War of Hearts [Gang!Calum AU]

Part 5

Part 5

"I'm sorry. His body went into shock which led to multiple organ failure. There was nothing we could do."

Calum stared at the apologetic, nervous doctor in front of him, eyes blank while his mind began racing and heart started thundering. He couldn't blink, couldn't think, as the few men that were with him erupted into a disagreeing, protesting uproar. Calum could hear their garbled words of demanding the doctor go back and try harder to fix it—to fix him. But Calum knew it was over. Knew that Davis Lincoln had taken his last breath and no one could do anything about it. So he stood and stared at nothing, felt nothing but numbness paralyzing every fiber of his being, the last thread that had kept him together since the Gateway attack snapping. But the effect of the heart wrenching pain he pretended to be numb to hadn't hit him quite yet.

"I want to see him."

The commotion from his men was silenced upon Calum speaking up, an intense silence falling as they all looked at their leader. Standing tall with strong shouldered squared, Calum didn't look at any of them, blank gaze on the doctor, who looked back at the taller man. Even with a face void of any emotion, Calum still made other people shake in their knees. "Y-Yes, of course."

Calum didn't need to tell the rest of his men to stay put, they all quietened down once Calum spoke up, their gazes burning into his back as he walked down the hallway, the stench of antiseptic attacking his nose as he was led to the room where Davis was. The short heels of is boots clicked against the floor, hands perpetually clenched into fists at his sides as he walked, trying not to focus on his raging thoughts, knowing it wouldn't do him any good if he did. Knowing that if he paid attention to the thoughts screaming in his head, the actions in consequence of listening to them would be unpredictable.

The doctor opened the door for Calum before respectfully walking off, and Calum doesn't remember going from standing outside the door to being at Davis's side. Calum stood over the slab where his body lay, a white sheet covering Davis's body up to his collarbones. Brown eyes shut, closed off from the world forever. Calum's chest tightened, the right side of Davis's face pink and leathery from second degree burns, well aware the rest of his body had suffered far worse. It was truly a miracle he'd managed to survive two days after the attack.

But now he was gone, and it was hitting Calum forcefully enough to knock the air out of his lungs. His jaw clenched, an ache in his chest throbbing due to his slow breathing, hoping to keep any semblance of sanity as he stared down at Davis. At this nineteen year old kid who was taken in by Calum and the Riders after his folks kicked him out. Because that's who they were; unwanted, troubled kids whose parents had had enough of them, who were looking for some place to belong and feel like they mattered. Because no matter what kind of shit they got into, whether they hurt or hurt someone else, that's what it boiled down to—family. They had become each other's family in the most unconventional of ways.

Davis had been with them for two and a half years, one of the youngest members of the Riders. Had started off as a kid who spent most of the day high off weed, which wasn't as bad as the cocaine the Sabers sniffed and sold. But over the past couple of years Davis got it together, became one of the best shots and strategist Calum had ever met. A bright fucking kid.

A kid.

His twentieth birthday was in two months.

Calum squeezed his eyes shut, eyebrows drawn together and lips turned downwards as he kept the scream, cry, whatever the hell it was inside. He could feel his shoulders shaking from the willpower it took for him to attempt to keep it together, knowing that he wouldn't be able to. His breathing was harsh through his nose, only adding onto the burn he could feel in his closed eyes, and suddenly Calum was stumbling back.