Sunshine (10 page)

Chapter 22

Boomerang

             
It took me awhile to finally come back too. I was in such shock. Sunny was crying in my arms and trying to get free. He must sense my turmoil. What are they going to do to him? Why would they shoot him and then take him? He hadn’t fired first so they had no reason to react as they had.  They were obviously not the good people I had imagined. When there are so few of us left I thought everyone would appreciate the rarity of seeing one another.             

I finally pulled myself from the window and tended to Sunny. I set him down again
st my legs. He could almost sit without any support and could scoot himself around a bit.

I took a look around the room and saw we still had enough supplies to last us for a week or so. Should we head out after Marcus? The car was already packed and ready or do we go in another direction leaving him forever. I was pretty strong for being a petite girl, but I was no hero. I didn’t know how to fight nor did I know if I could kill another human being, Jacks didn’t count. I would also have Sunny and leaving him anywhere unattended was out
of the question.

My only other option was to do as Marcus had said, we could stay here. Sunny was safe here and we had suppl
ies, but it no longer felt homey it now felt like a penitentiary. I grabbed for the other gun and put it in my waistband.

              It’s been five days since Marcus was taken. Nothing new has happened we have simply been in hiding. Keeping Sunny busy and happy has become a chore. I can tell he misses Marcus. I too miss him badly. I feel lost without him.

             
We are still hiding out in the same room and we haven’t move. I don’t even know if our car is still there waiting for us. I check the window often, but nothing has changed on the horizon. How much longer we can stay here? I do not know, but we are going to have to get moving soon.

I can’t motivate myself to think about it. Because leaving this place would mean he really is gone. If we left he would never find us again
, that is if he is still alive. I can’t just abandon him like that, he has done so much for us and in my heart I know that I love him.

Again the tears come. It makes me remember everyone else I have lost. I have never let myself mourn the loss of everyone I ever knew.  My parents were gone in the beginning. All of my friends had implants. They were all gone, but I was also sadden
ed by others that I did not know well; the girl that sat behind me in homeroom throughout  high school, the guy at my favorite coffee shop. Hell, even my bitchy landlord. Now Marcus too was one of them.

Sunshine grabs for my hand and I realize he wasn’t there before. He was on the other side of the room.

“Sunshine, did you just crawl over here? Wow, you’ve become such a big boy. Good Job.” His face lights up at the praise and I throw him into the air. I can’t believe I just missed him crawling.

There was a loud sound from somewhere in the building. I grab my gun and hide Sunny around the bed.
The sound is getting louder. It sounds like someone is walking. My heart jumps, are they coming to get us? I put my ear up against the door. There is definitely someone walking towards us. I only hear one set of footsteps. They stop right outside the door. I freeze for a couple of minutes. I decide it will be best to open the door with my gun at the ready.

Just as I place my hand on the knob I hear something new. “Emma” it’s only a whisper.

I open the door instantly and am frozen by what I see.

Marcus is standing in front of me, but he doesn’t look like the man I saw five days ago. His pants are torn to shreds and he’s missing his shirt. That is not the surprising part though. He is covered nearly from head to toe in blood, obviously his own blood. His wound from the gunshot is wrapped in
a blood soaked cloth and the skin on the rest of his body is covered with huge gashes. His face is badly swollen and his nose appears to be broken.

He however, smiles when he sees me. “Honey I’m home.”

“Oh my God, Marcus.” I set down my gun and put his arm around me to support his weight. I set him down on the bed. Sunshine is babbling very loudly on the floor. He wants to be acknowledged by Marcus as well.

“Yeah, yeah little
bear I missed you too.”

I take a closer look at his wounds, but I still can’t place the gashes.

“Barbed wire fencing. We need to get going. They might come looking for me. In fact I guarantee they will me. Is the car still outside?”

There are a million question I want to ask, but now is not the time.

“I’m not sure; we haven’t been out of this room.”

“Good girl you followed my directions. Can you go find me some supplies for my gunshot
wound? The bullet is still in there.”

“Yes, I’ll be right back.”

I quickly gather together some surgical supplies and head back. Marcus wasn’t looking too good on the bed. We need to move fast so I could take care of his arm.

“Alright let’s go.”

It was difficult to maneuver with Sunny on my hip, Marcus leaning on me, and a pack on my back. I don’t know how he got there, but finally I load them in the car.

“Don’t turn your lights on and drive as quietly as you can. They might hear us.”

Chapter 23

Dr. Emma

              Finally by day break the next day we arrive back at the church. I never thought I would see this place again. Marcus was nearly passed out in the passenger seat I could tell he was struggling to stay conscious.

