes. "I'm sorry, Raelynn. We have to try to save ourselves and he'll just hold us back. I'm sorry, De La Cruz." Troy said before they all took off running again. "No! Help us!" I screamed as I cried but they just kept going. "He has a kid you pieces of shit!" I screamed through sobs, not just at them but all the people who were running past us. I got us moving again as I sniffled once I realized that all of these people are more concerned with getting out of here alive and unharmed than helping a couple who very obviously needs help. "W-we can d-do this alone, b-babe. A-always just y-you a-and me." He slurred and I sobbed at the fact that even like this, he's still trying to comfort me. "We have to get to the old drama room. We'll be safe in there and I can get the bullet out and no one will hear you screaming and I can use all the old costumes and stuff to stop the bleeding." I said, more so talking to myself about my plan than him. He did lightly nod into the crook of my neck though, letting me know that he agreed. He started whispering to me in Spanish again and I did the best I could to understand him as we walked and constantly ran into lockers. He kept switching back and forth from English to Spanish and it really worried me because I've just never heard him do that before until now. "Babe.. why are you doing that?" I questioned concerned. "Doing what, baby?" He mumbled and I couldn't believe how thick his accent sounded right now. He doesn't even realize that he's going back and forth between languages. That's not good. "Nothing." I whispered as a tear made its way down my face. I pulled him into me closer and we slammed into the lockers a bunch more times and there were a few times I had to cover his mouth as he screamed in pain. We were both heavily sweating by now and I asked several more people that we passed for help with no luck. I didn't even have either of our phones to try to call for help because we had left all of our stuff in the cafeteria for lunch while we snuck off into the bathroom and had sex... it was really awesome sex too and now this happened. "We.. we shouldn't have left everyone else. Now we're alone." I sobbed, realizing that if we hadn't have gone off and had sex, we would be with all of our friends and my cousin. "I hope everyone's okay. Justin has to be okay." I sobbed again, causing him to use any strength he had to lightly kiss my sweaty neck. "You and me, babe." He whispered with a very heavy accent again. So does his accent become even stronger if he's in bad shape? He already has a very noticeable Spanish accent but right now, it's off the charts. "Always." I whispered back before I kissed the top of his head and tried to keep us moving. We kept slowly moving for about 20 more minutes and I was shocked but thankful that we hadn't came across the shooters again. We had to go outside to get to the old drama room and once we were out there and had to push our way through crowds of people running around everywhere in a panic, we fell completely to the ground more than once. We got up each time though.. well, I got us up each time, Montgomery was practically dead weight at this point. "I w-wanna see A-Addilyn.. I n-need to see m-my d-daughter." Montgomery stuttered through pain as we were approaching the old drama room finally. "I know.. later though, baby. Okay?" I soothed and he nodded into my neck. We made our way inside and fell into the door frame but once we were back up, I shut the door behind us and then I walked us to the stage. It was really hard to get us up the steps but I did it and then I walked us behind the curtains some and I finally laid him down on his back. He was coughing up blood again and I held up his head for him as he coughed so he wouldn't choke on it. Once he was done, I laid him back down and then I went and quickly searched for anything I could use. I found tons of clothes and I found a pair of scissors that I thought I could use to get the bullet out before I went back to Montgomery. I sat down on my knees next to him and took his shirt off before I gasped at the sight. There was blood everywhere and it was already bruising worse than anything I've ever seen before and it was swelling and it just looked so bad and so fucking painful. "Oh baby, I'm so sorry." I cried once I saw it but he shook his head. "Better me than you." He whispered in such a think accent, if I didn't know better, I would think he literally lived in Spain or Puerto Rico growing up. I leaned down and kissed him before pulling away and I wiped my eyes. "I-I think.. I think t-this was w-what the bad f-feeling w-was about." He stuttered and I nodded while biting my lip. "I think so too." I whispered through tears as I nodded and then kissed him again before pulling back and getting ready. "Okay.. you're really gonna hate me while I'm doing this but I have to. It's the only way to save your life." I said honestly, feeling like it was best to give it to him straight up. "I know." He whispered before he placed his shaky hand on my good thigh. I nodded and kissed him hard one more time with my hands on his cheeks before I got everything ready. I rolled up a t shirt and placed it in his mouth for him to bite down on and then I poured a bunch of alcohol and hand sanitizer onto the scissors that I found and then I got all the other clothes together too. "Here we go." I braced myself with a deep breath before I started wiping blood as best I could and then I stuck the scissors in the deep and big hole. He immediately screamed in pain and bit down onto