Regretful Love

Chapter Fourteen

                  

Kell forced his eyes open as the bus slowed down even further, and through the window he could see that they were driving into a small town. There was a water tower, then a gas station, then a scattering of houses. Whatever this place was it wasn't prosperous, but it wasn't a slum town either. It was just normal. The kind of town that would be any place in the world. A town where normal people lived and normal people worked and normal people breathed. Had he been expecting something else? Something more special? Not really, he decided. Ange had never been the kind of person that wanted to move to the big city. This place would suit her right on down to the ground.

He wondered if he'd be able to get off the bus without help, or with only the girl, but resting a little had helped, and he thought maybe he could. The vehicle stopped in what seemed to be the town's main street. There was a drug store and a couple of other stores. A bank, maybe, down at the far end. As they came to a halt, a handful of people started to stand up and grab their bags, but Kell waited until they were completely stopped before he took a deep breath and, holding on tight to the seat in front of him, pulled himself to his feet.

There was a moment of dizziness, but after swallowing down nausea a couple of times, he found that he could stand unaided. He dragged rather than lifted his pack from the overhead shelf. Grasping at seats to support him as he went, he walked down the aisle and managed to get down the steps without falling. Kell was sweating by the time he got onto the pavement and dropped his pack, taking breaths as deep as his broken lungs were able to contain.

Urgently, he scanned his surroundings with a practised eye. There would be a place somewhere, there always was. Then he saw a glimpse of shadow. There. He knew there'd be a place. Dragging his pack onto his shoulder, he slowly and shakily walked towards the drug store, an old-fashioned place that probably still had a soda fountain bar at the back. Glancing around, he saw no one watching, so he veered away from the entrance to the store and headed instead for the shadow he'd seen.

A narrow alley stretched between the drug store and the building next to it, a couple of dumpsters and some flattened cardboard boxes inside. It was damp, dark, and it stank. Exactly the kind of place he'd been looking for. Inserting himself between the two metal dumpsters to hide from casual eyes, Kell squatted down and fumbled inside his pack.

Finally, eyes beginning to cloud, he found the package the doc had given him and pulled it out, almost tearing the cardboard as he ripped it open, grabbed a syringe, uncapped it and took a vial in his other hand.

The first stab was a no go. He tried again. And again. And a fourth time. Finally, he saw blood flowing back into the syringe, and he breathed a huge sigh of relief as he pushed the plunger down as far as it could go, filling himself with the morphine.

Head resting against the wet, cool brick of the alley, Kell waited until his heartbeat slowed down a little, with the cold drug leaking up towards his shoulder, and then flowing around his body, calming him, taking the pain away again.

Ten minutes, maybe fifteen, and he could stand without shaking. It had been close. Another half hour, probably less, and he'd have passed out. Then everything would have been over. He had to be more careful next time. Now, standing, Kell considered his options. He made up his mind and walked out of the alley, turning into the drug store.

He selected a bottle of water from a large cooler before going to the cash desk, knowing that he'd be more likely to get information, and less likely to be looked upon with suspicion if he was buying something. A large woman, her hair teased up into a fake blonde cloud around her head, smacked on gum as she scanned his purchase. He noted the total and pulled a dollar bill out of his envelope, handing it over before he asked.