FicWad

Mike spent the next week griping to Jade and Chester, who oddly seemed to support Mike's choice, about vBrad. Brad had ben his best friend since he was in high school. Chester knew how badly it had to hurt him. But Brad wasn't changing his stand point. He believed, for only Heaven knows why, that Mike was betraying Anna. So, Mike avoided him as much as possible. All of their tour dates had been cancelled. Sadly, that meant that Jade, who Mike was now managing, would have a career that suffered as well. Chester had confided in Jade, out of ear-shot of Mike, of course, that Brad been acting weird, manic even. He had bouts of anger that escalated so badly that Chester had to stop him from punching out a window. It was ridiculous, but the news of this started to make Jade nervous. She hoped like Hell that Brad wouldn't hurt himself...or Mike. Regardless ig her feelings, however, she kept her mouth shit and worked hard with Mike and Chester on a touring schedule for herself. It was on one of those nights of work that she found herself sitting on Mike's couch. Chester was sitting next to her, sipping a Diet Pepsi, snoring at any kind of stupid idea that Mike proposed.

"Chester, why don't you fucking make the schedule then!" Mike snapped. Chester laughed.

"Sorry," he muttered. Chester sighed and stretched his arms far above his head. He looked at them.

"I'll be back," he murmured, "I have to take a piss." He stood up and walked to Mike's bathroom. There was a knock at the door. Mike groaned and got up to answer it. He opened the tall oak door to see a man with a dark bush of hair on top of his head, blowing aside by the cool December breeze. Mike stared at him.

"What do you want Brad?" he bit at him. Brad sighed.

"Can I come in?" he asked. Mike stared blankly at him for a few moments. He sighed.

"Sure," he muttered and turned to walk back into the living room, leaving Brad to close the door. Brad followed him into the iving room. He watched him sit down next to Jade.

"Evening Jade," he murmured. She looked up from the paper she was writing on.

"Hi Brad," she said, looking at him oddly. He sighed.

"Mike, I..." he paused for a moment. He turned around to face his back to them, like he was embarrassed. "I wanted to apologize, Mike," he said quietly. Jade looked over at Mike. He looked oddly taken aback.

"It's oka, man," Mike sighed, "We were both stupid." Brad stopped him.

"No, Mike," Brad muttered. "I wanted to apologize for what I'm about to do." He turned around and Jade gasped. He was pointing a hand gun at the two of them. Mike stared at him.

"Brad, w-wha--" he was cut off.

"It's her fault, Mike," Brad butted in, "She broke up our fucking band." Mike swallowed hard.

"Don't blame that on her, Brad," Mike sighed, his eyes wide, "It's not her fault." Brad laughed manically.

"Bullshit, Mike," he spat, "We've never had any problems 'til she came along." Mike stared at him, almost angrilly.

"This was my JOB, Mike," Brad yelled, "This is what I did! I don't know how to do anything else!" He was starting to shake. Jade was getting nervous.

"So, forgive me," Brad mumbled, pointing the gun point blank at Jade, but before anything could happen, something caught Brad in the back and he fell, smashing the glass coffee table in front of him. The gun in his hand exploded out the end. The bullet flew across the room and grazed the side of Mike's arm. He screamed out in pain. Jade saw Chester lift his head.

"Run, you guys," he bellowed. Mike threw his head back, growling in pain, kicking his legs, slapping his palm over the wound flowing blood in his arm. "Fucking run!" Chester screamed. Brad shoved Chester off of him. Jade grabbed Mike's hand and jerked him upward, he followed her painfully out the front door. Brad looked at Chester.

"You fucking asshole!" he screamed. Chester got up to run. Brad tried to follow him, but his shirt was snagged on the shard of the table. He growled and pointed his gun at Chester, shooting. The bullets missed, and Chester skidded around the corner, almost falling, but catching himself on his hands and took off after Jade and Mike. Brad cursed and jerked his shirt free, getting up to follow them.

~*~

Mike and Jade ran through the forest behind Mike's house, both heavily out of breath. They stopped and looked around.

"What the Hell is going on?" Jade asked, now crying. Mike looked at her, still wincing in pain from his arm. The bullet had only nicked him, but it still hurt like Hell. The heard a voice calling in the distance.

"Ohh, Mike!" the voice called in a sing-song way. Jade gasped. Mike looked around.

"Just fucking run, okay?" he said. She looked at him.

"No," she said. He was asking her to leave him. He looked at her.

"Just go, okay? I'll be fine," he kissed her and pushed her away. "Go!" She took a deep breath, still crying, and turned to run away.

Brad must have have heard her rustling.

"You can't hide, Jade!" he screamed. She gasped, and turned to run again, but tripped over a tree root, smashing her nose into the ground. It started to bleed immediately. She got up and looked around. She heard a twig snap to her left. She looked in that direction. Suddenly an arm flew around her neck, pinning her in a headlock. Jade gasped and cried out in horror.

