#tw bullet

Ben told Josh that he thinks he loves you! :O

Danielle’s face grew warm, biting at her lip. She scribbled something back and handed it back.

Maybe I love him too. Keep it to yourself! Lol

The girls giggled softly to each other.

The alarm started blasting through the school, all the students and even the teacher jumped.

“Mrs. Lincoln, is this a drill?” One of the students whined.

“I don’t-” before Mrs. Lincoln could finish her sentence, a gunshot rang through the halls. The loudspeaker crackled to life.

“Active shooter Alert! This is not a drill! Repeat! This is not a drill!” the automated message spoke.

The air went thick in the room. It turned cold as every student’s heart rate skyrocketed. Danielle’s eyes went wide as she turned to Morgan.

“Everyone in the corner! Do not say a word!” Mrs. Lincoln bolted up and ran to the door, turning off the lights and running to close the blinds on the windows.

The students quickly shuffled over to the corner. A few had started crying. They clasped their hands over their mouths, trying to stifle the sounds of their sobs. Mrs. Lincoln stood by the door, a horrified determination on her face.

This was the day they had all dreaded. The day they knew would come but hoped wouldn’t.

“Turn your phones to silent, put the screen brightness down. Text your parents.” Mrs. Lincoln whispered, her voice shaking.

Danielle pulled her phone out and tried to type out a message. Her fingers were shaking.

To: Fuzzy, Jack

There’s a shooter. I’m scared. I love you. Thank you for everything.

Her finger hovered over the send button. She didn’t want them to be scared. She didn’t want those to be her last words. She didn’t want the last thing they had of her to be this one text. She thought about writing more. She didn’t want to feel foolish if everything was fine.

A rattle of gunshots and screams echoed in the hall.

She hit send.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

“Dr. Santos please tell me your gastroenteritis case is being discharged.” Robby groaned from his chair at the desk.

“Just kicked ‘em to the curb.”  Santos winked and gave him finger guns.

“Let’s not use that kind of language, please.” Robby sighed as he typed on his computer; his phone buzzed in his pocket.

“You’re popular.” Dana scoffed as she looked at him over her glasses.

“Jack’s in a texting mood. He’s trying to get shit ready for Ducky’s Birthday. He keeps sending me decoration pinterest boards.” Robby sighed.

“He’s excited. It’s cute. Why aren’t you?” Dana turned to face him.

“I am. I really am. I just…it’s her first birthday since everything and I want to get it right. I want to make sure she’s happy and not make it about anything else. I don’t know.” Robby rubbed his eyes. His phone buzzed again. “Fucking shit, Jack.” He groaned as he pulled the phone out. Dana’s phone started going off at the same time.

“Jack, I’m at work. No party st-”

“Mike! There’s a shooter at her school!” Jack was out of breath, clearly running.

“What?” Robby sat straight up.

“Is she okay? Where is she?” Dana was yelling in her phone.

“Mike, I’m getting her. I’m going to get her safe.” Jack panted.

“Jack, don’t do anything stupid. You hear me!?” Robby was desperate.

“I’m coming home to you, I swear.” Jack promised.

“Find her and call me. I have to get everyone ready.” Robby felt his hands shaking.

“Go. I’ll call.” Jack hung up.  As Jack’s icon faded, the notification from Danielle popped up. Robby read the text thought he might throw up.

“You keep me updated. Don’t wait.” Dana barked into her phone before hanging up.

“They’ll be okay.” Robby nodded to Dana. He couldn’t tell if he was trying to convince her or himself more.

“Right.” Dana tried to get her breathing under control.

“Robinavitch, you heard?” Gloria appeared.

“Yeah. There are approximately 900 kids at that school. This could be worse than Pittfest. We’ll need to call in to the other hospitals and get as much blood and supplies as they can spare.” Robby tried to focus on the crisis at hand. His mind was clearly distracted.

“We’ll get everything we can. Are you good to be here?” Gloria gave him a sympathetic look.

“No choice. Jack is trying to get to her. Um…call in night shift. Any peds doctors still around need to get down here too.” Robby said.

“We’ve sent out the texts per the mass casualty protocol. I’ve got Dr. Waters, head of peds coming down to help you lead.” Gloria looked at the confused faces gathering.

“I’ll prep the team.” Robby nodded.

“Let us know what you need.” Gloria nodded and ran off.

Robby looked over and saw Dana shaking and trying to breath, hunched over her desk. He put a hand on her shoulder.

“We have to keep it together. Those kids need us. Morgan will be okay. Danielle will be okay. But the other kids won’t be. Just stay strong for a little while.” He whispered to her.

“Yeah. You’re right. Fuck.” She murmured as she straightened up.

“Everybody! Listen up!” Robby called to his team. “There is an active shooter at Oakwood High School. We don’t know how many are coming in. But we need to prepare for big numbers. This…this will be the hardest thing you have to do. It’s going to be almost exclusively kids. We have Dr. Waters coming down from peds to help us. We’ve done this before. We know how it feels. We can get through this, too. You know the protocol, please ask for help if you need it.” Robby said.

