That thought somehow re-started my brain and cleared my head. I was fucking dying, and Mercer’s mafia had arrived to protect their beloved leader. We were fucked kind of fucked. I had to get up and get the fuck out of here!

Glen finally got me up, and we rushed toward the gate looming in the back. I heard a lot of firing in the house, but no one was aiming at us. Yet. I ignored the pain as I held my hand over my burning stomach, trying to keep moving as fast as I could. I refused to die out here. We just had to get away from the angry mob we now had after us.

We reached the gate without getting spotted and hurried out. There was a gravel pathway up ahead, leading up into the forest and down to the large community of small homes. But to get to that pathway, we needed to get past a small ditch. Glen easily jumped over it, but I stumbled and fell as I tried to follow him, hitting the ground hard on the other side.

“Come on!” Glen hissed and hurried to help me.

But at that moment, we heard the first sounds of the army birds approaching us fast.

“Choppers…” Glen muttered, frozen to stare at the dark sky.

“The army…” I whispered, yanking his hand. “Help me. We need to go.”

He turned to stare at me, his face pale, and eyes wide.

“Glen…?” I muttered. “Help me.”

“I’m… I’m sorry,” he said, pushed my hand away, and got up. “I really am, but… You’re already dead.”

“Glen?” I whispered when he turned around and ran without looking back. “Glen!”

I stared after him, unable to understand he was actually running away, leaving me behind to die or get captured… He didn’t even hesitate…

I looked up when the first black helicopter flied past me, turned around, and started landing on the street with soldiers already jumping out by using ropes. The second one arrived only seconds later.

I was so incredibly fucked.

“Fuck…!” I whispered in pain, only half of it in my stomach, and forced myself up from the ditch.

I was not dying here, nor would I ever let myself get captured by the army cunts. I had to keep fucking going. I had no idea how bad my injury was, but I’d keep running for as far as my body would take me.

I stayed hidden under the trees and avoided the streetlights as I made my way down to the tiny homes, trying to stay up on my wobbly feet and fight back the growing dizziness. My plan was to steal a car and get myself to a doctor. I’d fucking make it. I fucking refused to die… I refused to die because of my fucking comrades messed up the whole mission and my closest friend left me to die…

But I knew… Deep down, I knew I didn’t have much time left… Minutes. Maybe only seconds. I wasn’t getting out of here alive… Maybe… Maybe I should’ve let the army find me, after all… They would save my ass…

I reached the edge of the tiny-house neighborhood, still somehow staying up on my feet. There was an older car nearby, tucked away between two houses in a dark alley. I made my way to it, the world spinning even harder now, trying to make sure no one spotted me. There had to be countless people staring out the windows, watching the burning house up the hill…

I reached the car and fell against it. I needed a moment to catch my breath and stop the world from spinning. I tried to open the door, but it was obviously locked. I realized a small flaw in my great plan… I was too weak to break the window. I had a gun, a small firearm, but using it would alert the people in the houses… But what choices did I have?

I heard rushed footsteps coming my way and turned around to see a small guy running down the street with a baby stroller. He kept peering at the fire and the army birds, his face scared. He had to be heading home…

My first instinct was to hide from him, but… I was not going to make it to the closest doctor we had. There was just no way… And I’d rather die than let myself get thrown in jail, so…

When the guy was about to run past me, I stepped out of the alley and grabbed him by his arm. He got scared and tried to scream, so I pressed my gun under his chin to silence him.

“Not a fucking sound, you hear me?” I growled in his ear, and he whimpered. “Where do you live?”

“Please, no! I… I…!” he stammered, so I shoved the gun harder against his throat.

“Where do you fucking live?!” I asked again, growing angry with him. “I’ll blow your head off if you don’t start walking right now!”

He was a fucking omega…

He let out pathetic whimpers, refusing to move or talk, so I pulled off the safety, doing it nice and slow to scare him.

“Take me to your home, now, or your baby will lose a daddy,” I told him. “Or would you prefer me to blow its head off instead?”

“No! Please, don’t hurt us! I… It’s this way…” he stammered, terrified, and took a step forward.

