by Kip Nelson
“Is he going to be alright without it?”
“I think so. . He's gotten better with his asthma recently and he only keeps it on him for emergencies, but we did run a lot, and he's been wheezing like this for a while now. It's been under control, but I'm afraid that he's going to have an attack soon.”
Tillman grimaced, but he knew what he had to do.
“It's okay, I'll go and find the inhaler once we get him stabilized.”
“Thanks, Uncle,” she said, and breathed with relief. “But what are you doing here anyway?” she asked.
“That's a long story,” he said, and proceeded to tell her about the previous night and what he had seen, although he spared her fall the gory details. He didn't tell her about the murder either. “I realized that it had been too long since I had been home, and that I needed to get back to you guys to make sure that you were safe. I'm glad I did.”
“I'm glad you did too. But you really walked all the way from the city?!”
“I did indeed. I'm paying the price for it today. My legs are aching quite a bit.”
“I bet. It's good to have you around. Mom misses you. She talks about you a lot. So do Pappy and Grams.”
“I bet they do, although I'm sure your grandparents don't have that many good things to say about me,” Tillman said with a smirk. Jessica shrugged.
“They don't like a lot of things. Mom has been trying to get them to call you for a long time, but they've practically been acting like you're dead.”
“That's the way we left things. I hope they're going to be better now. If there's one thing I've learned during the past night, it's that life is too short to hold these grudges.”
“How is Mom?”
“She's doing okay, I think she's just worried about you. The ranch is safe. We'll get you back there as soon as possible. What about him? Does he have any family in town?”
“His parents were away this weekend. That's why he was able to get out of the house.”
Tillman was impressed at the boy for not suggesting that Jessica go to his place since he had it alone. “Are the two of you together?”
Jessica shrugged again, but Tillman could tell by the look in her eyes that she thought of him fondly.
“We don't really look at ourselves as being like that. We like hanging out together. We've been friends for a while now. It just feels good to be together, I guess. We haven't really done anything. I mean, we've made out a few times, but that's it.”
Tillman smiled. “Playing it cool, just like I used to do. Let me give you some advice, Jess. If you like this boy, go for it. Don't waste any time. Because you never know how much time you're going to have to spend together. There are plenty of times in my life where I wish I had spent more time with people, like you. While I was searching for you I knew I should have come back sooner so that I could have spent more time with you in case I...”
“...never saw me again?” Jessica said, finishing the sentence that Tillman couldn't. He hung his head and nodded.
“I'm glad you found me.”
“I'm glad too,” Tillman said. “Now let's see to Anthony.”
He rose to his full height and strode to the back room. He hadn't been here for decades, yet he knew the layout like the back of his hand. He told Major to stay with Jessica, but as soon as Tillman turned his back he heard the pitter-patter of footsteps behind him. Tillman rolled his eyes and decided Major was going to need a great deal of training.
That could wait, though. Seeing to Anthony was important. He rummaged around the back and found some other items he could use to wash out the wound, then returned to Jessica. He told her to peel back the tissue, which made a grisly sucking sound. The coppery smell of blood filled the air, and Jessica turned her face. The gash in Anthony's leg was deep, but it hadn't gone through to the bone or punctured his muscle or artery.
“What we have to do right now is make sure to cover the wound and keep it tight. When we get him back to the ranch, we'll have to try stitching him up so he can heal more quickly.” Tillman knew that having an injury like this could be a death sentence in this new world. If it got infected, it might never heal. More than that, it impeded his movement, and if Anthony was unable to run from predators or hunters, it could well cost him his life.
He returned to Jessica and crouched down by the boy's body. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be sleeping, which was a good thing, considering the pain that must have been surging through his body. Tillman rummaged through his bag and pulled out some clean bandages.
“I don't suppose you've got a spare inhaler in there?” Jessica asked.
“I've planned for a lot of situations, but not everything,” Tillman said.
He ripped open a bandage and handed Jessica a tissue, asking her to clean the wound. She tried to not look at the wound as she reached out an unsteady hand and wiped the edges of the gash. Thick, viscous blood quickly made the tissue heavy and spread towards her fingertips. She winced and almost dropped the tissue.
“Jessica, I know this isn't what you'd like to do, but Anthony's safety could depend on it. He needs you to be brave, okay?”
Jessica nodded. Tillman knew it was best to keep her talking so she didn't get overwhelmed by everything that was happening. She was only sixteen, he had to remember. Most adults wouldn't be able to handle this, let alone a kid like her.
“How's school going?” he asked. Jessica gave him a withering smirk.
“It's going fine, although I guess I won't have to worry about that anymore,” she said wryly, but then the realization of what had happened hit her. Tillman could see the change in her expression, the realization that she wouldn't see her friends, and the future she had planned for herself had collapsed.
“I need to find Tanya,” she said.
“I've been over there. That was my first stop. She's safe. She's with her father. I know this is overwhelming, but everything is going to be okay, Jess.”
“Do you really believe that?” she asked.
