[Open] Better Outrun My Gun

[Travis Dex Jenkins]

Dex had found out about the shooter on campus about an hour ago. Now he was waiting on his sister to get out of school. He had no one to pick her up, and he was itching… literally itching to get to campus. Not to mention Gabe was in his car, wondering what in the hell they were doing at an elementary school when they needed to be getting to the School of Performing Arts. “ Izzie, come here..” he said, kneeling down as she came running towards him with her little curly pigtails bouncing against her pink light coat. He swept her up in his arms, holding her against his hip. “I need you to do something for me okay?” he asked, watching as her eyes lit up. How often did a big brother ask his little sister to do something? “ We need to go somewhere that is going to be a little scary… I can’t leave you with a sitter, and I can’t get ahold of your mom and dad” he said before he turned back to the car. “ You need to be a big girl, but don’t worry.. I’ll be there with you. All I need you to do is stay right by me. Okay? No matter what. Hold onto me.” he said, leaning down as he kissed the blonde curls at the top of head. He opened his truck door , letting Izzie crawl into the seat between him and Gabe. “ Hi!” she said happily as she sat in the middle seat, dropping her Wizards of Waverly Place backpack down onto the ground as she started to buckle her seat up before she looked over at Gabe. ‘ You sure are a looker.’ she said, giving him a once over before she went to messed with Dex’s radio stations. A no-no for anyone else. “ Gabe meet Izzie..” he said as he buckled up his seatbelt and put the truck in drive, heading for the school of performing arts.

It took the entire drive for him to explain to Gabe who Izzie, Elizabeth, was and how exactly she had foster parents, and why he was never in the system. But it was a good distraction for both of them, to not have to talk about how they were heading to a school where both of the women they loved were facing possible doom. Once he parked it felt real again, and he could feel his fingers clutched tightly around the steering wheel. A moment later and he was unbuckling himself,reaching over to unbuckle Izzie before he picked her back up, placing her against his hip and made his way towards the crowd of people. He stopped at Madeline, knowing that she was there because of Felicia,too. “ Hey.” he said, not looking at her as he kept his eyes locked on the school. Izzie kicked her feet, looking around at everyone as her eyes landed on Madeline and then looked back at Gabe. “ All of your friends are so pretty, what’s wrong with you?” she asked jokingly before she giggled, putting her face into the crane of Dex’s neck. He held his arm around her tighter, feeling his mothers ring burning against the inside of his pocket as he looked at Madeline for the first time. “ I’m going to marry Felicia O’Neil,” he said with certainty, giving a small nod before he looked back at the school. “ I’m asking her today. She’s making it out. She’s going to be okay. And when I see her.. I’m asking her to marry me,” he said ignoring the small gasp coming from Izzie as his eyes stayed peeled on the school, feeling a lump form in his throat as a gunshot went off.

[Scarlet Rose Harris]

“ Sorry! Sorry!” Scarlet had yelled, moving past students in her classroom quickly before she bolted out of the door to her classroom, running straight into Madeline Foster. “ Oh.. HEY!” she said, gripping her hand tightly around Madeline. But Madeline seemed to catch on quickly, shaking her head. “ Joel’s on tour, but I’m still going.. Felicia..” she said, offering that as all the explanation she needed. But Scarlet didn’t need any further explanation. The guy you loved little sister was in danger, get your ass there fast. Same boat, sister. Scarlet nodded. “ Let’s go,” she said, running off towards her car as the sound of Madeline’s heels followed her. It sounded like she was trying to get ahold of Ryan. “ Shit!” Scarlet yelled out loud, taking her phone out as she tried to get a hold of Shane’s people. Ethan had made mention to her of how he had sent Claire to the school while they were talking about meeting up and playing soccer later. “ Flyzik!” she screamed into the phone, happy to get ahold of anyone at this point. She rambled off the story to him , telling him that he needed to tell Shane. Right now. She unlocked the car doors , watching as Madeline tried to get into the car quickly without showing everyone in the world what exactly Victoria’s secret was. Okay, who wore heels and a red bandage class to college? Scarlet took in a deep breath, throwing her car into gear as the tires squeeled and she pulled out of the parking lot.

