After Days (The After Days Trilogy) (23 page)

20

              Luke woke me up at sunset. I rose slowly, stretching my sore muscles. The sleep had done me good, but I was still groggy, and I was sure that it had not been as much sleep I needed. The stress of the day was wearing on me in ways that I had never imagined that it could. I don't like stress, but I knew I was in for a lot more of it, at least until we arrived at the safe haven.

             
“Here, you look like you need this more than I do,” Luke said, handing me an energy drink from his stash. I don't know where he kept them, I never saw him pack or unpack them, but he always magically seemed to be able to produce energy drinks as needed. “You still going to ride shotgun tonight?”

             
“Yeah, that's the plan,” I replied, taking the can from him and cracking it open. “Unless somebody else really wants the spot.”

             
“Not me,” he said. “I'm going to sleep from here until whenever we stop again. I am bushed; I don’t even think another round with the Chinese would wake my ass up once I go down for the count.” He looked at me for a moment in silence while I slammed down half the energy drink. He suddenly looked all serious.

“This thing with Mark and John... and
Samara, it sucks, man,” he said. “I want to try to talk you and them out of it. I wish we could try and find a way to bring everybody, but I know it would be a long shot. Anyway, we made you the leader, and it's your call to make, so I have to respect that.”

             
“I know,” I said. “It does suck and if I could think of another way I would grab onto it in a second, but Mark and John need real medical care, way beyond what we can give, and Samara? Well you could see it too, she is just tired of running...besides, we can’t force her to come, it’s her decision to make.”

             
“What about the safe haven we’re headed to?” Luke asked with a hint of hope in his voice. I found it infectious and almost gave into it myself, despite my cynicism about hope in general, but cold, harsh reality won out in my mind.

             
“Even if we get there and find out that the safe haven is real, there is no guarantee that they’ll be able to provide the medical help to save Mark, or John for that matter.” I shook my head. “In this case I think we just have to accept that the possibility of medical care from the Chinese is better than the possibility that there may or may not be a safe haven. Besides, at some point in the next couple of days, we are going to be walking again.”

             
“I didn't think of that,” Luke said.

             
“If…
when
the Chinese find the truck, we don't want it to be too close to the safe haven,” I said. “No reason to help them find it.”

He nodded his head in response. I didn't know if he was quite convinced, but he seemed to accept my reasoning. I finished the rest of the energy drink and walked to rear of the truck. Everybody was just about ready to go. I went around to the passenger side of the cab and found Indigo already seated in the middle.

              “Riding up front again?” I asked her.

             
“Of course, this is where the action is,” she responded with a playful smile. Her rest seemed to have done her a world of good, but then I thought she had looked good even when she was about to collapse from fatigue.

             
“Can you shoot?” I asked her.

             
“Yeah, a bit,” she replied. I took out the revolver I had found in the gas station and handed it to her, along with a handful of extra rounds for it.

             
“I already have one,” I said. “Two of them take up too much space in my pockets.”

             
“Thanks,” she looked it over and then held it out and lined up the sights. “Where'd you get this one?”

             
“In the station, when Luke and I went and checked it out.”

             
“Cool, I’ll keep it handy,” she said, sliding it into her coat pocket. “Is everybody else all ready to head out?”

             
“Pretty much, it looks like,” I replied.

I turned to look toward the back of the truck and saw Sonny rolling the big garage doors open a little. It was dusk and light was fading, but full darkness wouldn’t hit for another half hour or so.

Samara was sitting with Mark and John on the mat that we had left for them, the food and water piled nearby. The injured boys were covered with some of the extra blankets we had brought. The other passengers were standing around talking quietly, waiting for the word to climb back into the truck. I went around to Luke who was standing near the passenger door. “I think we're ready to go.”

He nodded and Sonny joined us. “Twenty more minutes should give us full dark, we’ll go then.”

Something was nagging at me and I decided I would talk to Samara one more time before giving up on her. “Excuse me for a sec.” 

I walked over to the corner of the garage, Mark was still out of it, laying on his back, dark circles under his eyes, and John was laying with his head on
Samara’s lap, he wasn’t asleep but looked pretty exhausted.

“You won’t talk me out of staying Isaac,” she said as if reading my thoughts. I opened my mouth but didn’t know what to say.

“I’ve tried Isaac, she won’t listen to reason,” John said in a resigned tone.

Perhaps sensing my sadness,
Samara put her hand on my knee. “Please don’t take it personally, it’s nothing to do with you. I’m glad they made you leader while Sonny was down, you’ve been great and did well to get us this far. I’m just sick of hiding and running. And I don’t like the idea of leaving two injured behind to fend for themselves. If I’m here, at least they’ll have someone to tend to them.”

Samara
paused, hesitating. “Besides…maybe it won’t be so bad with them in charge, you know?”

I could see that John was right; she had persuaded herself that it was the best thing to do. I gave her hand a squeeze. “Okay, I hope it works out for you – for all of you. Is there anything else I can do before we go?”

“Well, you could watch Mark while I duck out to the little girl’s room.”

“Sure, don’t go too far though.”

Samara pulled herself from under John’s head and went out. I put my hand on Mark’s forehead, he was burning up…badly. I had a terrible feeling he wouldn’t last the night. A girl’s scream made me snatch my hand away and shoot to my feet. It was Allie, she was behind the truck facing the garage door. Sonny and Luke rushed around from the other side of the truck and pulled up quickly.

There were three figures, backlit by the last light of dusk. Their faces were in shadow. I didn’t need to see them though. One was the unmistakable figure of the leader of the Tigers, Chen. Next to him stood another of his gang, and held tightly under
that thug’s arm with a short blade to her throat, was Samara. Sonny and I took a step forward.