“I do,” Tillman said. The problem was, he didn't know if he was lying or not.
Chapter Seven
“Believe me, Jess, I know how you feel right now. The world has ended. This isn't a time when you should know what's going on. We're all trying to find the right path, the right thing to do,” Tillman said, moved by the worries of his niece.
“But what are we supposed to do?” she asked.
“I wish I had an answer for you.”
“But you seem so prepared for this, almost as though you knew it was going to happen.”
“Believe me, I wish I knew this was going to happen. I've spent my life learning about how to survive. I've trained. I've been through courses. I know the basic strategies that are needed for people to make it through a world like this. But I never could have guessed anything like this was going to happen. And if I did, I would have warned as many people as possible. The only thing I know how to do now is survive. Believe me, Jess, it's not easy for me, especially not being in this place. I spent so much time here as a boy, and to see it dark and empty makes me realize how much of my life has been taken away.”
“I guess...” Jessica said. “So, there's going to be no school or job or anything?”
“I don't think so. The whole country, probably the whole world, has been shut down. We can't communicate with each other. It's a huge undertaking even to get to another state, let alone keep the infrastructure of the country going. You're old enough that I don't have to sugarcoat this for you, Jess. The world has ended, and nothing ever is going to be the same again. People are going to get desperate and scared. There's going to be more of what you saw last night. We're on our own, and we have to take care of each other. We won't have jobs in the sense that you're thinking, but we do have our duties. We have to take care of each other and work together so that we can stand the best chance of making it out of this alive, because that's all we have, a chance.”
He stared at Jessica and noticed how worried she was. S
he swallowed, bowed her head, and continued tending to Anthony's wound. The boy twitched and murmured occasionally, but he still was unconscious. Tillman turned away to the vending machines and shook them, trying to loosen the cans and bags of chips that were held in its machine prison. He hoped that he hadn't shaken Jessica too much, but then perhaps she needed to be told the truth. There was no sense hiding it from her, and he imagined that she knew it already, deep down.
The vending machine wasn’t cooperating. So, he slammed his fist into it. Vending machines had become the avatars for all that was wrong in the world, and they bore the brunt of his anger and frustration. He slammed and kicked this one, yelled at it to let him have what he sought. A red mist darkened his thoughts and he only was shaken from his grim mood by Jessica's yell. He turned, glowering, but his expression quickly changed when he saw that Anthony was shaking.
“You have to help him!” she cried.
He ran over to the two of them. Anthony still was asleep, but his body was coughing and wheezing. “He needs his inhaler!” she yelled. She cradled Anthony's body close to hers and rocked back and forth. Her orange hair splayed out across her cheeks like streaks of fire, and they only served to remind Tillman about the fire and brimstone, the hell on Earth he'd experienced the previous night.
“I'm not going to let him die,” he said, then snapped his heels and called Major to him.
Tillman grabbed the leash and marched out of the arcade, knowing that he had to find the inhaler as quickly as possible, otherwise Anthony was going to die in Jessica's arms. He loved his niece too much to have her be scarred by that experienced. Tillman barely could deal with seeing strangers die before his eyes, he didn't know how Jessica ever would cope with having her boyfriend lose his life while she was holding him.
He jogged outside into the sunshine, squinting as his eyes adjusted again to the bright light. The arcade had tinted windows. Julio always had said that it was to make it like a casino, in that the people inside would lost track of time. It had worked too.
Tillman looked at the sides of the streets, backtracking toward the cemetery to try seeing where Jessica and Anthony had been chased. She had been vague about where it had happened, which was natural, since it had been dark and paying attention to their surroundings hadn't been their priority. Tillman wondered about the people who had chased the two of them. Perhaps they had been the ones responsible for the death of Major's master, or perhaps that was entirely unrelated. Tillman hated not knowing the solution to mysteries. He'd dedicated his life to knowing how certain things worked, to unraveling puzzles. That's one of the reasons why he had been so good with games. He had been able to see how they worked underneath the flash and veneer, but in this world so much was going to go unexplained.
Tillman raced along, casting his eyes this way and that, trying to take in as much as he could. Every second that passed meant that Anthony was even closer to death. Tillman darted back and forth. An inhaler was such a small thing when compared with the rest of the world, and it could have disappeared under a bush, or even fallen down a drain. It could have been carried off by an animal as well. There was just no telling what could have happened, and he knew he would have to search for the inhaler as desperately as he searched for Jessica.
The hopes of the two young people weighed on Tillman. He knew that Jessica never would forgive herself if Anthony died, and he didn't want to put that on her. They were the future of humanity, and if anything good was going to come out of their civilization, they would need people like Jessica to be hardy, to have endured and thrived in these strenuous circumstances. But for them to do so, they would need people such as Tillman Torres to guide them and teach them, to impart his wisdom upon them. For a lot of people, it would be too late for them to change their habits and learn how to flourish in a world such as this, but people like Jessica still were adaptable.
