Harper laugh-cried while trying to follow along.
“Ow,” said Renee. “I feel like someone shot me.”
“Someone did shoot you.”
“Oh. That would explain it. Did I die?”
“No?”
“Are you sure?” asked Renee.
“Yep. Pretty sure. I’m standing here talking to you, so you can’t be dead.”
Renee rolled her head toward her and smiled. “But what if you’re dead, too?”
“No fair. I’m not high on… whatever she gave you. No discussion that weird.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“I think someone shot me,” said Renee.
“Maybe the gummi bear exploded.” Harper giggled.
“No. They want my teeth, not my tit.” Renee poked herself. “Ow.”
“Don’t do that.”
“I know. It hurt.” Renee poked her chest again. “Ow.”
“Stop!”
“I don’t like coconuts. I don’t wanna have coconuts. Whoever put coconut in chocolate bars needs to be slapped.”
“Okay. I’ll make sure I never give you coconut stuff.” That shouldn’t be too difficult. Not swimming to Jamaica or whatever to get one.
“Oh, hey.” Renee gazed around. “Are we locked in here? Did they get us?”
Grr. “They’re dead.”
Renee looked up at her, bewildered. “How do you kill a door?”
“What? No… the people who kidnapped you are dead.”
“Oh.” Renee blinked. “That’s good. Did I see it happen?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Good.” Renee nodded—and evidently amused at how it felt to nod, kept on doing it. “Whoa. The world is tumbling.”
Harper put a hand on her friend’s forehead, holding it still.
“You fixed the room. You’re an awesome friend.”
“’Nee, you are astoundingly high right now.” She sigh-smiled at her friend.
The girl looked too thin, and it bothered Harper that ‘too thin’ struck her as normal to see. Odd smears of purple and blue dye marred the last few inches of Renee’s long mouse-brown hair, no doubt something the gang had done to her. Her boots, yoga pants, and skirt looked like normal ‘Renee clothing,’ but she’d probably been wearing them constantly for months. Her T-shirt had been sliced beyond usefulness, though the denim jacket appeared intact, draped over a cabinet nearby.
Harper always thought Renee ‘pretty’ and herself plain. Renee had the same opinion in reverse, always commenting how Harper turned heads but everyone ignored the plain brown-haired girl next door. She looked weary, exactly like Harper felt inside. For as long as she’d known the girl, Renee always had a personality like a little hamster that sensed an eagle right about to dive on her. That easily-startled nature had been the target of endless scare pranks. Renee usually laughed too, once she stopped crying.
“A whole bunch of Army people came and told us we had to leave. It was so loud and everyone yelled. Dunno what I did, but I got separated from the others when something blew up. I ran away like the big chicken I am.” Renee laughed. “You know how you guys always pick on me for being scared of everything.”
“Yeah. But that’s why we love you.”
Renee grinned vapidly. “Hey, there’s a piece of paper on my boobs. Eep! Am I at the dentist?”
“Dr. Hale had to cut your shirt off to fix you. She put it there so you weren’t hanging out.”
“Oh. That’s nice of her. It’s nicer she fixed me.” Renee touched the spot on her chest. “Ow.”
“Stop poking it. You probably have stitches.”
“How bad?”
“I dunno. I wasn’t in here.”
“Look?”
“Umm.”
Renee turned her head. “I don’t wanna see. Please look.”
Harper gingerly lifted the paper, discovering a one-inch long stitched incision at the base of Renee’s left breast. A smaller, L-shaped stitch marked the skin closer to the armpit above the breast. What the heck? Two holes? “Umm, just small cuts. Looks good.” She lowered the paper.
“Those guys caught me. They locked me in a bedroom and—.”
“I… don’t need details.”
Renee sniffled. “I gotta tell someone… and you’re my best friend.”
Harper cringed, nodded, and let out a long, slow sigh. “Okay.”
