by A N Sandra
Court didn’t even care that there were easily twenty thousand dollars’ worth of clothes Mel hadn’t bothered to take to college in the closet, although her father had claimed there was no money for Court to go to school. When she had been fifteen the unfairness of the situation had been debilitating, but now she had her own life with her group of survivors, and she often reminded herself that they were more important than family, because she had chosen them and they had chosen her.
There. She had his codes, now she could do the rest. She took the computer back to her father’s desk in his room. Neither of them woke up. Court had been reasonably sure they wouldn’t; they always took a bunch of sleep medication. I’d need sleep medication too if I’d done the things you both have done, Court thought, looking at them curled into opposing fetal positions in their California King bed. Just to be safe, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a vial of Ryphelol (a generic predator drug) and put a dropper full into the large glasses of water that each of them kept beside the bed. That would hold them if they woke up to go to the bathroom.
Slipping back down the stairs, Court could hear noises in the kitchen. Channing was fixing a snack. When they had been younger, they had gotten up in the middle of the night to fix treats together. Valinda always had Mel and Cari on diets that everybody except for Shaun, Court’s father, had to follow. Court had invited Channing to her midnight fiestas because she knew if they got caught together, she would get in less trouble if he was with her. The two of them had become decent cooks, and excellent cleaners, good at leaving no trace behind.
Tonight, hearing Channing in the kitchen was the real danger to Court. Forgetting the caper to help him fix a huge omelet that they would eat together at the kitchen table. Joking about their day and looking forward to being with Mom on the weekend. Except that Mom was gone, probably dead, and Court would never eat another meal in the house that had been full of so much misery. Not even to eat with Channing, who had been the only bright spot there. The day Court joined forces with Curtis, she had made the decision to cut ties with her former family for good.
Court could see Channing in the reflection of the glossy black convection oven. When he stepped into the pantry, she took her chance, flying across the end of the kitchen to the garage door, slipping through it as quickly as possible. She waited, counting to twenty, but he didn’t come after her. He had been browning some ground beef in a skillet on the stove and probably the sizzling noises had masked any noise she had made. It was almost a disappointment that Channing didn’t come after her. Seeing his face one more time would have made her happy.
Joshua and Brooke were waiting down the street with the Navigator idling, and Court slipped into the night to follow them. The passenger door was locked, and in frustration Court banged on it to let Joshua know he needed to unlock it.
“Go,” Court said, even before she got her seatbelt fastened. “Now.”
They drove to the car they had rented when they came to LA and moved two suitcases with rollers and a backpack with dry ice from it into the Navigator, in case they were able to find vaccines for the virus. Even though Natalie and Jase had insisted that the Global Forces vaccines were not as good as the ones she and Jase were producing, something was better than nothing and there were a lot of people who would rather have a seventy-five percent chance of surviving the coming trouble than no chance at all. Natalie and Jase were just not able to make enough vaccine.
The guard at the gate didn’t even give Joshua a curious glance as he eased the Navigator up to the keypad to put in the code to enter the Global Forces LA Hospital. It wasn’t a busy hospital. There were never more than a hundred patients at a time. Mostly the hospital housed the enormous pharmacy and a rehabilitation facility for injured members of Global Forces. Unlike the Hollister Youth Foundation, Global Forces troops were valued and well trained and had few accidents, so there were never many people in any particular rehab at a time.
Court guided Joshua to the parking spot designated for her father.
“Here we go,” Joshua said. He wasn’t nervous, exactly, but all his adrenaline was running through his veins keeping him on a tight edge. It was like going hunting and closing in on a prize buck. Every bit of focus he had was directed toward helping Court. The only way he could do that at the moment was to sit in the Navigator and act like a bored driver. It was almost harder to stay in the SUV and pretend to be bored than to go in and find the medicine.
Brooke and Court got out of the Navigator and walked toward the building. From his spot in the driver’s seat Joshua couldn’t see exactly where they were going, and he didn’t want to get out of the vehicle to look. He breathed in and out, with his hand on his pocket ready to help them load up what they took and drive away.
Court walked to the door that would lead to either the pharmacy or the physical therapy wing of the Global Forces Hospital. The code worked and she entered, with Brooke close behind her. There were security cameras with facial recognition software throughout the facility, but Court knew that her face was close enough to her father’s to fool the system. She and Channing had done it at different parts of the hospital, joking, three years before. For this caper Court counted on Global Forces to be too cheap to update technology in a facility that would be destroyed soon when LA went down. The purpose of the facility was to support the troops deployed from LA. In months, they would be putting out huge fires all over the world and LA would be one of the last cities where the citizens were snuffed out by the virus. When everyone was dead the city would be burned to the ground and remade into the habitat it had once been by the remaining Global Forces.
Walking through the pharmacy storage, Court was gratified to find there were no workers present. In her hand she held the detailed list of the supplies Curtis wanted. Brooke was rolling a large suitcase with another suitcase inside it behind her for things that didn’t need to be refrigerated and she was wearing a backpack with dry ice inside for medications that would need to be kept cool. Court began to select things to add to the suitcase and Brooke secured them as they went. In the large walk-in area, they hit a huge supply of vaccine, and Brooke turned around so that Court could load it into the backpack.
