Chapter 4
Police call boxes added the convenience of anonymity. I used one to report my grandmother’s body as I left my apartment in a clean change of clothes. Mindlessly, I wandered the streets just trying to process things. As soon as it hit noon, the streets crowded over with the rush of people coming out of their daily jobs and wandering the streets for lunch. I became lost in the crowd.
The thought of food made me sick to my stomach.
Seven walked next to me, as she always did, my dark shadow and stalwart companion. As I walked I found myself rubbing my thumb over the stone granny gave me as I held it in my palm. I wasn't sure what her words meant, but I knew she wouldn't have wasted her last words to tell me something meaningless.
When I walked past a newsfeed I froze. Though I couldn’t hear what the reporters had to say, the words scrolled on the bottom of the screen made my heart drop and my stomach turn in knots. “Overpopulation Problem Solved, Bedridden Elderly Purged.”
What was I doing?
I blinked hard and shook my head. Then I took off in a sprint. I’d gotten so wrapped up in the loss of my Granny that I hadn’t been thinking straight. I weaved my way through the crowded streets. I needed to get to my other clients before anything happened to them. If I didn’t help them, who would?
Thankfully, when I arrived at Gladys’s house, the front window had remained intact. I stood in front of her door, catching my breath, my eyes darting up and down the street. How would the purge come? Did I even know what I was looking for? I shook my head.
I had no clue what the danger would look like if I saw it now on the street. I knocked on the door, but didn’t wait for an answer before I pushed it in.
“Gladys!” My heart pounded wildly in my chest as I search for her.
“I'm right here, Scarlet. No need to shout,” Gladys answered as she came out of her kitchen, wiping her hands with a towel and blowing a stray gray lock from off her forehead.
I didn't waste any time and headed straight for her. I gripped her by the shoulders and started pushing her toward her bedroom. “It's not safe. I'm getting you out of here. We need to pack you a bag.”
Her brows knit together, and she opened her mouth to respond, but before Gladys could answer me, the door came in with a crash. I spun around to face the danger, my hand already on the hilt of my short sword. Three rough looking hoodlums entered the home, exposing their rotting smiles. Seven snarled and barked as she stood at my side ready to attack at my command. Behind me, Gladys squealed and yelled, “What is going on?”
I stepped back and pushed her gently on the shoulder toward her bedroom. “Go get what you need. Leave this to me.”
“But…”
One of the men cackled. “We have the right to be here, woman. Do you? We’re only performing our duties as transcribed by the government of Crystal City. We’re here to enact the purge.”
I swallowed hard, slipping my sword out of my scabbard and taking a defensive stance. “Over my dead body.”
The three men wore leather jackets and nothing about them said they were official in any way, but their words rang with truth. Would the city higher thugs to do their dirty work? None of this made any sense.
Three thugs had come to take care of one little old lady. Is this how they’d come at my grandmother? I clenched my teeth as anger grew in the pit of my stomach.
The three of them drew daggers of their own. At least I could be happy that this gang of three didn’t carry guns. But if they had any training in martial arts, I would be in trouble. Seven’s body pressed up against my leg. Even with her help, I needed something more to even the odds. My hand slipped to my pouch of medicinal herbs. My fingers sorted through the various pouches until I found the ground yarrow powder I used to stop bleeding on my patients who used blood thinners. I grabbed a handful just as the first of my enemies took a step toward me.
Then I put it to my lips, closed my eyes and blew.
Yarrow had no effect when breathed in but was an irritant to the open eye. I counted to three silently, listening to the gasps and howls of my opponents as the white powder’s effect took hold. Then I opened my eyes and leapt forward, Seven following my lead.
I’d never killed a person with my sword and had no intention of starting today. Using the blunt side of my weapon and the handle in my grip, I attacked. After inflicting a few broken ribs and concussions all around, I stepped back with three unconscious men at my feet.
My breaths came out in quick pants. Seven still had one man’s ankle in her teeth and shook it once for good measure. I nodded to her and tapped my hand against my leg to give her the command to come back to me. She released her hold and trotted over. I patted her on the head. “Good girl.”
Gladys peeked out from within her room, eyes wide and blinking. “What’s going on?”
“The purge,” I said, my voice deeper than I’d expected. “The city has decided to purge itself of geriatric patients. I’m not sure of the details, but we need to get you out of the city.”
She shook her head, a small overnight bag between her fingers. It wasn’t going to be enough, but it would have to do. I grabbed her hand and led her out to the street, careful not to pull too hard. The city’s government wasn’t wasting any time in enacting this awful plan. I couldn’t let them continue. I needed to save everyone that I could.
Cars blew past on the street outside Gladys’s apartment. People went on down the road as though it was just another Tuesday. I marveled at how life seemed just too normal among the residents of the city. No one worried about the purge or how it affected the geriatric population. When the city spoke of its purge, it spun it in the best possible light, leaving out the gory details.
The government even controlled the media outlets.
No one cared. No one would do anything to help the elderly because they were considered little more than a burden. How many of my own patients’ families had pushed the memory of their loved one aside in pursuit of their own careers, their own lives? Those that had families, that was. Charles had had no one to call for help when he was taken. No one would even notice he was missing. Was that what the city was counting on with this purge?
