City On Fire

10

The drive ended up taking forty-five minutes but the only ones really frustrated and perhaps even annoyed by it were Benny and Ella. They had a plan that relied on timing. There was no telling how long it would take for their email to get the right person and even less regarding how long it would take for appropriate action to be taken. It could be days and Ella needed out before then.

Benny didn’t have the heart to tell her but there was a fraction of a chance that the emails might not have gone through at all. He had used the clinic’s internal emailing system and if someone had logged into the system by chance and seen such an email being sent out he could block the server. The result being that all the emails come back as failed to deliver. Ella stared out the window at the large green trees and the vast open field with a kind of hunger in her eyes. She couldn’t wait to be off this clinical smelling bus and be free. After all the shrinks and medication she wanted to help herself and find out what she was to do with all of this. She wanted that freedom and by raising doubt he would be stealing it from her. Besides, if worst came to worst he could simply hack into the system again, he was practically already released.

Though the city was a constant pulse of activity and traffic didn’t stop for even a second the sidewalks were relatively quiet. Despite the clinic’s name being branded on the side of the bus in massive blue letters no one seemed to care or notice. Being honest Benny had hoped by now it would be very lovely bull’s eye.

The sun was shining but there were rain clouds gathering and suddenly Ella remembered how little she liked the city. It was just far too big and there were far too many people. The pace and the crowds made her head spin. That and in a city this big there is bound to be disaster and where there was disaster she was bound to find a nightmare or several. “Either i...i...it’s been a w...w...while or t...the p...p...population e...e...e...e...exploded.” Benny was staring at a bus terminal a block up ahead and sure enough dozens of faces stormed off and several others took their place. If the group looked out of place it would only be because they were not rushing back and forth like worker ants. Looking around her Ella noticed everyone was smiling and taking in the city. The poor bastards had no idea.

Their small congregation was herded off the bus and to the gallery’s front entrance. Ella felt very exposed and vulnerable as she crossed her arms on her chest.

“Alright everyone.”

The doctor clapped his hand together to gather their attention. Like sheep to the slaughter they all turned to him and waited anxiously for instructions. Not her. She stared at a building across the street and wondered why she was sure it used to be blue instead of that pale sienna colour. Incidentally she also noticed a man leaning against a motorcycle just in front of it. She didn’t have to be psychic to know he meant nothing good. Ignoring that he stood smoking three feet from a no smoking sight he had one hand in his pocket and his ankles crosses. He had an air of trouble about him even from the other side of the street. If he hadn’t radiated anarchy she would probably have found him attractive. There were three others with him laughing and making a ruckus. One would cat call everything that walked by and even remotely resembled a woman. The one smoking ignored both the remarks from the passing women and his comrades though his eyes followed their actions. He seemed deep in thought.

Ella was about to turn away but he stood up to put out the cigarette and when he saw her staring at him he held her gaze. She tried a second time to assume control over the situation but she ended up looking away first. Maybe she wasn’t ready for that kind of challenge just yet.

She turned her attention back to her people but when she heard the motorcycles start up she felt compelled to look back again. At that moment he ran his fingers through his slicked back black hair and winked at her before putting on his helmet. She could feel herself blush and looked away. They sped off in a loud thundering for torque and angry outbursts form disgruntled drivers but she refused to even look in the direction. What the hell was it about the wrong kind of man? ”Now please stay together.”

The doctor had finished his speech and was leading everyone in. Benny hooked his arm into hers when he saw she was detracted and she offered no protest.

“We might have a problem.”

Benny whispered as close to her ear as he could without making it look like an exchange of Vatican secretes. When she looked at him he twitched in the direction of the two orderlies walking not far behind. They kept their eyes glued to the flock. This had never happened before. They were never this alert.

“s**t”

Benny agreed but was momentarily distracted by a portrait of musical instruments playing humans like guitars.