Renee described being kept in a locked bedroom for the first few days with some other women. Eventually, they ‘assigned’ her to a husband and moved her to a different locked room she had all to herself. The whole time she’d been with the Lawless, they constantly pawed at her or taunted her with guns. Mostly, they left her confined in a room alone for several weeks until they decided she was too terrified to attempt running away, then only locked her in at night. They started bringing her along on ‘exploration teams’ during the day. Though they gave her a gun to carry, she’d never used it. Other than taunting her for being scared of everything, they didn’t punish her for hiding whenever the shooting started. She described the gang as being ‘relatively nice’ to her since she’d been too chicken to do anything but what they told her to. Other people, men as well, had the crap beat out of them for attempting to escape or not following orders. Some died.
She didn’t say anything about being molested… She should be an absolute wreck right now. Did she repress it, or did she deal with it? No… no one can ‘deal with’ something like that. I want to wrap her in packing foam and keep her safe. “You’re gonna come back and stay with us, okay? You won’t have to worry about anything.” We can probably squeeze another small bed into our room. She’s not going to fit in ours.
“Cool.” Renee smiled. “Hey, there’s paper on my boobs.”
“Umm…” Harper looked off to the side, tears gathering to fall. “Did they… umm… Were you… assaulted?”
“You mean did they make me have sex?” asked Renee, her tone almost giggly due to the drugs.
Harper squeezed her hand.
“No. Almost happened, but I lied. Told them I was only fourteen.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I told them.” Renee nodded. “Darci always teased me for havin’ small boobs. But they helped. They thought I was fourteen an’ didn’t make me sleep with anyone. One guy was going to, but this other dude Benny beat the hell out of him. I was scared Benny would find out I lied and be mad at me.”
“Well, technically, we are underage…”
“Yeah, but I’m not fourteen.” She counted on her fingers. “I’m only underage by five months, unless you’re talking about drinking.”
“I’m really… totally shocked—but thrilled—they waited.” Harper fidgeted at the conflict raging inside her head… hearing that made it harder to arbitrarily hate everyone wearing a blue sash. More accurately, it made it impossible to arbitrarily shoot anyone in a blue sash. She still hated them to the last for what they did to her parents—or what they’d do to innocent people they captured.
Renee resumed endlessly nodding. “Yeah. Surprised me, too.”
“Stop.” Harper put a hand on her friend’s head to hold it still again. “Don’t do that. You’ll break your neck.”
“I’m already in a hospital. Why are the lights off? Oh… wait. I remember.” She sighed, blowing the paper off her chest. “Oops.”
Harper caught it and put it back.
“Thanks. So, yeah, they believed I was too young. They assigned me to this guy, and he even made this countdown calendar for the day I turned sixteen. He maybe wouldn’t have waited the whole time. But he’d a’ gotten in trouble if he didn’t.”
“Savages,” muttered Harper.
“Why are you in Denver? You gotta get out. It’s not safe here.”
“I did get out. We came back for medicine.” Harper explained her journey to Evergreen, meeting Cliff and Jonathan, having to join the militia, and so on. “The same bastards who kidnapped you ki
lled Mom and Dad.”
Renee burst into tears. “Harp… I’m so sorry. Your parents were really cool people.”
They held each other for a few minutes, crying and reminiscing about some of the ‘awesome things’ her parents had done over the years, like going all out on a Middle Earth-themed birthday party for Harper when she turned twelve.
“Oh, shit!” Renee sat up fast, causing the paper to slide down into her lap. She stared at Harper with a horrified expression as though an axe murderer stood behind her.
“What?” Harper spun, saw nothing there, and whirled back to her friend. “What’s wrong?”
“I forgot to study for that physics exam. I’m gonna fail.”
Harper shook her head rapidly, unsure if she’d really heard that. “What?”
“What?” asked Renee.
Harper gently pushed her back down and pulled the paper back over her chest. “Study for a physics test? Are you serious or are you messing with me?”
“Neither.” She laughed. “I’m high.”
33
Wrath
Clattering echoed in the hallway.
