He could fix them, he supposed. He was a fixer, that's what he did. Shady corporate deals, malfeasance, and wrongdoing. That's what he fixed. The internal workings of corporations that very few knew about. Things that needed fixing, or covering up, or simply negotiated away. They were being told what to do and forced to comply using whatever measures required. The stakes were high, and failure wouldn't be in anyone's best interest.
Sam was pretty sure that Gary's chances of making it back to the boat were about one in a gazillion. Of all the people on the lifeboat, the group that he'd selected seemed like they had the best chance of success. He was beginning to rethink his choices.
There were others on the boat, still waiting there in the sand, like victims willing to be led to the slaughter. There was no doubt in Sam's mind that the stories were true. The country was in turmoil, and these first few days were critical. The people that he bonded with would determine his future.
Sam left the boardwalk and started making his way towards the lifeboat. Right now, his future was uncertain, but it had to start with people. Everything always started with people. First steps meant picking the best, the brightest, and the strongest for the task at hand. The group he had to start working with, was a narrow field. Not like what he would've had to choose from with the backing of millions of corporate dollars.
It didn't matter though. He could figure it out, he always did. There would be people down there, that he could fix. People that he could convince about what the right thing to do was. He could make them stronger, and more importantly, he could make them believe in what they had to do. The first thing they had to believe was that they had to take their future into their hands. Waiting around for a rescue that would never come was the perfect recipe for a slow death.
He'd teach them, how to be their own rescuers. Then, he'd go looking for the others. It was the right thing to do, and for the first time in a long time, he decided to let that guide his conscience and his actions.
The one lesson he learned, from the first attempt, was a lesson in size. Clearly, the enemy group was bigger. Five of them wasn't enough to deal with things as they were. They'd have to grow larger, and he knew the best recruits to grow were watching him now from the lifeboat that he approached.
It was time for things to get serious, time for this shit to get real. The first attempt was a learning experience. Sam didn't believe in failing at something more than once.
Chapter 23 ~ In And Out
"What the hell are you doing here?" Garrett asked, in a louder voice than Holly appreciated.
She put her fingers to her lips. "I might ask you exactly the same question. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"Neither one of them said anything for a few seconds as if they were just both trying to get over the surprise of the situation.
"I was just coming here to get the supplies that we needed. This place is bloated with all kinds of good stuff, and I couldn't just leave it to these hooligans."
"Really? And then what? You were just gonna head out on your own, and find Becky?" Garrett started to speak, but Holly interrupted him. "No, I don't think so. There's no way I'm letting you go out after her on your own, and leaving me alone one more time."
"Leaving you alone? You're kidding me right?" Garrett picked himself up and moved closer to Holly. "What the hell would make you think that? I never said I was going out on my own, and I never said I was going to leave you. If you remember correctly, it was you that threw me out all those months ago. That was your decision, don't go throwing and projecting your view of things on me."
"You've been pushing all along for this," Holly said. "You want nothing to do with other people. You've been desperately trying to convince me to desert the rest of the group all along. It looks like you've even given up on me and figured you'd be better off on your own."
"That's nuts. Just think about that for a second, will you? Can you just imagine, that even if I did go out on my own and I managed to find Becky, what I would say to her? What what I tell her about her mother? If I showed up alone, that'd be the first thing she'd asked me. Where's Mom?"
Holly sat in silence for a moment. He wasn't wrong, that would be the first words out of Becky's mouth for sure. As much as she was a daddy's girl, she worried about her mother. Holly knew that, and it made her feel better. It made her realize and remember, that even though she may not be Becky's favorite parent, she was still an important part of her life. Her mind drifted back to recent memories. She remembered times when she'd been upset, and Becky was the first to pick up on it. Her eyes misted, but then her mind snapped back to the present.
"Fine, OK. You're right, that would be the first thing she'd say. You'd be in a hell of a lot more trouble than you are now. No doubt about that."
"We need to start grabbing supplies, while we're here. Before we're found out." Garrett motion to the items all along the hallway.
"This isn't the best stuff we saw in the storerooms," Holly said. "Should we risk going through the rest of the place?"
Just then, a group of people started advancing down the hallway towards them. Holly and Garrett pulled themselves quickly back up against a wall and hid behind a small chair. It wasn't much camouflage, and if the group came much closer, they wouldn't go undetected. Then the group stopped, turned, and went back in the opposite direction.
"I say, we collect what we can from here, and move out. It's only a matter of time before they find us," Garrett said.
"Agreed."
They started gathering as many things as they could, stuffing them into bags they found. Within about fifteen minutes, they were fully loaded with as many items as they were able to carry.
"Let's go," Garrett said as he started to backtrack.
"We can't go back that way," Holly said. "After I followed you in, a whole group of them started loading items out that doorway. They had several pallets full of supplies."
"You're kidding me right?"
Holly shook her head no. "Really. There's a bunch of them, and it looked like they were gonna be there for a while. They had a lot of stuff."
