For Love of Justin

Running on Faith

====================================================

Brian felt as though his heart would burst as he pedaled furiously toward the sound of the gunshots. He yelled Justin's name over and over, panicking when there was no response. Finally, up ahead in a small clearing, he saw the young man's crumpled form lying on the ground, an area of red along his side.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuck," he thought as he redoubled his efforts to go faster on the bike, dialing 911on his cell phone even as he flung himself off the bike and rushed to the fallen runner's side, speaking as he moved.

"Operator, I need an ambulance, a person has been shot, shit, please, hurry, Carnegie Mellon athletic fields, yeah, I'll keep the line open but I can't talk more right now, yeah, someone will show the ambulance guys where to go when they arrive. Hurry. Please, God, get them to hurry."

Brian knelt by Justin's side. The blond's pulse was steady, which was a comfort. Turning him gingerly onto his back, he didn't at first notice any other wound than the flesh one to his upper left arm, where a bullet seemed to have grazed it. It was bleeding freely, which was what was staining the boy's white running singlet with the alarming bright red color.

"Justin, Justin, can you hear me?" Brian pulled off his t-shirt and used it to stanch the flow of blood from the arm. As he tightened the shirt around the wound, he was relieved to hear a low groan.

"Brian?"

"Yeah, I'm here." Brian found himself giving thanks to a God he'd ignored for a good many years. "Can you move?"

"It hurts," the boy moaned, his voice faint.

"Yeah, I know, your arm is hurt. Does it hurt anywhere else?" Brian quickly ran his hands down Justin's other limbs, searching for another injury.

"Head...head hurts," the blond murmured, the blue eyes flickering up at him briefly before closing again with a wince. Brian saw then the swollen, rapidly darkening area above the boy's right temple. He must have struck his head on the ground as he fell forward.

"Help is coming, try to stay still." Brian scanned the wooded area surrounding them. Was the gunman still around? He still had his phone in his hand and placed it back to his ear. The 911 operator was still on the line.

"Sir, sir, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I'm going to put you on hold though, as I said before, so I can alert someone in the parking lot to bring the EMTs. Hang on." Brian abruptly cut off the protests of the 911 operator, who no doubt had been instructed to keep the caller on the line until help arrived. He quickly dialed Ben's cell. The other man's deep voice started with questions before he could speak.

"Brian, where are you, did you find...?"

"Yeah, listen, Ben, Justin's hurt. There's been a shooting." Brian gulped at the words, imagining the reaction they were causing his friend, but forced himself to cut off Ben's exclamations of alarm and shock and continued as though uninterrupted, "You have to stay calm, think of the other kids, so listen to me. It doesn't look bad, flesh wound to his arm, but he's out of it, I think he struck his head when he went down."

"Oh my God, I can't believe..."

"Listen, Ben...are you listening?" He waited for the other man's assent, which came after a long, audible breath. "Stay calm, for fuck's sake. I have an ambulance arriving, send some runners down to meet it at the entrance to the lot; we're only about a mile down the bike path, you need to bring them here as quickly as you can, okay?"

"Yes, of course. Brian, I'm heading in now to help you. I'll have George lead them in." Brian could hear excited murmuring from the people around Ben, and Ben firmly putting off their questions.

"Bring water, and listen, tell the others to stay together, but have them take shelter near that equipment building at the track if you can. Daphne should be able to take charge. It'll give her something to do. No sense having more targets here than we need, and we can't know where whoever it is went to, so the students are safer together and not out in plain view. If need be, they can get inside, give Daph your keys but for now they can wait outside for the police and just keep an eye out for anyone suspicious."

Brian didn't want Daphne coming with the ambulance team and becoming upset at Justin's condition and possibly agitating him. If he could, he would keep George away too but he wasn't sure of who else to entrust with leading the police in and he didn't feel he had the right to overrule Ben's authority about him coming in ahead of the police. He hoped the decision to leave the others out in plain view was the right one. He hoped that there was safety in numbers.

Brian kept the pressure on Justin's wound while he spoke on the phone, eyes restlessly surveying the area for any signs of trouble. In the distance, he could hear the sirens approaching. Good, maybe that would scare away anyone who might be lingering for another shot. He looked down to see big blue eyes staring up at him.

