The Badass Protector

Iris

“WHY THE fuck did you shoot her?” Colt’s angry voice irritated my ears.

“Twig. Twig, please? Look at me. Don’t die. Don’t fucking die! Please.”

I was held tighter into his arms. His body was shaking. He was sobbing, kissing my head, my face. Then he pressed his head against mine.

He was rocking me back and forth in his arms. “I didn’t even get a chance to tell you how I feel. Goddamn it!” he roared.

“Colt, we have to go before the other men arrive.” It was Frost’s voice. He was alive. Colt was alive. I am alive. “Come on, man.”

“We have to take her to the hospital now!” he yelled.

“She’s not dead, Colt. Did Otis knock your head so hard? Check her pulse,” Gael said.

Colt just froze, and I could tell he was damn shocked and realized that I was still alive, or was he shocked by something else?

I wanted to open my eyes and wake up, but my back hurt like hell. I winced in pain and smelled the stinky blood everywhere.

Even though I was wearing a vest, Gael managed to reduce the gunpowder to lessen the impact and ensure the bullet wouldn’t get through my skin. It still hurt. I probably had bruises on my back.

“I can’t. I can’t. Can’t you see? I am infected. Just go, leave me alone,” Colt’s voice was gravelly low and cracked as if in pain and had accepted his fate.

“Infected?” My voice came out as a whisper and hoarse.

Colt’s body stilled. His breathing caught. He pushed me away from him as if I had an infectious disease and looked at me in horror. “Iris?”

I grimaced. “I-I might have crack bones. Oh, my God! Are you okay?” My eyes widened in shock because his face was busted.

Colt’s right eye was swollen. He might have a broken nose as well. He had busted knuckles, a bruise on the corner of his mouth, a split eyebrow, and blood all over his face. In a split second, he backed away, leaving me confused.

I crawled back into him, but he raised his hand to stop me.

“He injected me with blood infected with the virus, Iris. Stay away from me.” He looked broken as he stared down, not meeting my gaze anymore.

I huffed. “Too late for that, dude. You already kissed and hugged me.”

“God, I’m sorry.” Tears rolled down his eyes, mixing with his own blood. “I was… I was shocked and horrified that Gael shot you in front of me. I’m sorry, Iris. It happened so fast; the last time I remembered was an explosion. And he managed to push the plunger and ended up injecting me with blood. Then I was stubbing that asshole, we fought, and I killed him.”

I looked around and squinted at what was left of Otis’ men and the aftermath of the explosion. I didn’t feel any guilt or sympathy toward the dead body of Otis lying on the ground. Then I turned back-Lois, Gael, Darick, and Frost were looking at me with empathy.

I smiled tightly at them-I was glad they were all safe after what Otis did to them, and I would accept it if they hated me for putting their lives in danger and for keeping a secret that Otis and I somehow had known each other back then.

“I told you the plan would work, Iris,” Gael told me.

I nodded, unable to meet his gaze-I was beyond guilty for being a terrible person.

“What plan?” Colt’s gaze sharpened and narrowed at Gael.

“We had to kill the dog to drain the blood into the plastic bag and place it under Iris’ shirt outside her vest to make it look real. She might have burnt her back, though. Then Gael had to shoot her to distract Otis. I was already aware before Otis’ men got closer to us, so I found a spot to shoot them from a distance. There.” Frost pointed to the old log. “His men had grenades on their gear, so I shot one at the same time Gael shot Iris.

“Thank you,” I said to them. “I’m sorry for not telling you that Otis was the only son of my adopted parents. He didn’t treat me as his sister, though, and I thought I had no reason why I should mention him to all of you.”

“It doesn’t matter. He’s dead, and you’re safe now,” Darick said.

“She’s not. I just infected her.” Colt’s voice was laced with so much regret, but we couldn’t undo it anymore.

“I am sorry, Colton. You won’t be infected if not because of me. It was all my fault. I should have told you who he was, but when I arrived at the camp, all I wanted was to live. You all are still alive in the camp if it was not because of me. I brought danger to your group, and now look at what happened.”

Frost snickered. “I thought we were done with the guilt trip already.”

“I know, but look at what I have done, Frost.”

“None of these are your fault, Iris. It was all his. Have you forgotten he killed your brother to prove his loyalty to the Colony? I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry he’s dead.”

“Guys, you can all go. Take the SUV and find a safe place for all of you,” Colt finally told them. “Take care of Gael for me, Frost.”

“We’re not leaving you two, Colt,” Lois finally said something, still crying.

“Colt is right. Gael, take them somewhere safe. This is my last wish, please?” I begged as tears rolled down my face.

I couldn’t believe it in a few hours, and I was going to die with Colt. This was not how I expected it to end after winning a fight with Otis. We didn’t win. In fact, we just lost. This was freaking disappointing.

“We’ll stay with you.” Darick sat down on the ground.

“No. You don’t have to watch us bleed.” I watched Colt’s throat bob up and down.

“Please?” he croaked out. “At least grant my wish since I don’t have my last will, Gael.”

I felt what Gael was feeling right now. I knew it was hard for him that he was counting every hour for Colt’s death.

I tried hard to smile and shove down my fear, but it was hard when all I could see was the heartache on their faces.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

A virus is airborne and mutated fast like we’ve never seen before. Once you are infected, you only have twelve hours left.

“Please, guys, don’t make it hard for us,” I cried. “We don’t want to infect you.” I wanted to hug them one more time, but I knew it was impossible. I couldn’t infect them as well.

“Colt!” Gael called out when Colt stood up and walked away. “I’m not saying goodbye, boy! Not to the both of you. I failed you…” His voice cracked. No matter how hard he tried to be strong, I knew he was breaking inside. “I failed your brother.”

“You did not fail us, Gael! You just gave him justice. We killed Otis and his men.”

“Colton, wait!” I ran towards him.

“I guess it’s till death do us part then, huh?” Frost snorted bitterly and sadly. “Well, I love you, brother. You and your twig.”

“We can still do something, right?” Lois cried and begged Frost.

“We can’t do anything, Heloisa,” Frost said, hugging her tightly.

“No! That’s not true! We can still do something. We have to find Dr. Hull. Maybe he’s still alive. He can help them. We can’t just let them die, Templeton, please? We have to do something!”

“We can’t do anything. It’s a freaking virus, Heloisa.”

“Take care of yourself!” I was numbed with pain as I watched them from afar, and Lois dropped to her knees crying, and none of us could do anything to stop this virus from killing Colt and me in a matter of hours.

I wasn’t expecting this to happen, and I had never imagined parting this way. Not even in a million years.

“Go and find someplace to spend time together. Take the SUV, and you know where to find us.” Darick shrugged. “Just in case, you know.”

“That’s the plan,” Colt agreed, but there was no energy in his voice.

I looked at Gael, standing beside Darick and Frost with so much melancholy in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry.”