The Seven Cities Saga (Book 0): Survival in the Seven Cities (2 page)

"Eddie was your boyfriend?"

"Yes but-"

"I don't care, Gloria. It was the past. Let’s leave it there. It's you that matters. I don't care what you did or who you dated."

Then, for the first time, she kissed him.

CHAPTER THREE

Gloria strolled down the ocean front, her head resting on Roger's shoulder just like the night he’d fought Eddie. Bobby and his sisters raced ahead.

Up ahead a stage had been set up on the boardwalk and a crowd was starting to form. Bobby came sprinting back to her.

"Mom! Roger! It's a concert! Can we stay and watch? It's free."

Bobby was enthusiastic about almost everything. Roger and Gloria smiled at each other.

Gloria shrugged. "Sounds like fun. Let's go up to the front so we can see the band."

They waited while the host, Shelly, played music for the growing crowd as part of a local radio promotion. After twenty minutes the audience had grown to a few hundred people. The band ran out to a roar.

Bobby, Izzy, and Abby all cheered.

The band was loud and lively; the crowd and the kids clapped, enjoying the show. Roger squeezed her hand and Gloria smiled up at him. Today was perfect; there wasn't anything else she could ask for.

The band was just starting to hit its groove, when Gloria saw someone crash into Roger from behind. She looked back to see people forming a circle, stepping away from a man who was ambling through the crowd. He was tall and fit, with black hair and tan skin. He held his hands to his face as he stumbled and Gloria noticed splotches of red seeping out from between his fingers. Something was wrong with him.

Where other people drew back, Roger stepped forward. He grabbed the injured man under his left arm and put his other arm around the man’s back, helping to support his weight.

The children turned and watched Roger attempting to help the troubled man, a look of fear and admiration written across their faces. Roger was more to them than some guy their mother was dating.

A few more people came to the man's side to help, some offering beach towels and bottles of water but as soon as Roger got the man steady, he pushed Roger pushed away. The sick man began coughing, splattering blood on the boardwalk with each breath.

He put his hands to his mouth and surged into the crowd, which continued to cheer obliviously. Beside Gloria, a man dialed 911. At the front of the crowd, Shelly had a headset on and was dancing to the music by herself.

Drawn to the front table, the man made his way forward and collapsed on top of it, spewing a mixture of blood and mucus into the air. Gloria saw the DJ turn away with a disgusted look as she wiped blood from her face.

The band stopped playing, their focus now on the sick man. Roger and a small group of men and women moved forward to help, but the man popped to his feet with surprising speed. A few moments ago he’d been moving lethargically, as if he was on the brink of unconsciousness. Now he seemed agile and awake. He lunged at the group of people coming to help.

Sirens sounded in the background as people screamed around Gloria. Two hands gripped each of hers. She looked down and saw Izzy and Abby. Bobby wasn’t there.

Panic shot through her until she saw Bobby following Roger as he confronted the sick man.

"Bobby," she shouted, but he didn't hear her. She tried again, to no avail.

People were moving in a flood to get away from the man, who lunged at an older woman. Roger grabbed the man’s arm, attempting to pull him to the ground. The sick man turned with terrifying speed and sank his teeth into Roger's arm, scratching him with his fingernails and growling like a savage animal. Like a bird picking at a piece of roadkill, the man bit and tore at Roger's arm. More people grabbed the man from behind, but he moved and flailed, his body seemingly powered by rage.

To Gloria's horror, Bobby jumped into the fray, trying to help Roger. A fierce look of protectiveness was in Bobby's eyes, but all Gloria could see was a child’s delusion that he could fight off a grown man.

Blood covered the sick man's hands and, as Bobby approached, he took a swing at the boy. The distraction was just enough for Roger to escape the clutches of the mad man. Roger scooped Bobby up in one stride as he ran towards Gloria.

"Stick with your mother, okay?" Roger said to Bobby.

"I will."

"Gloria, keep the kids away from that guy until help comes."

Gloria nodded, her eyes on the blood that was cascading down Roger's arms, but he showed no sign that the injuries hurt. Instead, he turned and raced back into the fray to help the others without even acknowledging the bloody wounds on his own arms.

A circle formed around the mad man, which seemed to confuse him. There were too many targets and he lunged at one person only to stop halfway through the motion when he saw another he wanted to go for.

Suddenly a policeman showed up, then another, and another. Soon a dozen officers surrounded the man and Roger stepped back with a sigh. Gloria took a towel from her bag and wrapped Roger's arms tightly to help stop the flow of blood.

The officers closed in on the man, some of them holding batons, while others carried Tasers or pepper spray. Seeing what was about to happen, the man launched himself at one of the officers, striking him with so much force that the policeman stumbled. The crazy man flailed and kicked, never stopping, never allowing an officer to keep a solid grip on any part of his body.

A young officer, shorter than average, pushed his Taser in the back of the mad man's neck and then brought the end of the Taser down to the guys thigh. Gloria had seen this on an Internet video one of her kids had been watching: it was called a drive stun and would complete the electrical circuit from the probes down to the end of the Taser. But the mad man didn't seem to be affected. He turned and sank his teeth into the Taser officer's neck. When the sick man released him, Gloria could see tendons and stringy veins pull away from the officer’s neck.

The other officers took the moment to try pepper spray. Three streams shot out from three different canisters and hit the man across the eyes. Again, he didn’t react, didn't even brush the dripping spray from his eyes. He attacked the officers, sinking his teeth into forearms, hands and necks. Any exposed flesh was fair game.

A large officer who looked like he’d played football in his glory days, ran at the crazed man from behind. His shoulder hit the sick man's torso and his arms wrapped around the man’s legs. The large cop powered forward and then let go, tossing the sick man head first into the concrete wall that separated the boardwalk from the beach. The sick man struck the wall face first, but didn’t collapse. Instead, he turned quickly and stood.

