Under a Broken Sun Read Online Free Page B

she’d be dead.  Blood had pooled under her head and got on my hands as I touched her.  I reached down to check her eyes, looking for something, like pupil dilation, I guess.  I didn’t need to, they flittered open on their own.  She scanned the area and then looked at me.
    “Adam?” she said.  I nodded.  “Head hurts.”
    “I know.  Mine too.  Take it easy.  Can you sit up?”  Her eyes closed again.  “Stay with me, Marilyn!  Hey!”  I tapped her face to open her eyes again.
    “Ow,” she said.
    “You ok?”  She nodded slightly.  “Stay with me, ok?  We’ve got to get you some help.”
    “No." she said as she reached for my arm.  “I’m ok.  They’re looking for us.   Remember?”  She touched a lump on my forehead, making me twitch.  "You ok?"
    I nodded, distracted.  She was right.  We were lucky they hadn't caught us already.  “I'm fine. I'm gonna look for some supplies,” I said. 
    I stepped out from under the highway, and stopped at the sight of a blazing sunset.  It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  Colors danced behind the clouds like a light show at a concert.  Usually sunsets are fairly stable in terms of color progression, but this was all over the place.  Like watching aurora borealis while on acid.
    And the temperature.  A cold settled in that wouldn’t have fit anywhere south of Canada for this time of year.  I could just barely make out puffs of my own breath.  After the heat of the day, it was a welcome relief, but definitely not normal.  A gift I wanted to accept but knew wasn't good.  Something about the Earth had changed dramatically.
    The crowd came into view.  I was so struck by the sunset that I had lost focus on the disaster behind us.  The fire raged on, and masses of people scurried with buckets; some held back as they defended their cars, some ran wild like children in an abandoned house.  The few cops there were tried to keep order, but it was useless.  EMT’s tried to help people, but the wounded surrounded them, like lepers reaching out to Jesus. 
    Jesus.  Was this really his second coming?  I always thought that was crap because my father made sure I KNEW it was crap.  But something did happened, something either really unnatural (terrorist?) or so weirdly natural that it took us completely by surprise.   I remembered the paper in my back pocket.  I thought of Reverend Jesse Hill and my dad.
    I thought of Marilyn.  To hell with figuring it out now, I had to help her.
    Towards the crowd, in the back long-term parking lot, an EMT raced from an open ambulance.  I just needed supplies, and I needed to get to them before the crowd did.  I had to risk it.
    I ran towards the ambulance and went to the back.  Perfect.  I grabbed some bandages and boxes of other stuff that I didn’t even recognize.  Had to be something there I could use.
    A hand grabbed my shoulder.  “Hey!”
    I turned and saw an EMT.  “What the hell are you doing?”
    “My friend needs help.  Head wound.  It’s ok”
    “No, it’s not.  You know how many people need help?  Put that shit away, son.  We’ll get to your friend when we can.”
    I knew he was right; others needed help just as much as Marilyn. 
    Fuck 'em. I bolted out of the back, over the top of the EMT, and across the parking lot back to the underpass.  I don’t know if I caused it, but I left just in time: a riotous crowd surrounded the ambulance and began the looting.
     
     
    I found Marilyn passed out when I got there.  I checked the boxes: gauze, some tape, and some pills, aspirin.  Great.  The tape wasn't gonna go around her head.  And aspirin only does so much.  I did the only thing I could do: I took off my hoodie and ripped it in two.
    A few folds made it a workable head-wrap.  I used the tape to keep it together on Marilyn’s head, with several pieces of gauze over a nasty little two inch scrape over her left ear.  The blood made it look worse than it was; the