Chapter 12: David
“You leave them alone!” I yell fruitlessly as the soldiers drag Paige and Jo out of the stadium. Despite my protests, they only push us into the adjacent building and pull us by our bound wrists up dark steps. Ryan and I try futilely to resist the forced march, but their guns push us forward to the other side of the stadium. Reaching the second level, they shut us in a room.
I kick the door with all my might; it doesn't budge. Ryan walks calmly to the window at the bottom of some stairs. A table sits beside it and a
few chairs point out towards the window. I glance out the glass. We are in a box seat that overlooks the field. I walk beside him and look down – it's a long drop. Still, maybe we could make a jump if we have to.
“Ryan, what the hell are we going to do?” I ask. He shakes his head.
“I'm sure Nate and Laura will be okay. The rest – I don't know,” he says, turning to me with a look of indignation. “You should have kept driving, David.”
“I wasn't about to leave anyone. We've been through too much together. Either we all make it out of this or none of us.”
“You still shouldn't have stopped.”
I give him a cold stare as I turn, placing my back against the glass. Stillness fills the small room. He looks slowly to me and then out the window.
“I remember,” he begins, “I remember when my dad first brought me to a game here. I must have been six or seven. After the third inning, we went to get hot dogs. Somehow, between reaching the top of the stairs and getting in line, I lost him. I couldn't see him. Fear quickly went through me. I frantically searched for him to no avail.”
I do not know where he is going with all this. This isn't the time to reminisce. Most of all, Ryan is rarely one to share old stories, especially after we arrived at the Ax.
“Ten minutes later an attractive, well-dressed woman, she couldn't have been very old, picked me up and carried me to her box. From there, she called on a phone. Once she hung it up, she turned to me with a smile, and told me everything would be okay. She took me down to a window just like this. It had me in awe. However, I stepped hesitantly back from the counter. I was afraid I could fall. She smiled. She told me I was safe. We were really high up, nearly fifty feet, but the glass wouldn't break.”
“So?” I ask.
“Well, we won't be making it out the window,” Ryan replies and continues to stare out blankly. “We need another plan.”
“Dammit Ryan,” I say.
What the hell is wrong with him? It's as if he's already dead. We stand in silence for a few more moments. “We need a way-”
The door to the box slams open. The sergeant walks in the room. He moves down the stairs quickly.
“Sit down,” he commands with an outstretched pistol. We both find seats in the front row. Maybe, we can talk our way through this. Doubtful, but maybe. He steps in front, holsters the gun, and glances between us impatiently.
“Who exactly are all of you?”
“We are just trying to survive,” I say.
“We are the ones who broke into Washington last month. We are the ones, who made your defenses look like a joke. We are the ones who before that killed dozens of your men up
at the mines and at the Lancaster farm,” Ryan says, his face grinning with pride. His eyes are wild and wide.
Ryan, what they hell are you doing? It's not the best to piss off the man with a gun.
The sergeant steps in close to Ryan. Rage fills the man's eyes. He must believe Ryan. He reaches an arm back and strikes Ryan across the face. The crack shakes my insides.
Ryan just… laughs.
The sergeant reaches back and strikes Ryan again. A thin stream of blood runs from Ryan's mouth. He continues to laugh. The sergeant stares at Ryan, fury surging through every inch of his face. He places his hands around Ryan's neck. Ryan stops laughing as he struggles to breath.
“Please, keep laughing.” The sergeant moves his face within inches of Ryan's. “Keep laughing.”
Ryan slams his head forward, striking the sergeant's nose. I hear it break and when he pulls away, blood flows from the man’s nostrils and into his grimacing mouth. His hand goes for his pistol and points it at Ryan's head.
“You’re going to-”
The hammer on the gun begins to move back...
My foot collides with the side of the sergeant’s knee. Ryan quickly moves his head to the right as the gun goes off. I dive forward and bury my shoulder into the sergeant’s chest. Both of us fall to the ground. Ryan remains standing as the guards at the door fire into the room. Flipping the table with a kick, he creates a barrier between the deadly rounds and us. He puts his back to the table, and looks to me. I slam my shoulder into the sergeant’s face. He goes unconscious.
Bullets riddle the window behind us, and splinters of the wood rise into the air. We are trapped in a five-foot space. The gunfire keeps coming, and bullets pepper the floor all around us. The glass shatters and a howl of cold wind blows through the box.
“Now what?”
I yell over the heavy gunfire. His craziness freed us; hopefully, he has another wild card.
“I hoped you had a plan,” Ryan says back. I shake my head while he wipes the blood from his mouth on his shoulder. I turn my back to the sergeant, and manage to find the gun with my bound hands. I fire a few shots around the table from behind my back.
At least they won’t rush us if they think we are armed.
They continue to shoot back, splintering the table away. We may have to jump.
Suddenly, the bullets stop.
Ryan and I share glances. I clutch the gun behind my back tightly and lean face a hole in the table. One of the guards lies on the ground; the other is struggling for air.
Darrel is on top of the guard, holding him in a tight headlock. I stand just as the guard goes limp. Darrel rises with an uncomfortable look. Tori walks around the corner, reaches down to the soldier, and withdraws his radio and gun. She hands it to Darrel who tries to slow down his breathing.
“They're both unconscious,” Darrel says.
“How'd you two get free?” Ryan asks, moving towards Ryan. Darrel flicks open a knife and frees Ryan's hands.
“They turned their backs on us,” Tori
says. “That was a mistake.”
“Their zip-tie wasn't quite strong enough,” Darrel says. I look to his wrists as his hands go into his pocket; they are bleeding from a narrow slit. “Kevin's gone to find the SUV. We're to meet him in the front.” He pulls out a handcuff key and unlocks the cuffs around my wrists. I bring them to the front and delicately rub where the steel had been.
