Off the Wagon (Users #2)

by Stacy

  “What did you do?” Walt asked his tone accusatory.

  “Me? I didn’t do anything,” Carter answered.

  “You did something! Otherwise he wouldn’t have been shot!” Walt pushed Carter aside and took a seat at the side of the hospital bed next to him. “Are you okay?”

  “I’ve been better,” Barber answered.

  “Everyone clear out. I need to work.” Doc approached wearing his scrubs, rubber gloves, and holding a long needle with a clear liquid in the syringe. “You too,” Doc said when Walt didn’t immediately get up and move. Doc ushered them out the door at the end of the sharp needle. Barber caught Walt getting one last peek at him before the door was closed behind him.

  “Now, this is going to sting a little,” Doc said.

  “What is it?” Barber asked.

  He was in so much pain, Barber hardly noticed the prick of the needle as it entered his skin.

  “Morphine. A lot of it.” A rush of tranquility washed over Barber as the drugs took effect, and before he could count to three, his eyelids grew heavy and the world went black.

  *****

  “I knew this wasn’t a good idea,” Walt said. “You’re not ready.”

  Dozens of other Users now gathered just outside the hospital room door, attracted by the commotion between Walt and Carter.

  “Maybe I’m not, but you can’t keep the kid penned up in here for the rest of his life,” Carter said not backing down an inch. “It’s already causing him problems. He’s socially inept without you there to babysit him.”

  “Oh, so now this is my fault?” Walt asked incredulously.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “You didn’t have too.” Walt got right in Carter’s face.

  “Back off old man.” Carter puffed out his chest and gave Walt a good bump with it. Carter was stronger than Walt, more muscular, but Carter knew Walt had a mean streak in him that made up for any difference in size or strength.

  Walt cocked back as if he were going to hit Carter in the face and Carter reciprocated with a quick jab of his own, but they both froze in mid swing.

  “Both of you calm down!” Evan shouted.

  The lanky man had both hands held out, one pointed at Walt, and the other pointed at Carter.

  “God damn it, Evan. Let me go,” Walt said, but Evan, using his telekinesis, had a firm hold on both of them.

  “Fucking Mover,” Carter said.

  “Hey now. Watch how you speak to me or I may just freeze that mouth of yours shut too,” Evan said. “Now are you boys going to play nice? Or do I need to keep you in timeout a little bit longer?” Carter was sure they looked ridiculous, frozen in place like a couple of boxing trophies.

  “I will if he will,” Carter said.

  There was a moment of silence as Walt, who if he could have moved a muscle, would have appeared to have been mulling it over.

  “Fine,” Walt said at last.

  Evan dropped his arms to his sides and both Walt and Carter were immediately released. Carter straightened his clothes as if his personal space had just been violated.

  “Agh, I hate that,” Carter said.

  “Hey, its not as bad as being pushed into it. I could of had Bobby or Gwen come over and push you into thinking you two were lovers.”

  Walt’s face screwed up in disgust at the mere thought.

  “Don’t be such a homophobe,” Carter said.

  “It’s not the thought of another man, it’s the thought of you.” Walt took a well placed verbal jab at Carter, letting him know they were back on joking terms, but the mood was dire and no one, not even Walt, laughed.

  “All right, everyone back to what you were doing. The shows over,” Evan said and the crowd of Users immediately began to disperse. There were myriad chores to be done at the compound this time of year, and the Users got back to them. A layer of leaves covered the lawn, but they didn’t rake them up. Carter watched as Evan simply used his telekinesis like a leaf blower, blasting the leaves into a pile. Similar work was being done all across the compound with Users special powers being put to tasks that most suited their abilities.

  “Do you think he’s going to be okay?” Carter asked in all seriousness.

  “I’ve seen Doc repair worse, but the kid has lost a lot of blood.”

  “I’m not leaving until he’s better. As his sponsor I need to be by his side,” Carter said.

  “That’s fine. You should stay here for now. Your old cabin is still empty if you want to crash in there.” Walt motioned to the square cabin Carter had called home less than a week before. He envisioned his fancy new apartment sitting empty for at least a few weeks and sighed. There was nothing left to do, but wait. Wait and hope that Barber would be okay.

  Prologue 2

  The days events took Carter into a deep sleep.

  He was out before his head even hit the pillow. There was a flood of images at first, before the picture became clear. He saw himself as a boy, many years younger than Barber was now. He sat in the living room of a one story rambler, rolling a toy truck back and forth across the cheap shag carpet. The walls were stained a faint beige from years of cigarette smoke. Cobwebs were strung between the walls and stretched up to the ceiling in the corner above his head.

  He could hear his mother watching her programs on a small table top television in the kitchen, but it had been hours since she had come to check on him. The only other sign that she was even still alive were the wafts of cigarette smoke that trailed from the kitchen, through the dining room, and into the living room where he now sat.

  “Braroom!” Carter made an engine noise with his mouth as he pushed the toy truck.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” A voice as deep as the devils said from over his shoulder.

  An ominous shadow fell over him from above as his father entered the room.

  “I’m playing,” Carter said.

