Affliction

by Daniels, Dottie

  Within a short second a head peered down into the broken window on the driver’s side followed by a flashlight that first shined on Graham’s unconscious face and then on to mine. A second man showed up at my passenger side window. Neither of them appeared to be a part of Davenport’s little army because the first thing they said did not consist of, “Put your hands up.” Instead the man on the driver’s side said, “Holy shit, is he alive?”

  “He’s unconscious but he’s breathing,” I responded, not removing my hand from my pocket just yet. I looked at the man’s face, from the light I could see he was slightly heavyset, wore a dark long-sleeved shirt and cap. He had enough beard growth to look like he hadn’t shaved in about two weeks.

  The man on the passenger side said nothing and started to check whether the door on my side would open when the other guy told him to hold on. “It’s important that you answer us honestly cause if not, be it now or later we will shoot you. Have either of you been bitten, or scratched by those things?” The man next to Graham said flashing his light back and forth between the two of us. I knew my eyes weren’t completely cleared up from all the broken blood vessels but I did my best to divert my attention.

  I hesitated, looking at Graham as he let out a breath of air, his chest went down slightly but it was enough to catch both of our attentions in the silence he provided for my response. “No… we’re good here,” I said. At least until I manage to skip a dose.

  “Would you be willing to let one of my female comrades check you over, just to be sure?”

  “Of course,” I replied as applied the safety and moved my hand out of my zip pocket and closed the zipper again. My training kicked back in as I used my both of my hands to straighten Graham’s head so he had every opportunity for an unobstructed airway. I paid little attention to all of the glass around us as I heard the sound of the pieces falling on top of each other and onto the leather seat every time I moved. I turned to the door on my side and tried to open it. I had no luck even with the guy on the other side pulling it too. He ended up using a small branch to clear the rest of the broken glass and helped me climb out through the window. Once I was out, we both went over to the driver’s side.

  “By the way, I’m Wes, he’s Dustin.” The man with the dark long sleeves said once I was out of the car. I was a little unsteady at first, stumbling to gain my balance. The light from the two flashlights revealed dents and scrapes on nearly every square inch on the once beautiful coupe. Pieces of tree branch were lodged in almost every surface that would catch them.

  “My name is Seanna. This is my boyfriend, Graham,” I said while tending to Graham’s bloodied face.

  I noticed we were quite some ways down the ravine, at least three hundred feet. There was a definite path our car took that left a crooked little line easily seen in the darkness. I looked back into the car while Wes and Dustin attempted to open up the door. With some pulling from both of them, the door opened only partially due to a large dent that prevented the door mechanism’s full rotation.

  Graham was still secured in his seat belt as I reached for him to carefully pull him forward. To all of our surprise he let out a sigh that carried a little moan. I immediately went in and held his head gently, calling out his name, informing him of what we were doing. I told Wes to be careful as I unlatched his seat belt and Wes worked to move his legs. The three of us were all intermingled as Dustin attempted to lift Graham’s body while I guided his head in a synchronized fashion out of the car.

  It was likely that three or four bullets whizzed past us hitting both the tree and the car before it registered that we were being shot at. The sound from the long range only provided a whizzing noise. It was the impact to follow that instructed us to quickly get moving.

  “What the hell?” Wes said as he dropped Graham’s legs and hurried for cover. Dustin was right behind Wes, moving toward a nearby tree as a bullet impacted the door right behind where we were all leaned in. I could barely move in time but I took care to not leave Graham in the shooter’s line of sight. Instead of diving to get out of the way, which made way more sense; I squinted to see three or four figures moving around alongside the road where our car previously made its way down the ravine. I saw a long automatic rifle being aimed by two of the men along the bush as they readied themselves for continuous fire. I swore under my breath as I cautiously placed Graham’s head back on the headrest and went for the tree a few feet nearby. Wes shoved his flashlight in the side pocket of his pants because it was still on and was visible through the fabric. I had a sinking feeling on top of all the nervousness and anxiety from all of the things I had endured.

  “Must be scavengers,” Dustin assumed as he peeked around the edge.

  “How the hell would they know we’re down here? They would only see our car from the road up there,” Wes reasoned.

  “I hope Dana got out of there before they saw her,” Dustin said.

  I didn’t look either of them in the face when I saw them instinctively pull out their guns. They were both holstered and to be honest I didn’t even notice they had them from the position I was in, until now. I knew I saw a woman in the car when we hit them and that’s who Dana had to be. Wes whispered to Dustin; I barely heard him but it was something about readying themselves to fire if they shot at us again, just a few shots so they’d know we were armed and hopefully they’d move on instead of risking injury. I felt for my own weapon as I looked at Graham who was still in the same position we left him in. I knew whom we were up against and that it would be wise to not shoot. It would save their lives to tell Wes and Dustin to leave instead.

