Chapter 7: Boom

Shunichi-

Ash had gone back to sleep and slept in peace for more than an hour before Shunichi watched Ash for a time and felt immense relief that Ash appeared to be finished with nightmares. The poor boy deserved at least a good night's sleep once in a while. He deserved a lot more from life, but a peaceful night was the very least he deserved. He would wake Eiji to take the next watch, Shunichi decided. Shorter's concussion was nearly healed, but a little extra sleep would do him no harm, and Max had been driving for far too long. He and Eiji were the clear choices to keep guard at night and he was certain Eiji, who had a heart as big as the sun, would agree. They could always sleep while the others were driving, after all.

Shunichi's calm lasted only a short time before he, purely by chanced, looked to the left and noticed the river. There was nothing alarming, at first glance, but it moved faster than it had earlier. He was certain. The river was lit by be the moon so that each and every little ripple glittered like silver. He realized that the water was rising right before his eyes. It was no slow thing – he could actually see the water rising, inch-by-inch, as the seconds ticked by. He stood and felt his stomach tighten.

Was it too much to ask for just one quiet night?

"Max," Shunichi went straight to Max and gave him a shake on the arm. "Get up; we have to leave! Max- !"

Then, Max was awake. His eyes sprung open and his hands were instantly on Shunichi's throat. Max rolled and suddenly Shunichi found himself on the ground with Max crouched over him. Max snarled,

"I'll kill you! Thought you'd sneak up on me?" His hands tightened and Shunichi couldn't breathe. "Where are my men? What have you done to my men?!"

Max was no weakling, but Shunichi managed to pry his hands away just enough to shout, "Shorter! Help!"

Shorter slept almost as lightly as Ash and was at once awake and rushed to help. He yelled, "Eiji!"

Together, Shorter and Eiji each took Max by an arm and pulled. They were both very strong, but Max was built like an ox. They pulled and strained, but it wasn't until until Eiji grabbed Max by the ear and gave a mighty twist that Max released Shunichi. Shunichi could actually see the moment when awareness flashed into Max's eyes as he woke. He was horrified. Max launched himself backwards, taking both Shorter and Eiji with him, to get himself away from Shunichi.

For a moment, all that could be heard was the heavy sound of Max panting for breath. He was pale. He shook. His eyes were so wide that Shunichi could see the whites all around the iris. Max stared at Shunichi and the look in his eyes was horrible. Fear, saddness, self-loathing - it was all there to be seen as plain as day. His mouth opened and closed a few times, as if he wanted to speak, but just couldn't find his words. He looked at Shorter, then at Eiji, but turned back to Shunichi and he had such a look of regret that it nearly broke Shunichi's heart.

Eiji scrambled away from Max to get to Shunichi's side. "Are you alright? What happened?" Eiji put a hand on Shunichi's arm and put a hand up to touch his throat. "You'll have bruises."

Shunichi patted Eiji's arm. "Don't be angry." It hurt to speak and he sounded dreadful, but Eiji's eyes were narrowed and very unhappy. "He didn't... wasn't on purpose." Shunichi shouldn't have done it. He shouldn't have touched Max while he was sleeping. There was always the danger of Max's PTSD flaring up and Shunichi knew it. He should have been more careful and not been in such a hurry.

"Not on purpose?" Eiji frowned. "But..."

"It's not his fault." Shunichi patted Eiji on the arm, but spoke firmly. There wasn't time to explain and even if there were, he wouldn't have. It was Max's business and it was a private struggle. That Max had confided in Shunichi was an honor and Shunichi wouldn't speak to Eiji without permission from Max. "We need to leave. Look at the river!" He jabbed his finger at the rising river which caused everyone to turn and look at it.

Shorter said something rude.

"Flash flood?!" Max was himself, again, in an instant. He pulled the truck keys from his pocket and threw them to Shorter. "You drive." Then he turned and went to Ash, who was already struggling to get to his feet. He took Ash by the shoulders and pull him upright. "Can you walk?"

"Sure. Yeah." Ash took only two steps before his knees buckled. He would have fallen if Eiji hadn't caught him on one side and Max caught him on the other.