“Danny and Morgan are there.” Dr. Santos said, her eyes wide.

“We…we don’t know where they are right now. But Benji and Jack are there. They’ll find them and I will update you when we have something to update. Please, keep your heads on straight. For the sake of our sanity, don’t ask Dana or I about them. I can’t…we need to keep our heads in the game.” Robby wrung his hands.

The supplies were organized as night shift filtered in. The staff rushed around, prepping for anything and everything. The air was tight with tension and anxiety. Everyone would double-take as they passed Robby or Dana. How they were still functioning, no one knew.

Robby and Dana couldn’t stop checking their phones.

“Dr. Robinavitch, I’m assuming you want me to take lead on this?” Dr. Waters walked up to Robby.

“Yeah. I’ll have you be the lead, the vests are on the desk.” Robby nodded.

“You good to be here? I heard you got a kid there. You and Evans.” Waters said as she put the vest on over her disposable gown.

“We’re okay. Just…might need you to take over if things…”

“Understood. I won’t push it.” She nodded.

“I’ll help in triage. Get them going and then I’ll be in here.” Robby ran out to the ambulance bay.

“Can’t believe we’re doing this again. It’s barely been a year.” Ellis sighed.

“Crazy world, these days.” Shen nodded.

“You’re going to be dealing with parents out here now, too. Remember that they are going to be distraught, not in their right mind. They might get violent. I’ve got Ahmad out here to help. Your priority is the kids.” Robby lectured.

“We got it. We’ll be okay.” Shen said.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Morgan grabbed Danielle’s hand. Danielle looked up to see her crying. They wrapped their arms around each other.

“I’m glad I’m with you at least,” Morgan whispered.

“We’ll be okay.” Danielle tried to sound confident.

The kids, the children, sat in the corner of the room listening to the sounds of their breaths and heartbeats. They all had the same thought in their head. They all wondered if they’d be the next number on the news, the next tally.

The door handle jiggled.

Mrs. Lincoln held her breath.

The kids gasped, some shook. A few of them moved to be in front of the group, readying to sacrifice themselves. Not one was older than sixteen.

The sound of banging on the door had never sounded so terrifying.

They heard the footsteps walk away.

Morgan sobbed into Danielle’s shoulder. Some of the kids sighed in relief. It was short-lived; the sounds of gunfire rang out just on the other side of the door. Kids screamed in the hallway. Bullets came through the wooden door, making everyone jump and gasp.

The silence after was almost worse than the sound of bullets.

They waited with baited breath for the inevitable.

The sound of the assailant walking away again had them thankful, but they didn’t let themselves feel relief again.

Just when they thought maybe they’d be safe for a while, the fire alarm started going off. They all looked to Mrs. Lincoln.

“Just stay there.” She whispered as she got her phone out. “It might be fake.” She prayed. But it wasn’t answered when she read in the group chat that there was, in fact, a fire in school. Her heart dropped to her stomach. She had to make an impossible choice. She could have them stay here and maybe the fire would be contained before it got to them or it could blaze and consume them. Or they go out into the hall and get pinned down by the shooter. No one could make the right call. There wasn’t one. They were on the third floor, going out the window wasn’t an option.

“Stay here.” She told them as she carefully opened the door and looked to see the hall was empty now.

“Okay. Listen to me very carefully. We have to leave, we can’t stay here. The fire is going to make its way towards us. We have to try and get outside.” She told them. She watched the faces of her students pale and their eyes go wide with fear.

“Mrs. Lincoln that fucking guy is out there!”  Clark hissed.

“I know. I wish we didn’t have to do any of this.” She sighed, trying not to cry. This wasn’t the time. She had to get her kids safe.

“What do we do?” Morgan squeaked.

“We’re going to go in groups of five. All of us at once and it might make too much noise or be too obvious. So, we’ll take it slow. He’s not on our floor. The stairs are just twenty feet away. I’m getting you safe.” She promised. “Line up along the wall.” She said as she got up and looked back into the hallway. She could see the glow of the fire coming around the corner at the far end of the hallway.

The kids fumbled to their feet as they lined up. No one pushed. No one argued with their spot in line. They didn’t have it in them. They all just wanted out of that fucking building. Danielle and Morgan were at the back. Clark had made it a point to be last.

“Okay, first group.” Mrs. Lincoln walked them to the hallway. She stood in the middle of the hallway directing the kids to the entrance to the stairwell. The kids shuffled as quickly as they could without making noise. She followed them to the stairs. She took her shoe off and stuck it in the doorway to stop it from slamming shut. Once the first group made it to the bottom of the stairs she waited, praying for no sound. After thirty seconds she had to trust that they made it out the front door.

She shuffled over to the door and waved the next group on. This went on for fifteen minutes until the last group waited for their chance. Mrs. Lincoln waited for the door to close and listened again. She waved them forward and led them to the stairs. The fire could be heard roaring from down the hall, its heat radiating and making them all sweat. Danielle and Morgan shuffled toward the door. The other two students, Tim and Olivia, made it to the door first.