Harper swung the shotgun off her shoulder and pointed it at the doorway. She felt like a piece of crap for taking cover behind the surgical table with Renee on it, so stepped around it. Sure, that put her right out in the open, but she would rather use her body to protect her friend than hide behind her.
“It’s us,” said Cliff. “Please don’t give me a buckshot enema.”
Whew. Harper relaxed. “Clear.”
Cliff pushed a gurney into the room and pulled another.
A trickle of gunfire went off outside, close.
“Crap. Is that what I think it is?” asked Harper.
“Yeah. Anna, Raf, and Tegan are lobbing slugs back and forth with some locals. We got a whole bunch of meds loaded, but it is time to go.” Cliff picked Zach up like a rag doll and set him on one gurney with somewhat more care than moving a crash dummy. He scooped Renee up far more gently and eased her onto the second gurney.
The girl laughed when the paper flew off her chest.
Harper grabbed the denim jacket and covered her with it like a blanket.
“Lay your weapon on top of her and push from the end.” Cliff dropped his AR on Zach and pushed him out into the hall. “Right there if you need it. Faster than straps. C’mon. Move.”
Harper set the shotgun on the gurney beside Renee, grabbed the rail at the end and shoved, grunting from the weight. Once she got it rolling, keeping pace didn’t take too much effort, but steering proved a challenge due to inertia. Renee caromed off cabinets, other gurneys, and the wall a dozen times as they went down the hall, around a corner, and down a long ramp to the emergency arrival area.
Rafael had the van backed up to the doors like an ambulance. He took cover behind the driver-side door, firing an M-16 at someone down the street to the left. Annapurna aimed around the nose end, also sending lead down the street. Tegan crouched low on the passenger side, pointing an AK47 to the right, but appeared to be watching for threats rather than actively engaging anyone in a shootout.
A giant mound of boxes, white bottles, and supply bags took up about three-quarters of the cargo space, packed to the ceiling.
“Think I can ram the van hard enough to throw him in?” asked Cliff.
“Umm…”
“Tempting, but I’m joking.” Cliff pulled that gurney around to the side door, then shoved Zach onto the bench seat.
“Wow. What did Tegan give him that he’s still out cold and Renee’s awake.”
“Gummi bears?” asked Renee.
“Not all the way awake,” muttered Harper while pushing the gurney up to the rear bumper.
Renee sat up, gasping in pain. “Oh, ow. It hurts.”
“Stop moving.”
“I don’t wanna get shot again.” Renee rolled over onto all fours and crawled off her jacket into the van.
A loud clank announced a bullet hitting the van somewhere out of sight. Cliff recovered his AR, kicked the empty gurney away, and jumped into the van.
Harper grabbed the jacket and threw it at Renee before shoving the second gurney back into the hospital, climbing in, and slamming the rear doors.
Cliff leaned between the front seats, taking aim out the driver’s door window. Three seconds later, he fired. The loud report of the shot pounded the air and made Harper’s left ear start hurting again. Since the battle appeared to be spanning at least a 200-yard stretch of road, her shotgun wouldn’t help. She curled up on the floor and covered her ears, hoping she wouldn’t go deaf for good.
“Nice. Been tryin’ to nail that slippery bastard forever,” said Rafael.
“Time to go!” shouted Cliff.
Rafael scrambled into the driver’s seat and wedged his M-16 between the seat and center console, pointing straight up. Cliff kept aiming out the window behind Rafael’s head, popping off intermittent shots at the Lawless in the distance, keeping them pinned. Tegan jumped in the side door. Renee finally appeared to realize what the object in her lap was, and put her jacket on… though she forgot to zip it. As soon as Annapurna darted away from the front and leapt up to sit beside Zach, Tegan slid the side door shut and Rafael hit the gas. Hard acceleration into a right turn tossed Harper against the stack of medical supplies.
Once the shooting stopped, she let go of her ears and sat up. A huge white plastic bottle full of pills bounced off her head. “Ow. She rubbed the spot, raising her arms to shield from a few more that fell on the next turn. “Wow. This is a lot of meds. Surprised it was still here.”