the t shirt as hard as he could while squeezing his eyes tight and grabbing onto my thigh as hard as he could too. I knew it was going to bruise but that's fine. He lifted his back off the ground and continued to scream in the most agonizing way as tears fell from his closed eyes quickly. I've never once seen Montgomery cry or even tear up over pain, so I know this has to be really bad. "I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so fucking sorry." I sobbed as I kept going. The more I dug around, the harder he bit down on the shirt, the louder he screamed, the more he lifted off the ground, the harder he squeezed my leg, and the more he cried. "I love you so much, Montgomery. I'm doing this to save your life." I sobbed again while shoving the scissors in deeper. "Aaahhhhh!" He screamed literally at the top of his lungs as he started to literally bawl from the pain. I finally felt the bullet and I knew I was about to be able to end this very soon. "Think about Addy, okay? Just think about Addy." I said through tears before I latched onto the bullet and started to pull it out. He gasped loudly and then let out the worst scream I had ever heard in my life, which caused me to sob at the sound as I continued to pull it out. "Ahhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhhh!" He kept loudly screaming as I slowly pulled it out, knowing that if I went too fast, it could cause damage. "Think about your daughter, Montgomery." I demanded because he was screaming so loud and his body was shaking so bad and his breathing was so quick. I knew his heart was probably about to beat out of his chest too. I finally pulled the bullet out and he let out an earth shattering scream before he gasped thankfully once I tossed it on the ground and then quickly packed the wound to soak up blood. "I fucking.. I fucking love you." He whispered in a shaky voice as his whole body continued to shake. "I love you too." I said with my hand on his face before I leaned down and kissed him several times in a row. I held all the clothes against his wound tight to try to soak up his blood and he lifted his hand and placed his hand on the back of my head and pulled me down onto his chest and then he ran his fingers through my hair. I knew blood was probably getting in my hair but I couldn't care less. I felt his heart rate starting to slow to a normal rate again and I let out a sigh of relief. He's still not out of the woods by any means but at least he's not about to go into freaking cardiac arrest anymore from me pulling a bullet out of him with a pair of scissors and no sedation or anything. I sobbed into his chest as I held the clothes against him as tight as I could. I knew that once we get out of here, we're gonna have to go straight to the hospital because of Montgomery. That's when it dawned on me that I do have a wound too that I haven't even checked on at all because of how bad Monty's is. I lifted my head off his chest and looked at my thigh and knew what I had to do. I have to get the bullet out of myself too. "I have to do it to myself." I whispered in a shaky breath and his head shot towards me. "Y-you can't." He stuttered in a whisper but I grabbed the scissors and disinfected them anyways. "Baby.." "I have to get it out." I interrupted him while I grabbed a shirt and cleaned some of the blood off as best I could. I took a deep breath before I stuck the scissors in. I knew I couldn't close my eyes or I wouldn't be able to see what I was doing so I kept my gaze firmly planted on what I was doing. The further I went in, the more it hurt. I screamed at the top of my lungs as tears flooded my face and my hands were shaking as my breathing picked up too. Montgomery forced himself up some and he wrapped his arm around me while he laid his head on my shoulder and placed light kisses there and whispered things in my ear to try to calm me. "Oh my God!" I screamed through tears while still trying to find the bullet. I knew Montgomery couldn't do this for me because he can't sit up, he's shaking too bad on his own, and he's not all there right now and I think he's practically going in and out of consciousness. "You can do it, baby." He whispered with that freaking thick accent again before he kissed my cheek hard. My cheek was soaked in tears and sweat but he didn't seem to care. "I can't do this!" I screamed in a sob while pausing my actions for a minute. It hurt too bad. I've never felt anything like this before in my life. He said something in Spanish again before he forced himself into a full sitting position, yelling in pain as he did so, and then he took the scissors in his own shaky hand. He was going to try to do this for me because I couldn't do it myself. "Please.. please be careful." I whispered shakily, referring to the fact that he could clip an artery or something if he wasn't careful. He nodded, said something to me again while switching back and forth between languages, and then he began digging the scissors into my wound like I had been doing. I started screaming like he had been doing earlier and now he was sobbing like I had been doing whenever I was taking his bullet out. It's very hard and traumatizing to listen to the person you love screaming like that because of something you're doing.. whether it's necessary or not. "Ahhhhh!" I screamed at the top of my lungs while squeezing his thigh as hard as I could. I felt like I couldn't breathe and my heart was racing so fast as my body was violently shaking. "Think about Addilyn." He directed me like I had done him earlier and