Page 23 of Trig

I spend no time thinking about it and just nod quickly to him.

“I pulled her out of the pool and put her behind those bushes. She’s not well,” he says.

I run to where he points and I see Nine on the ground, wet, cold, unresponsive. I fall to her side.

“Baby. Baby. Wake up!” I say, as I shake her.

I lean down and feel for a pulse. I get a faint heartbeat. Relief washes over me. There is still time. I scoop her up in my arms and walk back to Gabriel and Mya.

“We gotta go now. She’s dying,” I insist.

Bullets start firing off all around us and men start yelling in the distance. We duck first and then Gabriel scoops up Mya and we all start running for our lives.

“There’s a black SUV around the corner. If we can get there safely, we have a chance of getting out.”

Two men in black suits, guns drawn, come charging at us from the side of the property. Gabriel, a kid in one hand and a gun in the other, fires shots, killing both of them. We turn the corner and I see a vehicle.

“That’s it!” he yells.

Hope, determination, and willpower are at work here. I’ve never seen something so close and far away at the same time. We continue running to get to this vehicle and just as we reach it, I hear a shot fire off and feel a sting instantly hit my leg. I collapse in pain and drop Nine in the process. Mya begins to cry in fear as Gabriel holds her tight to his chest. She is now screaming for me. I roll on my side, hold my lower leg, and watch as he throws her into the vehicle. He runs over, picks up Nine, and then carries her to the vehicle, and throws her inside as quickly as he can. I manage to crawl a bit and then pull myself up and limp my way toward them. Gabriel runs to my side, and places my arm around his neck and his arm around my waist to help move me faster. We make it to the door finally and he roughly pushes me up and into the SUV. At this point bullets are flying all over the place, hitting the windows. I watch him outside the vehicle. He shoots back at them and then he runs to get to the driver’s side. Once in, he starts the car and takes off. I pull off my T-shirt and start to tear it into a homemade tourniquet.

“Bulletproof windows, bitch,” Gabriel yells, as he throws up a middle finger at the men shooting.

I pull up one pant leg and blood pours down and pools in my shoe. I tie the fabric tightly around my leg while clenching my teeth.

“Daddy?” Mya says.

“Yes, honey,” I grunt out.

“Is Mommy dead?”

“No. She’s sleeping. She is very sick.”

I look at Gabriel who looks back at me.

“There is a physician about ten minutes from here. He doesn’t work for or even know Carmen. I trust him. He’s an old friend of mine. He isn’t cheap and he won’t be happy, but he can help her.”

I look back at Nine. “Take us, now. Faster the better.”

I reach back and grab Nine’s cold hand. I can feel death lingering around her. Her fingers are limp and the fire that always burns within her is gone. I’m afraid to think about it; afraid to imagine the future without her. How the fuck will I do this?

Gabriel drives as fast as he can until we reach an off-the-road, gray house. This place is not easily seen on the main roads. It sits hidden within miles of trees. It’s a perfect hideaway. Gabriel jumps out of the vehicle, runs to the front porch, and bangs on the door. I slide out of the passenger seat, limp over to open the back door, and let Mya out. I hold on to the vehicle as I make my way around the car to get to the other side.

“Why the hell would you bring them here?” I hear an old man yelling.

“Because that little girl’s mom is dying,” Gabriel yells back, and points our direction. “We’ll pay you. A lot. We gotta stay here for a while though.”

I open up the door to see Nine. Her lips are blue, and bruises and blood mark her body. I feel sick. I slowly pull her out of the vehicle and even though my leg is screaming I start to drag her toward the house. The man is still bickering with Gabriel. He stops and stares at me, Nine, and Mya.

“This is my fiancé, Nine. My daughter, Mya, and my name is Trig. For what it’s worth, we are good people living under really bad circumstances. She’s dying. She was pregnant and some very bad people beat her so much, they killed the baby. I threw her from a two-story window into a pool to save her life. We need you…I mean…I need you to save the woman I love, or so help me, I will take everyone’s life right now, respectfully, sir.”

The man with the bushy white eyebrows looks down at Nine in my arms and then over to Mya. He then nods to Gabriel and then they both rush over to me. They take her from my arms and carry her inside. An older woman with long, gray hair and blue-rimmed eyeglasses comes out just seconds later. She doesn’t say a word. She just holds her hand out waiting for Mya to take it. She looks at me for approval. I nod to her that it’s okay to go with the lady. As soon as I’m by myself, it all sinks in. I let the tears roll down my face. My hands are shaking. Thoughts of Nine dying and Mya losing her mother today make me sick inside.

“You shot, boy?” a woman’s voice says from behind me. I run my hands over my cheeks to hide my pain. “Boy, I said, you shot?”

I turn and nod. She opens the screen door and waves me inside. I stand up and limp in. I can see Nine on the kitchen table. The doctor is quickly working on her. He already has an I.V. in and her dress is up around her hips. He’s examining her and his face is partly disgusted, partly worried.

“Don’t look over there. I promise it will only pain you more,” the woman says.

---