“We should get out of here,” Austin spoke up, straightening his rucksack and looking down at the unconscious cop. “Before he comes to.”
“Right,” Samuel nodded, the gun still in his hand as they turned to leave again.
“Do you want me to take that?” Austin offered, the fact the weapon made Samuel feel uncomfortable was impossible to avoid. His friend nodded, handing the gun over and immediately relaxing like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Austin smiled and stuffed it into the waistband of his pants as they started to walk out of the store.
“Hey!”
Looking at his friend, Austin’s eyes grew wide at the shout that came from further back in the store. There was no mistaking who it had come from. The cop was awake and he did not sound happy. There was only one thing to do. The two men needed to escape and fast.
“Run!”
Chapter 8
Pumping their legs as fast as they both could manage, Samuel and Austin high-tailed it out of the sporting goods store and down the street. The heavy rucksacks bounced up and down on their backs, but neither had time to stop and adjust the straps. The cop could be hot on their heels and after experiencing how devoted to his job he was inside the store, neither of them wanted to discover what he was willing to do now.
Samuel could feel his heart hammering against his ribcage as he ran down the sidewalk, dodging pedestrians and obstacles alike in an attempt to lose their pursuer. Austin was just slightly ahead of him and dictating the route, leading them further north through the city and into territory that Samuel didn’t recognize. Before he knew it, he had lost all sense of direction and was just blindly following his friend, hoping Austin was leading them away from trouble.
“Hey man,” Samuel panted, slowing to a jog and trying to catch his breath. “Wait up.” Looking back over his shoulder, Samuel squinted into the darkness and tried to see if anyone was behind them. “I think we lost him.”
Stopping and walking back a few paces to join Samuel, Austin looked back down the street as well, double checking that they were, in fact, alone. “Jeez,” he breathed eventually, “that was close.”
“Where are we?” Samuel asked a few seconds later, having a look around. “Do you know where we are?”
“Uhh,” Austin looked around for a street sign. “Not really. Somewhere north?”
“Brilliant,” Samuel replied, somewhat sarcastically. “And it’s about to get dark. I knew we should’ve just gone back to my place when we had the chance.”
“Well of course you’d say that,” Austin said, irritated by Samuel’s tone of voice. “It’s not your family that’s out there on their own.”
“There’s no need for that, Austin.”
“Well it’s true,” Austin threw his arms up in the air in frustration. He wasn’t really angry at Samuel, he was just worried about his family and discouraged by how difficult it was for the two of them to get out of the city. Samuel was just an easy target for his emotions; it was like slamming your fist into a brick wall: an easy outlet for anger, but not exactly the right one.
“Of course, you just want to run back to your apartment and hole up. You haven’t got people relying on you!”
Samuel stared at Austin and took in a deep breath. Luckily for his friend, he had realized that this was just an explosion of emotion and he tried not to take the words to heart. He didn’t want to fall out with Austin and he had always been taught to keep his emotions shut away inside if they would only cause damage and harm to others. Samuel was happy to be the punching bag if it made Austin feel better in the long run, he had developed quite a thick outer shell over the years anyway.
Austin found his hands were balled into fists by his sides, his sudden surge of anger getting the better of him as he glared at Samuel and for a brief moment, really wanted to punch the man in the face. It was easy to blame Samuel Westchester for what had happened: everyone else had. He was the face of Trident now and Trident was the reason for all this suffering; if he really wanted to, Austin knew he could turn on Samuel and truly go to town.
But he wasn’t really mad at Samuel. Even though the two men had only known each other properly for a few days, they had become firm friends in that short period of time and Austin knew that Samuel was a good guy. He was just tired, scared and he missed his husband and son – Austin knew he was acting out by saying mean things to Samuel and he knew he needed to apologize before they stuck him in too much trouble to get out of.
“I’m sorry,” he exhaled, unclenching his fists and letting out a heavy sigh. “I didn’t mean that.”
“I know,” Samuel said, “it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”
“I was just –”
“I know,” Samuel repeated. “Seriously pal, don’t worry about it. It’s already forgotten.”
“I – thank you,” Austin nodded after a pause. “It’s a lot to deal with, isn’t it?”
“I’ll say,” Samuel agreed. “Let’s figure out where we are and find somewhere to hunker down for the night. Do you have any ideas?”
“I think we’re near Yankee Stadium,” Austin said, though he was guessing. “I’ve been to a few games and it does look a little familiar. Though game days are always a bit hazy.”
Samuel let out a little chuckle. He wasn’t much of