then I felt him latch onto the bullet and start to slowly and painfully pull it out. I screamed louder than I've ever done in my entire life and I shut my eyes as tight as I could as I tried to think about nothing but my daughter. I allowed my thoughts to be completely consumed by my 6 month old baby's smiling face as I screamed and sobbed and felt like I was going to have a heart attack. He suddenly pulled it out and I screamed in pain one more time before I felt relief once the bullet and the scissors were removed from my thigh. I clasped my shaky and bloody hand onto his shoulder tight and tried to regain composure. "I'm s-so sorry b-baby.. I-I love y-you." Monty stuttered before he kissed me hard and then he yelled in pain as he tried to lay back down. He tried to take me with him but I wrapped a makeshift bandage around my thigh first and then I laid down with Montgomery and held the clothes to his bleeding wound as hard as I could. "I-if I d-die.." "Don't finish that sentence." I interrupted him firmly, now understanding how he felt whenever I tried to do that to him whenever I was pregnant with Addilyn. "I want y-you to m-move on and be h-happy.." "No." I interrupted him again, now crying again. "Babe, p-please.." I cut him off by kissing him hard. I cupped his cheek with my free hand and our tongues massaged one another's. "You're my forever. Only you." I whispered against his lips before pulling him back in and we went back to lovingly making out. We continued for a few more minutes before we pulled apart and then placed our sweaty and bloody foreheads together. "You and me are gonna get out of here together. And then we're gonna go to the hospital and get help and then we're gonna go home and be with our daughter. School is over in just a couple of weeks and we're gonna graduate and be done with this hell hole forever and then we can live our lives and get married and grow our family and everything. Everything we wanted is still gonna happen. We're gonna get out of here, baby. I promise." I assured him as confidently as I could and he lightly nodded before he kissed me again and then he pulled my head down onto his bare, sweaty, bloody chest. We laid that way for a few minutes as I applied pressure to his wound and constantly checked to make sure he was awake until I heard the old drama room door open. I froze and I felt Monty do the same. I placed my hand over his mouth tight because he was constantly making noises from pain and occasionally yelled and we couldn't have that right now. I quietly sat up some and waited to see who it was. "I'm not fucking hiding out in here! I'm not fucking hiding anywhere until I find my God damn cousin! What the fuck don't y'all get about that?" I heard Justin scream and it echoed throughout the theater. "We've looked everywhere, Justin! We're gonna have to just ride it out!" I heard Bryce yell next. "Fuck yall! I'm going alone then! I'm not fucking leaving my family out there alone! The two of them are my fucking family and they're around here somewhere!" "You can't go yourself!" Both Jessica and Meredith yelled back at Justin at the same time. "Brother, I'm freaking out too but we've literally looked everywhere for them. We've had to hide from the fucking shooters too many times now. They might've gotten out.." "They didn't get out and you fucking know it! I can feel that something is wrong!" Justin interrupted Scott in a yell. They're all together still. Thank God. Now Justin is saying that he has a gut feeling that something is wrong with Monty and me and he's right, something is wrong with us. Just like Montgomery's gut feeling was right too. Maybe we all need to start taking our intuition more seriously. "I think you're just worried and it's making you be paranoid." Winston suggested next. "No, I've always been able to sense when something is wrong with Raelynn, whether I'm with her or not. It's family shit.. it's blood. Something happened.." "Justin!" I finally yelled out, interrupting him. They all silenced immediately at the sound of my voice. I disconnected myself from Montgomery and grunted as I stood up and then I quickly limped towards the front of the stage and around the curtains that we were hiding behind. "Justy!" I yelled again as I got closer. "Rae!" He yelled back and I could hear his footsteps running in my direction fast. I threw the curtains open and he immediately stopped in his tracks with wide and teary eyes once he saw me, as did everyone else. "Oh my God." Sherri whispered with her hands over her mouth. I'm covered practically head to toe in blood.. mainly Monty's. "Please help us. No one would help us." I sobbed while placing my bloody and shaky hands to my head. Justin ran towards me full speed and wrapped me up in his arms so tight, we almost fell. I hugged him tight and sobbed into his neck, even though we got into an argument earlier today about his drug use and him fucking both Jessica and Meredith. "I-I can't carry him anymore.. I already carried him across the entire fucking school." I sobbed and everyone's eyes widened more before they came running onto the stage too. "Where is he?" Scott rushed out, realizing that it's Montgomery's blood all over me. I let go of Justin and led everyone back to where we were hiding and as soon as we reached Montgomery, they all gasped. "Montgomery." Scott rushed out through tears before running to his side and kneeling down next to him and he took over applying the pressure to the wound for him. "I g-got the bullet out." I said through tears while kneeling down