Page 43 of Convergence

I nodded when Everett looked at me in the rearview mirror. I certainly didn’t have any other plans or ideas. If he trusted his brother, then I trusted him as well.

“Breaking news here in Cleveland tonight. An explosion on the campus of Truman College with three students on the run.” A news report began on the radio. “Earlier this evening, three doctoral students fled the scene of their attack on Truman College. Video footage gathered from the scene shows them making obscene gestures after one student set the building ablaze. Sources say the students had created an alleged bioweapon instead of completing their assignments. Truman College and the surrounding area are in lockdown and quarantine to deter the spread of any ‌illnesses. News Channel-”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Nate was roaring in the front seat. “YOUHADTO BLOW IT UP!” Everett was screaming back at Nate, but I couldn’t focus on their words anymore.

I couldn’t hold back my tears now. Sobs wracked my body, and I curled in on myself as much as I could in the back seat. I felt sick. It felt like acid burning through my veins as I realized we were now wanted criminals. We would be hunted down and treated like terrorists. I couldn’t catch my breath I was crying so hard. I was going to end up in prison or killed. The guys were arguing with each other, and red in the face. A vein pulsed in Everett’s forehead as he bellowed back at Nate. Nate’s fists clenched tightly in his lap before he punched the truck’s dash.

“STOP IT!” I screamed and sobbed at them.

Everett quickly pulled over to the side of the highway, likely realizing it was not a smart idea to fight and drive at the same time. He turned off the radio that had played music again. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, baby girl,” he said and reached over the center console to me.

I unbuckled with numb fingers and threw myself towards him and buried my face in his chest as he wrapped his arms around me. Nate unbuckled as well to hug me from behind, his forehead resting on my back between my shoulder blades. I clutched at both of them and sobbed while they both stroked over my arms and back. Thinking of them in prison or being killed and treated like terrorists made me almost sicker than thinking of myself in that situation. We had done nothing wrong. We realized the project was not what we thought it was. We tried to step out, and when that didn’t work, we destroyed the experiment.

“We have to get to my brother as soon as we can,” Everett murmured against my hair. “We can drive in shifts to get there faster. I don’t think we’re safe staying anywhere.”

“Let’s stop for gas now, before word spreads and there’s a manhunt,” Nate added. “I’ll pump the gas and you find a pay phone.”

“Use only cash, no paper trail,” Everett said as he pulled back from me to ‌drive again.

A crashing of glass behind me made me jump and squeal. I thought a car had hit us, but we were fully off the road and on the shoulder. I looked around as the window on my door exploded.

15

Everett’s hold on me changed as he reached for Nate’s head and pushed us both down on the center console. “Stay down!” Everett bellowed as he slammed the car into drive and took off. I could hear gravel flying as he tried to navigate back onto the road. The truck rocked and shook, and I dug my nails into the center console and Nate’s coat sleeve.

“Are we being shot at?” Nate asked, his voice loud and in my ear.

“Yes!” Everett said as squealing tires sounded around us. All I could see was his hand flexing as he pushed the gear shift into reverse before he whipped the wheel around and put the car back into drive. Everett grunted as he desperately tried to get us away from the shooter. A few more gunshots sounded around us, making me think there was more than one shooter. I peeked upwards and saw the reflection of blue and white flashing lights, and my heart dropped to my stomach in panic. Nate’s breath was hot and panting on my neck, and he was whispering to me to ‌comfort me. But in my panic, I couldn’t process what he was saying.

Everett was swearing as he tried to navigate us away from the police. Should we be running from the police? What if we explained everything we had experienced, and they let us go? I was about to say as much to Ev when he shouted, “Get out and run!”

I didn’t question the authority in his voice as he threw the truck into park. I jumped out of the car, running for the tree line. Nate was right behind me, and Everett was only a few feet behind him. I could see people running after us, but I didn’t focus on them. I jumped over a fallen log at the start of the woods that bordered the highway. It was dark and little light reached us as we got further and further into the woods that likely opened up into someone’s backyard on the other side. My pulse pounded in my head as I pushed my body as fast as I could through the trees. I was aware of gunshots ringing out behind me. The sound barely echoed over the crash of branches and leaves under my feet and over my body as I ran. I chanced one look back to see if the guys were still with me. I was worried about them; I had been running almost every day since I regained the ability, so I knew I was a strong runner. Everett was fit from working on the farm, but he was not a natural runner and Nate had just started running with us this fall. They were also much bigger than me, running through this patch of forest in the dark, dodging branches and trees.

I heard a thump and a curse as one of them fell. My heart lurched as I turned around to find them. “Get up, get up!” I heard Everett say breathlessly.

Another thump and a grunt as someone tackled Everett to the ground. I ran back to where I saw them behind me. A man clad in a police uniform was wrestling Everett. A click of a gun next to me turned my blood ice-cold. I swallowed and looked over to see a man pointing a gun at my head.

“We got you, fuckers,” a man’s voice laughed. A flashlight blared into my face, and I flinched at the blinding light.

“Nate, Ev,” I said hoarsely, needing to hear their voices to know they were alive. The flashlight was so bright I couldn’t see them.

“You’re going to be okay, baby girl,” Everett replied, panting.

“We’re here,” Nate added.

“How nice. Nowmove,” a man’s voice barked.

The policemen spoke in hushed voices as they walked us back to the road, guns to our heads and blinding flashlights to our eyes the entire way. This didn’t feel right. I knew a gun was at the back of my head because when I stumbled over a branch; the man jabbed me with it. I thought for sure I was going to vomit and pee my pants with fear. Tears streamed down my face as we approached the road where two cop cars were facing us. The tires of Everett’s truck had been shot out, which had prompted our run into the woods. Lights flashed on top of the police cars and people were slowing to watch what happened. We were lit up like a stage under the police lights and big streetlamps. I looked around and saw that four policemen were arresting us.

The man walking with Everett kicked out the back of Ev’s knees, causing him to fall on the gravel shoulder of the highway. The policeman kicked Ev in the back to get him to fall the rest of the way into the gravel and I briefly doubted that was standard police practice before the same thing happened to me and Nate.

Face down in the gravel, the police cuffed us roughly. I scraped my face on the gravel to look over at the guys. Before they took us to jail, I wanted to see them one more time. I met Everett’s scared eyes, and he was shaking his head at me. Gravel was stuck in his beard and a cut on his eyebrow was bleeding into his eye. I only stared at him, wondering what he meant by his head shake. He looked pointedly down at the shoes of the policeman that was putting on his handcuffs. They were red basketball shoes. I wasn’t sure what the standard issue of shoes was for the police, but I was pretty sure they weren’t red Nikes. I looked over my shoulder at the shoes of the man straddling my back and saw tan work boots.

“I think we’ll shoot you after we cuff you,” the man over me laughed. “Maybe you are showing signs of sickness and we have to put you down.”

Not exactly the speech police typically give as they arrest someone. In fact, none of them had read us our Miranda warning.

Nate’s glasses were on the ground in front of him and I knew he probably couldn’t see the shoes of our alleged police officers. I swallowed. “Nate,” I rasped. “Nate, we’re missing Miranda.”

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