On The Run

by Scott Medbury

  AMERICA FALLS

  Episode 2

  On the Run

  Scott Medbury

  Copyright © 2018 Scott Medbury

  Formerly published as part two of Volume 1 of After Days Series.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  All characters and events depicted in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  PART ONE

  GET OUT

  1

  Sonny pulled the truck to a jerking halt in the middle of the road and slumped over the wheel.

  “Oh shit…” Luke said, a hand on Sonny’s shoulder. “Isaac, can you drive? I haven’t really driven…”

  “I don’t know if I could drive this,” I said, hiding my surprise that Luke, usually so self-confident was perhaps afraid of driving. “I only learned to drive my foster parent’s car after the Flu.”

  “You’ll have to,” Sonny said, weakly. “It’s auto…”

  He struggled to sit up straight and then put the shifter into park before leaning drunkenly over Luke.

  “Isaac, go...” said my friend, a hint of panic in his voice.

  He shuffled across the seat toward me and eased Sonny out of the driver’s seat; as soon as he was away from the door I saw the bullet hole in it. It had obviously been fired as we fled and from the dark stain on his jacket, had hit Sonny in the side. As much as I didn’t want to drive the truck, I wasn’t going to argue while the guy who had rescued us from the Chinese army was sitting there with a gunshot wound.

  I opened my door and jumped out, slamming it behind me before running around the front of the truck and ripping open the driver’s side door. The seat where Sonny had been sitting was splattered with blood. I climbed in and closed the door. Sonny was next to me, resting against Luke.

  “Hold pressure on it here,” Sonny told Luke in a matter of fact way. “I’ve lost enough blood to feel lightheaded, but I think if we can stem the bleeding I’ll be okay. It seems to have passed all the way through ... but ... I don’t think it’s hit anything vital ...”

  He closed his eyes.

  “Drive!” Luke roared at me.

  I put the truck into drive and started down the street. Thank God it was an automatic. I was afraid to drive too fast because of the ice but I found that the truck wasn’t really any more difficult to drive than Eleanor’s Honda. I thought about continuing the evasive route that Sonny had been following, but I was worried it would take too much time. I certainly didn’t want him to bleed to death while I was meandering around Worcester.

  With that in mind, I decided to head straight back to the academy as soon as I came to a cross street I recognized. It took us a good 20 minutes before we finally pulled the truck into the alley near the side door. Ben and Brooke were standing by the door waiting for us when we arrived, along with Karen. My heart sank as I remembered Arthur.

  Although he was pretty out of it, Sonny came to when we pulled him as gently as possible from the truck. We were surrounded by the rest of our group as we laid him on a pile of folded up practice mats just inside the door. Looking around at the concerned faces, I saw Karen trying to catch my eye. I wouldn’t meet her intense gaze though; instead I looked quickly down at Sonny before she could ask the inevitable question. Thankfully none of the others seemed to notice Arthur’s absence… yet.

  In a pained voice, Sonny ordered John to go and get the bottle of vodka he kept in the bottom drawer of his desk and the superglue in the drawer above it. I had no idea what he planned to do and, in truth, I am somewhat ashamed to admit I was spending as much time finding ways to avoid looking at Karen as I did worrying about Sonny. I took it for granted, I think, that Sonny would be okay.

  “Help me hold him down,” Luke said, giving me a tap on the shoulder. “Everyone else just stand back a little, please. When we clean the wound it’s going to hurt like hell.”

  “Alright, I’ll get his shoulders,” I replied, less distracted now as I shuffled around.

  “Help me sit up,” Sonny grunted. “Give me some of that to drink before you pour it on the wound. It’ll help dull the pain, you know?”

  “Sure,” I helped Sonny lift his head and shoulders and allowed him to prop himself up against me. He grimaced in pain.

  “You’ll be okay,” I said to him as he took the bottle from Luke. “After we patch up the holes, you can get some rest. You’ll be good as new in no time.” Sonny’s body tensed and shuddered as he swallowed a couple of good-sized gulps of the vodka.

  Of course, I had no idea if he would be okay and wondered if my words sounded as hollow to him as they did to me.

  “Let’s get this over with,” he said through gritted teeth and handed the bottle back to Luke. “Pour it on.”

  Sonny’s cry echoed throughout the academy.

  Luke applied superglue to the sterilized and surprisingly neat wounds, entry and exit, and sealed them closed. I had no idea superglue could be used that way but, as he worked, Luke told us superglue was originally created for just these sorts of situations.

  Strangely enough, he also said tampons had been created during World War I, originally designed as wound bandages because of their ability to soak up copious amounts of blood. They hadn’t become a feminine hygiene product until later after the war when there was a huge surplus. His educational banter seemed to calm everyone and, once again, I was grateful I hadn’t set out alone all those days ago.