and I picked it up and showed them. "You did that shit with no anesthesia, pain killers, nothing?" Zach gasped and I nodded. "He got mine out too." I whispered while picking up the other bullet. "Bro, I don't know what to do." Scott said while looking at the other guys frantically. Montgomery started mumbling something in Spanish and everyone stared at him for a second before they looked at me confused. "Oh yeah.. um.. he's mixing languages." I explained through sniffles as Justin continued to hold me and everyone's eyes widened. "He's literally never fucking done that shit before." Justin panicked and everyone else agreed. "I can.. I can understand for the most part if he's just speaking Spanish but whenever he starts mixing the two together and going back and forth, it's really hard." I said and everyone nodded in understanding. "His accent is oddly thick right now too. I don't.. I don't know why." I added a second later and everyone else looked at each other concerned. "That doesn't sound good to me." Hannah spoke up timidly and we all nodded because we knew that she was right. "How much blood has he lost?" Winston asked while trying to find more clothes or costumes. "A lot." I admitted in a shaky voice as tears streamed down my face. "Um.. there was a whole pool of his blood in the hallway and then it's all over me and all over him and all over the clothes and it's fucking everywhere." I rambled through tears before I put my face in my hands and started to sob. "He jumped in front of the bullet." I admitted as I bawled into my hands. "Of course he did, Rae." Jessica soothed while coming up behind me and rubbing my shoulder. "It should've been me." I loudly sobbed as both Justin and Jess tried to comfort me. "You would be dead, Raelynn. He's a lot bigger than you so his body can take it better. You.. you would be dead." Scott said while grabbing the new clothes from Winston and then he tossed the blood soaked clothes to the side and pressed the new ones on the wound hard. "It would be better than this." I cried with my face still shoved into my hands. "Stop." Montgomery suddenly said before he latched his hand onto my waist. "So you are coherent then." Winston said to him while kneeling down next to him and examining his pupils. "I c-can understand everything g-going on." Montgomery explained and they all looked at each other because of how thick his accent is. They now see for themselves that I wasn't being dramatic. He suddenly started coughing hard and blood was coming out again so the guys lifted him up some like I had done earlier and then they laid him back down once he was done. "Hey, is that our stuff?" I rushed out once I saw our stuff in Sherri and Hannah's hands. They nodded so I jumped up. "Give me my phone. I can call.." "We've tried 100 times. The lines are out from so many people calling 911 at one time." Winston interrupted me and I let out an angry yell. "Hey, Mon.. can you hold this tight for a minute?" Scott questioned and Montgomery lightly nodded before he took over for Scott and then Scott stood up and motioned for all of us to follow him. We all followed behind and he led us onto the stage before he turned towards all of us. "Okay, um.." He paused for a second and took a deep breath as he wiped his now bloody hands on his shirt. "I think we can all 100% agree that this is fucked and he's in really bad shape." He said and we all nodded, knowing without a doubt that he's right. "Help isn't coming anytime soon clearly. Even if they get here, it's gonna take awhile for them to find us hidden back here. So I think.." "We have to try to get to one of our cars." I interrupted Scott and he nodded. "We can make a run for it out of the back door but it's a long ways to the parking lot and we're gonna have to get through the courtyard and everything too.." "We have no idea where the shooters are though and Montgomery's gonna have to be practically carried. That's gonna slow us up." Hannah said and I immediately shot her a dirty look. "Do you know how many fucking people refused to help me because they said that he would slow them down? I promise you I'll fucking haul him over there again alone if I have to." I snapped and Hannah put her hands up in surrender. "I wasn't saying we're not gonna help. I was just saying that we need a full proof plan because of that." She defended herself and I whispered an apology under my breath. "I mean, there's enough of us here now to be able to move him pretty quickly. It only took them forever to get over here because it was just Rae and Monty's 3 times her size. He can't be that heavy to the point that we can't all get him moving.." "He's unnaturally heavy, dude. He's pure fucking muscle." Justin interrupted Zach. "Justin's right. He's fucking solid and he's taller than any of us. I'm pretty sure he's dead weight right now too.." "He is. Complete dead weight." I interrupted Scott and he nodded. "Okay, so.. we need a guy on each side of him, someone in the front, and someone in the back to catch us if anyone falls.." "I think the girls should go ahead and book it in the front." Winston interrupted Bryce and everyone nodded in agreement. "Can anyone else speak Spanish? Ya'll need to be able to understand him if he's saying something." Sherri said to the guys and everyone nodded in agreement. "I failed Spanish." "I've never taken a foreign language." Scott and Justin said one after another. We all looked to the other guys now for their answers. "I took French." "I took German." Winston and Bryce said next. "Zach?" Meredith