by Harley Tate
Across the street, a collision repair shop occupied what used to be a residential garage. Down the block, a rusted chain-link fence corralled everything from old air-conditioning vents to a stack of exterior doors and a convoluted heap of sheet metal.
A man sat on a bicycle three sizes too small on the corner, watching the carriage approach. Midge eased her bag closer and glanced at Danny. “You think horse carriages ever ride through this part of town?”
“Not likely.”
They passed a house that at one point sold hot plates of food out of a hole in the siding. Now plywood covered the gap and the warped and rusted sign dangled from one hook. On the opposite corner, trees grew in and out of an old gas station sign and bushes filled the parking lot. A knocked-over chain-link fence sprawled across the sidewalk, and a collection of discarded solo cups and paper bags huddled against the rusted metal.
“How much farther until we cross into Indiana?”
“A couple of miles. It’s not far.”
Midge swallowed. A man on a bike could easily out-pedal Max’s horses, and the open-air design of the carriage provided no cover. They were sitting ducks. She felt like a princess in one of those fairy tale shows she watched as a kid, riding through the forest and waiting for Robin Hood to come and steal her gold. Only they didn’t have any gold and this wasn’t make-believe.
She scooted forward and leaned against the front seat. “Is there another way we can go? Maybe back through the houses or closer to the water?”
Max thought it over. “I’m not as familiar with this part of town. It’s not the most scenic, if you know what I mean. But…” He leaned back and looked around. “We keep heading this way and we’ll hit the lake eventually. We’ve got to be close to the southern edge.”
As they passed an abandoned strip mall with boarded-up windows and grates across the doors, a gunshot rang out.
Danny grabbed Midge and pulled her down into the bottom of the carriage. The horses whinnied and reared and Max cursed. “Hold on! I’ll get us out of here!” He cracked the reins and the carriage jolted forward.
Shouts carried over the sound of the wheels and the hooves. Feet pounded against the pavement. The carriage wheeled hard to the left and Midge slid into Danny, her face an inch above a half-century of grime on the floorboards.
Another shot cracked and wood splintered above her head. She screamed. “Max! Get down! They’re shooting at us!” He couldn’t stay up there exposed. Danny sprang up, DuBois’s gun in his hand. He fired toward the right and Midge couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t stay down there, cowering on the floor while Max and Danny fought to escape.
She scrabbled up toward Max. “Give me your gun!”
He shook his head. “I can’t take my hands off the reins. I can barely hold them!”
Midge crawled over the lip of the carriage, wobbling back and forth as Max cracked the leather and the horses reared again. She hit the driver’s seat and dove for Max’s coat. Her fingers grazed his gun and Midge latched onto it. “Is it ready to shoot?”
“You’re damn skippy it is! Six shots. Make ’em count!”
A piece of the carriage behind her flew apart, another bullet lodged in the wood. Midge spun and fired in the direction of the shot. A burly man with a shaved head and more tattoos than visible skin ran toward them, shotgun in one hand. Was he the only one? She spun around as Danny fired another round.
Two men on bikes rode beside the carriage, both holding pistols. One ducked as Danny fired, but the shot went wide.
“Leave us alone!” Midge screamed at them, willing them to give up and leave.
A man riding a bike built for a middle-schooler blew her a kiss. She swallowed hard. They didn’t care Midge and Danny had guns. They were going to fight until the end.
Midge turned back to the big guy with the shotgun. The carriage bumped over a rut in the road and she fell to the side, banging her shoulder on the wood. The lip of the carriage right above her head blew apart. Midge screamed.
Max called out to the horses, begging them to speed up, and Midge steeled herself. They had to eliminate the threat or they would die. She rose up, hands shaking as she aimed at the closest man on a bike.
“Pull the hammer back!” Max shouted from the front.
Midge did as he suggested, using both thumbs to lock it back. Her finger squeezed the trigger and the revolver kicked so hard she almost dropped it. The man on the bike fell to the ground. His buddy swerved around him, not even bothering to stop.
