Worth Saving (18 page)

She looked down and squealed before grabbing her clothes off the chair and running into the bathroom. 

She came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. Fully dressed, hair tied back in a ponytail. Looking composed and once again in charge of the world. Her jeans and tight T shirt accentuated every curve and drove me crazy. I couldn’t think about anything but how her body had felt next to mine.

She gave me a weak smile and walked to the door.

“Claire, we need to talk,” I said

Her hand froze on the door knob as she looked back at me. “OK,” she said, taking a deep breath.

“I have to go back,” I said. It felt strange thinking about what I was going to do and what waited for me. The thought of more killing was starting to bother me. I remembered the faces of the men around the camp fire. Hard and brittle, I hated them, my heart raced and hands twitched whenever I thought about what they wanted. I despised what they were making me do. It wasn’t fair. But I couldn’t see a way out.

Claire stepped into the center of the room, her hands on her hips, she looked like she was getting ready to take on a mother grizzly. “Your right, we have to stop them,” she said, surprising me enough for the shock to register on my face. “But,” she continued. “I’m going with you.” Then turned and started for the door again.

“Hold on,” I said as I jumped out of bed and raced to the door before her. Leaning my back against the door I gulped for air and tried to steady myself as the room swam around me.  “What do you mean? No way are you going. We had this discussion last time.” I said, my voice rising in fear. The thought of her out there, facing that scum, made my insides turn to water.

“Kristopher,” She said in a calm voice, as if everything was obvious and it was only my lack of understanding that kept me from seeing the obviousness of the situation.  “I can’t stay here and just wait for something to happen. Ellen is my responsibility, even more than she is yours. You don’t know what it was like waiting, not knowing, wondering if you were lying in some ditch somewhere. No way am I going through that again. I know this city better than you, I can run as fast as you and can use a cross bow almost as good as you can use your bow, not as fast or as far. But just as good in close.” Her face was set in stone, her body tense and unmovable. She put her hands on her hips and dared me to deny it.

“Claire, you don’t unders…”

“Don’t you dare say I don’t understand? Of course I understand. I love these people as much as I love you and if you think I’m letting anything happen to anyone I love then you are out of your mind.”

Here statement about loving me hit me like a spear to the chest. What did she mean exactly I wondered. It took me a second to get my mind back to working the way I wanted it to, I couldn’t afford to go down that track, that way only led to surrender. Instead I kept focused on the issue in front of us. “Come on, you can’t be serious. You know what these people will do to you if they catch you,” I said.

“Of course I know what’ll happen if I get caught, but is that any different than you getting beaten  and burned, permanently scarred for the rest of your life. What makes you so special that you’re the only person allowed to risk themselves? If you say it’s because you’re a boy and I’m a girl, I’ll kick you so hard you’ll have to crawl out of this room.”

That last statement made me cringe; I’d been close to saying that exact thing. She’d cut me off at the knees. I couldn’t think of a response. I stood there with my mouth flopping about like a fish on the beach because that was exactly what it came down to.  I looked at her again, she was so determined, standing there daring me to contradict her. A part of me knew she was right. I’d seen this woman take on two much bigger men armed with nothing more than a 2X4. I’d seen her charge a mountain lion with only a spear. She was the strongest most courageous person I’d ever known. Another part of me was terrified of the idea of her being at risk. The very core of my essence said that it was wrong.

We stood there facing each other, neither willing to give an inch. Her shoulders slumped and she let out a deep breath, as if she had been holding it for a long time. “It’s happening Kris, get used to it. You can’t stop me. And if you sneak out without me, I’ll track you down. Now get out of my way. I have things to do before we leave.” She said, gently pushing me away from the door as she left the room.

I stood there and let her go. Another failure Kris, I thought. Not only hadn’t I stopped her, now she probably hated me.

Chapter Twenty Two

Claire’s Diary

Day 2081

Jenny is doing well, Kris checked her wounds and agrees with me that we should let them heal from the inside out, not sew them up. I am glad I won’t have to put her through that.

Ellen is fine, she is reading in her room. She is upset at me because I am going with Kris.

I’m going with Kris; I can’t believe he is letting me. Granted I didn’t give him much of choice. I’m nervous but I’m not going to let him know that. Susan has agreed to look after Ellen if anything bad happens.

I am leaving this diary here. I will tell you all about it when I return. Whish me luck.

.o0o.

Claire and I made our way towards the park. I’d spent the last two days resting while everyone else hit the nearby buildings and restocked our supplies. The goodbyes had been tough. I pulled Hector aside and left instruction on what he should do if we didn’t return in three days.

“You putz, if you think your leaving me with this group you are loco,” Hector told me. I just laughed and hugged everyone a last time before we left.

It took us half the day to make it to the vicinity of the park. Being careful each step of the way. We made a swing close enough to the Library so that Claire caught a glimpse of what they’d done. She stopped walking and fixated on the pile of rubble that used to be our home. She looked at me with a withering expression that could have killed an elephant. I knew it wasn’t meant for me, but it made me hesitate for a second. I didn’t know what I’d do if she ever did look at me that way.

