Infinity (Final Part)

The finale to the series. If you've missed it (where have you been?!), here's a link to Part One.

I drop at his side, eyes stinging from hot tears. I should have come sooner.

I gently try to rouse him. There's no pulse. I thump his chest, desperately trying to restart his heart. I know the only chance I’ve got of saving him is if he was alive when I got here. But didn’t I feel that? Did he feel that too? Did he hold on until I did? Until I died at the hands of the thugs downstairs? Until Iggy killed me a few months back, I had no religious beliefs whatsoever. Since then things have changed. All I can hope now is that somebody is watching. His flesh still holds a faint warmth.

There’s a chance.

I breathe air into his lungs, hoping that as I do, I’m also breathing life. I work his chest again. The kids are crying behind me. Filling me with the twisted hope that they’re crying because they saw him die and that will give me a chance of bringing him back from the brink. I breathe again, before checking for a pulse. Still nothing. As I work I happen to glance at his wrist, and see a number 9. He looks to be at least 7 years old now.

“Come on, Jamie.”

I pump his chest again, before taking a lungful of air, knowing that it’s the last hope.

Then, something amazing happens. The kids stop crying. It’s like they see something. Or feel something. Jamie coughs. I grab a half-empty bottle of water from the counter, gently wetting his dry lips. I untie the kids, both of whom are younger than Jamie, and scoop his tired body up in my arms. And just as we leave the office, there’s a noise from downstairs – more precisely from the door. I turn, hoping for all the world to see Dax and the guys.

“Police. Freeze.”

Shit. There are six of them. Three car’s worth. All with guns pointed at me.

So fucking close. I was almost free. We were almost free. Then it hits me. They don’t know who I am.

“The fuck have you assholes been?”

The cop at the front is bigger, burly, scowling. Like a man with responsibility pressing on his shoulders like a deadweight. The man in charge.

“Where the fuck are you going?”

I struggle down the stairs, with the kids in tow. “I had to kill that prick,” I say, pointing to the guy I dumbfounded by landing aflame at his feet.

“Where are you going with the kids? You know the rules.”

I ignore him, hoping he’s not aware of my ignorance of his rules. By the time I get to the bottom, the cops are around me. A semi-circle, guns still drawn. I’m armed only with a kid I had to bring back to life.

“You do know the rules?” the cop repeats.

I guess what he’s talking about, though the idea of it turns my stomach inside out. My heart drops in my chest, and I’m careful not to squeeze Jamie too much. “I just thought that you know, if we could save them…”

“They’ve seen us, you asshole.”

I nod. Placing Jamie on the ground, I turn to the big cop, “Mind if I do it?”

It’s a ploy, trying to get a gun in my hands and giving me an edge. The big cop knows it.

He smiles. “Nice try.” He raises his gun, but not at me. At Jamie. He looks at me, wanting to see my anguish.

I look back.

And all I do is smile. Over his shoulder, I watch as a huge silhouette fills the doorway. It quietly enters, a small skinny guy and delicate woman behind him.

The cop is unaware. He lowers his gun at Jamie. I dive in front of Jamie as his gun fires and again I feel the bullet rip into me. But before the darkness falls, the shadowy figures in the background all open fire. And knowing those shadows as I do, three against six is odds I like.

I land and something happens. This time the darkness doesn’t fall. The cops all do, cut down by a hail of bullets. The bullet I took is another hit to my poor fuckin’ shoulder, but I’m alive. The guys come over and Iggy helps me to my feet. Dax scoops the kids up in his huge arms, and Sadie picks up fragile little Jamie.

“Wait.”

Everybody stops. I reach into my back pocket and pull out the piece of paper, shocked it’s still there. I unfold it, to see the picture I printed. An Ouroboros – the snake curled into an infinity symbol eating its own tail.

Iggy reads the words printed there, “We know who you are. And we’re coming.”

“Too much?”

He looks at me, and smiles. I stuff the page into the big cop’s mouth. “Okay, let’s go home.”

                                                *****

Jamie comes round a little as we drive. He drinks water like a lion after dry season. He’s fragile, but he’s alive. I’m comforted to know that his parents will get the chance to give him the Last Party he deserves. As we head back to the city I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I had died. But I’d like to think it was a damn sight different from the first time. Sadie checks her phone as Iggy drives. She finds missing person’s reports on Jamie and the kids. With addresses. We head over to Jamie’s place first, stopping outside his parents’ house.

“You ready, little man?”

He nods, with a striking confidence considering what he’s been through.

I scribble a note, saying he has to go straight to hospital. And that the guys that took him are dead. That they should say that he was missing, not kidnapped. My phone number is there too. We’ll escort them to the hospital, just in case.

We slowly walk up the driveway and ring the doorbell.

“Okay buddy,” I say, “this is goodbye.”

Without a word, he throws his scrawny arms around me. His mom opens the door and her mouth drops. I hand her the note and walk away.

I climb into the car and look back and watch as the owner of that haunted voice from the park scoops up the boy with a relief I can’t imagine. And yes, if you must know, I cried.

All we have to do now is drop the other kids off, then it’s back to the hangar. Back to the hangar for some well-deserved R&R. Not for too long though. Because we’ve got a job to do. And check-books to balance.


                                                THE END

That's all folks! Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If I may ask those of you who enjoyed the story, if you have a friend you think would like Infinity, please tell them about the blog. I'll be back soon with more short stories for you!