HOLD UP!
Summary:
The evening takes a sudden turn for the worst when a convict on parole decides to rob Odyssey’s local Ice Parlor & Discovery Emporium—Whit’s End. A violent getaway breaks out when a responding officer arrives to the shop, leaving one injured, one in critical condition, and one in a horrible state of shock. Everyone now just wants to find justice, and peace as they make it through this emotionally turbulent event.
If this were an actual Odyssey episode, Paul McCusker would come on to give a pre-episode content/parental warning
Turning away from the door, the man dragged a hand over his face anxiously. “Argh-! Gotta think…” Connie and Eugene said nothing, seeing the man’s frustrated look upon having discovered the squad car out front. The man then waved his gun at Eugene. “A’right, brain boy, sit back down.”
“But you just said-“
“Forget what I said!” The man snapped. As he made his way around the back of the counter, Eugene did as he was told and sat on the ground. The man then turned his attention to Connie. “You’re a bright girl,” He began, trying to sway her with sweet talk—though it came off as anything but, to Connie. “I’m going to hide behind the counter with brain boy over here,”
“That’s me.” Eugene noted. Ignoring him, the man continued. “You’re going to make that cop leave. And don’t even think of trying anything funny.” Briefly glancing between him and the front door, Connie then asked, “Wh-What do I do?” The man, getting down on the ground beside Eugene, shrugged. “I don’t know, just clean the counter or something!”
“But, it’s already clean…”
“Pretend!” The man shook his head, exasperated at how the two continued to question every little thing he told them. “Good grief, you two were made for each other…!” He commented, to which Eugene piped up with, “We’re just friends, actually.”
“Barely.” Connie added with a small eye-roll. The man then fell silent, and signaled for Eugene to do the same. Just as Connie picked up a rag from nearby, the small bell above the door rang as the officer from the squad car outside arrived inside. Clearing her throat a little, Connie greeted him. “Oh hi, Officer Kern.”
“Hi there, Connie.” Officer Kern greeted in return, before then asking, “Is everything okay?” Trying not to shake too much, Connie nodded ‘yes’. “Yeah, why?” The officer lightly shrugged. “Well, the silent alarm went off at the station, and we figured I’d come check it out.” He explained, before chuckling a little. “We assumed it was bumped since it’s not likely anyone would rob Whit’s End!” Connie chuckled, too, still trying not to sound nervous at all. “No, hardly.” She agreed.
“Anyways, since I’m here,” Officer Kern continued, watching her demeanor closely. “Would it be alright if I get a coffee? If there’s any left, I mean.” He requested. Connie said nothing, simply staring the officer in the eye. He immediately picked up on the conflicted look she seemed to have. As if she were trying to make up her mind. Slowly raising a brow, Officer Kern asked her again, “Is everything okay?”
“I um…” Still looking extremely hesitant, Connie slowly and subtly shook her head ‘no’. When she spoke again, it was in a very low whisper. “Behind the counter…” Officer Kern gave her a puzzled look. “Pardon?” Connie then, just as subtly, nodded beside herself. “There’s… a man-” Said man behind the counter obviously heard what she’d whispered to the officer, and before anyone could even process what was happening, he sprung up from behind the counter. Officer Kern barely had the time to realize the man was armed, before a gunshot rang out.
Connie’s eyes widened, watching as Officer Kern stumbled back before tripping—the back of his head colliding against a nearby chair. While she leaned over the counter to see him lying still on the floor, bleeding, another commotion broke out. Turning her head quickly, she saw Eugene attempting to wrestle the gun from the man’s hand. The man was putting up an unfair fight strength-wise—being of a more bulky build compared to her friend. “Cease and-” Eugene grunted, still trying to overcome the man’s strength. “And desist-!” Another gunshot.