Seven led us through the throng of people on the sidewalk down the block from Gladys’s house. We just needed to make it the next street over and we’d be able to catch a taxi. My mind spun. I needed to get everyone I could safely outside of the city. But I couldn’t drag Gladys with me to each and every house. I needed to get her somewhere safe. But where?
Dean drove down the busy street in his cab, keeping an eye out for anyone who would need a ride. He removed his fedora and ran his hand through his short brown hair as he sighed. The day seemed to drag on for him and he hadn't had a single interesting passenger, just the typical businessman or woman who was too busy looking down at their smart phone to offer up a meaningful conversation.
“Is it too much to ask for a little bit of excitement in this job?” Dean mumbled under his breath.
Since Dean had grown up knowing his way around the streets, being a cab driver made sense and had seemed like an easy way to make money. What he hadn't counted on was how dull the in-between time would be.
His phone rang. With the press of a button on his steering column, the phone chirped. “Hello.”
“Dean!” the voice on the other line sounded urgent and panicked. The sound of his name being shouted in the voice he instantly recognized made icy fingers tighten its grip around his chest.
“Scarlet, is that you?”
“Yes. Can you meet me on the corner of Harcum and Fifth?”
He’d just passed that corner not long ago. After pulling in the left lane, getting ready for a U-turn, he answered. “On the way.”
“Hurry,” she said before the click came that ended the call.
Apprehension kept his breath shortened. Nothing about Scarlet had ever been boring. She didn’t often call him for a ride but when she did, her full attention would be on conversations between the two
of them. There had been times when he’d been tempted to ask her out, but the woman always seemed busy with her dog, her grandmother, or one of her other elderly patients. The woman was dedicated completely to her work. He respected that about her. It was one of the things that made her even more attractive.
Besides, they’d been friends for so long, he didn’t want to ruin it by letting the girl know what he’d felt about her, only to discover that she didn’t feel the same. It would take what they had and make it completely awkward. No one wanted that. But he dropped hints… she just never seemed to pick them up.
He spotted the familiar dark-haired woman in a red tank top with a dog and an elderly woman with her. He pulled the cab over to the curb as soon as he’d made his way to the front of them. The car hadn't even come to a full stop when the elderly woman got in as quick as she could, and the dog entered quickly after.
Scarlet hopped in the front passenger seat. “Drive! Now!”
Dean was stunned by the command in her voice combined with the urgency.
He swallowed his need to ask questions and pulled the car back into traffic as smoothly as possible before hitting the gas pedal and pushing down the road. He watched the rearview mirror. Once they’d gone a couple of blocks, he’d noticed two cars following him around the traffic. He made a right turn just to see, and sure enough, both cars followed.
Scarlet had turned around in her seat, keeping an eye on the cars behind them as well. “We need to go faster, Dean! We have to lose them!”
This wasn’t good. The vehicles following them were city government, according to their tags. Dean swallowed. He didn’t like this. Scarlet wasn’t one to get into trouble like this, but somehow, she seemed to be deep into something bad. He didn’t know what was going on, but he had the feeling that he was now in the middle of something big. If the people giving chase caught up with them, the chances of him getting stuck in the crossfire was high.
Dean swerved to the left down a narrow alley and began swerving through the winding streets. Luckily, he knew the city well, but it was just as possible that their pursuers would also. None of the adjustments he’d made to their course seemed to be working. They couldn’t shake off the two cars behind them for anything he did.
Then Scarlet rolled down her window and leaned out.
Dean tried to pull her back in. “Are you crazy?!”
“Don't worry. Just keep driving!” she snapped back.
Dean would have tried a second time to pull her in except he had to swerve to miss the oncoming traffic as he almost went into the opposite lane. Suddenly, fire appeared from the passenger side of the vehicle and shot backwards towards their pursuers. Dean was so startled he swerved and almost went off the road completely.
“What in blue blazes was that?!” His heart pounded in his chest wildly as he tried to maintain composure and steer the car.
Tires squealed behind him as the two cars attempted to avoid the fireball still burning in the middle of the street.
Scarlet sat down hard in her seat, her terrified eyes wide as she looked over at him. “That's never happened before. I was just going to use a lighter and some aluminum powder. But it lit without the lighter. And it should have been a little flash of flame, but a full-blown fireball? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Dean tried to focus as he continued to weave them through the streets to put distance between themselves and the pursuers. Thanks to the little fire trick, they'd been able to lose them, but if they were city government, it was only a matter of time before the drones would come flying in to keep track of the cab.
The elderly woman in the back seat had been crying nearly the whole time. Seven laid with her head in the woman’s lap, and trembling hands continued to run through the dog’s fur.
“What’s going on?” Dean finally asked, still eyeing the road and sky behind them.
Scarlet shook her head. Her eyes were still wide, but she’d gone back to studying the road ahead and behind them as well. “Have you heard on the news about the city taking care of the overpopulation issue with what they are calling ‘the purge?’”