“That’s a good bitch,” I said, peering over my shoulder to make sure we weren’t being followed.

I held him right next to me as we walked, keeping the gun pressed against his side, hidden under his jacket. I could feel my life fading… I was growing weaker with every step I took, but I still refused to face the fact that I was already dead. Unless by some goddamn miracle this bitch was a doctor…

“It’s… It’s here…” the omega said, his voice high-pitched from fear. “Please don’t hurt us…”

“Fucking shut up and get us in,” I hissed at him, and he led me up to a small, yellow house with a tiny yard filled with flowers and vegetables.

I didn’t really look around when we entered the home. I let him go once the door was locked, but kept my gun pointed at him.

“You know how to treat a wound?” I asked, pulling my shirt up to show him my bleeding stomach.

“I… I…” he fell silent, but nodded hastily.

“Then you better fucking get on with it,” I growled at him.

“It’s a… It’s a gunshot wound,” he said, shivering.

“Well fucking duh,” I said, using my gun to gesture for him to get to work.

He took one hasty look at his sleeping baby, then peered at me.

“Don’t get any stupid ideas in your stupid little head. The baby dies if you try anything,” I told him. “Get the first aid kit if you have one!”

He nodded and hurried to get what he needed while I stayed by the door, ready to shoot his stupid kid if he so much as thought about disobeying me. He returned to me quickly, carrying a huge box with green crosses on it.

“You should lie down. You don’t have much time,” he told me, gesturing toward a small bedroom he had.

“You go first,” I ordered, pointing at the doorway.

As he entered the bedroom, giving me scared glances, I followed him, making sure he stayed in my sight, and went to sit down on the bed. Well, collapsed on the bed. I really didn’t have much time left… I was barely able to hold the gun pointed at the bitch… I could hardly even breathe with the pain burning in my insides. There was no way I could be saved anymore…

“Try anything stupid…” I told him in a warning tone, even though all he really had to do was to wait for a bit and he’d get to enjoy watching me die a horrible, painful death.

“Lie down so I can get to work,” he told me, his voice now stronger.

His fear was subsiding, and I wondered if he could tell I wasn’t going to be a threat for much longer, no matter how hard I tried to act like I was fine. He kneeled next to the bed and opened his box. It was full of medical equipment, things no ordinary people had ever even heard of.

“You a doctor?” I asked without actually believing it for a second.

“A nurse.”

I stopped to stare at him. Well fuck…

Was I actually going to make it, after all?

“Lie down,” the omega told me again.

I squinted my eyes at him. “If you do anything stupid–”

“You are seconds away from death. You know that, right?” he asked, now almost… almost angry at me. “Lie. Down.”

I did as he asked, still holding onto my gun and keeping my eyes on him. He quickly pushed my shirt out of his way, then grabbed a pair of rubber gloves.

“Fucking alphas…” he muttered as he studied my injury. “You’re a True Order terrorist, right? You’re behind that explosion.”

I said nothing. There really was no point in lying because even as stupid as omegas were, he could still put together two plus two.

“Thought so…” he muttered and pulled the biggest damn forceps I’d ever seen from his box. “This might hurt. The bullet is still in there.”

I wanted to tell him to get those things the fuck away from me, but… death. So, I gritted my teeth together and stared up at the ceiling, trying to take deep breaths.

And my fucking god, it hurt. It hurt so much I had to use the left of my strength to keep myself from screaming while he pulled the bullet out. When it was over and the pain grew more tolerable, I collapsed back onto the bed, my entire body limp and unresponsive.

“Good job,” the omega muttered, but I wasn’t focusing on him anymore.

My entire body was drenched in cold sweat. I gasped for air, trying to fight back the grayness of the world, and the darkness at the edges of my vision. I couldn’t pass out… If I did… But I was so weak… Tired…

Was this it…?

My end…?

The omega suddenly stood up and leaned over me. The last thing I remember seeing before passing out was him straightening his posture…

With my gun in his hand.

 *****

[Psst, Ream Subscribers get to enjoy early access to Trouble’s chapters, and bonus chapters from the omega’s point of view]