Under a Broken Sun (17 page)

“But we don’t have to go all the way downtown,” she said, putting her hands on her hips.  She wasn’t gonna budge on this.

I looked at the others.  “I’m with her,” Louie said, pointing to the tunnel.  “That thing scares me.”

I lit a torch, my arm still throbbing and the movement not helping it heal at all. “Fine.  We’ll still need to get the horses.”

Tolbert noticed my arm.  “You’re hurt,” he said.

“I’m fine.”  Torch lit, we hurried down to the other end.

The horses shuffled and whinnied, still tied to the tree.  They shook their head, stomped their feet, and in their own way told us to get them the fuck outta there. 

We pulled the reins on them; Tommy, Tolbert and I drew them to the tunnel, but they didn't want to move.  At least not
towards
the storm.  We had to go single file between the cars, Ashley in front with the torch, yelling directions to us.  “More to the right coming up,” or “Hold on, let me find a path.”

Eventually she just stopped.  “No path,” she said.  “We’re blocked in."  I came around her to check it out.

In front of us was a triple head-on collision.  Two cars meeting diagonally with a third press up against them in the middle.  The cars that did manage to swerve out of the way lined either wall.  We must've slipped between them single file, never thinking how the hell we were supposed to get horses through there.

Our faces flickered in the orange light of Ashley’s torch.  “What now?" she said. 

Tolbert spoke up first.  "Leave the horses.”

Louie and Ashley both rejected that idea.

I looked around.  The two cars hitting head on must have been cookin' when their engines died and the drivers panicked.  The car blocking our path had tried to squeeze between the other two.  Which means some asshole must've tried to push his precious little BMW home.  I looked around the dimly lit area glowing orange from Ashley’s torch.  The Beemer was at an angle – it wasn't moving, backwards or forwards.  We'd have to go over the hood.

“No, wait.  We can jump it,” I said.

Tommy grabbed my arm.  “Dude, no way the horses jump over that in the dark.  They’ll throw you like a fly off their tail.”

I flicked his hand off my arm.  “You wanna leave them?”

“If we have to,” Tommy said, not moving.  “I care more about myself than them.”

“If we leave them we have to walk.  If we walk, it takes longer to get to Chicago.”  I looked around.  Ashley looked the two of us, pleading us not to fight, to figure something out.  Tolbert just kept quiet.  “There are four horses," I said.  "There are four of us.  When we get to the end of the tunnel I'll carry Luigi.”

No one moved. 

Fuck ‘em.

I dropped my torch, lit another, dropped it, then another, and soon we had a little runway lit on the other side of the Chevy.  I took the last torch and carried it with me.

I got on the tall, proud, brown mare, and turned her around down the narrow passage back to the entrance.  Soon I heard hooves on concrete behind me.  I looked, and there rode the other three.  “You’re gonna have to startle them somehow to get them going fast enough,” Tommy said.  “They won’t take a jump in the dark in a confined area unless they absolutely have to.”

I looked around, holding my torch high in the dark, night sky.  There, off on the shoulder of the road was a brand new 2013 Corvette.  Sweet ride.  It broke my heart to have to blow it up.

“What’re you doing?” Tolbert asked.

“Startling the horses,” I said as I dismounted next to the 'vette.  I popped open the gas tank cover with my knife.  I searched the shoulder and the woods that rose above it.  Picked up some dry twigs and tinder and started shoving them into the gas tank.

“You can’t do that,” Tolbert said.  “That’s private property.”

“Whadda ya gonna do, arrest me?”  Tolbert started to get off the horse.  “I wouldn’t do that,” I said.  “When this thing goes you’ll be left behind.”  He readjusted his sniper rifle and stayed on the horse. 

“Line up in front of the tunnel,” I said, pointing to the others.  “Single file line.”

The car was about fifty feet away from the entrance of the tunnel.  I held my torch to the twigs and pine which instantly caught.  I shoved the rest of my torch into the top part of the tank and took off towards the mare.

Foot in the stirrup, grab the horn and the hair, just like Tommy showed me.  Lifted myself up, Ashley watching the car.  “C’mon,” she said.  “C’mon, hurry.”

On the horse, I kicked it into top gear.  It took off on a full gallop.  Never experienced that before.  I gripped the horn of the saddle with both hands.  She rode with a smooth gallop and I tried to lift myself up.  Clench with the knees, Tommy taught us.  A hundred yards to go to the Beemer.  If the mare wasn’t a jumper she’ll throw me like flies off her tail, Tommy said.  Was I going fast enough?  Could she even see where she was going?

