Off Grid

Chapter 4: Desperate Measures

Seth could see the terror in her eyes. In the way her legs seemed so unsteady and ready to give out beneath her.

"I'll get the money, just leave the others alone."

Seth was surprised to find that the words had tumbled from his own mouth.

"You're staying right where you are!"

"Hey, fine, I'm not going anywhere. Just calm down, you don't need to hurt anyone. You'll get your money."

"You're still standing there. Go now. Hands where I can see them," he reminded Andrea.

She was crying, seemingly frozen in place by fear or stupidity. Seth wasn't sure which.

"Amateur," Seth muttered as he watched the man.

The gun pointed back toward him.

"What did you say?"

"Easy, I didn't say anything."

"What did you say?" He demanded again.

Everything happened in rapid succession from there. A camera flash. The gun changing targets again. The sound of a gunshot. Nathan making a dive for behind the counter. A scream, but not Nathan's.

One second, Seth was standing in front of the man, and in the next breath he was on top of him. The heat of his rage tangled with the electricity racing across his fingertips.

Control. Seth had always prided himself on his control, but right then he lost it. He felt the exact moment the electricity left him.

While it wasn't enough to cause visible damage, it was still enough to knock the thief out cold, but not before Seth could glimpse the surprise on his face. The recognition.

Seth was shaking, his breath quick and heavy. It wasn't from fear, but rather from the sudden realization of what he had done.

His world was unraveling before his eyes, coming apart. When he woke up, the criminal would surely remember. The man would know that Seth was Off Grid for sure. He had to do something.

Seth scanned the store. The cameras had been down for a week and a half, so he didn't need to worry about that. Andrea had collapsed and was sobbing obnoxiously into her hands. Nathan was still out of sight. No one but the robber he had harmed had seen.

Then his eyes locked onto the gun. He had seconds before one of the others turned and noticed that the man was unconscious.

Self defense, that's what he would claim. And they'd all believe it because they'd seen it. They'd seen Seth wrestling a gunman to the ground.

They would believe it.

Seth put the bullet through the man's chest.

"Seth! She's bleeding really bad!"

He spun, heart racing, and scrambled off of the man. The body.

Nathan was on his knees beside a woman. The customer that had been in the store with them, Seth realized. Her phone was on the floor, and from that, Seth pieced together what must have happened. She'd tried to get a photo of the thief, but the flash had been on and far too noticeable. The man had noticed, and in his fear she'd wound up taking a bullet.

"Shit. Try to stop it, apply pressure or something... I don't know, man, I'm not a doctor! We need a doctor," Seth called. His hands shook as he ran them through his hair.

"How? What do I put where? God, there's so much blood, I'm going to be sick."

"Pull it together, Nate. Take your shirt off and hold it against her chest. I'm going to call 911."

"You don't have to."

Seth looked at him like he was insane. "What? Of course I do!"

"I hit the panic button."

"Oh."

Seth remembered his dive behind the counter. He'd taken it for cowardice at first, a rightfully frightened man hiding from a deranged man with a gun, but now he understood. The panic button was under the register.

While Nathan scrambled to press his shirt into the gasping woman's chest, Seth looked back at the gunman's crumpled body on the shop floor and shuddered. Because right then, he wasn't Off Grid. He was Seth. And Seth had killed a man.

***

When Seth arrived home from the police station, his brother practically flew into his arms.

"Are you okay? All the guys from school were sending me links to videos about the robbery, but it was all super vague and they said people were taken in ambulances and it wasn't being released who it was," Seven rambled, eyes red rimmed.

"Hey," he said gently," I'm fine. Just... Shaken up is all."

"I was so scared, Seth," he whispered, and his grip on his brother's shirt tightened.

"Oh, come on. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"I'm serious," Seven said and punched his brother's arm gently.

"I know. I am too."

The two clung to each other for several minutes before either were ready to let go. Both were convinced that they'd nearly lost the only family they had left.

When they finally released each other, it was only to move onto the couch and sit near enough so that each could be assured that the other was still there. Seven hadn't lost his brother to a crazed gunman. Seth hadn't lost his to discovery and a sure prison sentence.

"Do you want to watch something? I don't want to go to bed yet," Seven said, breaking the silence that hung thick over the room.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. They sounds good. What did you want to watch?"

He didn't think he could sleep right then either.

"I don't know, something funny," Seven replied with a shrug.

"Just go watch the mirror then."

"Ha ha," Seven said with a glare.

"That was a good one," Seth defended.

"How about that one you like. With that actress you think is so hot," Seven smiled.

"You sure?"

He knew very well that his younger brother didn't like that particular movie at all.

"Yeah," Seven said," I'm in the mood for a terrible movie that I'll regret watching."

"Shut up and go pop some popcorn and grab me a soda. I'll find it," Seth said.

They set to their individual tasks, Seth sorting through piles of DVDs and Seven getting their food, before they rejoined each other on the couch.

"Hey, Seth?" Seven said as their movie started up.

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad you're okay."

Seth wasn't so sure he was.

"Yeah. Me too."

They fell asleep on the couch like that. The small space between them provided the comfort they both desperately needed. It meant that when each awoke in the night, panicked and sweating, they were reassured that, for at least the time being, their greatest fear had not come to pass.

A/N: Lots of stuff going down! I rewrote most of this chapter at least twice because I was unhappy with it, but I think it turned out okay in the end. Let me know what you guys think!