questioned as we all stared at him now. "I took Chinese. My mom made me." He said and he sounded guilty, even though there was no reason for him to feel guilty. "I think Rae's the only one who can communicate with him right now then. She's gonna have to translate for ya'll." Jessica said and everyone nodded but Justin shook his head. "No. No, she needs to run with the rest of the girls and get out of here. Meredith's taking Spanish, she can be the one who stays back." Justin said frantically and I knew it was because he was worried about me and wanted to make sure that I got out of here alive. "I can't, Justin. I'm failing Spanish, I don't understand it. And since Raelynn wouldn't let Monty tutor me.." "Bitch, I suggest you don't finish that sentence." I interrupted Meredith in a growl and she looked down while apologizing. "I can translate." "No!" Justin yelled back at me immediately and everyone looked towards us awkwardly because they knew he was acting like this because he's scared and I'm the main person that he wants to make sure gets out of here okay. "They can't understand him, Justin.." "They can fucking figure it out. Between Scott and Meredith at least taking Spanish, they can translate some." He interrupted me but both Scott and Meredith shook their heads. There's no way they can translate. "Okay.. do any of you other girls know Spanish?" Justin questioned while looking at Jessica, Sherri, and Hannah. They all smiled at him sympathetically and shook their heads. "Fucking figure it out amongst yourselves! My cousin is running!" Justin yelled at everyone as tears filled his eyes quickly and everyone looked at him sadly. "He might not even do it.. he might speak nothing but English." He added a second later as a tear made its way out of his eye. "Justy!" Montgomery suddenly called out, causing all of us to jump from surprise. Montgomery yelled out to Justin in Spanish and he looked around for answers. "Yeah, he's not gonna do it alright." Scott mumbled and Justin rolled his eyes with a huff before he turned towards me. "What did he say?" He asked me and I chuckled. "Ask them." I said while motioning towards everyone else, which caused them to chuckle too. "Okay, you proved your fucking point. Now tell me what he said." Justin grumbled with a roll of his eyes. "He told you to come here." I explained and he nodded before he went back there alone since obviously that's what Monty wants. We could hear whispering between them from behind the curtains and we all stood there waiting and preparing ourselves to make a run for it. "Hang on, I can't understand you. Rae's gotta translate, you're switching languages too much, bro." I heard Justin say so I went ahead and went back there. I reached them and Montgomery shot me a soft smile.. he didn't look too good at all. He actually looked like he was declining since we left him there. "Hey, baby." He whispered while reaching his arm out for me so I went and sat down next to him and let him wrap his arm around me. "I can't.. I can't control it." He said to me, referring to the speaking in Spanish and also switching back and forth languages too. "I've never heard his accent be that thick before. I mean, he has a thick accent but not like that." Justin whispered and I nodded. "I know." I whispered with tears welling up in my eyes as I rubbed Monty's shoulder. "What were you trying to tell Justin?" I questioned as I continued to rub his shoulder soothingly. "I can hear everything y'all are saying.." He started but he had to pause to take a deep breath since he's in pain. "I was telling Justin that.." He started in English but then switched to Spanish and then mixed some English in too but then went back to Spanish. Justin looked at me for an answer but I just stared for a minute while I ran Monty's words through my head and tried to translate because it's hard whenever he's bouncing around like that. "Did you say that you want me to stay back with you? And Justin too if he wants to stay with me? Is that what you said?" I questioned to make sure I got it right as I pushed his sweaty hair back. It's gotten so long now. He nodded and Justin's head shot towards him. "What? You don't want her to make a run for it?" Justin gasped and Montgomery lightly shook his head before saying something in Spanish again. He seemed to be speaking more in Spanish than English at this point. Justin looked at me to translate again and the tears fell from my eyes at Montgomery's words. We made eye contact and stared into each other's eyes for a minute before I nodded. "I'm here." I assured him before I leaned down and kissed him. "He said that.. that he needs to be around me so he can fight this or he might not make it because he'll just give up." I whispered to Justin through tears and whenever I looked at him, he was crying now too. "She'll stay with you, brother. We both will. You're not going anywhere." Justin assured Montgomery as he cried while squeezing his shoulder. I was so thankful that Justin understood how important that is and caved. "Thank you, bro." Monty whispered in a shaky voice and Justin nodded before he leaned down and kissed Montgomery's forehead, given the circumstances. We could tell that he was struggling to stay awake so we knew that we needed to get moving. "We're gonna get everyone. We're about to leave, okay?" I questioned Monty in a soothing voice and he weakly nodded. "I love you." I said firmly before I leaned down and kissed his lips hard and then Justin and I got up and started to head back out to everyone else. I paused for a