Off the Wagon (Users #2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

loosely from his grip as if the man was holding a dead rat or something.
    “Oh, shit,” Carter said to himself.
    He had gotten all three of them, Carter, Barber, and the drug dealer into a heap of shit. Carter reacted on pure instinct, grabbing the barrel of the gun, and ripping it from the man’s hand.
    “I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” the drug dealer muttered before he turn tail and ran.
    Not sorry enough to stay and help obviously, he thought.
    Carter wanted to go after him, but a voice at his feet cried out in pain.
    “My leg. Oh, my god. My leg,” Barber cried. There were tears pouring down the young man’s face. “I don’t wanna die.” Blood was spurting from the open wound like someone had just released a backed up hose. He had to do something, and now.
    “This is going to hurt,” Carter said placing a hand on Barber’s thigh.
    “What’s going to hu-” But Barber started screaming before he could finish his sentence as Carter shot fire right into the hole in Barber’s leg.
    “What the fuck was that!” Barber howled.
    “I had to cauterize the wound.” Carter ripped the sleeve from his sweatshirt and wrapped it tight over the bullet hole.
    “We gotta get you to a hospital,” Carter said.
    “No!” Barber said. “No hospital. Take me to Doc. I wanna see Doc.” Of course the kid wanted to go back to the compound, his safety zone, but Carter couldn’t disagree. As much as he wanted to avoid Walt at that moment, he knew that the hospital would ask questions. Questions that Carter didn’t want to answer.
    Carter stepped out into the street in front of a silver Toyota, and with his sweatshirt already ruined, he lit up his body from the chest up. The driver tried to swerve, but there was too much traffic. A dump truck blocked him from changing lanes, and the driver slammed on the brakes at the last second, skidding to a stop just inches from Carter’s legs.
    “Get out of the car,” Carter said.
    Stunned the driver, an old woman with gray hair, just sat there.
    “I said get out!” Carter shot flames onto the hood of her car. The woman squealed and jumped out of the car as fast as her wrinkled old body could manage. She almost got hit by a sports car that was speeding in the opposite lane. The old bag shuffled for her life on weak knees, out of the street, and up onto the sidewalk.
    Carter scooped up Barber as gently as he could and placed him in the back seat of the car. He sped away for the edge of town as fast as the Toyota Tercel could handle. He didn’t bother to stop for red lights or stop signs. He had to get Barber to Doc or the kid was going to die.

Chapter 5
     
    Barber lay in the back seat bleeding all over the upholstery of a stolen car, convinced he was going to die.
    “Hang in there!” Carter shouted as he reefed on the steering wheel to make a tight corner at top speed. “We’re almost there.” Barber’s vision blurred in and out, the outlines going fuzzy, then crisp once again.
    “I don’t want to die,” Barber said.
    “You’re not going to die,” Carter said, but his words seemed hollow to Barber’s ears. There was only a hint of trepidation in Carter’s tone, but it was enough to set alarm bells ringing for Barber.
    “I never even met my mom or dad,” Barber said. “I never even looked for them.”
    “Quit talking like that god damn it! You wanna find them? I’ll help you look, just hang in there,” Carter said. Barber screamed in terror as Carter, driving down the middle of a two lane road, had to swerve to avoid an oncoming car. The other car’s horn blared as they skimmed past unharmed, but severely rattled. Carter was shaken, Barber could see that plainly, even in his near delirious state. No one drove like Carter was driving unless that person was severely worried.
    The sweatshirt sleeve wrapped around Barber’s thigh as a filthy jerry rigged tourniquet was soaked in his own blood. The windows were fogged from all the heavy breathing going on inside