CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN » FLATLINE
"I'm not dying for you."

☽

I jolted awake suddenly, my heart leaping in surprise at the sound of my phone ringing loudly.

I let out a tired groan, my vision blurring slightly as I began to peel my eyes open. I rubbed my tired eyes, glancing to my left, only to find the other side of the bed empty. I frowned for a moment, before deciding Liam had probably gone downstairs for a glass of water, or something along those lines.

I propped myself up on my elbows, leaning over to reach blindly for my phone buzzing on the bedside table. "Hello?"

"It's me," Theo responded dryly, sounding as if he'd only just woken up himself.

I exhaled in heavy disappointment. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hang up?" I asked, stretching my hand out to turn on the bedside lamp. I squinted slightly, my eyes stinging from the sudden burst of light.

"Because Liam's in trouble."

I paused for a moment, my heart dropping as silence filled the other end of the line. "What do you mean Liam's in trouble?"

"The hunters," he said. "They have him trapped at the hospital."

I shifted to the edge of the bed, placing my bare feet down firmly. "How do you know?"

"Scott called," he replied. "I'm on my way to pick you up."

"Okay," I said, glancing round the room for a moment, before I remembered that it definitely was not my bedroom. "T, wait–" I cut off, inwardly cringing as I braced myself. "I, uh– well, I'm not exactly at my house."

There was a confused silence on the other end of the line. "What? "Where are you then?"

"Uh..."

~

"So you're telling me you had a hot hookup with your ex, and then he disappeared in the middle of the night without warning?" Theo questioned, raising his eyebrows as we headed through reception.

"Basically."

Theo looked as if he was about to reply, likely with some sort of witty remark, until he came to a sudden halt, throwing out his arm to stop me in my tracks. He stiffened, his back tensing as he straightened up. "Stop–"

I slowed to a stop, glancing up at him unsurely. "What is it?"

"Listen," he said firmly, pointing up to the ceiling above us. I stood still, straining my ears to listen out for whatever, or whoever, was above us.

There were multiple heartbeats, a few too many for me to bother counting. Every person up there sounded as if they were carrying a lot of heavy armoury. But most alarmingly, in one of rooms nearby, there seemed to be a difficult struggle between two people.

I moved past Theo, swiftly nodding in his direction as I started to make my way towards the elevator. "Let's go."

Once Theo was inside, I pressed down hard on the button for the next level, as panic began to build within me. I listened closely as the doors shut, taking us up to next floor, where even further commotion seemed to be sounding.

"Go ahead Liam, run." Gabe's taunting voice bounced around, sending my hear racing in fear. "It will be more fun that way."

Panic soared through me as I launched myself towards the buttons on the side, forcefully slamming my hand down on the floor number to open it. I watched the doors closely, as I repeatedly pressed the button, becoming frustrated with every second that passed. "Fucking hell just–"

The elevator doors dinged loudly, and Theo took a large stride forwards the moment they opened, immediately grabbing a body and pulling them back as sudden gunfire began to sound from the end of the corridor.

I watched the doors slowly began to close as Theo pulled himself and Liam into safety. I kept my back pressed against the wall, listening anxiously as bullets began to ricochet from the metal doors, until they finally closed shut.

"What are you doing here?" Liam exclaimed breathlessly, glancing between Theo and I incredulously.

Theo ran a hand through his hair, looking a little on edge from the close call. "I was just asking myself the same thing."

"Why the hell didn't you wake me?" I asked, whipping round to face him.

Liam shifted his gaze. "I'm sorry."

A heavy lapsed between the three of us for a short while, until Theo stepped towards the doors. "They still out there?" I spared a glance at Liam, who's was looking down at the floor vacantly. He nodded simply, and I glanced up at Theo, who shook his head firmly, eyes remaining on Liam. "I'm not dying for you."

"And I'm not dying for you either," Liam retorted back almost immediately. A long pause followed, as I watched him shift his eyes away from Theo, his jaw clenching. "But I will fight with you."

Theo let out a heavy breath, nodding his head slowly. I felt their eyes both fall on me, and glanced over, meeting Liam's gaze. "You know me," I started, shifting my eyes to Theo, who arched his eyebrows in anticipation. "I love a good fight."

A small smirk began to tug on his lips, and he turned his attention back to Liam again, nodding in assurance. "Okay, let's fight."

I began to peel myself away from the wall I'd been stood against, moving beside Liam as the three of us gradually began to shift. I winced slightly, glancing down at my claws as they began to protrude from my hands.

The elevator began to move up through the floors again, and I listened carefully as the heartbeats of Gerard's army became louder, and louder, and louder.

I felt a sudden rush of warmth run through me, as a hand softly brushed against mine. Slowly, I lifted my my gaze, meeting Liam's comforting eyes one last time before the elevator chimed, and the elevator doors opened once more.

Along with Liam and Theo, I found myself letting out a low growl at the sight of the men and women positioned with guns, waiting for us. I breathed in deeply, before the three of us simultaneously began to rush straight towards them, and gunfire began to sound through the air.

I reached the man closest to us first, wrapping my hands around the rifle in his hands and tilting it upwards, as I sent my knee jabbing into his stomach. The gun misfired, and he let out a stifled groan of pain as I forcefully pushed him to the side, letting him fall against the wall in an unconscious heap.

I quickly caught up to Liam and Theo, who were a short way ahead of me, shoving a dazed man to the floor. His head hit the wall hard, as he crumbled against the floor, the gun resting beside him.