“Good going! Now hit ’em again!” Max hollered his support and Midge climbed into the back, falling again as the carriage bobbed and weaved. They took a corner hard and entered a residential district. The man with the shotgun slowed. He couldn’t keep pace with the horses on foot.
Danny kneeled on the carriage floor, aiming at the last assailant. He fired and the shot dinged off the man’s handlebars. He fired again and it hit the spoke of the front wheel. The bike wavered, but the man kept control. Danny cursed and fired again, but the gun only clicked. He was out of ammo.
“Damn it.”
Gritting her teeth, Midge forced herself back up. She climbed up onto the cushion and aimed. As she fired, the carriage jolted to the side and Midge slammed into the seat. Another shot rang out and the horses sped up, tearing down the street, terrified and running on adrenaline.
Midge reared up again, pitching her arms over the side of the carriage. She held the revolver with both hands and aimed at the last man on a bike. She fired. His body jerked. Blood bloomed across his white tank top. She’d hit him.
They did it. They’d escaped.
“Max is hit!” Danny barked out the words from the front of the carriage.
Midge dragged herself over the side and turned to Max.
He clutched one side of his body with one hand, the other still grasping the reins. “It’s a scratch,” he said, but the words came out shaky and weak.
“It’s not a scratch. You’re bleeding all over.” Midge stared in shock at the wound in Max’s side. He wasn’t okay; she could hear it in his voice and see it in the blood oozing over his fingers.
“Pull over, Max, and let me take a look,” Danny said, desperation leaking through his voice. “If you keep pushing like this without bandaging it up...”
Max looked over his shoulder at Danny, but the angle was bad and Midge couldn’t see his face. Whatever expression he wore, it was enough to make Danny’s face tense. He eased back down into the passenger seat, pulling Midge toward him. She struggled for a moment, trying to get back over to Max.
“Don’t,” Danny whispered. “Just let him be for a minute.”
“But...”
He shook his head and she finally closed her mouth. What had Max said with his eyes that he couldn’t in words?
At last, Max pulled onto the side of the road and led the horses behind an abandoned brick warehouse. Danny hopped to the side of the carriage and held out a hand for Max before the wheels even stopped turning. He eased him into the back seat and the old man fell onto the cushion. His face was deathly pale, his lips tinged with blue.
Midge swallowed. “We can fix it. We can stop the bleeding.” She tugged at her sweatshirt, about to pull it over her head and use it to apply pressure, when Max stilled her with his free hand.
He gave her a sad, tired smile. “Now, don’t you go thinking I did this on purpose. I was trying to get away, I swear.”
“What are you saying?” Tears choked her throat.
“There’s no point in Danny trying to bandage me up, girl. The deed’s been done, and I...” He coughed and blood flecked his lips. “I just need to rest a bit before I go.”
“No!” Midge clutched at his free arm. This couldn’t be happening. First Owen and now Max. Everyone who tried to help her ended up dead. “You can’t die. Please, let Danny help you.”
Midge reached for Danny, fingers twisting his shirt.
“No go getting all emotional now. I’ve had a good life.
” Max coughed again and Midge turned to face him. “Maybe it’s better this way, you know? I won’t hold you back once things get difficult.”
“Don’t say that.”
He leaned back against the seat. “I’ll finally see my dear, sweet Gertrude again. And Amanda and Rebecca will be waiting for me. I know it.” He patted Midge’s knee like he was merely saying goodbye. “Promise me you’ll take care of my girls, will you? Bethel and Beatrice will need a break and some oats and…” He smacked his lips together. “Some water. They’d like to retire to a nice pasture when this is all over, I’m sure.”
