The Flu 2: Healing (8 page)

He rushed to them.

“She’s been shot,” Ethan said. “She’s bleeding bad.”

“Let me take a look.” Mick pulled her hand and looked at the wound. “It’s to the side and it went straight through, not a straight belly shot.”

“I’m sorry,” Madge whimpered. “I’m sorry. We tried. We tried to stop them. Liam got it first and then when me and Sara pulled weapons to get them to go, they just went haywire.” Madge lowered her head and cried.

Mick swiped his hand down his face and tried to gain control. “Where are all the kids?”

Madge shook her head. “They got Bobby Miller. I think they thought he was older. He was the only one I saw them kill. I … I got shot right after.”

“How many were there?” Mick asked.

Madge shook her head. “Six I think. Not sure.” She winced. “But they took everything and I think they took the kids.”

“Do you know what they look like? What they drove? How long ago they left? I know this is a lot of questions.”

“It was about an hour ago, maybe less. And I can’t tell you what they looked like, but I do know they were military.”

Ethan locked eyes with Mick. “
Military?
Does that sound right?”

“Not at all,” Mick responded.

“They were wearing military uniforms,” Madge said.

“Okay, listen, Ethan,” said Mick. “You got enough reserve gas in the truck. Take your mom and Baby Doe, get out of here and head to Lodi. Keep pressure on her wound and keep her lying down. Maybe have her hold Doe in the back.”

“But Mick—”

Mick held up his hand. “Do not stop. Do not hesitate, hightail it. Take the highway south then head west. You can’t miss the signs. Top speed will get you there in a couple of hours and your mom should be fine. Look for Lars Rayburn - he’s a doctor - then tell him what happened.” He walked toward the SUV, reached in the back, and picked up Baby Doe.

“What are you gonna do?” Ethan asked.

Mick looked up and around. “It hasn’t been that long, they can’t be all that far. I’ll follow a trail. Something. But I guarantee this … I’m not stopping,” Mick said, “until I find my kids.”

* * *

Whispering, ‘Go, go, go!’ Chris urged everyone into the cabin and shut the door quietly. He hunched down and reached up to turn the lock.

“Jake, keep an eye out that window. Make sure no one is coming. Don’t let them see you.”

Jake hurried to the window and stood off to the side. “No one knows about the cabin. I think we’re safe here.”

“If there’s a road here, they’ll find it. We can’t stay for long. We got to get what we can, rest for a second and head out.” Chris set down the bug out bag and sleeping roll. “I’m just glad you knew about this place.” He turned to Tigger. “Can you stop her from crying?”

“How?” Tigger tossed up his hands. “She’s a baby! I ain’t big enough to lift her.” He looked at Emmie. “Hey! Stop crying. Now.”

Emmie stifled her sobs, hyperventilating some.

“Hey, it worked,” Tigger said.

The one room fishing cabin wasn’t large. Chris grabbed the blanket from the cot and tossed it to the floor. He’d roll it up later.

“What all you looking for?” Jake asked.

“Some food to get us to the next stop, things to keep us warm. Maybe something we can use as a weapon.”

“They have guns, Chris. I don’t think we can compete with that.”

“We’re gonna try now, aren’t we?”

Tigger said, “You know there’s food in Mick’s bag, right? And matches.”

“I know.”

“Maybe,” Jake spoke up, “we shouldn’t take anything important or a lot.”

“Why do you say that?” Chris asked.

“Because if they find this place and it looks like stuff was taken, they may know it was us and come looking for us.”

Chris stopped. Jake made perfect sense. “How’d you know to think about that?”

Jake bit his bottom lip. “When I was six, my dad kidnapped me. Well, he picked me up at school and said we were going away on a long vacation. We were running all the time.”

“No way, that’s a pretty cool story,” Chris said then plopped to the floor.

Tigger asked. “You alright, Chris?”

Chris brought his knees toward his chest and lifted his hand. He sighed heavily. “Yeah, in a second. I just need a second.”

And he did. His heart was still racing. He needed to catch his breath and his bearings. Everything was still so fresh. They had been running for nearly an hour. And they did so taking turns holding Emmie and covering her mouth. It had all happened so fast and Chris just followed his gut instincts to run. Run and hide, get away. He didn’t have time to think or plan, and he needed to take time to do that before they got moving again.

The men who came to the camp weren’t playing around and they were merciless. Certainly Chris hadn’t expected it. No one had. He’d been playing around with Tigger when he heard the bang. The first sound wasn’t a gunshot; Chris knew what they sounded like. It was more like a car crashing into something. But the second and third sounds were definitely shots.

He’d grabbed onto his little brother, who happened to be in the grips of Emmie at the time. When he lifted Tigger, Emmie dangled along, and Chris did his best to grab her as well. They were near the edge of the forest and Chris ran there. Just ducked inside to see if he could see what was happening.

He heard voices, men shouting.
‘Grab that. Get this. Stop him.’

Bang
.

He crouched down on the grade, hand over Emmie’s mouth, her toddler body tucked under his and urged them both to be quiet.

Tigger understood. With his free hand, Chris gathered leaves around them and then Jake slid down in a hurry.

“The soldiers just killed Bobby and shot Mr. Liam.”

“Shhh,” Chris hushed him and grabbed for him to get down. “Stay down.”

“We have to run.”

“Stay down!”

Chris listened, and heard one of the men shouting that he thought he saw more children. Another replied, “Keep looking.”

Chris leaned his head toward Jake and spoke at the lowest whisper he could. “We do have to run.”

“The cabin.”