“Stand still, all of you, or the girl gets it in the neck,” snapped Chen. I saw a pistol in his hand.

There was not a doubt in my mind that he was desperate and just psycho enough to carry out his threat.

“What do y
ou want Chen?” Sonny asked over the top of Allie’s screaming.

“Oh we’ll talk asshole. You!” he roared at
Allie. “Shut up!”

Chen indicated with his head that his sidekick should close the garage doors.
Samara gasped as the man dragged her to the doors and pulled them closed, I took another step forward until Chen’s eyes locked on me. “That’s right…soon enough
laowai.
Somebody put a light on,” he said, keeping his eyes fixed on me.

I heard moveme
nt in the back of the truck and somehow still working, the light in the cargo bay came on. Chen turned back to Sonny.

“Well here we are again Sonny. I’m not particularly upset that you didn’t hook up with us when this invasion shit went down. I probably would have had to kill you anyway, no good having two alphas in the pack if you know what I mean. Anyway, all that is water under the bridge. I’m even willing to forget that you and your baby Kung Fu gang led us into a trap that got all my men killed. I even figure you might have done me a favor, a big group like that is bound to get noticed by the Chinese.

“What I’m not willing to forget, or forgive, is the filthy laowai that killed Jack. Just hand him over, and the rest of you can go wherever you were headed. Based on what I saw that helicopter do, you have friends in high places.”

“No, not negotiable.” Sonny said simply.

“Your brother got what he deserved!” Indigo yelled as she jumped fearlessly out of the truck and came around to face Chen. “He was going to rape me!”

“Well, well, well. Jack always did have good taste in bitches.” He licked his lips and I took two steps forward.

“Come on!” Chen screamed and stepped forward, quickly placing the muzzle of his gun against Indigo’s forehead. I froze. “Another move like that and I’ll do her, and then I’ll do you.”

I stood there with adrenalin coursing through my body, frustrated and helpless to protect the people I had been charged with caring for. Then it came to me, the only option I had to get us all out of this situation.

“Please, Chen,” said Sonny in a calm voice. “We’re screwed enough as it is without helping the Chinese by killing ourselves. Please put the gun down.”

I was shocked when the leader of the Tigers did just that. He lowered the gun and took a step away from Indigo. I saw her shoulders relax and she leaned back against the truck.

“You know what Sonny? You’re right, and in honor of the fact that we were once Tigers together, I will let all of you go. All except him.” He pointed his finger at me like it was a loaded weapon.

“No, I already told you its non-nego-”

“Sonny,” I said loudly, interrupting him. “It’s all right. It’s the only way to appease him. He’s not going to stop until I’m dead…or he is. The only thing we need to work out is if he’s going to shoot me like a coward or fight me like a man.”

I saw my words have the desired effect, Chen raised his chin defiantly. “
You
want to fight
me
laowai?” he asked incredulously.

“My name is Isaac,” I said, as I walked forward holding his cocky gaze with my own defiant stare. “And yes I do, I want to fight you. Hand to hand, no weapons.”

Chen laughed hard, almost as though he had heard a hilarious joke. My gaze didn’t waver. Finally he stopped laughing and looked at me unsmiling as he used the muzzle of the gun to scratch his chin. “Geez. I don’t know I-Zack, you speak of cowards but I seem to remember you shot my brother with a machine gun.”

“He was armed and in the middle of raping a girl...like a coward, and would have shot me too, if he’d had the chance.”

Chen’s eyes flashed angrily. “All right I-Zack, just the satisfaction I get beating you to a bloody pulp before I kill you should make it worthwhile.” He looked at his heavyset partner. “Zhou, if anyone makes a move while this is on, cut the girls throat and take out as many of them as you can.”

“Isaac, you don’t have to do this,” said Sonny, stepping between us and holding his hands up like a traffic cop. “Chen, I’ll fight you.” Chen looked down at Sonny’s blood soaked T-shirt then back into his eyes.

“As much as I’d like to kick your ass for the trouble you’ve given me Sonny, it wouldn’t be a fair fight. But, if you really want a piece of me you’ll have to wait your turn.”  

I walked up to Sonny and put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right Sonny, I know what I’m doing.” He lowered his head. He turned towards me and whispered, “Any means.”

I nodded and Sonny went back over to the truck where the others watched on apprehensively. I looked at Indigo and was strangely pleased by the concern etched on her face.

When I looked back to Chen, he handed his gun to Zhou and pulled his T-shirt over his head. He was impressively muscled, not an overblown bodybuilder type, but the kind of ropey hard muscle that comes from years of martial arts training and fighting. His abdomen looked like it was carved from stone, its only blemish a small scar that looked like it was the result of a knife wound.

A tiny seed of doubt sprouted in my mind and I quickly stomped it underfoot. My short time working with Sonny had revived my Kung-Fu skills and his insistence on his
any means
principle made sense in this new, savage world. Basically he had drilled into me the need to use any means fair or foul to disable an opponent. To disregard all sense of fair play. To kill or be killed. I knew this would be my first…or last test.

The garage was getting colder and our breath plumed as we faced off. Chen eyed me cockily, and I
reflected that his cockiness might work in my favor. That and also the fact that I might have the element of surprise on my side – he had no idea of my skill level and in fact probably assumed I had none at all.

I stood on the balls of my feet with my knees slightly bent and held up my fists. Chen snorted and stalked straight at me. I waited till the last possible second then tilted backwards, eluding his flying fist and stepped back lightly out of his reach.