concealing ➸ tomlinson

Lix

| “despair, you come to me with your poison and your misery. oh death, you come to sting, with your poison and your misery” ‘not going to die’, skillet |

harry, niall, and madison left for the scene hardly eight minutes later.

they took about fifteen minutes to get down to the edge of the scene, half sprinting and half jogging. their stamina lasted rather well, keeping them going at an almost constant pace. it was hardly an enjoyable thing, though; a sense of dread does tend to kill a mood.

"why, again, didn't we just take your car and save us the heartburn?" niall asked as the trio slowed to a walk. people were running past them, but they were rather few in number.

harry took a few breaths. "someone took it. my guess is courtney has it, but it doesn't matter. thing's a metal deathtrap, anyway."

a little further foreword, harry realized there was police sirens. he involuntarily tensed with apprehension. there was no way to easily handle this situation, now. he just prayed he wouldn't end up hurting anyone in the process of ending whatever was going on.

"is there a plan?" madison asked.

"not killing anyone seems to be the main objective. find whoever's causing this and prepare to spend the next six hours trying to sort things out."

in a technical sense, this would take hours of working to cover things up, figuring out who this person was. things would probably get hellish fast. as if it weren't already.

the police cars eventually became visible in the distance. there was maybe four lined up, creating a roadblock. harry took a deep breath and led them down the sidewalk foreword. he'd figure something out if they tried to stop them from getting through. sure enough, about twenty feet from passing, an officer stepped halfway out of his car.

"you're not allowed past here, sir." he said.

harry took another breath and didn't falter as he continued foreword. they had closed the distance so they were only ten feet away now. the police in the other cars seemed to notice them, one by one coming out as well.

"just passing by," niall said uncertainly, "we're not attempting to do anything illegal."

always the helpful one.

none of the other officers seemed extremely interested in stopping them; they looked more confused about what they were doing there in the first place.

harry eyed all of them, then turned his head foreword and started talking to madison and niall. "we stick together until we find the guy or girl doing this, then-"

someone shot. the three nearly jumped out of their skin, but no one had been hit. they all looked back. the first officer was holding his gun up in the air, then spoke. "we're ordered to detain anyone who attempts to tamper with the scene. you need to step back behind the barrier before we have to use force."

harry, after a moment and hardly moving his mouth, whispered, "madison, are there any pipes you can feel?"

she looked at him uncertainly. "what?" she whispered back.

"are you going to move?" the officer asked.

"madison?" harry put his hands up, glancing at her.

she forced herself to swallow. "i-i think-"

"just grab your boyfriend and run."

in just over a second, harry closed and opened his hands, sending a wave of fire at the barricade of cars. it snapped back before it could set anyone entirely ablaze, but it was enough to get them ducking for cover. madison and niall were about seven steps in front of harry by the time he'd begun to sprint away.

"turn here, turn here, turn here." harry repeated as they neared an intersection to escape behind.

the police behind them regrouped themselves, and soon gunfire rang through the air. harry didn't want to set off another display, thus thought more about getting out of range. but these police had to have had the aim equal to that of a blind man's.

of course, thinking that probably jinxed him. just as the three were nearly around the corner to the next street, another shot rang out. harry felt a sudden shock-wave of pain echo across his body. he felt his breath catch in his lungs as he stumbled around the corner to safety. frantically, he looked himself over. redness was beginning to blossom near his upper arm.

niall slowed himself and glanced back at harry, who was clutching his arm in bewilderment. he faltered, then sprinted back.

"what happened?" he took harry's arm and moved it to look.

harry opened his mouth, then clamped it shut again in pain. "i-i'm-"

"say you're fine after being shot and i'll shove my foot up your ass."

madison hurried back as well. niall pursed his lips, trying to think of what they could do. but suddenly, sirens went on and were getting louder as they neared. niall swore, grabbed madison with his other hand, and turned them all invisible.

two police cruisers rounded the corner before slowing to a steady pace. niall closed his eyes and didn't move, trying to breathe as slowly and quietly as possible. despite being with his back to them, niall waited as the sound of tires began to a die a little, then grew louder for a moment as the cars turned back around. he glanced to the side to watch them go back around the corner. five seconds later, he exhaled and removed his hands, returning them to visibility.

"okay, okay, okay," niall exhaled and ran his fingers through his hair in anxiousness. "we-we need to turn back around, we have to. god knows you're probably-"

"i'm not going to bleed out from being shot in the arm." harry took long, deep breaths, having finally come back to his senses. "if i have to i'll cauterize myself, just let's keep going, okay?"

niall glanced at madison, who shrugged in response. "if he wants to keep going, i don't think we're going to stop him." she said.

he looked at harry and nodded. "yeah, let's go then."

the throbbing pain was still intense as harry continued on with the others. trying to ignore it was useless. but he made himself work on putting one foot in front of the other consistently, work on trying to help solve the bigger issue at hand.

--

stats;
date- january 5th, 2015
words- 1076
reads- 4,332
comments- 41
votes- 149