Scout rubbed his hand up and over his head to the back of his neck, his eyes loaded with sorrow and uncertainty. “Get him to Catherine and hope the move doesn’t kill him.”
“We need to get him to her now.”
Scout nodded. “Give me a second to figure out how to move him.”
Billy scooted closer and touched Hunter’s hand. Jimmy somehow managed a smile.
Hunter stirred and a bloodshot eye popped open. The other one looked like an eggplant growing out of Hunter’s face. “Jimmy?”
“I’m here. We’re taking you to Catherine.”
“Billy?”
“He’s right here also.”
Hunter’s good eye searched for Billy and then tracked back to Jimmy. Jimmy had never seen intensity like that blazing in his brother’s eye. “Take him.”
Jimmy held his brother’s hand. “He’s coming with us.” Hunter sighed and closed his eye.
“Billy, move over to the other side,” Scout said. He laid a table with its legs folded up next to Hunter. “Okay, roll him towards you, Jimmy.”
Hunter cried out in pain when Jimmy lifted his brother’s right side with Billy’s help. Scout pushed the table under Hunter’s body through the blood. They slid him to the center of the table like a fragile piece of stained glass.
Hunter coughed up more blood onto his chin. Billy bent forward and wiped it away with the hem of his shirt. Jimmy and Scout picked up different ends of the table. As Scout walked backwards and led them out, Jimmy studied his brother’s broken face, praying they’d make it to Catherine in time. Billy stayed at Hunter’s side, touching his hand.
The silent crowd watched the litter approach with solemn expressions on their faces. They parted without any type of malice. All but one.
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.
Hunter opened his one bloody eye. “You should see the other guy.” His body shook at his joke until the lines on his face drew into a tight grimace of suffering. A line of blood split his lips and trickled over his chin as he choked and gasped.
“Somebody help me!” Ginger cried.
Catherine gazed at Scout and he shook his head with despair. “Jimmy’s got the plague,” Scout said, rising to go help Ginger.
Jimmy’s bottom-half still sat in the Escalade, but his top-half draped heavily over Ginger. Scout grabbed Jimmy’s waist and ducked underneath his other arm. Together, he and Ginger carried Jimmy with his feet dragging across the pavement into the garage. They laid him next to his brother.
Scout stripped off his black sweatshirt and placed the padding underneath Jimmy’s head. “Raven, go find some blankets and pillows. Billy?” Scout found the boy all alone on the driveway like the new kid at school. “Go help her, okay?”
Billy nodded and hustled over toward Raven. He stopped, his eyes widening with recognition.
“Yes, it’s me, Billy. Let’s go.” Raven said. She held the door and pointed inside. Billy slipped past her quickly.