Handgun looked disappointed. "Yeah, yeah, it's not like you have any choice about accepting the mission." He handed the package to Holly. "I'm gonna leave this little gem in your capable hands. You seem more like the man of the family anyway." He gave Garrett a condescending look, just trying to piss him off. "Now here's the tricky part: there's another hotel just two blocks down from here. You can't miss it; it's the one with the big, gaudy gold sign. What I want is for the both of you to take this package to that hotel and take all the steps up to the very top floor. That's gonna take a little bit of work on your part, as it's twenty-six floors and of course the elevators aren't working." He smiled at them. "Actually, I lied. It's only twenty-five floors given that they don't have a thirteenth floor. Anyways, the twenty-sixth floor is the penthouse suite. There's only one door up there, so the next part shouldn't be very hard. What I want you to do is take this package up to the twenty-sixth floor, knock on that door and give it to whoever answers the door. Understand?"
"Yeah, of course we understand. That doesn't sound so hard," Garrett said as Handgun smiled slyly. "We do that and you give us our stuff back?"
"Yeah, of course we will. Scout's honor."
"So what's in the package?" Holly asked.
"That little piece of information is something we're going to keep secret." Handgun put his index finger to his lips. "It's kind of a surprise, and I hate to spoil surprises. Just do what I tell you to do and we can all go back to being friends."
<<<>>>
Holly and Garrett walked down the street without saying a word to one another. It was an uncomfortable silence, but one they were used to. When a couple had been together as long as they had, silence could speak volumes. Even though they could see no one on the street, they both had an eerie feeling that they were being watched. This wasn't what they had signed up for. Garrett's thoughts were filled with worries about what he'd gotten himself into here.
Holly wondered how things could have gone so wrong from what were the best of intentions. All she wanted to do was to take another shot at the life she deserved. A life that had been slipping away, living separately from her husband and daughter. She wasn't ready for that, and now she was thrust into this. From empty nest to Armageddon in less than a week.
Garrett was the first to break the silence. "I told you we should never have gone on that damn cruise."
"The only reason you didn't want to go on a cruise is because it wasn't your idea," Holly rebutted.
"That's not the only reason. Mankind was not meant to live surrounded by water. It's completely unnatural. We have legs, not fins."
"Oh and this seems so much more natural?"
"This is only a temporary situation. We'll get out of this eventually. Do you think we really need the stuff we collected? We could just blow this whole thing off and head back to the lifeboat."
"I thought you didn't want to have anything to do with the lifeboat. You said all you wanted to do was to find Becky. How does going back to the lifeboat help that?"
"I guess I was just thinking more about aborting this crazy mission and the package."
Holly looked all around her but didn't see anything. Maybe a flicker from one window, but she couldn't be sure. It looked like there was someone there briefly and the curtain was moving. Could be just the breeze coming off the ocean.
"They're watching us, you know," Holly said. "For whatever reason, that guy doesn't want his people delivering the package. He wants us to do it. Any ideas as to why?"
"I hadn't really thought much about it yet, but now that you ask, I'm thinking these guys are a rival gang that splintered off from the main group, and now they're trying to take out the main boss."
"Have you resorted to watching those cheap midnight television shows since we split up?" Holly grinned.
"Never. That's your territory, and I wouldn't dare to intrude."
"At this point, I'm beginning to agree with your arguments. We need to get the hell out of town and go find Becky. Standing still in any one place seems too dangerous."
"And what about the people on the lifeboat? Don't you care about them anymore?"
"I do, but I'm more worried about staying here any longer than we have to. That doesn't mean I don't think some of them would be helpful. It's a question of trust and finding the right people. So far, we just keep meeting the wrong people."
It was Garrett's turn to smile. "I'm glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humor about this. So you have a plan?"
"Not a good one. At least not yet."
"I'd say at this point we just take whatever you've got. The only plan I have at the moment is to open this package here in the middle of the street, drop it and make a mad dash."
"So you don't think it's a bomb?"
"I think that would be a little too obvious. Besides, there's no way a rival gang leader would open a package from a pair of complete strangers."
"It's got to be something else then. Maybe a Valentine's? A belated Christmas present?"
"Actually, I was gonna go for a severed body part, maybe fingers or toes."
"Like from one of their captured enemies or something? That's gross. I guess there's only one way to find out. Let's open it."
"Yeah, sure. Let's do that."
Holly just looked at him. "Seriously?"
"Sure, why not?"
"You know I was just kidding, right? I mean, just open it? Right here in the middle of the street when we know full well that we're being watched?"
"Sure, what's the worst that could happen?"
"Um, well, there are a number of things that come to mind, and none of them end in a happy way for either of us."
"We need to think about what we really want out of this whole thing," Garrett said. "This is only a temporary situation, and we need to think further ahead."
"I don't see how we can possibly think ahead at this point," Holly replied. "We're in a hell of a situation right now and if we don't figure a way out of here, then we won't have to worry about what happens after."
Garrett gave her a stern look. "That sounds kinda fatalistic, especially coming from you. Aren't you more the kind of person that believes in making their own destiny?"
