For You I'd Tear Out My Own Heart

Alex’s P.O.V

“Will you please slow down, Zack!” Jack yelled from the high speeds Zack was going. We’ve been on the road for about 4 hours- and Zack was speeding to the max. He insisted on driving for some reason unknown to me.

“No! You guys don’t get it. Lord knows where the hell Zoe is right now,” he panicked further as the vehicle went faster.

“Why would Zoe be anywhere other than Lutherville?” I asked curiously.

“You guys don’t understand this at all, I’ll explain later,” he brushed off lightly.

What did he mean that Zoe could be gone? What could possibly make her leave? Though we technically were still fighting, I still loved Zoe. Hell, I was in love with Zoe. Just because I decided to be stupid one day doesn’t mean anything. Teenage boys are always stupid.

But from the moment I felt Lisa’s lips I knew I was in for it. I knew I was making a big mistake, a huge one. But never in my life would I know how big of one I made. I still had flashbacks to this day of her crying. “Zack, why can’t you just tell us?”

His face filled with anger, “We don’t have enough time right now! I can’t slow down for one minute, she might be hurt.” the anger faded and tears started streaming down his face.

Rian’s face turned to concern before speaking, “Zack, why would she be hurt?”

“Because James is out to get her! I just know it, and she can be dead right now for all I know, and all we can do is sit here!” he yelled loudly, more tears now coming down his face.

“What guy?” I gritted my teeth.

“James Williamson,” he gulped. “the guy on the T.V. He got locked up for beating my mother. Now he’s out and he’s ready to get all of them. He must know that both my dad and I are gone.”

“Wait, what?” Jack asked with pure confusion.

He sighed, “Look. We have to get to Lutherville as quickly as possible, or Zoe might be in huge amounts of danger.”

**********

The moment the bus was parked in the Merrick’s driveway, we all hopped out quickly. Zack flipped through his keys anxiously, and then opened the door. Everything was quiet, not a sound from anywhere.

“Search around for any sign of them, please,” Zack whispered, as if we were going to get caught by someone.

We all nodded and went off in different directions. I searched through the place she always hid her things - her closet. I searched through quickly, looking for any sign. It came out that nothing was there. I didn’t lose hope though- I knew she also kept things in her dresser a lot of the time.

As I searched through drawer by drawer of the dresser, I did find something, a note in sloppy handwriting.
“I told you this wasn’t a good idea. You really shouldn’t be leaving your house. You know I have people already by your location. Meaning, they can come out at any time and follow you, and take you back home. Don’t make any chaos now, dear.”

My eyes went open wide as each word processed into my brain. This must be the James guy that Zack was talking about. “Zack!” I called his name loudly.

I heard fast paced walking up the stairs before he appeared. “Yeah?”

“I found this,” I handed him the note promptly.

His eyes widened as he read the note. He put it down on the ground and put his hands over his face. I could hear soft sobs coming out of his body as it shook slightly. It was really hard seeing Zack like this, he was always the strong one. He was the one who kept us going when we were down in the dumps. To see him like this made me want to cry.

That’s when I heard the phone start to ring loudly throughout the house. Zack’s face instantly perked up, and he ran down the stairs to answer. I was quickly behind him, praying to God that it was Zoe.

“Hello?” Zack’s smile became apparent through his voice.

I could hear the other side because he had put it on speaker phone. A woman spoke. “Hello, is this Mr. Merrick?”

His smile faded as he realized it wasn’t her, but he answered anyway. “Yes ma’am.”

“Well, I would like to inform you that Zoe Merrick is here with us right now.” she paused for a second. “I suggest you come down here because she isn’t looking too good.”

“Um,” his face scrunched in confusion. “Where exactly is there?”

“Oh, the Lutherville Hospital. I’m sorry to say but Zoe is here with us. She got shot pretty badly yesterday, and we need a family member here.”

My whole world froze as the word hospital came out of the woman’s mouth. Zoe is n the hospital? Shot?! How could she have possibly gotten shot?

“Thank you ma’am. I’ll be there in about ten minutes,” he replied as he hung up. “Come on guys! Get in the bus, we’re going to the hospital, now.”