The officer reached for his gun and drew it smoothly. As the sick man ran toward the policeman, the big officer pulled the trigger once, then again, and again, and again.

“Shots fired,” an officer said into a radio near Gloria. The words echoed on the radios of the nearby officers.

CHAPTER FOUR

Gloria looked on in horror. It had all happened so suddenly. Was shooting the man really necessary? She supposed it was: the man had just bitten an officer’s throat and who knows how many people he could have injured if he’d escaped. But now four of the officers were handcuffing the corpse as if it would jump up and attack them after being riddled with bullet holes. It all seemed a bit like overkill.

Someone was shaking her arm. Bobby.

"Mom, I think we should get Roger to the hospital. I'm worried."

Gloria's eyes shifted over to Roger. Izzy and Abby were helping him hold the towel over his wounds.

Roger gave her a slight nod, agreeing with Bobby but not wanting to scare him. "I'll be fine, Bobby. Nothing a few stitches and some antibiotics won't fix right up."

Bobby nodded, still nervous, but trusting Roger.

An officer a few feet away spoke into his radio. "Tell aid the scene is safe; we need them here. There are a lot of people injured. Send as many units you can."

Over the next few minutes the waterfront became flooded with emergency responders. Gloria didn't even know Virginia Beach had this many cops and ambulances. She looked down at Bobby and saw that he had some scratches on his arm and a couple of splotches of blood. The blood must have been from the man because his scratches didn't look deep enough to draw blood.

They walked, together as one family, to an ambulance that was pulling up. One look at the blood soaked towel on Roger's forearms and the paramedics brought him inside before any of the others.

"Can we ride with you?" Gloria asked one of them.

"We can only let one of you ride with us."

Gloria frowned, torn between wanting to be with Roger and not wanting to leave her children alone right now.

"Why don't you just meet me at the hospital, Gloria?” Roger said. “It’s no problem."

Gloria looked down at Bobby's arm and was about to suggest he go with Roger so he could get his arm cleaned, when a woman with a far more serious bite walked up to the ambulance and was ushered inside.

"Alright, I'll meet you there,” she said to Roger. “Love you, babe."

"Love you too."

The ambulance doors closed and Gloria headed to her car.

As she backed out of her parking place and started for the hospital, Gloria pulled out her phone.

"Mom, you're not supposed to use your phone and drive. It's dangerous," Abby said from the backseat.

Gloria ignored her, waiting for her mother's familiar voice to come on the line.

"Hey how was your day at the beach?"

"Not good, Mom. I don't have a lot of time to explain, but we’re on the way to the hospital. Everybody is okay but Roger got hurt. Can you meet me there and take the kids?"

A flurry of objections came from the backseat. "But Mom!"

Gloria half turned toward Izzy and Abby. "Not now girls." Her daughters looked out the window sullenly. Bobby kept playing with some matchbox cars he had brought in the car. The cuts along his forearm looked red; she decided she would bring him into the hospital with her instead of sending him with his grandmother. He had the crazy man's blood on his arm. It would be best to get those scratches cleaned up right away.

After a few minutes the hospital came into view. She took the corner faster than she normally would and heard the tires of the old Dodge minivan screech. Sometimes she was surprised it was still running. Even the fake wood paneling was starting to peel.

After about fifteen minutes waiting in the parking lot, she saw her mother drive into the parking area.

"You three stay in the car for a minute while I talk to your grandmother."

Gloria stepped out of the van and waved to her mom.

"Hey mom. Thanks for coming."

"Is Roger alright?"

"This crazy guy at the waterfront bit him. And then-" Gloria glanced back to make sure her kids weren't outside the car "The police came and fought with the man and they shot him." She didn't know why she felt the need to whisper; the kids had been there.

"Oh my God.” Her mother put a hand to her mouth. “Did the kids see?"

"They did. I don't know what they’re going to ask you. Roger got bitten up pretty badly. I’ll talk to the girls about it later. Tell them whatever you think they need to hear."

Her mother nodded. "I will."

"The same guy scratched Bobby’s arm. I'm going to take him inside to get it cleaned up, so it’ll just be the girls."

"How are they handling it so far?"

"They haven't really said anything. It all happened in the last half hour or so. I think they're still in shock."

"I'll do what I can if they ask me questions.” Her mother paused, then nodded decisively. “Alright, we’ll see you later."

Gloria walked to her car and opened the sliding door a little too fast.

"Alright girls, you’re going with your grandmother. Bobby, you're coming inside with me."

Abby's eyes lit up with indignation. "Why does he get to see Roger?"

"Abby, first of all, what did I say about whining? Secondly, Bobby got hurt-"

Bobby looked up from an explosion he was making with the cars. "It’s just a few scratches, Mom. I'll be fine," he said, unconsciously mimicking Roger's earlier response to his own concern.

Gloria shot Bobby a look. "Not now, Bobby."

Bobby immediately stopped his protest.

"Look girls," Gloria changed her delivery from chastising to concerned mother in a heartbeat. "I know what we saw down at the beach was awful. It was upsetting for me too and it's okay to be upset. But we'll talk about it when I get home, okay?"

The girls looked serious. Gloria nodded, satisfied. "Alright, go jump in Grandma's car. Bobby, you come with me."

The girls unbuckled their seatbelts and gave her a hug, a tighter hug than she’d gotten in a long time. What was it about kids? When they were little you got a strong hug with all of their might a few times a day. As they got older those hugs happened with less frequency and with far less intensity. But now it felt like they were five years old again, trying to make her head pop off with their squeezing.