  “You’ll probably have hellacious scars,” he said to Sonny as he blew on the exit wound to dry the glue quicker. “But there shouldn’t be much else in the way of complications unless the bullet hit something important on its way through.”

  “Do you want us to move you someplace more comfortable?” I asked Sonny.

  “I think I’m good here for now,” he slurred, waving his hand weakly in my direction. “Have somebody bring me a blanket, and make sure the supplies get loaded on the truck ASAP.” He winced as he pushed himself into a more comfortable position on top of the mats. “Luke, give me what’s left of that bottle ... it’ll help me go to sleep faster.”

  I didn’t know if that was a good idea, given our situation, but I held my tongue. Worst case, between us we could load an unconscious Sonny into the truck without too much of a struggle.

  “Here you go, man,” Luke said, handing him the quarter-full bottle of vodka. “Knock yourself out.”

  I looked at Luke, wondering if he’d been trying to make a joke, but he looked serious enough. Now that Sonny was out of action, I took charge again. Time was all important. We only had a small window in which to make our escape.

  “Okay, Ben, why don’t you, Brooke, and Allie start loading up some food, while John and Samara gather blankets and bedding. Luke, you and Mark set up a mat for Sonny in the back of the truck.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait ‘til he’s recovered?” Mark asked. “Isn’t the plan for him to drive? So in case their soldiers sees us, we’ll have a Chinese man driving?”

  “Well, he’s in no shape to drive, as you saw, and we can’t afford to wait ... looks like I’m going to be the one driving. We just have to hope the Chinese Army doesn’t get a good look at me and I don’t crash on the first corner.”

  No one laughed at my attempted humor.

  I looked around at every single one of them, my eyes lingering on Karen for a moment before I moved on.

  “If what Sonny’s contact told him is correct, we need
to get out of here by tomorrow, and with the Tigers stirred up, time is even more vital, whether Sonny’s in condition to drive or not.” I paused for a moment longer and then told them about the conversation I overheard the night before.

  “So, what do you want me to do?” Indigo said. “You gave everybody else jobs, but not me.”

  “I was hoping you would stay here and watch over Sonny,” I said, turning to look at her. “Make sure he stays warm and comfortable.”

  “Alright, I guess I can handle that,” she replied.

  “Thanks,” I said, before turning my gaze back to Karen. I felt a lump in my throat and sick to my stomach, but I knew what I had to do. “Karen, can I talk to you for a sec up in Sonny’s office? Privately?”

  “It’s Arthur isn’t it? Just tell me what happened. He’s dead, isn’t he?” she blurted.

  With the subject broached, the questions came fast and furious from her mouth and the others in the room began to disperse, discomfort clear on their faces.

  “Please, Karen, let’s just talk in the office.”

  Tears welled in her eyes and her shoulders slumped in resignation. We didn’t talk as we took the long walk from the alley door to Sonny’s office at the other end of the building.

  How am I going to tell her? Was the question running through my head. I knew, of course, I was going to have to tell her the truth.

  How I was going to tell it to her, that was a different story altogether. What I was really asking myself was what form of the truth was I going to tell her? The question of exactly how much responsibility I should take for Arthur’s death was also lurking in the shadowed corners of my mind. When we got to Sonny’s office, I held the door for her and followed her in, closing it gently behind me.

  “What happened?” Her voice trembled slightly, and a solitary tear ran down her cheek. As used to losing people as we had become, the pain was never any less severe. There was a long silence as she wiped the tear away and looked at the floor, trying to contain her grief.

  “Karen, I’m sorry, so ... so sorry,” I said softly. “He had just saved my life and he was fighting to the very end. But one of the Tigers snuck up on us and shot him from a distance. It killed him instantly.”

  “What happened to the Tiger who shot him?” Her voice still trembled, but now I was having trouble distinguishing whether it was from grief or rage.

  “Dead,” I said. “I killed him.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t think…”

  “How!”

  “I shot him in the head.”

  “Good,” she said, simply and walked out.

  2

  The word spread about Arthur’s death and considering the tears and shock, especially of those in Sonny’s original group, everyone did an excellent job getting all the supplies stowed away. It took about two hours to get the truck loaded and we left plenty of room for those that would be riding back there.

  When we had finished loading the truck, I called everybody in for a meeting in the main practice room.

  Sonny was sleeping but seemed to be okay, so I asked Indigo to join us as well. I looked at each of them: John, Karen, Allie, Samara, Mark, Luke, Ben, Brooke, and Indigo. I thought of Arthur and wondered if we would lose any more of them on our trip north to the sanctuary promised by the coded message.

  I knew it was very likely.

  “I wanted to talk to you all about leadership,” I said. “As long as Sonny is down, I think it would be a good idea for us to elect a new leader. Someone who can make decisions for the entire group, especially if and when the shit hits the fan.”

  “Well, you seemed to have put yourself in charge, what with calling this meeting and all, and telling us what to do when we were loading the truck,” Mark said.

