Torn (32 page)

“Uh huh
, and that has what to do with me?” Darius asked.

“Are you in
Tennessee
?”

“Heading to Indiana.”

“That
’s
where it is,” Colin said. “We just figured since the bugs hit where you
were, and the EMP, and the dogs
. . .
”

Darius finished the sentence. “That
our
luck would
have it
strike
us here, too?”

“Bingo.”

“
N
othing to report. It is hot here, but just hot.”

“Good. Good to hear. Let us know if you see anything or hear anything.”

“Will do.”

“Have a safe trip.”

Darius disconnected the call and turned into the town.

“What’s going on?
Everything
okay
?” Bret asked.

“
Yeah
, just a hot spot in this area.”

“Hence the comment about the heat.”

Darius nodded. He then smiled. “Check this out, Bret.” He
pulled
up
to
a stop
light. “He thought we have
bad luck with
natural
phenomena
. Like
if
something
was going to happen it would happen because we’re here.”

“Oh, my God, that’s funny.”

“Yeah, I thought so
. . .
”
Darius paused in his reach to
turn
down the fan. “Why are all these people running?”

Bret shifted left
to right in her seat. “I don’t
. . .
oh, shit, Darius. Look at the trees.”

Brown
.

As if the change of seasons were occurring
instantaneously
before
their
eyes
, the leaves on the
streets
,
and the trees themselves, turned dark brown. Almost burning. The leaves dropped to the
ground
and
burst into
flame.

Wooden structures began to smold
er
,
and
people dropped. The second their bodies
h
it the ground smoke emerged.

“Green.” Darius said.

“What?”

“
Green
. There.” He pointed. “This is jus
t
a spot. We have to get
. . .
”

Pop.

The SUV jo
lted as the first tire exploded, t
hen the second.

Bret screamed.

The third and fourth went as well.

Darius hit the gas.

“What are you doing? We can’t ride on rims.”

“No, we can’t, b
ut we
certainly
can’t sit still.”

Bret
grabbed hold of the bar over her door as he sped forward

“We have to keep moving
, to keep cool. I thought I saw
. . .
yes!”

“What?”

“T
racks.”

“Huh?”

Darius didn’t
answer. He hit the gas harder
and turned the wheel to the left. The SUV jolted heavily,
and
Bret
shrieked
as
they pulled onto the railroad tracks.

“Oh, my God, oh my God.” Bret
chanted
fast, nervously, and out of breath.

“We’re good. We’re good. See those trees
up
there. See the green.”

“Yes.”

“That’s our
destination
. Not far. Not long. That
means
it’s not a hot spot there.”

“What if a train comes?” Bret asked.

“There won’t be a train.”

A long, loud
whistle
blew.

Bret
looked at
Darius
and screamed.

“Quit screaming.”

“Train!” Bret pointed ahead. The
sight of the locomotive rippled
through
the
heat
. “Train!
”

“I see.”

“Get off the tracks!
”

“I can’t.” Darius said. “We’re stuck.”

Another scream.

“Quit!”

“We’re gonna die.”

“We’re not gonna die. We can beat it to the trees.”

“Then what?” she asked.

“Jump.”

“Jump?”

“J
ump.”

“N
o!”

Darius
grabbed her hand. “Listen to me. Get a hold yourself.”

Bret kept her eyes forward. Her words fast. Hyperventilating. “The
train
. The train. The train.”

“Stop.” He ordered. “
Get a hold. Grab the door. Get ready.
”

“Darius.
…”

“
Listen
to me. When I say, ‘now’, you jump. Hands over your head, leap sideways, not feet first. Got it?”

“I can’t
. . .
”

“Yeah, you can. You have to.” He grabbed her hand, brought it to his mouth and kissed it. “Ready?”

“No.”

He eyed the approaching train, then the trees. “We’ll beat it. We’ll beat it.”

“Darius,” her voice inched up.

“Grab the door. Open it some.”

“I’m scared.”

“Me, too.”

“Oh my God.”

Darius, reached for his door,
o
ne
hand on the wheel. “Almost
. . .
”

Bret watched the
train
as
the air rushed
through
her
open
door.

The train neared.

Faster.

The trees wilted less. Darius
’ sign, he
hit the br
ak
e
s.

“What are you doing!” She
blasted
.

“
Slowing
us.”

The wheels screeched loudly, the train blasted its
warning
whistle
, along with diligently trying to stop
.
Sparks
seared
up on all ends of the vehicle.

