With one last look, Samuel smiled at the woman and whispered a small thank you, grateful for the time he had spent with her and the lessons he had learned. Doctor Lucie Miller had been committed to her work to the very end and she had died an admirable and respectable death. If Samuel could carry out his responsibilities with half the poise and decorum she had, then he would be a very proud man.
“I’ll find you some clothes to change into,” Austin remarked as his friend finally walked over to him. “There are showers down the hall. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”
A little under twenty minutes later, as Samuel emerged from the hospital bathroom dressed in pale blue scrubs and a gray sweater, he looked like a new man. He tried to feel like one too, but it was impossible to forget what had just happened. Samuel had realized while he was cleaning the blood from under his fingernails that while he may have witnessed secondhand several deaths since Trident had collapsed, this was the first time he’d ever really seen it so personally. R Hauser jumping from the Trident window was perhaps the only exception, but even then, Samuel hadn’t encountered his dead body up close. Doctor Miller had literally been inches away from him when she was shot. It was a strange feeling to have been so intimate with something so awful.
“Are you okay? Here, have some water.”
Accepting the flask from his friend, Samuel drank thirstily, suddenly realizing how dry his mouth was. Once he was refreshed the two of them sat on a couple of chairs and Samuel briefly explained what had happened to Austin.
Austin couldn’t help but be impressed by the tale, seeing how much Samuel was affected by it. The rolling blackouts which had caused the hospital to go into meltdown had stopped for the time being, the familiar beeping of machinery once again filling the hospital wards and putting those who worked and resided there at ease for the time being. But everyone knew it wasn’t the end. With no funding, there was no way the electrical grid of the city would be sustained for much longer. Austin estimated a week until the blackout was permanent, hardly enough time to make provisions or prepare for such an event. The horrible truth was that those in the hospital who relied on life support – and the many others across not only New York City, but the entire country – would not outlast this disaster. The collapse of Trident was going to affect humanity in many ways, this revelation simply being the latest on a very long list. The hospital wasn’t going to survive and there was no point in Austin and Samuel sticking around to see it crumble and suffer.
“We should get a move on,” Austin eventually suggested. He knew there was little the pair of them could do any longer in the hospital. Neither wanted to abandon the patients, but both knew they were fighting a losing battle. “It’ll be dark soon and we should get somewhere safe before night falls.”
“I know,” Samuel agreed, lifting his head and looking out onto the ward where he and Doctor Miller had been no less than an hour earlier and remembering his other friend who lay in a bed downstairs. “Let me just say goodbye to Cassie first.”
“Of course,” Austin nodded to his friend. “Whatever you need. I’ll wait outside the main entrance – meet you there?”
“Sure,” Samuel smiled. “I won’t be long.”
The two men were ready to leave the hospital not long later, Samuel saying a sad goodbye to Cassie and promising her that if he had the opportunity, he would try and find a way to let her family know where she was. He wasn’t hopeful for Cassie’s immediate chances: with two broken legs there was no way she could get out of the hospital without support and if anyone like the group of men who had come in for the medicines returned, she had no way of defending herself.
Samuel told Austin everything he remembered about the five leather-clad men who had burst in with weapons. In hindsight, it was obvious now that they had been stealing all the medicine to stockpile for their own gain. In a world without any money, other forms of currency would quickly emerge, and it made sense that those who held the bulk of the most sought-after resources would have the most power.
What that meant for Samuel and Austin however, was that they were very far down the pecking order. Both had lost track of their rucksacks inside the hospital, leaving them with only the possessions on their bodies; and with Samuel in an entirely new change of clothes, he felt like he had lost a great deal more than what was visible on the surface. He didn’t really feel like himself anymore, but knew it was not the time for an existential crisis. There were bigger problems going on in the world than his own and he would just have to sit on his fears and concerns and soldier on until it was safe for him to open up again.
“We need to get some gear,” Austin remarked, saying exactly what Samuel was thinking. “We can’t leave the city until we’re more prepared.”
“Should we go back to my apartment and regroup?” Samuel suggested, glancing around and getting his bearings. “We haven’t made it far; it might be the most logical option?”
“No,” Austin shook his head, “we should keep going forward. I’m sorry Samuel, but returning to your place is a step in the wrong direction. We need to get some gear and get out of this city. I need to get back to my family.”
“Okay,” Samuel replied, understanding where his friend was coming from. “Let’s head down here, I think there’s a sporting goods store or something on the corner.”
As the two of them started walking it became hard to ignore how much the city had already changed around them. Daylight had given way to dusk which was rapidly becoming nighttime, the sun seeming to set much quicker than in the earlier days of summer. Fires that burned down alleyways and around corners became more visible, with shadows creeping up the walls and the echoing cries of people in the streets growing more eerie and unsettling.
Reaching the sporting goods store, Samuel and Austin found the front window already smashed in and the area surrounding the cash registers entirely ransacked. It was clear that in the immediate hours after Trident’s collapse, thousands of people across the city had desperately tried to acquire cash, stealing from stores and homes alike as they tried to guarantee their safety following the crash.