             
Sunny was asleep, so I laid him down in the bed and laid Marcus down on the floor. I gathered the medical supplies and gave myself a pat on the back for picking up some Vicodin and morphine. He had already taken four Vicodin, but I shot a bit of morphine in his good arm.

             
“What do I do? I’ve got these tweezer things to pull it out, but then what?”

             
“I have no idea. Just try not to hit any important stuff.”

             
I put everything into a pan of alcohol and rubbed my hands with antibacterial solution before putting on some gloves. He would have to be given a penicillin shot once I was done.

             
“Ok brace yourself this is going to hurt a lot.” Damn I forgot a wooden spoon they always place them in their mouth in movies, well hopefully a towel works.

             
I rinsed out the wound and tried to see the bullet. It wasn’t very deep in there and I could easily get to it. It was difficult though with very little lighting. I slowly inserted the tweezers and quickly got a grip around the bullet it easily came out. Marcus was screaming and thrashing around.

             
The wound was now bleeding very badly. I opened some bandage cloth, but it was quickly bleeding through.

             
“You need to cauterize it. Warm that tool over there.”

             
“On what? We don’t have a fire.”

             
“The cigarette lighter in the car.”

             
I ran out to the car and it seemed to take a million years to heat up. It was bright orange definitely hot enough. However the heat didn’t transfer as well onto the tool. He wasn’t going to like what I was going to have to do.
              I put it back in and this time when it popped out I ran inside and stuck it right into his wound. The scream that left his mouth was horrifying. It sounded as if he was being torn to pieces. It, however, had worked. The bleeding had mostly stopped and it appeared to no longer need stitches. He was sweating all over and Sunny was now screaming on the bed. I rubbed on some antibacterial goop and wrapped it with gauze.

             
After removing my gloves I went over to Sunny and placed him and his blanket on the floor. He would have rolled himself off if I hadn’t.

             
Now I had to tend to Marcus’s other wounds.

             
“How are you doing? I’m sorry for that, but it’s all I could think of.”

             
“Yeah, that doesn’t make my top ten favorite moments. Remind me never to piss you off, Princess.”

             
He was still calling me nicknames so I must be forgiven. His cuts didn’t look as bad once they were cleaned up. Only one needed a few stitches. I sewed it as if I was in home economics. He didn’t want me to touch his nose. It was only a little crooked and it was probably for the best. I would have made it worse. After a shot a penicillin and some more Vicodin I helped him into the bed.

             
“Thank you. I feel a little bit better. Keep your ears and eyes open there is still danger out there.” He stoked my cheek gently and I planted a small kiss on his forehead, as it was the only part of his face that was unbroken.

             
I couldn’t stay awake any longer. I knew I needed to keep a look out, but it was impossible. It had been a very long few days. When I awoke there was a very loud noise at the door. Someone was banging around. Had the Baltimore people followed us? That question, however, was quickly answered.

             
One of the stained classes windows viciously burst into a million pieces and a Jack was now standing in front of me. My gun was on the other side of the room next to my bag. Marcus was now awake, but as he tried to get up he fell. The Jack was ignoring us and seemed to be a mission of his own; it was sighted in on Sunny. He was being very quiet, surely he was awake, but he had come to learn in dangerous situations to stay silent.

             
It had already spotted him, though. I ran towards it and jumped onto its back. It was no match for me and quickly threw me off into the shards of glass. I could feel my body tear as it landed. I quickly got up and grabbed the only thing around me, a free standing cross. I hit it on its back as hard as I could, but it didn’t flinch. The cross was now in two. I had to do something it was now only a few feet from Sunny. Marcus was standing and slowly making his way towards the intruder. He had a knife in hand.

             
“Marcus, the knife.” I held out my hand.

             
He threw it to me and I caught the handle, but my pinky managed to catch part of the blade and was now bleeding profusely. The Jack turned; it must have smelled the fresh blood. How the hell was I going to do this? I couldn’t defeat a Jack with just a knife.

             
I saw Marcus had now reached Sunny. “Get into the confessional, now.”

             
I could see he looked desperate. He wanted to fight, but he didn’t stand a chance. He still had morphine in his system.

             
The Jack looked at me with a look of pure starvation. I planned to go straight for its heart. It came charging towards me and I sliced it across the chest. It grabbed on to my arm and it felt as if it would snap into two. I plunged the blade into its thigh, yet it didn’t react. I threw up my knee in pure desperation; I hoped this would hurt as much as it did normal people. I met my target, right between the legs. It let go of me slightly, it was just enough to get my knife up and I planted it right in its heart.

             
That was it. It fell to the ground. There could still be more. I grabbed my gun and headed out the broken window. Outside I found nothing. That was a close one.