Under

Chapter 8

When we had gotten in to some uncharted area on Jared's map, we stopped running to catch our breath. After about ten minutes of walking, we finally came to a large white building, emblazioned with a large red cross. In the cross, written in white letters, read the words, "TCP Pharmacy".

I pointed this out to Jared, and we ran up to the door. It was unlocked, which probably meant that someone had already been here. It couldn't hurt to check.

It had been picked clean. Old, plastic crates were strewn about on the floor, and empty pill containers with their lids off lined the shelves. A grocery cart was on its side on the black and white tiled floor.

I was about to leave, when Jared pointed to a clear pill container on one of the shelves. It appeared to be full. "Think we should take it?" he asked.

"Not worth it. It could be a trap. Leave it," I responded curtly, already walking back out the door.

He shrugged, but followed me.

When we got outside, I started jogging again, and he followed suit. Before we went long, however, we came to another store, this one simply labeled "Pharmacy". We walked inside, and saw that we we had hit the jackpot. The immediate shelves were mostly empty, but behind the pharmacy counter, it had not been touched.

We hopped over the counter, opened our backpacks, and started stuffing pill bottles in to them.

"Try not to take duplicates. We don't have much time or room in our packs, and the more different types of pills we can get, the better the chance we can find something to cure Mark," Jared suggested.

"Ok," I responded.

Suddenly, Jared cried, "Mark, come here!" I set down my backpack and rushed over to where I heard his voice from. A body lay on the floor. It looked to be male, around Jared's age. Its eyes were rolled up in to its head.

"It's dead," I said softly.

Jared nodded. "We have to get out of here. Whoever, or whatever, killed him might still be here."

I had turned around to leave, when a voice from behind be whispered softly, "Put your hands on your head, and turn around slowly."

Jared complied and nodded for me to do the same. I did so, and saw a boy around seventeen with a radiation mask on. He was wearing a pair of thick camo pants and a winter coat. He held a revolver up to my chest height.

"Drop the packs and walk away. Nothing will happen to you if you do," he rasped through his mask.

Jared and I exchanged a look. He nodded slightly, and we bent down to pick up our backpacks. In a split second, he swung the backpack up, and knocked the gun out of his hand. I heard a bang, and pain blossomed in my shoulder. I cried out and fell to the ground.

Distantly, I heard someone call my name. Black spots clouded my vision, and I passed out.

***

"Gabe? Gabe?" A voice called. I opened my eyes a little, and quickly closed them as a bright light shined in to my eyes.

"You awake?" the voice said again. Tentatively, I opened my eyes again. The light was still there, and it seemed even brighter than before.

"Get that light the Hell out of my face!" I cried.

"Ummm, that's the ceiling light," the voice, remarked. I looked around, and saw that it was the voice of a doctor.

He looked away from me, and said, "He's awake."

I looked to the direction he was looking, and saw Kylie and Jared sitting in chairs against the wall.

"Hey, guys," I managed to say weakly.

"You're okay!" Kylie exclaimed as she and Jared rushed over to my side. "Does it hurt?"

"Yeah," I replied, wincing as I shifted my position in the bed. "What happened?" I asked.

"The kid got a shut off before the gun fell out of his hand. I knocked him out, tied him up, and carried you back. Then I came back to get the packs," Jared replied.

There was no way he carried both of the packs back. I could barely carry one of them. I gave him a hard stare, and he admitted that Kylie had come back with him to help with the packs.

Suddenly, I remembered why we had gone in the first place.

"Mark. Is he ok?"