Prompt: Whilst touring around America on their tour, Sam and Colby are confronted by an angry "fan" in a meet and greet, who has a rather intense vendetta against Colby.
Colby exhales and turns to Sam, who's sitting next to him on the couch in the tour bus. They're on their way to Anaheim for the next leg of their tour and frankly, he's bored as shit. At the beginning of the drive, he and Sam had a half-hearted conversation before they each drifted off and turned their attention to other things, like their laptops/phones. And Colby was okay with it. I mean, he too was uninterested enough to turn to Instagram but now, he's kinda lonely (despite the fact that Sam is sitting next to him) and bored. He wants a breath of fresh air, he wants to go for a walk, he feels so stiff and tired being cramped up in the tour bus for hours at a time.
He's snapped out of his thoughts when he feels the tour bus come to a halt. Colby looks up, hopes held high when the driver shouts, "We're here!"
Excited, Colby springs up from the couch and stretches, relieved yet also kind of tired as he rushes to the exit. Grabbing his phone, he leaves the bus and inhales the fresh air all around him, looking around at the hotel in front of them. Going to the back of the bus, Colby grabs his suitcase and heads into the hotel, where the driver is already signing them into their rooms.
Sam follows close behind and snickers at how rushed Colby is to get to their room. "Excited much, huh bro?" Sam jokes.
Colby smiles, looking down. "Guess I just got a little bit car sick, y'know?"
Sam nods sympathetically. "I feel you, bro."
Colby looks down when their driver, Dave, comes up to them with their room keys. He hands a card to each of them and claps them on the back, reminding them that their concert starts in a couple of hours and he'll be back to pick them both up. Sam and Colby nod along and say bye before giddily heading up to their hotel room, ready to meet their Anaheim fans in a few hours.
Later...
After the show, Colby and Sam head out to the meet and greet area, as instructed by the crew. As soon as they step out from the curtain, the sea of fans start screaming and cheering. Sam and Colby instantly start glowing with sincere smiles on their faces as they wave to everyone and head towards the backdrop positioned nearby. The crowd gets quieter but they both can still feel the excitement radiating off of everyone.
Soon, the meet and greet begins. Security stands nearby and they all conduct the fans for the meet and greet, all of whom are super sweet and keep complimenting Sam and Colby. They both try as much as they can to keep up a conversation with each fan but with the timing, it ends up only a thirty second conversation until the photo is taken and they're ushered away.
The process goes smoothly for the first hour until a man is gestured forward. The first red flag is how solemn and neutral he looks, instead of happy and excited like the rest of them. The second thing is the way his hand twitches and hovers over his waistband, not to mention the fact that he looks to be in his thirties.
"Wassup, man!" Sam greets cheerily as the man approaches. He cracks an all too fake smile and simply turns to Colby, his expression too close to a glare for Colby's liking.
Colby gulps. "Hey, man, how you doing?"
The man just stares at Colby. "My girlfriend's in love with you," He spits simply.
Colby's taken aback and he finds himself at a loss for words. What the hell is he supposed to say to that? "Oh, uh..." he trails off.
"She keeps telling me all about you," He continues. "She even threatened to break up with me cuz she thinks it'll give her more of a chance with you."
"Hey, bro, that's messed up," Sam interjects awkwardly, rubbing his neck. "She shouldn't do that to you."
"Yeah," he agrees. "I love her and can't lose her." he turns back to Colby. "I doubt she'll ever fall out of love with you, though. She's like obsessed with you."
"Oh," Colby swallows, super uncomfortable as he tries to think of what to say. Luckily, the photographer interrupts.
"Hey," she says, gesturing to the camera. "Time for the picture, buddy. Sorry but we're on a tight schedule. Let's get on with it."
The guy smiles and turns to Colby, his expression almost malicious. "I agree," He hisses. "Let's get on with it."
Like a scene right out of a movie, the man reaches his fist into his waistband. Colby stares, confused and somewhat scared as time slows down, the man's hand clasping around something and taking it out of his waistband. Colby's eyes widen when he realizes it's a gun, but he doesn't have enough time to say anything as the man whips the gun out and points it at Colby. He's frozen in shock, eyes wide and complexion light as he watches the mans finger press down on the trigger.
