Free MiNRS by Kevin Sylvester Page A

wheels.
    “Mandeep, help me unlock these. We’ll roll him, or wheel him with us as fast as—”
    “No,” Alek said. The sound of his voice shocked me.
    “Alek, we have to go!” Mandeep said.
    He shook his head violently. “No.”
    I ignored him and reached down to unlock the wheels. His fist slammed into the back of my head, and I saw a yellow flash in front of my eyes. I braced myself for another blow, my head swimming.
    “Alek! Stop!” Mandeep yelled. I heard his fist connect with Mandeep, and she fell back, sending a cart of medical tools skidding across the floor.
    I got up and peered through the bursts of light. Alek was swinging wildly. I lunged at him, wrapping my arms around his chest.
    “Alek, we’re all dealing with stuff. But you need to come with us. We need to go now!”
    He was much stronger than I expected, especially for someone who hadn’t eaten in days. He flexed his arms, breaking my hold, then spun and swung at me. I ducked just in time, but I slipped and fell back.
    Alek reached down. He grabbed a small hammer, like the kind doctors use to make your knee kick, and for a horrible instant I was sure he was going to attack me.
    Instead he began pounding one of the wheels, bending the metal support until it was a twisted useless mess. Then he destroyed the others. Each time he thought we were coming to stop him, he would glare and swing the hammer in the air.
    “No,” he said, standing up. He threw the hammer away and then lay back on his cot, staring at the poster.
    Mandeep’s lips quivered. “Alek? We can’t just leave you.” She looked at me. “Christopher, we can’t just leave him.”
    I took a deep breath. I took a step toward the cart, but Alek kicked out with his good leg, crunching my outstretched fingers.
    “No,” he murmured.
    “Alek, there are people out in that tunnel who are your family now. We’ll help you get through this.”
    I hoped the word family might tweak something, some kind of reaction. It didn’t. He was as still as stone.
    “Alek, please.” I stepped toward him. He leaped from the cot, screaming and swinging wildly again. Mandeep and I retreated back through the door. Alek slammed it closed, then we heard him topple a large cabinet in front, jamming it shut.
    I leaned my head on the door. I could hear Alek shuffling back to his cot.
    “Alek.”
    He didn’t answer.
    I turned my head and stared at the blast door. Someone was on the other side. They’d come through eventually, and Alek would die if he were left here alone.Maybe that was what he wanted? I pushed the infirmary door as hard as I could, but it wouldn’t budge.
    Mandeep put her hand to her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. She leaned against the wall of the tunnel.
    “Alek,” I said. “There’s food in the fridge. There’s water in the taps.”
    I debated my next words. It was a risky move, but I had to leave thinking there was at least a chance I wasn’t condemning him to die alone.
    “I know you’ll want to follow us once you’ve had a chance to think about it. I’ll make us easy to find. We’ll go down Tunnel 3 and then take the third subentrance on the right. Then we will alternate left and right six times, that’s three each, starting with a left turn. Remember the threes. You can find us.”
    Nothing.
    I turned and took Mandeep’s hand, and we ran to catch up to the others.

Chapter Ten
    Chase
    We caught up to the group quickly. Too quickly. We needed to move faster.
    I sprinted ahead of them and waved for them to follow.
    We made the first planned turn into the third shaft entrance on the right. This was a smaller tunnel, one of the exploratory holes that hadn’t been fully dug out by an excavator yet.
    A tall adult would probably bang his head on the ceiling, but we passed through easily. There were no emergency lights in these smaller holes, so we had to flick on our headlamps.
    I looked back. Finn was bending down to hold Darcy’s hand. He didn’t look