Five bullets had stopped just short of puncturing through the metal while a couple more gave glancing blows that still dented the shield quite a bit. Chris lowered the shield and steadied his balance on the ladder. Then he widened his eyes to take in every detail of the lock and swung the shield up without holding an ounce of strength back. The metal on metal hurt his ears and his arm tingled from the hit. A quick glance showed him a small indentation in the lock and a large crumpling of the metal edge on the shield. He hit it again with the same marginal progress.
Then Johnykin and Frank whipped around from their steady gaze at Chris’s work back to the stairwell. Chris looked also to see the pile of computer debris shift. He immediately went back to the lock and hit it again. Frank and Johnykin kept watching the inevitable and stepped slowly backwards to get as close to the ladder as they could without interfering with Chris’s increasingly frantic swinging.
Chris’s arm ached and the sweat dripped into his eyes, still he could see the old lock slowly succumbing to his relentless battery. The shield was now splitting around the edges and generally falling apart in his hand.
More rumbling and shifting of plastics from the stairwell urged Chris on. They had to get out now. Erik and his man had less than fifty yards to get to them. Johnykin bumped into Chris’s leg. He stopped to look down. Johnykin and Frank were transfixed on the emerging hands and then head of Erik. Chris gave the now deformed shield hanging limply on his arm a prayer before throwing it again at the lock.
The force of the last blow severed the lock. Chris quickly shifted the dilapidated shield to the arm hooked around the ladder rung. His now free arm grabbed the lever to open the hatch, but he couldn’t get a grip. The metal from the shield shredded the top of his hand and knuckles. The blood had spread all over his palm and down his arm.
Chris jumped down and said, “Johnykin open it.”
She saw the blood and climbed up. Johnykin tugged on the lever and it moved freely. She pushed the hatch open and climbed up. Frank followed as Chris stood watching the stairwell. Erik had his torso clear of the rubble and he stared down the room at Chris. Then Erik looked down to his waist and pulled up a gun. Chris jumped out of his trance. He turned back to the ladder. Frank and Johnykin were looking down and yelling at Chris to hurry. He slung the shield over his back as gunfire echoed across the second floor. The shots missed and Chris climbed, careful not to lose his grip with the blood-slicked hand.
Frank held one arm down to help and Johnykin copied him. Two more rungs and he could reach up to them. Another gunshot echoed and then pain. The bullet hit. Chris looked down to see the damage he felt in his leg. A golf ball size of skin and muscle was missing. Then the blood pumped out and trickled down to his shoe. Chris pulled the injured leg from the rung to hang loose. He didn’t want to bring it back and put pressure on it, but he had to get to the roof.
Chris had to move. He couldn’t wait with Erik now running towards the ladder. Johnykin and Frank’s arms reached down further. Chris gripped the ladder as tight as his hands could get and skipped up to the next rung with his good leg. It worked until his bloodied hand slipped, but he was far enough for Frank to grab hold. Frank pulled his arm to a point where Johnykin could grab the other just as another gunshot blasted through the air.
Frank and Johnykin heaved Chris on to the gravel rooftop. The tiny pebbles immediately stuck to Chris’s open wound causing even more pain. Once on their feet, Johnykin and Frank pulled Chris’s arms over their shoulders. The three of them hobbled along to the edge of the rooftop opposite the access hatch they just came from and the one Erik would be coming out too.
Overhead flew a news helicopter. It reminded Chris about the original plan. They hadn’t checked to see if the video loop played. At the end of the roof, Chris pulled his phone out. Frank followed his lead while Johnykin supported Chris and watched. They tapped the internet browser and immediately it popped up.
“Try an app. Try FaceBook,” said Chris.
“It’s running,” said Frank. He smiled but reluctantly as if not to jinx the success.
Johnykin squeezed Chris’s shoulder. He smiled too and felt the pain of everything fall away. Johnykin squeezed him again. Chris looked up and saw her staring straight ahead. It was Erik. Chris knew it before looking for himself.
Erik stepped out cautiously onto the rooftop with his gun ready, expecting an ambush. Right behind him was the last of the henchmen. Erik noticed the helicopter too and lowered his gun as he walked over to Chris, Frank, and Johnykin still dressed up in their Greek armor.
“Do you really want the world to see you like this?” asked Erik, pointing at the tarnished metal.
“They've already seen who we really are,” said Chris, and he held up his phone.
A confused look touched Erik's face for the briefest of moments but with the swipe of his arm a confident smile took its place. The movement also allowed the black bag hanging across his back to be positioned into his hand for a bolder sight.
“They see whatever I tell them to see,” said Erik. He pulled his phone from the bag and stared a moment. “Although that's not what I would've preferred, I can work around it. It doesn’t change the past. You can’t stop what I’ve done.” He put the phone away.
“I’m not changing anything. I just can see it now. It’s like a rerun,” said Chris.
