Chapter 75: Another Post Pickup Battle

By some miracle there were no bodies on the ground when the field vanished, and the crowd dispersed. Even the boy who had attacked me managed to crawl away to receive medical attention.

There still was plenty of emotional trauma. Several young men ran out of the restaurant with tears pouring down their faces. Mall security stopped several of the men. Most were shirtless and two were carrying a collection of women's clothing. It soon became clear that the boys had lost girlfriends to the pickup.

Jason's face paled when he heard that. None of our friends had emerged from the entrance. He was muttering about going inside and finding out what was happening when Erica dashed out of the restaurant. She looked around for a moment and then ran to me.

"Mark!" she called out when she was just a couple feet away.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Letty and Milli led the others into the kitchen to hide," Erica said. "They were going to sneak out the fire exit and meet you at the car. They don't want to cause a scene."

Jason relaxed, but Jessica looked worried. "Everyone?"

Erica nodded as she took my arms. "Miki and Maurice and Matti are going out the back."

"Off to the vans then?" I suggested. "Or as the old character put it; exit, stage left even."

Erica giggled. "I never heard that."

"Oh, we must teach this child to love those old shows," Ashley said. "Can we do that tomorrow?"

"Let's just get all the bags to the vans and get out of here. Someone will figure out we have good CAP scores, and I don't want to be around for the riot that follows," I said.

"What riot?" Beatrice asked.

One of the young men who had exited the restaurant stomped forward. He got within twenty feet of Jessica. I noticed he was staring at my young friend. Just as I was about to call a warning he lowered his head and charged.

"Jessica!" I shouted as I jumped around Erica and tried to cut the young man off. He managed to avoid my tackle and clotheslined my friend.

"Betrayer!" the boy shouted. "I saw you duck out of the door just before the wall went up!"

I grabbed at the boy as he raised his right leg and prepared to stomp on Jessica. He whirled around. My body flew away as he lashed out angrily. I rolled out of the store.

As my body came to a halt I could see several more young men looking towards the store and the altercation. I could see the expressions of two darken as they began to realize what the fight was about.

"Oh shit," I muttered as I scrambled to my feet. "There are more on the way."

"Marines, we are leaving!" Jason shouted. He grabbed the man who had leveled Jessica and threw him into the store. The boy crashed into one of the displays and knocked it over.

Morgan ran over and offered a hand to Jessica. She grabbed it, and Morgan pulled her to her feet. She wobbled a bit and put a hand to her head as I took a quick moment to look around.

I could see two men begin to charge towards us. I waved to the others as I turned to face the nearest boy. "Go, go, go!"

"Not without you!" Jason shouted as he ran over to stand near me. Morgan was helping Jessica stay on her feet. They started to stagger away heading toward the mall exit.

Something struck me in the left shoulder. My arm went numb. I looked down and could see what looked like a skateboard wheel. Another missile just missed me, passing over my right shoulder. I started to backpedal, relying on my football training to stay on my feet as I avoided the missiles.

Jason jogged next to me. He had his back to the missiles as we tried to escape. The two boys had now been joined by three others. They shouted at us as we retreated.

"My girlfriend said she'd give me her virginity, and instead she lay under some forty-year-old freak so she could leave this place," one boy shouted.

"I just lost my sister to some lesbo bitch!" another boy shouted as he launched another skateboard wheel.

"You aren't even going to protect Earth!" a third said. "You'll just take all the pretty girls and leave!"

"Who cares what they take," a rather scummy looking boy shouted. "I can't even get a girl to talk to me. They all say that they want a boy with a real CAP score."

"How are Jessica and Morgan doing?" I asked.

"Jessica just stumbled. It looks like she's got a concussion," Jason said. "We're about to catch them."

"We'll need to carry her," I said. "Can you do it solo?"

"Watch me," Jason said firmly.

My friend sped up. The crowd of boys had slowed down just a little. Too many were stopping to throw things and that was slowing down the rest. I spun around and started racing after the others.

Jason came up behind Morgan and Jessica. I could hear him shout something, but the cries from the crowd made it impossible to make out. He grabbed Jessica and tossed her over his shoulder. As soon as Jessica was on his shoulder he started running faster.