"So you're telling me, that we're going to have to go out one of the front doors. I don't remember any other exits out of here. There's bound to be more people in that direction."
"Agreed, so what else are we supposed to do?"
"Well, I may just have another idea."
Chapter 24 ~ Mad Dash
"Damn, but this is one hell of a mess." Garrett gave Holly a disapproving look. "Why couldn't you just stay back at the parking garage? I knew where you were, and I knew you were safe."
"That's incredibly sweet of you to say, but I gotta add, I'm not so sure that anybody is safe these days. You've seen what I've seen."
"I wasn't trying to be sweet about it. I was trying to be practical."
Garrett started making his way down the hall, slowly and gradually sifting through the different items that were scattered about. Holly followed close behind, but also kept a careful lookout for others.
"Do you really think going on the offensive, is the best approach to getting us out of this mess? I'd prefer sneaky and stealthy."
I agree," Garrett said. "If that was truly an option."
"Let's just create a distraction. We could start a fire or something, and then watch everybody else run in the other direction while we make our escape."
"That's not a bad idea," Garrett said, rummaging through a box of stuff that had looked like it came from the boating and camping storeroom. "Hang on, what's this stuff?"
Garrett pulled out what looked like a bunch of toy guns made out of orange plastic.
"This isn't the time to be playing cops and robbers," Holly said. "You've seen those guys in action, and you know what they're like. You saw what they did to the guys who had real guns. Something tells me, they're gonna laugh their asses off if you point those things at them."
"These aren't toy guns; these are flares. Shooting flares, for when you're out on a boat or somethi
ng, and you get into trouble."
Holly looked closer. "Wow, those might work. At the very least they'd create a good distraction. Maybe blind someone temporarily."
"Yeah, including us. Although, I kind of like the idea of it."
Holly and Garrett had resolved themselves, to either going out in a blaze of glory or making a grand escape. They could hear more and more people milling about the Y, not far from their position. Creating a distraction seemed to be the best course of action. With any luck, maybe they do some damage and make this gang think twice before confronting others.
Fully loaded down with gear and packs, they stealthily, snuck as far as they could till they were in sight of the main atrium. They were one floor up, but because everything was glassed in, they could see the whole place as dimly lit as it was.
Garrett was the first one to make a move. He pushed the door open slowly, as they crouched and crawled. They could see a clear run from where they were down the stairs through the atrium and through a set of double doors into the street. The most difficult part would be getting through the atrium without being detected.
They gave each other a look as if to say this is it. And, it was. They held hands briefly and shared a kiss before making a mad dash. They tore down the stairs side by side gripping the handrails to compensate for the poor visibility. It all moved in slow motion to Garrett, as people heard footsteps racing down the stairs. Some turned to look at them, but so far no one moved in an aggressive manner. Garrett and Holly stole brief glances with each other as they moved as rapidly as possible down.
Now they were in the atrium, and there were people pointing in their direction, as others moving towards them. The place was dimly lit, but bright enough that it was obvious they didn't belong. All the way across the atrium, Garrett could see that tall guy. The one that had stood in the ring of people before the public execution in the square. Their leader, Garrett was sure of it.
The flares had expiry dates on them, two years in the past. Garrett didn't say anything to Holly when he noticed, but he figured or at least hoped, they'd be OK. Without missing his stride, Garrett took aim at the tall man in the crowd. He easily stood out from the rest, especially waving his hand in their direction. Garrett figured that it wouldn't matter if he actually hit him or not. That would be a bonus. The point would be, to bewilder and distract them. The sound of the flare going off might be enough, to stop them in their tracks. Assuming, of course, they still worked.
Garrett slowly raised the weapon, at least it seemed slow to him. He leveled his arm as well as he could without slowing his pace, as Holly yelled something he couldn't decipher. Maybe she yelled now; maybe she yelled hurry; maybe she yelled don't. Garrett couldn't be sure.
Both Holly and Garrett slipped on the sunglasses they'd found upstairs, still unsure as to whether or not they'd make much of a difference. It couldn't hurt.
Garrett pulled the trigger, and there was a delay. Nothing happened. Had it worked? Garrett couldn't be sure if it was just too slow, or if it was a dud. Then he saw a spark the size of a grain of sand from the pistol. The grain grew quickly, and suddenly the whole room lit up like the Fourth of July.
People threw their hands up to shield their eyes, many stopped dead in their tracks, while some dropped to their knees. Others turned and shied away from. Garrett could see the tall man trying to duck, but his reflexes were far slower than the flare. He couldn't be certain, but it appeared to strike the man square in the chess. Sparks flew in every direction, lighting up a face in pain. The man crumpled to a heap on the floor, as Holly and Garrett sprinted through the double doors and into the street. They never stopped to look behind them; they never slowed down, they just kept moving.
Eventually, they found themselves back in the parking garage and scrambling into the small camper. They locked the doors, fell into a heap on the bed, and pulled the sheets over them as if they were a protective shield. They were both scared even to breathe.