"Get him in the truck, Eiji." Max fell on his knees at the campfire and used his bare hands to shovel dirt onto the fire to extinguish it. As soon as the water had risen so alarmingly high that it touched Max's shoes, he took handfuls of water and dumped them onto the remains of the fire, making it hiss and spit until it died. When nothing was left by wet coals, Max jumped to his feet, splashing in the water as he did, and ran for the truck. "Shorter! Drive!" They hadn't even made it out of the clearing before Shunichi looked back and saw that their entire campsite was flooded.

They got back onto the main road and just started driving. After five minutes or so, Shorter pulled over and everyone met at the back of the truck to confer about their next move. There wasn't much to talk about, as far as Shunichi was concerned. He'd already decided what they would do, all he had to do was convince Max.

"We need to stay for a night at a motel."

At Shunichi's declaration, Max groaned and rubbed the top of his head with one hand as he so often did when he was frustrated. "Shunichi, you're killing me. We should keep driving as far as we can. I've had enough rest; I can drive the rest of the night and then Shorter can take over, again."

"No. We're stopping at the next motel we find." He would not let Max persuade him away from the decision.

The two men stood a bit apart from the teenagers, all of them sitting on the tail gate of the truck. Ash leaned heavily on Eiji. "Don't I get a say in this?" Ash muttered. "It's my mission. You guys are just along for the ride. You should all listen to me."

If Ash hadn't been so sick, Shunichi would have smiled. Ash probably had no idea how adorably childish he sounded. Shunichi turned back to Max. "And we need some medicine for Ash. I can't believe your bug-out bag doesn't have any fever-reducer. New clothes would be good, too."

Max shook his head. "We don't want to be weighed down with unnecessary things."

Shunichi felt his eye twitch. He planted his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes at Max. "My friend," he nearly hissed the words. "Clean clothes are NOT 'unnecessary things'!" He pointed sharply at Ash, Shorter, and Eiji. "Those children stink!"

Eiji covered his face with his hands and groaned with embarrassment. Shorter looked a bit offended, but brought a hand up to sniff himself and didn't seem impressed with what he smelled. Ash crossed his arms, belligerently. Not one of them argued.

"All teenagers stink," Max said, unapologetically.

"Not if they have clean clothes and a shower once in a while. So, we are stopping at the next town and we're going to find a change of clothes for them. We're going to get their dirty things washed, and we're going to get a motel room so they can wash themselves."

Max shook his head, but smiled. "Alright. Fine. Probably wouldn't hurt. I don't know what kind of motel we can afford…"

"We ARE getting a motel room! Everyone can sleep on the floor on blankets so we'll just get a small room with a single bed. It will be very cheap." Shunichi gave Max a pointed look. "If you argue anymore, you'll sleep in the truck."

So at the next little town they came to, they went straight to the town's only motel. Max took forty bucks from Shunichi and got them checked in for the night, though they got some funny looks from the clerk.

"It's weird," Ash told Shunichi, sluggishly. "Think about it - two adults renting a one bed motel room with three teenagers? Damn. We'll be lucky if they don't call the cops."

The motel room was awful. The room smelled clean, but the carpet was about fifty years old and the wallpaper had gone out of fashion in the seventies. They brought in blankets from the truck and spread them all over the floor to sleep on because Shunichi didn't trust the cleanliness of the carpet anymore than he did the pillow on the bed and he wouldn't let anyone use that either.

Everyone washed. They kept the showers quick so everyone got some hot water. Max and Shunichi let Ash, as the youngest and the one who was sick, go first, then Eiji and Shorter. Max went after that because he'd done the majority of the driving and, finally, Shunichi. He'd just finished when he realized that Shorter's head wound needed to be checked and hurried out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist so he could remind Max.

He needn't have worried. Max had Shorter sitting in a chair in the middle of the room and was already examining the stitches. "How do they look?" Shunichi asked.

Max gave him a satisfied smile. "Great. This kid's as strong as a horse! Healed up in no time, not a sign of infection, and I don't even think he's going to have a scar." He gave Shorter's arm a pat. "Let's get those stitches out." He took his tiny first aid kit out of his bug-out bag and started getting his things ready. "Shunichi, look... back at the river... I didn't mean it. I'm sorry." His voice was strong and steady as he said it. Only his hunched shoulders and the fact that he didn't look at Shunichi showed that he was extremely uncomfortable. "I'd never want to hurt you."