second before we reached them and started to sob, causing Justin to pull me in for a tight hug. "He might die, Justy. I-I can't live w-without him. Addilyn c-can't.." "He's not gonna die, Raelynn. There's no fucking way we're gonna let that happen." He assured me but I could tell that he was crying too. Justin loves Montgomery.. realistically he's his best friend, he considers him his family because of me, and it would break his heart too if Monty dies. "My daughter can't lose her dad. And.. and she'll lose me too because I won't fucking make it if he dies, Justin. I won't be able to do it." I sobbed into his neck as he held me tight. "I know." He whispered in a shaky voice as he cried with me. We stood there for another minute or so before we quickly cleaned ourselves up and went to everyone else because we knew we needed to hurry. We walked out there and everyone looked at us sympathetically because they noticed we had been crying. "New game plan.." Justin started before he took a deep breath. "Everyone else book it, we're taking Monty." He said and everyone's eyes widened and my head shot towards him. I didn't know that's what we're doing. "What?" Scott gasped and Justin nodded. "Is that what he wants?" Bryce asked confused and Justin shrugged. "What he said is that he wants Raelynn to stay with him and then if I want to stay with her, then I can stay with him too.." "Okay, but that doesn't mean that we can't help y'all get him out there. You need all the help you can get." Scott interrupted Justin but he still shook his head. "Y'all get out of here. Anyone who gets near the two of them is at risk because not only are we gonna have to move much slower but.. they're the ones that the shooters really want. So just.. just go. It should be me, it's my family." Justin said confidently and tears welled up in my eyes at his words. He's willing to risk his own life for Monty and I? "Justin." I whispered through tears. We made eye contact and stared at each other for a minute and both of our eyes were watery. "Brother, I understand what you're saying but at the same time, I think you're making a big mistake." Bryce tried to reason with Justin but he wasn't wavering. "My decision is final. I'm not letting everyone risk their lives.." "But say all three of you die.. then Addy loses her entire family other than your grandmother in the blink of an eye." Meredith interrupted him, trying to talk sense into him. "Let me ask ya'll a question.. if it was your family, what would you do? Would you try to handle it amongst yourselves and make sure everyone else at least gets out safe or would you allow everyone to be at risk?" Justin questioned all of them and they all looked down because they knew now that he was right. "Exactly. So as long as Rae agrees too, this is what we're doing." He said before he turned towards me and held his hand out to me to do our childhood handshake. We stared at each other for a minute as he waited on my okay. I desperately wanted everyone else's help but I knew that Justin was right. I can't let all of my friends risk their lives for us. I lightly nodded and then clasped my hand into Justin's and did our handshake. Everyone else sighed but they did nod in agreement. "Ya'll run straight to the parking lot. Don't stop for any reason, don't slow down for us, don't turn around to see where we are.. nothing. Just fucking run. Whichever car you get to first, whether it's the Jeep or one of yalls that we can all fit in somehow.. get in it and speed in our direction so maybe you can meet us halfway." I spoke up with a plan this time and everyone nodded. "Okay.. y'all go ahead and start running now. We'll get him up and be behind you." Justin said while motioning towards the back door. They all nodded and we said our tearful goodbyes and we stood in place until we saw them check outside of the back door and then they all took off running full speed. "Let's do this." Justin said to me and I nodded and then we went into action. We ran back towards where Montgomery is and I grabbed some extra clothes incase we needed them and then we slowly got him off the floor.. which was very hard. He screamed loudly in pain the whole time and immediately wrapped his arms around our shoulders and he clasped on to each of our arms as hard as he could because of the pain and being so weak. "We've got you, bro. We've got you." Justin assured him through grit together teeth. Montgomery was even more dead weight at this point but mine and Justin's adrenaline was pumping hard. He laid his head in the crook of my neck because he just didn't have the energy to hold it up and I could feel tons of sweat and tears getting all over me. I was getting even more bloody now and now Justin was getting covered in blood as well. "Down the stairs, down the stairs." Justin demanded as we walked Monty out and then struggled to get him down the steps of the stage. We fell twice but we got back up and kept moving.. kind of like how I did it alone earlier. "Fuck!" Monty screamed at the top of his lungs once we stepped off the last step and he almost fell from his knees buckling underneath him because of pain but Justin and I managed to hold him up. "We're doing this as a fucking family, man. All three of us have to get out of here and get back home to Addilyn and we can keep being the same fucking family that we've always been." Justin rushed out to Monty and I felt him nod into my neck. "Ya'll and Addy are the only family I've got." Montgomery mumbled through pain, his accent still as thick as it was earlier. "Me