“Did you see this coming?” said Erik, and pulled out another item from the black bag; the bomb he had promised existed back at the lobby. Chris had never seen one in real life but it looked straight out of a movie. There were four steel pipes wrenched together with end caps screwed on, along with four wire fuses connected to a small, plastic trigger case. It fit in Erik’s hand like an oversized ballpark hotdog.
“Really, Erik?” said Frank. “You're in plain sight. We're only two stories up and there's a crowd and helicopter watching all of this.”
“Didn't you just hear me?” said Erik. “I’m fucking awesome. I control everything here. Just like I'm going to control you're fate right now. I'm going to set this bomb off right where you're standing and poof; I go and find three new Supers. Excuse me. One Super and two sidekicks.”
Knowing full well what oncoming pain would occur, Chris shrugged off Johnykin to put his weight on the bullet torn leg while simultaneously bringing the shield from his back to his hand. It was a last ditch effort that Chris knew had the smallest chance to succeed but he stepped back and flung the shield with the little strength left in him at Erik.
Everyone watched as the wind cut through the holes and shredded metal to send the shield wobbling placidly to Erik’s feet. The henchman and Erik burst out with a small fit of hysterics before Erik kicked the shield out of his path with an even slimier smile than any he wore before.
Chris regrouped on Johnykin's shoulder and said, “There're too many witnesses today and too many who have seen the truth on that video. You're bluffing worse than I did, Erik. You can't clean up this big of a mess.”
“I cleaned up the mess in Syria. That was pretty damn big, and guess what? I found a replacement for Klaus too,” said Erik and he gestured to the remaining henchman to his side. “Everybody wants to be a Super. And everybody wants to believe in Supers. That’s why I’ve won.”
“Enjoy it,” said Chris. Then he turned with Johnykin to face the open space at the edge of the roof. He grabbed Frank’s arm to spin him around and spoke to the pair, “Come on. We’re leaving.”
Chris looked down at the concrete walkway below. There was no soft landing spot. The crowds across the street exuded varying noises of excitement, confusion, shock, worry, and a number of other mixed emotions at the sight of the three armor wearing, pretend Supers poised to jump off a rooftop.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” said Erik. “There’s no net. You’re gonna break your legs.” Erik’s mind quickly ran through the possibility of what their jump would mean and shouted, “No!” before throwing the bomb at them.
As the bomb arced t
hrough the air and Erik’s voice faded in frustration, Chris linked his arms in to Frank and Johnykin’s, bent his knees, and leapt. The world froze…
Then gravity pulled Chris, Johnykin, and Frank’s stomachs up into their chests while pushing the rest of their bodies back to Earth. The unforgiving concrete did exactly as Erik stated. It snapped the tibia and fibula in Frank’s right leg. Johnykin’s ankles rolled underneath her with a pop and forced an abrupt stop with her wrists, which also popped in an awful fashion. Chris instinctively turned his weight onto the leg that wasn’t missing skin and muscle and the concrete respected his decision by breaking the femur of that good leg in half.
Luckily the helmets saved them from any head trauma, although it might have been best to remain unconscious at this point with the amount of pain signals going off in their brains. But through the blinding waves of hurt Chris saw the flames and smoke rising in the air on the roof they just abandoned. It was hard to tell the damage the bomb did to the building, but Chris was sure it would have done more to them than what they were going through now.
Then the sirens came blaring against their eardrums. The emergency response waited just out of reach of a larger range explosion and rushed over only after the bomb went off. Chris didn’t try to move and he could feel Frank and Johnykin next to him keeping just as still.
The first paramedic ran up to them, “Damn that was stupid.” He forced Chris’s eyelids open and then began on the gunshot. Four more medics stomped over to attend them. In under a minute, Chris was on a gurney. He looked over to see Johnykin and Frank getting the same treatment.
Frank still didn’t say anything, but Chris knew he would hear it all later.
Johnykin didn’t say anything either, but Chris caught a smile through the tears rushing down her cheeks on her way into another ambulance. Chris was pushed into the last one. He knew this was how it worked. He had to be treated in a hospital, but so much of him just wanted to go home.
The medic moved around the cabin, securing the gurney and adjusting equipment. Then he sat down next to Chris and attached an IV to his arm.
“You look dashing and all, but I’ve got to take this stuff off,” said the medic and before Chris could respond the medic peeled off the helmet and armor.
“Save that for me,” said Chris.
“No problem, dude. So I just watched the video. That was you guys, huh? It’s still running.”
“Good.”
“I can’t believe they would do that. I’m not like a conspiracy theorist or anything but that’s just crazy. Are you feeling the morphine? What do you think you’re pain level is on a scale of one to ten with ten being unbearable.”
“It’s working,” said Chris. He wanted to close his eyes again and sleep through it all.
“Uh uh. Gotta stay awake. And I need a number. You look like a five right now. Just nod if you agree.”
