Dead End

An Unexpected Encounter

8:00 a.m.

       George treks down the white hospital halls wearily. The sun has just risen and having informed his dad and step mom that he couldn't leave Apollo, they went to the Grand Canyons without him, promising to take plenty of pictures for him. George didn't want to go to his mom and step dad's house so he slowly makes his way to Apollo's room to check up on him.

       White, shining tile passes beneath his feet, with white shoes of nurses passing on either side of him, some tennis shoes, black high heals, dark vans. Wait a second. George looks back over his shoulder and stops dead in his tracks. It's Jayden's friends. Ben, Cleon and, what George and Apollo always called, Hulk man, because of his massive, muscular physique. What are they doing here? George sprints to Apollo's room. He slams open the door.

       Apollo is covered in blood and his sheets are drenched red and George races to his side.

      "NURSE!" George screams over his shoulder. His face is completely indiscernible because of the blood and bandages. "Please please please..." George says and reaches to Apollo's arm but pulls back and instead covers his face with his hands, but then remembers Hulk man and spins out of his chair and sprints out. He swoops down the hallway back toward where he had seen Jayden's friends go. He flies down several halls and bursts out of the hospital entrance and sees a raised truck screech out of the parking lot. George knows it's them and races to his car, tumbles inside, turns the key and hits the gas. He races out of the parking lot down the road and turns off the lights so that he is riding in complete darkness. There! George sees the raised truck a few yards ahead of him and follows with at least a ten car length distance between them. As far as George can tell, they haven't seen him.

       George follows them for thirty minutes. The sun has continued to rise, the clouds becoming a beautiful orange and yellow color. The roads have gotten more and more worn until now there are more pots in the road than road. Abandoned houses and warehouses pass by on either side and the raised truck makes a wide turn into an alley way in-between two abandoned warehouses. George parks his car by the curb outside of the closest warehouse and gets quietly out of the car. He can hear them getting out of the car as he tiptoes to the corner. He presses his back against the cold, metal wall and listens;

       Glass crunches beneath feet and he can hear Hulk man, Ben and Cleon arguing in harsh tones.

       Ben yells, "They're going to find out! Maybe there were cameras in the room!"

       "For the millionth time," says Hulk man, "there were no cameras!"

       Cleon chimes in, "They could get your DNA from off the –" Cleon's sentence is cut short with a thump and cry of pain that is followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground and a crunch of glass. Silence ensues.

       Then Hulk man snarls, "If I hear you say anything else about how we could be caught," a knife is pulled out of a leather sheath, "you'll end up dead like Apollo." Complete silence except for the sound of cars on the freeway a little ways away. George feels dizzy. Then head lights turn into the alley from the opposite side of the warehouses. The car parks and stops and the head lights go out. A car door opens and the crunch of glass beneath shoes. This new person walks quietly, with longer strides.

       George knows it's Jayden before he even speaks. George has an idea and pulls out his phone. He goes to his voice recorder app and pushes start. "Hey, you called me. What's up?"

       Hulk man answers. "You told us that Apollo is still alive a few hours ago, so we went and payed him a visit."

       A pause. "Yes?"