Episode 51, "Aftermath"
INSIDE TAYLOR AND AMBER'S APARTMENT
“Oh my God!” Taylor cries, horrified at the site before him. SWAT agents rush in to the room, armed and frantically scouring the apartment for any other hostile suspects.
The negotiator runs into the room and gasps at the display before him. “Jesus...”
Taylor jumps to his feet and runs to Alex's body. Not again. Please don't take my best friend away from me. “Alex? Alex? Please, can you hear me?”
Almost lifeless, Alex moans in pain, his eyes rolled back in his head. Taylor lets out a cry of hope, cradling his friends body, and rocking back and forth! “Someone please get an ambulance! He's alive! Please, he's alive!”
Amber is stunned and silent in the corner, watching Taylor's hysterics and unable to do anything to stop it. She has had her fill of this violence and turmoil. She watches on as paramedics flood into the apartment with stretchers and medical tools. Someone begins to temporarily bandage Alex's wounds as another begins to prepare him for a stretcher. Taylor cannot control his wails, as he frantically turns to the medics checking Devin's body for a pulse.
“He is surely dead.” Taylor cries, rocking back and forth, preparing himself for the worst, “There is no way he could survive a gunshot through the head.”
“He's alive!” A paramedic shouts, himself surprised. “Get a gurney here NOW!”
Taylor watches in awe as the medics begin to hook Devin's lifeless and seemingly dead body into a gurney. He overhears a medic saying, “He probably won't make it to the hospital! Let's get a move on!”
Behind him, someone calmly zips up the body bag that Ross has been put in. “What a sad way to go,” the man says, frowning just as he zips up the bag over Ross' face.
Within seconds the room is being cleared, with Taylor and Amber left alone holding their baby. Chaos.
CANDICE'S APARTMENT
“Late breaking news here on the Channel 7 news at 11. We are going live to Hollywood where apparently, USC student Ross Michaels has just been killed in a police shoot out. Michaels had held fellow USC student Alex Harrison hostage with a child that Mr. Harrison was babysitting. A friend of Harrison's, a Devin Barbieri, attempted to run in and save his friend, but it seems Barbieri and Harrison have both sustained life-threatening wounds. Michaels has been confirmed dead...”
Candice sits on her bed watching the television, the towel still wrapped around her. She drops the glass she is holding and it shatters on the floor.
“This can't be happening.” She says in awe. As the newscast continues, Candice hurriedly throws some clothes on and flies out of the room.
AMBULANCE
The ambulance carrying Devin flies down the street.
Devin lies lifeless on the gurney and several paramedics encircle him, making sure his vital signs do not become more unstable. “This boy has sustained an extremely threatening bullet wound to the forehead,” one of the medics says. Devin's mouth is covered with a ventilator. He is unable to breathe on his own. “Make sure not to move any part of his body. Isolate his head and neck... His lungs have completely failed and we must keep him sustained with this ventilator until we are well equipped to operate.”
“Sir,” a female paramedic says, “what are the chances he will survive?” She is beautiful, blonde, and looks unusually concerned.
“Kathleen, there is no telling. It doesn't look good. At this rate, it's very probable that he may be a complete vegetable when all is said and done.”
Kathleen looks away. “Be professional,” she thinks to herself.
“What is it Kathleen?” Her superior says, obviously noting her emotional connection to the situation.
“It's just that...” She stops and looks at Devin's eyes rolled back in his head. “I knew this boy. A long time ago.”
AMBER AND TAYLOR'S APARTMENT
The chaotic scene has now cooled off, though remnants of the terrible tragic events are painted everywhere. Taylor sits shocked in a chair, the police officer questioning him and receiving nothing but cold, shallow answers.
Around him, blood taints the walls and floor. The apartment is a complete wreck, turned practically upside down. Amber holds the baby, cooing softly, though unable to hold back her tears.
“Thank you Mr. Brookdale,” the officer says, closing his notebook and concluding the statement. “If you would like, I will escort you, your wife, and the child from the apartment,” he says as police officers begin to wrap the apartment with police tape.
“My home is a crime scene.” Taylor mutters. “My friends...my best friends.”
For the first time, Amber grabs his arm comfortingly, the baby in her other arm. “Shh.. We have to go now.”
He cries and tucks himself into her embrace. “Be strong right now, Taylor. For me. For your son. For you friends, okay? We need to be strong right now.”
Taylor wipes his tears and links arms with his wife as the police officer escorts him outside. They are greeted with a frenzy of media reporters snapping photos and cameras and microphones being shoved in their face.
They make their way through the crowd and sit in the back of the police car. The officer takes a seat in the drivers seat and asks, “Where can I take you guys right now?”
Taylor hesitates. “The hospital, please.”
He holds hands with Amber.
THE HOSPITAL LOBBY
Candices sprints around the corner and practically collides with Taylor and Amber.
“OH Thank God!” She cries, nearly exploding in agony. “Oh Thank God, Thank God!”
Candice throws her body around Amber, Taylor, and the baby, taking them into her embrace. Candice begins sobbing. “Is he alive? Please God, please! Tell me he's alive.”
Amber breaks, and begins to cry as well. “I don't know...” She mutters betweens sobs, “no word yet.”
The girls embrace each other and Taylor, calm and cold, collected even, slips away. He walks around the corner and then puts his back up against the wall. Deep in thought, he slides down the wall until he is holding his knees.
“What the Hell?” He thinks silently. “What is this life? A curse? A cruel joke? How much pain and violence can one person endure. I can't take it anymore. How much more God?” He looks up at the sky. “What more can you do to me that you haven't already, you selfish bastard!”
He crumples into his hands. A lifetime of darkness has now haunted Taylor for years, ever since high school, the attempts on his life my deranged people had never ceased. But now, it's serious.
For the second time in months, Taylor was back in the hospital awaiting the fate of his friends. “First my wedding, and now THIS, God? Now THIS?” Taylor condemns God himself.
A QUIET ROOM
Candice and Amber sit across the table from one another. Over an hour has passed, and the baby is in the care of the hospitals child care center. The girls are shaken, and look worn and tired, their make up smeared and frowns painted across their faces.
Candice looks at Amber and holds her hand. “What are you thinking?”
Amber hesitates, then chokes back tears as she makes her confession. “I just don't know how much of this shit I can take, you know? It's like this curse follows our group of friends and we can't shake it.”
Candice is taken aback. Ever since she entered Alex and Taylor's lives, her own life had been a whirlwind of chaos.
“And I know you love Alex, Candice...” Amber chokes, “But the whole time they were in there and Ross was holding them hostage, I was .... I was pray-- praying to God...” She collapses.
“What?” Candice says, endearingly.
“I was praying to God that he would take Alex, and not my son. Just not my son. And now, Alex is in there fighting for his life.”
Candice is in shock, and angrily stands up from the table, pushing her seat out. Emotionally, though, she doesn't have the power to protest. She just looks searingly into Amber's eyes.
“He has been fighting for his life. For years, Amber,” Candice retorts. “First in high school, then in college, with all these wackos...”
“I know, I'm sorry...”
“He is laying in there with three bullet wounds to his chest. His heart may fail, so don't look me in the eye and tell me you PRAYED for that.”
Suddenly, Alex storms into the room. "They have news!" The trio hurriedly run out of the room.
ROLL CLOSING CREDITS
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