Dead?
When I heard that, my vision flickered again, while somehow I felt my strength returning.
Crawling with difficulty, I take my left hand to the gun at my side and point it at the woman.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
I fired until the gun didn't release any more bullets, hitting the last 3 ammunition in the body of the officer, who slowly turned to me and pointed her gun at me.
*Bang*
*cough* *cough*
Startled slightly by the other hit on my body, just smiled and looked up at the sky that seemed particularly beautiful today thanks to the violet light that was covering everything.
"*Cough* *Cough*" Coughing up more blood, I look sideways at the collapsed body next to me, causing my smile to become softer "I-I protected *Cough* *Cough* *cough* my s-siblings *cough* *cough*"
"M-mom..."
...
A woman in a white gown was quickly running towards the entrance of the hospital, while the whole place seemed to be in chaos because of the arrival of a stretcher surrounded by 4 people.
"What's the situation!?" The woman quickly asked.
"Boy of about 13 years old seriously wounded by a firearm, we count 11 bullet impacts, 6 in the thorax, 3 in the stomach, one in the arm and one in the shoulder!" Spoke quickly a nurse, quickly moving the stretcher through the corridors "We found him unconscious at the scene, blood filled his lungs and we had to improvise, it is expected that his lungs are punctured and he needs immediate surgery!"
"PREP SURGERY!!!" Shouted the woman in white coat towards the surrounding nurses, causing them to run quickly.
"Did you call his family? We need blood fast!" The woman asked.
"The police said they would contact her, they should be here in a few minutes!" Nurse nodded quickly, as they continued to move the stretcher.
...
*Ring* *Ring* *Ring* *Ring*
"*Sigh* Who's calling now" Picking up her cell phone, Eva looks at the contact and sees it's Sara.
"Sara, I'm really busy right now, what do you need?
"Eva... did you get a call before mine?" with a weak voice, Sara asks.
"Yes, but it was unknown so I hung up, why?"
"Where are you now?"
"I'm on my way to the airport, I have a flight in 15 minutes, did something happen?" with a bad feeling, Eva asks.
"..."
"Sara please don't make me nervous, tell me what happened!" feeling her heart clench for some reason, Eva asked anxiously.
"Just get there as soon as possible Eva, I-I need to talk to you, I'll be waiting for you at the airport, bye" With those words, Sara hung up the call.
"SARA-!!!!" Shouting, Eva tries to tell her not to cut her off, but the distinctive call terminated sound reached her ear, causing Eva to clench her cell phone in frustration.
"What the fuck is going on" Holding her hand to her heart, Eva mumbled, then grabbed her cell phone and dialed Christian.
...
15 minutes after Christian arrived at the hospital.
White House, Washington.
"President we have a problem" Without knocking on the door, Kathia quickly opens them and enters the office, finding Michelle alone as she signed documents.
Frowning slightly, Michelle looks up and asks "What happened now that you have to come personally?"
"It's about the child" Sitting down in front of the desk, Kathia drops some papers in front of the president "They gave the order to kidnap the child."
Frowning deeply, Michelle quickly picks up the papers and reads them.
10 minutes later, Michelle puts the papers down and rubs her temples "Who did this?"
"That's the worst thing, we don't know" With a solemn look, Kathia spoke "The person who planned everything has the power to make a trusted person for the world's largest security company betray his client"
"..."
"In addition the boy's babysitter was also involved, and according to our records the man has been working for that company for 5 years, but at their Los Angeles headquarters.... A few months ago he requested his transfer to Detroit, so he must be some kind of sleeper agent or something similar."
Frowning, Michelle tapped her fingers lightly on the table "Has the information reached the media yet?"
"Not yet."
"Get the information to them, imply it was by city criminals. To the corrupt police plant files or calls that indicate he was in contact with these women."
"I thought so too" Taking out other files from her suitcase, Kathia spoke "We have it all planned as a kidnapping for ransom, that police was the only case of corruption and was in cahoots with those women, after that you should give the order and publicly start a manhunt with all the big gangs in the country, you can embellish it with words like 'We won't allow these criminals to harm any more children! ' you could also take advantage of creating a law that toughens the penalties against crimes or mistreatment towards children, and to make people feel better, give the law the name of Christian Grey."