I reached out and took her hand, pulling her away from the site. “Come on Tiger, this way.”

She didn’t say anything but followed me as I lead her to the Hotel that overlooked the park. We made our way to the third floor and found a room that let us see their camp ground. I pulled out the
binoculars, scanned the area then handed them to Claire, “Tell me what you see.”

It felt so wrong having her there with me. Every part of my being was yelling to myself to keep her away from danger. I kept trying to think of ways to get her to leave. Some task or important duty that would ensure her safety. I knew she’d kill me if she knew I was thinking this way, or worse, never talk to me again but I couldn’t stop my mind from trying to come up with something.

She spent a moment familiarizing herself with the eye pieces and then several minutes staring at their camp.  “I see six men,” She lowered the glasses and looked at me. “That means there are four men out hunting us.”

“Yeah, maybe they’re working in shifts? Do you see the big guy with the black beard?"  I said.

She brought the glasses back up and her mouth formed a hard strait line as she clenched her jaw.  “Yes, he’s standing next to the wagon. Is that Big Jake?”

“Yes, he’s the one we need to get rid of. I honestly believe the others will leave us alone if we get rid of him. The problem is that he’s always surrounded. I can’t get in close enough take a shot and get away.” I didn’t tell her that I was thinking about forgetting the ‘get away’ part of things.

She put the binoculars down and looked at me with a strange expression. I swear she knew what I was thinking about. She didn’t say anything. She was probably marshaling her arguments, and would roll them out at the right time. “We could take the other men out one at a time, you know, keep doing what you’ve already been doing. Until only he’s left”

I looked at her dumbfounded. “When did you get so blood thirsty?” I Asked.

“When they shot Jenny,” She said without a moment’s hesitation before turning back to scan the park, her expression hard and focused.

I let the matter drop and joined her. There had to be some way to get him alone.

.o0o.

We spent the night taking turns watching the camp. I laid on the bell tower’s floor with my pack for a pillow and tried to sleep. I punched my pack and turned over but it wouldn’t come. I kept flashing back to the night we watched for the tongue less man in the gas station and I knew Claire was thinking about it also. The tension built between us, and of course that got me to thinking about what it felt like to wake up with her next to me like earlier the other morning.

I was desperate to change the vivid images racing through my mind, anything to divert my attention. So of course I started thinking about what would happen in the morning, would I get killed, captured?, what happens if Claire is killed or captured? How do we get this scumbag Big Jake away from his gang?  Needless to say, none of these thoughts were very sleep inducing. I flopped onto my other side without any change in results.

Giving up I sat up and leaned against the wall. Claire was startled and raised an eyebrow before asking me what was wrong.

I shook my head and said, “We have to come up with a plan, I’ve got some ideas.”

She nodded her head and I told her what I thought we should do.

.o0o.

The sun rose slowly and the camp started to stir. I fixed a dry breakfast of beef jerky and biscuits for both of us and washed it down with bottled water.  We took turns sneaking downstairs to find a corner to relieve ourselves before we returned to focus on the group of men standing around their campfire.

We watched the men finish their breakfast. They gathered around Big Jake who was waiving his hands around and pointing back into the city. Obviously, he was trying to urge his men to be more diligent and succeed in finding what he wanted. God I hated that man. The raw S on my chest burned every time I saw him.

The men stood there and listened then gathered their weapons and supplies before heading towards the city.  Claire and I ducked down behind the wall when the men walked by the Cathedral. I peeked over the edge and saw four men walking up the street towards the Mall area. Turning back to the park we watched three more men start walking towards the river.

“That means three left,” Claire said.

We watched for another hour, hoping the two bodyguards would leave also but no such luck. I was starting to worry, there was a danger of the other men coming back for lunch or something. We needed to do this now.

“Come on,” I said. I didn’t look to see if Claire followed, but ran down the stairs to the front door. She was close behind as I stuck my head out and looked around. Everything appeared to be quite.

“Okay, just like we talked about,” I said, trying to hide the concern in my voice. We’d decided the only way this would work was to lure them into the city. I could never get close enough as long as they stayed in the Park.

Claire slipped through the door, her head sweeping back and forth as she got her bearings. She turned back to me and smiled before reaching up and kissing me goodbye. Her wide eyes and flushed cheeks told me how excited she was.  My heart fell from my chest as she walked away. That jean clad, perfect butt naturally swaying from side to side, the blond ponytail bouncing with each step.

“Please God, Please, Please …” I said to myself as I started running to my task. I found the store we’d talked about and began laying the snares. I’d made four of them when I heard Claire’s whistle. A quick glance out the window was in time to see her run into the department store across the street. Now it was my turn.

I stepped outside and waited. It wasn’t long before the three remaining men turned the corner. Jake stood between them. He still didn’t have a gun; I think it was some kind of weird pride thing with him. Telling the world that he could control these hard men with the force of his personality; it must really have pissed him off that it didn’t work on me.

