Free Flamethrower by Maggie Estep Page A

network of tiny blue veins.
    “Hi,” Ruby said.
    The man didn’t look up. A phone started ringing. Ruby wondered if the man was even alive.
    On the eighth ring, the man reached for the phone, answered, and scribbled something down. He finally glanced up at Ruby and immediately focused on her forehead.
    “I need to get a car. Quickly,” Ruby said, sticking her chin in the air, trying to act as if a gashed forehead was the most normal thing in the world.
    “Where to?” he said after a long pause.
    Ruby told him she was going to New York Hospital, in Manhattan.
    “Gotta make a stop first on Beach Seventy-ninth and pick up my friend,” she said.
    The man didn’t seem happy about any of it, but he eventuallyconceded that if she’d wait outside, a car would be ready in five minutes.
    Ruby went to stand outside. She pulled her phone out and finally got a signal. She dialed Jody’s number. It rang then went to voice mail.
    “This is Ruby. I’ve found Tobias. At the house in Rockaway. He’s not in very good shape, and neither am I. We’re going to the hospital now. Could you please call me back immediately?” Ruby flipped the phone shut.
    A white Lincoln Town Car pulled up to the curb. The driver was a young woman with curly red hair.
    “What happened to you?” she asked as Ruby settled into the backseat.
    “Fell,” Ruby said.
    “That ain’t from no fall. Someone beat you up?”
    “Sort of. Thought I was someone else,” Ruby said.
    The woman grunted. They drove the few blocks to Tobias’s house in silence.
    “I have to go in and help my friend walk out. He’s sick,” Ruby said as the car pulled over. She enjoyed the vast understatement.
    The driver grunted again.
    Ruby went inside the moldy little house, calling out to Tobias as she opened the door.
    There was no answer.
    “Hey, Tobias?” Ruby walked back through the kitchen and into the little room where she’d first found him. The room still smelled like him, but he wasn’t there.
    “Hello?” Ruby called out.
    Nothing.
    “Shit,” Ruby said aloud. She went back into the living room and sat on the couch. She put her head in her hands.
    Ruby wasn’t sure how many minutes passed, but eventually the driver came in looking for her.
    “What’s going on here, lady?”
    “Sorry,” Ruby said, “my friend seems to have disappeared.”
    “You gonna pay me or what?” the driver asked, folding her arms over her chest.
    She was very short, which Ruby hadn’t noticed before.
    “I guess I still need to go to the hospital,” Ruby said.
    “You guess? Woman, you definitely need a hospital,” the driver said. “What’s the problem? You got no money?”
    “No,” Ruby protested, “I have money.”
    “I can give you a ride for free.” The driver didn’t seem to believe Ruby.
    Ruby was touched by the gesture but also a little concerned. Apparently, she looked a lot worse than she realized.
    “I appreciate that,” Ruby said softly. “I can pay you though. I’d like to go to New York Hospital. In the city.”
    The driver whistled through her teeth.
    “You know you’re talking forty bucks there, missy.”
    “That’s fine,” Ruby said.
    “All right,” the driver shrugged, “it’s your nickel.”
    Ruby tried to gather the strength to stand up.
    “What’s the matter?” the driver asked.
    “Nothing,” Ruby lied. She forced herself to stand. She wobbled a little.
    “Whoa, Nellie!” The driver came to Ruby’s side and steadied her.
    “I need to get my bike in the car.” Ruby pointed at the brown bike.
    The driver shook her head. “No, no bikes.”
    Ruby felt her bile rising. It was amazing how much anti-bike sentiment existed in the world, and while Ruby wasn’t a total maniac about trying to enlighten others about the wonders of the modern velocipede, neither did she appreciate stupid rules about where bikes could and could not go.
    “I’ll take the wheels off,” Ruby said.
    “I don’t care if you take the whole thing apart. It