Read Off the Wagon (Users #2) for Free Online

the car, making their treacherous drive all the more dangerous.
    “We’re almost there,” Carter said, but Barber wasn’t sure if Carter was telling the truth of if he was just saying that to make him feel better. Lying on his back, all Barber could see through the side window were the tips of fir trees rushing past one after the other, but as the car began to buck over potholes, Barber knew they had gone from the smooth pavement of the main road to the bumpy gravel driveway of the compound.
    “Open the gate! Open the god damn gate!” Carter shouted as he burst out of the front seat.
    Things went fuzzy again, but the next thing Barber knew, he was in Carter’s arms, and they were hurtling across the compound yard.
    “What the hells going on out here?” And despite his current state, Barber recognized the sour tone of Walt, a voice he could pick out from a crowd of thousands.
    “Get Doc,” Carter said. “Get him now!” Carter didn’t wait for anyone to offer to let him in. He just burst through the door leading into Doc’s office and laid Barber on the bed.
    “What happened?” Doc asked as he came down the steps. “What’s going on?”
    “He’s been shot,” Carter said. There wasn’t the look of shock on his face that one might expect when presented with a gunshot victim, Doc was too used to dealing with severe injuries at the compound. Walt on the other hand was sweating and clenching his jaw from the stress of seeing his protege in such pain.
    “What did you do?” Walt asked his tone accusatory.
    “Me? I didn’t do anything,” Carter answered.
    “You did something! Otherwise he wouldn’t have been shot!” Walt pushed Carter aside and took a seat at the side of the hospital bed next to him. “Are you okay?”
    “I’ve been better,” Barber answered.
    “Everyone clear out. I need to work.” Doc approached wearing his scrubs, rubber gloves, and holding a long needle with a clear liquid in the syringe. “You too,” Doc said when Walt didn’t immediately get up and move. Doc ushered them out the door at the end of the sharp needle. Barber caught Walt getting one last peek at him before the door was closed behind him.
    “Now, this is going to sting a little,” Doc said.
    “What is it?” Barber asked.
    He was in so much pain, Barber hardly noticed the prick of the needle as it entered his skin.
    “Morphine. A lot of it.” A rush of tranquility washed over Barber as the drugs took effect, and before he could count to three, his eyelids grew heavy and the world went black.
     
    *****
     
    “I knew this wasn’t a good idea,” Walt said. “You’re not ready.”
    Dozens of other Users now gathered just outside the hospital room door, attracted by the commotion between Walt and Carter.
    “Maybe I’m not, but you can’t keep the kid penned up in here for the rest of his life,” Carter said not backing down an inch. “It’s already causing him problems. He’s socially inept without you there to babysit him.”
    “Oh, so now this is my fault?” Walt asked incredulously.
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “You didn’t have too.” Walt got right in Carter’s face.
    “Back off old man.” Carter puffed out his chest and gave Walt a good bump with it. Carter was stronger than Walt, more muscular, but Carter knew Walt had a mean streak in him that made up for any difference in size or strength.
    Walt cocked back as if he were going to hit Carter in the face and Carter reciprocated with a quick jab of his own, but they both froze in mid swing.
    “Both of you calm down!” Evan shouted.
    The lanky man had both hands held out, one pointed at Walt, and the other pointed at Carter.
    “God damn it, Evan. Let me go,” Walt said, but Evan, using his telekinesis, had a firm hold on both of them.
    “Fucking Mover,” Carter said.
    “Hey now. Watch how you speak to me or I may just freeze that mouth of yours shut too,” Evan said. “Now are you boys going to play nice? Or do I need to keep