Survivor

47| Have Some Faith

As the gun sounded I braced myself for impact. At the same time, I saw Jake land one more punch to Garret's face, rendering him unconscious.

I was lucky that Jake was on the ground and the gun was aimed lower, because the bullet had only hit me in the leg just above my knee, sending me falling to the ground.

I was injured again, sure, but I was alive.

Jake would not have been alive if I hadn't jumped in; he would have gotten shot in the head or heart. Plus, I just took the last bullet that they had, so I would consider my plan to be a huge success. I didn't care about anything other than Jake's safety.

Although I'm sure it should have hurt terribly, the adrenaline in my system prevented me from feeling much of anything. Jake shouted my name while he rose to his feet, immediately coming to my side. "I'm okay Jake," I said while turning my attention to Wayde, "get him."

I could see the pained expression in Jake's face turn to anger at my words, and I saw the shocked expression on Wayde's face turn to fear. He no longer had a weapon, and although he was big in stature, he was no match for Jake right now and he knew it; especially now that Jake was literally running on rage.

Jake didn't hesitate. He immediately ran after Wayde, barreling into him full force and knocking him to the ground. The two of them kicked and swung at each other repeatedly to the point it was hard to tell what was going on. Eventually, Jake had the upper hand and landed one punch after the other to Wayde's face.

The problem was, he kept going, even after Wayde was unconscious and his face was bloodied. Don't get me wrong, the bastard definitely deserved it, but I couldn't let Jake lose control like that.

"Jake stop! It's over!" I shouted.

I watched as Jake immediately stopped swinging, dropping his hands onto his knees to catch his breath. I noticed his shoulders were heaving from rage and exertion, and his knuckles were bloodied—I couldn't tell if it was his or Wayde's.

I was happy that it was over, that we had made it out of this situation alive, but I had to get to Jake. I could tell he was in his own head, staring down at Wayde's unconscious body. I remembered the story about his past, and how he feels about this type of violence, so all I could think about was that he needed me. I needed him to know that I was here, that I was okay, and that he did what was necessary.

I tried to push myself to my feet, but with the situation over and the adrenaline fading, I was beginning to feel the affects of the bullet. Prior to moving, I had almost forgotten about it because I was so focused on Jake. It felt like it had hit me above my knee, and the stabbing pain I felt with every slight movement made me feel like the bullet was still inside, grazing against my kneecap. My legs buckled with the pain and I fell to the ground again. Fuck me.

I watched Jake snap out of it instantly when he heard me fall. "Cassie! Why would you do that!? Why would you run in front of the bullet!?" He shouted as he ran over to me, pulling me into his lap.

"He had a gun pointed at you Jake. What was I supposed to do? If you had gotten hit, it would have killed you. You think I would let that happen to you?" He had to be crazy.

He huffed and hugged me tighter, "I'm the one who's supposed to protect you..."

I reached a hand up, cupping his face. "You do; You are. You getting shot would have been the worst thing to happen. Even if it didn't kill you, which it would have by the way, I wouldn't be able to carry you back to the others by myself."

"But..." he tried to argue.

"Shh," I cut him off, "Stop please. I'm fine; I was only hit in the leg. If you died, they would have killed me too and you know it. There's no way I could have fought them off like you just did."