Tarak shook his head. “Never had any need to find a medicine man there. Sorry.”
A half hour later they entered the city and Tarak rode off down one of the wide avenues while Lucas and Colt took a smaller street north. They hadn’t gotten more than two blocks when they were stopped by a group of four gunmen in blue camouflage uniforms. Each wore a red armband and a flak jacket and carried a rifle.
“Help you find something?” one of the men asked.
“My friend’s hurt. We need a doctor. Best outfitted in town.”
“We got a few of them. What’s wrong?”
“Snakebite.”
The man looked at his companions. One of them glanced down the street. “Probably best to look for Doc Hodges, over by the old Presbyterian Hospital. He’s in one of the buildings across the street. Single story, wood shingles.”
“Think he’ll be open after dark?” Lucas asked.
The man nodded. “That’s where a lot of emergency cases in these parts wind up.”
“How do we get there?”
The man gave him directions, and Lucas nodded his thanks. “Is it safe to move around at night?”
“Wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t have to, but doesn’t seem like you got a lot of choice.”
The buildings degraded as they rode along the highway, the ruins telling the same bleak story of destruction and chaos everywhere else did. If Lucas was hoping to find evidence that humanity had a running chance, he’d have to look farther than Albuquerque, which showed the effects of entropy and wanton destruction that were the collapse’s legacy.
It was almost pitch black out by the time they turned off the highway, and Lucas had to use his NV monocle to navigate. They passed several groups of street dwellers gathered around fires, who watched them ride by with the fearful expressions of whipped dogs. It was amazing to Lucas that five years after the collapse so many were living day-to-day rather than having structured something more permanent. He couldn’t fathom that existence; but then again, as a saddle bum without a home now, he wasn’t much better.
They found the doctor’s clinic on the right, across from a massive parking lot with a darkened hulk of a building at the far end. A pair of torches lit an entry, where two armed guards stood with shotguns, watching Lucas and Colt’s approach. When they drew up to the entrance, Lucas called to them, “This Doc Hodges?”
“That’s right. What you got?”
“Man’s been snakebit. Rattler. Needs to see the doctor. He still around?”
“He is if you got ammo to trade.”
“I do.”
“Then tie your horses over there and come in. I’ll let him know you’re here.”
One of the men ducked through the steel door and disappeared inside. “You have electricity?” Lucas asked the other, seeing a glow when the door opened.
“Solar. But only for a few lights at night. Batteries are for shit.”
“Yeah, same story everywhere. Weakening with age.”
Lucas helped Colt down and they moved to the entrance. The guard held the door open for them, and the one that had gone inside motioned to them from the end of a dimly lit hall.
“Over here.”
They found a surprisingly clean room, empty except for a steel-top exam table and a single chair. A fluorescent bulb provided scant illumination, and Lucas had barely gotten Colt onto the table when a short man with white hair entered, wearing a stained lab coat.
“What have we got here?” he asked. “I’m Dr. Hodges.” He named a fee for the exam, and Lucas nodded agreement. The doctor stood, waiting, and Lucas counted out ten rounds of ammo and handed them over. Hodges pocketed them and eyed Colt expectantly, a pair of scratched reading glasses with one cracked lens perched precariously on the end of his nose.
“I got bit by a rattler.”
“So my man says. How long ago?”
“Two and a half days.”
“Well, you’re alive. Let’s have a look at it.”
Lucas removed the bandage and Hodges examined Colt’s leg. He noted with a grunt the discoloration that had crept to the knee, and carefully probed the wound area with his fingers. Yellow pus oozed from the bite marks, and he frowned.
“It’s infected. Venom’s through your system by now, but there’s some possible necrosis and a lot of pus. You need antibiotics.”
“You have some?” Lucas asked.
“They aren’t cheap.”
“I’m not looking for a bargain. Are they expired?”
“Got some that are. Others that aren’t. Depends on how much they’re worth to you. He’s going to need ten days’ worth, at least.”