  It was said in a matter of fact way, not meanly, but I felt my face flush anyway. When he finished speaking, a confusing babble of voices rose, as everybody started talking all at once.

  “Guys, guys,” Luke said raising his hands. “One at a time.”

  “What’s wrong with democracy?” John asked. “I think we should all get a vote before we do anything as a group.”

  “Normally, I’d agree with you,” I replied. “But there may come a time, sooner or later, when we’ll have to make a decision fast and there won’t be time for a vote. That’s why I want to take a vote now, so when the time comes, we can all agree on whose lead to follow.”

  “Why don’t you be the leader, Isaac?” Brooke asked. “I mean, after all, you’re going to be the one doing the driving. It would be logical for you to be the one to make any quick decisions while we’re travelling.”

  “No, I won’t just take the lead. I’ll accept the responsibility if I’m voted leader, but I’m not going to just claim the position,” I said.

  In truth, the very thought of being leader scared me. I wasn’t certain I was the right man for the job, and being responsible for the well-being of a group of ten was not something I was totally comfortable with.

  “Why don’t we just wait until Sonny wakes up? If he’s too weak to lead us, maybe he has a preference for who should lead us in his place,” Allie said. “After all, before you guys showed up, Arthur was his second in command.”

  “Arthur’s not here,” Karen said, her voice retaining an edge of the cold rage I had heard earlier. “And for all we know, Sonny may never wake up either and even if he does, we have no idea how out of it he’s going to be. Isaac’s right, I say we vote on a new leader, now.”

  “Sonny’s going to be okay, right?” Samara asked, with a slight quaver in her voice. I realized she had not yet contemplated the possibility that our makeshift medical job might not prove up to the task of saving him.

  “Sure he will,” Mark said, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders, casting a wicked glare in Karen’s direction.

  “We’ll have to wait and see,” I said. “But I’m almost sure he will be fine. Right Luke?”

  “Yeah,” said Luke. “I don’t know how the bullet managed to go through him without hitting anything vital, but I’m pretty sure it did. There was no major bleeding, and if it had hit bone I’m pretty sure he would have been in a lot more pain than he was. I’d say he has a decent shot of recovering.”

  “Right, so the main reason I don’t want to wait for him is because I’m worried one of these situations might pop up before he wakes up or is thinking straight enough to decide for us.”

  “Let’s vote then,” Ben said. “How are we going to do it? By secret ballot, raise of hand, ayes or nays?”

  “How about this,” Luke said. “I nominate Isaac. Anybody who wants him to be interim leader, raise your hand.”

  Luke put his own hand up, followed quickly by Ben and Brooke; the rest looked around at each other for a moment before Karen’s hand went up to join in. Indigo was watching me.

  “I see you haven’t voted for yourself,” she said. “Is that because of modesty or fear?”

  “A bit of both,” I answered truthfully. “But I guess if people are willing to follow me, I should be willing to lead.”

  I raised my hand.

  “I think you’ll make an excellent leader,” Indigo said, raising her hand as well. That was a majority, six out of 10.

  “Fine, Isaac can be the temporary leader until Sonny is up and healthy again,” John said, shaking his head and putting up his hand.

  “I still think this is bogus,” Allie muttered, but raised her hand anyway.

  “Looks like it’s official. You’re the boss, Boss,” Luke said, giving me a broad smile. I caught myself wondering if he had nominated me so quick to make sure nobody would put him in the mix as well. Luke was universally well-liked by the people of the academy, as well as by the twins and myself.

  “Fair enough. Thanks guys. Well my first suggestion is that we try to get some rest,” I said. “Sonny was planning on leaving about noon tomorrow, but I think we should get started earlier than that.”

  “I’m going to go ba
ck and check on Sonny,” Indigo said. “Now that the leadership issue is settled, I think the meeting is pretty much over, right?”

  “Yep,” I said. “I’ll go with you.”

  I ignored Luke’s knowing snigger as I ran to catch up with Indigo as she headed for the exit.

  I did want to check on Sonny, but I was also eager to spend more time with Indigo. I figured our wounded leader would sleep most of the night after his trauma and the vodka, so we would probably get the chance to talk a lot more.

  I was embarrassed later, when Luke told me the only person who thought I was doing a good job of hiding the crush I had on Indigo was me. If Indigo knew, she did a good job of playing it cool. She was perfectly nice to me, which only made me like her more, and never gave any indication I was bothering her. I didn’t know if the feelings I had for her would grow into anything more than a crush, but at that time, I was kind of infatuated, and the very fact that she was giving me the time of day made me feel on top of the world, despite all that had happened in the last few hours.

  Sonny was still asleep, as I figured he would be, and we spent the next couple of hours in the hall making small talk while we watched over him. 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 how I would have handled being rebuffed 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 so 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.”

  “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 wants?”