Outside, the evening had become a blizzard of blinding lights, nervous shouting, and chaos.
Noah pushed his way through the group congregated outside the warehouse, his hoodie drenched from rain, eyes red and wild with fear.
"Where is he?! Where's Kai?!" he screamed, grabbing someone by the arm — a security guard who merely shook his head in despair.
Scarlet was hot on Noah's heels, scrambling to keep up, her heels clicking hard on the wet pavement. She grabbed for Noah, holding him back before he crashed into the next bellowing officer.
"Noah, noah, stop—!"
"He was here! He was here!" Noah panted, his voice breaking. "He's bleeding, I saw the blood—Scarlet, please—"
He was crying now, full-on, broken and desperate. People were talking over each other — security, cops, paramedics — but no one had answers. Only chaos. Only the smoking silence of where the gun had gone off.
Scarlet wrapped her arms around him tightly, holding him as he shook.
