Possession| Book 2

The Fight

Chapter: 10

Both Zack and Quinn raced back inside the gym.

The music was no longer playing; chaos ruled instead. Everyone around them was screaming except for the agents of SSA and Lynn. Zack’s eyes searched for the cause of the panic – and settled on a lanky man dressed in heavy, dark clothing. He was leading four more people: three men and a woman. They wore similar clothing and their faces were hooded with a cloak. Zack saw the lethal weapons in their belts and cursed.

Within a minute, everyone had evacuated the gym, leaving just the SSA agents, Lynn, and a blaring alarm. Everyone in the room subconsciously pushed themselves in front of Lynn to shield her; if the intruders were from NSA, then they were here for no one but her.

“It seems we might’ve disturbed the best night of their lives for these teenagers,” the woman spoke in poised amusement. All of them seemed to be in their twenties, not any older, though Zack could only assume since their faces were hidden.

“I say we finish the night by announcing who’s going to be prom queen,” the man next to her said. “Lynn Rivera.”

“I think you’re mistaken,” Stella said sweetly at first and then turned her expression stiff. “I was supposed to be prom queen.”

With that said, the room exploded with action. They might not have been in gear but they still had weapons; Zack drew a blade and threw it at one of the men before pulling out a revolver. He passed a blade to Quinn which she took gratefully, momentarily forgetting about their conversation on the stairs and Zack didn’t care either; the room wasn’t big enough for both love and blood.

He saw the others pass weapons over to the girls and heard Kylee yell out, “Get Lynn out of here!”

Miles took a lead on that and disappeared from the gym with Lynn. Zack drew his focus back to the task at hand. He was aware of everyone pulling triggers and throwing knives around him. His grip on his revolver tightened as he pulled the trigger and braced himself against the shock. He was used to it now, feeling the impact of pulling a trigger pass from his fingertips to his whole body, like an electric current.

His body felt cold, but a different kind of cold. The kind that made him forget about the rest of his problems. The kind that made him feel excited, made his body thrum, made his blood feel like electricity in his veins. The way he had never thought he would ever feel during a battle.

He’d thrown his suit jacket aside; he was sweating, despite the cold. His eyes were fixed on one of the younger men from the five. He shot at Zack with a shotgun three times; he ducked two of those but one bullet tore through his shirt and he felt pain shoot up in his shoulder. He grunted in pain and clutched at it but didn’t hinder. He pulled the trigger of his revolver, aiming at the man’s leg. The gunshot echoed through the air with several others.

The first bullet missed its target; the man was certainly fast. But Zack knew how much of a gap he was supposed to keep between pulling a trigger twice and the next bullet he shot hit the man in his leg. He cried out in pain and Zack couldn’t help but smirk, despite the pain in his shoulder.

He always thought that shooting at your opponent’s leg was better than aiming for their heart or brain; once they were disarmed, it was much easier to take them down.

With the wound in his leg, Zack knew the man wouldn’t be able to get far even if he tried to run so he diverted his attention to the others. He swept his gaze over his friends to make sure they were all okay: Kylee was battling the leader of the four people fierce as ever, the blade of a dagger shimmering against the lights in one hand and a revolver in another. Her dress didn’t seem to slow her down, and neither did her heels. In fact, it looked as if she had been training all her life wearing stiletto heels.

Stella had an Uzi in one hand while she used the other for physical combat, her elbow colliding gracefully, yet fiercely with a man’s jaw. Evin was fighting one of the other men while Kristen was nowhere to be seen. Zack suspected she was helping the students evacuate the building.

Wyatt was helping Kylee fight the leader of the four people, while Tyler was helping Stella. Zack’s gaze landed on Quinn, only a few feet away from him – and froze.

She was breathing heavily, one hand gripping a revolver while the other clutching the side of her stomach. Blood spilled from between her fingers, staining her hand as the woman she was fighting threw an effective punch at her and she staggered back.

Zack’s stomach lurched; Quinn looked dazed, her silver dress torn and bloody. Her hair had escaped its fastenings and hung wildly around her face, its edges stained with blood. The woman was preparing to launch at her again but Zack’s grip tightened on his revolver and, momentarily forgetting about the pain in his shoulder, he pulled the trigger.

The bullet didn’t hit her but landed just in front of her feet which was enough for her to let down her guard. Zack took the opportunity; he raced forward and, pulling his dagger out, slashed out. The woman grunted as the sleeve of her gear tore open and blood poured out. She hissed at Zack angrily and launched forward again but froze as the guy Zack had shot earlier cried out again but this time, it was a name. The woman’s name, seemingly.

“Arden!”

The woman whirled around and blurred into movement. “Jonathan!” she seemed to have forgotten about both Quinn and Zack and was now kneeling in front of the man – Jonathan – with one hand clasped around the wound on her arm and the other reached out to press the wound on his leg.

Zack turned to Quinn who was breathing heavily and caught her as she half-fell. He looked up desperately. Everyone else was battling and he knew calling out to them would give the agents of NSA an upper hand. He looked around – and saw Cole who had just knocked out one of the men and was breathing heavily.