“Now!”
Darius
ordered.
Bret screamed and opened the door wider. Darius heard and felt the ‘whoosh
’
of air. He saw
,
th
r
ough the
corner
of his
eyes
, Bret leaping from the car, and then he, too, jumped.

It was close.

He
landed and rolled at the same time the whistle of the train
screamed
out, seconds before the ‘smash’ of the
locomotive
into the SUV.

The grass was brownish
-
green
, but not dead and burning. The momentum of the
roll
carried him down the grade, and Darius stopped with a grunt.
He
was dizzy
and off balance as he tried to stand. He coughed out a mouthful o
f dirt and dropped to his knees, w
atching the train roll by.

“Bret!” he called out, standing. “Bret!”

The train noise was too loud.
Aside from moving, the conductor was trying to stop
it
. The ai
r br
ak
e
s cried out louder than
Darius
ever could.
There was no way she’d hear him.
Up in the distance, on his side of the tracks, the smashed SUV had rolled off the tracks as well.

He stumbled to a
stand, moved toward the tracks
and closer to the train. “Come on, come on,”
h
e
beckoned
, watching to his
left
for the end of the train.
It moved slow
ly, t
oo slow
ly
.
“Bret!”

Darius grew
antsy
. Almost there. Tired of waiting, Darius raced toward the end of the train, and as soon as it cleared him he ran over the tracks, calling out for Bret as he did.

He lost sense of distance.

How far had he rolled?
Which way
?
They had slowed down some.

“Bret!”

After
crossing
, he hea
ded back in the other direction,
h
is
mind
still racing.
It couldn’t have been that far. A hundred feet, maybe?

Had it not been for the diaper bag, he would have called out again. But he
spotted
the bag Bret had not been without
since
they jumped from the plane.

He saw the dia
per bag and then he saw Bret, l
ying in the grass thirty feet from the tracks.

T
he train finally came to a halt
as Darius ran as fast as his feet would carry him.

He slid down the small grade, landing by Bret.

She wasn’t moving.

“You guys
okay
!” a male voice called out in the distance. “Anyone hurt!”

Hands
shaking, Darius reached do
wn to Bret.
She was on her side. “Bret.” He called out.
Bret
didn’t respond. His hand slid to her throat.

A pulse.

Darius sighed out.

He could see the blood trickle from her nose, an abrasion, along with a deep
gash
on her head. “Bret, answer me.”

Nothing.

“Do you need help!” the man hollered again.

Scooting closer to Bret, Darius cocked his head to find the direction of the man. He was a speck in his vision, but making his way closer. ‘Yes!” Darius yelled. “Call for 911! Hurry!” He watched the man turn, and then Darius focused again on Bret.

Still n
on
-
responsive and b
leeding.

He huddled as close
to her
as he could, whispering to her to just hang on, while waiting for what would seem like an
eternity
for help to arrive.

She woke up twice. But nothing coherent came from her, nor did she respond. But
after ten hours
the doctors said that there was no sign of swelling
,
and that was a good sign.

Just before midnight, Br
et
began to stir again, m
umbling words. And when she woke up asking for water and an aspirin, Darius placed a call to Colin.

He and the girls returned to the hospital where Darius and Luke hadn’t left
Bret’s
side.

She looked better than when he had left, and Colin
conveyed
that to Darius as they stood outside
her hospital room. He peeked in;
the girl
s
were on one side of the bed.

“I have to tell you, Dare-Dare. I’ve never seen you so worried about anything. Hell, when we couldn’t find your mother you weren’t this worried.”

“I am worried. Or was,”
Darius
said. “I really am into her
,
Colin. I am.
This past week
. . .
it did a lot for me. I didn’t realize our connection,
but
it’s there. I don’t want to lose that.”

“I’m glad for you. And
, ,
.
she seems fine. Actually
. . .
happy.” He took another peek inside.

“Since there was no brain damage,”
Darius
said, “t
hey have her looped up on pain killers for th
e
headache.”

“A loopy Bret.” Colin smiled. “This should be fun.
Let’s go speak to her.” Laying a leading hand on Darius’ back, Colin
brought
them in the room.

“We’re back,” Colin announced.

Darius
took
his seat next to the bed and reclaimed Bret’s hand.

Bret snickered.

“What’s so funny?” Darius asked.

Almost giggly, she answered. “You’re holding my hand.”

“I want to.”

“That is so nice.” She groggily smiled.

“
Y
eah, well, right now I want to be nice. I
feel like
this is all my fault.”

