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BellBottomBlues
Hacking and coughing, one of the two men that walked across the floor was hunched over in pain, struggling to keep up with the other as he could barely focus on walking. The pair of patrons had garnered the wary attention of many sets of suspicious looking eyes, but, finally made it out the front door and out of the cafe, and as Gideon rose from his seat, stretching, everyone turned back to the televisions along the wall. Even more news was coming up about more instances of violence around the city. Gideon was immediately drawn to it, but quickly sidestepped out of Jesusβ way, as he and the other two men all exited the booth after leaving their respective bits of tip money on the table. Even with their attention pulled in the way of the televisions, the four men had routes to return to and packages to deliver. After a moment to soak in the sudden rush of breaking news, the four men all made the agreement to leave with a shared nod, and began weaving between and around crowded tables. Everyone craned their neck and moved their heads, and patronsβ eyes looked right through them as if the four werenβt even there. Everyoneβs attention was on the news.
Passing through the glass doors, entering back into the relative warmth of the afternoon, Gideon was glad he had forced himself to hold back on ordering desert, as he felt just stuffed enough that it wouldnβt make him sick to cycle around the city for the remainder of the day. His friends had begun to put their protective equipment back on, fastening helmet straps as they talked about the routes they faced for the rest of the day. Carter and David began to have their usual cigarettes, as Jesus sat on his bike making sure the packages in his backpack were well arranged.
βHow do you guys do it? One cigarette fucks my whole day up, but you guys just ride around smoking one after the other.β
Carter chuckled, but David simply frowned.
βIβve been trying to stop, man. Ricky keeps telling me to hurry up and kick this shit so I can help save for our vacation, but itβs so tough. If I try cold turkey, the withdrawal makes me cranky as fuck, and if I try the patches or shit, it just makes me crave having an actual cigarette.β David said, taking the cigarette out of his mouth, taking a look at it, and reluctantly taking another drag.
βYou didnβt even smoke before the two of you got married, did you?β Carter said, not even bothering to take the cigarette out of his mouth as he spoke. His hands were busy fastening straps on his pads and bike bags as he spoke.
βNo, I did, but the stress of the whole wedding made me start just churning through these damn things, and I never have been able to slow down.β
βGood luck with tha-β Jesus had just pushed off the sidewalk on his bike, when a loud yell broke through the usual cacophony of city traffic and chatter, stopping Jesus in his tracks and making everyoneβs head turn towards the source of the scream.
Just down the sidewalk, there was a crowd growing around a bit of a developing situation. Spread eagle on the sidewalk was the man from before, who seemed to be in even worse shape than before. His chest was rising up and down rapidly as his friend held onto his hand, begging passersby to help him as he rushed to pull his phone out and get ahold of emergency services. While, many people walked by, unsure how to react, just as many had gathered around the two, with a few good samaritans kneeling by the struggling man, asking him questions or trying to give him water. Jesus had started to slowly move again, staring at the scene as same as everyone else, before he finally took all the way off, eventually disappearing from view amongst parked cars and traffic.
David, Carter and Gideon all shared a bit of a confused glance, as they all stood in one place, trying to get a peek at what going on, not wanting to be nosy enough to walk up and join it. One after the other, David, then Carter secured their packages and rode onto the street, just the same as Jesus did. Carter, who had gone down the street in the same direction as Jesus, noticeably slowed down as he tried to get a better look at the ordeal but the attempt was short lived, and he rode on, leaving just Gideon, alone, to watch from afar.
Giving into temptation, Gideon took his bike, and slowly walked down the sidewalk, towards the frazzled crowd. He knew better, he knew he had a job to be doing, but a few minutes wouldnβt hurt, would they?
Just as Gideon finally got close to the crowd, Gideon could hear a cry pierce the air, and many concerned voices followed it. Gideon froze, and watched in horror as the healthy man began to panic and cry. The sick man seemed to be lifeless now, and was ghost pale, unresponsive to even the violent shakes from his friend. Many of the onlookers had taken out their phones, and were all frantically trying to explain the situation to whatever dispatcher they had been connected to. One of the good samaritans was trying to take a pulse, but appeared to get more frazzled and frightened with every failed attempt.
Finally breaking his gaze and looking away from the rather shocking scene, Gideon realized that there was a pair of prying eyes even in a nearby alleyway. In the alley stood a white bearded man in tattered clothing, who seemed to be watching the ordeal intently, but out of anyone elseβs line of sight. Gideon could tell the old man felt the same trepidation he did, not wanting to get involved. But Gideon also felt this tugging sort of guilt for doing nothing for what could be a dying or dead man.
Theyβre all already calling ambulances for this guy. Thereβs not much left I could do any way. Iβm no life saver. Gideon tried his best to free himself from any sort of guilt or responsibility, was began on his way out of the whole situation.
Giving the old man one last look, Gideon picked up his bike, which he had dropped in surprise when he had noticed the severity of the situation. As Gideon made his quick exit from the whole fiasco, he could hear people get more frantic as it seemed the man was not getting any better, and the pitiful sobs from the manβs friend were getting even more gut wrenchingly audible, even over the cityβs worth of noise. Hopping up onto the seat, and setting his legs into the ever familiar motion, Gideonβs bike began to gain some speed, and right before he took the turn to enter the street, he gave one last quick glance back. Through a gap in the crowd surrounding them, he could see that someone had resorted to doing CPR on the fallen man, with his friend watching ever so intently. The man on the sidewalk was a sick, ghostly pale that heβd never seen before. It had to be the color of death.
Gideon felt a chill run up his spine as he quickly turned back around and got onto the road.
That had to be one of the rougher things heβd seen in his time riding around Baltham. Fights, shootings, car wrecks and housefires, Gideon had seen all of it at least once, but it wasnβt every day you see a man drop dead in the streets. Today, the world seemed filled to the brim with a lot of bad news and people dying left and right. Gideon shook his head to himself, trying to shake the thought and focus on the road. Slipping his sunglasses on, Gideon was now onto the afternoon part of his route, and traffic was sure to be as dangerous as ever.
Hope cars donβt come flying at me today. Iβm not trying to be on the news anytime soon.
As he turned the corner of the street, and entered one of many busy roads, en route to his next delivery, the situation certainly escalated to a level that he wouldnβt have believed. One deathly white hand rose from the sidewalk, eliciting a gasp from the group of people surrounding the man. Even after seemingly dying, the man had the vigor to sit straight up, and before anyone could react, grabbed his friend and yanking his collar violent towards him. What they thought was going to be a frightened embrace after a brush with death, instead turned into a violent bite, with the sickly man sinking his teeth deep into his shocked friendβs shoulder, dragging a scared scream from the whole crowd that only made it to the end of the block. Past that, no one really seemed to notice what was going on. The rest of the city continued with itβs bustling everyday routine.