I looked up at the sound of a crash, catching eyes with the boys, who had just turned back to look in my direction. I heard the sound of a gun cocking behind me, and immediately tore my gaze away, my eyes instead connecting with one of the men pulling himself from the ground, his weapon aimed straight at me.

My heart leapt with panic, and I'd barely had time to even move before another figure came bursting round the corner, a taser in their hand. The man dropped back down instantly, and I found myself letting out a heavy breath of relief as I met my mom's gaze.

A few people emerged from behind her, beginning to rush over. They quickly grabbed any discarded weapons on the floor, until one person skidded to a stop, his attention falling something behind us. "Get down!"

Before I'd even had time to wonder why Nolan was trying to help us, a hand had already roughly grabbed my forearm, dragging me forwards with such force that I found myself starting to fall down.

Hundreds of bullets began to rain down on us, and I heard numerous groans of pain from Liam and Theo, as we all simultaneously seemed to stumble to the floor, wounded.

I blinked rapidly, feeling momentarily disoriented by the pain in my body. until another bullet whizzed past, only inches away from my head. With a start, I began to scramble up, quickly moving to take cover against the wall, Theo and Liam falling down beside me with pained grunts, having bore the brunt of the gunfire.

I turned my head to the side, feeling a little breathless as I tried to speak. Heavy footsteps sounded from Gabe, who was nearing closer towards us by the second. I searched Liam's eyes wildly. "Plan?"

After a few moments of silence, he shook his head, suddenly springing up from his hiding place. "Fuck this."

"Liam–" I stopped short, dropping back down to the floor as Theo's hand wrapped around my wrist.

"Just wait," he instructed, leaning forwards to crane his neck around the trolley to get a better view.

A gunshot burst through the air, followed by struggled noises, sounding as if they were emitting from Liam and Gabe. I turned to Theo with wide eyes, the nervous feeling twisting deep in my stomach beginning to intensify.

"I can't get a shot," a voice spoke from nearby, suddenly catching my attention. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just shoot him!" Monroe exclaimed back, through the radio device. "Shoot both of them!"

I swallowed thickly, straightening up as I began to prepare myself to move into the gunfire. "Becca," Theo cautioned. I wrapped my hand tightly around the metal bar of the trolley, slowly pulling myself up. "Bex," he growled. "Bex!"

The moment I took a step out, multiple gunshots ripped through the air, causing me to stop frozen in my tracks.

Silence.

Spots of blood smeared over the hospital floor, as a figure limply fell against the wall for support.

A short distance away, Liam and mom crouched on the floor, watching as Gabe began to struggle away.

From behind me, Theo let out a low groan of pain, and I briefly turned my attention back to him as he clutched his shoulder with a grimace. I lifted my arm out slowly, holding out my hand. Our eyes met for a few brief moments, before Theo finally accepted the gesture, gripping me tightly as he hauled himself up with a slight struggle, leaving us stood side by side.

From the end of the corridor, Gabe began to cough harshly, blood oozing between his lips. "It hurts," he spoke quietly, his eyes painfully squeezed shut. "It hurts."

Theo took a step forwards, as broken sobs began to sound from Gabe. I watched again as Theo moved forwards again, stepping past both my mom and Liam, in the direction of Gabe.

I began to make my own way forwards, unable to tear my eyes away from what was happening in front of me. I came to a stop beside my mom, feeling her worried gaze on me for a few moments before she eventually took my hand.

Theo had slowed to a stop in front of Gabe, and I watched unsurely for a few moments as he began to crouch in front of him, wrapping his hand around his wrist.

I breathed out heavily as Theo's veins darkened, and Gabe's panicked and pained cries began to lessen, whilst he stared  up at Theo in surprise.

"Does it hurt anymore?"

"No," Gabe whispered, his gaze lingering on Theo, until his face drained of colour, and his eyelids began to flutter.

Gabe's head slowly began to tilt to the side, his terrified eyes finally closing shut, his heartbeat falling still. Theo gently began to move away, and I watched silently, wrestling with the crushing feeling seeming to be weighing down on all of us.

"This is Monroe." I jolted a little, startled by the voice from the radio penetrating the silence we'd been left in. "Someone report with the status now!" I shared a glance with Liam, who began to move towards the body of a man, where the radio was lay beside him. "Someone respond. Someone talk to me!" I let go of my mom's hand, moving over beside Liam. The two of us began to crouch down to retrieve it, as Monroe's shrill, panicked voice continued to come through. "What's happening?!" Liam reached for the device, holding it between the two of us. "Someone pick up the radio and tell me what's happening?!"

Liam's eyes hardened as he pressed down on the button, bringing the radio to his lips. "You lost."

I leaned forwards placing my hand atop of his to keep his finger pressed down on the button. Slowly, I brought myself closer to the device, the sneering tone in my voice rolling off my tongue.

"Bitch."

❥

A/N

I love badass Becca.

I feel like this was kinda, sorta, slightly anticlimactic in a way, but then it wasn't that great in the show either so idek anymore???

But can we just talk about the fact that Theo said he wouldn't die for Liam, but didn't say anything about not dying for Bex???? because honestly wow I love a concept.

I have my a level exams in like two weeks, or something like that (I am so unprepared honestly) so I probably won't update until like late next month? (kinda don't wanna update any time soon anyway because it will be the last chapter and I'm like totally not ready for that?? send help)

Tbh this chapter is a bit of a mess, but that is because I am a mess, and the reason that I am a mess is because I saw Infinity War the other day and I still haven't recovered. rip me