Page 2 of Outside The Wire

My body jerked as boots thumped on the casket beside me. Red knelt next to me, grabbing my jaw and forcing me to look at him. My eyes slowly closed as sleep overcame me, but with a single harsh slap across the face, I was prying them open and glaring at the man for taking away the last of my peace.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he shouted at me. “Put your goddamn hand on your wound!”

“Maybe…you could…do it…for me…” I said breathlessly.

“Fucking pussy,” he grumbled, already pressing down to staunch the flow of blood. The instant pressure cut off my euphoria of peaceful surrender, reminding me that I was stuck in this fucked-up life for the inevitable future until Red removed his hand from my neck or God decided to take me. Life was a bitch like that sometimes.

“Well, this is morbid as shit,” FNG muttered as he dropped down beside me. “Haven’t had to play medic in quite some time. Gotta say, neck wounds aren’t my favorite.”

“Just fix him.”

“See, if I had my fucking umbrella?—”

“It wouldn’t do a goddamn thing,” Red snapped.

“Maybe I could have blocked a few of those bullets,” he muttered. “Never know. It might have been like baseball.”

I listened to him talk. The utter nonsense of his words made my lips twitch with amusement. It reminded me of when he came back from the dead and told me all those ridiculous fucking stories.

I raised my hand as best I could, brushing my blood-stained fingers across his shirt. “Hey…FNG…tell me a story.”

“A what?”

“You know…one of…your stories.”

I didn’t miss the look he shared with Red. He took that as a sign I was crossing over to the other side. Hell, I just wanted to hear a fucking story to take away the depressing fact that someone shot me at my old man’s funeral.

“Well, did I ever tell you about the time I was in China?”

I shook my head slightly while he worked.

“Well, don’t eat the food. Chinese food is fucking terrible.”

I grinned at that.

“Anyway, I met this little Chinese kid and he was going to help me steal a diamond.”

“Why…did you need…the diamond?”

“You shouldn’t be talking,” Red snapped.

“Well, I needed it to win the freedom of Fang Hua. She was imprisoned for her father’s debts—quite unfairly, I might add. I came across her on my travels and saw her being beaten by a guard on her way to the prison. I intervened and tried tothreaten him, but she begged me not to. But then the guard said I could buy her freedom for the right price.”

“Did you…steal it?”

“What do you think?” he smirked at me.

I felt a tight pressure around my neck as he placed a wrap. Then the paramedics were there and FNG was stepping back. “Hey,” I murmured, but he couldn’t hear me.

“Sir, we need you to remain still.”

“Need to hear…the story.”

An oxygen mask was placed over my face, preventing me from asking FNG about what happened. Did he get the diamond? Did he free the girl? Was any of it fucking true? Goddamnit, another fucking story left unfinished.

“His pulse is weakening. We need to get him to the hospital now!”

My eyelids fluttered closed as I swore I felt a hand squeeze mine, but when I opened them, there was no one there.

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