"Jade, Jade, Jade," Brad tutted, waving his gun around in the air. Jade tugged at his arm, throwing her head back, blood still pouring from her nose. "Why are you running from me, Jade? It's not going to hurt." He ran his gun down the side of Jade's face.

"Please," Jade choked, tears forming in her eyes, "Brad, please." Brad shook his head.

"Big Bad Brad doesn't know what 'please' means, Jadie," he chuckled, putting the gun to Jade's head.

"No, no, no, no!" Jade cried, "Please! Please!" She screamed so loudly it echoed. She pulled hard on Brad's arm, now whimpering as if she were a little child. Brad let his finger put a little pressure on the trigger...

A loud growl issued from Brad's left, and when he turned to see where it was coming from, he was knocked to the ground, the gun falling from his hand.

"Run, Jade!" Mike yelled. Jade, who had landed hard, looked up. "Run!" Mike yelled again. Jade wiped her nose hard on her sleeve.

"Mike," she muttered. Brad started to move.

"Jade, just get the Hell out of here!" Mike yelled. Brad groaned. Jade looked down at the man.

"Arggh..Mike," Brad moaned, looking up at his opposer. Mike looked down at him. He glanced back up at Jade, out of breath.

"Jade, go," he growled. Jade still didn't move. "GO!" Brad jumped to his feet. Jade gasped and fell backward on a tree, then turned and ran, looking over her shoulder at Mike.

~*~

She kept running until her body couldn't physically take it anymore. She stopped and had just turned when she ran hard into a body. She screamed in horror, but then looked up and realized that it was Chester that she'd run into. She sighed.

"Oh, Chester," she moaned, and started to cry, burying her face into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and tried to calm her down.

"Shh, shh, it's okay," he murmured. She sniffed and hiccuped. He sighed.

"Look at me," he said, and held her face in his hands. She looked up at him. "Where's Mike?" he asked.

~*~

Mike punched Brad in the face. Brad fell again and Mike backed away from him. Brad held his jaw and stood back up, the gun still in his hand.

"Just stay out of my way, Mike," Brad spat. Mike shook his head.

"No," he said, "Not if it has to do with her." Brad laughed.

"You care more about a fucking GIRL than you do your best friend," he chuckled, "Guess that saying isn't true then, eh? Bros before hoes?" Mike scoffed at him.

"You're being ridiculous, Brad," he spat. "You're trying to kill her. Why would I want to protect you more?" Brad laughed, throwing his head back.

"For some reason that I've never been able to figure out, Mike," he started, pointing his gun in rancom directions, "You've always cared more about your own personal gain than you have peoples' feelings." Mike stared at him.

"What are you talking about Brad?" he begged. Brad turned toward him and started to yelled.

"Anna!" he shrieked. "Anna, Mike! You KNEW that I loved her!" Mike looked at him, realization dawning on him.

"Brad, I can't help what happened between you and Anna," he said slowly and quietly, "I'm sorry that you had such a bad break-up., but please, Brad, PLEASE, stop this." Brad chuckled.

"You think begging is going to help?" he laughed, "What did I do on your wedding day, Mike? I begged you." Mike swallowed hard. That's what this was all about. Brad was so upset about Mike stealing Anna from him and breaking up with her. He hadn't yet figured out what exactly Jade had to do with it all, but he would soon enough.

"Brad, please," he said again, "Just put the gun down. We can talk about this." Brad threw his head back in a manic cackle.

"I don't WANT to talk about it, Mike!" he bellowed. "I'm through with TALKING to you. You never listen to me." Mike's heart hammered against his chest. He knew that he was going to die if he didn't get the gun away from Brad. He was terrified. A deer ran through the forest to Brad's right, snapping a twig. Brad's gaze shot in that direction. Mike seized his opportunity. He lunged forward and grabbed hold of Brad's arm, twisting, and pulling, wrestling Brad for the gun. They were both grunting like wild men, fighting each other. They slid around on the mud on the ground. The gun loosened a little from Brad hand, and trying to get a tighter grip on it, he squeezed the trigger, just as Mike punched him in the face. The gun went off with a bang.

~*~

Chester and Jade heard a loud gunshot, and both gasped loudly. Jade's gaze looked in the direction of the sound. She took a deep breath.

"MIKE!" she shrieked, but Chester slapped a hand over her mouth, pulling her backward, truly knowing that if she kept screaming, Brad would find them. He pulled her backward amidst her flailing arms, fighting him.

"Jade!" he growled at her. "Listen! LISTEN TO ME!" he said. She looked at him. "We have to run, okay? Mike will be okay. I promise." She stared into his eyes. She was sure Mike had been shot. They heard someone walking through the under brush. Chester grabbed her arm and pulled her, and they ran. She kept glancing back over her shoulder. She was so terrified. They were so deep into the forest now that they were tripping over everything; sticks, leaves, roots. Chester glanced backward to make sure Jade was still running with him. They didn't see a drop off in front of them, and when their legs gave out, they fell.