Scarlet tapped her thumb against the steering wheel as she drove. “ Come on come on come on” she said, honking her horn at a few people who were basically stopped in the road having a conversation. New York people. ‘ I got this’ Madeline said, getting out of the car. She walked over, banging her hand against their hood. ‘ MOVE YOUR ASS.’ she yelled at them before flipping them off and making her way back to the car. Hm. Welcome to America, Foster. Scarlet looked at her as she got back in the car and gave a small nod of approval. Once the cars moved, Scarlet laid her foot back on the pedal and made her way to the school. She could already see Zach’s ‘family’ joining together. It felt weird.. knowing what they were up to without knowing what they were up to. Awesome, I got it. You work for the mafia. I don’t want anymore details. Especially not when my father is running for President. And hired you. Scarlet made her way over to them. “ Hey,” she said, giving a small nod to Gio, Milo, Vinny… who had an oddly unsexualized Destiny standing next to him. Finally her eyes rested on Zach and she sighed. “ Hi..” she said. There wasn’t anything else you COULD say. He knew what was at stake. Scarlet held her hands against his cheeks before she stood on her toes and kissed him. “ I am in love with you..” she said before hugging him tightly. “ Scarlet Harris is in love with you. Miracles can happen. Zoe will be fine,”

[Gabriel Dylan Atherton]

Gabe sat in Dex's car, bouncing his knee up and down, trying to stay patient. He was sure Dex wanted to get down to the school just as much as he did so he was sure Dex wouldn't stop here at this elementary school without a good reason. But all Gabe could think about was Zoe in that school and thinking if something happened to her he didn't know who he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with because he was now realizing, what with all this stuff going on, that he didn't want to live his life with someone else. He only wanted to spend his life with Zoe which, for the first time ever, that was really becoming a solid idea to him. He knew he loved her and he'd thought about it before but now it just felt a lot more solid. He was usually so go with the flow about things and he even questioned himself sometimes, wondering why he wasn't giving more thought to their future but now he sure as hell was. And now it felt so urgent, like he just wanted to tell her. That he planned on them being together.

Dex finally came back with a small girl, Gabe looking at him like, what the hell bro? And as Dex introduced her as Izzie his sister, things started to make sense. Like everytime he disappeared in the afternoons. Gabe turned to look at her, "Hi," and chuckled a little when she said he was a looker, "Oh gosh, well so are you, must run in the family." Dex used the ride over to explain his and Izzie's situation, all making a hell of a lot more sense and making for a good distraction from the situation. Gabe followed Dex over to where Madeline was, looking around for Zach when he heard Dex talking about his plans to marry Felicia. "Huh?" he loked at him, he'd never said anything before about this. He wasn't even dating the girl, was he nuts? If Gabe was drinking right then, he probably would have spit it out. Sure he totally knew the feeling, that's how he felt about Zoe. If she got out today unharmed he was going to make sure he never had to live wituout her ever. But Dex... they'd never been a thing. It wasn't that Gabe didn't think it was a good idea, because seriously, he'd wondered at first if Dex and Felicia were going to end up dating anyways and thought they had an oddly close friendship anyways. He was just taken by surprise. Gabe shook his head, taking that in, "I'm going to see if I can find Zach." Gabe walked away, seeing Zach standing with Ethan Fox nd approaced him, "Hey... nothing's changed?" Just then he heard a gunshot, cringign and wondering what number that was. Scarlet had just walked up too, and Gabe looked at her. Zoe had a lot to say about her, but Gabe hadn't officailly met her. Actually he hadn't really spent too much tiem with Zach either. Well, they were all on the same side today.

[Logan Chase Renner]

Logan finsihed up with his conference call, telling teh business man on the other end goodbye and hung up before he stood front his leather chair and stretched. He was about to go out and tell his receptionist he was available, maybe do a couple of things around the studio before he went to grab some lunch finally. But instead as he opened his office door, Blake was standing there, a worried look on her face. "Hey..." he said, confused, but felt his stomach drop when she mentioned what was going on up at the school. "What?" he asked rhetorically, not really looking for an answer. All he could do really was follow Blake to teh car and just let her drive, because his mind had just gone blank. Gunman. School. Lance. Gunman. School. Lance... Logan didn't know how to respond, but Blake was being so collected. He didn't say anything when she called his dad and told him what was going on. And when they got there he mostly just followed her onto campus. This was exactly what was not supposed to happen. This what he had promised he'd never let happen. He was supposed to look out for Lance, make sure he stayed out of trouble, how could he do that when he was locked inside a school with a gunman?

