All That I See - 02 (24 page)

As he got closer, I saw that it was Travis Barr. I was a little pissed that it had taken him so long, but I was so relieved to see him that I didn’t mention it.

“Sorry,” he said when he got close enough. “It couldn’t be helped. Is the councilman still alive?”

I nodded, finding it difficult to speak. The doctor set his bag on the floor. It was a different bag he had brought in previously. This one was bigger. He unzipped it and pulled out some bolt cutters.

“I couldn’t get the keys,” he said. “This will have to do for now.”

He snipped the chain and my arm fell to the floor. He then moved over to Somerville and cut his chain, too. Then he started examining the chest wound. I crawled over to his bag and opened it up. There were lots of loose medical supplies and medication bottles. There was a multi-tool, a handgun with extra magazine, flashlight, a small bottle of bourbon, some clothes, and a box of protein bars. I found what I wanted in the bottom--four little bottles of water.

I unscrewed the lid on one of them and drank. Dr. Barr came over and dug around in the bag for some of the medical supplies.

“The bullet cut a groove across his left pectoral and went into his left shoulder,” he said. “It must have come in at an angle. I can’t find an exit wound, and I can’t get the bullet out here. I’m going to bandage him up, and I’ll try to do it later.”

I didn’t say anything. I was finishing off the bottle of water.

“You can have another,” he said. “I’m sure you’re dehydrated. Save the other two for the councilman, okay?”

I opened a second bottle.

”Are you strong enough to help me carry him?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” I whispered.

“I’ll be right back,” he said.

He pulled the pistol from the bag and ran back through the warehouse then outside. A minute later, a pickup truck backed through the open door. There was a second person in the truck. He backed right up to the entrance to our little room then turned off the engine. He got out of the passenger side and came around to let down the tailgate. The driver’s door opened and the second person got out.

“This is
Ellen
,” he said. It was the woman that had arrived with Willy Rupe two days before.

She was still wearing her mask, so all I could see were her eyes. She had shoulder-length dark hair that poked out
from under a blue sock cap. Her
eyes didn’t look friendly toward me at all. She was holding a shotgun.

“Come around and help me,” he said.

She propped her shotgun against the truck, and the two of them dragged Somerville over to the truck then hefted him onto the tailgate. Dr. Barr gently laid him back in the bed then they pulled him in.

“Can you climb in on your own?” Barr asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said.

“We should leave him,” she said. “Give him some food and water and go.”

“No,” he said. “He comes, too.”

“I don’t like him,” she said.

“You don’t know me,” I said.

“You’re just another thug.”

“I’m not—“

“No time to debate,” Dr. Barr said. “Come on. Help me get him in.”

Begrudgingly, she obeyed. She was rough about it, too. I helped them some, and once they got me to the tailgate, I was able to scoot myself into the bed.
Ellen
grabbed her shotgun and climbed into the cab while Dr. Barr shut the tailgate. He handed me one of the water bottles.

“See if you can get him to drink,” he said.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Let us worry about that,” he said, as he opened
the
passenger door.

“What about Sara?”

“She’s still in Clayfield,” he said. “Right now, Clayfield isn’t doable.”

“Isn’t doable?” I asked.

“It’s overrun,” he said. “It’s best if we go somewhere else for now so I can take care of the councilman’s wounds…your wounds, too.”

“But Sara—“

He shut the door and stepped back so he would be near me. In a hushed voice he said, “I want to find Sara as much as you do. She and young women like her are the only thing standing between us and extinction, but we just can’t right now.”

“Preventing extinction,” I said. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.”

I did my best to get comfortable in the back of the truck, which was impossible. They drove us around a while, heading generally north and trying different offshoots of the main highway then doubling back to the highway when they didn’t find what they were looking for. We stopped at a couple of places—I presumed so they could check them out—but eventually settled on what appeared to be a single-level apartment complex.

“This was an assisted living facility,” Dr. Barr said to me when he got out. “They should have some medical supplies here. We’ll be back for you as soon as we find an empty apartment.”

I was propped against the side of the bed crosswise, doing my best not to sit on Mr. Somerville. The two of them stopped in front of the long row of apartments, talked a while, and then went into what appeared to be the main office. After a while, they came out. Dr. Barr was pushing a rolling, shelved cart. It was a larger version of the kind you might see flight attendants pushing on airplanes. It was loaded with medical supplies, food, and water.
Ellen
looked
through large ring of color-coded keys.

They stopped next to the first door.
Ellen
inserted the key and turned it in the lock. Then she pulled it out and placed the whole ring of keys on the cart. Both of them checked their guns and Dr. Barr opened the door. They stood there for a couple of seconds then cautiously went inside. There was a gunshot. Then the two of them came out again and moved to the next door.

This happened six more times. I was afraid they would find all of the rooms occupied and their shooting would draw a crowd, but finally, they found an empty apartment. The
y
both stepped out.
Ellen
pushed the cart inside while Dr. Barr went back to the hub of the facility. When he came out again, he was pushing a wheel chair. Just as he reached the truck,
Ellen
joined him.

“You first,” he said, letting down the tailgate. “We need you out of the way so we can remove the councilman.”