"I know. Please, don't worry about it. Just think about Shorter's head."

"Yeah," Shorter added in. "I go home with a scar and my big sis is going have a fit, so be careful."

Lottie-

Once again, God smiled down on her. She'd found Shunichi, again. She'd watched from the window of the room she'd rented as the ugly truck pulled into the cheap motel's parking lot and the five of them got out. Her eyes instantly went to Shunichi. Poor thing looked exhausted. Max must have been treating him horribly. She watched as Max ran to the motel's office, then ran back to the truck. All five of them trooped into a room at the far end of the motel, about as far from Lottie's room as they could be. She forced herself to wait. For almost a half-an-hour, she sat in her room by the window, waiting to see if any of them would go back out to their truck. When there was nothing, she stood up and, as calmly as she could, left her room and walked down the side of the motel to Shunichi's room.

The motel was a single-story building and was little more than a very long rectangle with a dozen rooms all side-by-side. There was a narrow sidewalk down the front of the building and a small parking lot for the patrons. It was an ugly building, nothing but the bare essentials.

She stopped outside the room Shunichi had gone into and smiled when she saw that while the curtains covering the room's only window, right next to the door, had been closed, they hadn't been entirely closed. There was a tiny sliver of space, no more than an inch wide, that let her peek into the room. Her breath caught in her throat.

Shunichi... wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. His hair was wet. He'd clearly just stepped out of the shower and the sight of him made Lottie forget to breathe. He was lovely; simply perfect. He wasn't particularly muscular, but she found that his body suited her just fine.

Slowly, Lottie lifted a hand and pressed her fingertips against the glass. She could almost imagine she was touching Shunichi. He'd be warm, she knew. Warm and soft.

They were all in the room. The blonde boy was laying on the floor, wrapped in blankets, while the Asian boy sat on the floor next to him and petted his hair with tender strokes. And Max... Max hovered over the purple-haired boy, poking and prodding his head. He spoke to Shunichi, but Lottie couldn't hear what was said. Soon, Shunichi went back into the bathroom and returned fully dressed. Lottie was very disappointed.

She pulled her hand away from the glass of the window, suddenly aware of how it might look if someone were to spot her peering into a motel window. It was nothing like THAT! She wasn't that kind of person. She'd just wanted to see Shunichi, just to see how he was doing. At that moment, though, she'd have given her left arm to catch a glimpse of his bare chest, again. She stepped away from the window, then turned and quickly walked back to her room, thinking.

Shunichi was so close. She didn't think she could bear to let him get away, again. It occurred to her that she didn't have to go to California to use Max's family to get Shunichi, anymore. She was convinced that the only reason Shunichi hadn't gone with her before was because Max had threatened Shunichi and his son. Max couldn't possibly expect that she would stumbled across them, so she'd have the element of surprise on her side and she'd be able to get rid of the threat.

An electric thrill ran down her spine.

If she acted quickly and decisively, she could have Shunichi. She could have him before dawn.

Her hands shook with exhilaration.

She felt desperate to have Shunichi, to finally have him and not be chasing him all over the countryside. Desperate to have him smile at her. Desperate to touch his skin. She felt incredibly, violently desperate.

Shunichi-

After Shunichi had finished dressing, he came out of the bathroom to find that all of Shorter's stitches had been taken out and Ash was nearly sleep.

"We're running low on money, aren't we?" Shorter said, getting to his feet. "If we're going to be getting clothes and food and gas for the truck and medicine for Little Mister Sicky, we'll need more cash. I'll go get us some. Be back in a couple of hours." He pulled on his heavy vest and headed for the door.

"How?" Shunichi asked, suspiciously, before Shorter could leave.

"Don't worry. I'll get it."

Shunichi's eyes narrowed. "You're not stealing."

Shorter rolled his eyes. "No, I'm not stealing anything. Don't worry so much."

Shunichi crossed his arms. "You're not prostituting."

That made Shorter swear. "No! I am not prostituting for God's sake!" He gave Ash a quick, apologetic look. "No offense."

