The Master's Tale - Abandon All Hope, Book 1, Part 6

Chapter 10 - I'll Stand By You

10

February 13th, 2010, 10:02 A.M.

Dean and Mandy were leading the rest of us through the dark city streets with Griffin holding up the back and silently scanning the area behind us with his gun at the ready. Sam and I were walking quietly beside each other in the middle as I adjusted my grip on the little boy in my arms, already feeling my energy start to fade and the sinking pit in my chest weighing me down.

Sam glanced back at me with worried eyes, speaking up in a low tone, "Do you need a break? Or, I can take him?"

I glanced back at Sam, slowing down to a stop and causing the rest of the group to stop with us when I looked back at the little boy in my arms, "Hey, bud. Do you mind if Sam here carries you for a minute? You're kinda heavier than you look?"

The boy smiled halfway, nervously looking back at Sam when I shook my head, "It's okay, he's a doctor. He's not gonna hurt you, you can trust him too. You can trust all of us."

Sam looked down at me with a heartfelt look in his eyes, smiling softly back at the little boy and nodding, "That's right. We've got you, it's gonna be okay."

The boy slowly let go of my shoulder, looking back at Sam when I smiled, turning towards Sam and handing him over, the little boy clinging loosely to his flannel and resting his head against his shoulder and closing his eyes.

I watched the little boy as my chest began to ache, swallowing the lump in my throat when I caught a glimpse of Sam's face, Sam smiling halfway and nodding, "It's okay. He could still be here?"

I nodded, sniffling and putting a cap on my emotions as I forced myself to refocus, "We just need to get to that clinic. Let's go."

The boy started to shiver in Sam's arms when Mandy stopped, slipping off her leather jacket and offering it to the little boy, "It is pretty chilly here, isn't it? Here, this'll warm you up, kid."

The little boy looked back at her when Mandy smiled halfway, "Plus, it'll make you feel brave too? It helps me feel brave?"

She gently placed it around his shoulders as Dean watched from afar, the slightest smile on his hardened expression as he did his best to be strong for the entire group, still not knowing in the slightest what we had all just walked into or if we were ever going to walk back out.

Just ahead, the door to a corner convenience store opened and two men came stumbling out when we all immediately trained our weapons on them.

The first man was a tall, thin light-skinned man who threw his hands up in front of him with a terrified expression, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot, we're not like them-"

"Let me see your hands! Both of you!" barked Dean.

The other man was a shorter, younger looking kid with blonde hair standing just behind him and slowly raising his hands, "Who are you people? Are you here to help?"

Griffin slowly came from the back as he closed the distance between them, still keeping his pistol trained on them, "That depends? Either of you been bit or bled on by one of those things?"

The first man shook his head vigorously, keeping his hands up in surrender, "No- no, nothing like that. I swear, we're clean."

We all closed the distance through the street as Griffin checked them over for any wounds and cleared them when I looked back at them, "Either of you want to tell us what the hell happened here?"