The Big Bang (38 page)

Authors: Roy M Griffis

The dying Guardsman took several deep breaths. “My brother lived in Moreno Valley. He was an asshole, petty thief, wannabe, all that crap. You get a chance, you tell him that Danny says, âI was right. You don't gotta live like that.'” He took several more ragged breaths, and then gave Baldwin an address. Baldwin repeated it back to him.

Danny nodded, then slid down the side of the concrete barrier, coming to rest with his knees up against his chest. “Can you get me a blanket out of the carrier? I think I'm gonna sit out here and look at the stars. Never used to be able to see 'em, you know.”

Baldwin climbed the steps into the back of the personnel carrier. The door was unlocked. It smelled bad inside, the stench of sickness. He found a clean blanket, carried it out to the soldier, and tucked it around him.

“You knowâ¦” Danny started coughing again. When the racking coughs stopped, he resumed, “You know, that badboy is shielded.” He gestured toward the personnel carrier. “Lead around the cab and the compartment. She's packing heat, too. And there's iodine tablets in the back, for the radiation.” He dug in the pocket of his jacket, found a set of keys. “Go 'head, take 'em, they ain't too hot.”

“If it's shielded, what happened to you?”

“Dude, all we had was a tent for the first week. By then, we were cooked. That carrier belonged to some Army pogues. They got sent in to L.A. to check out the damage. They didn't come back, homie.”

“I can't leave youâ”

“
Man, take the carrier
. At least that way, you have a chance of gettin' to Mo Vall, and telling my smart-ass brother what he needs to hear.”

Alec took the keys from Danny's trembling fingers. He extended his own hand and said something he'd never said in his life. “God bless you, soldier.”

Danny reached out a frail hand and they shook. “You, too, sir.”

Baldwin had driven a delivery truck during college, so the big carrier wasn't much of a challenge. With the windows down to sluice the clinging odor of illness from the interior, he ended up bashing it past stalled vehicles, driving on sidewalks and lawns until he was clear of the worst of the choking jam.

The tears returned as he drove and he pulled over beside a blackened pile of metal that had been forty cars and SUVs. He'd promised Addie, in his mind at least, that he would come and get her. That her daddy would never let her down. But he'd promised Becka he'd come back, too. Shuddering, both hands clamped around the steering wheel as he sobbed, the real question came to him:
Which promises were you bound to keep: those to the living, or those to the dead?

Wiping his eyes, Baldwin dropped the truck into low gear, turned north, and headed toward Becka and his destiny.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

ISBN: 978-1-5040-0743-6

Liberty Island Media Group

New York, NY

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