“Have you seen any of the others?” I ask.
They both shake their head.
A distant explosion rocks the small room.
“I think they have learned that taking us alive is one of the biggest mistakes they have ever made,” Ryan says with a faint smile. Arming ourselves with what we can, the four of us rush from the room and follow the sound of the explosion. We move carefully along the concourse, checking each corner methodically as we move around the stadium. We still have a good distance to cover before we make it to the entrance. A few soldiers appear, but they don't expect us. They're confused. Whoever else has escaped really caught them all off guard. Their bodies hit the ground after Ryan fires multiple shots.
Another explosion occurs, this time from outside. Ryan calls for us to halt with a closed fist. He holds the radio out and we gather around while keeping watch.
Over the radio, it sounds like there is chaos all over the stadium. The soldiers are having a
tough time making sense of it all. Probably nothing like this has ever happened before. Ryan cranks up the volume:
“They are in two vehicles; I repeat they are in cars and again moving towards the exit. Do not let them escape.”
That's where we need to be.
We rush down the stairs and back out the entrance. A Jeep is a burning inferno, and several bodies lie dead on the ground. Panic looms at first, but none of the bodies is recognizable. It's not them. Aside from the sound of the flames, it is quiet near us. Gunshots echo in the distance.
“Ryan what happened...” I begin. Before I can finish, the white SUV and a black sedan sharply turn from the other side of the stadium and rush towards us. They skid to a halt right in front of me. Kevin is behind the wheel of the SUV. I scan through the cars, trying to identify those that didn’t make it. It takes me a second to realize that everyone is accounted for, and then some. Someone new drives the new car; Jo sits beside him and Caitlyn is in the backseat. If they can trust him, I am quick to as well.
“Well get in,” Laura yells from within, holding open an outstretched door of the SUV. Ryan and I both quickly enter. Darrel and Tori load into the sedan.
“How the hell did you all manage this?”
“Long story.
It's best we get the hell out of here first,” Carter answers from the passenger's seat of the SUV. “The remaining units are catching up. We've been giving them a chase all around this park waiting for all of you to come out. We almost left.”
Our SUV crashes out of the entrance of the ballpark. A few gunshots follow us from the distance, but they quickly subside after several turns within the city.
“How much farther to the hospital?” Ryan asks, checking the firearm in his lap.
“Not far,” Paige answers from beside me.
The SUV slides over the ice in a few places, as we follow the road to the hospital. I glance behind us a few times, but only the black sedan follows.
I never imagined we'd all make it out of that alive - it seemed hopeless. For once, things are in our favor. We may actually succeed, and live to tell the tale.
Nate coughs and suppresses it with the back of his wrist.
* * *
Our SUV drifts down the ramp of the hospital's parking garage beneath the building. It's dark, and aside from a few rotting cars, completely empty. We unload the few guns remaining and the medical equipment from the trunk. I grab one side of the generator and Kevin grabs the other. We walk in a silent, urgent caravan towards the entrance. Laura is a few paces in front of me. She hesitates as she passes the elevator button. She hits it with her elbow and gives Nate a playful smile. Not me.
Good. I guess...
With the help of our flashlights, we climb the few stories and step into the third floor lobby.
“This is definitely right,” Nate says, looking at the dossier in his hand with his flashlight. We hurry down the hallway and find a waiting room. Patient rooms surround this main hub, and a set of double doors stand in the middle of the far wall. Dusty, poorly padded, wooden chairs line both sides. We set down our final possessions. Laura and Nate quickly walk through the double doors and disappear.
Moments later, they reemerge.
“Yea, everything we should need is back there. As soon as we are unpacked, we'll get started.”
Caitlyn lets out a deep cough immediately following Nate's words. Most of us share a concerned look.
“We'll work as fast as we can,” Nate reassures while clearing his own throat.
Kevin and I lift the generator through the double doors and find a side room inside the laboratory with a window. We carefully set down the generator. I open the window while Kevin plugs in the extension cord and runs it to Laura and Nate's workspace. Nate takes it from Kevin and plugs in several of their machines. Laura walks into the room with me.
“Thanks,” she gives a weak a smile. I simply nod and place my foot beside the generator. I grab the cord and give it a few tugs.
The generator roars to life with the last pull. Light surges out from within the laboratory.
“If you need more gas, we have a few gallons in the SUV. I'll go get it.”
She nods. I go to walk past her, but her hand catches my arm.
“I'm sorry,” she says.
“Me too,” I say, pushing past her and heading back into the lobby. The others are distributing our gear throughout the nearby patients’ rooms. This will likely be our home for the next few days; we will have to make the best of it. I help Tori turn a gurney right side up, and I sweep some broken glass into a corner.
“We're all up and running,” Laura announces. I make no response, but a few of the others react. She closes the double doors.
Now, we pray. I'll be okay. Carter will be okay. The rest of them… the clock is ticking. We all know it.
I turn to the others. They look tired. Tori and Darrel head into one of the patient rooms. Kevin sits beside Caitlyn and Jo, each of them look pale. I can’t help my amazement at how infectious it is. From the short time that we were captives, it seems all of them have become ill. The adrenaline from our escape is gone and the impact of the virus is already beginning to show. It is worse this time.
All of those soldiers back there must have been exposed.
Ryan stands over the few weapons we have left on a table along the side of the room and does inventory. He gives me a worried look. His eyes are starting to look red. Carter and Paige stand with the new
guy in the corner, conversing about something. Probably making sure that he is on the level.