“Most of the stuff I expected would still be there was. Unfortunately, anything that required refrigeration is shot. Still, this trip was worth it.” She chuckled. “We’ve probably got over a million dollars of medicine.”
“That much?” asked Cliff. “Damn…”
“Well, not really.” Tegan smirked. “That’s just what they charge for it. What it should cost is quite a bit lower.”
“Guys,” muttered Harper. “There’s no such thing as money anymore.”
“Bummer,” said Renee. “My bank account finally broke a grand.”
A few stray shots came at the van, but between the vast numbers of wrecked cars they slalomed around, and Rafael’s driving, nothing hit them—at least that anyone noticed.
When they reached Route 6 for the long run west past Lakewood, Harper briefly entertained the idea of asking them to stop at her old house again. She wanted to grab her and Madison’s clothes. Maybe pictures of her parents or random keepsakes. Upon noticing that Renee hadn’t closed her jacket, and the stitched wound seeped blood, Harper abandoned the idea.
She leaned over and zipped her friend’s jacket.
Nah. It would be stupid and selfish to ask them to stop. What if someone got killed or paralyzed? I can’t ask them to get shot for me. Not for grabbing random crap. Besides, the only thing left in that house is bad memories.
Harper fell into a pit of sadness, picturing her old home as if walking around in it. Every room, every door or cabinet. The bathroom sink, tub, rugs… Madison whined in her memory while rattling the bathroom door, yelling, Harp, hurry up! You’ve been in the shower forever! Never in a million years would she have expected they’d end up sharing a bath.
Boom, boom.
Cliff’s AR-15 going off twice startled a shriek out of her.
An incoming bullet struck the middle window on the passenger side, shattering it and the one opposite it. Amid a spray of safety glass bits, wind blasted into the van, throwing Harper’s hair around and toppling the stacked pill bottles, which rolled everywhere, rattling.
“That was nice of him,” said Annapurna, taking advantage of the new opening to return fire.
An instant after she clicked off a shot, a distant cry of pain rang out.
“Wow, these bastards are persistent,” said Cliff.
“They see a working van and go nuts.” Rafael accelerated. “That’s why they aren’t shoo
ting the tires or the engine. They wanna take our ride.”
With a metal-on-metal clank, a bottle of pills burst open, showering Harper and Renee.
“Ack!” yelled Tegan. “Try not to crush any.”
Harper stared at a haze of white powder in the air in front of her. “Little late. Is this bad to breathe?”
“Amoxicillin. Antibiotic,” said Tegan, scrambling into the back to help pick them up. “Don’t crush any more. One of these pills might make the difference between someone dying or not.”
Leaving the doctor to play Pac Man with pills, Harper sat up and looked out the windows on both sides. Muzzle flare came from people hiding among the rubbled city, behind concrete chunks or flipped cars. None looked anywhere near close enough to engage with the shotgun, since the idiots tried to chase them on foot.
Content to sit this gunfight out—but terrified of catching a stray bullet—Harper flattened herself on the floor as much as she could.
Renee flopped next to her. “Ow.”
“Stop moving so much,” rasped Harper. “You just had surgery.”
Clank.
Both girls twitched.
“I’d rather pull a stitch than eat a bullet. Well, another one.”
“You had a .22.” Cliff fired out the left side window. “That’s barely an appetizer.”
“Not funny.” Harper huffed at the hair over her eyes.
Zach moaned.
“What did you give him?” asked Harper. “Horse tranquilizers?”
“Horse’s ass tranquilizers,” muttered Cliff.
Tegan stuffed handfuls of pills into an intact Amoxicillin bottle. “He was in shock. I don’t know how he was able to walk on that leg. When he wakes up, he’s going to be in a significant amount of pain. I gave him enough to keep him out until we get back to Evergreen.”
Harper slid toward the front as the van decelerated hard.
“Why are you slowing down?” yelled Annapurna.
“Lot of junk in the road here.” Rafael cursed in Spanish. “Unless you want I should crash into it?”
The World That Remains (Evergreen Book 2) Page 31