  I whispered to them to just take off as Wes whispered to shoot on his mark once he saw them advance down the hill. The men covered each other from what I could see because out of the four, only two moved at a time. They advanced a few more paces before Wes gave Dustin the signal to fire a few rounds. Though it appeared no one was hit, all movement stopped briefly after that. Wes yelled out into the woods in their direction in a firm but calm manner.

  “There’s nothing down here but a wrecked vehicle! There is nothing of value here; if you continue to shoot, so will we! Your best bet is to go on somewhere else!”

  It was a good effort on his behalf. If they were truly scavengers looking for something of value, any other group might’ve thrown in the towel and ascended back up the hill. Unfortunately, only I knew for sure that was not the case. I knew they were going to continue down the hill and eliminate Wes and Dustin. My better judgment took over and forced me to go into action. I wanted no one else to get injured.

  “I think we should just back up and let them see there’s nothing down here. It’s just Graham there injured. They’ll see that and hopefully leave!” I whispered loudly.

  I didn’t give them the opportunity to protest. I knew in about two hundred feet they’d be on us and that would be the end of story. I got up from my crouched position and pulled them in the opposite direction from where the men were descending. I pulled them by their sleeves as they attempted to make the least amount of noise to let our intruders know we’d actually left. Within a second or so, Wes was actually in front of me as I whispered for him to turn his flashlight off. He was successful in doing so because in about two seconds I could barely see either of them, only trees and low hanging branches when I was immediately upon them and had to duck. I turned when I saw the silhouette of Wes turn and eventually we were headed slightly east and north from the site of the car wreck from five minutes of jogging. I almost ran past them both when Dustin grabbed my arm and swung me around to where they hid. “‘Ssshh...” was all I heard once I regained my footing, crouched down and waited. In the darkness I could see them both looking back from where we just came. It was the sounds of the crickets and other nighttime insects in the distance that filled my ears with noise. I automatically swatted at some insect crawling on my face.

  It was the second time that happened this evening.

  I looked down at my watch, bringing
my wrist inches from my face but in the darkness I couldn’t tell what time it was. It seemed at any moment it would be time for an injection, I felt it was time thirty minutes ago before we ended up in the spot we were in. Wes and Dustin remained focused on the direction from which we came while I remained focused and sensitive to any change in the way I was feeling. Of course it would be the most inconvenient time and place to break down but I’d rather know it was coming than not know. We waited there for at least ten minutes. The occasional bite and irritation of various bugs perhaps was what got Wes, ready to go back.

  “If they followed us we’d have heard them by now,” Wes said as he scratched his arm and stood up.

  “Hopefully, I’d almost rather get shot at than slowly eaten up by these mosquitoes,” Dustin replied.

  “You guys stay low and quiet behind me. We’ll zigzag our way back toward the car. Anything goes down, we shoot first,” Wes instructed. Within seconds we took off again at a slow pace back to the site where the car was. Wes went ahead of Dustin, whom I was close behind. Wes paid extra attention to the area around us as he slowed his pace even more while cautiously approaching the space behind the tree where we initially hid. We were probably only a few yards away because the steep incline was very visible even in the darkness. Wes came to a stop and looked over near the road and pointed. Dustin and I caught up to him and looked over toward the road because of voices and what sounded like the arrival of another vehicle when we heard the noise from multiple doors being slammed closed.

  “You guys stay put. I’ll go check on your boyfriend, see if he’s still breathing and all,” Wes said.

  “No, I’m a medic. I’ll do it,” I protested as I stepped in front of him.

  “No, I’m a better shooter. Anyone can check a pulse,” Wes argued.

  I felt offended and started to object but two things stopped me at the same time. Three men appeared at the top of the hill whose long-barreled rifles I could see from where we were. The second thing was the wrenching pain, which made my nervous system go into overdrive. I gritted my teeth as more perspiration built up instantly along my forehead. Wes probably took it as a concession as I simply muttered, “Fine, go ahead.”

  Wes stayed low as the men at the top of the hill grew in number to six. Neither of them moved or attempted to descend down the ragged path, they only peered down the hill and spread out as if to keep watch. I could hear voices but nothing comprehensible. Wes returned to us quicker than expected and leaned into us to report. My ears heard what he said but my mind could not grasp the meaning.

  “What?” I automatically questioned.

  “He’s not there. They took him.”

  I looked around us in all directions, hoping Graham would pop out of nowhere because he woke up and saw them coming right after we left. I saw nothing but the dense outline of leaves and branches in the darkness, not a figure of a human being in sight––unless I looked in a certain direction up the ravine again. My eyes began to fill with tears and my breathing labored as my thoughts raced. I couldn’t imagine what they’d do my Graham once they got him back to NGT. I covered my face with my hands for about two seconds until anger built up, which filled my face with heat. I thought about my pistol conveniently nearby. I reached in my zip pocket again, pulled out the pistol and stood up. Wes reacted quickly and with a sweeping motion placed both of his hands on my shoulders to basically sit me down. He was about the same height as Graham, which was still taller than me.

