The Things We Bury - Part 2: No Big Apocalypse [Completed]

Chapter 8: Galveston (Parts 5 to 8 of 13)

Therehad been so many days when the two of them had run beside each other on thetreadmills. The only sky had been on theTV. And the hamster-wheel had kept themfrom ever making progress, or even having a goal to reach. Now, to be outsiderunning toward Katie, Amy could hardly believe it. It was surreal.    

Amy felt like screaming, "We're free. Look, we're free." But it just came out as an emotionally charged squeal, which she followed up by calling out, "Katie, I thought I'd never see you again."

Katie made a whoa sign with her hand and backed away two steps. Amy skidded to a halt. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." she said. "You just surprised me."

"What are you doing here?" There was more wonder in her voice than suspicion.

"Looking for you, silly." Katie patted down some of the frizz the sea air was putting into her hair.

They stood awkwardly apart, separated by five feet of empty space. Amy had the sense they should be holding each other in their arms, tears running down their faces. But then Katie always did have emotional boundaries, as Dr. Tan would say.

"I've been so worried about you. Just sick about it," Katie said, keeping her distance. "That's why I came after you."

"I've missed you too. But how did you ever find me? And here of all places?"

"Call it intuition." Katie scrunched up her face in one of her overly cutesy smiles that Amy had always found unsettling phony. It was no doubt intended to put Amy at ease, it had the reverse effect.

There was no way this was luck. They were in some small marina halfway across the country. No one could have just stumbled upon it. The faint scent of her skin carried something too. Amy hadn't noticed it at first. It was like an extra layer of brine hidden below the salt water.

"Oh my God," Katie said. "I almost forgot. I have something for you. I swear I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached."

Her words triggered something primal inside of Amy. When she was a prisoner inside the bunker, Katie was always sneaking things in for her from the outside. Candies, treats, books and baubbles. The words, "I have something for you" had a magical quality coming from her mouth. They erased their surroundings, the dusty parking lot, the boats, the great smothering presence of the sea, even any curiosity she may have had at the unlikely coincidence.

"What? What do you have for me?"

Katie beamed. There wasn't anything phony about the smile. It was made from pure pleasure at looking into Amy's eager, guileless face. She reached into her jean jacket to retrieve the present. Her hand hovered just out off sight as she fought to get the gift out of the pocket it was stashed in. Amy stepped in closer.

A boom ricocheted in her ears, while Katie's face dissolved in a spray of blood. A gout of plasma and rendered flesh erupted from her left eye and splattered all over Amy.

***

Even with no line of sight, Maxwell could tell the shot came from a small caliber pistol. As the echo of the blast faded away, it was replaced by a distant buzzing. A well trained voice in his head screamed, in-coming, and he had his Beretta raised, sweeping the barrel across the sky until he picked out the two Apaches moving in on their position. The gun lowered in his arms, as the strength for holding them up ebbed away. The trusty sidearm was useless against the helicopters. They'd soon be in range, but he might as well throw pebbles at them.

Emily saw them too. She stared up at the sky for a stunned second, then screamed, "Amy!" and launched herself over the boat's gunwale. She was running the moment her feet hit the dock but she only got a few yards before she ran smack into Sector Chief Kendall.