Off the Wagon (Users #2) (5 page)

The sweatshirt sleeve wrapped around Barber’s thigh as a filthy jerry rigged tourniquet was soaked in his own blood. The windows were fogged from all the heavy breathing going on inside the car, making their treacherous drive all the more dangerous.

“We’re almost there,” Carter said, but Barber wasn’t sure if Carter was telling the truth of if he was just saying that to make him feel better. Lying on his back, all Barber could see through the side window were the tips of fir trees rushing past one after the other, but as the car began to buck over potholes, Barber knew they had gone from the smooth pavement of the main road to the bumpy gravel driveway of the compound.

“Open the gate! Open the god damn gate!” Carter shouted as he burst out of the front seat.

Things went fuzzy again, but the next thing Barber knew, he was in Carter’s arms, and they were hurtling across the compound yard.

“What the hells going on out here?” And despite his current state, Barber recognized the sour tone of Walt, a voice he could pick out from a crowd of thousands.

“Get Doc,” Carter said. “Get him now!” Carter didn’t wait for anyone to offer to let him in. He just burst through the door leading into Doc’s office and laid Barber on the bed.

“What happened?” Doc asked as he came down the steps. “What’s going on?”

“He’s been shot,” Carter said. There wasn’t the look of shock on his face that one might expect when presented with a gunshot victim, Doc was too used to dealing with severe injuries at the compound. Walt on the other hand was sweating and clenching his jaw from the stress of seeing his protege in such pain.

“What did you do?” Walt asked his tone accusatory.

“Me? I didn’t do anything,” Carter answered.

“You did something! Otherwise he wouldn’t have been shot!” Walt pushed Carter aside and took a seat at the side of the hospital bed next to him. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve been better,” Barber answered.

“Everyone clear out. I need to work.” Doc approached wearing his scrubs, rubber gloves, and holding a long needle with a clear liquid in the syringe. “You too,” Doc said when Walt didn’t immediately get up and move. Doc ushered them out the door at the end of the sharp needle. Barber caught Walt getting one last peek at him before the door was closed behind him.

“Now, this is going to sting a little,” Doc said.

“What is it?” Barber asked.

He was in so much pain, Barber hardly noticed the prick of the needle as it entered his skin.

“Morphine. A lot of it.” A rush of tranquility washed over Barber as the drugs took effect, and before he could count to three, his eyelids grew heavy and the world went black.

*****

“I knew this wasn’t a good idea,” Walt said. “You’re not ready.”

Dozens of other Users now gathered just outside the hospital room door, attracted by the commotion between Walt and Carter.

“Maybe I’m not, but you can’t keep the kid penned up in here for the rest of his life,” Carter said not backing down an inch. “It’s already causing him problems. He’s socially inept without you there to babysit him.”

“Oh, so now this is my fault?” Walt asked incredulously.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have too.” Walt got right in Carter’s face.

“Back off old man.” Carter puffed out his chest and gave Walt a good bump with it. Carter was stronger than Walt, more muscular, but Carter knew Walt had a mean streak in him that made up for any difference in size or strength.

Walt cocked back as if he were going to hit Carter in the face and Carter reciprocated with a quick jab of his own, but they both froze in mid swing.

“Both of you calm down!” Evan shouted.

The lanky man had both hands held out, one pointed at Walt, and the other pointed at Carter.

“God damn it, Evan. Let me go,” Walt said, but Evan, using his telekinesis, had a firm hold on both of them.

“Fucking Mover,” Carter said.

“Hey now. Watch how you speak to me or I may just freeze that mouth of yours shut too,” Evan said. “Now are you boys going to play nice? Or do I need to keep you in timeout a little bit longer?” Carter was sure they looked ridiculous, frozen in place like a couple of boxing trophies.

“I will if he will,” Carter said.

There was a moment of silence as Walt, who if he could have moved a muscle, would have appeared to have been mulling it over.

“Fine,” Walt said at last.

Evan dropped his arms to his sides and both Walt and Carter were immediately released. Carter straightened his clothes as if his personal space had just been violated.

“Agh, I hate that,” Carter said.

“Hey, its not as bad as being pushed into it. I could of had Bobby or Gwen come over and push you into thinking you two were lovers.”

Walt’s face screwed up in disgust at the mere thought.

“Don’t be such a homophobe,” Carter said.

“It’s not the thought of another man, it’s the thought of you.” Walt took a well placed verbal jab at Carter, letting him know they were back on joking terms, but the mood was dire and no one, not even Walt, laughed.

“All right, everyone back to what you were doing. The shows over,” Evan said and the crowd of Users immediately began to disperse. There were myriad chores to be done at the compound this time of year, and the Users got back to them. A layer of leaves covered the lawn, but they didn’t rake them up. Carter watched as Evan simply used his telekinesis like a leaf blower, blasting the leaves into a pile. Similar work was being done all across the compound with Users special powers being put to tasks that most suited their abilities.

“Do you think he’s going to be okay?” Carter asked in all seriousness.

“I’ve seen Doc repair worse, but the kid has lost a lot of blood.”

“I’m not leaving until he’s better. As his sponsor I need to be by his side,” Carter said.

“That’s fine. You should stay here for now. Your old cabin is still empty if you want to crash in there.” Walt motioned to the square cabin Carter had called home less than a week before. He envisioned his fancy new apartment sitting empty for at least a few weeks and sighed. There was nothing left to do, but wait. Wait and hope that Barber would be okay.

Prologue 2

The days events took Carter into a deep sleep.

He was out before his head even hit the pillow. There was a flood of images at first, before the picture became clear. He saw himself as a boy, many years younger than Barber was now. He sat in the living room of a one story rambler, rolling a toy truck back and forth across the cheap shag carpet. The walls were stained a faint beige from years of cigarette smoke. Cobwebs were strung between the walls and stretched up to the ceiling in the corner above his head.

