Chapter 4 #2
“Wait, Dez, won’t the Metro entrances be blocked?”
Good girl.
“More than likely, but some stations have secondary entrances. That’s where we’re going.”
“How do you know this place so well?”
“These streets were once my home, remember?”
I found the emergency entrance I’d used many times as a teen and burst through a door that took us down a stairwell. With the air crisp and thin, Larke’s breaths went from quiet and evenly paced to loud and harsh.
“Hold on just a little longer for me, Tapley.”
“I,” she gasped, “should have…bought that…Peloton.”
I smiled.
My smile dropped when I saw what was in front of us.
The Gallery Pl-Chinatown sign was barely recognizable.
A hole had torn through the curved ceiling, resulting in dust clouds and a pile of rubble we would have to climb over to get to the other side.
This had to be what had caused the ground to shake at the condo, and it was probably the same thing at each access point.
“Tapley, mask up for me,” I ordered.
I heard a zipper.
Then, she tapped the back of my arm.
“Here,” she said. “For you.”
I took the mask and slipped it over my face.
“Be honest with me, Tapley,” I prefaced. “Do you want to go through this? If you’re tired, I’ll understand. I’ll…find another way.”
I didn’t know how.
But I would if I had to.
“We don’t have a choice,” she reminded me. “Don’t worry, Dez. We’ll get through this. I trust you.”
I swallowed and took a deep breath. “All right, then. You go ahead. I’ll follow. That way, if you slip, I’ll catch you.”
She quickly scanned the debris before finding a spot to place her foot.
For someone who’d barely considered the idea of hiking the one time I’d brought it up, she maneuvered the fallen stones exceptionally well.
Whenever she slipped, I grabbed whatever limb I could reach.
Each time, she reassured me that she was fine, but she might as well have been reassuring one of the stones beneath our feet.
“Where to…after this?” she asked, testing a stone before placing all of her weight on it.
I wanted her to believe I still had a plan.
I needed her to believe it.
Yet, at the moment, I was winging it, using my knowledge of the city to slip in and out of tight spaces. Little did she know that with every step we took, it felt like fingers had just missed closing around my neck.
“Let’s see what the other side looks like first,” I said.
The ruckus from before echoed behind us.
The mob had made it into the station.
“Tapley, ‘slow is smooth, and smooth is fast,’” I recited. “Don’t panic. It’s okay. I’m right here. I’ve got you.”
She coughed. “They sound close, Dez.”
“I’m closer.”
“Trying not to panic.”
“And you’re doing a great job.”
Gunshots rang out.
My heart rate doubled in less than a second.
Her foot slipped.
I reached for her arm, but she went careening down the other side of the metro-ceiling-rubble mountain. Despite the night vision device, I couldn’t see how she tumbled—whether she fell forward, risking a head injury, or slid on her butt, risking scrapes, but hopefully nothing too serious.
I picked up my pace, climbing and jumping where I could. “Tapley? Talk to me, baby. Are you okay?”
Nothing.
My heart beat faster.
“Come on, Tapley. Answer me.”
Please.
“I’m…I’m not hurt,” she answered, coughing. “Not bad anyway. I’m cut up.”
“Bleeding?”
“Feels like it.”
I crouched in front of her, mentally scolding myself for not having things better thought out.
I hadn’t even thought ahead to bring a regular pair of NVGs.
Then, I knew if I tried to give her the nocturnal device I was using, she wouldn’t see the logic in it and would refuse it.
And that was assuming that using four lenses wouldn’t make it more challenging for her to see.
I touched the back of her thigh.
She hissed.
“Is it bad?” she asked.
“Doesn’t feel like it.” I pressed my forehead against her hip, closing my eyes. “The moment we get outside the city limits, I’ll fix you up. I promise.”
“Think I can get infected this way?”
“I won’t let anything happen to you, Tapley. I promise. I promise, with my life, that I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I ignored the voice in my head and kissed the side of her thigh as I stood. She tested the strength of the injured leg. The moment she was satisfied that she could move around—and with the noise behind us increasing—we started off again.
“The train,” I said, pointing. “Holy fuck, the train’s actually here. I was hoping, not expecting…”
“Can you operate one?” she asked.
“I’ll figure it out. If not, we can use it to hide or as cover until sunrise. We don’t have that long. The light might make us easier to spot, but it’ll be easier to maneuver through the city.”
Once we reached the doors, I attempted to pry them open. With the power shut down all over the city, and desperation on my side, I managed to slide them apart.
Larke slipped inside.
I followed her into the compartment and then turned to close them again.
A second pair of arms joined my efforts.
Then, a third jumped in. The three of us managed to get the doors close enough for a fourth person to jam a broken handrail between the rubber seals, creating a makeshift locking mechanism.
Exhausted, I stumbled backward.
“I’ve got you,” Larke said, her hand gracing my lower back.
At least a dozen people were onboard, hunkered down and either wrapped around each other, trembling alone in a corner where seating used to be, or clutching children against their midsections.
“We’re not sick,” I reassured them, arms raised. “But we need to get out of here. Does anybody know if the train’s opera—”
My NODs shorted out and died.
Fuck.
It had to be an EMP burst.
Military suppression tech was yet another thing I hadn’t accounted for when this was supposed to be my wheelhouse. I was supposed to know how these guys operated. However, from every direction, they beat me into the ground, using my mistakes as an integral part of their arsenal.
One of the children vomited.
Another child, younger, swiped at their eyes.
“Dez?” Larke, wobbling, reached for me, but her fingertips scraped my palm. “Dez, something’s wrong.”
I grabbed her and held her against me just as light blasted in our faces.
Uniformed military personnel collected in front of the doors.
Some stood with their guns held against them, while others opened fire on the civilian mob.
Larke was neither a child nor innocent to some of the horrors the world could produce, but I turned her away from the carnage anyhow.
A voice crackled through the overhead speakers:
Please be seated.
Remain calm.
Transport to Safe Zone in progress.
Please be seated.
Remain calm.
Transport to Safe Zone in progress.