Logan nodded at Riley, seeing Mackenzie was about as stressed as the rest of them too. Didn't every single one of the people here have someone they were worried about? Logan had never seen so many distressed people all at once. And he still couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. What if Lance wasn't okay, did that mean he failed as a brother? Wasn't he supposed to be the older brother and make sure nothing happene to Lance? No one else did. Logan was always the one to stick up for Lance, keep him out of trouble as much as he could,support him when no one else would. There was literally nothing he could do at the moment, anjd he'd never felt so useless, helpless. He was Logan Renner, he could fix anything, but he sure as hell couldn't fix this. The only thhing he could do was hold Blake's hand and hope that Lance walked out of there completely fine.

[Mackenzie Janelle Collins]

Mackenzie nodded, though she knew Riley couldn't see her. She was just relieved to hear his voice and he somehow knew exactly what she was supposed to do. Why hadn't she thought to call Hunter? Her mind was so jumbled she was surprised she even remembered how to get to the school. But she just nodded, responding with "ok," and took a deep breath. She could do that, she could call Hunter. All she was doing was asking him to come get Lily, that was easy. Riley said he wason his way, which somehow made her feel infinitely better, "Love you too," and she heard him hang up, letting her phone down in her lap. She looked at Lily who was watching her quietly, "I know Princess, you're missing your nap..." which was true anyways. She was probably sleepy, on the verge of being cranky. Mack picked her phone back up and called Hunter, waiting for him to answer. "Hunter? Hi, it's Mackenzie. Oh.. you've seen the news? Look, I know you probably got called into the station, oh. You're there right now? Listen, I know it's last minute, but can you please come get Lily? Really?" She let out a relieved breath. He said he would as soon as possible, he was at the fire station and that was a few blocks down from the school anyways. "Hunter, thank you, really. Yeah, I'll se you in a bit." After she'd explained that he could just take her over to Mandi's when Mandi was finished with school, she thanked him again and hung up. Now she was just waiting. Waiting for Riley to come. Waiting for Hunter to come get Lily. Waiting for Kiersten to walk out completely unscathed and have some sarcastic remark about not needing to freak out about it.

Mackenzie finally stood up and began pacing, because suddenly she couldn't sit still with all this waiting. Lily was just sitting there making noises, seemingly saying something in her little Lily way and Mack stoped walking because Lily was pointing behind her. Mack turned around seeing Riley, imediately just collapsing into him. He said everything was okay, she just wanted him to be right. Blake and Logan had arrived too, Blake holding onto her hand tightly. Ugh and look at Logan. He looked a mess too. Lance. So not what any of them needed. Did bad things just follow them or what? Mack looked up when Hunter walked up, apologizing for the wait, and gently peeled Lily out of Mack's arms. Makenzie hadn't even realized how much she'd been glued to that kid sicne she got there. She hadn't realized much of anything, other than people talking, hearing noises, wondering what was going on in there.

[Zachary Adam Pierson]

Nothing had changed much since Delilah had gone into the school. Everyone was still waiting, the shooter was still shooting, and Zoe was still locked inside with nothing to do except wait a certain death or until some one came in and got her. The worst part was that Zach couldn't just barge in there and get her himself. But he couldn't. It was frustrating for the sole idea that Zach could probably go in with his friends and take the kid out completely, get Zoe out ad be done with this. But he understood there was a protocol here, and Delilah knew what she was doing. It still sucked though. It crossed his mind that he spent more time protecting Scarlet and making sure nothing happened to her, making sure she wasn't in trouble, fighting for her, killing for her.... but he never thought he'd have to worry about Zoe, who was generally safe and out of harm's way a majority of the time. The most danger that crossed her path was taxi's. He couldn't help feeling like a crappy big brother, as much as he knew there really wasn't anything he could have done anyways, other than don't let her go to school, but that was ridiculous. It was just he was so used to just being the older brother he just wanted to go get her like he always did. He remembered doing it often enough, dragging her home after cheer practice faster than those asshole jocks could get to her. Picking her up from her first high school party because she'd been drinking and didn't want their parents to find out, and the cops busting the party just after he'd driven away. Staying up late with her to help finish her science fair project. Carrying her home when she crashed her bike when she was six. Bringing soup to her room when she had the flu and their parents were at work. Those were things he did, because as far as he was concerned, that's part of him being the older brother. He couldn't just go save her like he wanted to this time.

