“I’ll go with you,” I replied, as eager to spend more time with her as I was to check on Sonny, who I figured would sleep most of the night anyway after polishing off the vodka. I heard Luke snigger quietly behind me as Indigo and I headed for the exit, and wondered what he thought was so funny.
I was embarrassed later, when he told me the only person who thought I was doing a good job of hiding the crush I had on Indigo was me. I’ve got to hand it to Indigo though. The way I was feeling about her right then, I would have given her anything she wanted, and yet she refrained from taking advantage of my feelings. My feelings toward her would eventually mature into something more than a crush, but at that time, I was falling hard, and the very fact that she was giving me the time of day made my heart swell.
Sonny was still asleep, as I figured he would be. I spent the next couple of hours in the hall making small talk with Indigo while she watched Sonny sleep. We learned more about each other’s lives prior to the Flu and it wasn’t long before she knew more about me than Luke, Brooke, and Ben combined did.
Thankfully, she seemed okay with what she heard. I really don’t know if I could have handled it had she rebuffed me at that point. Eventually, we decided Sonny was just going to keep sleeping. Indigo said she wanted to go to her room to get some sleep and I went off to get some, as well.
“Hey, wake up, man,” somebody shook me and I opened my eyes to see Luke looking down at me. “Sonny’s awake and he wants to talk to you.”
“What time is it?” I asked, sitting up and glancing around. It was still dark outside.
“Just after six or so,” Luke responded.
“Okay,” I pulled myself out of the sleeping bag, and quickly rolled it up so it would be easier to move to the truck when we left. “Did Sonny say what he needs?”
“Not to me,” Luke replied with a shrug. “Maybe he found out you’re in charge now, and wants to give you some advice.”
“Or maybe he wants to tell me to put someone else in charge,” I said.
“Too late for that, man. We already voted.”
“I could abdicate,” I said.
“You won’t,” he said. “We both know that having you as leader is for the best.”
“Do we? What about you? You seem to know how to handle this stuff pretty well.”
“I’m not as smart as you are,” Luke replied. “I don’t get the gut feelings you do, the ones that have so far steered us right. Plus, in any given situation, I tend to latch onto the first option my mind hits on and follow it without thinking it through all the way. In short, I’d be a very decisive leader, but probably not the best, and it would only be a matter of time before I led us into disaster.”
“Wow, you seem to have thought this through,” I said.
“Yep, now go see what Sonny wants.”
I grunted while I stretched my muscles, and then headed toward the hall where we had left Sonny sleeping. I thought about stopping to check on Indigo on my way, but decided letting her sleep in would probably be appreciated. I found Sonny sitting up and alert, although weak, with Allie by his side.
“Isaac, good job last night,” Sonny said, as I walked up. “I know it’s not ideal, but you’ll have to drive when we leave. I’m not up to it.”
“Yeah, I figured as much. Are you feeling better?”
“To be honest, it hurts like hell, but I may be up to driving the second half of the trip to New Hampshire. Listen, I have a plan to help prevent this,” he pointed to his bandaged wound, “from happening to you.”
I nodded and squatted next to him. “What is it?”
“The reams of printer paper I had them get from the office building across the street,” he said. “Take the interior panels of the doors off, stack the reams of paper inside, and then put the panels back on.”
“I think I saw a TV show where they did that, but with phone books ... will it really work?”
“If we only have to face small arms fire, it should work well enough, but anything like anti-armor weapons ...” he glanced at Allie, who was listening attentively. “Well, let’s just hope we don’t have to face anything heavier. You won’t be able to roll the windows down once you get the paper in there, but it’s so cold I don’t suppose that’s a problem.”
“Yeah, I don’t think that will be a problem,” I said. “I’ll get right on it. By the way, I’ve been wondering about the toner cartridges, as well. Why did you have them collect so many?”
“Up in the attic, in the base of the samurai sword stand, you’ll find 15 or 16 old blasting caps, the kind with the fuses that can be lit with a match or lighter. By themselves, they can’t do much damage, but I figured if we taped each one to a toner cartridge, we could make some fairly effective ink bombs. Detonate one of them on a pursuing vehicle’s windshield and the driver would be in trouble.”
“Where did you get blasting caps? Never mind, it doesn’t really matter. I’ll have Luke grab some tape and the toners and begin making the bombs while I see to the truck doors. By the way, I know you planned on leaving around noon, but I’m thinking we might want to be out of here a bit earlier than that.”
“Any time you are ready to go,” Sonny said. “Allie told me about the vote, and I approve of it. You’re the leader now.”
“Just until you get back up and on your feet,” I said.
“We’ll see,” he replied. “Maybe you will turn out to have a natural talent for leadership.”
Surprisingly, a fog had blanketed the city while I was sleeping and the alley and streets around it were cloaked in a thick, white mist, so heavy even the far end of the alley where it opened into the street was difficult to make out.
This could be handy, I thought, the fog would possibly give our escape some cover. It took me about an hour, maybe a little longer, to finish armoring the doors of the truck. By then, Luke and John were nearly finished creating the ink bombs. I began to think that we might be out of there as early as 9:00 AM.