It didn’t take long to fill the small suitcase, and then the big one.
“There isn’t any Flexidrine…” Court fretted. “I got Cyclotensitine instead… but it just won’t be exactly the same. We need to go.”
“We’ve been here fifteen minutes,” Brooke said as both of them turned to leave.
“Emma?” a young woman in peach and aqua colored scrubs came around the corner, startled. “What are you doing here?”
“My dad asked me to get some things,” Court said. “I’m here at his request and I really shouldn’t talk about what I’m doing. It’s on the down low.”
The nurse paused and Court took two decisive steps toward her and punched her in the head. The woman collapsed into a heap of pastel cotton on the tile floor and Court took the bottle of Ryphelol out of her pocket and put a dropper-full on her victim's tongue.
Court and Brooke strolled through the pharmacy casually, as if there hadn’t been any trouble at all. The only sound was the dull rattle of the suitcase wheels over the tile floor.
“She’s gonna feel terrible when she wakes up,” Court said when she and Brooke were both outside, moving as quickly as they could without running to the Navigator. “She knew we were stealing, though. I’m not sure she’ll tell my dad it was me. It would make a big stink and he’d make sure she was in as much trouble as I was. He hates to be embarrassed.”
Her father’s incredible ego was something she was counting on to keep from being chased down. He would hate to admit that the pharmacy was robbed by someone with his codes. Court was sure that when the missing meds were brought to his attention, he would review the security footage of the night before and realize exactly what had happened. He would not draw attention to himself by admitting his daughter had used his codes. Because he was such a
controlling jerk, there was a high probability no one else would take the matter further.
The night drive through the city was exhilarating with the dreaded task mostly completed. The three of them listened to the low thump of bass in a melody none of them could name as Joshua eased the Navigator down city streets.
“There it is,” Brooke pointed out the rental car they wanted to unload the booty into. The strip mall it was parked in was almost deserted. A Color Me Massaged and a Tax Shelter were the anchor spots on either side, and nothing was open in the whole place. There was a flashing neon sign for Boba tea in a window, but the Thai Palace where the sign hung was closed for the night. Joshua pulled the Navigator up beside the rental car and Court and Brooke hopped out to unload the back.
“I’m not joking about leaving if we aren’t back in forty-five minutes,” Court warned Brooke, who rolled her eyes and looked away.
“Just get on with it,” Brooke told her.
“Now the fun part,” Court said to Joshua as she slid into the front passenger seat of the Navigator.
“I’m grateful we made it this far,” Joshua answered sincerely. “If we’re not back in forty-five minutes she’s still going to be there.”
“The weak part of this plan has always been driving the Navigator back into the garage,” Court said, ignoring Joshua’s true observation about Brooke. “We left quietly, but we won’t be able to go back quietly.”
Joshua didn’t bother to tell her that he had never been worried about that part of the plan. Getting into the hospital pharmacy had always been the most concerning part to him, and once Brooke and Court had been inside for five minutes he hadn’t worried about the next steps. Nothing would feel as scary as hiding under the tarp his father pulled over the Jeep as the helicopter passed its searchlight over them. Breaking Brock out of the intake center had only been two months ago but it seemed like Joshua was a whole different person. A person who had just helped steal drugs from Global Forces. He was like Robin Hood, a benevolent criminal.
With the clicker in the Navigator, Court opened the gate to the subdivision and entered the land of wealth and excess.
“Here we go,” Joshua said, slowing down to the fifteen miles per hour posted on a huge sign.
“We’ll just put it in the garage, I’ll put the keys away, and we’ll go around the way we came in,” Court said.
Joshua didn’t tell her that she’d already gone over this multiple times. Repeating the plan calmed her, and it didn’t hurt him either. Unfortunately, the incline into the garage was too steep to push the Navigator up the driveway the way he and Brooke had pushed it out. The noise shouldn’t travel into the top part of the house, but if Channing was in the TV room on the second floor without the TV on or in the kitchen, he would be able to hear it.
“If Channing hears us and calls security, we’ll have to run for it,” Court cautioned as Joshua turned the Navigator into the driveway. She clicked the remote and the garage door slid open in front of them. “If that happens don’t get ahead of me. I know this area.”
“Got it,” Joshua told her. He felt ready for whatever happened next. The Navigator stopped by the Spider and Joshua instantly killed the engine. Both of them slid from their seats, shutting the doors as quietly as they could. Joshua handed Court the keys and she put them away before fleeing to the side door. Court turned off the light as soon as Joshua’s hand was on the doorknob. He was so close to her he could smell the lavender shampoo she used on her hair.
“Emma,” a voice came from across the garage in the dark.
Joshua froze. Court twisted back toward the voice. Instinctively, Joshua grabbed her hand and she stayed so close to him that they were touching, even though she was facing back into the garage.