"That will do the trick... also find me all the possible corrupt cops in the city and some other states, we will sacrifice a few, I need to improve my image" Michelle nodded, then looked directly at Kathia and spoke seriously "That child can't be hurt anymore, if he dies make sure it's from his injuries from this situation, not by the hands of a third party"
"I already have my people guarding the hospital, no one will touch him" Kathie nodded, then frowned and spoke "Do you have any idea who planned all this? Not just anyone can elude us, it's a potential danger not knowing these people."
"There are few people who can infiltrate that security company... this case will be a big stain on their name" Frowning, Michelle shook her head "I haven't the foggiest idea..."
"I'll have to look into this" Nodding, Kathia speaks "What will we do with the case? The child must go through a trial, on the call you heard how he executed the babysitter after the babysitter begged for mercy"
"..." Frowning, Michelle spoke "It will be somewhat controversial his trial... but he should get off easy with his lawyers under the excuse that he was psychologically traumatized by the whole situation, make everything public and make sure no one messes with the trial, that everything is clean... whether we want it or not, this child became an important image for the country... in the best case he dies today and takes the problem of his existence away from us."
"Most likely, his mother has not yet arrived in Detroit and the child apparently has a unique blood type, at this rate he will die in a few hours at the most... his father does not know about the situation and is in Arizona, he will not arrive for a few days if he is interested in coming"
"Well, we'll get everything ready."
...
15 minutes later.
Holding his hands to his ears in the middle of the conversation, a man frowned slightly and looked at the camera seriously, while the image of a boy with white hair appeared behind his back "We interrupt the transmission to give a breaking news, about 3 hours ago Christian Grey was the victim of a kidnapping attempt along with his younger siblings, as we are informed the situation ended with an armed conflict between the young man and the criminals, ending with 12 dead and Christian in the hospital for dozens of bullet impacts in his body".
Swallowing saliva, the man continued "He is currently in emergency surgery and his life is in a critical state, we will be reporting on the situation as we have more information, all on CNN".
...
Looking around, Christian frowned and spoke "Hello? Is anyone here?"
After closing his eyes at that fateful moment, Christian woke up with what looks like black sheet over his body and all alone in a large, dark forest.
"Did I die?" with confusion, Christian carefully walked around the place, being careful not to step on anything that would damage his feet due to him being barefoot.
"*Sniff*" Sniffing deeply, Christian smiled "This air is amazing, it even feels like it has flavor."
Unafraid, Christian continued walking through the forest, noting with some strangeness how the leafless branches sometimes formed shapes that to many might be frightening.
"I'll eat a penguin, nanana~" But as he walked, a humming sounded in the distance, causing Christian to quickly turn his gaze.
Frowning slightly, he looks up and sees smoke rising from the place, while a strong smell of cooked meat was beginning to spread through the place.
Hesitantly, Christian walked towards the sound, trying to make as little noise as possible.
After a few minutes, Christian hid behind a tree and cautiously looked at a man sitting in front of a campfire, who was grinning foolishly as he twirled a stick with what looks like meat in the middle.
"Come child, I'm waiting for you" Without turning around, the man spoke calmly, startling Christian instantly.
Thinking for a few moments, Christian looked at the dark forest to his back, then looked at the campfire "Will you hurt me?"
"I don't have to, in fact, I don't even think I could" Shrugging his shoulders, the man spoke normally.
Without feeling the lie, Christian nodded and walked over to the man, then sat down next to him and looked at his face.
The man had a rather plain appearance, he had brown skin, dark brown eyes and long hair down to the middle of his back. The most striking thing about him was his height, standing at about 1.92 cm, while he was wearing strange clothing that appeared to be penguin fur.
"Who are you?"
"Me? I have many names, it depends on who asks me, the era, the world, the galaxy, the universe... but you can tell me.... mmmm, how can you tell me" Muttering as he brings his free hand to his chin "Oh, I know, you can call me Shrek!"
"Shrek?" with a strange expression, Christian nodded.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Where am I?" Unable to stand the silence, Christian spoke up.
"In hell, or at least in its vicinity" Shrek replied calmly.
Blinking in a daze, Christian spoke "B-are you kidding?"