Chris nodded. He moistened his lips. He didn’t know if it was bravery or stupidity, but he had to see what was going on. “Pull them back,” he told Jake. “I’ll be right with ya.”

“Where you going?”

“I have to see what’s happening. We don’t know what we’re running from.”

Tigger whimpered, “Chris?”

“I’ll be alright. Go with Jake. Just down the hill. On your belly. Okay?”

Tigger nodded.

Chris’s hand still covered Emmie’s mouth. “You got to keep her mouth covered, lift her and run quiet. Go straight but not too far,” he told Jake. “I’ll find you. Go!”

It was a switch of one hand to the other. No sooner had Chris removed his hand when Jake placed his over Emmie’s mouth.

As slowly and as quietly as he could, Chris rose and belly crawled to the top of the grade. He peeked over. At first he didn’t see much. He did see Bobby’s body and he lowered his head for a second.

He watched the movement of the men. He could only see a few. They shouted out orders and moved quickly.

Then he noticed Mick’s SUV. No one went near it. The men were concentrated over on the other side of the camp. Knowing that they had to run and make a getaway, Chris, in a low crouch run, ran to the SUV.

He ducked down, looking around. He caught a glimpse of one man. He was wearing a military uniform, but it was old, like the military used to wear in old movies. Quietly, Chris opened the door to the back seat.

On the outside chance they’d be stranded out in the woods for a while, Chris grabbed the bug out knapsack and thin sleeping roll. He slid them over to himself, made sure no one saw him, and then, in the same manner, crawled back and made his escape.

He found the others with ease. Tigger, Jake and Emmie hadn’t gone too far down the hill. There, twenty or so feet from the campsite, they waited a few minutes and when the voices grew nearer they took off.

Jake lifted Emmie, Chris lifted Tigger and they ran at top speed.

The last thing Chris heard was someone shouting, “Down there! Look!”

But neither Chris nor Jake looked back; they focused and stayed the course.

* * *

“Found a map.”

Jake’s voice snapped Chris from this thoughts. He sat down next to Chris and slid the map his way.

“You’re supposed to be on watch,” Chris said.

Jake pointed to Tigger, who peered out the window. “He’s better hidden than me. Besides, take a look.”

It was like reading a foreign language. Chris had never seen a real map, let alone learned how to read one. “I have no idea what the heck to do with this,” he said.

Jake grimaced. “Me either.”

From the window, Tigger said. “Take watch. Let me look.”

Jake produced a quirky smile. “How old is he again?”

“He’s six, going on thirty. That’s what Mick says.”

“Who’s Mick?” Jake asked.

“My stepdad.”

“Hey, won’t he come find us? We should just wait here.”

“We could,” Chris said. “But how do we know that they didn’t get Mick and Ethan before they came to the camp? We don’t. We gotta keep moving and figure out where to go.”

Tigger squatted down, pointing back. “Take the window.”

“God, pushy.” Jake stood.

Tiger looked at the map.

“Tig, really, I know you wanna help but—”

“Look,” Tigger said, “I may not know how to read this thing right, but I’ve seen
Dora the Explorer
enough to know we have to look for familiar things.”

“Like?”

“There’s a lake out that window, Chris. Ain’t there water on this map?”

Common sense
. Maybe his nerves were causing him to lose it, but Chris looked at the map. “We left Pittsburgh on a highway north.” His finger trailed the map. “Has to be this highway here.” He pointed. “We were headed to Lake Erie.” He showed Tigger the lake. “So we have to be in this area...”

“Rosemont.” Tigger’s little finger pointed. “Does that say Rosemont?”

“Tig, you can read?”

“Yeah. Some words. Does it say that?”

“Yes. Yes!” Chris grinned. “Rosemont is twenty miles west of where we were, that’s what Ethan told Mick.” He moved his finger to the right, east, away from Rosemont.

“That little blue dot - water?” Tigger asked.

“Has to be. Go see if there’s a pen in Mick’s sack.”

After Tigger stood, Chris continued to stare at the map. He had to learn it. What were roads, which way they would go, and how would they get to safety? But the real question was, where was safe?

He would think about it, but not for long. They couldn’t stay at the cabin. They had to get moving. Aside from figuring out a direction to go, he had to figure out a way to let Mick know they were fine and moving forward on the outside chance that Mick would come looking for them.

Journal Entry

I only have a minute to write, but I thought I should. Just in case something happens to us and this notebook is found
.

Our camp was attacked by these guys in older military uniforms. I don’t know how many, I only saw three of them. They killed a boy and other grownups in the camp.

Mick had left with Ethan to search for more kids in a town nearby.

I only hope Mick wasn’t caught up by these guys on his way back. Not that Mick couldn’t handle them, but what if he wasn’t ready?

If he didn’t, then I am glad Mick wasn’t there when they came. Mick would have gone after these guys, like he always does, but they didn’t care, there was no fair fight in these guys, they only shot.

I know Mick is out there and he’ll look for us. But right now, we have to run. We’re gonna head north to find the road and follow near that. But stay hidden on the way.

We got a baby with us. She ain’t very old. At least she can walk, but she cries a lot and I don’t know what to do with her.

Heck, I don’t know what to do about anything.

For as much as Mick and my mom and dad taught me, no one said anything about running to save your life. No one taught me what I would need or should do.

I don’t have a clue and I got three kids with me that I have to watch. No one said anything to me about how to survive if I am stranded. I guess no one thinks to teach their kids that.

I’ll just have to do the best I can. If something should happen to me, I tried.

7. Smoke and Mirrors