All of us froze in place and stared at each other, their surprised faces registering shock. The two other men lifted their guns towards me. That was all the notice I needed. I turned and dove through a broken window, my back muscles tensed up waiting for the impact of a bullet.

Either I was faster than I thought, or they were holding their fire for some reason. I bounced up and started to head towards the back of the store. I was out the back and across the street when I heard one of the men scream behind me. The deadfall had worked. I’d set it up at the back door of the store so that a trip wire brought an eight foot high rack of shelves full of cans of paint down onto my pursuers.

Only the little man exited the building, I watched for a second but no one else followed. Deciding it was long enough, I knocked over a display rack of coats hoping that’d draw his attention. The man twisted towards the sound and fired his gun. The idiot couldn’t see what he was shooting at. I guess I’d made him a little nervous.

The man slowly entered the store. His gun leading the way swinging back and forth trying to cover the entire space at the same time. I hid behind a display of shirts on the far side of the room and watched him start to search, peaking behind every possible hiding place. I waited until he was halfway across the store and exactly where I wanted him.

An explosion engulfed the room as I jumped from the shirts to behind a big wooden case full of socks, reverberating from the walls. The smell of cordite filled my nose making me want to sneeze.
I pinched my nostrils trying to hold it back but it forced its way out and sounded almost as loud as the gun shot.

The little guy laughed and stepped off the linoleum floor onto the carpeted display area where his foot came in contact with a thin wire. He didn’t even feel it, but enough force was applied to release a waited trash can I’d loaded with thirty cans of paint. The three hundred pounds of paint fell through the false acoustical tile ceiling pulling the wire rope around his feet, tugging them into them into the air and up to the ceiling. In the blink of an eye the man went from standing there. The big powerful man with a big ugly black pistol ready to kill anyone who got in his way, to looking like a trussed up roasted chicken hanging in a New York deli window.

“I’ll kill you! Let me down now. You little F…ker, get me down.”

He was waving his pistol around like a maniac and screaming his head off. The movement started him swinging back and forth but it didn’t stop him trying to get free. He pulled his gun back up and aimed for the wire hanging from the hook in the cement ceiling. He tried to steady his aim, fired and proceeded to shoot himself in the foot.

I laughed when he screamed. It was probably wrong of me but I didn’t care. He’d put a hole two inches from the point of his boot and bright red blood was already dripping from it. He was so frustrated and in so much pain that big wet tears leaked out of his eyes and slid down his forehead and into his hair line.

I glanced at my watch and realized I was running late. Taking one last glance I saw that the guy wasn’t going anywhere. Pleased with myself and the way things were going I left him hanging there and walked to the broken window to look out onto the street. My arrow was notched and pulled back to my ear, ready for anything but Big Jake wasn’t anywhere in sight.

As I scanned the entire area I heard a faint scream on the next block. Claire! I knew it was her. My muscles tightened up in fear as my heart started to race. I tore up the block towards the sound I’d heard. I was careful going around the corner but couldn’t see Claire anywhere. What could have happened, she wasn’t supposed to be here but two blocks further over. I couldn’t figure it out. I knew it was Claire, every part of me could feel her in danger.

A faint sound reached my ears, some kind of scrape. I was getting ready to head that way when I saw a man running towards me from far up the street. He must have heard hanging guy shooting at everything that moved, including his own foot, and was coming to investigate.

I hadn’t planned on this, just like I hadn’t planned on Claire getting into any trouble. The dreadful feeling deep in my gut couldn’t have gotten any worse, but it was enough to get me moving. I started to dart back into the department store but stopped at the last moment. I had to worry about getting cornered into exposing myself to the guy hanging around in menswear.

Instead I ran into the office building across the street, thinking how different this was compared to running from the dogs. The predator could follow me where ever I went and could reach out and kill me from well beyond my range.

The office building was the same one where I met Claire for the first time. I smiled at the bitter sweet memory. “Please, God, Please, Please,” I mumbled again and started up the stairs. The building matched the rest of the downtown area. Old tan stone structures with large interiors and iron fire escapes hanging from the side of the building. I was walking down a long hallway when I heard glass crunch below me. The man must have seen me enter and was getting close. I decided to go down a fire escape while he came up. I needed to find Claire and get this over with.

The long hallway ended in a double sashed window overlooking the black metal stair case. I tried to raise the window but it was stuck tight like a lock box. I couldn’t budge it. I leaned my bow against the wall and searched around for something to break
through the glass. The only thing I could find was one of those old white trash cans. I brought it up to chest level and hesitated. I knew as soon as the glass shattered the armed man below would be on his way up.

Taking a deep breath I smashed the window and threw the can to the side. Stepping through the window I reached back for my bow. When I pulled, the bow string caught on something. Without thinking I gave it a gentle tug, expecting it to slip off or if not I’d reach back in and free it. Unfortunately the small tug was all that was needed to slice the precious string in two. My mouth dropped open in shock as I stared at the now useless weapon.  It took the stairwell door slowly opening to get me moving. I turned and started down the three flights of stairs carrying an unhelpful piece of fiberglass.