— Bumper —
I woke before dawn to the sound of shouts on the floor above. I grunted, rolling over to reach for the bottled water by my bed. After striking my deal with the man in charge, the one they referred to simply as 'the General', I had been shown to my quarters. I was deemed either too much of a risk or too much of a big deal to simply share the large dormitory-style ward with the regular recruits. I chose to believe it was the latter, though the thought of posing a risk to them in any way was almost equally satisfying. I spent the first couple of days wandering the halls, followed closely by a young kid who'd been assigned to watch me and make sure I didn't poke my nose in anywhere I shouldn't. I restrained my curiosity, wanting to keep up my air of nonchalance and ease. It was important that I act like I knew I was hot shit, if that was how I wanted everyone to see me. It seemed to be working on the recruits, who all avoided my glares as we passed in the halls. Hopefully soon enough I'll be one of your commanding officers, giving you orders. Imagining the power I would soon hold was enough to keep me to my little facade. After a few days of this, however, I was starting to get bored. I hadn't spoken to anyone more senior than a 20-something lieutenant in charge of the dining hall since I had arrived, and I was desperate for information, progress, anything. The shouting coming through my ceiling this morning, however, seemed promising. My room was situated on the floor above the recruit's large open wards, and I knew that in turn the floor above me held the individual ward rooms which housed the officers. I couldn't discern who was speaking now, but he was angry.
"-a whole outfit of weaponry, and the sergeant!" the voice barked, and I heard footsteps begin pacing.
"Yes sir." the response was quieter, deferential. Clearly whoever was above me was receiving some bad news right now. I wondered if I could take advantage of this moment, finally set some wheels in motion. I quickly rolled out of bed and threw on the rough khaki shirt and pants they'd provided me with when I arrived, as well as a pair of worn military boots, one size too large. With no time to lose, I opened my door a crack, and was relieved to see that my usual escort was nowhere in sight. That meant that some time in the last couple of days they'd stopped assigning someone to my door overnight. Clearly, my laid back attitude was convincing. I slipped out quietly into the hall and darted towards the stairwell, pausing only to check that nobody was on watch anywhere. Nothing. I ascended the stairs as quietly as I could manage, my feet threatening to trip on the overly-long ends of my boots with every step. Finally, I made it to the floor above, and was relieved to see that the hallway too was empty. Thankfully, nobody besides myself and the man I was hoping to intercept had awoken before role call at dawn. I counted the doorways along the hall as I walked, praying that the hospital layout was gridded and even. In fact, I didn't have to worry about that, as suddenly a door swung open just ahead of me and two men strode out, the larger of the two with his face set in a grimace. We all stopped dead in our tracks, staring at each other, unsure of what to do next. This was a man I'd not yet seen, clearly high-ranking, and irritated by my presence here.
"What are you doing here?" He growled, the man behind him fidgeting with his sleeves.
"I couldn't help but overhear-"
"Get lost, this floor is off-limits to the likes of you." He'd lost interest, and with that barged roughly past me, the other man following close on his heels. I stayed where I was, battling my own rage. I was done biding my time and being treated like I was nothing but an inconvenience, a prisoner. Clenching my jaw, I turned and walked slowly back towards the stairwell. The two men were noisily ascending the stairs above me, and I could hear that they were headed up the final two floors, to the top where the General was to be found. I steeled myself, and followed, as silently as I could manage. By the time I reached the final staircase up to the General's floor, I could hear them rapping on his door briskly, then the door swinging open and their footsteps receding inside. The door closed firmly. I sensed my chance, and quickly ran the last few steps, scurrying over to crouch beside the door. So long as nobody else came up those stairs, and the men in the office didn't leave too suddenly, I would be able to sit here and listen. I had a feeling what they were about to discuss would be all too valuable to me.
— Beca —
When I awoke, dusk was setting in. I ached all over again. I realised I was alone in the back seat of the car, bundled up in blankets with the far door open to allow room for my outstretched legs. I sat up slowly, groaning slightly as the stiffness in my back made itself known. I began to regain fragments of memory, suddenly noticing a jab of pain in my left thigh. Wincing, I pushed back the various garments draped over me, and gingerly touched my finger to the substantial new tear in my jeans, revealing a small mass of stitches underneath. All of a sudden, the door behind me opened, and I leant back to see Chloe's beaming face smiling down on me. I sighed happily at the sight of her, lying back on the seat again.
"Well look who's awake." She mused, leaning down as she did so until her face was hovering over mine.
"You always let me sleep in, it's one of the many things I love about you." I whispered, and she laughed, kissing me on the forehead before drawing away.
"If you feel up to it, we're eating some of the mystery cans tonight and Amy says she's got a special prize for anyone who can correctly guess their food before they open it. Not that I'm certain that's necessarily an incentive, but should be fun!" She said, winking. I snorted, sitting up again and shuffling myself towards the open door at my feet.