"Brian, what happened?" Justin whispered so low he could barely make out the words. He wished he could pull the boy up into his arms but he was afraid to move him until he was checked out. He'd already turned him over without thinking when he first came upon him, and he didn't want to do anything more until the paramedics arrived. He stroked the blond's face and uninjured arm as comfortingly as he could.

"I'm not sure, Justin, but we'll find out. Right now, tell me if the pain gets any worse or you feel faint." Brian's phone started ringing before Justin could answer. He flipped it open. The 911 operator again. He'd forgotten about her being on hold.

"Sir, the ambulance is arriving at the school now, sir, can you hear me, are you there?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here. We're on a bike path in the woods, I have someone ready to bring them to us. Please tell them to hurry." Brian heard a noise in the woods behind him. Turning, his body bent to shield Justin as best he could, he was relieved to see Ben jogging into view with a first aid pack in hand. He saw to his surprise that Kelsey was with him. Both stifled their cries of alarm, he was relieved to see; he didn't want Justin frightened any more than he already was. Ben saw Brian's questioning look at Kelsey and answered his unasked query first off.

"Kelsey is premed and trained in first aid, Brian, so I let her come with me. Daphne and George are following your orders...what happened?"

"I don't know yet, he was down and much as you see him when I found him. I heard what sounded like shots up ahead of me and got to him as fast as I could but there was no one else in sight when I got within view." Brian was relieved to see that Kelsey got right to work in a calm, businesslike fashion. She was crouched next to them, talking quietly to Justin, telling him what she was doing as she cleaned the wound and then pressed a large, clean bandage to it, holding it firmly in place. She looked up at Brian.

"Just keep him like this until the paramedics get here. It looks like he struck his head and I don't want him moved again until they can collar him and put him on a stretcher. I'm just going to hold this in place so they can see how it looks for themselves and clean it out further. There's a lot of blood, but that isn't always a bad thing, it helps clean it out, as long as we can stop it, which we have. If you can, try to get some of this water into him." She smiled her easy going smile.

The two men looked at each other, somewhat nonplused. Brian could tell from Ben's face that he was about as close to losing it as Brian felt, yet here was this young girl, by all appearances the product of a white, upper class, privileged background, calmly treating a teammate for a gunshot wound. She must have sensed something of their feelings because she gave them a wry smile, even as she tenderly brushed Justin's hair from his sweaty forehead.

"You two going to be okay?" she asked.

"Doesn't this upset you, Kelsey? How can you be so calm?" Ben posed the questions out loud that they both were thinking as Brian tipped the water bottle up to Justin's lips and drizzled a little of the fluid into his mouth.

"There are two kinds of kids who are used to seeing guns around their schools, Coach, the ones from poorer schools...and the ones from richer ones. Columbine wasn't a poor school, you know, and guns don't just happen in the inner city. They happen in the fancy prep schools, too, where there are drugs and kids who feel the need to protect themselves and all sorts of pressures. Nobody wants to admit it, but it's true."

"Brian...?" Justin's voice was weak but he struggled to get up. Three sets of hands tried to gently press him back down.

"I'm here, kid, but you have to stay still. Kelsey here has you in good shape and the ambulance guys should be coming along any second." Brian took over stroking the blond hair back, now that he was sure his own hand wouldn't shake in front of the others. He was relieved to see that Justin's color looked much better, and his breathing was stronger. Kelsey took his pulse and gave him an encouraging nod. Hopefully all he had was a bad bump on the head and a flesh wound. Brian pushed aside for the moment the larger ramifications of the shooting and just let himself be relieved that it wasn't worse. It so easily could have been. He bit his bottom lip as his mind replayed the image of Justin's twisted body on the bike path, lying in a pool of blood. He shuddered and Ben put an arm around him. For once, Brian didn't shrug off comfort when it was offered.

"Justin, did you see anything, anyone?" Ben asked with quiet urgency. Both men were still scanning the woods nervously, looking for any indication of a threat to the two students in their care. Brian assumed that the police were with the others by now and the ambulance people should be with them soon. They would necessarily come slower than Ben, given that they had a stretcher to haul through the woods. But he wished they would make better time getting to them.

