
Somewhere, Oliver lost Edward, and his head snapped in every direction trying to at least get eyes on his boyfriend. Paranoia climbed it's way up his throat, sending anxiety through his body. The calm was starting to wear off, panic setting in, and he didn't even realize he had lost Tallia until someone was talking to him.
Adrien. The new kid, who looked like he was actually somewhat in control, if that was even possible in this kind of situation. He asked a question...what did he ask? How bad it was? "Uh..." Ollie's throat felt dry, constricted, but he swallowed passed it and shook his head a little. "I...I don't know?"
"Try to keep her back straight, if she's got spinal damage you can make it worse." Right. Spinal damage. Oliver nodded a little, brow scrunching in thought. Jen didn't weigh much, and she was small, but how...He lifted her, carefully, maneuvering her body to get her legs around his waist, chin sitting on his shoulder. It was difficult, and slow, because small as she was she was only dead weight...and not helping him at all. One hand went under her to support her weight, the other pressed gently against her back to keep her secure.
Alarms came out of nowhere, blaring over the noise already gathered in the bus, and Oliver stumbled back out of surprise alone before twisting around to see what had caused it. An emergency door was open, a Freshman looked shocked, Adrien was barking orders that Ollie couldn't hear over the noise.
Then the two boys were running, out in the motherfucking hail, and Oliver finally realized that was what they had to do. Get
out, because they couldn't stay here. He took a deep breath, checked his hold on Jen one more time, then forced his way across the bus once more and to the open door.
It was a stretch, and dark, the clouds were pitch black, shocks of purple lightening striking across them, hail and rain falling so thickly he wouldn't even recognize the Superstore if it wasn't lit up. But there it was. Salvation. "This is crazy," he whispered to himself, but after a few deep breaths he did it...he took the plunge...he stepped out.
It was
cold. Colder than any of the millions of ice baths Ollie had ever taken, each drop of rain piercing, and the hail felt like he was playing dodgeball with golf balls. So he ran. He ran despite what the pain in his leg told him, despite the way his hurt arm was screaming when he held Jen closer to his body, and he ducked his head towards the ground and prayed that he would make it. Prayed like he never had before.
And then suddenly...it was all over. No noise, no coldness, no pain, just...nothing. Oliver jerked his head up, glancing around the well lit store that seemed to survive in it's own universe where everything was fine...until a shock of thunder sent him a mile in the air.
Adrien was on the ground...passed out, probably, but there was another kid. A kid he knew, something Finn, the same kid that had opened the emergency door. He nodded his head a little, mostly in recognition, before bending his knees and easing Jen onto the floor.
He didn't even allow himself a second to think before he reached back and grabbed his hood, throwing it over his head even though he knew it wouldn't protect him from anything, and then turning and running his stupid, suicidal, ass back towards that damned bus.
"Edward!" the name left his mouth before he even consciously meant it to, but he didn't think he could really be heard, not over the pounding of rain and hail. He could barely even see, but that didn't stop him from trying. "Edward!" His legs carried him to the front of the bus and he paused for a moment, thinking he'd found him, but it was Carter instead.
Carter...who was bent over the body of Riley Weeks. His baby sister.
And quite possibly getting beaten to death.
"Christ, Carter." Oliver jogged a few more steps, wrapping both arms over Carter's shoulders and giving him a pull. Oliver was strong, no doubt about it, but he couldn't pull Carter if he was holding his sister too. "C'mon, man, let her go. There's nothing you can do, okay? You gotta let her go. Come on, we can't stay out here."
The hail was still coming down, beating against his head, his shoulders, his back. It didn't only hurt but it was annoying as hell, and he knew skin had broken even under his hoodie. They had to move, there was no other option.