Chapter 11
“Floor it!” John shouted as the ceiling of the parking garage collapsed and smashed against the army truck.
Agent Parker gripped the wheel so tightly he nearly broke it in half. There was a thunderous smack against the back of the truck just before they exited the basement of the parking garage, and then Parker turned sharply onto the street.
John glanced behind them and saw a plume of smoke, dust, and debris jettison from the opening of the parking garage, which was now completely sealed off by a mountain of concrete.
“That was close,” Parker said.
“Keep your eyes on the road,” John said.
Parker drove a little farther down the street, putting as much distance between themselves and the collapsed building before he turned down a side street and parked.
“I’m going to get out and check to see if there’s any damage,” John said.
“At least the building didn’t fall on us,” Parker said, and he forced a smile.
“I wouldn’t put that out into the universe if I were you,” John said. “It’s not even lunch yet.”
Parker’s smile vanished, and John performed a quick perimeter check of the truck. Aside from a few dents and getting covered in dust, it looked like they had missed any major damage. Once John checked the tires and ensured nothing was caught in the undercarriage, he returned to the truck’s cab.
“We’re good to go,” John said.
Parker nodded, but he didn’t move, and John noticed the agent’s hand was trembling.
“Look, I know things are intense right now,” John said. “But I need to get back to the hospital as quickly as possible. I’m sure you’re eager to see your old partner again, too.”
“I am,” Parker replied. “I’m just not sure what kind of world this is now. We were already hanging on by a thread.”
“We just need to keep moving,” John said. “Don’t think about trying to save the entire world. Focus on one person. It makes the job easier.”
“I’ve been with the FBI for almost ten years now,” Parker said, “and I don’t think I’ve met anybody who’s put what our purpose is so succinctly as you just did.”
After Parker’s nerves were settled, he pulled back out onto the road.
Once they got moving, Parker navigated through the backstreets, trying to stay off of the main roads to avoid the biggest pockets of stalled traffic.
But eventually, they hit clogged roads, and John and Parker found out just how useful this truck was going to be.
“Here we go,” Parker said.
Parker didn’t go too fast as he approached the parking lot on the highway, but once they gained some momentum, the old army truck managed to push the cars out of the way without much effort.
“Damn,” Parker said. “I should have bought one of these for my daily commutes to work!”
Parker laughed, but John was simply relieved that this had gone their way. He didn’t want to waste any more time getting his son and Jake out of the city, and he still needed to figure out where the bank robber was taking his wife.
As the army truck cleared a path on the road, they caught the attention of bystanders. When a few of them tried to wave Parker down, John stopped the FBI agent from pulling over.
“We don’t have time to stop for anybody,” John said. “I know a lot of people still need help, but we have to focus on our priorities. For me, that’s getting my family, and for you, it’s stopping the bank robber and helping your partner. Do we understand each other?”
“I understand,” Parker answered.
And while Parker agreed, he continued to glance at the people they passed. It was difficult to leave them behind, but John meant what he had said about his family being the priority.
When they returned to the hospital, John was happy to see that the building was still standing. Considering they had barely escaped a collapsed building, John wasn’t sure what they would find.
“You stay with the truck,” John said.
“Don’t you want me to come in and help you bring everybody else?” Parker asked.
“This truck is our only way of getting out of the city and catching up with my wife,” John answered. “And we’re not the only ones looking for transportation.”
Parker nodded, and then he reached for his pistol.
“Be careful,” John said.
“Just hurry back,” Parker said.
John sprinted into the hospital, which was more abandoned than it had been before he had left.
Only a few staff members were inside, helping what people remained, but there was only so much they could do.
John found the room where he had stashed Blake and the others, and he tensed as he neared the door, unsure of what he would find. And when he opened the door and saw the dead man on the floor, his heart skipped a beat.
“Blake?” John asked, scanning the room until he found Blake in the back corner, head on his knees and crying.
John immediately rushed to his son. “Are you okay?” John quickly patted Blake down, making sure he was uninjured. But from what he could tell, aside from his broken arm, Blake was okay.
“I killed him,” Blake said.
It took John a moment for him to realize that Blake was talking about the dead man on the floor. John wasn’t sure what had happened, but there would be time for them to unpack that trauma later. The only thing that mattered right now was getting them out of the building and out of the city.
“You did what you had to do,” John said. “You saved these people. Without you, they would have died. That’s what’s important.”
John wiped away his son’s tears.
“Help wake up Jake,” John said, hoping that if he kept his son busy, it would distract him.
People needed something to do in a time of crisis. If they were allowed to sit and wallow, then they would be crushed by their own inaction.