Chapter 25 ~ Home Sweet Home
Their hearts were pumping, their legs were burning, and they were gasping for air. Their bodies were experiencing a tsunami of exhaustion. They could only pray, that no one was chasing them because there was nothing they could do about it. They'd been pushed to the point of physical exhaustion. Their adrenaline-fueled their run through the YMCA, surrounded by a mob of angry people. The image of that flare assaulting that man in the dark, rushed through their brain, like a 747 lifting off the runway.
"Is this what a heart attack feels like?" Garrett said, in between wheezing breaths desperate for oxygen.
Holly wanted to respond, with multiple scathing retorts, but none of them felt helpful. She wanted to respond by screaming at him and slapping him silly for the risks he'd just taken. For what he'd put her through again.
Instead of responding, she just crawled into a ball hoping against hope that they hadn't been followed. She prayed that none of their pursuers had been able to keep up with them. Garrett meanwhile, wondered why the camper wasn't yet surrounded by a vengeful mob trying to bash in windows and roll the vehicle.
It took a good five minutes of silence grappling with their own thoughts before their breathing settled. The burning legs and the pumping hearts persisted.
"Exactly what the hell were you thinking?" Holly blurted out punching him ferociously in the shoulder. She wasn't just making small talk, she was dead serious and wanted an answer. "You could have been killed in there. Or at least captured, which would've forced me to figure out whether you were worth saving."
Garrett wanted to respond, but his brain was still racing, and his body was doing its best to recover. Before he could say anything, Holly continued. "Going solo? Really? That's what you think the answer is to all of this? It hasn't been bad enough that you excluded everybody else from helping us? Now you've decided to exclude me altogether."
Garrett struggled for a reasonable defense. "That wasn't my intention, not in the least. I'm sure that things wouldn't have worked out that way." Holly looked at him quizzically. "All right. All right. Just think about it logically for a moment, please." Holly gave him that look that only serves to say, do I look stupid? Do I look irrational? "If something had happened to me, you would've done the right thing. You would have found the others, or at least gone back to the people on the lifeboat and started again. I know that's what you wanted to do anyway."
The silence between them was deafening for what felt like hours. No one wanted to be the first to speak, Garrett least of all. He knew that he was already trying to defend an indefensible choice. It may not have been logical, but it felt right at the time. As desperate as things were right now, he knew that things are only going to get worse. He needed to take action.
"I don't think anyone's coming," Holly said. She looked back at Garrett, who was clearly confused. She'd decided not to respond to his explanation. Either she thought he was a complete idiot, or she saw the logic of it. He couldn't decide which. "Isn't that strange? I can't believe we gave them the slip. They kept up with us, right up until the last block. How could they have lost us?"
Garrett decided, to let the old discussion go and carry on with this new line of questioning. "You're right. I'm as surprised as you are, that they aren't trying to set this thing on fire."
"Maybe somebody called them back. Maybe you did some real damage with that flare. Maybe they're gone back, to help their leader. To regroup, at least for now."
"Yeah, for now." That sounded as ominous as anything else that had happened so far.
For all they knew, there was a crowd regrouping around the perimeter of the parking garage. They could be closing in on them as they sat there. It was becoming clear to both of them, that waiting wasn't an option. They had to move and do it quickly.
Moving meant either going out on foot or getting the camper working. They discussed the possibility that in a parking garage full of abandoned vehicles there had to be a least a few working batteries. Maybe the deeper levels of the garage would've bee
n protected from damage.
It was time for a decision. They both scanned the camper windows a full 360 degrees. It was hard to decide which direction others could come if they came at all.
It wouldn't take long to figure out.
"Garrett!" Holly grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the back of the vehicle. "Look." She motioned to one of the parking garage exits.
Clearly, there were people coming. A lot of people it looked like. As many people as there had been in the entire YMCA.
"This can't be good," Garrett said, stating the obvious.
Chapter 26 ~ Frustration
"Maybe we just stay quiet," Garrett said. "They don't know where we are. There has to be thousands of cars in this parking garage. There's no way those clowns are going to spend days searching every car just to find us."
"I don't know about that. We did shoot their leader didn't we?"
Garrett urged Holly to speak softer. "I don't know, it all happened so fast. I can't be sure if we hit him or not."
"You mean if you shot him. I didn't pull the trigger; I actually told you not to. We just needed a distraction, to get out of there. There was no need to be killing anyone."
"You saw what those people did, didn't you? Remember the execution. Do we really want them just running loose? He's their leader, and there's no doubt in my mind, that he's central to all this. You want him to be our judge and jury?"
"No, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go poking at them and trying to aggravate them. Stealing their supplies, and shooting at them is just crazy."
Holly shook her head and closed her eyes. She squeezed herself tight as if it would wish away the entire situation. She started thinking back to happier times. Her inner child was resurfacing, as it tended to do in times of stress. It was how her mind reacted to difficult situations. Escape and regroup.
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