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“I want to play in the train,” said a snotty little kid, leaning into the play structure where Catch and Summer were cuddled tightly together.
“Beat it, kid,” said Summer. “We were here first.”
They hid in a public park playground near the hospital. They had changed out of their hospital gowns and ditched the wheelchair. Summer wore a New York baseball cap and Catch an old knit beanie that Manuel had given them. They laid low as patrol vehicles scanned the streets looking for them.
“You aren’t that important to them, right?”
“I shouldn’t be.”
“You don’t get to decide,” she said. “Where do we go from here?”
“You didn’t plan that already?”
“I have ideas...but what do you want?” she asked.
“To go to Morgan’s house.”
“That’s probably the worst idea ever.”
“I need to know who he is and why my mother tried killing him.”
“It will be a fortress of agents monitoring the place twenty-four seven. It’d be suicide for him to go back there.”
“He’ll go back. I know it. He won’t let his mother die alone.” She shook her head. He insisted, “We lie low, keep an eye on the place. If he doesn’t show up within forty-eight hours, we go wherever you want.”
“You know they won’t let us escape a second time.”
“Now that you’re complicit in all this, they might lock you up with me.”
She laughed. “Let’s not plan on getting caught if we don’t have to.”
“So, we’re going...”
She shrugged. “Can’t say I’m not curious.”
***
They waited past midnight to take the tramway to Morgan’s neighborhood. A group of rowdy teens were leaving a house party, and they blended in with them to not be picked up on the surveillance cameras. The tramway dropped them off several blocks from their destination. They decided to walk, not risking taking the Last Mile Automated vehicle. The streets were empty, and most of the houses were dark. Catch was in pain, but after swallowing another half pill—only half to not be totally knocked out—he managed to continue without complaining too much.
A corner from Morgan’s place, they squeezed in between a dense hedge and a brick house.
“How many guys do you think are in there?” Summer was talking about the unmarked van park outside the house.
“At least a dozen.” Catch laughed. “Body odor must be terrible.”
A drone buzzed around the property.
“You think they saw us?” he said.
“Nah, they’d have already taken us away if they did.”
They examined each other in silence. Smiling, following the contours of their noses. Watching what the other was looking at. Enjoying each other. She kissed him.
“You’re such a tease.”
“What do you mean...”
“You’ve kissed me so many times... Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining... I’m loving it, every time...”
“Go on, say it.”
“When you told the doctor that you wanted to satisfy my fantasies because my time was limited. I wished it was true.”
“That you were dying...”
“Don’t be an idiot.” He chuckled shyly. “That you’d satisfy my fantasies.”
She leaned in close, her lips brushing against his ear, and said, “Only if you satisfy mine...”
They waited for the drone to hover on the opposite side of the house before leaving their hiding spot to return down to the street where three Last Mile Automated vehicles were parked to the side. They leaned up against the middle one. Summer searched for something in the bottom of a backpack. She pulled out what she was searching for: a lipstick.
“You don’t need that; I like you just the way you are.”
“Sweet,” she said, placing her finger on his lips. “Be quiet now. Wait till I’m done.”
She opened the vehicle door and entered. The vehicle light switched on. The automatic prompt asked for the destination location. She quickly smudged lipstick on five specific spots spread around the inside perimeter of the vehicle. She motioned for Catch to come join her, then closed the door behind him. The lights went out. Normally, with passengers on board, a running light remained for the duration of the trip.
“What did you do?”
“Covered the motion detectors.” She leaned up against him, placing her hands on his belly.
“Where did you learn how to do that?”
“Street smarts,” she said. “In winter it gets cold. Couple fellas figured it out to sleep in them. Does no harm.”
She started unbuttoning his pants. He removed her shirt.
He stopped and said, “What if we are interrupted by someone needing a car.”
“They will be quite surprised by what they find.”
He shook his head and said, “My mom is going to love you.”
“As long as she doesn’t shoot me.”
He continued undressing himself. “Now, shut up.”
As Summer transferred her weight onto Catch, he moaned in pain.
“Oh sorry... your leg, I forgot.”
“Don’t worry about my leg...”
––––––––
They woke up at dusk when the vehicle started rolling. Someone had called for the vehicle at a different location. They dressed rapidly. The doors were locked as a safety precaution when in motion. Summer wiped off the motion detectors, which prompted the vehicle to say, “Please state desired destination.”
“Here,” said Summer. The car stopped the doors unlocking. They headed back to Morgan’s house.
“I might have some street smarts, but damn you know how to do some things most teens can’t even imagine.”
“My math teacher wasn’t only good at teaching math.”
“You didn’t?” she said in disbelief. He shrugged, innocently.
They remained hidden in the same hedge as earlier in the night, crouched farther back to not be seen in the daylight. It was midday when a drone crashed against the wall of Morgan’s house.
“Holy shit,” said Summer, “do you think somebody screwed up.”
“What else could it be? Those things happen when working too many hours.”
The unmarked self driving van that had stayed perfectly silent and motionless since they arrived started moving away. They watched it go down the street while a passenger appeared from the back to try to take control of it.
“Look,” said Summer, pointing at the house. A light from the second floor was switched on.
“That’s his mother’s room,” said Catch. “Did you see anyone enter the building?”
Summer shook her head.
“It’s got to be him,” said Catch. “I’m going in. Wait for me here, Summer. If they take me, at least you’ll be free.”
“I don’t want to be free without you,” she said.
“Please don’t insist,” he said.
“It’s true. We’re hospital buddies.”
“Just wait for me here,” he said. He hurried over to the house and entered. No one followed him in.