The man shoved Eugene off of himself, and onto the floor with a loud thud. It suddenly felt as if time itself had slowed down. Connie wanted to stay and see if Eugene was okay—who was she kidding? She could see the red staining his white t-shirt and black vest, of course he wasn’t okay!—But she also saw the man turn to face her, as he did a double check of his gun’s chamber. Without even thinking, her feet began moving, and she began her run out of the building—b-lining for the front door.
Another gunshot rang out, though it missed her and hit the wall beside the door. Moving quicker than she’d ever moved before, Connie pulled the door open and hurried down the front steps of Whit’s End. She nearly slipped a few times, but when she made it down to the sidewalk, she ran up to the squad car. She fell on the ground in front of it, out of line of the dangerous man’s sight. She then wrapped her arms around herself, shaking, as she’d begun to cry.
The light shower that fell made it hard to tell if her face was wet due to the rain, or due to her own tears. She didn’t care either way. Frozen again in fear of what she’d just witnessed, Connie didn’t move from her hiding spot. She simply curled in on herself, as the wetness of the pavement beneath her soaked into her jeans, with the rain above soaking into her sweater.
﹝•••﹞
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been hiding for when a slew of sounds suddenly rang in her ears. Coming back to her senses, the sound of sirens got much louder, and were now accompanied by flashing red and blue lights. Among the chaos of noise, a voice was suddenly calling her name. “… Connie!” Blinking away the tears from her eyes, Connie looked up to see a very worried Mr. Whittaker knelt next to her. He had both his hands placed on her shaking shoulders. “Wh-Whit…!”
“What happened? Are you alright?!” Connie shook her head no, then going on to shake her head more frantically. She tried to start answering Whit’s first question, but any more words she tried to form simply came out all at once as she was speaking both too fast, and through choked sobs. “Okay, okay! Take a breath, Connie!” Whit said, then wrapping his arms around the frightened teenager. Connie didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around him in return, and simply crying into his coat.
Looking up from Connie, Whit saw Captain O’Ryan giving the go ahead to some of the other officers to go into his shop. “Captain?” The man looked back at Whit with a look of professionalism about him—likely thanks to his years on the force. “I’m sendin’ some of me boys in before us. We aren’t sure if it’s safe to head in or not.”
“I understand.” O’Ryan then nodded to Connie. “Is she hurt?” Rubbing a hand up and down Connie’s back, Whit shook his head a little, and shrugged. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t look like it.” He answered, adding with, “She seems shaken up more than anything.” The Captain hummed. “Well, all the same, an ambulance is also on its way.” He assured him.
A beep with static suddenly sounded from the walkie-talkie attached to Captain O’Ryan’s uniform, followed by a voice sounding through. “10-999.” The police captain brought a hand up, pressing a button on the walkie-talkie to respond. “Who is it?” Letting go of the button, another beep sounded, followed by, “Responding officer, Kern, sir.” O’Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Confirmed 10-72.“
While Captain O’Ryan dealt with his officers from the outside, Whit continued to tend to Connie. Gently, he pulled her back to see her face. “Connie, can you talk to me?” Shakily, a hand came up to rub the tears from her eyes. Whit craned his head downwards a little to catch her eye. “What on earth happened?”
“A… s-some guy… he… he tr-tried robbing the sh… shop,” Connie began, her voice anything but stable. “He had… had a g-gun… a-and… h-he…” Another small sob sounded again, and her chin fell to her chest. Whit’s eyes widened. He took a glance around as something had just donned on him. “Where’s Eugene?” Connie glanced over her shoulder slowly to look at the shop. The moment she looked at it, she turned her head away and simply kept crying. This only caused Whit’s concern to grow.