He searched carefully, his eyes locked on the ground to such an extent that he lost his awareness of what was going on around him. If the inhaler was here, Tillman was going to find it. He caught sight of something colorful next to the curb, and rushed over, feeling triumph in his heart. However, when he drew closer he saw that it was only a Hello Kitty Pez dispenser, and he felt like an idiot. Still, he pocketed it in case it would come in handy. If he couldn't find the inhaler then he would have to figure out some other way to help Anthony, although how, he wasn't sure. There had to be some way, though. There just had to be. His mind turned over various possibilities.
Always he was thinking about different strategies. Always he was thinking about how best he could work his way through a problem. That had served him well in life so far, and it was one of the tenets he was going to cling to in this new world.
His legs were on fire, but he tried to ignore the pain as best he could. He could relax when he, Jessica, and Anthony were back at the ranch. Until then, he had to keep moving, had to keep pushing himself past his limits. He wasn't going to let Anthony die. He wasn't going to put that suffering on Jessica.
Anxiously, he glanced back at the arcade. He didn't hear any mourning screams or yells of anguish, so he hoped that Anthony still was alive. However, he knew he had to redouble his efforts and figure out where this inhaler was if he was going to find it. He scoured the edges of the streets, searching until he saw a deep blue piece of plastic in among some grass. Tillman ran up to it and leaned down to pick it up. He smiled widely and then turned, sprinting back to the arcade, inhaler in one hand, Major's leash in the other.
He burst in through the door and quickly realized that he had arrived just in time. Anthony was convulsing on the floor. Jessica looked panicked. She glanced up, and Tillman saw the relief in her eyes as he entered.
“Is this it?” he asked.
Jessica nodded and snatched the inhaler from him. She propped up Anthony as a mother would a baby and pressed the inhaler to his lips. Tillman watched as Anthony's chest moved up as he inhaled deeply. His head lolled back, and his eyes closed again as he held the air in his lungs for about a minute. Jessica cradled his head and wiped the anxious sweat from her brow. She placed the inhaler in her pocket after repeating the process one more time, then gently lowered Anthony’s head to the floor
“That was a close one,” she said, looking down at Anthony. She held his hand, and it was clear to Tillman that the boy meant a lot to her.
“Does your mom know about him?” he asked. Jessica shook his head.
“Like I said, we've kinda just been hanging out. She knows I know him, but she doesn't know anything more. I had to keep things close to the vest. You know what Pappy is like.”
“Oh yes, I remember. You know, when I was your age I was seeing a girl named Angela. She was my childhood friend and we developed feelings for each other. I was so afraid of telling my folks. When they learned about it they were supportive, of course, until it turned out that we weren't really suited for each other after all.”
“What happened?” Jessica asked.
Tillman shrugged. “The same old story as a lot of other high school romances. Her life was taking her one way, mine was taking me another.”
“I guess Anthony and I won't have that problem,” she mused softly. “What do we do now? Can he be moved?”
“I wouldn't chance it. Given what he's been through he probably needs his rest. To be honest, I could use some as well. We'll let his body have a break, and then we'll take him back to the ranch. It seems to be safe here for the moment,” Tillman said, settling down, leaning against the wall. As soon as the weight was off his feet he felt free again, and his entire body screamed with relief.
“Do you come here often?” he asked.
“Sometimes, but it's not really my thing. People always want to challenge me because they think I'll be as good as you, and they're usually disappointed when they find out that I'm not.”
“Yeah, I remember what that was like. I used to like coming down here to play with my friends, but it came to a point where I was busy taking on
strangers. Everyone always wants a piece of the champion.”
“I watched some of your games on YouTube.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I didn't expect you to be that good.”
“Thanks...I think,” Tillman said, narrowing his eyes at her.
“No, it's a good thing. I guess it always seemed so strange when I was younger. Pappy and Grams didn't speak about you in glowing terms. They just told us that you played video games for a living.”
“They didn't exactly approve of what I was doing.”
“Why not?” Jessica asked.
Tillman hesitated. He didn't want to speak badly about Jessica's grandparents and sully their reputation in her eyes. They'd done a lot to take care of her and raise her when Morelle had been unable, but at the same time Jessica was going to have to learn to grow up fast. She'd always been a strong kid. He couldn't shield the truth of the world from her, neither could he shield the truth about his parents.
“They didn't like it because they didn't understand it. Your grandparents are very kind and caring, they'll do anything for you, as long as they think you're living the right way. Apparently, I wasn't. They couldn't see that video games were more than just a waste of time. They wanted me to do something reputable, like be a lawyer or a doctor. They wanted to be able to talk to their friends about me and beam with pride.”
“I always sensed that it was tense between you guys, but Mom never went into much detail.”
“It was hard on her. After everything she'd been through. I know she didn't agree with what they did, but she didn't have the strength to fight. I don't blame her. She had you to think about, after all. She needed their help, and I wasn't established enough to take care of the both of you. Your grandparents gave me a choice. I could either live under their roof and find a decent job, or I could leave and do what I wanted. I chose the latter.”