"I do, but I'm not completely unrealistic about the situation that I happen to be in at the moment."
"Alright then, if you're so willing to just go with the flow of the situation, how about we do this."
And with that, Garrett took the package and threw it in the direction they'd just come from. He couldn't be sure exactly where the watchers were, but he had a general feeling that it was in that direction. He grabbed Holly by the hand and started running back towards the ocean. At first Holly protested, resisting his pull, and pointed back to the package he had discarded. It had landed in the middle of the road and lay partially open.
Part of her wanted to know what it was and the other part of her wanted to run with Garrett, but his rash action had thrown her off balance. They were still around; she knew that even if she couldn't see them. This was a foolhardy decision on Garrett's part. Once again he was taking control of the situation, and she was going to have to go along for the ride.
"Damn you, Garrett. We weren't done talking about this. This is not what I would've chosen to do."
Neither one of them had any choice at the moment. Clearly, Garrett was making a dash for it, and if Holly didn't go with him, then they'd end up being separated. That wouldn't work out well for either one of them, so Holly followed Garrett's lead. They ran at full tilt down the road and hoped no one was following them. Garrett was faster, so Holly had no choice about which direction they went. He headed down one of the side streets, frequently looking over his shoulder to make sure Holly was keeping up.
"It's not that much further; I remember which way the ocean is."
"I didn't think you wanted to go back to the lifeboat." Holly was doing her best to keep up. "Isn't that where they're going to be looking for us? They know where we came from; I'm sure they've been wa
tching us for a while."
"I don't have another alternative at the moment, and at least if we go that way we know there'll be other people around. They'll be less likely to attack us in a crowd. Especially with people that know us."
They never got the opportunity.
The others at the lifeboat never got a chance to defend them.
As they turned onto another street, the one that would lead directly to the boardwalk and the lifeboat, a car sped across the intersection and blocked their path. At first they were taken aback, as they hadn't seen working vehicles since they'd arrived. The windows were tinted, and they couldn't see inside the car. All four doors opened at once and out stepped Handgun, Baseball Bat, Golf Club and Crowbar.
"You should've just done what we asked," Handgun said, emerging from the driver's side door. "It wasn't that difficult of a request; all you had to do was deliver the package, and we would've let you go. Nice and easy."
"Deliver your own damn package," Garrett ordered. "There was nothing nice and easy about any of it. We had no idea what was in that package and for all we knew, it could've been a bomb."
Holly spoke up. "For all we knew the people we were delivering it to could have shot us on sight."
"Well, I guess we'll never know then, will we?" Handgun said. "Now it looks like we're gonna have to go with Plan B."
The four of them moved on Holly and Garrett without hesitation. Handgun sucker punched Garrett the second he was in range. The blow was enough to knock Garrett back, but he still kept his feet under him.
Crowbar attempted to pull Holly from Garrett's side, which distracted them both temporarily and gave Handgun another opening to punch Garrett, this time in the midsection, keeling him over. Crowbar was now easily able to pull Holly aside and push her to the ground. She wasn't about to go down without a fight, and she scrambled back quickly, trying to get up. Crowbar was on her in a flash though.
The other three preoccupied themselves with Garrett, all of them landing blows on him. Garrett retreated and tried to protect himself from the blows as best he could. He mistakenly thought that they were all attacking him, and that Holly must have escaped. He hoped she'd be able to get to the lifeboat quickly and get others to help. It didn't take long till he felt his consciousness drift away, replaced by a sensation of falling. He didn't feel himself hitting the pavement, but it seemed to fuel the energy of the attackers.
Both Holly and Garrett were the recipient of multiple kicks and poundings from all directions. Their assailants eventually grew tired of the assault and the thrill of the fight was gone. They sprinted back to their vehicle, laughing at what they had done. Racing off, they left Holly and Garrett unconscious and bloodied in the middle of the road, just barely breathing.
Chapter 7 ~ Triage
Garrett slowly stirred from his uncomfortable position on the pavement. His first recollection was that of a bad dream, as if something happened to him that was totally out of his control. He then remembered the fight.
It wasn't a dream. Holly. He tried to remember what happened to Holly. She was in the fight too, but there was so much going on, and he was just trying to defend himself; he can't remember what happened.
He looked around the street, and it was deserted. Empty of pedestrians and empty of traffic. There was no one around. Not unusual given the circumstances, but where was Holly? She was there with him, he remembered it distinctly. But not anymore. What happened? He tried to stand up. Slowly, as his knees shook, he got halfway up but found himself too dizzy. He had to find Holly. Did they take her? He didn’t even want to imagine that and the implications of what it could mean. He needed something to steady himself. He had to get up and find her. He needed to get off the street and on the sidewalk.
There was a bench there in front of the store. He tried to get himself in a partially upright position, hoping that maybe this dizziness would go away. On hands and knees, he crawled towards the sidewalk. Slowly at first but then quicker, with confidence. Crawling on his knees on the hard concrete was painful, but he blocked out the pain. Looking down, he noticed spatters of blood on the street and wondered if they'd been left there from his beating. Then he realized he was dropping new splatters. He was bleeding from somewhere on his head but decided to worry about that after he figured out where Holly was.
