Read And Guest Page 2

to the water,” Father Aldridge says.

  “About two miles, I think. Shouldn’t we grab a transport?”

  “A transport would just be a moving target, and they’ll wait for us. Best we stick close to the sidewalks in case we need to slip out of sight.”

  “Thanks by the way, for coming by.”

  “Mysterious ways, Tommy. I was visiting your neighbor Manuel when the shooting started and he went out to help you. May he rest in peace.”

  We walk in silence as the street numbers slowly count down from 19th. I can’t help thinking about Syd again, and Manuel. They were good people, certainly better to me than I ever was to them. They’re the ones who should have been escaping with Father Aldridge. Carol would have said so, and she would have been right for once.

  At 7th we hear more gunfire, this time coming from across the LA River. We pause to take suspicious glances in the direction of the cross-over and further down Magnolia. The blue sky of the Pacific is already coming into view. The problem is that 7th is the last river crossing before Ocean, so they’re sure to be taking it.

  “Father, we need to get across this intersection before they get here.”

  “Maybe we could try to wait for them to pass?”

  “That would mean we’d be here when they did. I don’t want to be anywhere close.” I reach behind my back and show him my finger sticking through the hole on the back of my leather jacket. He gets the point.

  “There’s always the tram.”

  There doesn’t seem to be any shelter on either side of the road for at least the next block. But the tram doesn’t look like a much better option. It’s too difficult to get into and may not even be running. “They’d be here by the time we even –“

  “All right, then we’d better go now.”

  Father Aldridge takes off at a sprint. He would have been fast for a twenty year old, much less a fifty year old. I give my shoulders and lungs a quick pep talk and then follow. I’m surprised to find that I’m just as fast. I wish I’d left the apartment as soon as the virus had finished its work. It’s exhilarating to have so much energy. It would have been even better if the threat of imminent death wasn’t so close behind.

  Father Aldridge lets me catch up with him once we’ve reached the other side. “It’s getting louder,” he says. He doesn’t sound at all out of breath.

  “They must’ve crossed. They’re moving a lot faster than we are.”

  We point our chins to the earth and run full speed. We make it almost the full ten city blocks before hearing the first shot come from behind us. I check to see that Father Aldridge is all right and find that he’s speeding up and pulling us left toward Shoreline Drive. Shoreline passes underneath Magnolia here, so we’ll have to climb over the edge and make a short jump down.

  Father Aldridge is over first, his robe fluttering behind him like a cape as he swings over and down. I follow him with much less grace, and the ring of another shot is in my ears as I tumble over. When I finally stop moving, I find that I’m lying on my back in a tangled mess. My foot feels too warm and too wet from inside my boot for comfort. This isn’t turning out to be my best day.

  Father Aldridge is huddled over me, examining the wound. “We’re almost there. Think you can run a bit further?”

  “I think so.” Is there any other choice?

  He helps me up, and we start our three-legged race out from under the shadow of the crossover. We make it to the other side of Shoreline without incident and turn left to head away from the river. Perhaps they’ve given up. Then about a half dozen black-clad remnant soldiers appear across the street from us. We had only just missed them. I don’t think we would have seen them if they weren’t arguing at full volume about the spoils of the apartment complex they just left.

  I hobble along as fast as I can, suppressing the instinctual grunt that rises to my throat with each step. They haven’t seen us yet, but it won’t be long. The newscasts hadn’t mentioned it, but they’re sure to be using social-links to connect all the remnant soldiers. If so, their network system will automatically list us as unknowns when they look around. We’re about to become moving targets.

  I must be low on blood because I don’t even realize I’ve lost control until my nose and ear scrape the concrete sidewalk. Father Aldridge is trying to help me up, but there’s something wrong. I’m not alone down here. Staring straight back at me is another pair of my same eyes. Only, they’re coming from a much smaller face. Lying there on Shoreline Drive under a tram bench is a purple-clad infant, and she’s blinking and smiling at me from behind her pink pacifier.

  She’s so young – maybe one of the last children. I can still remember the images of women wailing and the violence that erupted in the streets once everyone had made the connection. The price of immortality, as it turned out, was absolute infertility.

  “Tommy, what are you –”

  I slide myself over to the bench and reach under it to draw her out. All the years of fighting with Carol over my not wanting to have kids whips through my mind. But the sweet innocence on her face stills me, and I know I can’t leave her here. I tuck her to my chest with one hand and allow Father Aldridge to help me up with the other. She tugs on the cross around my neck and pulls it to her pacifier as if to eat it.

  “A miracle,” he says.

  “I know.”

  I only just get my balance when the argument ceases. I take one look at Father Aldridge, and then we’re back to moving. I check over my shoulder and see that they’re already matching our pace on their side of the wide street. Every now and then they take a quick shot at us, but we’re protected from straight shots by the transport posts and palm trees jutting out of the curb every half meter.

  I can see a wide gap in posts coming up ahead. It’s going to give them a clear shot. They see it too, because they stop firing. “We’re done for, Father.”

  “Not yet. Come on.”

  He moves faster now, nearly carrying my weight on every other step. I have to hold on with all of my might to keep the girl from slipping lose. Just before the gap, he turns us into a manicured lawn and forces me into a dive over a hedge between two low trees. I have to roll to keep from landing on her, and it crashes my shoulder into a concrete bench. Shots rip leaves in the hedges and trees.

  I feel Father Aldridge dragging me around to the other side of the bench.

  “Take this,” he says. He slips something into my inside jacket pocket.

  “What is it?”

  “When you hear me shout, just place it on the ground.”

  Then he’s gone. I’m confused and starting to wonder if he had really gone insane. He’s not going to kill the remnants – I don’t see that in him. I pull myself up using the bench to keep weight off of my foot and to keep the girl protected. I can see Father Aldridge walking out in the street, waving at them. I can’t hear what they’re saying, until he yells in my direction.

  “Now.”

  The rioters look angry and start toward him. I’m waiting for him to run, to take out his own gun. Something. He just stands there. He might even be smiling. What is he doing?

  Wait, I’m supposed to be a part of this plan. Maybe the card – I fall backward to free up the hand I was propped up on and search my jacket pocket as fast as anxiety will allow. I reach over and touch it to the ground and then look up to see what it did. But nothing happens.

  The man out front must have pulled the trigger, because I see Father Aldridge’s head rock slightly from the impact. He slumps to his knees and falls forward.

  Then Father Aldridge and the remnant soldiers now bearing down on me start to fade into shades of dull grey. I know they’re still firing because I can see the tiny circles the bullets are creating in the air, like ripples on a quiet pond. But I can no longer hear the shots. A wall has formed on the other side of my little park bench.

  “Your identity card has been confirmed, Caerwyn Aldridge and guest.” The comforting female voice seems to be coming from the air around me
. “Please relax and be seated while we disengage from the mainland. Welcome aboard the Haven.”

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