“Oh, my God, no,” Bret’s words
were slurred. “Dare-Dare
,
if it wasn’t for your quick thinking and
plotting
, I’d be dead. I’m fine. Just a bump.”

Colin asked. “How is that bump?”

“Good. I don’t feel really bad now. They gave me drugs. How long was I out?”

Darius replied, “About ten hours.”

“Wow, they got here fast,” Bret said.

It took Colin a moment, then with an ‘up’ of his chin and facial
revelation
of what she meant, he said, “No. No. You’re in Pittsburgh. When Winslow found out about the accident he had you
f
lown
up here.”

“That was nice of him,” Bret said.

“Yes it was,” said Colin. “We need you here. Need you to recover, because we have
a
lot of work to do.
”

Darius brought her hand to his lips. “But you get well first. I’m
gonna
help with whatever you need,
okay
?”

The corner of Br
et’s mouth raised in a smile. “M
an, you are being way nice. You won’t mind if I take the help?”

Darius shook his head.

Bret snickered. “You kissed m
y hand. Did you see that, Colin?
”

“Yes, you’ll have that with him,”
Colin
said. “Anyway. Get we
ll. You’ll stay at my house. That
asshole
of an ex
-
husband
of yours
is
hounding
us
, but we’ll take care of that. Then it’s stocking, planning, and getting our shelter list together.”

Bret nodded. “But we have to get the shelter. Plan another trip down there, maybe?”

Colin smiled. “What
. . .
”
he paused. “It’s done. Bought.”

“In ten hours?” Bret asked surprised. “Wow, you guys work fast.
Fly me up here, buy the shelter
. . . .
”

“Bret.” Colin held up a finger halting her.
“
What is the last thing you remember?”

“Right before the acci
dent,” she replied. “I remember
. . .
”
she inhaled. “The rush of the wind. Staring out into the open space and jumping.”

Colin nodded.

Bret continued, “From the plane.
Boy
, I’ll
tell
you I was afrai
d that chute wouldn’t open. But
. . .
”
She shrugged. “It obviously did, I just landed wrong.”

“The last thing you remember is jumping from the plane?” Colin asked.

“Yes, that was how I hur
t my head, right?”
Bret
asked
then
looked
at Darius. “Why did you loosen
your
grip on my hand?”

“Sorry,” Darius grabbed
held
again. “Bret, are you sure that’s the last thing you remember?”

“Y
es.”

“Think.”

Bret closed her eyes. “Yeah, that’s it. Why?”

“Because
. . .
”
Darius looked up to Colin, the girls, Lu
ke, and back to Bret. “That was
. . .
that was a week ago.”

“I
. . .
I
. . .
lost a week?” Bret asked. “How?”

Colin shrugged slightly
then shook his head. “I’m sure the doc
tor will tell you. And I’m sure
what you lost
will
come back. I
t’s the head injury. Then again
. . .
”
he looked at Darius. “
There’s a
chance it may never come back.”

“A whole week?” Bret closed her eyes and exhaled. “Well, I can look at it this way. Aside from getting the shelter, it’s only a week, right? I mean, I couldn’t have missed that much, right?”

No answer.

“Right?”

“E
xcuse me.”
Darius
stood up.

“Colin?” Bret asked.

After holding up a finger, Colin stepped outside where Darius was
waiting
in the hallway.

“Dare-Dare.”

“She doesn’t remember. She doesn’t k
now about Blain. She doesn’t
. . .
she doesn’t
remember
.”

“M
aybe she will,” Colin said.

“What
if
she
d
oesn’t?
”

“Then you tell her.”

“Ha,” Darius released an
emotional
chuckle. “Oh, sure, I’ll just go tell her. Hey, Bret, in that week, Blain died from
meningitis
and you and I became lovers.”

Colin cringed. “You’re right, that won’t be easy to tell her. But if you do, and she doesn’t
remember
you can tell her it was
incredible
and she called you
a
stallion.”

“This isn’t funny.”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Colin said “Don’t worry about it.
Just tell
her when the time i
s right. Give her time for it
all
to
come back and if it doesn’t
,
tell her. Dare-Dare, she’s already
excited
about the prospect of you holding her
hand
. Something is inside of her,
trust
me.”

Darius nodded.

“If not, and she’s what you want, you have to win
her
back.”

Another nod from
Darius
.

“But for now. We just need to concentrate on her getting better, and us getting everything in order and on track. Because the way things are looking with this
E
arth,” Colin said. “It’s not going to be long before everything goes to shit.”