Quinton pointed his rifle at the man. “Not gonna happen. They can come to us, make sure no one gets the drop on anyone. Tell them we’re in here.”
“In here, Jose,” the man called out. An old man with a ring of salt and pepper hair around a bald head came jogging into the room. When he took in the standoff he skidded to a stop, raising his own rifle to his shoulder.
“What’s going on Malcolm?” Jose asked.
“Just talking with some new folks, nothing to get aggressive about,” Malcolm said and with that assurance, the old man lowered his rifle. Malcolm was obviously the leader here and she wondered how many more men he had out there.
“What’s going on outside?” Quinton asked and Jose looked to Malcolm when he gave his answer.
“Craig was shot.”
Malcolm let out a string of curses. “What the hell happened?”
“We were coming out of the pharmacy when they drove up. A bunch of men in a pick up. We thought they were friendly at first but they called us looters, said we were stealing what was theirs. Then they started shooting at us. Craig was hit before we made it to the station wagon.”
“Did they follow you here?” Malcolm asked and Jose shook his head.
“No. We led them in the opposite direction and then double backed. We lost them.”
“What kind of shape is Craig in?”
“He was shot in the stomach. He’s still conscious but Lorraine said that the bullet is still inside and it’s got to come out. She’s says we need proper surgical equipment. We saw a flyer at the pharmacy for a brand new veterinary clinic that opened up in the north end of town. She thinks we can find what we need there.”
“Shit,” Malcolm cursed, the frustration radiating off of him in waves. He was in quite a predicament. Facing off against possible enemies while one of his own was hurt and needed help.
Veronica wondered what he was going to do. He was three to their two, the odds definitely in his favour. If he didn’t want to waste any more time, all he had to do was give the order and she and Quinton would be dead. Then they would discover Claudia. The thought of what could happen to Claudia without her or Quinton around had Veronica scrambling to come up with a safe way out of this for all of them.
“My brother is a surgeon.” That got everyone’s attention focused on her. “He can help your friend.”
“
Veronica
.”
She ignored Quinton’s hissed warning. “He’ll get that bullet out and sew up your friend good as new. All we ask in return is you let us go on our way without any trouble when it’s done.”
“How do I know anything you say is true?” Malcolm asked. “You could just be bullshitting me so you can get the jump on us.”
“I’m just going to reach into my pocket for my ID badge,” Quinton said, moving slowly as he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and produced a laminate. He tossed it across the room, the piece of plastic skittering across the floor to stop a few feet in front of Malcolm.
He crouched down, his eyes and weapon never leaving them as he picked up the badge and stood back up. He glanced quickly at the badge before nodding. “All right Dr. Alpert, your credentials check out. I’m still going to need some incentive if I’m going to let you cut open my friend.”
“And what’s that going to be?” Quinton asked.
“Your sister stays here with these two,” he said, tilting his head to Travis and Jose. “That way I know you won’t do anything stupid.”
“Not going to happen,” Quinton said with a firm shake of his head. “She comes with us or no deal.”
“Quinton,” Veronica said, “It’s okay.”
It wasn’t that she particularly trusted these men but she did not want to move from this spot. These strangers had no idea that Claudia was curled at her feet but if she was forced to come with them, they would find her. In her fragile state, Veronica didn’t know how Claudia would react to strangers with guns pointed at them. She also didn’t know how these men would react to discovering they had been deceived. No, it was better to stay here and keep Claudia concealed until they could get out of here safely.
“Are you crazy? I’m not leaving you alone with a couple of strangers.”
She knew he wasn’t on the same wavelength as her and she tried to think of some way to get him tuned in without revealing Claudia’s presence.
“Quint, I know you promised to always look out for your
little
sister,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “But you’ve got to trust me with this.”
Her words did not seem to ping off anything in the strangers but she saw Quinton was finally on the same page.
“You’re absolutely sure?” he asked, giving her one final out but she had made up her mind.
“Quint, I’ll be fine. We’ll consider the desk a line in the sand,” she said, with a tilt of her chin in the direction of the desk in front of her. “Either one of them makes a move to cross the line gets a shotgun blast to the face.”
“That fair enough for you two?” Malcolm asked his men and they nodded their agreement to the terms. Malcolm holstered his gun and crossed the bullpen while Quinton raised his own gun at him.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Malcolm didn’t even turn around, just waved over his shoulder as he walked up to the dispatch desk. “Ease up, John Wayne. I’m getting walkies for us. You’d feel better if you can keep talking to your sister, right?”
Malcolm picked up the walkies, testing several of them and making sure they had full batteries before he handed them out. “We’ll use channel four. We touch base on the hour, every hour. That good with you, doc?”
Veronica could tell that Quinton was still suspicious of the man, looking down at the two walkies he held out to him. She wanted to tell him that he really had no choice here, they were outnumbered. They had to go along with whatever this group wanted if they had any chance of making it out of this whole.
Thankfully, Quinton was smart enough to realize it himself and he shouldered the shotgun, taking the walkies and passing one to her. He stepped closer to her behind the desk, his knee subtly bumping the arm that Claudia had wrapped around Veronica’s leg.
“I’ll be back,” he said. “Anything goes bad, do what you have to do to protect my little sister.”
“You know I will.”
He pulled her into a hug, resting his chin on the top of her head. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Now go,” she said, patting a hand on his chest. “Sooner you go, sooner you’ll be back.”
Quinton took one last glance back at her before he followed Malcolm out the door, leaving her alone with Travis and Jose.
She knew she had made the right decision for her family. It wouldn’t have been easy to fight their way out with the three men here and who knew how many others outside. But now the larger group was split up and that made them weaker. If she needed to, she knew she could take these two men out before they could get to her.
