The Artful (Shadows of the City) (21 page)

ia and I were all but carrying Dodger. We skipped the station and ran straight for Central Park. Four extra blocks, but the Runts were still behind us, keeping the Angels busy. After the shock of Gia shooting Eve, the street kids continued their volley of rocks and spears. With the Angels preoccupied, Gia and I had enough distraction to get Dodger out.

“What’s wrong with him?” she asked as she struggled under his weight. “Why’d he pass out?”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t been doing well since we left. I think he’s exhausted. How’d you find us?”

“After we realized you jerks left and I thoroughly cursed out Red, I got her to lend me some gear and came after you. Didn’t take long before I realized I had no idea where I was going. I was kind of too proud to go back and ask Red, so I went looking for Peter. He knew where I had to go and insisted on sending the whole crew of Runts with me. I had no idea there were so many of them. Guess being their new leader has its perks,” she said, pointing at the spear strapped to her back.

“That was totally like a movie, you guys came in the nick of time!”

“Not really. Peter suggested we wait in ambush near that subway entrance, that you guys would surely need the backup because trouble usually chased you out of places.” She smiled at me, and I laughed in return.

“Gia, Runt Princess!” I said, and she flipped me off. “Where’d you learn to shoot like that?”

“Daddy Dearest. Before he realized the perks of having a daughter, he spent most of my childhood trying to raise me as a boy. We went hunting more times than I can remember.”

“So, no Barbies?”

“Only when the GI Joes needed to let off some steam.”

I wondered what kind of life Gia would have had without her father’s influence. She was lighthearted about things, but there seemed to be coldness beneath the surface of her smiles, that made me sad for her.

We ran for what seemed like hours. It was probably less, but Dodger slowed us down, making it seem like forever. Gia and I were covered in sweat, our muscles straining with every step.

“We have to take a break,” she said, struggling to keep Dodger upright.

“I know.” I tried to stretch the cramps out of my back. “Another minute of this and you’ll be carrying both of us.”

“More like leaving you both for the wolves.”

“Okay, let’s stop for a bit. There’s a lake over there. We can cool off.”

“If you think for one second I’m skinny dipping with you, you are gravely mistaken.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Dodger mumbled and life crept into his legs. “Just bend over and point me in the right direction.”

We laughed, dragging him further into the park. We didn’t have far to go, but the lake was over an uphill road. After nearly deciding to call it quits, we were rewarded with the sound of gentle water splashing against rocks. The moonlight danced on its crystal surface. We walked over to a grassy patch near the mossy rocks that led up to the lake. Without a word between us, we dropped Dodger and stumbled over to the edge and splashed water on our faces. I felt myself regenerating as I poured a handful of water down my neck, cooling down my whole body. Heaven. Gia dipped her hair in the water and rubbed her hands through it and down her neck. The moonlight reflected on her sparkling face, making her look angelic.

She made a face at me when she realized I was staring a little too intently. “I said no skinny dipping!”

“I wasn’t thinking that at all!”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I don’t know… because you’re kind of… beautiful.”

She paused for a moment, and my heart stopped for the millionth time this week. The smile that stretched across her face was worth all my nerves.

“Dork!” she said, splashing water in my direction.

I meant to jump out of the way but misjudged my step and slipped off the mossy rocks, stumbling headfirst into the lake with a big splash. Of course the sound of splashing water was dwarfed by Gia’s laughter. I looked at her from my newfound seat and couldn’t help but break into laughter myself; I wasted no time splashing her in return. She tried to raise her arms in defense, which was the opportunity I needed to grab her hands and pull her in. She fell at my side, and we continued to splash each other like two pre-fall children on a summer day.

After we were thoroughly soaked, we crawled out and lay near Dodger. He was still out cold, but breathing comfortably. “Does he normally fall asleep at the first sign of danger?” Gia asked, looking at him closely.

“No, danger is when he’s usually most excited. I don’t know, after he rescued me he just kind of gave up, like years of exhaustion just took over.”

“Has to be whatever they injected him with.”

“Yeah, that and he killed Adam. He didn’t handle it well.”

“What do you mean?”

I explained everything that had happened from the moment since we left Red’s camp. I made sure to leave out the bits where I almost slept with Eve. She listened with a look of fascination. More than once I expected her to say something snarky. Instead, she took on a more pensive role, listening to every word with great patience.

“Killing someone can really mess you up.” She looked at Dodger with remorse. “It’s not as easy as they make it seem. You can’t just end someone’s life and go about your business like nothing happened. Well, not all of us, at least.”

From the way she avoided my eyes, I could tell there was something more behind her statement. It made me wonder about her past, something which she kept well-guarded. What could have possibly put her in a situation where she would have had to kill? It didn’t take much for me to place blame on her father. I didn’t know him, yet hated him for the things he put her through. Then I realized I had put Dodger in that very same situation.