“Emma, you need to talk to me.” The voice was not old. The person speaking couldn’t be Court’s father. Joshua was sure it was her brother. He didn’t feel threatened, just impatient to be gone. To deal with that he took a deep breath, waiting to see what would happen.
“Just wait a second,” Court said to Joshua in a very low voice. He released her hand gently and she walked back into the dark, leaving Joshua by the door.
“I’m not Emma anymore,” Court said into the dark. “Please come with us. You can be someone new. You don’t have to do whatever Dad wants, you can have your own life.”
“No one is going to have the life they thought they would have,” Channing said. “You need to stop running away. Stay here tonight, you need to be vaccinated—”
“I have been vaccinated,” Court interrupted. “Come with me and get a better vaccination. Please, Channing. How can you stay with Dad after everything he’s done to us? After what he did to Mom!”
“Mom is fine,” Channing told her. “I went to Dad and told him I couldn’t live with myself if Mom wasn’t okay. They didn’t do any experimenting on her when they took her, and she got people to let her go. She’s hiding at Grandpa’s old house in Lake Havasu.”
“Really?” Court’s voice shook. “Why would Dad let her stay there? It belongs to him.”
“He doesn’t know she’s there, but I took her there a year ago. I saw her in August,” Channing said. “Please stay. Wherever you are can’t be safer than where we’re going. I came back to help Dad move all the operations of the LA base to a ship. In three months, we won’t be in LA anymore. Come back, now…”
“I’ll never trust Dad,” Court said. “I’m sorry to leave you. But you trust Dad and I can’t.”
“I know Dad has bad issues with Mom that affected you,” Channing said. “I know he’s a selfish narcissist. But this is life or death! I’ll keep you safe, I promise.”
“I’ll keep you safe if you come with me,” Court told him. “None of the people you are counting on are trustworthy.”
“When we were little you took care of me. I’m ready to take care of you. Count on me,” Channing pleaded.
“I wish I could,” Court said. “Maybe Emma could have. But I’m not Emma anymore.”
Without even saying goodbye Court pushed Joshua through the door and the two of them were running through the backyard. When Joshua was young one of his favorite books had been about a group of children going on a bear hunt. The children disturbed the bear who chased them back the way they had come. Going back past the fountains, over fences, through hedges and over large rocks reminded him of the book.
They came to the low spot in the wall, climbed the rope, and flung themselves down outside the subdivision. Across the street Brooke saw them and drove the rental car to the curb.
“That was forty-three minutes!” Brooke scolded when their doors were shut and they were moving on.
“Channing was waiting in the garage,” Court answered. “I shouldn’t have talked to him, but I did.”
“And?” Brooke rejoined traffic, merging the rental car into the fray of late-night Beverly Hills traffic. Palm trees lined the streets and the glare of headlights lit up the mid fall night.
“It didn’t go well. He wanted me to stay with him, I asked him to come with me.” Court looked ahead. Her expression was impossible to read.
“We’re on our way home,” Joshua said to cheer her up. He was slightly surprised that he considered the underground compound home, but somehow the house in Blythe seemed too far away to be considered home. It had probably been removed by the Hollister Youth Foundation already, anyway. “I know we haven’t really pulled off this caper until it’s unloaded back at the compound and we’re not on a bridge crew… but we got out of there.”
“As long as Channing didn’t sic anybody on us,” Brooke said. She switched lanes, getting ready to merge on the freeway.
“No,” Court said softly. “He’s finished with me.”
“No,” Joshua corrected, still hoping to cheer Court up. “You’re finished with him.”
With their adrenaline running out, it was hard to motivate to unload the rental car into their Jeep so they could return the rental car and go back to the compo
und. They bumped into each other, and Joshua couldn’t fit everything into the Jeep correctly the first time and had to take everything back out and put it away again so it would fit. Court dug around through the medicine and pulled out three small caplets. She washed one down with water and handed one to Brooke and one to Joshua.
“Mexitrin. We need to think clearly to get back tonight. I want us gone if somehow we do get ratted out.”
Joshua had grown up with a healthy terror of amphetamines, but he took the Mexitrin Court offered. It was almost four in the morning and had been feeling tired. In a few minutes, Joshua rejuvenated. It was easy to see why executives took this stuff. Joshua felt much sharper, as though everything were in a clearer focus. The night was extra beautiful because Joshua noticed all the details as though he were an alien observer.
The sun was just coming up as the three of them watched the desert floor open so they could drive into the compound. Curtis was right at the entrance waiting.
“Welcome home!” Curtis said heartily. “Did you get everything we needed?”
“Good enough,” Court told him.
Probably no one but Joshua heard her talk under her breath as she stepped up to Curtis to hand him the first suitcase full of medicine. She spoke very softly, right into his ear.
“I don’t owe you shit, anymore, Curtis. Nothing.”
Joshua was surprised at her small outburst, even though he was sure he only heard it because the Mexitrin had heightened his senses.
“Breakfast is almost ready!” Curtis said cheerfully, as though he wasn’t offended by Court’s quiet but firm declaration. “You should have something to eat and get some rest.”