  “You’re ruining the damn carpet is what you’re doing,” Carter’s father said in that gravelly voice that let him know his old man was drunk again. “You think this shit comes cheap?”

  Carter had been playing with his truck outside again and the wheels had tracked dirt all over the carpet.

  “N-no,” Carter stammered. He looked from side to side, not daring to look his father in the eye, looking for someplace to go to get away from him, but he was trapped between the walls and his father.

  “Then get that filthy truck up off the floor god damn it!” his father screamed, bent over, grabbed the truck, and threw it across the room. “Look at the mess you made!”

  Carter flinched. He always flinched when his father got that close, but if the man noticed, he didn’t show it. Carter wanted to cry out for his mother, but caught himself before he made the fatal mistake. It would only make the beating that much worse.

  “My truck.” Carter picked up the broken pieces of his plastic truck and began to cry.

  “I’ll give you something to cry about!” His father yelled without the slightest hesitation or restraint.

  Carter cowered in fear, holding his hands up in front of him, but his father just slapped them away. Tears ran down his face and he screamed, knowing what was to come, but despite his screams, no one would come to his aid. No one ever did.

  His father snatched him off the floor by his upper arm and held him in place. Without so much as a word, his father pulled off his belt and began to beat him with it on the back, ass, and legs. Carter screamed in pain with each whip of the belt. He squirmed and he flailed as the leather slapped his back, leaving welts. The pain was unbearable, but the betrayal at the hands of the one person who was supposed to be protecting him was torture.

  Carter awoke in a cold sweat, back in the safety of his cabin. Leaning forward and stretching his aching back, Carter ran his hands over his face before flopping back down in bed. The nightmare had shaken him to the core. He would find no more sleep this night, instead he lay in the dark counting the minutes until the sun finally came up.
r />   Chapter 6

  The following week

  “Another Death By Mysterious Street Drug” The article on the cover of the Seattle Daily Newspaper said in big bold letters. Carter had to consciously steady his hand to keep it from shaking in rage. He folded up the paper and threw it on the table, unable to read the article any further. The longer he spent at the compound, the longer he was away from the city’s ever growing drug problem.

  He pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket, popped the lid, and like a true pro, he swallowed a couple without taking so much as a sip of water. Carter closed his eyes and took a deep breath, waiting for the pills to take effect. A moment later he sighed and opened his eyes. Judging by the thermometer on the wall the fall morning air was a tad bit on the nippy side to be sitting out on the patio, but Walt didn’t seem to mind, and Carter surely couldn’t tell the difference despite the clouds of hot breath that wisped from his mouth every time he exhaled.

  Carter and Walt sat on the porch watching; Barber was up and walking around the compound grounds finally, albeit with a limp. Carter had spent the last week working out with Evan and Walt while Barber recuperated, but he had mostly spent his time alone in his cabin deep in thought. He had done a poor job as Barber’s sponsor, a mistake he meant to rectify. Sure he had provided a roof over the kids head, but he hadn’t realized how deep seeded the kid’s problems were until he was about to die, and all he could think of were his parents or lack thereof. That was another problem that Carter was going to have to remedy.

  But first he needed to have a talk with Walt. If Barber was using Pow, Walt would be the only one to get the truth out of him.

  “Looks like he’s going to be okay,” Carter said.

  “Looks like it.” Walt nodded in agreement.

  “We should talk,” Carter said. “It’s about Barber.”

  Walt turned to face Carter, showing he had his full attention.

  “I think he may be using a new drug that has hit the streets recently, it’s called Pow.”

  “That would account for his irrational behavior.” Walt agreed “What else would make him pop his spikes in the middle of a crowded street and try to stab a man?”

  “Maybe you can talk to him today. Find out how he’s getting his hands on it,” Carter said.

  “Not today. There will be plenty of time for me to talk it out with him after he’s fully rehabilitated,” Walt said.

  “Well he’s up and walking, and if Doc said it was okay, I was planning on taking him home,” Carter said, but Walt lifted one eyebrow and scrunched up his face into a confused expression.

  “He’s not going home with you today. He’s staying here,” Walt stated, very matter of fact.

  Now it was Carter’s turn to throw Walt a confused expression of his own.

  “What do you mean he’s staying here? For how long?” Carter asked.

  “Permanently,” Walt said with a tone of finality. “He obviously can’t be back out in regular civilization without getting into trouble. His place his here.”

  “No, it’s not. He needs to get back into school. He needs a regular life,” Carter said. “He can’t stay trapped inside these walls for the rest of his life, surrounded by other ex-junkies. It’s not healthy.”

  “Listen, I just want what’s best for him,” Walt said.

  “So do I, and I’m his sponsor, not you.”

  “About that, I don’t think he’s ready for a sponsor. And as I said before, I don’t think you are ready for the responsibility.” Walt pointed at him.

  The already hot blood in Carter’s veins began to boil. Carter didn’t doubt that Walt had Barber’s best interests in mind, and his method for helping Users get clean was sound, but this was no environment for a young man to grow up in. Carter couldn’t escape the image of old Dan, wrinkled and decrepit, hiding for days on end in his cabin. That’s not what he wanted for Barber, and that is where the current path that Walt had him on, led. Exactly nowhere.