Max’s eyes fluttered and Midge reached for him, tears spilling down her cheeks. He’d died saving her. An old man with a carriage had gotten her out of the city and she couldn’t do a damn thing to thank him. Midge gripped his hand. It was cool to the touch. “We’ll take care of them. I know a nice spot in Suttons Bay with plenty of grass and wildflowers.”
Max’s lips lifted a fraction. “They do love flowers.” His hand slipped from his wound and landed softly on the cushion as his lips fell open.
He was gone.
Midge let out a sob and Danny reached for her. His arms wrapped around her body, pulling her back against his chest. A hot tear from above landed on her hand and Midge closed her eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Five
DANNY
Saturday, 3:00 pm CST
Streets of Chicago
Watching Max die changed something inside of Danny.
Knowing the air marshal was on death’s door and that Owen most likely wouldn’t make it was hard, but watching a man bleed out who sacrificed himself to keep you safe…
That was something else entirely.
Danny took a deep breath and released his hold on Midge. “I’m going to give the horses some water.” He eased away and Midge wiped at her face.
“Do you need help?”
“No, I’d like to do this on my own, if that’s okay.”
Midge nodded and turned toward Max’s body. He lay as he died, resting against the gilded scrollwork of the carriage he sat in for over half of his life. She pressed a hand to his heart and said something Danny couldn’t hear.
He opened the door to the carriage and hauled the case of water out to the ground. Using the bucket he’d grabbed at the convenience store, Danny poured a hefty serving of water first for Bethel and then Beatrice. The horses drank until their tongues licked the bottom. When they finished all but two bottles of water, he reached up and smoothed their necks.
Midge had promised Max they would keep the horses safe and Danny intended to honor her words. He climbed back into the carriage with the empty bucket. “We’ll need more water soon.”
Midge nodded. While Danny took care of the horses, Midge managed to ease Max’s body down onto the cushion and cover him with his jacket. “As soon as we find a peaceful place, I want to bury him. We can’t just leave him out here.”
Danny climbed awkwardly into the driver’s seat and picked up the reins. He didn’t know the first thing about horses or how to steer a carriage, but he was going to give it his best shot. Danny flicked the reins like he’d seen Max do, and Bethel and Beatrice jolted forward into a steady walk.
He tugged the right-hand rein and they eased to the right. He tugged the left and they eased to the left. He wasn’t sure how to stop, but for the time being, it didn’t matter. They needed to push ahead out of the city and away from the destruction and pain dogging their every move.
Danny glanced at Midge. She sat stock-still next to Max’s dead body, staring at the jacket draped across his face. She’d been quiet before, first when the air marshal died, and then when they left Raymond and Jessica on their own. But this was different. She didn’t look like a girl on a mission, thoughts buzzing behind her eyes. She looked like a living ghost, empty and barren.
After another moment, Danny turned back to the front and focused on learning how to steer. The horses fell into a steady rhythm and over the course of a mile, Danny managed to bring them up into a trot. Crowded houses and tiny lots gave way to longer driveways and manicured lawns. They were leaving Chicago behind.
Midge climbed up onto the driver’s seat a few minutes later and Danny slid over to give her room. She rested her hands in her lap like a shy child and didn’t say a word. Danny didn’t pry. Max’s death had hit her as hard as it hit Danny. He didn’t know how to help her. He didn’t know how to help himself.
He stared out at the road opening up before him.
As they crossed a section where the asphalt changed, Midge spoke at last. “Thank you for coming with me.”
Danny blinked. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
She tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear and the tiny habit made him smile. “Because no one ever wants to be with me.”
He sucked in a breath like he’d been punched. No one ever? Danny swallowed and focused on the reins in his hands. It sounded so lonely, so hopeless, but in a way he’d been living like that, too. He didn’t have many friends in college—no one he really connected with—and his father didn’t care about him. They might not share the same taste in clothes or laugh at the same jokes, but Midge was something of a kindred soul. Danny was grateful to have found her.