Metal and fiberglass ripped apart behind me in an eardrum pounding explosion.  The mare found another gear and poured it on.  The cut on my arm beat out a rhythm that would’ve fit on a techno dance floor.  I saw the landing lights ahead.  Blocked by the hood of the car.  Fifty yards to go. 

I wanted to turn around and see if the others rode behind me, if they were all right, but I was too terrified to let go.  Twenty-five yards.  The landing torches were brighter, still wobbling back and forth as the horse pounded on.  The hood of the BMW became clear – and impossible to jump.  Too big.  Way too big.  But the spooked mare ran for her life and I could sense unwillingness, or maybe an inability, to stop. 

Ten yards.  Traveling at the speed of light.  The mare leaped and I instinctively leaned forward.

We were flying. 

I thought of my mother, drifting down the side of the cliff, arms spread open wide in acceptance and peace. 

No way was I letting go of the saddle horn.  I didn’t accept death right now.  I had no inner peace.

The horse landed perfectly.  I leaned back into an upright position.  Pulled on the reigns to stop her.  Heard a shout behind me.  “Get out of the fucking way!”  I turned, and Tommy's horse was hauling ass right towards me, waving his arm like a madman thinking that he could just erase me from his view.  I pulled the reins on the mare and pushed her over to the side just as Tommy landed next to me.  Not ten seconds later, Tolbert’s smallish gray mare did the same thing.  The three of us crowded the landing area; we moved our horses down the tunnel a bit. 

No Ashley.

“Ashley!” I called out.

Hooves in the distance.  Rapid.

The torch lights lit the tunnel just enough for us to see her face appear.  Right behind the car.  Right before the jump.

The horse jerked to a stop.  Ashley flew off in - I swear to God - slow motion.  Her body twisted in midair, then smashed into the rear window of a car halfway through her somersault.  The glass shattered as she bounced off of it with an awkward, girlish grunt.

She landed on the pavement floor face first, arm splayed out beside her like a dropped rag doll.

I dropped to her side.  Felt for a pulse.  Blood dripped from a gash in the back of her head.  “Louie – get the bandages.  Now!”

Tolbert muscled me aside, saying, “Hang on.  Don’t move her.”  He felt around her neck and down her backside.  He took her shoes and socks off.  Ran his finger down the center of her foot.  Her foot twitched.  Louie returned with the bandages which Tolbert ripped out of his hand. 

“We gotta get her to a hospital,” I said.

“Be patient.  You move a head victim too soon and you could do more damage.  Even paralyze them.  First things first.  Stop the bleeding.  Hold this here.”  He put my hand on the bandage.  “Apply pressure, but don’t freak out and put your fist through her skull.  Gentle, but firm.  Got it?”

I nodded.  Ashley’s blond hair was streaked with red, her face pointed to the underside of the car.  Tolbert stood up, checked the outside area.  “Oh shit,” I heard him say. 

“What?” I shouted.

“Adam, wrap her head up.  She needs to get to a hospital, but that storms gonna block our way real soon.”

I took the strips of bandages and slowly tried to wrap her head, waiting for a snapping sound, like a twig breaking in two.  Waiting to kill her accidentally.  My hands shook.  I needed to focus elsewhere.  Where’s the nearest hospital?  None of us were from Pittsburgh, how the hell would we know?

“Louie,” I shouted.  “Check the map – hospital.”

Louie unfolded the map as I tucked the bandage in, tight but not too tight.  A small red dot spread in the middle of the gauze. 

“About eight miles away.  McGee Women’s Hospital.” Louie said.

“Eight miles.  Shit.  Tolbert, can she make it?”

In the distance, behind us, an explosion went off, echoing like thunder.  We turned.  “Thunder?” Tommy said.  “In the tunnel?”

Another boom.  This time we could see the small orange dot at the very end of the tunnel. 

Tolbert stood straight up like a hunting dog – ears perked up, body rigid.  “That’s not thunder,” he said.  “Those are explosions.”

Another one.  The cars behind us went off like fireworks.  The first car must’ve triggered something. 

Another, this time closer. 

"On the horses,” I said, hoisting Ashley up.  She weighed practically nothing.

Tolbert put a hand to my chest.  “She can’t ride like this.”

“You wanna stay here with her?” I asked, shoving him aside.  Another car went up and Tolbert jerked.  “Maybe you can protect her with your super-cape.  Tommy!” I yelled.  “You’re the best rider.  Climb up and hold her.”

