The City

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Tao looked at Damon and Aiden as he began to feel the press of the crowd, As they came around the bend onto a main street, they were heartened by the sight of an overpass. It was a long bridge that passed high over the flooded creek, and was their ticket to the otherside.

Unfortunately though it was packed with cars and people as they streamed across to safety off every road leading into the main street.

"We need to stay really close together!" Aiden was leading the blind old lady who hobbled as fast as she could down the path, her weight distributed on his left shouder.

He glanced towards the group and saw Tao was breathing labouriously from carrying the corpse. The blood ran down his pants in dark crimson rivulets and tainted the entire front of his shirt.

"Tao are you OK there?"

"Y-yes," Tao exclaimed with heavy expired breaths. "I won't tell the boy to dump his sister. The girl is dead. But she deserves a burial."

The little girl suddenly vomited at her mothers feet, causing the mother to scream at the boy. "You sister is dead!" she yelled when she caught her daughter looking at the dead girl. "Look at her!!! The sight is making my daughter upset!!! Dump her now!"

"Wh-what are......you....." Aiden could see from his brittle intonation that the boy was going into shock.

Aiden glared at the woman who they had saved from the house fire, but understood why she had reacted the way she did. Her daughter would have been about the same age.

She broke into tears and found the strength to lift her daughter into her arms and hold her close, partly to hide her daughter's view of the distressing sight and partly to comfort herself from losing her husband.

Aiden turned his attention to the boy knowing he had to be careful with his words. "You have been very strong up to now young man. What is your name?"

The boy sobbed incessantly, not answering with any measure of comprehension.

"What is your name young man?" Aiden bent down and shook the boy into reality. "I need you to be strong! Is your name Jim? Billy?"

"Is....Isaiah,"

"Well Isaiah, I am going to call you Cheif for the courage that you have shown today! You are a Cheif to me and also you are now my new little brother! Do you hear me? You will never be alone. You will always have me and Damon."

The young boy nooded and Damon realised what his mate was doing. Trying to make Isaiah think about something else.

"OK then Cheif, you stand right in front of me OK? You can lead us across that bridge there, OK?"

Isaiah was staring down at his bloodied shirt, muttering something to himself.

Tao bent down and all Aiden heard was ".... I promise OK?" Isaiah gave a nod as he cast a mournful gaze at his dead sister.

No primary school aged kid deserved to experience what he was going through now.

Aiden glanced at Damon who took a moment before he placed his grip on the boy and gave an expression of firm conviction, as if to say "I will do everything I can to help you OK?"

At least it drew the attention away from his sister's blood, which squeezed it's way through Damon's finger.

"Ok then, we need to keep close together. Try cross as a group. If we get split up we wait on the otherside until we are all together again OK?"

Aiden looked over to the other side and saw a yellow cab parked up at the other end of the bridge.

"Where that cab is over there see it? On the right. We meet right there. Now lets link up." Aiden took off his shirt and told Tao to do the same. He tied a reef knot to link the sleeves together and then asked the boy for his shirt. "I am going to make a rope with our shirts and tie your sister to the back of Tao to make it easier for him to carry her."

Damon grinned with recognition- more than once they had carried their hunting kills out bush in the same way, using their shirts as an impromptu rope.

"How do you know what to do?" Damon gave an inquisitive expression before Tao continued. "Everyone around us if totally losing their minds and yet you two seem to know exactly what your doing. Are you soldiers?"

As Aiden began strapping the girl to Tao's back, Damon replied while he helped his mate by holding the girl in place. "No. We are just country men used to living out bush. When your out there in the outback, you learn to improvise."

Tao seemed to be still perplexed, but knew they had bigger things to worry about.

Damon paused for a moment and pondered something. "Soldiers. In an event like this you want to be at a military base of some sort. If anyone will know what the hell is going on, it will be them."

"We need to get these people some help first." Tao replied as Aiden finished strapping the dead girl and also using a ripped shred of cloth from the shirts tied it around the limp bodies face to hide her features from not only the small group but the panicing throes all around them.

Damon conferred with his brother and they agreed. "Ok lets organise here. What are all our names. I am Damon, This is Aiden. Tao. And little Isaiah here. Ok whats your name ladies?"

The old lady mumbled in reference to herself. "Darlene."

"I am Freida, and this is my daughter Adele." The young mother was still crying but was clearly struggling to maintain a sense of strength for her daughters benefit.

"Ok then," Damon continued. "Get together ladies in front of us, you too Isiah. Us three men will guide you all across. Tao you get in the middle of me and Aiden."

They managed to gather some measure of assemblance and soon they were on their way towards the overpass.

"Remember, if we get split up, go to the yellow cab on the right side there, at the other end of the overpass." A car hit someone on the overpass and everyone on the bridge turned to get out of its manic path. "And keep off the road......"