Max didn’t have to take his pulse to find that out. When he got close, he could hear the man’s ragged breathing even over the roaring in his ears.
The man was spread out, stretched out. Lying face-up on his back. His arms were out to his side, spread all the way out.
The man had a short haircut. Reminiscent of the military.
He had a well-developed musculature. Impressive in these lean times when food was scarce.
Max didn’t give his action a second thought. He pressed the muzzle of his gun against the forehead. Squeezed the trigger.
Point blank. Messy. But he didn’t have time to try to play nice and clean.
Another life lost. Another human dead. Out of how many?
Max didn’t know. But he wasn’t going to be another statistic.
Now that he’d somehow defeated the undefeatable crack team, he knew he could get back to the camp alive. He knew he could outpace the other teams that were farther off course, father behind. Maybe they wouldn’t even pursue him.
It was all because of Wilson. Wilson’s sacrifice.
Max glanced down at Wilson’s destroyed body. He owed his life to this man.
But Max didn’t let his gaze linger long. He didn’t let himself get too sentimental. Instead, he started digging through the pockets of every man there. And that included Wilson.
Max took would be useful to him. It didn’t take long.
He’d lost his own gun. His Glock. But he’d gained others.
It wasn’t the actual gun so much that mattered, but what you did with it. And things like knowledge and circumstance. And luck. Luck had a lot to do with it.
Less than ten minutes later, Max was leaving the bodies behind.
He had a pack full of the gear he’d harvested. He had guns and he had ammunition. He had food and he had water.
Most importantly, he knew where he was going.
His neck hurt and his body was tired. His leg hurt, as it almost always did.
Max set off at a good pace, not wanting to waste any time.
He didn’t glance back. Not once. He didn’t need to the see the bodies again. They were just dead people. Nothing useful left there.
Someone would find them at some point. Maybe other members of the cult-like militia camp that Grant had run.
Max would make it back to his own camp, an entirely different sort of camp.
He’d travel mostly at night. He’d take his time, doing everything safely. He’d make sure he got back. He’d make sure that he was there for Mandy when their kid was born.
Max was tired. Exhausted. But it didn’t matter. He’d been through this sort of thing before. He knew that his body wouldn’t give out on him for several hours more. He knew that although he’d already pushed himself, he could keep pushing himself.
Max understood the limits of his body. He understood what it could take.
He knew he’d live.
It was a little strange, heading back from the camp.
He’d left his own wife to try to make a difference. He’d thought, on setting out, that he was too hardened and jaded to be caught in the idealism trap.
But he’d been caught in it nonetheless. He’d thought that he could make a difference. He’d thought that he could change the world.
When, in reality, all he could do was keep himself, his family, and his friends alive. Anything more than that was a pipe dream. And he needed to realize that if he wanted to stay alive.
This tangent with Grant had been nothing more than a dangerous delusion.
But had it been a waste of time?
Max didn’t think so.
After all, the demagogue was dead. The man that Max had heard so much about had turned out to be worse than a fraud. And Grant had paid the price.
Who knew what would happen to their organization now?
Max didn’t really care. As long as it didn’t threaten his own camp.
And he didn’t think it would.
23
The howling of pain was clearly audible. Terry was dying. Probably very soon. A bullet to the gut would do that to a man.
Lilly stepped back into the doorway. She was almost gone, when Sadie spoke, trying to stop her.
“Where are you going, Lilly?”
“I’m going to see my dad. I don’t care if he doesn’t want me around. I want to be there…. he might…”
“…die?” Sadie finished the sentence for her.
“Yeah.”
Sadie didn’t want to still be tied up when Terry died. It might, for all she knew, be disastrous. She needed to do all she could to get out of there.
“Lilly,” said Sadie. “Untie me before you go.”
Lilly said nothing. But she also didn’t leave.
“Come on, Lilly. This isn’t fair. What if it was you? Would you like to be tied up like this?”
“No,” said Lilly, still not sounding convinced.
“Then come on. Enough is enough. Get me out of here.
“OK, fine,” said Lilly, finally giving in. She sounded frustrated. “But how do I do it? The knots are too tight.”
“Don’t you have a knife in the kitchen?”
“Yeah.”
“Go get it. Hurry. Then you can go see your dad, OK?”
“OK.”
In a flash, she was gone.
Sadie waited, listening to the footsteps, hoping that Lilly would return.
Finally, she was back.
“Got it,” she said.
“Now be careful,” said Sadie. “Make sure you’re pulling the knife away from me, towards yourself. OK?”
Sadie found it a little strange that she was more component about all these sorts of everyday things, like using knives. But she didn’t have much time to reflect on it, because a second later, she felt pain where before she’d felt nothing.
“Oops, sorry,” muttered Lilly. “I think it’s bad. You’re bleeding a lot. Should I…”
There was another howl of pain from Lilly’s father, Terry. It sounded bad.
“Just cut the ropes,” said Sadie. “Don’t worry about the cut. It’s fine.”
Lilly kept going, cutting Sadie one more time.
When the ropes were all off, Sadie still couldn’t move. Aside from the pain she felt from the kitchen knife cuts, she couldn’t feel her limbs at all.
Nor could she move them.
It wasn’t just pins and needles, something she was very familiar with. But it was something like that.
Would it go away?
Probably.
Sadie couldn’t see how she would lose the ability to move permanently. She’d never heard of anything like that before in her life.
Then again, she was just a kid. She hadn’t had a very long life to hear about such things.
“Lilly…” Sadie started to say, but Lilly was already gone.
There was another shout of pain from outside where Terry lay. Presumably he was now surrounded by his wife and his daughter.
“Get away!” Sadie heard after a few moments. “Get her out of here!” It was Terry’s voice, screaming, distorted by the intense pain he was going through. He really bellowed it, the volume extremely loud. It seemed as if Sadie could hear the death coming, just from his voice.
Sadie vaguely remembered hearing that the way he was dying was one of the most painful ways to die.
Despite her situation, Sadie cringed. She doubted Lilly would like to hear that. It was a horrible thing to hear from her father.
Why didn’t he want her there?
Ever so slowly, Sadie was starting to regain feeling.
It didn’t feel good, though.
It felt very bad. Very strange.
It was like the worst case of pins and needles she’d ever had. It felt like a burning sensation had run through her entire body.
It was actually painful. Almost like an itch in a way.
It was a very strange sensation.
There was another yell outside. Another scream of pain. Terry’s. Who else’s?