Sudden Independents

Chase waited at the back of the pack, a crooked smile underneath his feverish dark eyes. He stood in the center of the bay door with the Escalade idling behind him.

“We’re leaving,” Jimmy told him.

“That’s fine.” Chase shrugged. “I’m just here to say goodbye. I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay.” He stepped to the side, allowing them to pass. The crowd shifted away from him.

Jimmy and Scout carried Hunter outside. “Billy, open up the back,” Jimmy said.

Billy staggered off and swung open the Escalade’s back hatch. Scout placed his end inside and Jimmy guided the table as far as he could, while Scout ran around and folded the backseats down.

“Hunter!” Molly cried from the driver’s seat and rushed out. She leaned over Hunter’s face, her tears falling on him. She raised her head, but Jimmy couldn’t meet her eyes without losing what little control he had left. He heard her hiss. “Bastard!”

Scout grabbed her from running at Chase as Jimmy pushed Hunter’s table the rest of the way inside.

“Molly, let’s go!” Jimmy’s voice was hard, snatching her attention. Scout helped her into the back with Hunter. “Get in, Billy.” The little boy followed Molly.

“I’ll drive,” Scout said, leaving for the driver’s side and climbing in behind the wheel.

Jimmy closed the hatch and found Chase standing next to him. Chase didn’t scare him now with Patrick dead. Jimmy turned for the passenger side of the Escalade so they could leave the creepy kid and his rotten city far behind.

“Happy Birthday, by the way,” Chase said. He patted Jimmy’s bare arm with burning fingers.

Jimmy flung off Chase’s touch and noticed a tingling in his arm, like a million ants were suddenly crawling underneath his skin.

Chase grinned. “I wanted to give you my present a little early. Make sure to tell Catherine I said goodbye. She’ll appreciate all the extra work I’ve sent her way.”

Jimmy gawked at Chase, trying to get a handle on what he was saying even as his vision blurred and his stomach pitched. His arm hung numb and useless at his side.

Chase stepped closer and gazed up at Jimmy. “See? Even though I lose, I win.”

The inside of Jimmy’s body burned as though boiling water replaced his blood and now bubbled through his veins. The world started spinning. Chase walked away, laughing. Jimmy’s legs trembled from the struggle of keeping him upright. He crashed to the dusty ground in a tangled heap of limbs that no longer responded and realized that Chase just made his biggest fear a reality.

He was going to die. Soon.

Jimmy drooped in his seat with his head hanging out the window. Long shadows from the trees lining the street flickered sunlight across his face as the late afternoon prepared to move on. Convulsions rocked through him as he puked again and again. There was nothing left inside and still he wretched violently out the window of the Escalade.

Scout gripped the steering wheel, feeling the small-perforated holes in the leather wrapping. He met Molly’s eyes in the rearview mirror. She openly wept for her boyfriend and probably out of fear for what was happening to Jimmy.

Scout knew the symptoms. He’d seen them enough six years ago. Jimmy contracted the plague that wiped the planet clean. It was alive and well, eating its next victim.

The Escalade sped up, Scout pounding the horn at kids walking in his path. They scurried with shouts and waved fists, but still they scurried, most likely because they’d never seen a vehicle hauling-butt down their crumbling avenues. Scout managed to miss kids and potholes as he drove faster and faster with his foot stomped on the gas.

When he recognized the street their hideout was on, relief washed over him like rain after a long, hot day. He drove over the curb pulling into the back alley, reversed the Escalade into the driveway, and shot out the driver’s side, scrambling up the deck to the backdoor of the house.

He burst inside and yelled, “Catherine!” At the kitchen table, all three girls jumped in their chairs. “We need you,” he told the youngest one.

Scout turned and flew through the garage, detaching the opener and lifting the heavy door with metallic groans. Tear stricken, Molly climbed down from the back of the Escalade. Billy crawled out and stood to the side, looking lost and confused.

“Raven, help Molly with the other end of the table after I slide my end out,” Scout said.

“Where’s Jimmy?” Ginger asked. Fear rose in her voice. She stopped and covered her mouth when she saw Hunter bloodied and bruised like a piece of meat right after the slaughter.

“He’s in the front seat,” Scout said. He called upon yet another boost of energy to carry Hunter into the garage. Leading Molly and Raven, they laid the table down carefully.

Catherine knelt next to Hunter. Sadness filling her face, she touched his hand. “So much pain,” she said softly.