"A special prize? Yeah I don't know if my body is ready for whatever that means tonight." I smiled again as she materialised in front of me this time, offering her hands to help me out. Soon, I was standing on one leg outside of the car leaning heavily against her, and I couldn't say I was mad about the excuse to do so. Together we made out way over to the fire, where the others cheered softly at my approach, watching me flop down into the gap in their circle. I relented, giving them a little mock bow which had Amy snorting with laughter.
"To our pirate captain!" she crowed, raising her unlabelled can of food into the air. Everyone followed suit, and I raised an eyebrow.
"Pirate captain?" Amy gestured to my injured leg as if it were altogether too obvious.
"You know, one-legged fearless leader, that kinda vibe. It made sense to me, anyway CHEERS!" Everyone clinked their cans, and I leant into Chloe as we laughed. Thankfully nobody won Amy's mystery can prize that night, but she was keen to assure us that her prize would be available when somebody finally did. The highs and lows of our life were so extreme now. It was so surreal to be feeling such peace yet again, so soon after the encounter we'd just had. Of course, fear and worry still burned somewhere at the back of my throat, and I couldn't prevent myself from asking for the details of what had happened between then and now. The others filled me in obligingly.
"We collected up all their weapons for a start, we've got 3 heavy machine guns, 2 rifles and 4 pistols now. They're all fully loaded but we'll need to do a supply run for ammunition if we want to be able to keep them long term." Jesse began, and I nodded thoughtfully. It was useful to finally be able to arm the others with guns, although I had my worries too. The machine guns were probably least useful to us, as they were unwieldy and someone unfamiliar with guns would be prone to expending a full clip into one target to make up for the difficulty of aiming with accuracy. The rifles and pistols I could work with. I reckoned I could train Donald and Aubrey to use the rifles for slightly longer range, and Chloe, Amy, Benji and Stacie could easily use the pistols. Even Stacie's shoulder injury wouldn't factor in too much if she could master using the weapon single-handed. Jesse continued.
"We didn't find much else, just a few bits and bobs like a lighter and a more detailed map of the area. We figure they must've been trailing us since we got onto the highway, probably just picking up where the other unit whose tyres you shot out left off." I nodded again, thinking back to the mystery of the shots fired by the Franklin Walmart.
"Maybe one of the kids tried to take a shot while we were in the parking lot, it's no wonder they missed." I muttered, and Chloe shrugged beside me.
"We thought the same. Either way, we think we're probably safe now. Those kids didn't really seem that interested in following through, we all think they probably ran off instead of heading back to the hospital." She said, and the others mumbled agreement. My brow furrowed. It wasn't that I didn't agree, but I was beginning to think I'd underestimated both the scale of the operation to find us and the tenacity of the man behind it.
"I think you're all probably right, but we still need to get off this highway as soon as possible, just in case."
"Oh agreed, I think we'll all feel far safer once we get out of the open and off the map a little." Aubrey piped up, and I could see she was right. We were elated tonight, triumphant, but nobody had lost their sense of fear. I was glad, in a way. It was safer for us to stay alert for just a bit longer.
"Can I see the new map?" I asked, and Aubrey handed it over to me. I shuffled slightly closer to the small fire, trying to read it in the dim light. It was no good, so I handed it back with a sigh.
"Never mind, we can take another look tomorrow." I said, and Aubrey nodded. Soon we were all ready to move further down the road for the night. Jesse offered to take first watch in the car, but I waved him off, climbing awkwardly into the driver's seat.
"It's not like i need both feet to drive, besides I just slept. Get some rest." He shrugged, and got into the back, taking the pack with him into the back seat so that Chloe could sit up front with me. I shot him a smile in thanks. We liked to double up our watch shifts to spend time together, but there was no way she could squash onto my lap right now.
"Oh man, I should've done this way sooner, this thing is like a mega pillow!" Jesse mumbled, and soon he was snoring into the side of the pack. I laughed quietly, settling down into my seat as Chloe reached out and interlaced our fingers over the gearshift.
"We're almost there." She whispered, and I closed my eyes for a second, picturing once again the ultimate safe haven where Chloe and I could live our lives out as a normal couple. Bringing her coffee in the morning as she moved straight from our bed to a desk, scribbling down last night's dream and a few stray thoughts into a writing journal. Sitting around a small kitchen table, debating what takeout to order. Settling down to watch trashy films on a beat up couch, maybe with a little dog or cat playing at our feet, scratching up my favourite shoes. Sometimes I ached with longing for those little mundanities. They seemed like an eternity away now. I opened my eyes again to see her watching me, sadness in her eyes. We leant in towards each other, afraid to let go. I knew she was thinking the same things, and together we mourned our lost life, although I couldn't help but celebrate what we had managed to cling onto. In-amongst the chaos, we were holding onto each other for dear life, and we wouldn't let go for anything.