“No.” Mrs. Lincoln gasped as they all heard footsteps coming around the corner fast. “Go!” She yelled as a shot rang out. She screamed as she bent over, grabbing her stomach.

“Shit!” Clark moved to go toward her.

“Go!” She yelled as she fumbled forward, trying to push them into the stairwell.

“Wait! Please!” Danielle called out as she tried to make it to Mrs. Lincoln. Clark grabbed her waist and pushed her into the stairwell before crying out as he fell forward, Danielle felt a burning in her leg as another shot rang out.

Mrs. Lincoln shoved Clark into the stairwell and slammed the door, using her emergency keys to lock the door and tossed them out of the window.

“No! No!” Morgan cried as she watched the shooter fire another shot into Mrs. Lincoln.

“We have to go! Morgan!” Danielle pulled her back from the window. “Tim! Help me get Clark out of here!” Danielle wrapped Clark’s arm around her shoulders, Tim followed suit.

“She’s gone. She’s just gone…” Morgan sobbed.

“Olivia, get her down the stairs, do what you have to.” Danielle barked. Olivia ran up and started dragging Morgan down the stairs.

“Fuck, it hurts!” Clark groaned as the blood oozed from his side.

“I think it’s just a graze. You’ll be okay.” Danielle tried to keep everyone calm enough to get them out of the building.

The door to exit the stairwell had never looked more terrifying. They all stood shaking, not wanting to open it.

“Okay. The front door is just around the corner. We can do this. We have to.” Tim tried to hype them up.

“Olivia, open the door and see if you can see anything.” Danielle ordered.

“I’m scared.” Olivia whimpered.

“I know. Me too.” Danielle sighed. Olivia slowly opened the door and peered out.

“Looks okay.” She sighed and opened it wider for them to drag Clark’s increasingly heavy body into the hallway. A trail of red dragged behind them, blending into the bloody footprints on the floor left by the students that had already made it out.

The light of the sun filtering through the front entrance made them all feel relieved. They just had to get out of this fucking building. Olivia ran forward and opened the door. They all filtered out onto the concrete steps.

The front lawn was filled with cops. They all rushed forward to help take Clark from Tim and Danielle.

“He’s…he was on the third floor. He killed…Our teacher.” Morgan sobbed to one of the SWAT officers.

“Okay, kid. We got a team in there. They’ll get him-”

“Shooter terminated. Repeat. Shooter terminated. Threat eliminated.” The radio on the officer’s shoulder buzzed.

“It’s over.” He patted Morgan’s shoulder. She was hit with an instant rage as she looked over the lawn and saw the carnage left behind. It wasn’t over. It never would be. Not to them.

“Clark? Clark, wake up!” Tim shook Clark by his shoulders. The officers had laid Clark on the lawn and called for first aid. They left him there to go inside.

“Clark?” Danielle looked him over. He was bleeding a lot. “Morgan! I need you!” She shouted. Morgan snapped out of her trance and ran over. Danielle ripped Clark’s shirt from him to look at the wound.

“We have to control the bleeding.” Morgan cleared her throat, trying to focus.

“Tim, give me your sweatshirt,” Danielle ordered. Tim shucked off his shirt and handed it to her. She pressed it into the wound, eliciting a scream from Clark.

“Oh my god.” Olivia sobbed. They looked up as the SWAT officers started dragging people from the building. Some were wounded, some were dead. The lawn was full of the casualties. Danielle and Morgan looked at each other, they knew what they had to do.

“Tim, keep pressure on this wound. Do not let go.” Danielle said. Tim took over for her, cringing at the blood.

“W-what are you doing?” He asked.

“It’s going to take the paramedics a while to get here. We can help.” Morgan nodded.

“Keep him awake.” Danielle said as she ran off. The pain in her leg was starting to radiate. But she didn’t seem to notice much. Maybe she didn’t want to think about it.

The girls ran around the front lawn trying to do what they could. Parents started running up, trying to find their kids. A few ran up to Morgan and Danielle, begging them for any information.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

The first ambulance came speeding in. The paramedic jumped out and started pulling the gurney.

“GSW to the left lower quadrant. 16 year-old male. Tachy and diaphoretic.” She said as she dragged him to the gurney and they transferred him.

“Straight to red with him.” Robby nodded to Shen. Robby pulled the medic aside, trying to be subtle about his plea.

“Did you see Danielle? Or maybe Morgan?” Robby was desperate.

“No. You got a picture of them?” She asked. Robby fumbled with his phone pulling up the picture of them from homecoming. “Haven’t seen them. I’ll keep an eye out. Airdrop me the picture, I’ll make sure everyone does.”

“Done.” Robby was thankful for technology for once. “Thank you.”

“You got it. I’d be going crazy if I was you.” She sighed. “It’s gonna be bad. Just…there’s a lot.” She jumped back into the rig and they sped off.