  “Listen! I don’t know you and I don’t know what you got going on with those assholes up there but that will do nothing but make things worse!” Wes said in an audible whisper. My vision was blurry from the tears still but I saw perfectly his point. A confrontation would serve no better purpose than to add to the list of those already injured or dead. I took another deep breath as Dustin put his hand on my shoulder.

  “You know those guys, don’t you?” Dustin asked.

  I only nodded my head, which I was sure they both could see in the darkness. They both let out sighs of frustration. Without faulting them, I expected both of them to stand up and haul themselves away from me and the whole situation. They didn’t move. Instead they turned their attention to the voices from the top of the ravine again. This time it was clear they were going to descend down the hill. It was their movements that sparked a response from me.

  “We’re not fugitives or anything. We just wanted to leave,” I whispered in urgency.

  More voices and movements came from the hilltop again.

  “You two were held against your will or something?” Wes questioned.

  “Yes.”

  Wes contemplated only a second longer before declaring in a collected manner, “We should get moving.” He straightened his hat further on his head and checked the gun already in his hand.

  “Wait, I need to check the car for something. It’s important. I’ll go this time,” I said. By now, with the pain slightly subsided I left no room for disagreement. I got up on both feet as I said it and ran around them both. Unfortunately, the men started down the hill with flashlights in hand, searching the area around each tree before progressing down further. I made it to the car––the door was already opened from the driver’s side where Graham once sat. Had it not been for the impossibly steep and crooked path the car took down the ravine they would’ve noticed my movements. I used it to my advantage and worked carefully to move the driver’s seat forward and retrieve the bag from the back seat. There was glass everywhere still as I leaned into the body of the car and frantically felt around for the bag. It wasn’t a large bag but it was big enough for me to know it was no longer there. I quickly felt the floor mats on the bottom thinking perhaps the bag got jammed under the seat during our descent but there was nothing. I did feel quite a few tubular items lying on the floor instead. I grabbed one quickly and lifted up close enough to my face to know that it matched the one that was hopefully still intact in my jacket. With a renewed sense of urgency, I leaned forward again to quickly gather every tubular item I could get my hands on. Within two seconds, I had to pull my hand back in order to put them all in my pocket. I was already reaching for more when I heard a loud whisper from Wes.

  “Come on!”

  I said nothing, yet only worked faster to scoop up more of the syringes that were nearly all under the passenger seat. I grabbed one more handful and yet another as I cut my fingers repeatedly on the broken glass strewn about on the floor below. It was only when I saw the flicker of the approaching flashlights that I stopped my search, backed out of the car and back-stepped as quickly as I could to get to the tree.

  My bloodied hands were still gripping some of the syringes as I met up with Wes and we all took off as quietly as we could without rustling any branches. If it weren’t for the humidity, the smaller branches would’ve cracked noisily under our feet. Dustin followed behind me as I tried to keep up with Wes, staying in the same path that he did in short, quick steps. The trees were unforgiving as they hindered our progress for a straight trail. We veered north from the site of the car and eventually jogged for what felt like several blocks. A few times I stumbled and lost my pace but Dustin, with his smaller stature, was right there to help me up and keep me moving.

  We were all nearly out of breath and energy by the time we stopped, which was only for a few seconds. We turned left and went underneath a small concrete bridge that was a part of the same road we were on before. We had been running alongside the highway for the most part.

  “She knows what to do. She’ll meet us at our designated place. Knowing her, she’ll probably beat us there,” Wes said in response to my inquiry about Dana.

  “She ain’t no Olympian but she’s fast!” Dustin added.

  We headed under the bridge and jogged through more forest. It seemed as if we would run until our hearts stopped––in which case mine would certainly be the first. It was at a spot in between a small clearing that I was forced to stop. My legs pretty much gave out and down I went. Poor Du
stin had to hop over me or else he would’ve stepped on me. The pain returned and I could do nothing about it. I yelled out an expletive and nearly balled into a fetal position right there in the woods. Wes cursed as well, and rushed to my side. He turned on and partially covered the flashlight so as not to attract too much attention should any harmful presence be nearby.

  “What happened?” I heard him ask.

  “Nothing, she just fell,” Dustin replied.

  I held out my hand, which still had a grip on five or six syringes. My arm shook as I used the light he provided to select one of the syringes that were uneven in number: two painkillers and four of the unique antiviral. Wes held on to the rest of them as I took the antiviral and lazily jabbed the needle in my arm after exposing my shoulder. Within a minute I could feel the racing force in my nerves slow as the flow of perspiration stopped and my breathing slowed again. I put my fingers on my own pulse and soon felt it go back to way below normal again. The pain slightly subsided, which was going to have to suffice for the time being. After another minute or so I was ready, Dustin helped me up, pulling me by my wrists at my requests because my hands were likely still bleeding from earlier.

  Wes was irritated but dusted off my jacket before he handed back the syringes and told me it wouldn’t be much farther to go. He paused for a second, as did I before I figured out he probably wanted an explanation for the episode I just had.