“How much for the ones that are still good?”
Hodges thought for a minute, studying Lucas like he was something stuck to a lab slide. When he told Lucas the price, he sounded embarrassed by how high it was.
“And the others? When did they expire?” Lucas fired back.
“Three years ago. They’re a lousy bet with a life-threatening infection.”
“Where did you get the ones that are still good?”
“Traders from Lubbock. They make them there.”
Lucas recalled Jacob’s story about the lab manufacturing pharmaceuticals for trade. “You’re sure they’re not bogus?”
“I’ve treated others with them. They’re the genuine article.”
“I don’t have that much ammo I can spare.” Lucas frowned. “But I have gold.”
“What kind?”
“Maple Leaf. One ounce. Way more than the medicine’s worth.”
“That’s okay. I can make change. Let’s call it a half ounce of gold for a full course, and I’ll throw in the exam tonight and another in ten days.”
“That’s extortionate.”
“Your friend’s life isn’t worth it? He’ll die if you don’t get him on meds immediately. Tell you what. I’ll even prepare a solution and give him a drip with some to kick-start the treatment.”
“How long will that take?”
“Ideally he’d spend the night.”
Lucas looked to Colt. “You heard the man.”
“I’ll see you’re repaid later,” Colt promised.
“We’ll work it out,” Lucas replied.
“Are you allergic to any medications?” Hodges asked.
“No. I mean, none I’m aware of.”
“Ever had penicillin before?”
“Couple times.”
“All right, then. Show me the money, and we’ll get this train rolling.”
Lucas dug a coin from his pocket and placed it in the doctor’s hand, who inspected it in the faint light and nodded. “I’ll be back with your change and an IV bag.” He leaned toward Colt. “And a pillow. That bed gets mighty hard overnight.”
“I’ve slept on worse.”
Lucas waited by Colt’s side until the doctor returned. He handed Lucas his change in the form of a scratched, weathered half-ounce Maple Leaf, whose 9999 gold content made it so soft the slightest abrasion would mar it. Lucas glanced at the tooth marks in the surface and pocketed it as Hodges ran a line into Colt’s arm and hung an IV bag on a stainless steel stand.
“Where did you get the solution?” Lucas asked.
“I make and purify it myself. It’s just saline. Neutral.” He held up a syringe. “I diluted some pills. This will go straight into his bloodstream and hopefully deliver a knockout punch.”
Colt closed his eyes as the physician emptied the syringe into the bag and then hooked it up to the line, adjusting the drip so that it trickled a droplet every ten seconds. “This bag will drain in a couple of hours. I’ll do two more over the course of the night, the second and third slightly slower. You going to camp out here?”
“I’ll stick around for a while, but I have some things I need to do. I’ll come back in the morning.”
“Suit yourself. I lock up around midnight. Bars are closed by then, so no customers.”
“You see a lot of injuries from them?”
<
br /> “Sure. Always good for business. Old as the hills. Pour some booze onto a fire of frustrated men, and something’s going to happen.”
Lucas nodded agreement. “You’d think they’d learn.”
The doctor offered a grim smile. “Be the first time in history they did.”
Chapter 18
Hodges reappeared after the first bag drained and handed Lucas a bottle of pills. “He needs to take these twice a day for ten days. Can’t miss any. Can’t skip a dose or stop once he feels better.”
Lucas nodded. “I know the drill. You think it’ll work?”
“It’ll knock out the infection. His body will have to do the rest. He’s lucky there didn’t turn out to be any necrosis as well. I could show you photos that would put you off your food for a month.”
“That’s all right.” Lucas checked the time. “I’m going to head out. I’ll be back at sunup. Thanks for the help.”
“That’s my job. Glad we got to him in time.” Hodges hesitated and then remarked casually to Lucas, “If you have any more gold you want to unload, I’ll give you a better exchange than anyone else in town.”
