“True,” Austin nodded. “Stranger things have happened. Come on,” he glanced to the front window outside. “Let’s get out of here before it gets dark. We need to –” Austin stopped mid-sentence, narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow. He could’ve sworn he just heard something. He looked to the entrance of the store once more and peered into the darkness.
“What?” Samuel asked. “Are you okay?”
Austin looked back at his friend and put a finger to his lips and silenced him with a shake of his head. “I thought I heard something,” he whispered, “over there.”
Looking in the direction that Austin was pointing, Samuel clicked the clip of his rucksack closed and pulled it onto his shoulders. He couldn’t see or hear anything other than the sounds of the city outside, the constant ringing of alarms and shouting of people as a large number of them still occupied the streets. The population of the city had increased by nearly a quarter following the crash; all of those who commuted each day for work now trapped there with transport ceasing to run and leaving them stranded.
“It’s probably nothing,” Samuel reassured Austin after half a minute of silence had drawn out between them. “Come on. We should get a move on.”
Still uncertain, Austin waited another few seconds before following Samuel’s lead and shrugging his rucksack onto his shoulders, too. He tightened the straps so it sat comfortably then started walking toward the main exit of the sporting goods store, still looking from side to side as he moved.
“Stop where you are!”
Austin cursed himself. He knew he had heard something. A man leapt out from behind one of the empty cash registers, pointing a gun in their faces. In the dim light of the store it took both Austin and Samuel a few seconds to realize the man was wearing a police uniform.
“I don’t think that gear belongs to you, gentleman,” the cop spoke calmly, moving his handgun slowly from one of them to the other. “It might not seem like it, but there are still laws in this city. Now put the bags down and I’ll let you walk out of here freely.”
Austin thought he had a good chance of bargaining with the man. “We’re only doing what everyone else is doing.”
“That doesn’t make it right, does it, son? Theft is still a criminal offence, whether everybody is doing it or not. Now put the bags down. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Samuel looked over at Austin, wondering what his friend was going to say next. Much like Austin, he weighed up their options with this cop. On the one hand, he was only one guy in a city that had already given up on the law and everything it stood for. What was the point of him continuing to try and fight for his cause?
On the other, the fact that the cop remained vigilant and true to what he believed in was a dangerous sign to Samuel. It meant that he was committed and hadn’t yet given up on justice. As much as Samuel wanted to get away from the store with their supplies, he also wanted to get away with his life. After the events that had transpired in the hospital, he had a newfound respect for the value of human life.
“Look, we don’t want any trouble,” Austin continued. “But, if we don’t take this stuff, someone else will. We’re not hurting anyone. And we haven’t taken any more than what we need. Just let us go. It won’t make a difference.”
“I can see what you’re trying to say, son,” the cop replied with a knowing smile on his face. “But just because everyone else has lost their way, doesn’t mean I have as well. Now I won’t ask you again—put the bags down.”
“Sorry, officer,” Austin replied with a shake of his head, thinking of his husband and son in Poughkeepsie and how desperately he needed to get to them. “I can’t do that.”
Samuel couldn’t believe what was happening, in one swift motion Austin lunged forward and the cop reacted, grappling Austin with his gun still gripped in his hand. The two of them wrestled for control and ended up writhing on the ground, Austin fighting with the cop as the police officer tried to pin his arms behind his back and subdue him. Austin hadn’t expected the cop to react so quickly and was quickly regretting his actions, the large rucksack he wore on his back unbalancing him and making him struggle to fight back against the cop. Looking down, Samuel saw the officer’s gun had been knocked from his hand in the tousle and now lay just a foot away from the two men. In a sudden burst of adrenaline, Samuel lurched forward and picked it up, swinging it into the mess of bodies wrestling on the ground in front of him and smashing it against the side of the cop’s head.
“Whoa,” Austin wriggled free from underneath the cop. “Nice one, Samuel. You saved me.”
“Oh man,” Samuel quickly realized what he had done, looking at the cop’s lifeless body and the red welt on the side of his head. “Is he dead? Have I killed him?” Pure shock and horror coursed through Samuel’s veins as he looked at the motionless officer.
“He’s not dead, he’s not dead,” Austin replied quickly, seeing the worried expression on Samuel’s face. “You just knocked him out. Don’t worry. It was a great move Sam. I thought I was really in trouble there. Thank you.”
Samuel relaxed and took a deep breath. He hadn’t killed anyone; he wasn’t a murderer. As ridiculous