Whit had been called to head back to his shop with Captain O’Ryan after Officer Kern had gone to check on things following the silent alarm being set off. Not long after he’d arrived, a few calls came in from other townsfolk who thought they’d heard gunshots. “How many gunshots?” Whit heard O’Ryan ask into his radio. It beeped again. “Three, one being in a wall. And,” There was a brief pause. The officer spoke up again. “We’ve got a Code 10—not for Kern. Repeat, Code 10 for a civilian.“
“Lord,” Whit began in a tone of utter pleading. “Please let him be okay!” He then held Connie closely again, still trying to help calm her down. The three of them stayed where they were until another couple sets of sirens were heard at the end of the street. Two ambulances arrived on the scene, with the paramedics jumping out of the vehicles the second they were in park.
“Perpetrator is not in the building.” The officer said next on the walkie-talkie. Muttering an Irish frustration to himself, Captain O’Ryan shook his head. He looked over at Whit and Connie. “Whoever it was who did this seems to have fled.” With an expectant look, Whit asked, “Can we go in?” The captain nodded. “Connie?” She hummed, looking up at him. “Stay right here, I’ve got to go inside with Captain O’Ryan.” The expression on her face upon hearing him tell her this looked like one of dread. But, she didn’t oppose him from going into the shop. “O-Okay…”
Patting Connie on the back, Whit got up with a stifled groan—going over to catch up with Captain O’Ryan on the front steps of Whit’s End.
﹝•••﹞
Stepping through the threshold of the front door, Whit could feel something dark and heavy about the scene they’d walked in on. Officer Kern was still laying on the ground, bleeding from his side as another officer was kneeling down beside him giving basic first aid. Kern’s eyes were half lidded, but the small grumbled yes and no answers to his colleague’s questions indicated he was no longer unconscious. Two other officers were finishing their second sweep of the ground floor, and a third was crouched behind the counter. He stood up upon hearing Mr. Whittaker and Captain O’Ryan’s entrance. “Tanner?”
“He’s here, Captain.” Officer Tanner announced, holding back the dread in his tone. Without thinking about it, Whit hurried ahead of O’Ryan. He nearly stumbled back in shock at the sight behind the counter. Officer Tanner crouched down again at Eugene’s side, doing a pulse check. He first checked the pulse point on his wrist, looking dissatisfied with his findings. He then quickly pressed two fingers to the side of Eugene’s neck, before shaking his head a little in a jitter. “He’s alive.” Tanner said, having glanced over to see Whit watching.
Finally walking behind the counter, Whit went over to kneel down at Eugene’s other side—careful to not dirty his pants in the process. Just as he made it down to the ground, Officer Tanner had begun putting pressure on the bleeding wound. “Eugene…?” Whit said, patting the side of Eugene’s face. That hardly elicited a response. “Can you hear me? Say something, now!” Ever so slowly, Eugene managed to shift his head a little. He then tried to say something, but it was too quiet for Whit to have understood. “Hang on, I’ll sit you up a little.” Moving to be sitting on his knees, Whit slowly and gently pulled Eugene’s upper half onto his lap. “How’s that?”
“… bett’r…” Continuing to apply pressure with one hand, Officer Tanner moved his other hand to Eugene’s back to palpate for a possible exit wound. While he did, Captain O’Ryan had gone back over to see the paramedics in. “Eugene, I need you to listen to me,” Whit began. “Don’t go to sleep, you hear?” Eugene hummed in response, though Whit was sure he was the only one to have heard it. Tanner had stopped palpating by the time two of the paramedics joined the three behind the counter—with the other two checking on downed Officer Kern. One knelt down next to the officer. “Thanks, I’ll take it from here.”
“Go ahead.” Tanner stood up and stepped back, letting the medic take over with applying pressure. The paramedic’s partner, meanwhile, began her check of Eugene. “Hi there, can you hear me?” She asked, going about her seemingly routine checks. In answer, Eugene nodded weakly. She took obvious note of how he seemed to be teetering on the edge of consciousness. So, trying to make sure he stayed awake, she went on to ask, “Can you tell me your name?”