Finally, he reached the bench and pulled himself up. The dizziness didn’t seem so bad now, probably because he was moving and getting some blood flowing through his body. He pulled himself up to the bench in a seated position but still almost passed out. He closed his eyes as he sat, gripping the armrests on the side of the bench.
Just hold on, he told himself. Don't lose consciousness. You've got to find Holly. She can't be far. He hoped.
It felt like forever, but within about five minutes he began feeling normal. The dizziness had mostly abated. He tried fighting the wobbles and finally got to his feet. Now if he could just clear the fog from his brain and think rationally about what to do next. Holly wouldn't have just left him here. Did she get up first? He vaguely remembered her escape, but couldn’t be sure if that wasn't just wishful thinking. Which direction would she go? She'd likely go to find help. Part of his mind believed this scenario and part of it didn't.
He didn't want to think about those men taking her somewhere. He wanted to believe they were both left in the streets and that she decided on her own volition to get up and find help. He would've been too hard to move for her. A dead weight in his unconscious stupor. The most logical place to head for help would be back to the lifeboats and the other survivors. The only people that they knew.
He started moving in that direction, as best he could remember. Then he remembered, just head into the breeze. The breeze would be blowing off the ocean and towards land. That had to be the right general direction towards the lifeboat and the other survivors. It was his best chance to get some help and then find Holly.
He didn't get far down the next few streets when he thought he could make out a body lying in the street a block ahead. His eyes weren't focusing as well as they should, but he tried willing them to focus. As he got closer, he realized it was Holly lying on the sidewalk, curled up in a fetal position.
He tried running but almost stumbled and fell. That won't help the situation, he thought. Pushing himself, he finally reached her and dropped to his knees. He put a hand on her neck to feel for a pulse. He wasn't sure how to do this. It wasn't something he'd ever had to do before. Could he feel a pulse? He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw her chest rise and fall, but just barely. He leaned in and put his ear close to her mouth. Yes, definitely, there was breathing, he could feel it.
The hero in him wanted to pick her up in both arms and carry her to safety, but he didn't trust his balance. No point in sending them both tumbling. She was bleeding as well. He tried to rouse her. He put one hand on her shoulder and shook it ever so gently. She didn't respond right away, so he shook a little harder with a hand on each shoulder. She moaned ever so slightly, just under her breath.
"Holly? It's me. It's Garrett. Can you hear me? Wake up. I need you to wake up. Tell me you're OK."
He shook her ever so gently once more, then slightly more aggressively. He didn't want to hurt her, but she needed to be OK. He pulled her up to a half-sitting position and supported her from behind.
"Argh," she mumbled. She was trying to wake up and trying to say something. "Stop, stop, please. They didn't do anything to you?" Her eyes were only half-opened.
Garrett was torn. Half of him wanted to rush and get help, but the other half didn't want to leave her in the street. He couldn't leave her alone.
He looked around at the surroundings. There had to be someplace that would have medical supplies or something to help. A pharmacy or drugstore. Even a grocery store would be bound to have something. There was nothing in view that he could see. Just a few tacky tourist shops and hotels. There'd be first-aid kits in hotels, wouldn't there, he thought. He looked down at Holly, thinking how long it
would take him to go and come back as he got to his feet.
"No, don't leave. Garrett. Garrett, don't leave."
Garrett dropped down to her. Holly's eyes were fully open and conscious. She could see him.
"Oh thank God." Garrett cradled her head in his lap. "You're still alive. Thank goodness."
"Yes, at least I think I am. I feel like I'd rather be dead though," Holly said.
Garrett smiled. "Well, at least you're feeling something, that's got to be a good sign. How did you end up over here? Did you get here on your own? Did those men bring you here?"
Holly put a hand to her forehead, brushing back the hair from her face. "I'm not sure." Her face turned from calm to frightened in a heartbeat as she remembered the beating they'd received at the hands of the four men. "Oh my God, they were going to kill us. I remember being so afraid and in such a panic."
Their eyes met. "It's OK. They're gone now, and we don't have to worry about them. If they wanted to hurt us any more, they would've done it when they could. They've obviously moved on. Probably to some other poor victims." He pulled Holly in close to his chest with both arms. "We're going back to the lifeboat. We'll get back to the others and sort things out. Do you think you can stand?"
"I'm not sure. I can try."
Garrett was still a little unsure of himself as he tried to get to his own feet before helping Holly. He took a second, then offered his hand, and she took it. Her hand shook with tremors as he pulled her up. They stopped and looked at her shaking hand.
"It's OK; you're probably just in shock. It'll go away, I'm sure. Let's just see if you can stand, OK?"
He offered his hand again, and Holly managed to take it without shaking this time. They smiled at each other assuredly. Then, they heard what had to be gunshots coming from the other direction, just down the next street. The froze for a split second, looking towards the sound of the gunfire.
"It's them again, isn't it?" Holly stammered out, her consciousness now really kicking in. The grogginess was running away fast, chased by the sound of gunshots. "That was gunshots, wasn't it?"
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