“Appreciate it, but that was my last one,” Lucas lied. He didn’t want the doctor to think he was walking around with a small fortune.
Hodges smiled as though he’d seen through the deflection. “In case you happen across any more, then.”
Hodges escorted him to the entrance, and Lucas pushed through the door and made for the horses. He’d lead Colt’s stallion back to the camp and bring him back the following morning.
The hair on the back of his neck prickled as he smoothed Tango’s mane with a reassuring hand, and he swept the gloomy surroundings surreptitiously. Seeing nothing, he secured Colt’s horse to his saddle horn with a length of cord and retrieved the night vision monocle from his saddlebags. Lucas offered the guards a small salute and climbed into the saddle, taking care to grip the M4 in his free hand, Tango’s reins in the other with the monocle.
He raised the monocle to his eye and looked around again, and spotted something across the way – a man ducking behind a tree. Could have been a vagrant looking for easy prey…or something else.
Lucas snicked from the corner of his mouth and Tango lumbered forward. They’d made it no further than a block when Lucas sensed a presence behind him. He continued on, and once he was sure that he was being followed and not ambushed, considered his options. Halfway down the block he spurred Tango to sudden speed, Colt’s horse in tow, and turned down a dark street.
Lucas drove Tango to a gallop and made a left at the next intersection. A hundred yards down he stopped at a cavernous car dealership that looked like a bomb had hit it, and guided the horses inside. Once out of sight of the street, he led the horses deep into the darkness and tied them at the back of the building, and then fished his crossbow from a saddlebag.
He surveyed the interior and spotted a stairway to a second story that faced onto the showroom. He took the steps two at a time and stopped at the first office, which had a window overlooking the floor.
Lucas listened for signs of the rider but heard nothing. The interior of the building was bathed in the greenish light of the monocle, but when he looked without it he could barely make anything out. Lucas cocked the crossbow using his foot and the rope pull and, after fitting a quarrel into place, heard the unmistakable sound of horses outside.
Three riders stopped at the building and stared into it, and Lucas realized one of them had night vision equipment as well, the distinctive headgear plainly visible. He ducked down, sure he would have to engage – they would see Tango and investigate.
He heard them dismount and then broken glass crunching beneath their boots as they entered the building. Lucas waited a few seconds and then inched up into the gap and sighted on the man with the NV equipment.
The crossbow snapped like a whip, and the bolt drove through the man’s chest. He gurgled and dropped his assault rifle as his companions glanced around, blind in the dark. Lucas cocked the bow again and set another bolt into place as the men scrambled for their fallen leader, and fired at the closest target.
The quarrel skewered the man through the shoulder blades, and his friend cried out.
“What the hell–”
Lucas had the bowstring drawn again and a quarrel in place in less than ten seconds as the man emptied his assault rifle into the darkness, spraying lead indiscriminately before feeling his way back toward the front of the showroom. He’d almost made it when Lucas’s third bolt caught him below his collarbone, shattering his scapula and sending him facedown into the debris.
The gunman howled in pain and dropped his weapon. Lucas was already in motion, all pretense of stealth abandoned. The shots would draw a patrol, he was sure, and he needed to get out of there before one arrived.
The last man hit was moaning and clawing at the carbon fiber shaft as Lucas walked toward him. Lucas leaned and scooped up his Kalashnikov, ejected the spent magazine, and slapped the full one taped to the empty in place, reversing the mags before chambering a round.
Lucas flipped the man over so he was face up, and knelt beside him.
“Why are you following me?” he asked.
The man shook his head. Lucas pulled the shaft the remainder of the way through the man and cleaned the blood from it. The man loosed a banshee wail. When it trailed off in a moan, Lucas tried again.
“Why were you following me?”
“Reward,” the man managed.
“From who?”
“The…Crew.”
“How did you find me?”
“We…watching for…strangers.”
“How many more of you are there?”