As I was headed back in the side door to grab my sleeping bag and the rest of the stuff I had packed, I heard a loud banging on the front door of the academy. With adrenalin racing through my system, I dumped the gear and ran into the hallway as Ben came hustling in from the reception area.
“Isaac, it’s the Tigers. I had a peek out of the window and there are four of them at the door, all armed,” he said, breathlessly. “What should we do?”
“I guess we should see what they want,” I replied, a cold dread beginning to build in my belly. “Do me a favor and go get Luke and John. Tell them what’s happening and to meet me by the front door.”
As Ben hurried off, I pulled out my revolver and made sure it was fully loaded before slipping it back into my belt. I then picked up the Chinese assault rifle standing against the wall and began walking to the academy’s front door. I attempted to stay out of view from the street by ducking down as I passed any windows.
The building’s front door was much like those of many schools I had been to, solid double doors with windows of obscured, reinforced glass taking up the top half. The doors had push bars on the inside, and handles for pulling on the outside, but were currently locked and chained. The banging sounded on the doors again as I approached silently with the rifle’s safety off. I flattened myself against the wall, out of sight and to the right of the doors.
“I know you’re in there, Sonny, you and your gang of little virus-proof kids. Come on out, we just want to talk. I got some questions for you,” one of the Tigers outside the door shouted. It was Chen, the leader. I recognized his voice immediately.
“Jack got shot down ... you remember Jack, don’t you, Sonny? My little brother! And then when I tracked down the murdering bastards who killed him, a couple more of my boys get wasted, and those murdering dogs get away in a truck. And guess what? One of the guys we killed was wearing your colors! I know you have the laowai who killed Jack in there. Just hand him over and we can put all this behind us!”
I waited for him to fini
sh his rant and then addressed the door calmly.
“Sonny isn’t available right now,” I called. “I’ll be happy to relay your message and concerns.”
“What? You think this is some kind of fucking joke? You tell Sonny to get out here now! I don’t care if he walked away from us four years ago. Once you’re a Red Tiger, you’re a Tiger for life!”
So that was how Sonny knew so much about them.
“Again, I’ll pass it along.”
I saw Luke and John come into the hallway and waved them back out of sight. Leaving my position by the door, I stealthily made my way to them.
“We could have a problem here, guys,” I said quietly. “Go check the truck in the alley, very carefully, to see if they’re watching it. If it’s clear, get everybody loaded up as quickly as possible. Grab my stuff if you can. Are all the bombs done?”
“We still got, like, three to do,” Luke said.
“Alright, make sure some of them are packed up in the cab. Luke, you ride up front with me,” I said. “You can finish the last few on the road.”
“What are you going to do?” John asked.
“Stay and watch the door, of course,” I replied. “Come right back if it’s being watched. Otherwise, get everybody loaded ASAP and send someone back to get me.”
“Okay, we’re on it,” John said. I watched as he and Luke turned and hurried back down the hall. Turning back to the door, I brought the Chinese assault rifle up to my shoulder and waited.
Only a couple of minutes passed before the banging started on the door again. I could hear more shouting too, but couldn’t make out any of the actual words from this distance, although I got the impression that Chen was quickly running out of patience.
Then I heard the sound of breaking glass, and door’s safety glass bowed inwards. It held for two more hard blows and, on the fourth blow, glass and wire flew into the hall. The end of an aluminum baseball bat was thrust through the window and ran around the edges to knock off any remaining shards of glass. An arm came through, reaching down for the push bar to open the door. I squeezed the trigger.
My selector was set correctly this time, and my aim was better as the assault rifle fired three quick bursts. All three warning shots hit the wall beside the door. The arm disappeared immediately and, a second later, I ducked back around the corner as a barrage of small arms fire came through the doors. I had been shooting at the doors from an angle, so none of the return fire came anywhere near my position.
“They coming in?” Luke said, as he came jogging up to the corner.
“Soon, I think.” I looked back around the corner. There was no movement.
“Is everybody loaded and ready?”
“Yeah,” Luke said.
He pulled a toner cartridge from his pocket and I could see it had one of the blasting caps taped to it, about a foot of fuse coming from the top of the cap.
“I say we light this bad boy and slide it down the hall,” Luke said. “I bet it’ll give them a hell of a surprise.”
I saw another shadow at the window. They obviously assumed whoever was on the other side was dead or had run off. The arm came through the window again, scrabbling blindly for the bar that would open it.
“Do it and let’s beat feet,” I said.
I watched as he lit the fuse with a lighter and slid the toner cartridge down the hall toward the door. It came to rest against the wall just a few feet shy of the door, the fuse still sputtering.
“Come on,” I said, and we ran down the hall. Luke was right on my heels and we were about halfway down the hall when we heard the ink bomb go off behind us. We had no way of knowing if it had hurt, or even slowed down, any of the Tigers, but the sound of the explosion gave my heart a quick jolt of excitement. I felt a strange elation and suddenly understood the term ‘adrenalin junkie.’
15
The cloying fog still lay thickly about the alley as Luke and I hurried to the truck. We checked the back to make sure everybody was inside and ready. They had done a good job of packing; boxes of gear had been stacked up and strapped against the side walls. It would offer little protection in the event of an all-out attack, but might protect against a stray bullet here and there.