too, dude. Me too." Justin responded while out of breath as we reached the back door of the theater. "Here we fucking go." Justin mumbled before he threw the back door open, looked both ways quickly, and then we busted through it and started moving as fast as we could through the grassy areas and gardens. "How far ahead of us do you think they are?" I asked Justin as my teeth were grit together and my breathing was quick. All three of us were covered in sweat, blood, and out of breath. Montgomery was constantly making noises from pain and he would occasionally yell out in pain or even scream. "Hopefully really fucking far so they can meet us with a God damn car." Justin grunted while holding onto Montgomery tight as we walked as fast as we could manage. So many people running around frantically passed us and they would either not even spare as a glance or even if they did, they looked sympathetic but just kept running to save themselves. "I-I don't think I c-can.." "Think about Addilyn, Montgomery. Don't give up." I interrupted him firmly as we kept moving. We heard a gunshot in the distance and then people started screaming louder and running faster. "Fuck. Hide, hide." Justin rushed out as we moved as fast as we could and hid behind the giant tree out there.. the same tree that Monty and I have had sex behind more than once. We got on the ground and I sat with my back against the tree and laid Monty down in my lap and I covered his mouth with my hand as Justin draped his legs over his lap and held them close to him to make sure his legs poking out wouldn't expose us. I peaked around the corner and I saw the three gunman running through the grassy area but they didn't come or even look in our direction. Once they went behind a building and were completely out of my sight, I sat up. "Let's go." I whispered and Justin and I both quickly got up before we pulled Monty up too and I kept my hand firmly over his mouth so he wouldn't scream loud enough for them to hear us and come back this way. Once we were back in our original position, we took off again through the grass. Montgomery mumbled something to me in Spanish and Justin looked towards me to translate so he could understand too. "He says if we cut through the gym, we can get to the courtyard faster than if we keep going this way." I explained while out of breath and Justin nodded before we slightly turned our direction to cut through the gym instead. As we were moving fast, well as fast as we could, Montgomery let out a cry of pain into my neck and my heart broke and my eyes filled with tears at the sound. I could see Justin feeling the same out of the corner of my eye. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm so fucking sorry." I cried while holding him tighter and I felt him gently kiss the side of my neck before he dropped his head back into the crook of it again. "We're gonna get you there, brother. This is all gonna be over soon.. I fucking promise you." Justin rushed out through tears. Montgomery responded in a mixture of English and Spanish so I knew I had to translate again. "He said that he loves you, Justin and he's really thankful that you're in our lives and his daughters life and he considers you his family just as much as you consider him your family." I explained and Justin looked over at us with tears running down his face and his eyes looked so appreciative because of what Monty just said. "I love you too, man. I feel the same exact way. The three of us and Addy, we're a family.. and that's how it's gonna be for the rest of our lives." Justin said and Montgomery nodded in agreement, which caused both Justin and I to cry harder. We fast walked into the gym and as soon as we got in there, there were jocks and cheerleaders everywhere looking frantic. I guess a lot of them decided to hide out in here. "Holy shit." One of them said with wide eyes once they saw us. "De La Cruz? Oh my God. Y'all need some help?" Jeff Atkins rushed out while coming towards us but Justin and I both shook our heads. Finally a decent human being who's willing to help us but we're doing this on our own now. "We've fucking got this." Justin grunted as we kept moving. "They shot him?" Diego rushed out in a panicked voice and I growled. "Don't act like you didn't fucking know this was coming.." "I swear to God I had no idea. They shot me too whenever I wouldn't join them. Look." He interrupted me while pointing to his wrapped up and bloody arm. "We didn't know either." Cassie suddenly joined in frantically while motioning between her and Anna. "Too fucking late now." I snapped through grunts as we kept moving. "We can help you." Diego called out and everyone else agreed but we ignored them and kept moving. "At least let me tell you where to avoid. I track Andrew, I've been watching where he's going this whole time." Anna called out now and Justin and I both stopped in our tracks, which stopped Montgomery too. I turned towards her expectantly and she nodded before pulling it up on her phone. "He's on the Science hall right now.." "We're trying to get to the parking lot and have to cut through the courtyard. So he's all the way on the other side of the school then, right?" Justin questioned and she nodded while holding her phone up to our faces to prove that she wasn't lying. Everyone's faces were covered in tears and fear, so I knew they were being honest and they weren't in on this. "If y'all hurry, they shouldn't be coming anywhere near you anytime soon." She explained and we both nodded before we started walking again. "Get