Zach looked up when he heard Scarlet, relieved to see her. It was funny, this may have been the first time she wasn't the cause of his nerves. Her presence being strictly that of a good girlfriend, just being there for moral support. That was different for a change. Zach wasn't so sure it'd last, but it was nice none the less. Zach kissed her, sighing as she hugged him, saying Zoe would be okay. "I hope so... I love you too." Zach kept an arm wrapped around her, leaning into her and said, "You know this may be the first time you aren't the cause of me being a bundle of nerves. Maybe this is what normal couples do," he joked, unsure of how he was even joking right now but decided to let himself go with it because it was causing him to act fairly normal and not begin pacing.

[Shane Alexander Madden]

Shane smiled at the group of fans who had come up to the table and signed their CD covers for them, answering a few questions. They were in the middle of a meet and greet and had a show later tonight. So far this leg of the tour was going really well. They were getting closer to Claire's due date but it was still a month or two out. South America wasn't home, but he'd be home soon enough, just two, two and a half more weeks. Then it was off to Europe. But on the bright side, he'd be home just before the baby was supposed to come. Shane looked up when Matt tapped him on the shoulder, hanging up his phone and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder, "Hey I need to talk to you." Shane looked back at the fans who were complaining about him leaving and he smiled apologetically, "Sorry ladies, excuse me a minute." Shane walked over to where Flyzik had gone, looking at him questioningly, "What's up dude?" Matt looked completely flustered, "Scarlet just called, School of Performing Arts is on lock down, there's a gunman in the school. Apparently there've already been gunshots," Shane stopped him, "Has someone called Ryan? Does he know? Because Felicia goes there." Flyzik looked around and said quietly, "Claire was at the school today getting her transcripts." Shane froze, "What? Claire is in the school?" Shane closed his eyes and brought his hands up to his face. This was not happening, noooo sir. Claire couldn't be. She was too important. And too pregnant. Natalie had walked up looking concerned, "What's going on?" Matt told her what was happening back home and Shane just tried to accept that it was reality and decide how he was supposed to deal with it. "Shane?" Natalie asked, placing a hand on his arm, "You need to go home right?" "What? Yeah. I need to go back... right now. I mean, say for a second, she'd totally fine, that's still.... she'd still... that's, I just. I should be there." That was all there was to it. That was a scary situation and if something happened he needed to be there, and if nothing happened, he still needed to be there right? Claire was probably scared. He sure as hell was, he was thousands of miles away in South America. "I need to get on a plane. Matt, I need to catch a flight." "Okay, I'm trying to get one right now, just... just go with Natalie, pack your stuff or something." This was a nightmare. Shane didn't even notice that Natalie was already pulling him out the back door toward the bus. If he didn't have such a good tour family, he'd still be standing there trying to figure out what to do, but they moved fast. Lucky for him, he'd be on the next plane back to the states.

[Delilah Scott Kingsley]

Delilah moved her face away from the gun, having already pulled the trigger while looking through the scope. There wasn’t really any other way to spin this. She just shot a kid. She coughed, clearing her throat as she stood up straight. “ Go,” she said, scratching the edge of her thumb over her eyebrow. She had no idea what was going on with Dalton’s end of things. After the rest of her team moved she took her handgun out of its holster and made her way inside the building. A small part of her wondered what Adam was doing, if he was watching on the news or if he was too busy with his own stuff, if he would hear about it at the office water cooler or if he would be there to be able to give her a hug when she walked back into the building. As she stepped inside of the school she pulled her gun back up so it was drawn and ready, looking through a few empty classrooms before she came into the French classroom, looking at all of the faces on the children who seemed scared. She lowered her eyes, looking down at the now dead child laying against the floor. She licked her lips, lowering her weapon. She tilted her head towards the door, letting the team move in where they were actively pulling a young girl away from a gunshot victim who laid against the floor near the shooter. Delilah kneeled down, pressing her fingers against his neck to see if there was a heartbeat. She narrowed her eyebrows, looking back up at everyone as they shuffled out, the young girl being torn away from the boy whose blood was now on her fingers. She stood up, stopping Giulia since she was the last student in the room. “ Oh my god,” she said, wrapping her arms tightly around her. She held her hand tightly against the back of Giulia’s head, placing her cheek against the side of her hair as she closed her eyes. “ Never… ever… be in this situation again,” she said, squeezing her as tightly as she possibly could.

