The gun is firing.
Three shots ring out in the still, cool air.
Pop pop pop.
My body jerks from the impact of all three. It feels like someone punched me in the torso three times, the force of the blows hurling me off my feet.
The dirty cement of the sidewalk rushes up to meet me, and I slam into it full-force, hitting my head hard.
Tires screech as the car speeds away. Another screech rises up as it rounds a corner at the end of the block.
Above me, voices are yelling, three deep baritones shouting words I can’t quite make out.
I’m… wet.
There’s liquid spreading in a pool around me, and when I reach up with one shaking hand to touch my chest, my fingertips come away stained a dark, deep red.
Blood.
I can taste it on my tongue now, coppery and bitter. It’s hard to breathe.
It’s hard to swallow.
It’s hard to think.
My body feels like it’s no longer my own. I’m not even sure I can feel all my limbs anymore. Do I still have them? Am I still here?
My mind can’t process what just happened. How I went from alive and whole to bleeding out on a sidewalk in the space of less than a minute.
Then the shouts above me quiet, and suddenly, a face appears above mine.
Brown and blue.
The man from the club.
I stare into those preternaturally beautiful eyes as they stare back at me. My lips move, but sound refuses to come out.
“Fuck.” The stranger’s voice is rough and deep. His square jaw is set, and his full lips press into a harsh line.
I try to speak again, lifting my trembling hand toward him, forcing my failing muscles to obey. My fingertips leave little streaks of blood on his cheek, and something flares in his eyes.
He grabs my hand in both of his larger ones, his gaze intense as his eyes bounce between mine.
“Marcus!” The new voice sounds like it’s coming from miles away. From another dimension or another planet maybe. “We gotta go. Now! Ambulance is on its…”
Whatever else the voice says is lost to me.
It’s too far away. Or maybe I’m too far away.
I’m sinking through the cement beneath me, through the blood that surrounds me. I’m falling into nothingness.
The stranger with the striking eyes and dark brown hair drops his head. His lips brush the shell of my ear, and it’s nothing like when Monica screamed into my ear earlier.
His voice doesn’t grate. It isn’t a high-pitched screech. It’s a deep rumble, and I swear I feel the vibrations of it all the way down to my bones.
He murmurs something, and I try to latch on to his words. Try to decipher them.
But consciousness is slipping away.