out of here alive, Monty!" One of the football players yelled out and everyone else started yelling uplifting stuff as well. "I-I'm t-trying." Montgomery mumbled in response but I don't think anyone heard him as we pushed our way through the gym doors. "Alright, let's try to speed up since they're all the way over there." Justin directed and I nodded as we picked up our speed more. We went through the halls and anytime Montgomery yelled or cried in pain, it echoed throughout the hallways. We banged into the lockers numerous times and we fell twice too. We kept moving though and we both tried our best to comfort Montgomery and assure him that everything was gonna be okay. We went through the courtyard and I took a hard fall to the ground because I got tripped up with all the extra weight leaning on me but I quickly hopped back up and went back to moving. We entered back into the front hallway and started moving in the direction of the parking lot, passing tons of people along the way. "Why the fuck is help still not here yet?" I questioned in a growl but didn't get an answer because neither of them know why either. "B-babe.. I need.. I-I need to r-rest for a s-second." Montgomery pleaded with me but I didn't know what to do. I looked at Justin and we stared at each other for a minute until he nodded. "Really quick. In this doorway." He said before we went into the doorway of a classroom and crammed ourselves into it. I covered Montgomery's mouth again as we went down to the floor and he yelled behind it for a second before he calmed and started breathing heavily once we were on the floor and I had him in my lap again while Justin put his legs in his lap again too. Monty reached up and placed his hand on my thigh and started to rub it as he tried to catch his breath while I just kept pushing his sweaty hair back. He was sweating so bad and he felt hot to the touch. "Just for a second, Mon. Okay? Then we have to move again." I said in as soothing of a tone as I could manage and he lightly nodded. We sat there for just a few minutes and I could feel Monty's hot tears running down his face and onto my bare thigh. He's both in pain and he's scared too. He's scared that he's gonna die. "Are you ready, man?" Justin questioned. "Let's go." Montgomery whispered and Justin and I both nodded before getting him up again and then we went back to fast walking the halls. As we were walking, I could hear Montgomery lightly sobbing into my neck and I knew it wasn't just because of the physical pain he was in. "I-I might not g-get to see m-my daughter.." "Yes you will." I interrupted him firmly. "She's right. You will." Justin spoke up next in the same tone. "Please." Monty whispered in a sob so heartbreaking. It was so quiet, I don't think that Justin heard but I did. I kissed the top of his head hard and he used any strength he had to do the same to my neck. "I-I love y-you." He whispered very quietly again while still crying. "I love you." I whispered back before I kissed his head again and then kept pushing forward. We finally busted out of the doorway and started to make our way into the parking lot. We had only made it a few hard steps whenever I saw Montgomery's jeep come flying around the corner. "Oh my God. Fucking thank God." I sobbed as soon as I saw them. "We're getting out of here, bro. We fucking did it." Justin said in the same tone as me as we started trying to head in their direction so they would see us. They whipped around the parking lot and Justin and I both started trying to wave our hands in the air as best we could so they would see us. We kept going in their direction and they finally spotted us so whoever was driving turned towards us and sped up fast before they screeched to a stop once they were in front of us. "M-my fucking t-tires, man." Montgomery mumbled in his currently very thick accent and Justin and I both chuckled. "You're still in there, dude." Justin grinned as everyone immediately hopped out of the jeep as fast as they could to make room for us. "Yall fucking did it! Holy shit!" Scott said happily while running towards us to help. He had been the one driving. "He's pissed about his tires." I chuckled and Scott stared at me for a second before he looked at Monty and then started laughing. "You're more coherent than I thought." He laughed before he helped us get him over to the jeep and then everyone helped to get him inside of it. "Start applying pressure. Let me catch my breath for a second." I directed Jessica while handing her all of the fresh clothes. She nodded and quickly hopped in next to Montgomery and held the clothes on the wound tight. I turned away from everyone and placed my face in my hands as I tried to fight back a breakdown. I stood there for a minute and suddenly, I felt myself becoming very dizzy and my head was swirling and everything was getting spotty. Oh shit. My adrenaline is suddenly dropping and because of shock and blood loss, that's not good. I started wobbling around on my feet and I latched onto the jeep hard. "Guys.." I started but everyone was busy tending to Montgomery or climbing into the jeep quickly to get ready to take off. "Hey.. I'm not feeling.." I drifted off again because I almost fell and I had to latch onto the jeep mirror hard to keep from doing so. "Justy.. I.." I couldn't even finish before my vision went out and I fell to the ground with a smack. The last thing I heard was everyone yelling my name and Justin and Winston's colognes filled my nostrils before everything went completely black and I was out.