"No... running, didn't see...burn...in my arm...." His voice faded and Brian shook his head at Ben to discourage further questioning now. The authorities would be after the kid for a statement soon enough. Not even twenty-one and he was involved in two violent incidents. Brian was certain that this wasn't a situation of a hunter's bullet going astray; Justin was wearing his white and maroon running gear, which was not easily mistaken for an animal's coloration; moreover, the woods around the college were off limits to hunters. He was angry, angry at whoever perpetrated this outrage, and angry at Justin for running off. Most of all, he was angry at himself, for having forgotten, in the haze of desire that he'd allowed to surround him over the past couple of weeks, that there was a very real threat to the runner he was supposed to be protecting. He clenched his fist that lay hidden on the ground by Justin's back.

They waited in tense silence until the sound of the approaching ambulance workers could be heard, along with George's voice, urging them to hurry. The red head came jogging into sight, then stopped dead at the sight of Justin, lying on the path, a good bit of his blood visible on the ground next to him. George's face went ghastly white beneath his red hair, his mouth moved but for once, no words came tumbling out.

"Go to him," Brian tersely ordered Ben, "he's going to collapse in a second and we don't need another one cracking his head and knocked unconscious."

Ben sprang to his feet, relieved to have something useful to do, and quickly reached the younger man, grabbing his arm to steady him. To his surprise, the redhead fell against his broad chest, burying his face. Ben had to bend his head to catch the muffled words.

"Is he...he's not...did someone...is he dead?"

"No!" Ben was shocked, he hadn't given any thought to how it might appear to the boy, coming upon them without any warning. He hadn't stayed to give any information to him other than to relay the orders that Daphne was to stay in charge of the team until the police arrived and George was to lead the ambulance squad down the bike path to where Brian waited with Justin. Kelsey had been given more information as she ran next to him to reach the injured runner, but the others knew nothing of what had happened. God only knew what the others thought; it was no wonder George feared the worst, seeing all the blood and the three of them kneeling around Justin with such serious faces. He put his arm around the shaken runner as they watched the paramedics speak quietly with Brian and Kelsey and then conduct their examination of Justin.

"He'll be fine. He's hurt, but fortunately, it doesn't look too serious. He also hit his head."

"Who did this?" George whispered his question. He kept his body pressed close to Ben's, and he was shaking with reaction.

That was the crux of it, Ben thought, keeping a protective arm around the younger man, trying to impart some of his own warmth and strength to him. Who did this, and why?

Kelsey was gently moved aside by the paramedics as they efficiently went about their business, examining Justin, checking out the gunshot wound and re-bandaging it, applying an ice pack to his head to stop the swelling and moving him finally onto the stretcher with a practiced ease. Brian watched them carefully to ensure that they gave his charge their best care. To their credit, none of them seemed intimidated by the harsh faced, hazel eyed man who scrutinized their every move, nor did they seem put off by the tender way he comforted Justin when the blond cried out in pain.

The trip back to the parking lot was slow as the paramedics tried to cover the ground as smoothly as they could without jostling their patient. Kelsey's calm began to falter now that the immediate need for her help was gone and she leaned heavily on Brian on the way back. He felt at a total loss, with a college age female clinging to him on one side while his equally young lover lay on a stretcher, clutching his hand, on the other side. He kept his arm around Kelsey, more for moral support than anything else, although he wasn't completely confident she wouldn't pass out now that she wasn't needed to be calm. He kept up a steady stream of nonsensical chatter to Justin, reviewing the day's splits in an analytical manner that all three runners seemed to find soothing. Even Ben seemed to find the normalcy of the comments reassuring rather than incongruous, which is what Brian felt they were. He was maintaining his composure by a thread. He wished he could just lay his head down on someone else's shoulder and cry out his fear and anxiety. While one part of his brain was focused on keeping Justin calm and reassuring the other two that the blond would be fine, another part wanted to scream at the paramedics, who were discussing their poker night as they carried the stretcher, and ask them what the fuck was wrong with them, didn't they understand that an innocent kid had just been gunned down while running through the woods?

