Whoa! They shot Kenny! Those bastards! What's going to happen next? Well, why don't you read the chapter and find out? Also, sorry for taking so long to update this. I have nothing planned for this chapter, and I have a full-time job now, so I can't update this as much as I want. Plus, I have twenty other fan fictions I'm working on as well.

Chapter Four: I Feel Your Fingers on My Shoulder

Cartman's POV

It was almost like we were watching everything in slow motion. I swear I saw the bullet whiz through the air and burrow through Kenny's stomach. He didn't even cry out as he slumped to the ground, holding his arms over his stomach, his face twisted with pain. I looked around, but I couldn't make out where the bullet had come from. Was Trent watching us right now, or had he run away? Was that even Trent? I didn't know, but at the moment, I didn't care.

Kyle was already on his knees beside Kenny, calling his name and carefully moving him into a better position. He looked up at Stan and me with a look of terror and anger on his face.

"Well, don't just stand there!" he snarled. "One of you call 911!"

Immediately, Stan snapped out of his trance and whipped out his phone, practically shouting into the mouth piece in his panic. I just continued to stand there, completely stunned. Other people had started to gather to see what the commotion was, which is why I think Trent didn't try to shoot the rest of us. At least, at the moment.

Kenny let out a groan and I crouched down next to him and Kyle.

"Don't worry, buddy," I said, my shaky voice giving away how scared I was. "Help is on the way. You're going to be just fine!"

Kenny didn't reply, curling further into a ball as his own blood soaked through his arms and spilled onto the pavement. I didn't know what else to do or say. Kenny might die, but he would wake up, perfectly alive later. Trent had to know that, right? Was the purpose of shooting Kenny just to instill fear? Was there a way to permanently kill him? I hoped not.

Kyle was doing his best to keep Kenny comfortable, but he was no doctor, and I could see the panic on his face as he struggled to figure out what to do. His shaky hands slowly moved down to Kenny's wrist, pulling back his sleeve to take his pulse.

"He's going to be ok, right?" I asked in a soft voice. "Kenny can't die!"

Kyle looked over at me, as if just realizing that I was there. "I don't think he was trying to kill Kenny," he replied after a moment. "I think he was trying to scare us."

I felt my blood run cold, and I opened my mouth to ask what he meant, but at that moment, the paramedics finally roared around the corner, screeching to a stop in front of us. Stan was looking wildly around, as if he was hoping to see the shooter, but whoever it was seemed to have vanished. As Kenny was being put on a stretcher, a cop car came around the corner and slammed into a telephone pole next to the ambulance. A second later, the cop stepped out, looking nonchalant about the situation.

"What's going on here?" he asked, peering over his shades at us.

Stan and Kyle quickly explained what was happening to the cop as I watched the stretcher being thrown into the ambulance. I turned back to my friends, and saw that the cop was casually writing down notes. Then he looked up at us.

"Ok, I'm going to need statements from all of you," he told us.

"But I want to go with my friend!" I protested. "I want to make sure he's ok!"

"Yeah, we just told you what happened," Stan agreed. "Can't we go with Kenny?"

The cop let out an annoyed sigh, as if it was completely unreasonable for someone to want to know that their friend is ok. The dick-hole. He agreed to let us go, grumbling under his breath, but said that one of us had to stay behind to give a statement, so Stan agreed to stay behind.

Kyle and I were completely silent as we sat in the ambulance with Kenny. We refused to look at each other the entire trip to the hospital. I subconsciously reached out and took Kenny's hand, keeping my eyes on his face.

As soon as we reached the hospital, Kenny was taken away to have the doctors perform surgery on him or something, so Kyle and I were forced to sit in a waiting room. We continued to look at anything except each other, not speaking for the entire time until a doctor finally came in and told us Kenny's condition.

"How is he, Doc?" I asked, holding my breath in fear.

"He'll live for now," the doctor said calmly. We both let out a sigh of relief. "He's sleeping now, but he's stable at least. We'll have to keep him here and run a few more tests and make sure that he doesn't get any worse."

"Can we go see him?" Kyle asked, wringing his hands nervously. The doctor thought for a long moment, looking us both up and down.

"I suppose a short visit won't do any harm," he replied at last. We quickly rushed past him and burst into Kenny's room.

Our friend was indeed fast asleep, in a hospital gown that allowed us to see all the tattoos covering his arms. He didn't look to be in any pain, at least, and it looked like the worst of it was over. We grabbed a couple of chairs and dragged them over to sit down at his side.

"I can't believe he shot at us in broad daylight," Kyle muttered, almost too quiet for me to hear. "Was he trying to kill us? Or was he just trying to scare us? Why can't he just kill us? It's too hard going on with this."

I surprised myself by reaching over and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You worry too much, Kyle," I told him. "We've survived much worse than this. We just have to stick together, and he won't be able to touch us."

Even I didn't believe my own words. Trent was back with a vengeance. There was no denying that. I knew I had been cocky about it before, but who else could have shot Kenny like that? And why was I comforting Kyle anyway? I still hated Kyle!

Kyle was giving me a skeptical look, glancing at my hand on my shoulder to my face. "Boundless optimism isn't going to help us, Eric," he said in a soft voice. I shuddered. Kyle never used my first name. He only called me by my first name when things became incredibly serious. He didn't look like it, but I could tell that every inch of his body was filled with fear.

"Well, we can't just sit around like ducks, can we?" I asked. "I know I'm not going to just lay down and wait for him to kill me! I'm going to fight back!"

Kyle blinked in surprise at me before letting out a sigh. He brushed off my hand and stood up. "I'm going to call Karen and let her know that Kenny's ok," he told me. "I'll be right back." Then he quickly turned and walked out of the room.

I watched him go before turning back to my unconscious friend. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, I almost wished that he didn't have to wake up until this entire ordeal was over. Even his tattoos couldn't hide that sweet interior that had become my best friend.

Making sure Kyle wasn't coming back, I leaned forward, my eyes fixed on Kenny's face.

"Oh Ken," I sighed. "Why did he have to attack you first? Why couldn't I have listened to you guys? Now you've been put in pain, and I feel like it's somewhat my fault." I did, too. Had Trent shot Kenny just to scare me? Just because I hadn't believed that he had come back?

I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was coming, and when I turned back to Kenny, another wave of affection overtook me. I couldn't help myself. I leaned forward and kissed him gently on the forehead.

"I love you, Kenny," I whispered to my sleeping friend. "I always have, and I always will. I wish I could have taken that bullet for you. Then you might feel the same way about me."

It felt good getting that off my chest. Even if he hadn't actually heard it, I still felt a weight lifted off my shoulders. I felt tears spring to my eyes and I quickly wiped them away. Trent was going to pay for this. One way or another, I was going to make him pay.

I just needed to figure out how first.

I'm sorry for giving you such a short chapter for making you wait for so long, but I hope that the ending revelation will make up for it. I kind of hit a road block with this chapter, because I really didn't know how to go from Kenny being shot. So, I decided to go for this shocking secret. Hopefully the next chapter will be longer, and out in a lot quicker time than this chapter. It would have been longer, but I just wanted to get something out to those who were waiting to see what would happen.