We Salute You In Your Grave

No Point of View.

The bullets ripped through the air so quickly that they couldn't be seen...but their effects could.

The crowd dispersed and was running through the streets, slowly getting reduced to a handful of teens as the others fell.

Francesca, Genevieve, Rayne, Michael, and Bob had rejoined each other quickly, and hid behind a large dumpster in an alley of one of the street's buildings.

Bodies and blood littered the pavement, as well as machine gun shells and small shreds of the posters the fans had been holding.

"Onward, men!" the frail-but-strong old man shouted while the tanks followed his vehicle and crushed everything in their path.

The wayward group of survivors looked away in horror and disgust, hearing bones crunch and drag along the concrete under the tanks' massive weight.

"They...they killed them..." Francesca sputtered in shock once the tanks passed.

"Mikey!" Rayne gasped, interrupting.

Mikey was bleeding profusely, his breaths shallow, with one hand over his side. A far-away look was in his eyes as he was slumped against the wall, splayed on the murky wet cobblestone brick.

"Just a small scratch, it's nothing..." he was shivering.

"No..." Genevieve whispered and shook her head.

"L-Listen, i'm...not going to make it. Tell...my Dad I love him. I lo...love you guys, too..."

"No, Mikey, no! You're going to live! Don't you dare die on me!" Genevieve was sobbing and shaking Mikey's shoulders a little.

"It'll be...okay. A-Avenge my death, will you? I'd hate to die in vain...It'd really suck...love you all..." Mikey's eyes drifted closed slightly, but he opened them again and took a look at his friends encircling him.

"I....I see my mom...she's on a float. She looks so pretty....confetti everywhere..." Mikey, his head in Francesca's lap, glanced towards the sky.

"Tell your mom she'll have to wait!" Francesca picked Mikey up, and the others helped her carry him out the alley and down the sidewalk, running slightly.

"Bob, where's the nearest hospital?" Rayne shouted.

"Um, two blocks over...near Hyde Park!" he shouted over the thunder roaring in the distance.

"You're gonna make it, Mikey." Francesca looked down at him, whispering it more for her benefit.

Mikey had his eyes closed, and was smiling as the first few drops of rain ran down his cheeks.