“Okay… yeah that’s good. Wait! Don’t move him around too much, you might make it worse! Yeah, there we go. Okay.” Michael’s voice is suddenly in my ear, and I crack my eyes open. Harsh light shines down on my face, and I feel half a dozen hands on my body, moving me. I am placed onto what must be a stretcher. I blink slowly, my throat dry.

I manage to move my head slightly, so I'm looking up at the night sky. We must be in front of a hospital, which explains the bright lights. I quietly mumble, “Mike?” and he quickly moves into my line of site.

His face is scrunched up in concern, his light brown skin considerably paler. “You’ve lost much more blood, and I can see that it’s a lot worse than I thought now that we’re in the light.” Cold terror seeps through me at his words, and I barely notice the slice of pain that shoots through me as we hit a bump on the way through the door. “They’re taking you immediately to an operating room to patch you up, but… I don’t know how it’s gonna go.” This makes a sob build up in the back of my throat. If Michael didn’t know how the surgery was going to go, then I was doomed.

“Will? Where’s Will?” My bones had locked up, and I could barely manage to open my mouth to ask Mikey. From the bullet wound down, everything was numb. I didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.

Mike looks around helplessly, his shoulders tight. “Uh,” he starts. “Hold on.” Michael suddenly vanishes, and I am alone with the nurses quickly pushing me through the hallway, one of them shouting for a doctor. I can see people bustling back and forth out of the corner of my eyes.

I faintly hear shouting, from what sounds like Michael and Will. But why would they be shouting? They come closer, and I can hear their conversation.

Michael sounds exasperated, with a tinge of desperation in his voice. “Will, he could die,” he whispers.

Will immediately responds, “I can't say goodbye to him.” His voice cracked at the word goodbye. “I just can’t look him in the eyes, knowing I’ve failed him.”

“Stop being so damn selfish, will you?” Michael says viciously. “Luka is terrified, and all you can think about is yourself. Don’t you think I feel like that, too? It’s my fault he got shot just as much as it is yours.” I could hear Mike’s ragged pants from here, but they had lowered their voices significantly; they must’ve realized how loud they had been.

I close my eyes and a few seconds later I heard a sudden intake of breath. I open my eyes to find Will’s face above mine, walking next to the stretcher as the nurses pull me into an empty room and gently place me onto an operating table. My face splits into a smile, and I blink lazily up at him. “Hey, what’s up?” I try to sound nonchalant, as if I hadn’t just been shot, but instead my voice comes out a faint rasp.

Will isn’t smiling. “Luka,” he whispers.

My grin immediately falls away, and I shake my head slightly, causing black spots to dance across my vision. “Will, it’s okay. I’ll be fine.” I say, trying to reassure him. I feel the sharp pinch of a needle, but ignore it.

Will steps away as a nurse moves in front of him, messing with something above me. I strain to lift my head to look at Will, and he moves to the side, so I can see him again.

“Will, it’s not your fault I got shot. We all knew what we were getting into when we agreed to go on this mission. If… if I don’t make it…” My voice fades away, and I stare up at Will with fear bubbling up inside me. I just got Will, and now I’m going to lose him?

Will steps closer to the bed, kneeling beside me. “Luka, I want you to know that I love you. I’ve loved you from the moment I met you. I just… never knew if you felt the same way. But looking at you on the ground, bleeding and in pain, I knew that I just had to take that chance, because I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I had had a chance to tell you how I felt, and didn’t take it.”

“Well,” I say, smiling once more, “you technically didn’t tell me how you felt until now. Who knows? Maybe you kiss every dying boy on the ground that you pass.” Will stays silent. He just poured his heart out to me, and I responded with a joke? Damn it, what’s wrong with me?

I clear my throat. “Uh, anyway. Will… I’ve never really been good with words, but… I love you, too. I don’t know how long I’ve known, but I do. And I’m not gonna go and die after finally saying that. So… you have my word.”

Will gives me a small, sad smile, bringing his face up close and resting his forehead against mine. He gently brushes his lips against my own, a whisper of a kiss, then abruptly pulls away.

There is suddenly a mask on my face, and I hear a nurse say, “Count to ten, and breath normally.”

“One,” I start, looking directly into Will’s eyes.

“Two,” I see Michael enter the room, coming to a stop next to Will and resting a hand on his shoulder.

“Three,” Mike smiles, giving me an encouraging nod. I can see black spots dancing across my vision again, but I say, “Four.”

Will opens his mouth to say something, his eyes shining with tears. Still, I continue to count. “Five.”

The world suddenly goes dark, but I can’t remember closing my eyes. Just before I drift away, I hear Will say softly, “I love you, Luka.”

I love you too, Will.