It was easy to understand why people had gone to such lengths, but the more intelligent among them would’ve been focusing on other resources as opposed to physical cash. As much as it pained Samuel to admit, the men who had broken into the hospital and stolen all the medication were incredibly smart. That would be among the most valuable of resources in a few days’ time, with perhaps only food and weaponry surpassing its importance.
“We should be able to get a lot of the basics here,” Austin nodded as they walked further into the store, stepping away from the dim light that the setting sun outside provided and into the dark, half-ransacked store. “Let’s split up and see what we can find.”
“Okay,” Samuel nodded, having a basic list of what they were looking for in his head. The first thing needed to be a flashlight or finding anything else would be difficult. He craned his head upwards to read the signs that hung over each aisle, locating the Lighting aisle and walking toward it. Once equipped with a flashlight, he widened his search, tracking down a rucksack to fill with everything else they needed.
To say New York City had been without order for a number of days now, the contents of the store were still in relatively good supply. Certain things had been pillaged beyond belief. The hunting section of the store stripped bare, with not even a single ball of dust left on the shelves. But other than that, there was only a fairly minimal level of theft that had taken place so far. Samuel didn’t struggle to find a more comfortable outfit to change into and by the time he met back up with Austin, both of them carried almost full rucksacks of supplies.
“Good haul,” Austin grinned, “I’ve managed to find almost all the camping gear we might need. I’d thought that stuff would’ve been taken already.”
“Me too. I’ve got a stove and plenty of matches,” Samuel pulled a few items out from his rucksack to show Austin. “Found these too,” he added, holdin
g up a pair of walkie-talkies, “thought they might come in useful.”
“Yes!” Austin took one from his friend with a smile, ripping it out of the packaging and checking the batteries in the back. “Great idea. This is excellent.”
“Is there anything else you think we need?”
Austin nodded. “Some form of protection.” Austin had seen the state of the hunting department. “But I’m not surprised that’s all gone.”
Samuel rubbed a hand on the back of his neck, not quite as enthusiastic as Austin was about arming themselves, though he knew it would likely become necessary as time went on and the people they came up against became more and more hostile. “We’ll keep our eyes open,” he shrugged in response, “you never know.”
“True,” Austin nodded. “Stranger things have happened. Come on,” he glanced to the front window outside. “Let’s get out of here before it gets dark. We need to –” Austin stopped mid-sentence, narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow. He could’ve sworn he just heard something. He looked to the entrance of the store once more and peered into the darkness.
“What?” Samuel asked. “Are you okay?”
Austin looked back at his friend and put a finger to his lips and silenced him with a shake of his head. “I thought I heard something,” he whispered, “over there.”
Looking in the direction that Austin was pointing, Samuel clicked the clip of his rucksack closed and pulled it onto his shoulders. He couldn’t see or hear anything other than the sounds of the city outside, the constant ringing of alarms and shouting of people as a large number of them still occupied the streets. The population of the city had increased by nearly a quarter following the crash; all of those who commuted each day for work now trapped there with transport ceasing to run and leaving them stranded.
“It’s probably nothing,” Samuel reassured Austin after half a minute of silence had drawn out between them. “Come on. We should get a move on.”
Still uncertain, Austin waited another few seconds before following Samuel’s lead and shrugging his rucksack onto his shoulders, too. He tightened the straps so it sat comfortably then started walking toward the main exit of the sporting goods store, still looking from side to side as he moved.
“Stop where you are!”
Austin cursed himself. He knew he had heard something. A man leapt out from behind one of the empty cash registers, pointing a gun in their faces. In the dim light of the store it took both Austin and Samuel a few seconds to realize the man was wearing a police uniform.
“I don’t think that gear belongs to you, gentleman,” the cop spoke calmly, moving his handgun slowly from one of them to the other. “It might not seem like it, but there are still laws in this city. Now put the bags down and I’ll let you walk out of here freely.”
Austin thought he had a good chance of bargaining with the man. “We’re only doing what everyone else is doing.”
“That doesn’t make it right, does it, son? Theft is still a criminal offence, whether everybody is doing it or not. Now put the bags down. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Samuel looked over at Austin, wondering what his friend was going to say next. Much like Austin, he weighed up their options with this cop. On the one hand, he was only one guy in a city that had already given up on the law and everything it stood for. What was the point of him continuing to try and fight for his cause?
On the other, the fact that the cop remained vigilant and true to what he believed in was a dangerous sign to Samuel. It meant that he was committed and hadn’t yet given up on justice. As much as Samuel wanted to get away from the store with their supplies, he also wanted to get away with his life. After the events that had transpired in the hospital, he had a newfound respect for the value of human life.
“Look, we don’t want any trouble,” Austin continued. “But, if we don’t take this stuff, someone else will. We’re not hurting anyone. And we haven’t taken any more than what we need. Just let us go. It won’t make a difference.”
“I can see what you’re trying to say, son,” the cop replied with a knowing smile on his face. “But just because everyone else has lost their way, doesn’t mean I have as well. Now I won’t ask you again—put the bags down.”
“Sorry, officer,” Austin replied with a shake of his head, thinking of his husband and son in Poughkeepsie and how desperately he needed to get to them. “I can’t do that.”