"Not at all, welcome to hell" Smiled the man slightly, as he looked at the meat with glowing eyes.
Looking sideways, Christian searched for anything resembling what he had heard about this place, knowing instantly that this man does not lie. But the spookiest thing about the place is the dry trees, no fire pits, no demons torturing, nothing as scary as in the rumors.
"Is it different from what you imagined?" asked Shrek.
"Yes... very different."
"That's normal, we're just outside the inhabited place, if you got to their palace you'd have a very different view" Smiled the man with amusement.
"Palace?" Raising his eyebrows, Christian asked.
"Yes... in your world they describe hell as being underground or the like, the truth is hell is a planet the size of a medium sized galaxy."
Widening his eyes, Christian asked "A-a galaxy?"
"Yes, but it's always constantly expanding, it all depends on the mood of that crazy woman" Trembling slightly, Shrek spoke.
"What woman?" feeling a hint of fear in his voice, Christian asked with confusion.
Turning his gaze for the first time, the man's eyes seemed to glow as he looked at Christian "You're a human, you don't have the ability to hear that woman's name... for now."
"You're human too" Frowning, Christian spoke cautiously.
"I am not human... I am everything and at the same time nothing" Finishing his words, the man changed form, transforming into a penguin.
"I am a penguin" Changing his body again, the man disappeared and in his place was a large anaconda "I can also be an anaconda"
"I can be a dragon, or maybe a dog" Smiling, the man became human again.
Opening his eyes wide at what he saw, Christian tried to reason everything he saw, only to ask with confusion "What is your true form?"
"I don't know" Shrugging his shoulders, the man spoke calmly "But I popped into existence having a humanoid body as you call it."
"..." Biting his lips, Christian spoke "Are you god?"
"Hahaha~" The man laughed lightly "No, I'm not god, not even close to being one."
"Then how do you do that?"
"Kid, if I knew how I do it, I wouldn't have so much trouble in my life" Shrugging his shoulders, Shrek sighed "Enough of this nonsense, let's talk about you."
"..."
"You know what happened to you after you got here?" smiling, the man took a book in his hands and opened it quickly, then waved his hands in the air.
Out of nowhere, what seemed to be a screen appeared in front of Christian, showing an image that squeezed his heart.
"It's been two days since you were shot, they managed to get the bullets out of you and repair your lungs, but your mother's blood was no good to you and you have a deficiency... if it wasn't for your body being in regeneration mode, you would have died by now."
In the image, Eva looks desperate as she tries to approach Christian, only to be stopped by Sara and Sarah, who had a pained expression on their faces.
"Your mother went crazy when she found out, to the point that she doesn't have the rationality to process that, if she moves you too much, your wounds will open up, that's why they had to take her away from you."
With a pained expression, Christian clenched his fists tightly, then looked at the man and whispered haltingly, "M-my siblings...they-"
"Yes, they're fine, they're still hospitalized to find out if they have any negative effects from the substance that put them to sleep, but they'll be fine" Interrupted the man, showing a video of his siblings fighting each other as usual, but this time while on hospital gurneys.
"*Sigh* I'm glad..." Smiling softly, Christian watches as the two children argue, then looks down at his hands and whispers "I'll die?"
"If no one kills you right now, you won't die" Looking at the boy, Shrek speaks softly.
"..." Remembering what he did before he fell into this state, Christian's look complicated.
"Which complicates you more? To have killed those women or to feel nothing for killing them?" With a curious look, Shrek asked.
-------------------------------
Words by the author: Many people told me that they didn't understand the previous chapter, so I will put a simple summary.
Christian realized he and his siblings got kidnapped. he call 911, to make kidnapper not realize he calls for help, he called operator by "elisa" and make signal that tell about his situation.
Arriving at the scene, Christian uses all his mind to get out of the situation, ending up with the women dead and him shot.
If you still have any doubt why the police shot him, it is because she was with the women, then called dispatch to say that she was the one attacked and cover up the situation for herself (not knowing that Christian had a 911 call).
PD: I just saw a comment saying it was all sudden and somewhat forced. The truth is that's what I try to reflect in these situations. Ashley's suicide, Christian's kidnapping, all situations like that have no warning and just happen, there is no preparation for the protagonist's sight because he never expects it, even more if you think he already had security hired.