With one last quick squeeze she let her go, tilting her head over her shoulder. “ Go.. they’re waiting for you,” she said before squeezing her hand tightly. “ I still have work to do. There’s another shooter. Follow the agents, okay?” she said, nodding a little as she spoke. After Giulia left, Delilah took in a deep breath and looked down at the young boy, waiting for medical personnel to come in and take over before she left for the rest of the school. Delilah brought her gun back up, looking down the hallways as she walked quietly past each door. Delilah stopped, lowering her gun as she saw an older man kissing.. a student? She narrowed her eyebrows, watching them for a moment before she looked away. Well, that honestly wasn’t in her scope of responsibility today. She moved farther down the hallway, just hoping that Dalton had taken care of the other shooter, though he had probably decided to go in the way of sniper as well. It took hours.. and constant worry, but the school was empty. Delilah brought her hand up to her hair, taking the ponytail out as she came out of the school, pulling her phone out of her back pocket and turning the silence off. She waited for a few moments,looking down at her phone as she walked over to the rest of the team, handing over a couple of the guns she had stocked herself with before she dialed Adam’s number, placing the phone between her ear and shoulder. Her heart relieved instantly as he answered, “ … Buy me a beer…” she said tiredly, smiling exhaustedly as he agreed before she hung up. She looked over at Zach, Giulia, Gio, Vinny.. all she wanted to do was go join them. But instead, she gave a small nod of her head in their direction before she made her way to try and look for Dalton.

[Zoe Lauren Pierson]

Zoe stepped out of the school, looking at the mass amounts of people that had waited for their loved ones. Six hours since the first gunshot, and now they were all finally coming out. She stopped walking as she first spotted Zach, seeing Dex beside him. She broke out into a full sprint, running as fast as she could until she reached both of them, wrapping one arm around each of their necks as tightly as she possibly could. Two most important men in her life, and at least they were side by side out here. She was so numb, barely aware that Zach was holding her on his own now as she rested her cheek against his shoulder, looking over at Gabe. “ Where’s Felicia?” she asked, looking at both of them with a look of worry. “ Where is Felicia? Where is she?” she asked again, looking over her shoulder and looked back at the school. She looked over all of the students as quickly as she could, trying to find that beautiful blonde giant bombshell through everyone else. “Where’s Lance?” she questioned, turning back around as she looked at Gabe and Zach. “ He just.. ran out of our classroom. Where are they?” she asked, looking at each of them like they might have an answer for her. She looked down, realizing that Gabe was holding her hand before she reminded herself to take a breath. “ I thought I was never going to see you again,” she said, hugging him again as she buried her face into his chest.

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire looked down at her hands before they realized that they were shaking uncontrollably. ’ I love you… take a shower…’.. That had been the last thing she had said to Shane. Those were the last words she said to him? She looked up when she saw a pair of feet standing by the desk, trying to catch her breath out of sheer fear until she looked up, gun, helmet. Agent. Not a student shooter. He lowered his hand down, helping her stand up from underneath the desk. “ Are you alright?” he asked, but Claire looked at him, unable to open say anything, just standing there with her mouth open. How long had they been there? She looked at the clock, six hours? She’d spent six hours crouched underneath a desk? ‘ Follow us’ he said, gesturing to head outside of the office. Once they left the office, she held her hand against the side of her stomach, flinching slightly. How long had that pain been there? It was like an unbelievable pressure that she couldn’t shake. She watched as everyone around her was running to her loved ones, but it felt like she was moving in slow motion, walking slowly towards the direction of Ethan before she saw him running towards her. He squeezed her tightly, too tightly, making her uncomfortable as she tried to hold her hand against her stomach. ‘ Oh my god.. Oh my god..’ Ethan said, just holding onto her tightly before he kissed the side of her hair and her forehead, just relieved to see her. “ Ethan…” she said, finally open to make her voice come through everything she was feeling. “ We have a problem..” she said, looking back down at her stomach before she lifted her eyes to Ethan, as relieved as she was to get out of the school and be out of harms way, she needed Shane. And she needed to get to the hospital.