"None taken." Ash waved away the concern.

Shorter threw an arm over Shunichi's shoulders. "Look, there's got to be a bar in town and I'll bet they've got a pool table or some morons looking to arm wrestle. I'll get some money and be back before you even know I'm gone. You won't have time to miss me." With his hands stuck in his pockets as he whistled as if he were the most care-free person in the world, he walked off into the night.

Next, Shunichi and Eiji got ready to go out. "We should get some food for the trip. There was a grocery store not too far off and it looked like it was open, even so late at night. We can walk there and be back in an hour or so. The street lights in this town look decent so it should be safe."

Eiji cheerfully nodded his agreement. "That way we won't waste gas for the truck. We'll get good things, too. Shorter wants apples." Then he looked at the floor behind Max where Ash rested. He was asleep, again, and it worried them all that he didn't even wake when there was noise.

"Are you sure you don't want to go?" Shunichi asked Max.

"No." Max gave Ash a sad smile. "How could I leave him when he's this sick? It's my responsibility to look out for him, since Griff can't." As always, mention of Ash's older brother, Griffin, brought that awful haunted look into Max's eyes. "I can't let Ash down, not when he's so helpless. He needs to be protected, now. Don't forget to bring back some medicine for the kid."

Shunichi and Eiji left with a promise not to forget Ash's medicine.

Lottie-

She watched from the window of her motel room as Shunichi and Eiji left. With the taller boy, Shorter, having gone earlier, that left only Max and the blonde boy, Ash, in the motel room. It wasn't ideal; there was no reason to involve Ash, but it was the best opportunity she'd found to get Max out of the way.

Lottie didn't smile.

Her face was as still as stone.

Slowly, she turned away from the window and walked out of the room. As she did, she pulled a cigarette from her purse and lit it with her lighter. She didn't taste it at all when she put the cigarette between her lips. Lottie didn't look at the door of the room where she knew Max and Ash were, but walked down the length of the motel, then around the back. There was a dumpster and rocks and tall, overgrown grass. There were no windows in the back of the motel and large brush had grown up here and there. It was very well concealed.

For what seemed like a very long long time, Lottie hemmed-and-hawed. She paced around, thinking and wondering. It was a crime, what she was going to do. She'd never broken the law before. She'd never even had a speeding ticket and what she planned to do would end up with people dead. Murder. But... to have Shunichi...

Mind made up, Lottie picked a spot exactly being the room Max was in. There was a lot of tall grass in that spot; the motel owner clearly didn't care what the back of his business looked like. There was a propane tank, probably fuel for heating the motel. She stared at it for a long moment then bent down and gathered up a handful of grass and lit it on fire. She put the grass, as it crackled and smoked, right next to the motel wall and stood up. The wooden siding caught fire slowly.

Lottie backed away. She watched the fire for a time, watched it as it both went up the wall and crawled across the grass and approached the propane tank, then turned and walked away. She got into her car and pulled out of the parking lot. She drove a very short distance down the street where she pull over on the side of the road and waited.

There was a chance Max might escape the fire, but she dearly hoped not.

A few minutes earlier-

Shunichi-

They'd only gone a short distance before Shunichi stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's wrong, Ibe-san?" Eiji asked.

The motel wasn't in sight any longer, but Shunichi couldn't help the nagging worry in his gut. "Max has been working non-stop since we left New York. He's done nearly all the driving and hasn't had much of a break. If he goes shopping with you, he can relax for a few minutes by doing something that isn't at all stressful. You and he can take the truck and take your time. I'll stay with Ash."

Eiji crossed his arms in a sulky, belligerent manner. "You're not mad at Max? He might have killed you at the river."

Shunichi laughed. "Ei-chan, if you really believed he was planning to kill someone, you wouldn't have left Ash with him, now would you?"

Eiji shrugged.

"Don't give me that; you wouldn't have and you know it." Shunichi tried to think of how to explain. "Look, I won't lie and tell you that Max isn't dangerous. He IS dangerous. He is very big and very strong and he has had a lot of military training designed to make him even more dangerous. But we both know he has a good heart and he wouldn't deliberately hurt any of us." Then he hesitated. "It's not my place to tell anyone about Max's problems." Shunichi turned and started back for the motel at a quick pace. "Max has some issues and I know about them. He told me once not to wake him by touching him or shaking him. I forgot because it was late and I was tired and I was worried and the river was rising so quickly. I forgot and I shook his arm." Shunichi stopped walking and faced Eiji. "Do you understand? What happened wasn't Max's fault and I completely forgive him for what happened."

