Parchman, стр. 26
‘Home sweet home,’ said Keshawn.
‘It was like this before The Cure?’ said Jake.
The others laughed without answering the question.
‘Let’s check in on the local police department then we’ll get your Momand Keshawn’s sister somewheresafe,’ said Denzel.
At the police station the windows of the building were smashed in andflames lit one of the ground floor rooms. They heard voices shouting frominside and ran in to see what was happening. Seven or eight policemenwho were still in uniform were throwing water over a small fire. All turnedin unison raising their guns and prompting the five soldiers to do the same.
One of the cops lowered his gun and looked to the others to lower theirs.‘At last. We thought you weren’t coming. Where’s the rest of your unit?’
‘This is our unit,’ replied Max. ‘I’m Captain Gradel.’
‘Five of you? Just five? Five men?We’ve been doing this for weeks nowand they send five. The man lifted the gun to his head and pulled thetrigger,’ making everyone jump.
‘I’m done,’ said another of the men and walked past Max and out of thefront door. Gunfire rang out and as they ran to the front of the police stationthe man lay dead on the steps to the building. ‘Inside. Inside now,’ saidanother man. ‘Andre,’ he said, holding out a hand to Max, who shook itwondering what kind of warzone he had stepped into.
‘You got to understand manit’s been like this for weeks maybe even months. Most of the others just left but the rest of us stayed behind waitingfor you guys. We were expecting hundreds, not five of you. So whathappens next?’ said Andre.
‘We got to start evacuating,’ said Denzel to Max. ‘It’s worse than wethought. We got to get anyone who wants to leave out of here quickly andquietly before the gangbangers get wind of it.’
‘You’re right,’ said Max. ‘It’s too far gone here. I hate to say it but in somerespects the Captain was right. Some people can’t be saved. All we can dois get as many people as we can somewhere they will be safe. Let’s moveout, slowly, guns ready. Andre, get your men out of here. Time toevacuate. Get your family in the car and just drive.’
Max’s men slowly exited the police station and back into their jeep. ‘Let’sgo find your sister,’ he looked at Keshawn.
Not long later they passed a sign for Fairfield and Keshawn pointed out a house.‘That one there,’ he said. The jeep came to a standstill and graduallythey spread out and walked towards the house. Keshawn knocked quietlyon the door ‘Aaliyah. Aaliyah, it’s me, Keshawn.’
The door sluggishly opened. ‘Keshawn?’ A girl no older than seventeenpoked her face nervously through the gap in the doorway. ‘Keshawn!’ sheexclaimed slamming the door wide open and throwing her arms aroundKeshawn. ‘It’s really you,’ she said looking him up and down.
‘Yes,’ he said withtears in his eyes. ‘We got to get you out of here.’
‘Wait,’ she said. She rushed back inside the house and returned holding ababy. ‘Meet Darius,’ she held the baby out.
Keshawn took a step back, then smiled. He held her and the baby tightembracing them. ‘Let’s go.’
The men surrounding Aaliyah and her baby walked back to the jeep. ‘Thatwas too easy,’ said Max. ‘All these houses have eyes. This ain’t the kindof neighborhood to just let people walk around taking in the scenery.Keshawn,’ he called Keshawn to the front of the jeep. ‘Where is thefather?’
‘Local gangbanger,’ he said. ‘She says he kept her safe.’
‘Safe to say he could be watching us right now?’ said Denzel.
‘No doubt,’ replied Keshawn. ‘Where’s your Mom’s house?’
‘Orangeville,’ Max replied. ‘Eight clicks west but we got to take theHarbor tunnel.’
‘I don’t like the sound of that,’ said Jake.
‘Me either brother but it’s the quickest route,’ said Max.
Entering the tunnel was easy. It was quiet like Fairfield had been. Peoplewere staying indoors for their own safety. They would see the oddhomeless person looking for scraps of food by the harborside but mostlythe thing that shook them the most were the bodies. Bearing in mind TheCure had hit these areas the hardest the wealthier neighborhoodsweren’tsuffering the way they were down here. It seemed that no-one knew howbad it was. And it was really bad.
Halfway through the tunnel they started to come across abandoned carsstrewn across the lanes. Max drove in-between and around them until theycame to three cars in a linebarricading any way through. ‘In and out. Movethe cars. Get on our way. Jake, you stay here with Aaliyah,’ said Max.
The four other men walked away scouring the tunnel on their way towardsthe cars. When they reached them they started to push one of the carsforward.
‘We move these two and we can get through without shifting the other,’said Keshawn. ‘Wait. What was that noise?’
The men waited silently looking around the tunnel. Suddenly there wasscreaming from the jeep. Keshawn started running towards the vehicle tosee why Aaliyah was screaming. Gunfire blazed out around his head andhe ducked down behind a car.
A man emerged from behind the jeep with Jake in front of him and a bladeto his throat. Two more men followed, one holding the baby and anotherwith his hand on the back of Aaliyah’s neck.
‘Keshawn is that you I see out there?’ said the man behind Jake. ‘You gotsome nerve coming back here. Some kind of death wish you got there.’
‘He knows him?’ Denzel looked to Santiago who shrugged.
‘Hey Jamal, fancy meeting you here,’ shouted back Keshawn.
‘Look,’ shouted Max, standing up and holding his hands up in surrender.‘We’re not here to cause trouble,’ he said