Despite their plan and its risks both Benny and Ella were in good spirits and even enjoyed the exhibition. All the portraits and sculptures were by local artist and it was almost unbelievable the level of talent these people had. While Benny took a liking to a sculpture of a ballerina Ella felt drawn to a large canvas painting of a sixteenth century ship on fire. While it burned a small boat carrying three survivors looked on and one of them reached out to the ship. The scene was supposedly inspired by pirates George and Rachel Wall. According to the description next to the portrait Rachel Schmidt lived on a farm outside Carlisle Pennsylvania but preferred the docks to the farmland. One day she was attached and rescued by a civil war soldier turned privateer turned pirate George Wall. The two fell in love and after a brief honest life took to a life of plunder. Her husband and crew washed out to see in a terrible accident and being alone now she returned to Boston where she became a servant and was later executed. It was also dually noted that she was the last woman to be hanged in Massachusetts. Although the painting didn’t follow the story exactly it had been the inspiration.

Benny stood next to her and studied the massive burning ship and the small boat floating away.

“It’s no wonder you don’t sleep. Why don’t we find you a nice picture of a puppy?”

The two laughed it off but Ella felt an unrelenting desire to have that painting. Benny studied the shepards tailing them. They were unrelenting, it didn’t even look like they blinked. Finding an opening was going to be far more difficult that they first thought. By the time this outing was over and the gallery had been explored for all it had to offer things were going to erupt into chaos. The two of them might be separated for the first time in months and though neither wanted to say it out loud bother were thinking it. The plan was one thing but both knew things could easily go wrong and they might not see each other for a while or ever again. So they went along with the guided tour and joked about the staff and appreciated the art, trying not to think of it.

Eventually though time came for her to leave and they went over the details as the group made their way to the exit. The long and the short of the situation was that a distraction, a significant one, would give Ella room to make her escape. The both of them readied themselves all the while keeping a sharp eye on the orderlies but when they reached the doors they found their distraction already waiting.

Once outside they found a mob of angry men and women destroying the bus. They threw it with rocks and smashed the windows while others cheered them on. Regretting it soon after the doctor called out to them and demanded they not only stop but explained themselves. Though they did stop momentarily when they saw him their aggression found a new outlet. The mob stormed on the doctor calling him a host of colourful names. Charley and Duncan tried to keep the group protected from the advancing crowd but it wasn’t them they were after. A small number of men fought their way in between the orderlies and the patients. ”Get the f**k away from them, you sick son of a bitch.”

One screamed as he met Charley’s face with an upper cut. He stumbled backwards as the man spread his arms forming a shied between him and the group.

“Come near them and I’ll f*****g kill you.”

The group, now encircled by the pissed civilians, looked wildered and almost scared as they watched on wondering what was going on. Ella and Benny knew of course what this was. This display of public outcry was all because their email had reached the right person, or rather a mob of the right people. The secret was out and rightfully so but neither of them took any pride or satisfaction in any of this. The situation was wildly out of control and people would get hurt. This kind of breakout was not what they wanted either but it was what they got and like it or not, intention or not, this is a golden distraction. One half of the mob encircled them while another had set to work on the good doctor and the orderlies. Somewhere in the distance sirens wailed and were approaching fast while on the opposite end of the street a news crew leaped from a white van. “You need to go now, it’s getting a little too crowded.”

Benny pushed her to go under one of the men’s arm and suddenly she didn’t want to anymore. She didn’t want to run and she didn’t want to go anywhere without her friend but he didn’t give her much choice. He pushed her hard and she was out of the circle. In all the excitement no one seemed to notice and though she stared back at Benny who encouraged her to run one last time she was quickly mistaken for a bystander. Three police cars pulled up and tried dispersing the crowd in the process pulling her away from the action as a perimeter was established. She wanted to cry but Benny smiled and silently to told her to go. He watched her take off down the street before he allowed himself to cry. The last thing he wanted was for her to see how not only scarred he was but sad as well.