Dean nodded, steadying the car into traffic and going with the flow. At least if they looked like any other cab they’d blend in. He could hope that their pursuers didn’t somehow get his cab’s number. “Yeah. I heard of it. They aren’t giving any details on what that means exactly.”
“Exactly.” Scarlet gave a resolute nod and ran her hands over her bare arms.
Leaning forward, Dean turned down the fan on his air conditioner. “So, what does this have to do with that.” A sob choked from Scarlet’s throat, and he looked over at her in alarm. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head. “Granny is dead. They killed her… or should I say, the city purged her?”
Dean blinked hard. “What?”
She closed her eyes for a moment, tears slipping down her cheeks before she swiped them away like they offended her. When she opened her eyes, determination filled them. “The city’s so-called purge is a violent end to the geriatric population. They are killing them, Dean. And I don’t mean in a nice way even… if killing can be nice. They’re sending thugs to come in and take care of the dirty work. Granny… Granny was stabbed several times.” Her voice cracked as she choked off another sob. “She bled to death.”
Ice water poured through Dean’s veins. “No way,” he whispered.
“In the worst possible way.” Scarlet sunk deeper in her seat and looked out the passenger window. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I need to help them. My patients don’t deserve this. They don’t deserve to meet the same kind of violent end my Granny got. I have to get them out of this city. Take them some place safe.”
“How are you going to do it? How many people are we talking?”
She shook her head again. “I know that Charles and Granny are gone. Thank God I got to Gladys before they did. There’s still Mabel and four others. I don’t know how many of them they’ve already…”
“So, six. You’ve got five people left to save. Let’s keep our mind focused on the positive.” He chewed his lip for a moment and then hit his turn signal. “I have an idea.”
Chapter 5
“A houseboat? You live in one?” I asked, blinking at the man I’d known for three years now as if meeting him for the first time.
Dean shrugged. “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, I guess.”
We pulled into the docks on an end of town I had almost never come to. I’d always stayed near the city center, walking to the courthouse and to each of my patients as needed. I hardly remembered that Crystal City was even near the river. When we pulled into a parking area near a dock with several boats moored in, my eyes widened.
“This is it. The Santa Maria is mine.” Dean turned around in his seat and pulled off his seatbelt. “Gladys, you’ll be safe here. No one would ever look for you in this place, and if you stay put, there’s food and drinks, and everything you need down below.”
Gladys blinked at him. “I… I can’t leave. I was making a soufflé.”
I shook my head and lied. “Don’t worry about that, I shut off the stove before we left. We need to stay focused on the bigger problems, okay? I know you’re scared and confused. I’m scared and confused right now. But Dean and I need to go help more people. You need to stay here on his boat until we come back. Can you do that?”
Her blue eyes met mine over horn-rimmed glasses. She blinked a few times before slowly nodding. “I don’t know what’s going on, Scarlet, but I trust you. You’re a lot like my daughter used to be before she got married and left for Oklahoma. She hardly calls or writes anymore, but before then, she used to be so dedicated. Do you have a phone on the boat? Do you think I can call her and tell her I’m okay?”
“Sorry, ma’am. I don’t have a phone hooked up on the boat.” Dean answered with an apologetic nod.
“It’s better that way,” I said with a frown. “I promise you can call her when we get out
of the city. As long as we’re here, we’re in danger. If they can somehow trace your call, they’ll find you. Once we’re out of the city, I’ll make sure you find a way to talk to your daughter. Is that okay?”
Gladys swiped a tear from her eye and nodded, a little more determination filling her eyes as they locked on mine. “Fair enough. I can keep my head down until we’re out of the city. My daughter might not even know what’s going on right now here. No need to worry her uselessly until we’re already safe. Maybe I can even go to Oklahoma and visit her for a while. If she’ll have me.”
I reached back and took her hand in both of mine. “I’m sure it will work out. If your daughter truly is like me, I’d be ecstatic to have you live with me for a while.”
A smile spread across her lips as she squeezed my hand gently. “Thank you.”
Together we got out of the cab and Dean led us over toward his houseboat. I stepped over to the deck, grabbing the railing for balance, and then helped Gladys aboard. Seven sat on the dock and panted, her eyes fixed on me.
“Come on girl.” I patted my thigh to give the command.
Seven stood a moment, then sat back down again, her panting becoming more vigorous. She let out a low whine.
I frowned. It wasn’t like her to protest a command.
“Seems like she doesn’t want to get on the boat,” Dean said, hopping from the dock to the deck with the overnight bag Gladys had been carrying.
“I was going to leave Seven here to protect Gladys while we go find the others.” I patted my leg again, which only incited another whine out of Seven.
My frown deepened.
Gladys grabbed me by the arm and squeezed. “Don’t worry about me, Scarlet. I’ll be fine. I’m much more able to adapt to strange situations than I look. Besides, I’m exhausted. I may just crash on the couch for a bit.”
I studied Gladys’s face, but her smile didn’t falter. Then I looked back at Seven. I didn’t feel comfortable with leaving her on the dock. The sky overhead undulated with dark clouds. Any moment they could let loose a deluge. “Are you sure, Gladys?”
Last Escape Page 4