Page 24 of Trigger Discipline
“I need aluminum. See if you can find some cans of soda.”
“Blake,” Gabriel called after him, tossing the block of wood by his backpack to go after him. “What are you doing?”
“Trains,” he repeated as he clung to some framing to digthrough the ruined wall. “My dad is a huge train nerd. He watches documentaries and stuff all the time. Had a whole setup in our basement.” Behind some insulation, he finally found what he was looking for. Grabbing the insulated wire, he had to remind himself that all electricity was off before he felt confident enough to tug it. The wire didn’t budge. Blake leaned his entire weight into it, yanking. It stuck for a moment before finally ripping from the wall, sending him cartwheeling backward.
Gabriel caught him with anoof. He made a face as Blake’s elbow hit him in the shoulder, but he didn’t drop him. He looked down at Blake and the kinked wire clutched in his hand.
“Thanks,” he smiled, a little bashfully. He was acutely aware that Gabriel was effortlessly holding him. His arms weren’t even straining, snugly wrapped around his waist, fingers almost touching. Swallowing, he realized they were almost close enough for their noses to touch. He could feel Gabriel’s measured breaths puffing against his face.
“I’m happy for your father,” Gabriel said, not unkindly. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
Blake tried to keep a hold of his thoughts, but he was just realizing that Gabriel had small flecks of green and gray in his eyes. “Uh, oh, right! Trains. What goes along with trains?”
Gabriel’s lips twitched. “Dastardly bad guys with impressive mustaches and a surplus of rope?”
“Close,” Blake said wryly. “But no. Telegraphs.”
It took Gabriel a minute before his eyes widened in understanding. “Morse code!”
“You said this Irving of yours was a genius, so…I thought he might have some kind of non-electricity contingency.”
Gabriel didn’t say anything. He just stared at Blake for a long moment before he seemed to come to himself, setting him back on his feet. “How did you even come to that?”
Blake shrugged, a little self-conscious now that there wasso much space between them. “Just ah…came to me, I guess.”
“What else do you need?”
Ever the soldier, once Blake gave him a list, he was on a mission. He found everything they needed.
Blake held the backpack as they stuffed the wire, block, batteries from a TV remote they found half-crushed under a lawn chair, and several cans of soda. He yanked it away from Gabriel when he tried to put it on his own back.
“We can set this up at the station,” Gabriel said, and Blake figured it was as good a place as any.
They started back in silence. The sky was beginning to darken, but it wasn’t quite there yet. Like the world was stuck between day and night. It was playing tricks on Blake’s mind; he was beginning to see phantoms in every dark corner. Sometimes, he could swear he heard the clicks and whines over the blood rushing in his ears.
He couldn’t help but be reminded of just how useless he’d been when they saw the aliens. Sure, if he had his ambulance and a few minutes of breathing room, he could come up with something half-baked. But when it came down to it, he’d had to be rescued every time. First by Tommy and then by Gabriel.
Blake had never considered himself weak or scared before. He’d been close enough to death countless times, but that had been when it was chasing someone else. And even though Blake had been willing to stand between that person and the reaper, ultimately, it didn’t matter if he lost. He didn’t know the patient on the gurney. He wouldn’t feel their loss so keenly. At worst, he might think of them with regret, or as a blow to his ego.
This was different. This wasn’t cancer or an allergic reaction. This wasn’t some earthly horror he had the training and weapons to fight against.
What was he supposed to do against a giant alien? Sedate it?
He didn’t even have a gun. Or a knife. Hell, he’d take a lead pipe. Anything to occupy his hands right now.
Instead, he was completely reliant on a stranger. A man he was literally walking through hell with, and he didn’t know if he had any allergies. Or what his favorite color was. And maybe he was finally cracking up, or that tire had rattled his brains more than he thought, but that bothered him.
Swallowing, he tried to keep his voice low. “Do you have any family?”
Gabriel side-eyed him. After a moment, his lips twitched. “Sure.”
He said it so flippantly it made Blake grit his teeth. Clearly, he was trying todosomething here. Cracking his knuckles, he breathed out of his nose.
“You’re the youngest. I’d say you have one sibling, but they’re much older than you. They went into something safe, something the family approved of. I’m guessing academia. You spent your whole life in their shadow. Every teacher you had compared you to them, so you joined the military young as a way to subtly rebel and get out from under their shadow.”
Gabriel’s boots crunched to a stop, his gun lowering slightly so he could stare down at Blake. His face was inscrutable, hazel eyes flicking across his face.
“I have a sister,” he said slowly, jaw tense. “How did you know all of that?”