He could hear his mother watching her programs on a small table top television in the kitchen, but it had been hours since she had come to check on him. The only other sign that she was even still alive were the wafts of cigarette smoke that trailed from the kitchen, through the dining room, and into the living room where he now sat.

“Braroom!” Carter made an engine noise with his mouth as he pushed the toy truck.

“What do you think you’re doing?” A voice as deep as the devils said from over his shoulder.

An ominous shadow fell over him from above as his father entered the room.

“I’m playing,” Carter said.

“You’re ruining the damn carpet is what you’re doing,” Carter’s father said in that gravelly voice that let him know his old man was drunk again. “You think this shit comes cheap?”

Carter had been playing with his truck outside again and the wheels had tracked dirt all over the carpet.

“N-no,” Carter stammered. He looked from side to side, not daring to look his father in the eye, looking for someplace to go to get away from him, but he was trapped between the walls and his father.

“Then get that filthy truck up off the floor god damn it!” his father screamed, bent over, grabbed the truck, and threw it across the room. “Look at the mess you made!”

Carter flinched. He always flinched when his father got that close, but if the man noticed, he didn’t show it. Carter wanted to cry out for his mother, but caught himself before he made the fatal mistake. It would only make the beating that much worse.

“My truck.” Carter picked up the broken pieces of his plastic truck and began to cry.

“I’ll give you something to cry about!” His father yelled without the slightest hesitation or restraint.

Carter cowered in fear, holding his hands up in front of him, but his father just slapped them away. Tears ran down his face and he screamed, knowing what was to come, but despite his screams, no one would come to his aid. No one ever did.

His father snatched him off the floor by his upper arm and held him in place. Without so much as a word, his father pulled off his belt and began to beat him with it on the back, ass, and legs. Carter screamed in pain with each whip of the belt. He squirmed and he flailed as the leather slapped his back, leaving welts. The pain was unbearable, but the betrayal at the hands of the one person who was supposed to be protecting him was torture.

Carter awoke in a cold sweat, back in the safety of his cabin. Leaning forward and stretching his aching back, Carter ran his hands over his face before flopping back down in bed. The nightmare had shaken him to the core. He would find no more sleep this night, instead he lay in the dark counting the minutes until the sun finally came up.

Chapter 6

The following week

“
Another Death By Mysterious Street Drug
” The article on the cover of the Seattle Daily Newspaper said in big bold letters. Carter had to consciously steady his hand to keep it from shaking in rage. He folded up the paper and threw it on the table, unable to read the article any further. The longer he spent at the compound, the longer he was away from the city’s ever growing drug problem.

He pulled a bottle of pills from his pocket, popped the lid, and like a true pro, he swallowed a couple without taking so much as a sip of water. Carter closed his eyes and took a deep breath, waiting for the pills to take effect. A moment later he sighed and opened his eyes. Judging by the thermometer on the wall the fall morning air was a tad bit on the nippy side to be sitting out on the patio, but Walt didn’t seem to mind, and Carter surely couldn’t tell the difference despite the clouds of hot breath that wisped from his mouth every time he exhaled.

Carter and Walt sat on the porch watching; Barber was up and walking around the compound grounds finally, albeit with a limp. Carter had spent the last week working out with Evan and Walt while Barber recuperated, but he had mostly spent his time alone in his cabin deep in thought. He had done a poor job as Barber’s sponsor, a mistake he meant to rectify. Sure he had provided a roof over the kids head, but he hadn’t realized how deep seeded the kid’s problems were until he was about to die, and all he could think of were his parents or lack thereof. That was another problem that Carter was going to have to remedy.

But first he needed to have a talk with Walt. If Barber was using Pow, Walt would be the only one to get the truth out of him.

“Looks like he’s going to be okay,” Carter said.

“Looks like it.” Walt nodded in agreement.

“We should talk,” Carter said. “It’s about Barber.”

Walt turned to face Carter, showing he had his full attention.

“I think he may be using a new drug that has hit the streets recently, it’s called Pow.”

“That would account for his irrational behavior.” Walt agreed “What else would make him pop his spikes in the middle of a crowded street and try to stab a man?”

“Maybe you can talk to him today. Find out how he’s getting his hands on it,” Carter said.

“Not today. There will be plenty of time for me to talk it out with him after he’s fully rehabilitated,” Walt said.

“Well he’s up and walking, and if Doc said it was okay, I was planning on taking him home,” Carter said, but Walt lifted one eyebrow and scrunched up his face into a confused expression.

“He’s not going home with you today. He’s staying here,” Walt stated, very matter of fact.

Now it was Carter’s turn to throw Walt a confused expression of his own.

“What do you mean he’s staying here? For how long?” Carter asked.

“Permanently,” Walt said with a tone of finality. “He obviously can’t be back out in regular civilization without getting into trouble. His place his here.”

“No, it’s not. He needs to get back into school. He needs a regular life,” Carter said. “He can’t stay trapped inside these walls for the rest of his life, surrounded by other ex-junkies. It’s not healthy.”

“Listen, I just want what’s best for him,” Walt said.

“So do I, and I’m his sponsor, not you.”

“About that, I don’t think he’s ready for a sponsor. And as I said before, I don’t think you are ready for the responsibility.” Walt pointed at him.

The already hot blood in Carter’s veins began to boil. Carter didn’t doubt that Walt had Barber’s best interests in mind, and his method for helping Users get clean was sound, but this was no environment for a young man to grow up in. Carter couldn’t escape the image of old Dan, wrinkled and decrepit, hiding for days on end in his cabin. That’s not what he wanted for Barber, and that is where the current path that Walt had him on, led. Exactly nowhere.