BANG.
The gunshot rings out in the bustling hall and screams echo from throughout the crowd in response to the sudden bang. The fans all start backing up and scattering, the once composed hall turning to chaos. Screams cover every other sound, and the air is tense considering there's a gunman who just shot someone in the hall.
Colby feels something hit him in the chest, the pressure knocking him back. He stumbles into the backdrop and feels his legs give out. He looks up at Sam's horrified expression as his trembling hands grapple at the bullet hole in the middle of his chest, closer to his collarbones than to his heart, luckily. He feels his body go numb as he collapses to the ground, the pain intense and too hard to ignore.
The security guards run into action and tackle the gunman to the ground, managing to disarm him in a matter of seconds, holding his hands behind his back as they detain him. They start giving instructions into their walkie talkie's and start pushing the guy to his feet, harshly, and out of the building.
Sam stares at Colby for a solid second before screaming out his friend's name, slightly delayed as he dives to his knees at Colby's side. He looks down at his friend, who's unresponsive and blinking rapidly, jaw agape as he sucks in deep breaths. He looks scared, and something about the way he's wiggling around implies he's in shock.
"HELP!" Sam screams. "Someone call 911! PLEASE!" He can barely hear the horrified screams of the fans behind him as he hyper focuses on Colby in front of him. Almost in a daze, Sam presses down on the bullet wound on Colby's chest and applies pressure, attempting to stop the bleeding. Colby lets out in whimper in response, squeezing his eyes shut as his breaths seem to quicken, his legs jerking about from the pain.
"Colbs, Colby please..." Sam whines, gently tapping Colby's cheek with his other hand, trying to gain his friend's attention. "Colby, look at me..."
Colby blinks open his eyes a few times, his focus returning to Sam, who's looking at him with teary eyes. "Stay awake, bro, please. A-an ambulance should be on the way by now o-or something."
Colby manages a weak nod and swallows harshly, coughing as blood comes up his throat after he tried to push down the excess saliva in his mouth. He leans over and coughs up a handful of blood onto the floor beside him, his mouth stained with the coppery taste and lips tainted with blood.
"Oh god..." Sam exhales as a group of medics rush over. He sighs and leans back, falling backwards onto his butt watching as they assess Colby, frantic considering the severity of the situation. Somehow, someone managed to go to the meet and greet smuggling in an actual gun, therefore proceeding to shoot Colby because his girlfriend was a fangirl. (And yeah, sure, a little obsessed with him but why does that mean he has to go and SHOOT Colby?)
Sam watches, stunned, as the medics load Colby onto a gurney and he looks around, suddenly aware of the sirens from an ambulance just outside. Security tightens the crowd of fans and tries to calm them down, explaining the situation whilst trying to diffuse the fear and screaming still overwhelming the atmosphere.
A paramedic comes over to him and tries to calm Sam down, aware that he's in shock and about to be consumed by a panic attack. He barely listens to the paramedic however, instead zoning everything else out as he watches, almost in a daze, the other paramedics as they put an oxygen mask over Colby's face and start an I.V. drip in his arm. As they start wheeling him away, they fasten Colby to the gurney, his face pale and sweaty, eyes blinking rapidly as if he's trying to keep himself awake.
"Wait-" Sam suddenly says, pushing him up. "Where's he goin-"
"Sir, you can't go in the ambulance with him," The paramedic regretfully informs Sam, calmly. "We'll be taking him to West Anaheim Medical Center, it's on Orange Avenue, west. I'd recommend you just meet us there. It'll be a while until we can stabilize him but I'm sure he'll be okay."
Sam nods along mindlessly, too consumed in his own head to pay much attention to anything besides Colby. He's shocked, absolutely stunned from watching his best friend get shot right in front of him. The look on Colby's face, the fear and the pain, the way his eyes flickered, his unresponsive expression. It all consumes Sam's brain, ingraining the images of his friend forever.
"Sir?"
Sam looks up, tears rolling down his cheeks as he meets the paramedics expression.
"You're both gonna be just fine."