Brian's eyes met Ben's, and he felt marginally better; from that brief glance he could tell that the big, hard muscled man felt the same way. Their world had suddenly gone crazy, and yet they had to hold onto their sanity, if for no other reason than for the sake of the young people in their charge. Why the hell had he signed on for this, Brian wondered? Then, glancing down at Justin, he knew there was no way he would want the younger man to be going through this without him. Justin needed him, to take care of him and keep him safe. Brian had failed him today, and if there were anyone else who could fill his shoes, he would turn the job over in a second as he'd come to realize just how inadequate he was to the task. But the boy was alone. Brian, and his little gang of friends were all Justin had to keep him safe. God knew he didn't know how to look out for himself worth a damn. Brian squeezed the hand that held onto his so tightly, and was rewarded with a wan smile.

They were met about halfway back by five heavily armed policemen. George and Kelsey had started looking over their shoulders nervously. Up until that point, they must have been convincing themselves that this was some type of freak accident, despite Kelsey's nonchalant words to the two coaches about shootings. Knowing it can happen, and having it happen to a friend, are two very different things. Reaction was setting in hard for the tall young runner, and tears were beginning to run down her face, though she kept quiet, so as not to disturb Justin. Two of the officers stayed to escort them the rest of the way back and the others continued on into the woods after briefly speaking with Brian.

Back at the parking lot, it was quiet Ben who handled the rush of students and police that greeted their exit from the woods. Daphne left the group of runners who were assembled close to the building, a policeman on guard by them, and ran over to them

"Oh my God, Justin! What in hell happened?" As she reached them and she saw the blood soaked singlet, as well as the blood liberally covering Brian's shorts and t-shirt, she stuffed her hand in her mouth to stop from screaming. Justin had closed his eyes, the unavoidable jostling of the stretcher having caused him significant discomfort, but once he heard the sound of his friend's distress, the blue eyes opened and he looked around frantically for her.

"Daph? I'm okay..."

"What the hell, you're not okay, you're on a stretcher, and, and, there's blood, what the fuck happened?" She looked at Brian frantically and he wondered for a moment whether she would need to be slapped.

"Daphne, stop!" Ben's voice was sharp, the aural equivalent of a slap. The small dark haired girl took a deep breath and reached out a hand toward the stretcher borne runner. The EMTs looked at Brian.

"Daph, these men have to get Justin into the ambulance and on to the hospital to be checked out. Why don't you meet us there, you have your car, don't you?" She nodded mutely. "Good girl, wait for Kels and George and then all three of you come to Allegheny when you can. You may need to speak to the police first, wait until Ben says it's okay and then follow him there. And don't call Ellie yet, I'll contact her on my cell as soon as possible. I don't want her worrying."

George, Kelsey and Daphne, their arms wrapped around each other for support, nodded at him, and Brian smiled his approval to them. He saw that Ben was speaking to the police. He turned and told the paramedics that he would be going to the hospital with their patient. He asked them to let him know when they were ready for him to get into the ambulance with Justin. Just then, he heard a discreet cough behind him, clearly intended to get his attention.

"Sir, would you give us a few minutes please? I'm Sgt. Perez, this is my partner, Officer Mann. We need to get a statement from you. I understand you were the first person on the scene?"

Brian turned back around to see two uniformed cops. He ran his hand through his hair. He glanced over toward Ben, who was busy addressing the rest of the students, two more officers by his side. These two must have finished with Ben and had come over to harass him.

"Yeah, listen guys, I need to get going to the hospital with our student runner here. Coach Bruckner and I decided I would be the one to stay with him on the ride to the hospital. I'll be happy to give you all the statements you need once he receives medical treatment at the hospital, I'm sure you can understand that has to be my top priority."

The older officer, the one called Sergeant Perez, looked at Brian unsmilingly.

"And I'm sure you can understand, Mr. Kinney, that our top priority is safeguarding all of the students still here, and apprehending whoever is responsible for," he looked down at his notes, "Mr. Taylor's injuries, so unless you want us to take you into custody, you'll spare us a few minutes of your time and you can catch up to the boy at the hospital. I'm sure his parents can take care of him there in the meantime and you won't be needed."

Brian's temper flared.