I got to the edge, and they helped me into the chair. Dr. Barr wheeled me into the apartment and parked me next to the supply cart. It was dark and stuffy in there. The only light came in through the front windows, which were curtained. I was in a larger front room that compris
ed a small living room, tiny di
ning area, and a kitchenette. In the back wall was an open doorway leading to a bathroom and bedroom.

“I’m going to leave you sitting here for now,” he said. “The councilman gets the bed. We’ll try to get a cot in here for you soon.”

He left and several minutes later they pushed Somerville into the apartment on a second wheelchair. They went past me into the dark bedroom. I could only see inside a little. I watched their flashlight beams play on the wall. Then the soft glow of candles took over. I listened to them grunting and straining as they got Somerville into the bed. Then Dr. Barr came out and started looking through the items on the cart.

“We only have one I.V.,” he said. “I’m going to need that for him. I’ll get him set up, and I’ll be back to mix up something for you.”

I was kind of dazed, and I kept drifting off. I don’t know how long it took him to get to me. At some point he was kneeling in front of me with a large plastic cup and straw. The room was lit by several candles and by the open front door.

“We’re going to try oral rehydration,” he said. “I’m having to work with what I’ve got. This is a mixture of water, salt, and sugar. It probably won’t taste very good, but drink it anyway. It’s the best I can do.” Then he stood. “
Ellen
, come in here please.”

Ellen
came into the room from outside and shut the front door behind her. She smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. Her mask was down and her hat was off. Her long, dark hair was dry and streaked with gray. Her face was lined and stern. She looked like she might have been of Native American descent. I couldn’t pin her age, but I guessed her to be a hard 40, maybe 45.

“I need you to hold this cup for him so he can drink,” Dr. Barr said.

Ellen
frowned at me, “He can’t hold it himself?”

“I really need to be in the other room,” Dr. Barr said.

“Fine,” she sighed. “Give it to me.”

Dr. Barr handed her the cup and went into the other room.
Ellen
pulled up a chair from the small dining table and sat next to me. She shoved the cup under my nose.

“Drink it,” she said.

Her fingers smelled like an ashtray, and I almost gagged. I took a sip, and made a face.

“Taste bad?” she said.

I nodded.

“Good,” she said.

“I’m not the person they say I am,” I said.

“I guess you’re just misunderstood,” she said sarcastically. “A poor, tortured soul.”

“What have I done to you?”

“Just drink.”

I drank. Every few sips, she would stir the cup with the straw to keep the undissolved sugar and salt suspended. When I drained the cup, she went into the bedroom, and I heard Dr. Barr tell her how to mix up another batch.

When she returned with the second cup, I said, “What did you do before?”

“No need for conversation,” she replied. “We’re not friends.”

I nodded and put my mouth on the straw. She watched me drink and sighed heavily.

“I used to
own
a furniture store,” she said.

“Oh,” I said.

“You worked at the museum?”

“Yeah,
”
I replied.

“I never went in there.”

I drank quietly for a while.

“Why didn’t you stay with the group?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said.

“What is happening in Clayfield?”

She shrugged, “Jack says the streets are packed. He says there’s no way in.”

“Is it true about the nukes?”

She shrugged again, “Beats me.”

“Then why—“

“Just drink.”

Chapter 29

I fell asleep in the wheelchair for a while. When I woke up, they were moving the small, round dining table and two chairs. I watched them quietly. When they’d made a space in the room, they went outside and returned with a plastic-covered mattress. It was one that would fit a single-sized bed. They put it in the floor, and
Ellen
spread a sheet over it.

Dr. Barr looked at me, “Good, you’re awake. We got you a bed. Do you need to go to the bathroom or anything?”

“No,” I said.

Ellen
stepped just outside and lit a cigarette.

“Do you feel like eating?” he asked.

“Not really,” I said.

“I found some Glucerna shakes in the storeroom,”
he
said. “They’ll provide some nourishment. I want you to drink one before you go down for the night.”

“How’s Nicholas?”

“He’s resting,” he said. “He might lose some mobility in that left arm, but other than that, he should recover.”

“Thanks for all your help,” I said.

“It’s what I do,” he said. He stepped over to the window and looked out into the parking lot. “The next apartment over was clear, so
Ellen
and I will stay there. It should be more comfortable for all of us. We all need to rest.”

He went over to the counter and opened up a case of the Glucerna then brought me a can.

“I h
ope you like strawberry,” he said, opening the top for me.

I took a drink. It was warm and sweet with the consistency of watered-down milk. There was the strawberry flavor, but it was mixed with the taste of vitamins. It was better than the water mixture he’d given me earlier.

“I want to know when you go to the bathroom,” he said. “I don’t have to see it, but pay attention to the color of your urine and the consistency of the stool. I’ll come check on you in a couple of hours and mix you some more water.”

“Okay,” I said.

He helped me out of the chair and down onto the mattress.

“You seem to be able to stand better,” he said.

“I’m feeling a little better.”

“If you need anything, knock on the wall over there, and I’ll come over,” he said.

“Can I get a weapon?”

“You won’t need one; we’re right next door.”

“I’d feel better if I had something,” I said.

He looked around the room then went over by the front door and grabbed an umbrella.