Samuel couldn’t believe what was happening, in one swift motion Austin lunged forward and the cop reacted, grappling Austin with his gun still gripped in his hand. The two of them wrestled for control and ended up writhing on the ground, Austin fighting with the cop as the police officer tried to pin his arms behind his back and subdue him. Austin hadn’t expected the cop to react so quickly and was quickly regretting his actions, the large rucksack he wore on his back unbalancing him and making him struggle to fight back against the cop. Looking down, Samuel saw the officer’s gun had been knocked from his hand in the tousle and now lay just a foot away from the two men. In a sudden burst of adrenaline, Samuel lurched forward and picked it up, swinging it into the mess of bodies wrestling on the ground in front of him and smashing it against the side of the cop’s head.
“Whoa,” Austin wriggled free from underneath the cop. “Nice one, Samuel. You saved me.”
“Oh man,” Samuel quickly realized what he had done, looking at the cop’s lifeless body and the red welt on the side of his head. “Is he dead? Have I killed him?” Pure shock and horror coursed through Samuel’s veins as he looked at the motionless officer.
“He’s not dead, he’s not dead,” Austin replied quickly, seeing the worried expression on Samuel’s face. “You just knocked him out. Don’t worry. It was a great move Sam. I thought I was really in trouble there. Thank you.”
Samuel relaxed and took a deep breath. He hadn’t killed anyone; he wasn’t a murderer. As ridiculous as the possibility sounded in his head, it still made Samuel feel better to know that the cop was alive. That had been a close call, one that he didn’t want to experience again.
“We should get out of here,” Austin spoke up, straightening his rucksack and looking down at the unconscious cop. “Before he comes to.”
“Right,” Samuel nodded, the gun still in his hand as they turned to leave again.
“Do you want me to take that?” Austin offered, the fact the weapon made Samuel feel uncomfortable was impossible to avoid. His friend nodded, handing the gun over and immediately relaxing like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Austin smiled and stuffed it into the waistband of his pants as they started to walk out of the store.
“Hey!”
Looking at his friend, Austin’s eyes grew wide at the shout that came from further back in the store. There was no mistaking who it had come from. The cop was awake and he did not sound happy. There was only one thing to do. The two men needed to escape and fast.
“Run!”
Chapter 8
Pumping their legs as fast as they both could manage, Samuel and Austin high-tailed it out of the sporting goods store and down the street. The heavy rucksacks bounced up and down on their backs, but neither had time to stop and adjust the straps. The cop could be hot on their heels and after experiencing how devoted to his job he was inside the store, neither of them wanted to discover what he was willing to do now.
Samuel could feel his heart hammering against his ribcage as he ran down the sidewalk, dodging pedestrians and obstacles alike in an attempt to lose their pursuer. Austin was just slightly ahead of him and dictating the route, leading them further north through the city and into territory that Samuel didn’t recognize. Before he knew it, he had lost all sense of direction and was just blindly following his friend, hoping Austin was leading them away from trouble.
“Hey man,” Samuel panted, slowing to a jog and trying to catch his breath. “Wait up.” Looking back over his shoulder, Samuel squinted into the darkness and tried to see if anyone was behind them.
“I think we lost him.”
Stopping and walking back a few paces to join Samuel, Austin looked back down the street as well, double checking that they were, in fact, alone. “Jeez,” he breathed eventually, “that was close.”
“Where are we?” Samuel asked a few seconds later, having a look around. “Do you know where we are?”
“Uhh,” Austin looked around for a street sign. “Not really. Somewhere north?”
“Brilliant,” Samuel replied, somewhat sarcastically. “And it’s about to get dark. I knew we should’ve just gone back to my place when we had the chance.”
“Well of course you’d say that,” Austin said, irritated by Samuel’s tone of voice. “It’s not your family that’s out there on their own.”
“There’s no need for that, Austin.”
“Well it’s true,” Austin threw his arms up in the air in frustration. He wasn’t really angry at Samuel, he was just worried about his family and discouraged by how difficult it was for the two of them to get out of the city. Samuel was just an easy target for his emotions; it was like slamming your fist into a brick wall: an easy outlet for anger, but not exactly the right one.
“Of course, you just want to run back to your apartment and hole up. You haven’t got people relying on you!”
Samuel stared at Austin and took in a deep breath. Luckily for his friend, he had realized that this was just an explosion of emotion and he tried not to take the words to heart. He didn’t want to fall out with Austin and he had always been taught to keep his emotions shut away inside if they would only cause damage and harm to others. Samuel was happy to be the punching bag if it made Austin feel better in the long run, he had developed quite a thick outer shell over the years anyway.
Austin found his hands were balled into fists by his sides, his sudden surge of anger getting the better of him as he glared at Samuel and for a brief moment, really wanted to punch the man in the face. It was easy to blame Samuel Westchester for what had happened: everyone else had. He was the face of Trident now and Trident was the reason for all this suffering; if he really wanted to, Austin knew he could turn on Samuel and truly go to town.
Wipeout | Book 2 | Foul Play Page 6