"The 'boy' is over eighteen and currently estranged from his parents. I hold a power of attorney for him as well as his medical power of attorney so in fact I am needed at the hospital to give approval for his care should he pass out again. Furthermore, since I'm also his employer, I have information on me pertaining to his health insurance, which the hospital will want. " Brian gave mental thanks to Mel, a first, for insisting that Justin execute the legal documents when she found out he was living on his own without any family support. Since he was working for Kinnetic during the summer for more than twenty-five hours a week, Brian was able to get him added to the employee health plan, which provided better coverage than the student plan.

Before the officer could offer further argument, Brian held up his slim hand. "Sergeant, I want to see the perpetrator of this outrage caught as soon as you do, doubtless even sooner. You can be sure I'll be there, waiting for you when you arrive, hell, you can escort the ambulance, which looks like it's about ready for me. If you have any concerns, why don't you contact Detective Carl Horvath in homicide, he is engaged to my foster mother, who is also the mother of Coach Bruckner's partner. Det. Horvath can vouch for my trustworthiness. But there is nothing that is going to stop me from getting into that ambulance within about thirty seconds, short of there being a second shooting here today, you understand?" Brian stared at the two policemen.

The officers looked at each other, then the younger one gave the other, whose hand had actually moved surreptitiously to his holster, a nearly imperceptible shrug.

"No problem, Mr. Kinney. You ride with the boy and we'll catch up with you and him at the hospital to get your statements. We'll call ahead and ask for police guard to meet us there, to be on the safe side until we get a handle on what's going on here. Meanwhile, just really quick, did you see anything at all that might help our men out there in the woods?" Brian calmed once he realized that he would encounter no further trouble staying with Justin. He thought back. Unfortunately, he'd been too busy being pissed off at the blond for taking off like that to be totally aware of his surroundings until the shots rang out. He sighed.

"No, nothing. I heard two shots and within ten seconds came upon Justin on the ground. There was no sign nor any further sound of who it was who did this. I can't even tell you clearly what direction the shots came from, though I have the impression they came from North of the bike path."

"Thank you, Mr. Kinney. We'll see you at the hospital, I think they're signaling that they're ready for you now." Officer Mann radioed that information to someone else, presumably one of the officers in the woods, while Brian hurried over to the ambulance and climbed in, seating himself on the bench next to the stretcher and across from the EMT. Justin's face was pale, his eyes closed. The EMT, a young, dark skinned man with warm brown eyes, smiled at Brian.

"He's going to be fine. He's just resting now, the poor baby is exhausted. They'll get him more comfortable once they can x-ray his head and make sure he doesn't have a concussion from that bump. Now, can we get some information from you?"

Brian held Justin's hand as he gave the pertinent facts about the incident, as best he could provide them, to the understanding paramedic. He was thankful that Ellie had made each of the three musketeers who were staying with her review their basic medical information with her, and that he'd made a copy of that information, some sixth sense telling him it might come in handy. Justin in particular they'd all laughed about, as he had a laundry list of allergies. George had commented that he needed more than a medic alert bracelet, he required a medic alert bracer, if not a shield and breastplate. The three young people had giggled as they came up with sillier and sillier images, mocking Brian's serious approach to their medical safety, as even Ellie joined in on the nonsense. Brian had ordered a shoe tag with the pertinent information on it to go on Justin's shoelaces, but it hadn't come in yet.

Brian closed his eyes to block out the image of the pale boy in front of him, lying in blood soaked clothes, a far cry from the laughing twenty year old who'd rattled off a list of items he was allergic to and then bet Brian a dollar he couldn't name ten of them. To the amazement of them all, Brian had rattled back the entire list of eighteen items word perfect, in order. Some people had photographic memories, Brian had almost total aural recall.

Fuck. He sat a little straighter on the hard bench seat that abutted the stretcher. Think. What did he hear as he pedaled through the woods looking for Justin? Before the two shots. His own breathing and the sound of the bike. His voice calling Justin's name. Damn it, he made a racket, alerting anyone who was out there that Justin was out there running alone if they didn't know it already. Then, there was an odd sound, off in the distance. A motor. The gun shots. Then, just as he took off on the bike, and stopped hearing anything but the pounding of his heart and the swish of the bike tires, there was that motor sound again. Not a car, but maybe one of those ATVs. Something to tell that Perez when he saw him again.

