Gore warning again.

Let's take it back an hour or so, shall we?

Veronica growled, storming out of the room. She couldn't help but be annoyed at Zach. It was easy enough. She liked him. Strong jaw, pretty eyes. He had a hell of a personality. Both of them knew this. Oh, yes she liked him. Hell, she could have told herself she loved him, but she knew she would be lying to herself if she were ever to believe that he would ever love her back. He was Zach LeMense. The two most important things in his life were school and that sad, tired, self-centered jerkface he called a best friend, Ryan Gerstemeier.

Veronica hated Ryan with a passion, because he took away her only chance at ever having true love.

That's when boss told her the new assignment, she jumped at the chance.

If I can't have him, no one can.

Right after they killed Peter, it was obvious that she wanted Ryan miserable. She had no idea why, and sure, they would throw in one annoying little nerd, here and there, to bite the bullet, but that was just to throw him off. There's a pattern, that only they know. The victims are just there to throw him off his guard so it'll be easier to get to him later.

But Veronica knew he was onto them.

Clearly, his detective skills were exceptionally rusty, because she was walking out of the room, Zach behind her, with a gun in her jeans.

"Ronnie," Zach mumbled. "Hey, I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what, Zach? For abandoning me to go eat pizza with that train wreck of a person? For abandoning me? For choosing him over me? Maybe he should find out the truth about you. You're nothing but a no good, lying piece of garbage!" Veronica shed a tear. "I swear to god, Zach. You met him, you left me. Do you know how bad that hurts?"

"He needed me! He needs—"

"He doesn't need you as much as I do, Zach!" Veronica fumbled with her pocket, feeling the cold metal of the gun graze across her fingers. It sent a shiver down her spine. Tears slipped out of her eyes. She didn't reveal it. Not yet.

"How could you say that? You don't even know him!" Zach barked, taking a step forward in defense. "Look, Ronnie. I just needed someone who was there for me when I was broken. Someone who would fix me when it was my turn. Not someone dragging me down with them!"

"And I wasn't that for you, Zach? What, I wasn't good enough for you? I didn't care about you? What the hell is this, then, Zach? I was willing to help you."

"Don't you dare play the victim, here, Ronnie—"

"Don't call me that!"

"I needed a friend!" Zach hissed. "I was your slave!" Zach let a tiny tear fall. "I swear to god all you did around me was complain about how damn miserable you were! Do you know how useless I felt? I couldn't help you! I wanted you to find someone you would die for. I just didn't want you to find someone willing to die with you." Zach took another step forward. He felt his stomach tighten, looking at her. "You shouldn't make someone feel like they have to give up everything just to make you happy. I would have died for you, Ronnie, but I wouldn't go down that road with you."

"That isn't a choice!" She paused, pursing her lips. "I'm so glad we put you next."

"We? What do you mean—"

In a flash, everything happened. Ryan was bolting out of the door right as she blindly shot a bullet at Zach, and then one into her head, revealing the initials burned onto her arm. LG

It took Zach a moment to process what was going on, so he just turned to Ryan and told him that there were more. There were more people involved in the murders.

Then Zach felt the felt the pain. He looked down, seeing the expanding blood spot on his stomach. It was all too real from then on. He looked at Ryan, his eyes glinting in a paralyzed fear, and, against his will, stumbled forward, landing in his arms. Zach, shut his eyes, tightly, hissing in pain.

"Zach!"

"Gerst." The word was nearly foreign as it clawed it's way out of his lungs. Both he and Ryan had their hands on the wound, and every time Ryan would push down a little bit more, Zach would help in pain. Zach just spat words at him, begging him to look at the bigger picture. He had tears streaming down his face, staring up at his friend. His features were blurry.

"I don't care about the damn letters, Zach! Look at you. You're... you're..."

"Bleeding." Zach lost track of what he said after that. Everything was such a big blur to him that he didn't remember half the night. All Zach could think of was telling Ryan how much he appreciated their friendship. "The initials."

"LG, Zach." Ryan was back in a flash, lifting Zach up, trying to keep his bleeding down. Ryan was crying. "You better remember that, Zach. I swear to God."

"I'll tell him how much of a jerk you are." Zach let out a wheezing giggle, pulling the sweater off of his abdomen. There was no use. He had no chance.

"Don't you dare say that, Zachary. Not now. Not ever. Don't you dare." The words were a vivid blur. It consisted of the short wavy hair of his friend, the teardrops falling onto his face, the tears falling onto the floor, springing from his eyes.

"You're so delusional, Gerst. You're going to catch this idiot, and you're going to save everyone, Gerst. I promise you, that."

"You sound like you're leaving me, Zach."

Zach chuckled, feeling his heart beat faster and faster. His entire body seemed seized up with energy and pain, but he couldn't seem to move a muscle. Ryan was going to hurt after this one. "Stop lying to yourself, Ry."

"Stop talking like that.!"

Zach shook his head again. "I'll see you around, Ry."

And then Zach was put out, not knowing if the wetness in his face was from blood, sweat, or tears, but when he heard the terrified screams of his best friend, Zach nearly reached out, through his body, and hugged him. He would have hugged him so tight, because Ryan was there when Zach was broken, and now he can't be there for Ryan.

He just can't.

—a/n—

I don't normally do these on this book but hey the video attached is great and I chose the genderbent version because I liked it better, the choreography is phenomenal, it's gay as hecc, and the first verse tells Veronica's story quite well.

Psa if you didn't know I know everyone in this book personally though some identities have been changed (not all) because they asked me to for identity purposes.

Also Zach is a good boy I just texted him and he was concerned for my well-being because of some sfx makeup that I showed him.

He has no idea where this story is going because he told me he'd read it once it was finished lmao.

Gnite

I love you my Carcrashovercastyoungbloods
-Emily aka Foblvr