“…’gene… Mls..n’r…” Eugene slowly mumbled. “Do you know where you are?” Came the medic’s next question, while she went on to check her patient’s eyes with a penlight. “Whi…. ‘nd….” She hummed. Then, she looked up at Whit. “Can I get his name please?” She asked a second time. “Eugene Meltsner.” With a nod, she then stood up. “Thanks.” Her partner glanced up at her, curious to see what she was doing next. “I’m going to go help with the stretcher at the bottom of the stairs.”
“Alright.” Stepping out from behind the counter, the paramedic then addressed Captain O’Ryan. “Captain, can you lend a hand?” He nodded. “Sure can.” He answered. She nodded in thanks, and continued her leave of the Parlor.
“Right… We need to move him down that staircase out front and to the stretcher.” The second paramedic told Whit. He glanced between Whit and Captain O’Ryan, trying to think. “I have an idea.” He said. “Eugene, you still with us?” The paramedic asked. Another weak nod. “Good. If you have us helping you out, do you think you can stand?” There was a pause of consideration before Eugene nodded again. “Alright. That’s good.”
“What’s your idea?” Whit wondered. “I’m going to keep applying pressure to the wound here, and at the same time, I want the both of you at either side of Eugene once we get him on his feet.” The paramedic answered. “Then, we’ll all three of us slowly walk him down to the stretcher.” He explained. Whit gave a nod in answer to the idea, while the captain immediately went over to help with getting Eugene on his feet.
Continuing in applying a steady pressure to the still-bleeding-wound, the paramedic watched as both men positioned themselves at Eugene’s sides. He then went from being in a kneeling position, to a crouching position—ready to stand up straight without letting go. “Alrighty, on three.” He began. “One…” Whit and O’Ryan made sure they both had their feet planted on the ground. “Two,” All three adjusted their hold of Eugene. “Three-!” With that, they heaved him up into a standing position. “There we go…!”
“Eugene,” Whit began, giving Eugene a nudge. “Are you still awake?” Something was quietly mumbled in reply. “Good. Just stay with us a little bit longer, okay?” Whit then asked, the paramedic also adding, “And try if you can, try not to drag your feet while we walk, please?” Eugene nodded just barely. “Right, let’s head out.”
﹝•••﹞
Her sobs had finally reduced to sniffles as she continued to try and get her shaking under control. Though, doing that at that moment seemed impossible. Sitting on the back bumper of the ambulance—out of the rain—Connie tugged at the thermal blanket one of the paramedics had given her. Said same paramedic was taking a moment to sit beside her, trying to comfort her. “You startin’ to feel a little warmer, now?”
“Yeah…” Connie answered quietly. “I’m happy to hear it.” The paramedic—Lisa, as she’d introduced—answered with a small smile. Connie quietly watched as two paramedics lead Officer Kern slowly along to the one of two stretchers on the sidewalk. They were talking with him as they walked, one paramedic mentioning something to the effects of a concussion. Though the officer looked a little woozy, he seemed to be faring well.
Glancing over at Lisa, Connie opened her mouth to ask something, but immediately hesitated. Lisa simply kept a hand on her back, gently rubbing it from time to time. “L… Lisa?” Connie finally spoke up. The paramedic hummed. “How…” She gulped, seemingly steeling herself for the question. “How bad… was he?”
“Oh. Is Eugene your friend?” Connie nodded. Lisa thought for a moment, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn’t cause the girl any more anxiety or panic than she was already dealing with. “Well, he was responding to us when we spoke to him. That’s always a good sign.” She said, “And once we bring him to the hospital, the doctors will take care of him from there.”
“Okay…” Connie mumbled, as she turned to look back at Whit’s End again. She looked back just in time to see the front door open, with four people slowly stepping outside. Standing between two of them, being helped along, was Eugene. Her eyes widened. “Oh thank God!” Connie exclaimed, slowly beginning to smile. “He’s okay!” Lisa patted her shoulder. “That’s another good sign, Connie.” She commented.
