Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Resistance

59) Walking and Running Again

According to the last sign we pass, before the car sputters and stops, we are two miles from town. I bang the steering wheel as if that will make the car come back to life, but no luck. I look at Torin to ask - what now - when he points at the gas tank.

"Out of petrol, I believe," he says in what feels like am amused tone.

Damn, they can plan an escape, but that crew of misfits doesn't think to check the gas gauge. I say this out loud, but Torin quickly corrects me:

"We did go a few miles out of our way."

Is he blaming me now?

"What now?" I ask.

"I guess we start walking. Look out for another car."

"Well, if we find one, it will probably be empty too."

"No doubt," says Torin who finally agrees with me.

We walk for what seems like an hour, and Torin is right with me until we reach the city limits near Riverside Park.

"Can we stop, take a rest?" he asks.

I notice that his face is red and he looks feverish. After we sit down on a bench, and I get him some water from the water fountain that I am not entirely sure is safe, I check his forehead. He definitely has a fever. He is hugging his hand to his chest still like he does not dare move it an inch.

"You have a fever," I say.

Instead of disagreeing with me, like usual, and acting like things are not so bad, Torin nods. This is how I know, this might be really bad, if we don't get some help.

I help Torin walk a few steps more towards the river and a shelter where I lay him down on a table.

"You rest here, I'm going to go search real quick. Find some meds, get some food and water, maybe find a car."

"She's twelve," he says.

"Whose twelve?"

"My fiancée," he says.

"Fiancée?"

"Yes," he says. "I don't love her. I don't know her. I've only seen her once when we were first engaged. Years ago. I think she was two."

I can tell that Torin is weaker. I shouldn't have pushed him to walk here. I should have let him wait somewhere safe while I walked for help. I say as much and Torin says:

"You can never leave me, my lady. That would be the end of my world."

"I won't leave you," I say. I stroke his hair again until he is asleep.

As soon as Torin is in a deep sleep, and I am sure that he cannot be seen from the road, I leave. I am going to Steven's house. I know there are meds there. With luck I can find a bicycle and make it back in half the time, before he wakes.

I walk up the big hill towards town, and then I start to run. I am not fast, but I am steady.