“Twenty…I got no beef…with you…”
Lucas’s voice was expressionless. “That’s good to know.”
“I…I needed the…money…” His statement ended with a burble from his chest.
“Not anymore. Sounds like it got your lung there. We both know you’re dead. Was it worth it?”
The man didn’t answer, his face blanching as he went into shock.
Lucas removed the man’s pistol from his hip holster and slid it into his vest, and then moved to the others and retrieved his arrows. When he finished, he hurried to where the horses were standing unharmed in the depth of the building and led them to the street.
Lucas climbed into the saddle and rode into the gloom. It was imperative now to get Colt and clear out of Albuquerque before he had another brush with the mercenaries the Crew had hired. The only good news for Lucas was that if they were using locals, there couldn’t have been many, if any, Crew in the city.
But there would be soon. Of that he was sure.
Lucas was back at the doctor’s office less than ten minutes later. The guards nodded to him as he strode toward the entry.
“Change of plans,” he said. He glanced at their belts. No radios. If they were in on it, they wouldn’t be able to contact anyone while he retrieved Colt.
Hodges looked surprised to see him as he made his way down the hall to the exam room.
“Thought you were gone,” the doctor said.
“We’re both leaving. Can you give him a shot or something, or will the pills do the trick?”
“Shot wouldn’t hurt. I have one prepared for the third bag. Let me get it.”
Hodges arrived at Colt’s side as Lucas was helping him off the table. The doctor emptied the contents of the syringe into the IV line and then removed the cannula once the amber liquid had worked its way into Colt’s vein.
“What’s the rush?” Hodges asked. “He really should stay till morning.”
“Emergency. Thanks for all the help,” Lucas said. “Can you have your boys help him onto his horse?”
“Of course.”
The guards had Colt in the saddle two minutes later. Lucas waited until they’d ridden around the corner and he was sure they weren’t being followed before telling Colt what had happened. Colt’s face turned mean when h
e heard.
“How did they know we’d show up here?”
“Fair question. But there’s not a lot north of Roswell, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to figure it out. Probably offered half the city a reward.” Lucas looked around. “We need to get out of here and hit the trail. I hate to ride at night, but I want some distance between us and Albuquerque by morning.”
“We can’t. Not yet.”
“We have to,” Lucas growled. “Let’s hope that penicillin works quickly. But you’re already in better shape than when we rode in.”
“No, I mean I have to get the password from our man here.”
“Password?”
“The Shangri-La guards will gun us down if we don’t know the password. It changes weekly.”
“Every minute we stay increases our odds of getting caught.”
Colt frowned. “Then we better make it quick.”
Colt’s contact lived on the south edge of town, a block down from a bar that was revving up as the evening progressed. Shouts and laughter echoed on the street and music drifted from the doorway – live, by the sound of it, a bluegrass fiddle and guitar feverishly wailing over the pandemonium.
“This is the place,” Colt said as he stopped in front of a darkened storefront. The entry and windows were protected by steel bars, and graffiti defaced every visible surface.
“Doesn’t look like anyone’s home.”
“Looks can be deceiving. Knock.”
Lucas swung down from the saddle and moved to the doorway. He reached between the heavy steel bars and rapped on the wood door. After thirty seconds with no response, he was reaching again when it opened with a creak and a man with a heavy beard and wild dark hair glared at him from inside.
“Go away,” he said, and Lucas could make out the snout of a double-barreled shotgun pointing at his chest.
“Steven, it’s Colt,” said Colt from atop his horse.
Steven looked over Lucas’s shoulder and then back at Lucas. “Who’s this?”
“I’m his chaperone,” Lucas said.
“I got bit by a snake. This is Lucas. He’s helping me.” Colt paused. “I need the password.”
Steven shook his head and eyed Lucas. “You sure that’s a good idea? Do they know he’s going?”
The Day After Never Bundle (First 4 novels) Page 55