The two continued to watch as Whit, Captain O’Ryan, and the paramedic began their slow descent of the front stairs with Eugene. Connie didn’t look away for a second, not even when Lisa got off the back bumper of the ambulance to meet them at the bottom. But, about halfway down, the three who were helping looked to be struggling. Eugene suddenly became dead weight for Whit and O’Ryan to hold onto.
“Careful!” Whit cautioned with a grunt, as he made sure to keep Eugene’s arm over his shoulder. “Eugene?” The paramedic called. No answer. He huffed. “He’s unconscious.” He then stated, even if it was already obvious. “I’ll take him in a fireman’s carry,” The captain offered, before first asking, “Does that work with ya?” The paramedic nodded. “Just don’t drop him.” Captain O’Ryan nodded. “Of course, we wouldn’t want that.”
Connie continued watching the scene on the stairs. She watched as the captain carefully placed Eugene over the back of his shoulders—getting a sturdy grip of her now unconscious friend at the same time. Both Whit and the paramedic made sure that O’Ryan wasn’t going to drop him, before they continued their descent again. This time, Whit was making sure the captain didn’t fall down the rest of the stairs thanks to the added weight over his shoulders.
The rest of the walk down the stairs felt like it took an eternity to do, with everyone kept entirely focused on Captain O’Ryan’s balancing ‘act’. And when they finally made it to the bottom of the steps, Lisa helped her partner in getting Eugene safely onto the stretcher—then swapping out with her partner to keep applying pressure. Whit and O’Ryan stepped back to let the medics tend to Eugene, getting him into the back of the ambulance.
With Lisa and her partner taking care of Eugene, the third paramedic—who had driven the remaining ambulance to Whit’s End—addressed Connie. “Connie, right?” She nodded shakily, shifting her weight from one foot to another. (She’d gotten off the bumper of the ambulance when the two other paramedics brought the stretcher over). “I’m Candice. Would you like to ride up front?” Connie gave Candice a puzzled look. “Huh?” Walking over next to Connie and putting an arm around her, Whit asked, “To bring her to the hospital?”
“Yes.” Candice nodded. “B-But I’m not… hurt, though…” Connie told her. “You may very well not be, but we think a doctor should look at you, since you could have even a small injury that you’re just not aware about.” Whit looked down at Connie. “She’s right. With all the shock and adrenaline tonight, you could be hurt and not realize it.” Connie shrugged. “I guess…” She then gasped. “Wait, but my mom-!”
“I’ll call your mom,” Whit offered. “And we’ll be at the hospital as quickly as we can.” He then assured her. Connie hummed. “You go on ahead with the ambulance, okay?” Candace held a hand out to Connie. She briefly looked between the two of them, noticing the worry still present in Whit’s expression. “Okay…” She took Candace’s hand, and was led over to the now-unoccupied-passenger seat of the ambulance.
Watching the vehicle drive off, Whit took a moment to pause—to think. There were still cop cars parked in front of his shop, their lights flashing, but sirens silenced. He looked over at the shop again, just as Captain O’Ryan was told something new from his radio. Whit sighed, knowing he had to go back inside again. Knowing that the mess in the Parlor would need to be cleaned, and sadly for him, it wasn’t a spilled tub of melted strawberry ice cream. One thing was for sure, Whit would be keeping his shop closed until… well, he wasn’t sure when. Likely after they came back from what had happened that night. Whenever that would be. “Captain?”
“Aye?” Whit nodded in the direction of the building. “When’ll I be able to clean up inside?” Captain O’Ryan shook his head. “Don’t go worryin’ about that, Whit. We’ll clean it for ya after we’ve gotten the crime scene taken care of.” He explained. “Thanks. One more question; is it alright if I go inside to make a phone call?” To that question, O’Ryan didn’t look entirely certain. “I have to call June.”
“Well then, let’s go ‘n see to it, shall we?” The captain began walking back up the steps, gesturing for Whit to follow him. “Right behind you.”
originally posted to AO3, here
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