Free The Days and Months We Were First Born- the Unraveling by Christopher Hunter Page A

thinking?” he said.
    “That’s the right word,” I hissed. “Thinking. I’m the only one who’s doing it! They are going to get themselves killed, David. Please, don’t join them. They are making a huge mistake. They are going to follow that lunatic, and he’s going to lead them directly to the gates of Hell!”
    ***
    We went around the corner to High Line Park , a cross between a pedestrian walkway and a botanical garden. It was converted from an ancient El train track that used to operate well over a century ago. The plants were unkempt. There were stalls of sedge and clusters of dwarf conifers growing at all angles, and the colorful orchards and park bulbs were sagging from their stems. The benches and rails were of white-painted aluminum. And the pedestrian path was paved with a dark concrete, which was soft to the step. During better times, this was certainly a decent place to hang out and catch a view of the neighborhood.
    We walked north until we had a clear sight of the militia, adjacent to 19 th Street.
    People were in line. They were receiving weapons and ammo. And from the looks of them, most had never held a gun in their lives.
    This one fellow held the gun out from him, and it shook erratically in his hands. One of the lieutenants saw this, and wisely, he forced the man’s aim to the ground. Then the lieutenant ordered the excited man to go. Others were pretend-shooting and aiming at nothing in particular. And a small fight broke out over the last clip-belt.
    As David and I watched this from our perch, he tried to convince me to beg for forgiveness. To rejoin the militia. The same militia I was kicked out of in embarrassing fashion.
    “Come on, Marty. I know, it’s fucked up. What Eric Wu did was fucked up. But what are you going to do? Where are you going to go? You’re going to get yourself killed if you go out there. I know it and you know it.”
    I was rubbing my jaw. There must have been fire in my eyes.
    “He doesn’t want me in his stinking militia, and I don’t want to be in it. I’d rather die out there on my own than die at the command of that asshole! You saw what he did and you see what he’s doing. You can see for yourself. He’s not thinking clearly. None of them are thinking clearly. If you had any damn sense, you’d join me . If you go with them, you’re as good as dead!”
    “If we go out there we’re as good as dead, Marty! You have seen the bodies just as I. This militia is all that we have. It’s all that any of us have!”
    My friend was damn near in tears. The thought of leaving the militia was unbearable for him. As we stood there, we both knew. This was the last time we were going to see each other. He was going his way, and I was going mine.
    I moved my lips to say something, but nothing came out. David rotated his strap bag to his chest and reached inside.
    “I want you to have these,” he said. “You’re going to need them. And I don’t want to hear anything about it.”
    David pulled out a folded hunting knife and a classic 9mm, and handed me both. The handle of the knife was black with a red triangular pattern in the middle. The gun was the color of charcoal and it reflected the light of the sun. They both were beautiful.
    “I found the gun on one of the bodies in Alphabet City, and the knife, it was a gift from my father. He gave it to me for my twelfth birthday…If you’re going to be an idiot, you’ll make out better if you’re an armed idiot.”
    I smiled. I couldn’t help it. I was also impressed he had snatched such a gun without any of us knowing.
    “I’ll never forget you, David.”
    “You better not.”
    We embraced. It was a little awkward with the weapons in my hands, but that was ok.
    “I have to go,” he said.
    And with that, David ran away, like a cop responding to a scene. In a matter of seconds, he disappeared from my sight as he went down the stairs. I could only hear the clank clank clank of metal dimming towards the