Rage and Ruin | 2

1 | 9

F I N N

      For a moment, everyone was still as the realization of what had just happened set in. Senator Harding had never been the target. Mr. Hunt was.

      I dropped to the ground next to Mr. Hunt. He was clutching at his chest. Dark blood seeped through his fingers as he tried to stanch the flow.

"Call 911!" someone screamed behind me.

      "Mr. Hunt!" I yelled. "Can you hear me?"

      His eyes fluttered open. "Yes," he croaked.

"Just hold on," I said frantically, covering the hole in his chest with my hands. "Help is coming, just hold on."

He grabbed my wrist tighter than I was expecting. "Finn."

"Yes," I said desperately, "I'm here."

"Finn, if I die-"

"No!" I practically shouted. "Don't say that, you're going to be fine. You're going to get help."

He was quiet for a moment. Through the chaos, I heard Jaxon yell, "Where is he? I'll kill him!"

I turned to see him, Delphinium, Kane and Jake beginning to push their way through the crowd. I expected that they were going up into one of the buildings to search for the assassin.

"Finn, you need to hear this," Mr. Hunt said, speaking as though every word was hard for him to get out. "If I don't make it, you need to lead the team.
The counsel might not act against Imperium in time."

"In time?" I questioned, panicking. "They don't believe us, they're not going to act at all!"

"They might," the ONNT director insisted. "If you capture the assassin who attacked you, they'll have concrete proof."

I shook my head. "He was the one who attacked you. We didn't even see this coming. How can we take him down?"

"You can...you can..."

"It's okay," I stated, my voice still sounding too loud in my ears. I realized what a toll this was taking on him. "Don't talk if you don't need to."

Suddenly, Riley was beside me, her usually playful eyes now wide. "Here," she said, shucking her jacket off. "Press this against the wound."

I obeyed. Mr. Hunt was barely responding now. His eyes were half open and he wasn't moving as much.

"I can hear his heartbeat. It's slowing," Arlo said as he stood over us. "This is a fine time for Gigi to have left us."

"She could have probably stabilized him, at least," Riley agreed nervously. As she spoke, the sound of sirens got closer.

      The paramedics surrounded us in no time. They worked Mr. Hunt up on a stretcher as Riley, Arlo and I stood back, watching. My heart pounded in my chest. I couldn't believe this was happening.

      "I'll go with him," I told a paramedic. Mr. Hunt couldn't die, I would make sure he didn't.

      She nodded. "Get in."

      I stepped into the back after they'd loaded him in. The doctors were already beginning to do what they could for him, tearing open his sopping wet shirt to get to the wound.

      The ambulance began moving. Everyone was jolted slightly with the sudden movement, but Mr. Hunt's operation wasn't stopped. I could see the wound clearly now. It was deep in his lower chest, ringed with raw red skin. Blood pumped out of it, slower than usual, though still too much for him to be out of danger.