Another explosion.  This time the sound of ricocheting metal against the tunnel walls followed.  Then another.  Rapid fire as the cars tighter together exploded.  Tommy looked lost.  “Now!” I shouted.  I could just barely make out the whinny of Ashley's horse in the distance. 
Dumb fuck.  Ya should've jumped.

Tommy climbed on his horse, and I raised Ashley as high as I could.  Her head flopped loosely back into Tommy’s chest as he pulled her up by her arm.  I thought for sure that was it.  Her neck would snap, and she’d be dead in minutes.  If she didn't die, she’d never walk again. 

Another boom and a rearview mirror flew out of the growing orange light behind us, landing with a roll at our feet.

“MOVE!” Tolbert shouted.

We jumped on the horses; I pulled up Louie on mine.  We kicked them into high gear, my sight never leaving Tommy’s horse.   A hot wind blew past us as explosions fired off in rapid succession.  I snapped the reigns, Louie burying his face as I held him close to me with one hand.  The thunder behind us became the sound of cannon fire going off one after another.  Our backs baked as we exited the tunnel.  I turned to look, and sure enough, out sprang Ashley's horse.  Little shit decided to jump after all.  Nice timing.

The horses galloped down the dark incline of the highway towards the city.  The super-cloud hovered over the tall buildings like an alien invading. 

Five hundred feet, a thousand, then the tunnel erupted behind us, sending shards of metal and glass after us like the barrel of a tank.

But it missed, landing behind us.  Not far enough to settle us down, but enough to avoid decapitating us.

We couldn’t stop.  The cloud up ahead had turned grey and evil.  Lightning flashed and a wall of rain underneath it began to close up the city like a curtain at the end of the show.

“Where’s the hospital?” I yelled to Louie over the clomping of hooves and the wind whistling past us.

“Not sure.   I just saw the markers.”

“Whadda ya mean you’re not sure?”

“I don’t have the map right now!  What am I a GPS?”

I scanned the darkening horizon, trying to take my eyes off the cloud and pay attention to the road.  I’d never seen anything like it.  The entire sky behind us was clear – it was like all the clouds that should’ve been formed and floating gently in the sky congealed into this one.

"There!” Louie shouted, he pointed to a blue sign with an H in the middle of it.  We were right on top of it before the sign became visible in the setting sun. “Follow that.”

I slowed the horse down, took the off-ramp, and checked behind to make sure the other two still followed us.  Tommy cradled Ashley in his lap, his left arm crossing under her arm and up to her right shoulder, like a human seat belt.  He held the reigns in his right hand and moved with a grace I could never match.  Tolbert rode behind him, looking a little less comfortable, but trying not to show it. 

Up ahead loomed a five story building – the kind you always see and for some reason you just know it’s a hospital.  Square, bricked, with windows with curtains drawn.  Another blue sign pointed the way for us, confirming my suspicion.  We'd been near a hospital before, in Philadelphia.  And like Philly, a frantic mob surrounded the building.

As we made our way up the hill to the emergency entrance the cloud drifted overhead, turning the already darkening evening sky an odd, shade of gray.  The temperature dropped again, almost by the minute.  Then came a torrent of rain.  Not just big fat drops of cold water, but raging, stinging beads with high winds whipping them about like pebbles at our faces.  We couldn’t get out of it fast enough.

At the emergency entrance, we dismounted the horses, and I grabbed Ashley from Tommy as he lowered her down.  Tommy took the reins and began to tie the horses up.  “Tolbert, your turn to watch the horses,” I said. 

Tommy pulled on my arm.  “You trust him?  Dude, we’ve only known him a day – he could take off with them.”

“Fine.  You watch Tolbert.” I didn’t much give a shit.  Ashley was still out cold.  I barged into the emergency room and saw the hell that had become planet Earth in one cramped, crammed, white-walled room. 

I took Ashley into the crowded waiting area, but every seat was taken.  Candles dotted the room, casting a dull orange glow on the walls and sending up scents of flowers and fruits. 

A woman held a screaming infant trying to feed him with her breast, but the baby wouldn’t take it.  An old grandmother cradled the white-haired, balding head of her husband on her lap as he lay on his side.  A doctor with peppered hair and a white jacket triaged people sitting on the floor near the entrance to the waiting room.  “Hypoxia,” he’d say.  “O2 stat.” or “Gone”.