Vagabonds

Chapter Twenty-Four: Ruined Seats

Aquila didn't hesitate. Sweeping over, he lifted Moose into his arms, ignoring the groan of pain.

"Damn, this hurts," Moose mumbled. "I sure hope everyone saw how heroic that was because I'm never doing it again, no way."

"We've got to get him home," Aquila said as Daisy hovered near Moose's feet, wringing his hands.

"Can you carry him?" Eliza asked.

"Not with Daisy." Aquila glanced at the other boy, hovering in the mouth of the alley with his shoulders bent in shame. "And not with all these people around. We'd be spotted."

Eliza caught Joe's eye, pursing her lips in question. Joe sighed.

"Alright, let's get to the truck. I've already aided and abetted one fugitive today."

Eliza yanked Joe to his feet and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"You're the best."

"It's not like this night can get any weirder," Joe muttered as the three of them ran through the shadows, sprinting for Old Betty. Aquila hurried after them, Moose in his arms.

Daisy was the first in, crawling to the other side of the back seat and helping pull Moose inside. It wasn't easy. He kept twitching, legs spasming with pain as his brother tugged on his armpits.

"Watch it, watch it, ow, I think my arm's gonna fall off. Don't let Otto get my graphic novels, he doesn't know how to treat them."

"Just get in," Aquila grumbled, gingerly lifting Moose's knees.

Eliza bounced from foot to foot, casting nervous glances at Howl, which was now brightly lit and swarming with people.

"We've got to go," she said as sirens wailed toward them.

Joe was already in the driver's seat, Old Betty rumbling to life. Finally, Moose's long legs folded inside.

But there was a problem.

"I'll ride in the back," Aquila said, huge wings rustling.

"Can't you fly?" Joe called.

"I don't want to leave them." Aquila bent down to peer at Eliza. "I need to make sure everyone gets home safe."

Eliza nodded.

"Be careful," she said.

Aquila was already hopping into the truck bed, pressing himself against the cab. Eliza leapt into the passenger seat, throwing a look back at the bleeding, wincing Moose. Both of them glanced down at the red stain spreading over the hoodie Daisy had ripped off and pressed to the wound.

"Sorry about your car, man," Moose muttered.

"If I get pulled over right now..." Joe muttered.

"Just drive," Eliza said, not willing to think about the myriad of ways this could go wrong.

Joe drove them around the back side of the apartment complex, trundling out of the parking lot just as three police cruisers came screaming into it.

"That was close," he said, back to clutching the truck wheel as they swerved onto the main road.

"I think I'm dying," Moose groaned. "I didn't even get the chance to be famous. The world will be such a dark place without me. What a loss, what a tragedy."

"You're not dying," Eliza said, hoping it was true.

They all bounced as Joe crashed over a speed bump and Moose let out a surprised cough of pain.

"Holy mother of cheese!"

Daisy met Eliza's eyes and she saw in them such a humanity that she longed to reach out to comfort him, despite the blood staining the spines of his now bare shoulders and the mottled, armored skin.

"It's going to be okay," she said before remembering that he couldn't hear her anyways.

"You're awfully optimistic about all this," Joe inserted, swinging them onto the road that would take them to Ian Eckelson's estate.

"Has someone... called... to warn... Dad," Moose said between pants. "He's going to have... a heart attack... if we come in like this. Although I'd love to see... Otto's face."

Eliza pulled out her phone, but of course she only had Aquila's number. Rolling down the window as fast as she could, she leaned out into the night air as it whipped past them recklessly fast.

"Have you called —"

But before she could scream the question at Aquila, she saw a horrifying sight. There, on the crest of an upcoming hill, the unmistakable flash of spotlights cracked the darkness wide open.

"Joe, stop!"

The truck squealed as Joe slammed on the breaks, skidding them into the other lane.

"What?"

"Look."

Eliza pointed. In the distance she could just barely make out a brightly lit barricade right outside the Fitzgerald gates, blocking the road to keep it clear for the official vehicles spilling out of the base.

"Back up, back up," Eliza said breathlessly, tapping Joe's thigh in a staccato beat.

He was way ahead of her. Spinning the truck around with surprising dexterity, Joe veered Old Betty into the other lane and accelerated back towards Scottstown.

The back window slid open and Aquila's head poked in.

"Why did we turn around?"

"The road is blocked," Eliza said, eyes wild. "It looks like the army is responding to what happened at Howl. They must have been alerted by the privates who saw you."

Aquila's face paled. Moose howled in pain, arcing his back.

Daisy looked ready to cry.

Eliza opened her mouth, but she had nothing to offer. Where could they go if not back to the Eckelson estate? They could hardly bring Moose to the hospital. Maybe Aquila could fly them over the barricade one by one, but that would take precious seconds that Moose didn't have, not to mention risk being seen by those spotlights currently slicing open the sky.

What were they going to do?

Joe sighed, drawing every eye in the truck.

"We could go to my parent's lake house." He winced as Eliza rounded on him. "Sorry, I never told you. It's kind of embarrassing. I mean, they bought it for me to, er, host parties and all that. But as you know, that was never really my... thing."

"How far away is it?"

"Ten minutes, if I drive fast."

Behind them, Moose groaned, eyes rolling back. He was going to pass out soon. Eliza glanced at Aquila, who looked ready to pass out himself. Everything had gone so wrong so quickly. It was dizzying, disorienting. Eliza felt like the world was tilting away beneath them.

But they had to do something.

Shifting around in her seat, she glared ahead at the small-town highway disappearing beneath Old Betty's wheels.

"Drive fast," she said.