Vagabonds

Chapter Forty-Six: Brave Enough to Try

It turned out that no hot-wiring was necessary, because the keys were already in the ambulance.

"Why the hell did they just leave them here?" Tori asked, supporting Joe as Eliza leapt into the driver's seat.

"Who cares? Get in!"

"Eliza —"

"What?" Eliza said, nerves too tight to bother moderating her voice into some semblance of patience. "Are you gonna tell me this is a bad idea? Tell me we should go back? Leave everything alone? Let the authorities take care of it?"

Tori pursed her lips, Joe leaning away from her as if he was fighting the urge to be sick.

Finally, she spoke.

"Put on your fucking seatbelt, dumbass."

Eliza clenched her jaw so tight it hurt. But she yanked the seatbelt around her as Tori and Joe tottered to the other side of the strange vehicle.

The inside was like something out of a science fiction movie. There were buttons everywhere, switches lining the panel in front of her, things hanging down from the roof. Even though the little door to the back was closed, Eliza could smell the tang of blood. This one had been used recently, perhaps just swung into the parking lot carrying some unfortunate soul.

Maybe that's why the keys were still in it.

Whatever the reason, Eliza wasn't about to question their stroke of good fortune.

"Ready?" Eliza asked as Tori and Joe squeezed into the passenger seat.

"We're going to be in so much trouble," Tori muttered as Joe jerked his head in some semblance of a nod.

"Here goes nothing." Eliza turned the key. For a heart-stopping moment, she thought the ambulance wasn't going to start, that maybe there was a switch or button she needed to press to turn it on.

And then it roared to life.

"Go, go, go," Tori moaned, twisting to look out the other window as Eliza accelerated out of the parking lot. They swung onto the hospital drive just as the guards spilled out of the emergency room.

And then they were sailing through Scottstown.

"Are we going to Fitzgerald Base?" Joe asked, his forehead pressed into the cluttered dashboard as if he could shield his overstimulated senses.

"We can't go there, not like this," Tori said, glaring at the side-view mirror.

Eliza gritted her teeth even tighter as she swerved to avoid a dog-walker who came out of nowhere. Angry shouts echoed in their wake.

"Someone find the goddamn lights!"

Tori began to fumble with the various switches and dials, leaning over Joe to reach Eliza's side.

"There are so many!"

"Hurry up!"

Suddenly the air was split by the shriek of a siren, too close for comfort. Eliza couldn't tell if their lights were on in the waning afternoon, but the sound was enough to make the Scottstown pedestrians skitter out of their way. Eliza swung through stop signs, ignoring traffic signals, swerving around corners like a maniac.

But she was a maniac with nowhere to go.

"What do we do?" she snapped, her eyes wide, her heart hammering frantically.

Joe only groaned in response, holding his hands over his ears.

"I've got it!" Tori's words cut off in a shriek as Eliza barreled through a busy intersection, leaving the whine of skidding tires behind them. "My brother's apartment!"

"What?"

Tori clutched the dashboard as Eliza took a turn so hard their back wheels spun out for a second.

"I have a key. He has guns. We'll go there and... figure things out."

"Where does he live?"

"Greenwald Street."

They gasped as Eliza took a speed bump hard enough to make them lift off their seats. The metal frame of the ambulance creaked in protest.

"That's in the middle of town!" Eliza snarled.

"Do you have a better idea?"

Suddenly, Joe's voice broke in, quiet but surprising enough to make the two girls shut up.

"Does he have a spare uniform?"

Eliza held her breath, waiting for Tori to respond.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because I can wear it," Joe said, arms wrapped around his middle. "Maybe get us inside."

"Joe, you're in no condition —"

But he straightened, using the dashboard to shove himself upright.

"I want to help. I need to. Or else I'm toast, right?"

Eliza exchanged a frantic look with Tori before taking a hard U-turn around a divider to turn back towards Martin Bent's apartment.

"Fine," she said, electric with adrenaline as they accelerated down the quiet residential road. "Fine, but we have to be fast."

Tori was already shifting through her keychain.

"Got it," she said, holding up the jagged metal.

"Where am I going?" Eliza snapped.

"There. The one with the porch swing."

"Porch swing?"

"What can I say? My brother's a country boy at heart. Pull up on the curb and leave it running."

Eliza would have growled at Tori for giving her orders if she wasn't so tense. For a moment, she considered having someone stay with the car. But who? They needed Joe inside to try on uniforms, Tori had the key.

And Eliza would lose her mind if she didn't know what was happening in there.

"Ok everyone, as quick as possible."

Tori was already out of the ambulance and sprinting up the walkway. Eliza climbed down from the high cab, shaking all over but somehow able to meet Joe on the steps leading up to the two-unit house. As Tori struggled with the lock, Eliza shifted from foot to foot, casting panicked glances up the quiet road, waiting for the police to come screaming in after them. What time was it? Would people be getting home from work? How long until someone called in the three teenagers driving the stolen ambulance?

The questions felt like they were wrapping around her throat and choking off her air supply and everything around them seemed hostile and leering and bracing for attack...

After what felt like an eternity, the door swung open.

"Let's go," Tori said, leading them inside.