Chris nodded and kept his eyes open. The medic gave a hand signal to the driver who shifted them in gear. The movement lessened the effect of the drug, but Chris still felt great when thinking on how beat up he was.
“Can you call my wife?” Chris looked to his hip.
“No problem.” The medic pulled the phone out of the pouch on Chris’s side and deftly scrolled through the recent calls. “Is it Sadie? She’s on here a lot.”
“Yep.”
The medic pressed the name, hit the speaker button, and placed the phone on Chris’s chest. The phone rang and the medic turned to check on some more equipment. It continued to ring and Chris thought she wasn’t going to pick up until her voice crackled through the tiny speaker.
“Chris? Oh my God, where are you? The TV and internet are back up, but it’s a video. Did you do that?”
“I’m in an ambulance. We’re heading to…”
“St. Thomas General,” said the medic, pretending to work on something all the while.
“What happened?” asked Sadie.
“Erik came after us. And a whole lot of shit happened.”
The medic chuckled.
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll talk to you at the hospital. I love you.”
Sadie paused on the other line. Chris could see the anger rising up in her cheeks at not knowing what was going on right now but she hid it, “I love you too. I’ll see you soon. I love you again.”
“Love you again too. Bye.”
“Bye.”
The medic stopped to grab the phone off Chris’s chest and put it back. Then he looked at Chris warily to see if it was worth pushing. “I saw a tank coming up the road too. Is it for real?”
Chris laughed a little before answering. “I wish it wasn’t.”
“Crazy.” The medic shook his head to force out the difficult thinking involved with making sense of what was right in front of him.
Chris kept his eyes on the ceiling of the ambulance trying not to think as well.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chris’s cast itched like hell but he kept telling himself it was all in his head. The nurse told him his family would be in shortly and then the police for questioning. The thought of the police getting involved sounded ridiculous to Chris. It was more likely the FBI or another agency in the government should come knocking. But it didn’t matter right now. Chris couldn’t wait to see Sadie, Louise, and Gerry walk through the door. He would then know they were somewhat safe.
The door knob jiggled and the door opened slightly. After a quick pause something hit the door to swing it wide open. Frank moved inside the room awkwardly with crutches. Just behind him were Gail and Simone.
“Oh my God, Frank. You can let me get the door for you,” said Gail. “Hey, Chris.”
Chris’s face wasn’t exactly ecstatic to see them.
“Don’t worry. They’re right behind us. The security here’s a bitch to get through,” said Frank.
Seconds after the Janson family settled into the room the door swung open with even more force. Sadie rushed into the room followed closely by Gerry. “Where’s Loui —“
Johnykin rolled in next in a wheelchair pushed by Louise.
Chris tried to sit up to greet them but Sadie jumped on top of him in the tightest hug she had ever gripped him with. The embrace tiptoed on the line between pain and pleasure. Sadie’s decision didn’t take into consideration Chris’s two injured legs, but he wasn’t anywhere close to being ready to let go.
“Alright, already. There’re kids in the room,” said Frank.
Sadie forced herself away and Louise and Gerry took her place. Chris wanted to jump into the story of the past day and all that happened to lead up to being in a hospital bed, but Frank interrupted again.
“They took the video down,” said Frank, and turned on the TV. “President’s going to address it soon.”
All of them looked on silently at the TV as a commercial ran for a local car dealership. After it was finished a familiar sitcom started. They relaxed and looked around the room for something to distract them from waiting.
“I need a new truck,” said Frank to no one.
Chris ignored the comment and squeezed Sadie’s hand to gain her attention. She smiled and cried a little at the gesture. “I wanted to tell —“
The TV cut away from the original programming to a live reporter who garnered everyone’s eyes. “We are getting notification from the White House that the president is ready to deliver his statement on the video feed from earlier today.”
The news reporter cut away to the East Room and a podium with the presidential seal emblazoned across. Down a red carpet in deliberate strides of confidence the President made his way to speak to the nation. He turned at the podium keeping his eyes down on his position before standing tall and raising his head to look directly into the camera.
“My fellow Americans, most of you had firsthand experience with the video that hijacked certain internet lines and television feeds this morning but others still remain in the shadows. In brief, the video depicted one of our countries
newest additions, the Supers, as fakes or an elaborate lie concocted through the use of computer graphics and Hollywood filmmaking techniques. The video also went on to show documents and various pieces of evidence to this effect in a continuous visual loop. As I am your president I feel it is my duty to mend these idle dreams so that everyone may wake up to the truth. This video and the evidence it proclaimed about our Supers is a fake itself —
The End
About the Author
Casey Peterson is a first time author with the publishing of this ebook, Just Another Job. When he’s not writing his next novel, he’s probably still working at his day job of a junior high teacher. Beyond the work day, he can’t get enough time to read, or make Lego creation and race cars with his two boys. Read Casey’s Smashwords Interview at http://www.smashwords.com/interview/Capeterson1524
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