“Cole!”

Cole turned to Zack – and paled when he saw Quinn. Without wasting another second, he dashed forward, dodging the people in between. He reached them and his arm automatically went around Quinn’s back. He held her, his eyes scanning her wound.

“We need to get her to the agency,” Zack said, clutching at his own wound.

Cole looked up, “We need to get you to the agency too.”

Zack turned when he heard the chaos grow. More men and women in black were spilling into the gym. He saw his friends backing away, looking exhausted, and knew immediately that they wouldn’t be able to win this fight. He knew they had to get out of there but all exits were blocked.

Then, he heard a gunshot but no one in the gym had yet raised their revolvers. No, Zack thought. That wasn’t a revolver. The gunshot came again and Zack saw one of the men drop dead to the ground. Many more gunshots followed and this time, the men and women in black had raised their revolvers, firing aimlessly at the shadows.

All the men who were blocking the doors were down and a female figure stepped into the gym, carrying a shotgun in her arms, dressed in SSA gear. Her hair was tied back but some strands had escaped the band and were falling around her face, looking dark in the disco lights.

Autumn.

Zack sighed in relief. Her gaze lingered on Quinn for a moment before she stepped in further and shot the other men and women in black. The impact of the gun didn’t seem to faze her in the least.

“Get out of here!” she shouted, more to Zack and Cole than the others. Zack looked down at Quinn who was now unconscious. He looked up at Cole who nodded and picked her up in his arms. Zack, clutching harder at his wound, stood up and the two of them ran out of the gym, Quinn secure in Cole’s arms.
The cold air hit him and pained his wound. He felt dizzy from the loss of blood but stood his ground nonetheless. Cole hurried over to the jeep parked in the school’s parking lot, shining under the moonlight. It was probably how Autumn got there.

Zack helped him get Quinn in the backseat and slipped into the passenger’s seat. Cole was already in the driver’s seat, starting the engine before they drifted away.

Zack sighed and looked down at his wound. Jonathan had shot him just below his shoulder. His white shirt was now practically red with blood. His head was still spinning and his muscles ached.

“You should tie that up,” Cole said, glancing at him.

Zack turned back to look at Quinn whose blood was staining the car seat. He immediately wished he hadn’t looked and turned back to Cole.

“I think that applies to her first,” he said and Cole glanced back at her, his expression unreadable. In the moonlight coming through the window, his dirty blond hair seemed silver, all the darker streaks invisible. At that moment, Zack could think of a billion reasons Quinn would choose Cole over him. He’d been her best friend since they were kids and he’d been at her side whenever something bad happened. He had everything a girl seemed to look for in a guy. He was loyal, good-looking, kind, thoughtful…

Zack turned in his seat and began to climb to the back. Cole looked at him, “What’re you doing?”

“She’s lost too much blood already,” he said as he landed beside Quinn. He shifted her so he could see her wound. The blood had stained her entire dress and he could barely see the silver of it anymore. He winced.

“Here,” Cole said, with one hand on the wheel as he tore some part of his shirt, not seeming to care how much it had cost. “Use this.”

Zack took the cloth gratefully and patched up Quinn’s wound tight enough to stop the bleeding for the time being. Then he sighed and stared.

Her skin was paler than he’d ever seen, even her lips cracked and free of color. Her brown hair seemed to stand out against her paleness as spilled down around her face. Her face was streaked with blood; Zack wasn’t sure whether it was her own or Arden’s.

His heart was pounding against his chest. He couldn’t forget the expression on her face when he told her the way he felt about her. His own brain screamed at him now; how could he be so stupid? How could he burden her like that? It wasn’t as if Quinn had less to worry about; he could’ve at least waited till Kylee had been given the antidote.

“She’ll be fine,” Cole said, looking at them in the rearview mirror, though he seemed to be assuring himself more than Zack. Zack drew his gaze away from Quinn and looked at Cole. “I know her. She’s strong.”

“She is,” he said, resisting the urge to turn back and look at her. He remembered the one mission he’d failed and gotten injured. Quinn had given him her blood, even when it was unsafe, even when she’d donated blood only a while ago. His heart ached at the memory.

“Come on,” Cole said and Zack realized they were already at the agency. “You both need to get to the infirmary.”

Zack nodded as he got out of the jeep and Cole opened the back door. He picked Quinn up and kicked the door close. The cold air stung Zack’s wound but he didn’t care. He only cared about Quinn.

They both ran through the tunnel and into the elevator. As the elevator dropped down, Cole looked down at Quinn in his arms, his expression a mixture of sympathy and worry.

“Hold on, Quinn,” he muttered to her. “Hold on.”

The elevator came to a halt and they both raced into the agency. They headed for the infirmary where Amelia seemed horrified to see them.

“Get her on the bed,” she ordered Cole as she turned to grab the first aid kit. She turned to Zack but suddenly, the ground slipped from beneath his feet and his mind went blank. All he remembered was a pair of striking green eyes before he passed out.