Chapter 36 - Will

    Everyone stared shocked at what Colin had just done. No one dared to move a muscle or even breathe the wrong way, until someone did. Nev and Buck's eyes flashed in anger and Raelynn looked up at Colin, the betrayal evident on her face. Drew ushered Colin to get behind him and pulled his gun out, picking people off one by one. His aim was pristine, there was no room for error.

When the guy holding me let me go in his haste to protect himself I rushed to Annie's side, swooping her up bridal style and carrying her towards the stairs. Justin, Mallory, Toby and I rushed towards the stairs after getting a motion from Drew, but were stopped when a figure came in front of us. Ashlynn stood there, arms crossed with a sinister smile on her face.

"Going somewhere?"

"Move," I growled out, my chest constricting painfully at the sound of Analise's whimpers and cries. I knew my girl was hurting and I couldn't do anything to help her yet, but I would.

"How about no?"

Mallory stepped out of Toby's embrace, knocking Ashlynn to the ground with a shriek. I wordlessly set Analise down to the side of the stairs, which would later prove to be the worst mistake of my life. I whispered to her that I'd be right back, and I meant it. She nodded slightly, as much as she could and a newfound anger surged through me at the sight of my battered and beaten girlfriend. She didn't deserve it.

Justin took the initiative to sit next to her, placing her head in his lap and running his hands through her matted hair. I pushed the feeling of jealousy to the back of my mind, knowing this wasn't the time to get jealous and I needed to help Drew. I needed to help Analise. Toby and Mallory went towards the wall, out of sight but just enough that if you knew where they were, you could see them. I grabbed a gun off of one of the dead guys, swallowing the bile that threatened to come up when I did.

I looked up, and all that were left standing in the battle of bullets were Drew, Quincy, Nev, and Buck. I let my gaze sweep the floor, noting that Tommy was still unconscious from when Drew had beat him senselessly. Colin was still behind Drew, huddled in the corner. Ashlynn was unconscious on the ground seemingly because Mallory could pack a mean punch if she wanted to, and I slowly walked up behind Nev. I put the gun to his head, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. Breathe, Will, you can do this.

"Let my friends, my girlfriend and I go, and I won't kill you."

He chuckled a humorless laugh and I peeked around his head to see no trace of fear on his face whatsoever. "Kid, you think I'm scared to die? Kill me, see if I care."

I took the safety off the pistol, the click sound resonating in the silent basement. You could hear a pin drop, it was so quiet. We were lucky we even found this basement, we'd gotten lucky; the idiots had taken her to Ashlynn's basement. It took us an entire week to find out Ashlynn was apart of it and we only found out because Colin told us, worried for Analise's safety. Once we found out where Ashlynn lived, we threatened her mom to give us the keys to the basement and snuck in when no one was looking. Why her mom would allow this was beyond me, but then again, she had given birth to someone as evil as Ashlynn.

My breathing was ragged and uneven and I fought to catch it. Every time it evened out it would pick back up again at the realization of the situation we were in. I was about to take a life.

"Let them go," I ground out through clenched teeth, my eyes narrowed. 

"No."

I readied myself to shoot the gun, my hesitation proving to be another one of my downfalls. Suddenly, movement in the corner of my eyes brought my attention elsewhere long enough for Nev to catch me off guard. "Will!" Drew shouted just as Nev turned around and hit me over the head with his pistol. I staggered backwards, clutching my head in my hands and pressing myself against the wall.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

The sound of four gunshots brought me out of my haze and I mentally counted how many alive people were in the room. Including me, there were eleven people, only four gunshots. Four of the people in the room weren't friendly, and two were unconscious. I swept the room hestantly to see Drew and Quincy stood with ragged breathing and worried looks on their faces. I saw Nev and Buck on the ground, but if Drew and Quincy weren't shot...

My concentration broke as Drew ran over towards where I'd left Analise and Justin, everyone else following. I shook my head warily. No, it couldn't be...

Sure enough, once I caught my balance from the hard hit and glanced over I saw my worst fear. Blood pooled around both Analise and Justin. Justin had a hand to Analise's side, where she'd been hit, completely neglecting his own bullet wound on the front of his shirt. I ran over, taking over for Justin and pressing my hand to Analise's wound.

Everyone was in hysterics, yelling over each other and I caught Drew's eyes which were filled with unshed tears. His face showed pure worry for his sister and I could tell it was taking everything in him to not break down. He was yelling Analise's name, trying to get her to respond to him. I leaned down, whispering, "You still with me Annie?" I had to stay calm, because no one else was.

She nodded slightly, whimpering. "It hurts, Rando."

I glanced at Justin to see Toby pressing against his wound with his balled up t-shirt and I followed suit. I ignored the fact that my scars were on full display for all to see, just focusing on stopping the bleeding for Analise. I put my balled up shirt on her side, putting gentle pressure on it so as not to hurt her. "I know baby, I know."

"I told you..." she choked up, before continuing. "I told you not to get close to me. Everyone..." another pause, "leaves."

I shook my head quickly, my eyes locked on her open eye. "You listen to me, Analise Loughty. This is not your end, you got that? This isn't it for you, and it's not it for Justin. You'll both make it out of here, you'll go on to live successful lives and you'll be fine. One day, this will just be a speck on that broad imagination of yours, barely memorable, okay?"

She shook her head. "If I... die, won't you regret getting... close to me?"

I shook my head once more, cradling hers in my hands. I came close to her, whispering so only she could hear me. "I don't and will never regret one second I've ever spent with you Annie. I could never regret meeting you, spending time with you; falling in love with you. I'd say you mean the world to me, but that's not enough to show just how much you mean to me - you're worth the entire fucking galaxy and beyond to me, Annie, okay?"

The corner of her lips turned upward in a small smile, and she whispered, "Okay."

Drew came to his sisters side, pulling her into a hug and I decided not to interrupt their sibling moment, so I tuned out their conversation and focused on Justin. He was breathing heavily, clutching his stomach in pain and his eyes were closed.

"Justin, don't close your eyes," I commanded softly only to be ignored. "Justin!"

Justin peeked his eyes open, glancing at me and then Analise. "Hey, Ana... I'm... Still.... Available."

Analise smiled, a small pained laugh escaping her before she replied, "Still... Never gonna.... Happen."

The police busted through the doors at that moment, guns drawn, and it was only then I realized Mallory had been on the phone with the police. "Everyone put your hands up, now!"

We all put our hands up, explaining the situation to them but leaving out the gang part, and watched helplessly as the paramedics swarmed in and grabbed Analise and Justin and put them on stretchers. They took the rest of the hurt people on stretchers, but I didn't care about them. They were better off dead, in my opinion. They deserved to be dead.

I watched the stretchers leave my eyesight and the last paramedic left the stairway, leaving us to follow. It was like I was on autopilot and I wasn't even controlling my own body anymore as I followed silently. When we got to the ambulances, I glanced over at my friends to see Mallory climbing in the ambulance with Justin. Colin was handcuffed, getting placed into a police car with a sullen look on his face and the rest of the people from the room were being loaded into different ambulances.

I looked over to Drew and he nodded, hopping up in the ambulance behind Analise. "Toby, Will, meet us at the hospital."

I watched the ambulances drive away, lights and sirens blaring and I realized two of the most important people in my life were leaving and I wasn't sure if they were ever going to come back.

A/N: And that is the last chapter!!!!! There will be an epilogue, maybe two but I know for sure one! Hope you guys liked it! It was definitely an interesting journey with Analise, Will and the gang, and I had a lot of fun writing their story and helping them come to life. Who was your favorite character in the story, who was your least favorite? Love you guys!