“I know, but he had to do it. It was my fault.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t regret saving you. He’ll probably just have a hard time dealing with it. Regardless, this is probably more of a result from the virus. He’s also pretty banged up. Any idea what happened to him?”

“We didn’t have time to catch up,” I replied, wondering what else he’d gone through after I left him.

“We should just let him rest for a bit. We’ll skip the Runts and head straight for Red. The faster we find Smith, the faster we can help Dodger.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I looked her straight in the eyes, tilting my mouth up in a half-smile, thankful for her help. She smiled back, and we held each other’s gaze for a while.

“So, wait, let me get this straight,” she said. “You both left me because you thought it’d be dangerous for me, and then you left him because you thought it’d be dangerous for him. He ended up saving you, and I saved both of you! That is absolutely classic!”

“This wasn’t one of our better raids, I’ll admit, but it all worked out accordingly.”

“You two are such losers.”

“Ahh, you love us!” I said with a smile.

“Twist, do me a favor.”

“Yes?”

“I’m all wet, and now the air is making me a bit chilly,” She trailed off, looking at me expectantly.

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking around in dismay. “I wish I had a jacket or something.”

“No,” she said, moving closer to me. “You’ll do.”

“Huh? I’m soaked too.”

“God, sometimes I swear you are either the sweetest guy left in the world, or the dumbest. Would you just put your arms around me and hold me?” She glared at me.

“Oh, sorry,” I said, crawling closer to her.

She turned around on her side and backed the rest of the way into me. I put one arm under her head and the other around her waist. She snuggled back more, her body pressing into mine. Her hair smelled sweet under my nose. I could already feel our bodies warming up. Perfect. Until there was a stirring in my pants,
not now, not now!
I awkwardly tried to pull my thigh back, keeping my erection as far away from her back as possible.

She shook her head and laughed. “You’re such a loser.”

I was still half asleep when I was nudged awake. I couldn’t have been out that long. The moon was at its highest, and my body was still exhausted. Dodger stood over me, with a pitiful expression.

“So I fell from the top of a cathedral and I murdered a man saving your life. And here you are cuddling with the talent.” Dodger glared at Gia. He shook his head and walked away in a fit of coughs.

I gently and reluctantly dragged my arm out from under Gia’s head and walked after him. He sat down by the lake edge, hugging himself, rubbing at his shivering arms. He looked over at me as I approached.

“I’m so cold, think you can keep me warm?”

“Come on, man.” I wasn’t sure if he was seriously mad or just messing with me. I sat next to him, both of us looking out over the lake. “Are you okay? You were totally out of it.”

“I feel like crap. My body aches in so many places… I’m pretty sure I was going on pure adrenaline.

“What happened? How’d you find me?” I asked.

He threw skipped a rock over the lake water. “When I woke up you were gone. Everything went to hell after that. I had the biggest hangover. At least that was the most sensible explanation. I looked all over for you and found this.” He fished his notebook out of his back pocket, licked his finger and turned to the page I had written on, in a mocking voice he proceeded to read. “
Dodge, you aren’t doing well and I’m worried. You need to stay off your feet. I’m going on ahead to get the meds. I want you to go back to Red’s. I dunno, she’ll probably sleep with you if you do, yeah? Let me do this, I have to do this. I want to show you that you can depend on me. Twist.”
He stuck a finger down his throat and pretended to puke.

“What? I was being honest!” I said.

“Yeah, well, after that, I gathered my things and went after you. After running aimlessly through the tunnels, because, you know, you had the directions. Luckily that old nut case slowed you down. While you were shooting the breeze with him I caught up. But decided to give you what you needed. You wanted to prove yourself, I get that. So I stayed hidden, so I could make sure you were safe on your little vision quest. Because that’s what I do,” he looked hard at me, “you may not like it. But we are brothers, and I will always watch over you. I almost came out in the open when those two morons, Michael and David found you… asleep. But you were able to talk yourself out of that. I was actually surprised you got them to take you to the cathedral.

“Problem was, once they took you in, I couldn’t follow. So I cased the place. I found some rope in one of the abandoned buildings. It gave me the perfect plan. I decided to do what Gutter Punks do best; I was going to run a raid on the cathedral. There was a service ladder in the back, made my way to the roof. Found the skylights waiting for me right there where I knew they would be. See I thought about raiding the cathedral in the past. Back when I was young and dumb. So I did my research. I know you think you’re the only one who does that sort of thing. But I did, I knew what I was doing. I had a plan. Had you stuck around, you would have known that.” He wasn’t angry with me, but the way he spoke shook me. I worried that something changed between us.
Did he blame me?

“I didn’t know.” My weak attempt to defend myself was met with no sympathy.