Someone had the good sense to hang ropes from the metal meshing that lined the roof of the cargo bay, and Sonny was directing everybody to wrap the ropes around their wrists and grip them to offer some stability against the movement of the truck. I gave him the thumbs up before we pulled down the door and secured it.
Luke and I rushed to the cab where Indigo was already waiting for us. Being a local, she volunteered to navigate us out of the city in place of the injured Sonny. She moved to the middle and Luke and I climbed in on either side of her. She looked nervous, gripping the revolver I had given her tightly, as if she was ready to use it at any second.
“I haven’t spotted anyone,” she said, indicating the end of the alleyway in the distance. “But you better hurry.”
“Good idea,” I said.
I started the truck with the intention of letting it warm up for a few minutes, but my hand was forced when someone appeared briefly at the end of the foggy alley. He took one look and then ran out of sight, presumably to go and tell Chen of our impending escape.
I gunned the engine and the truck lurched forward. I’m embarrassed to say I took out a few garbage bins along the way and, at one point, the wing mirror on the passenger side scraped along the brick wall as we barreled down the alley.
I didn’t know whether there would be Tigers waiting for us at the end of the alley or not, but I knew I wouldn’t be stopping if they were stupid enough to try and block our escape by standing in the way. I slowed only slightly as we approached the mouth of the alley.
“Turning right is the quickest way to get to a freeway,” Indigo said. Her voice was high pitched with tension.
“I know, but that’ll take us right past the front door,” I replied. “They’ll shoot at us for sure, and from that range they won’t miss.”
“Left, then, and around the block,” she suggested. I nodded and took my foot off the brake pedal.
The truck was speeding up again when a figure appeared out of the fog to the right. It was Chen. His right hand and the sleeve of his jacket were covered in black ink. I didn’t have time to gloat because that same ink-covered hand was holding a handgun, which he was calmly raising toward us. My eyes met his and I saw him bare his teeth as he began firing at the truck. I flinched and we all ducked.
He was either a bad shot, or he wasn’t aiming directly at us and was trying to disable the truck. The passenger side window was shattered by one of the rounds, and the others thudded into the door. I steered the truck straight at him and he jumped out of the way as Luke stuck his crossbow out of the shattered window and fired off one shot.
The truck lurched as I turned left and accelerated down the street and away from the leader of the Tigers. I don’t know if Luke’s shot was true or not. By the time I checked the rearview mirror, Chen was lost in the fog behind us.
“Everybody up here all right?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Luke said, brushing broken glass off his shoulder and legs to the floor. “Looks like the printer paper armor worked great.”
“Indigo?”
“Yes, I am all right,” she said, her voice solemn. “Without a window, this is going to be a cold ride, I’m afraid.”
“Turn the heat up. It might help some. Luke, keep a watch behind us. I’m going to drive around randomly for a while in case we are being chased.”
“No problem, man,” Luke said, his eyes glued to the passenger side mirror. He reached out and adjusted it so he could see out of it better, although it made it just about useless to me as a driving aid.
We hurtled through the fog, although perhaps the term hurtled is a little ambitious. On a brumous day like that one, doing 30 miles an hour was pushing it. Brumous? Oh yeah, that’s one of my favorite words. It’s one I learned when I was reading dictionar
ies and thesauruses for fun, back when I was a kid. Nerdy, huh? Well, blame my Mom. She was an English teacher. Anyway, it means ‘of gray skies and winter days; filled with heavy clouds or fog’ – cold, sunless weather, in other words.
Throw in the snow and ice, and the day we left the academy sure fits that definition; in fact, it could well be the most brumous of all the brumous days I have ever experienced.
After making random rights and lefts for 10 or 12 blocks, there were still no signs of pursuit and I was becoming thoroughly lost. The truck’s CB had sputtered a few times, but it appeared the Chinese were not talking too much that morning either, probably waiting for the fog to burn off, I guessed. Finally, I stopped the truck at an intersection.
“I think that’s enough weaving to throw them off the scent. Which way from here, Indigo?”
She took a few moments to take in our surroundings. “Um, if you make a U-turn and go back to the last intersection, turn left there and it’ll put you on Park Avenue. That should take us all the way north out of the city before it meets up with I-190.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said, putting the truck in drive and pulling forward and to the right. A U-turn was impossible, so I stopped again and put it in reverse, doing a three point turn in the middle of the intersection. “Let’s get this party started.”
To be honest, I was glad Indigo was the one who sat in front to give directions. Just having her sitting near me up in the cab made me feel good inside, sort of warm and fuzzy, even though it was damn cold with Luke’s window busted out. I was surprised to even be thinking about girls, considering how much danger we were in.
We found Park Avenue easily enough, exactly where Indigo said it would be, and I turned in the direction she indicated. The further north we went, the thicker the fog became, to the point where I could barely make out the buildings along the street. I had to slow down considerably just in case we came across any abandoned cars in the road ahead. With the visibility so poor, I wouldn’t be able to stop in time, even going as slow as 25 miles an hour.
The After Days Trilogy Page 16