She just hoped that Quinton was able to fix their man. If he couldn’t, she worried about what they might do to him in retaliation.
Subject File # 742
Administrator - What sort of behaviour did you observe from people on the road?
Subject - I’ve seen people do some selfless things and I’ve seen people do some horrendous things.
Administrator - Your group was attacked not too long after this started. What were those people like?
Subject - They said they were protecting what was theirs but that was a lie. They were hunting, looking to take what they had no right to take.
The station wagon had been parked just outside the sheriff’s station and Alan stood at the open rear door. His hands tensed on his weapon when he spotted the doctor but Malcolm waved him off. Alan took a step back to let them see a shirtless Craig sprawled in the back of the wagon, Lorraine at his side. His face was white, sweat beading on his forehead, his chest pumping up and down as he tried to breathe through the pain. Lorraine knelt next to him, her face tight with worry as she pressed Craig’s shirt against his belly, the white fabric already soaked red.
“Get to work, doc,” Malcolm said, gesturing to the car with his gun. “Do anything stupid and I’ll put a bullet in the back of your skull.”
The doctor’s face was grim but determined as he climbed into the back. “Craig, I’m Dr. Alpert. I’m going to take care of you. I just need to assess the entry point, okay?”
“Do what you gotta do, doc,” Craig said, gritting his teeth together when Quinton nodded at Lorraine, who pulled the shirt away. Blood oozed out of a black hole on his left side and Quinton leaned down to examine it. Malcolm watched him carefully, his finger on the trigger. He didn’t trust this man yet and if he made one wrong move, he’d drop him.
“Okay, we’re going to have to pack this with sterile gauze to staunch the bleeding and prevent any further infection. I’m also going to want to take his vitals before we move him. I need a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, latex gloves, gauze and tape.”
“Why don’t you just ask for a naked lady holding a million dollar cheque while you’re at it?” Alan sneered, looking to Malcolm for some agreement but he just glared at him.
Quinton narrowed his eyes at Alan, his gaze sweeping over him and Malcolm saw the calculation there. The doctor was reading Alan and judging by the curl of his lip, he’d made a correct judgement. His gaze shifted to Malcolm, an eyebrow raised and Malcolm knew exactly what the doctor was thinking.
You really run with this guy?
“Think he means the stuff in the ambulance over there,” Malcolm said. “Alan, go get what we need.”
Alan seemed ready to argue, looking at the doctor suspiciously but Malcolm did not let his gaze waver from Alan. They had made the agreement before they had gone on this trip. Malcolm was in charge and everyone was to listen to him, no questions asked. Alan let out an annoyed huff but he turned and headed towards the ambulance and that was good enough for Malcolm.
“I don’t think the bullet hit any majors organs,” Lorraine said, her voice tentative but hopeful. “He’d be bleeding more if it did. I think it missed the arteries too.”
“Do you have medical experience?” Quinton asked.
“I worked as a trauma nurse,” she told him and the doctor broke out in a huge grin.
“Thank God for miracles,” he said. “Here I was thinking I’d have to teach one of these guys how to assist in surgery. You’re a blessing, Miss…”
“Lorraine,” she offered, smiling up at the doctor.
“Well, you’re a blessing, Miss Lorraine.” Quinton flashed her a million watt smile and Malcolm had to admire the man’s skill at putting people at ease. His praise was enough to ease some of the tension in Lorraine’s shoulders and the drawn lines around her mouth disappeared.
Unfortunately, there was one person who wasn’t appreciating the doctor’s attempt to calm the waters.
“Hey, doc, less flirting, more doctoring,” Craig grumbled and Malcolm knew him well enough to know that it was now a combination of pain and jealousy that had him grunting.
Quinton took no offence, pressing two fingers to Craig’s neck and keeping an eye on his watch as he took his pulse. “It’s strong and steady, which is a good sign. Still, I want to check his blood pressure to be sure. If it’s stable, we can move him to the clinic.”
“And if it isn’t stable?” Malcolm asked.
“Then I’m going to have to go in, find the leak and clamp it.”
“Oh fuck me! If it comes to that, knock me out, hard hit right to the skull,” Craig groaned, his head falling back to bounce off the floor.
“You’ve been pretty lucky so far,” Quinton said. “Your luck might hold out.”
“All respect, doc, but lucky would have been the bullet missing me completely.”
Alan came hustling back over, arms filled with what Quinton had asked for, and dropped it inside the car. Quinton and Lorraine both pulled on gloves and quickly went to work with their supplies.
“So why are Travis and Jose still inside?” Alan asked.
“We had to negotiate to get the doctor to work with us,” Malcolm said. “We found him inside with his sister. We cut a deal. He’ll help out Craig and then everybody goes their separate ways. Travis and Jose are going to stay here with the sister, keep an eye on her until we get this done with Craig.”
“Being a doctor is a hell of a trump card to have,” Alan said and Malcolm had to agree with him. It wasn’t like they could just roll up to the emergency room anymore if they got hurt. A doctor, especially a surgeon, was a hot commodity in this new world.
“He’s stable,” Quinton called out to them. “We can move him now.”
They got moving quickly, Alan and Malcolm hopping in the front, Malcolm at the wheel. He left it up to Alan to navigate their way through the town according to Jose’s maps, while he watched the road for the men who had attacked them. They were deep in enemy territory with a man down. They needed to be alert and ready for anything.
“What’s everybody’s blood type?” Quinton asked, breaking the silence inside the car.
Malcolm glanced up at the rear view mirror to meet the doctor’s eyes. “That some new kind of icebreaker?”
“He’s going to need a blood transfusion,” Quinton explained. “He said his blood type is A positive. Any of you got that blood type?”