“Hey, Willow, we need to go—” John pushed Agent Willow’s shoulder and saw his head slumped to the side. John checked Willow’s pulse, and when he found none, he gently laid the man’s arm down. “I’m sorry.”
John’s apology had fallen on deaf ears. But John couldn’t save everyone. The reality of this cold new world was one where people would die. It was all John could do to keep his own family alive.
Jake finally woke up, and John hoped he had gotten the necessary medical care to keep him alive.
“Wait,” Blake said, and then he grabbed some pills off the table next to where Jake had been lying. “The nurse said he needed to take these.”
“Keep them in your pocket,” John said. “Let’s go.”
“What about Agent Willow?” Blake asked, his voice so innocent.
John almost didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. But shielding his son from the reality of this new world would only make things worse for him in the long run.
“He’s dead,” John said. “We need to go. Now.”
John pushed Jake in a wheelchair and made sure he kept Blake close. They weaved through the mostly empty hospital hallways and hurried out into the parking lot.
But as John approached the army truck, he noticed a crowd gathering. Agent Parker was trying to keep them at bay, threatening them with his gun. It was a small crowd, but they were clearly eager for a ride.
“Back up!” Parker shouted from the driver’s seat, firing a few warning shots, but aside from taking a few steps back, none of them scattered. “Last warning!”
“You said that three warnings ago,” a man said.
John singled out the man who spoke, figuring he was the group's leader. He was the boldest among them, and if they wanted to end this before it turned nasty, then that’s who John needed to shut down.
John removed his pistol and aimed it at the leader. “Hey!”
Once the man turned around, John fired, putting a bullet through the man’s right arm. It was a clean shot, through and through the muscle.
The man fell backward and screamed, but the rest of the group sprinted away. He clutched the wound, rolling on the pavement, cursing every name in the book.
John didn’t pay the man any attention. The only thing he was concerned with was getting Jake and Blake inside the truck. He enlisted Parker’s help to hoist Jake up into the backseat.
“Where’s Willow?” Parker asked.
The truth must have been written on John’s expression because he didn’t even have to answer as Parker nodded in understanding.
“Right,” Parker said.
“Get them secure,” John said, and then he turned back to the man he’d shot.
“You fucking shot me!” the man cried. The man was bleeding, but not profusely.
“You were given a warning,” John said, staring the man down without an ounce of pity in his voice. “You chose this for yourself.”
The man grimaced, but then he broke down. “I just wanted to leave! I wanted to get out of the city! Look around you. It’s falling apart!”
“That doesn’t give you the right to take something that isn’t yours,” John said.
John was going to leave the man with nothing, but he handed him some first aid supplies from the truck.
“Clean up the wound. The bullet went through, and it’s small enough that you can use some butterfly stitches to keep it closed.
Make sure you clean it well, though. And make sure you remember the next time someone gives you a warning. ”
John said nothing else as he walked away. Once everyone was secure, John nodded to Parker, but the FBI Agent remained idle in the parking lot.
“We need to go,” John said, and then he remembered that this man had just lost a partner and most likely a close friend. “I’m sorry Willow didn’t make it.”
“Me too,” Parker said.
But then John suddenly remembered it was Agent Willow who had the information about where the bank robber was taking his wife.
“Do you know where Dillon is going?” John asked.
“There is one place we’ve been watching,” Parker answered. “But it’s pretty far, and there’s no guarantee that I’m right.”
“It’s better than nothing,” John said.
Parker nodded and then shifted into drive. They pulled out of the parking lot, leaving the hospital behind them. Even though they weren’t out of the woods yet, John breathed a little easier once they were moving and back on the road.
“We need to get to the highway,” Parker said. “That’ll take us south where we need to go.”
John grew up in Cincinnati, he knew the city and the area like the back of his hand. “I know a quicker route.”
John guided Agent Parker through the city.
Like before, some people tried stopping them for help, but Parker did a better job ignoring them this time.
He had learned his lesson. And considering how volatile the city was becoming, with fires starting, explosions happening, and people starting to form gangs, John knew time was of the essence to escape.
“Take a left up here,” John said.
Parker did as he was told, but the moment they turned onto the street, John knew something was wrong.
“Do you see that?” Parker asked, squinting ahead. “What the hell is that?”
The blockade had been set up across the entire street. A street crane had toppled over, creating a steel barrier that would prevent even the army truck from pushing through.
But what was more concerning to John than the barricade were the people who were slowly gathering around them.
“Parker, we need to move,” John said.
Parker shifted into reverse, but before they escaped, the shooting started, and John hoped the truck’s armor didn’t fail.