They tumbled down the hill, neither knowing where the other was. It was so dark that they couldn't see. They rolled head over heels. Jade heard Chester grunting loudly somewhere to her left. She heard what sounded like a splash, and before she could react, she took was making that splash, and her body was surrounded by deep water. She thrashed. She heard Chester break the surface, and tried to lift herself, but her left was caught on something. She looked down. Her lungs were burning. Chester looked around, trying to see Jade. He looked down and couldn't see her under the water.

"No," he muttered. "No, no, no," he took a deep breath and fell under the surface, swimming, trying to find her. He jerked her pant leg free from the branch it was stuck to and pulled her to the surface. They broke to the air, and Jade took a deep breath, coughing and looked around. Chester helped her to the embankment and pulled her from the water. They climbed back up the hill and looked around. It was cold for December in California, only in the upper 40s. They shivered, their teeth chattering. They heard rustling and backed away, only to see Mike step out from a patch of trees. Jade gasped and ran, tripped, to him. He grabbed her and held her tightly. She sobbed into his chest. Chester stared at Mike.

"Where is he?" he muttered. Mike took a deep breath from running.

"I don't know," he said, "I ran. The bullet didn't hit either of us." Chester sighed. Jade let go of Mike and they all looked around. It was quiet. Eerily quiet. The breeze blew through the trees, rustling the leaves. No one heard a sound other than that. So, they couldn't have known. They couldn't have known that Brad was there until he grabbed Jade in a head lock and pulled her away from Mike and Chester, shoving a gun to her temple. She screamed.

"No!" Mike screamed. He almost flew at him before the gun was to Jade's head. She was sobbing.

"Don't you fucking move," Brad demanded at Mike and Chester. "I'm sick of this running bullshit." Chester gulped. Mike was breathing heavily, almost bawling.

"Please," Jade said, just barely getting the words out through her sobs. Brad looked down at her and added more pressure to his arm so she couldn't talk. She gasped for air. Mike growled.

"LET HER BREATHE, BRAD!" he screamed. Jade pulled at his arm. Brad shook his head.

"I can't let her live, Mike," he muttered, "She's broken so much." Mike shook his head.

"Please, Brad," he begged, "PLEASE." Jade was starting to turn blue, the gun to her temple cutting an indention into her skin. Chester looked at Brad.

"Brad, she can't breathe, please just let her go," he asked. Brad shook his head.

"NO!" he screamed. He jerked Jade upward. Her eyes were starting to roll into the back of her head. Mike watched helplessly as she was dying in front of him. This was what Brad wanted. He wanted Mike to watch her die. He wanted to hurt Mike as much as Mike had hurt him. Jade's grip on Brad's arm started to slacken. Mike grit his teeth.

"Brad, please," he begged.

"SHUT UP!" Brad screamed. Jade gasped for air again, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. She passed out in his arms. Suddenly, they heard a sort of explosion. They looked around before looking back to Brad, and he started to fall. Mike rushed forward and caught Jade in midair. Brad fell to the gorund, blood pouring from his head. They looked up and saw a police officer in a deer stand in a distance tree. They stared at him. He pulled a rifle off his shoulder and nodded down at them. Mike looked down at Jade who's head was lulled against his chest. He laid her on her back and started to do CPR on her. He was sobbing. She wasn't waking up. He gave her chest compressions and breaths, but she wasn't waking up. The police officer walked up, calling for an ambulance. Mike gave her a sobbing breath, and finally, FINALLY, she took a small breath. He gasped, and started to sob, pulling her to him. She opened her eyes and looked at him. She had forgotten where she was. She looked over at Brad, who was laying on the ground with a gunshot wound in his head. He was dead. She started to cry. She remembered then, and she had been so terrified. When the ambulance arrived, Mke lifted her onto the gurney himself. He took her hand and looked at her.

"I love you," he muttered. She sighed and closed her eyes. She was so tired. She fell into a deep slumber, and didn't wake again until later the next day. Mike was sleeping in a chair beside her bed. She looked at him, sighing. He opened his eyes.

"Hey," he said, leaning forward. She smiled tiredly at him. "How are you feeling?" he asked. She shrugged.

"Worn out," she muttered. He nodded. Her head fell back and sank into her pillow. She sighed. He watched her.

"What's wrong?" he asked. She shook her head, a tear falling from her eye, and rolling down her cheek onto the white pillow case. He took her hand. She took a shuttering breath, trying not to cry.

"I'm so sorry that this happen Mike," she told him, "I'm so sorry that he had to die." She broke down and started to sob. He hugged her to his chest. He was sorry too. He missed Brad. He missed Brad with his entire being. But he was happy that she was safe and alive. And if that meant having to sacrifice the life of his friend, he was willing for that to be so. Because he loved her, and he would never let anything happen to her. Ever.

The End.