Eiji didn't look any happier, but his face was thoughtful as he mulled over what Shunichi had said. Then, his eyes went very wide. "It was a flashback. Max has flashbacks. Poor Max! I didn't know! And I was so angry at him. He must think I'm horrible!"

Shunichi sighed. Of course Eiji had figured out; he was a smart kid. Shunichi put a comforting arm over Eiji's shoulders. They started walking together. "You don't have to feel bad about that. Max doesn't talk about it. And he doesn't think you're horrible; if anything, he thinks HE'S horrible for not being able to control it. Now, let's not make a fuss and embarrass him. You go to the store with him and be nice and lighten his mood. Help him pick out some good things to help Ash feel better."

They arrived at the motel and after some arguing to convince Max that he needed a little break from responsibility and that Shunichi was perfectly capable of watching Ash sleep for an hour or so, Max and Eiji left. They took the truck so they would be able to get more supplies and fill up the tank.

When they'd gone, Shunichi looked over at Ash. He was was asleep on his side, curled up with his knees drawn up to his chest. The blanket they'd covered him with had shifted and Shunichi took a moment to adjust it to make sure Ash was covered right up to his chin.

Ash didn't so much as twitch.

There wasn't much to be done. Shunichi sat in a chair at the tiny table in the room and waited. He worried more for Shorter than for Max and Eiji. He knew where Max and Eiji were, but Shorter hadn't been very clear about where he'd been going or what, exactly, he was planning to do to get the money he said he'd get. If something happened to Shorter... how would they find him? What if he didn't return when they were ready to leave?

It had only been about twenty minutes after Max and Eiji had driven away that Shunichi went to check on Ash, again. He put his hand lightly on Ash's forehead and frowned. Ash was much warmer than he had been only minutes ago. His fever was worryingly high. Shunichi put his hand on Ash's cheek.

"Ash? Can you hear me?"

Ash didn't move.

"Ash? Come on. Wake up for just a minute. Open your eyes."

Still, nothing.

Shunichi sat back on his heels. In any other circumstance, he would have immediately taken Ash to a doctor. But he didn't have the truck and he wasn't sure when Max would return. He could call for an ambulance, but... Max said they would need fake names if they went to a hospital to keep Golzine from finding them which meant that even hospitals were dangerous and the people working there couldn't be trusted. While Golzine couldn't have people everywhere, Ash was still being looked for as a missing child. If some honest doctor or nurse had seen the news story with Ash's photograph and reported them, then they'd be in a world of trouble. Shunichi rubbed a hand over his face. He struggled not to panic. What was more dangerous - the hospital or the fever?

"You need medicine," Shunichi said to Ash, though he suspected Ash couldn't hear him. "We can't wait until Max gets back; you need medicine now." He looked up and looked out of the window. There, directly across the street, was a small corner store. It was the type of place that sold necessities - bread, milk, newspapers, and a small selection of medication - and was open twenty-four hours.

Shunichi jumped to his feet and dug into his pockets. He had six dollars and some change. It was plenty. It had to be plenty.

"Ash, I'll be right back. It will only be a few minutes, I promise." He locked the door behind him when he left the motel and ran across the street to the little store. He had a choice of many medicines and, just as with the medicine he'd bought for Shorter at the pharmacy they'd stopped at, he had to struggle to find the right thing. He finally settled on a liquid fever-reducer as he was fairly certain Ash was in no state to swallow pills. He paid with all his money and had only thirty-five cents left in his pocket when he left the store. With the medicine in hand, Shunichi started back across the street.

Boom.

Force.

Heat.

Shunichi had been taken right off his feet. He was laying on his back on the sidewalk. He realized, staring up at the sky, that the motel had exploded.

He got to his feet, slowly. His ears were ringing. The motel was on fire. Half the roof was gone.

Ash was still inside.

To be continued...