The gentle mannered paramedic kept up a quiet stream of chatter as they completed the short ride. Soon enough, the ambulance was following the police car down the drive leading to the emergency entrance of Allegheny General Hospital. There was a crowd of people outside the ER entrance, and the ambulance could not make its way all the way up to the doors that led to triage due to the large number of news vans and camera people clustered in front of the entranceway. Their police escort quickly pulled over, lights still flashing, and Sgt. Perez walked to the back of the ambulance while Officer Mann went over to the crowd. Brian felt a flash of irritation that Justin's treatment was being delayed due to some type of demonstration. To his amazement, he saw the officer shoved to the side as the crowd pushed past him and made their way in a mad rush over to ambulance. He could hear the questions being yelled even from inside the ambulance.

"Sergeant, is that the gay runner that's been shot, can you tell us his condition?"

"Can we get a statement?"

"Who is in there with him?"

"Is he alive, Sergeant?"

"Did you catch the gunman?"

"Is it true this shooting is in protest of the rampant homosexuality on our college campuses?"

"What can you tell us about..."

"BACK AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE NOW!"

Perez shouted with the force and volume of Ben using the bullhorn. Brian could see through the window of the ambulance that the Sergeant had climbed up on the back bumper of the ambulance and was using his broad back to block the window so no one could take a picture of the inside. The paramedic, Jim was his name, pulled the curtains on the side windows, blocking the view there from the photographers who were attempting to get a glimpse inside. The driver and his partner brandished mace very visibly at those who ventured anywhere near the front windows.

Perez spoke again in a slightly lower voice.

"Don't make me shoot any of you to keep you away from this vehicle as I don't want to have to disturb the patient that the medical professionals inside it are trying to deliver to this hospital. But rest assured, I will, if that is what it will take to get this patient into this hospital without being bothered by any of you folks, so if you do not remove yourselves from the path of this ambulance to a point at least three hundred feet away, I shall take whatever action I deem necessary to respond to what I now see as an immediate threat to the safety of this patient and to my partner, who was so roughly accosted a few moments ago. Have I made myself CLEAR?"

Meanwhile, Mann was quietly calling for backup, and three other squad cars could be seen pulling onto hospital grounds. Brian welcomed their arrival as it looked like some of the media people were going to try arguing despite the fact that Perez held his gun at the ready. Mann stood by the front of the ambulance, ready to walk it forward through the mass of media at gunpoint if need be. As they inched their way through the crowd, half of which remained after Perez made his threat, the three newly arrived squad cars pulled forward and blocked the remaining members of the crowd in against a low wall.

"Take them into custody," Perez called over to one of the other officers as they exited their vehicles. A fourth, unmarked car pulled up to the scene as well. Brian was relieved to see a familiar portly figure walk over to the Sergeant.

"Detective Horvath, sir!" Perez nodded tensely, his eyes still watching the crowd which was being herded together. Now that they realized they were actually being arrested and they weren't getting a story, the journalists were becoming increasingly vocal, and, in some cases, abusive.

Carl turned to the officer in charge of rounding them up.

"Take them all down. Anyone gives you a hard time, add resisting arrest to the charges of disturbing the peace, and assaulting a police officer. I believe there is an ordinance against creating a disturbance in a hospital zone but I trust you to check that out with the D.A. Also ask the D.A. to check each of them for priors and to hold them for 24 while we see if they're wanted for anything else. And may as well see if they have any alibi for the time of the shooting."

There was a loud outcry at that last announcement but Carl simply turned a deaf ear to it. He poked his head in the back of the ambulance once he was sure there was no one within sight or sound to disturb them.

"Hang on boys, we'll have you in there in a jiffy, Ben called from the field and Debbie is beside herself. We'll get you backed right up to the door and in."

"What the fuck is going on here, Carl? Where did all of these news people come from? How did they hear?" Brian's head was swimming.

"That's something I need to talk to you about, Brian. Inside. Let's get Justin looked at, then we'll talk."

Return to For Love of Justin