He nudged her with his shoulder. “There’s a first time for everything, right? If you’d told me when I sat on that plane that we’d be driving a pair of horses out of Chicago today, I’d have thought you were crazy.” He grinned. “But here we are.”
Just then, Midge surprised him. She didn’t punch him or tell him to get over himself or roll her eyes.
She laughed. A deep, from the belly, honest-to-goodness laugh. In that moment, it was exactly what Danny needed. He joined her and together they laughed away the pain and stress, the heartache and the terror. That they could still laugh despite it all gave him hope.
He clung to that hope when thoughts of Max and Owen and Fern drifted in and out of his mind and the threat of bombs hung like a cloud above his head. Hope was all he had right now, but for the first time since the power went out, it felt like enough.
The cars thinned and pedestrians grew sparse. Every now and then someone on the sidewalk would raise a hand and ask for help. But Danny hardened his heart to the sight each time, refusing to let himself feel for them. After all they had been through, Danny was finally understanding Midge’s point of view.
As they neared a faded sedan stalled out in the middle of the road, the driver’s door opened. A bedraggled woman stepped out, wearing a wrinkled shirt and a hopeful expression. “Please, I need a ride. Please help! I have to get home to my daughter!”
She rushed toward the carriage, but Danny teased the reins. Bethel and Beatrice sped up, trotting away faster than the woman could run. He’d never thought he would be this person, the kind to turn a blind eye when someone was in need.
After all they’d been through, though, how could he have done any different? He glanced at Midge and she gave him a small nod of encouragement. He was beginning to agree with her approach to the world. She wasn’t wrong not to trust people.
That outlook just might save their lives.
Chapter Twenty-Six
MIDGE
Saturday, 4:00 pm CST
Somewhere in Indiana
Danny eased the carriage down a small dirt road and past a grove of mature hardwoods. He stopped when they cleared the last of the trees.
“This is perfect.” Midge looked out at the prairie stretching in every direction. After crossing into Indiana, they rode without focus or attention, letting the horses lead. When they stumbled upon the nature preserve, it was like Max had been steering them all along.
Midge climbed down from the carriage and walked around to Bethel. She whinnied and Midge reached up to run a hand down her neck. “Shh, it’s okay now. You can have a break.” Midge fumbled with the harness, finally managing to unhook it as Danny eased Beatrice away from the carriage.
“We can tie them to a sapling so they do
n’t bolt.” Danny looked around at the field. “Do you think they’ll eat this grass?”
“One way to find out.” Midge led Bethel over and they found a young tree small enough to use as an anchor. As Midge stepped away, Bethel bent down to the grass and rooted with her nose before pulling out a clump and chewing.
“Guess that answers that.” Danny reached into the carriage and grabbed the bucket once more. “I saw a stream when we rode in. I’ll fill the bucket so they can drink.” He disappeared and Midge turned to face the carriage. Max’s body sprawled across the seat, his bloodied hand dangling toward the ground. Midge frowned. She wanted so much to say the right thing, do the right thing, for Max.
But she didn’t know what either could be. She hoped he would be at peace here in a place his horses enjoyed, nestled amongst the trees and grasses.
Danny set the bucket between the horses and walked back to the carriage. He stopped beside the door. “Help me carry him?”
Midge nodded and climbed up. Together they struggled with Max’s weight, ambling down the steps and out into the field. They picked a spot in the shade of an oak tree and laid him down.
“We don’t have a shovel.” Midge looked around and let out a broken laugh. “How are we supposed to bury him if we don’t have a shovel?”
“We’ll make it work.” Danny traipsed into the trees, coming back a moment later with a large branch that had broken in the wind. He stabbed the ground with the jagged end and dug a rut in the soil. Midge found a large piece of curled bark from a birch tree and used it as a makeshift shovel, pulling the dirt out of the path of Danny’s branch.
It was difficult and by the time they dug a deep enough hole, sweat coated Danny’s back. He tossed the branch aside and Midge stood up and dusted off her pants.