  “He’s going home with me today, so if you want to help, talk to him now. Otherwise get out of my way or not even Evan will be able to hold me back this time,” Carter said with a fire burning in his belly that was ready to explode.

  Walt let out a heavy sigh.

  “This is exactly what I’m talking about. The second something doesn’t go your way, your adrenaline starts pumping and your fight or flight responses start to kick in. Except you don’t seem to have the flight part quite down, so it’s always a fight,” He explained. ”How are you supposed to show Barber to live what you call a regular life, if you can’t even handle a grown-up discussion without it coming to fisticuffs? How will you teach him to cope and deal with life and the real world as a normal teen, nonetheless a User teen, without turning to drugs, when you can’t keep him clean for even a week?”

  Carter knew Walt meant no insult by his line of questioning and dropped his defenses.

  “Walt, I know I fucked up. I didn’t exactly have what you would call the most exemplary parental role model,” Carter said. “I didn’t get it, but I do now. I’ll pay better attention. I really believe I can do this. I understand him, and I know what he needs. I will make the effort, I will be more conscious of him, and really be there for him this time.”

  Walt eyed him skeptically for a moment.

  “If anyone deserves a second chance, it’s you. You can take him, but if something else bad happens to him, if he so much as gets a hangnail, you’ll have to answer to me,” Walt said.

  “Agreed. Now will you just go talk to him.”

  “Talk to who?” Barber asked.

  The two of them had been so deep in conversation, they hadn’t noticed as Barber walked right up behind them.

  “You,” Walt said. “Take a seat.”

  Walt motioned to the wooden patio furniture across the table from him. Barber slowly ambled his way over to the chair and sat down.

  “What’s up?” Barber asked. His eyes shifted from Walt to Carter and back to Walt nervously.

  “I’m just going to ask you flat out, because there’s no reason to beat around the bush here,” Walt said. “Have you relapsed?”

  “Y-Yes,” Barber said hesitantly.

  “When?”

  “The other day.”

  “Where’d you get it?”

  “School.”

  Carter sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You’re supposed to be going their to learn, not get high.”

  “Please don’t interrupt,” Walt said to Carter. “Are you using Pow?”

  “Yes.”

  “Were you high when you popped your spikes on that drug dealer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you want to go back and stay with Carter and continue to go to school?”

  Barber took a deep breath before he answered. “Yes.”

  “Then you need to stay off the junk, get back on track, and get on with your life.” He paused and looked directly into Barber’s eyes. “Just so you know, I don’t think going back to live with Carter is the best thing for you right now, but I’m going to allow it despite my inclination toward the contrary.”

  A toothy grin spread across Barber’s face.

  “But you gotta promise me no more drugs.”

  “Deal,” Barber said.

  *****

  The beat up pickup truck rumbled to a stop in front of their apartment just after dusk.

  “Looks like a nice building,” Walt said.

  “You wanna come up and check the place out?” Barber asked.

  “No, I gotta get back to the compound.” The usually straight forward talking man seemed hesitant to answer. Walt looked ahead at the road like he had somewhere else to be.

  “Well, thanks for the ride,” Carter said getting out of the truck followed closely by Barber.

  “Yeah, no problem.”

  “See ya,” Barber called as he made his way to the building’s front door.

  “Bye, kid,” Walt hollered after him and Carter was about to say go
odbye when Walt motioned for him to come over to the rolled down truck window. “You remember what I said about taking care of that young man.”

  “I do.” Carter assured him.

  “Good.” And without another word, Walt rolled up the window and was gone, barreling down the street in his old pickup.

  “What an asshole,” Carter said to himself as he shook his head, but honestly he was going to miss the guy.

  Carter turned and entered the building to find Barber holding the elevator up for him, much to the annoyance of another one of the apartment’s patrons.

  “About time,” Barber said as Carter stepped into the elevator.

  “Indeed,” the man who had been waiting with Barber said.

  Carter and Barber exchanged a knowing glance. This overstuffed pompous old man didn’t know who he was dealing with. The building was nearly thirty stories tall and when the bell dinged on floor five, their floor, Carter stepped out, but Barber waited back a second. He then ran both hands over the buttons for every floor, lighting the elevator buttons up like a Christmas tree.

  “Indeed,” Carter said doing his best impersonation of a pompous ass and Barber about died laughing as he stepped into the hall.

  The old man just stared speechless, his mouth agape, as the doors shut in front of him.

  “What a dick move,” Carter said.

  “Right?” Barber agreed and they both laughed again as they sauntered over to the door to their apartment, mighty pleased with themselves.

  “Everything is exactly the way we left it,” Barber said as they entered the apartment.

  “Yeah, that’s the plus of living in a swanky building. You’re not getting robbed every time you leave the house.”

  “So, whatcha wanna do now?” Barber flopped down on the couch.

  “I…gotta go,” Carter said hesitantly. “I’ve got work to do.” He grabbed the duffel bag from the corner he had shoved it in the other day.