Morgan dropped back just a bit. I was able to catch up to him. We were running too fast for conversation, so I just nodded as I got alongside him.

We were barely ahead of the braying pack of angry young men. I could see the doors to the parking lot. One was being held open by Erica. "Run!" the young girl shouted.

Jason got through the doorway. I heard a yip of protest from Jessica as her right arm hit the frame of the door. Morgan ran through, and Erica released the door. I turned sideways to escape the closing door.

A van pulled up, and the side door opened. "Get in!" I heard my sister shout.

We dove into the van just ahead of our pursuers. My sister slammed the door shut, nearly catching my foot. "Drive!" she shouted.

I climbed to the nearest seat and sat down before looking forward. Letty was at the wheel of the van. "Letty?" I gasped out.

"Lenore has the other van. She already picked up Ashley, Miki, Milli, Kathy, Beatrice, and Becky," Letty said.

"No Maurice?" Jason asked with a groan as he carefully laid Jessica down on the first row of bench seats.

"How is she?" I asked.

"Maurice too," Letty said. "Is everyone fine?"

"Jessica is out," Jason said. "Mark, I think we need to get her to a hospital. Or at least a doctor."

"Not one near here," I said. "The news about a pickup could result in another riot."

"I agree. We have all her insurance information at the house. I'll call Becky. She knows what the deal is on that."

I sat down and just stared straight ahead. "Can we no longer go out?"

"Mark," my sister whispered. "Stop avoiding pickups, please."

"But I'm doing it for you," I said.

Matti pointed at Jessica. The young woman stirred just a little. "But we have to stop things like that!" Matti wailed.

"Ouch, what hit me?" Jessica asked.

"You got clotheslined by a boy who lost his girlfriend in the pickup. He saw you dive out of the restaurant just before the field went up and realized you had a good CAP score," I said.

"What the fuck!" Jessica said. She groaned and put a hand to her head. "That logic gives me a headache."

"In a couple of ways," Morgan whispered.

Everyone laughed at the dark humor. Jessica had closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and then looked at me. "How bad was it?"

"You got clotheslined, and the guy was going to stomp you, but Jason took him out. Other boys threw things at us as we ran to the van," I said.

"Ugly," Jessica said. "We didn't do anything to them."

"We were here," Morgan said softly. "The first few boys were all upset because someone got picked up. We were just the physical target they choose to use to slake their anger."

"But we did nothing," Matti complained. "As soon as we realized it was a pickup Letty suggested that we get out of the way. Milli suggested hiding in the kitchen. Heck, we even managed to eat. Two of the cooks were staying out of the mess."

"Why?" Jason asked.

Matti giggled. "They said they have boyfriends who will take them someday. Actually, I think they were lovers and don't want to break up if one man doesn't want both of them."

"They were good cooks," Letty added. "I would have offered to have them meet you, but."

"I can't take two more," I said with a nod. "Although we could work to get Jason to seven point zero, he's probably able to get that score now."

"And you probably score above eight," my sister said. "I heard your card was showing a higher score than the seven five it did originally."

"I haven't retested," I said.

"Letty, turn on the radio," Morgan said. "Let's see if there is anything about what just happened."

Letty reached out with her right hand and turned on the van's radio. She hit a couple of buttons to switch to the AM bands and found a station that played local news. I recognized the voice of Brent Williams speaking. "A riot broke out at Fashion Mountain Mall after a pickup. Multiple injuries were reported, but we are still gathering information. I have Minka Byrne on site. She's been trying to get more information. Minka?"

A cheerful sounding woman took over. "Yes Brent. So far information is a bit sketchy. Everyone agrees that around eleven fifteen an interdiction field popped up at the entrance to the Happy Tiger Steakhouse. As has been the pattern, many people rushed to the field. However, that appears to have been a rather peaceful demonstration. Reports indicate that when the field lifted everyone was able to move away."

"So no reports of trampling deaths?" Brent asked.

"Not this time," Minka agreed. "People are starting to figure out that nothing can breach a barrier. I did have one witness tell me that there was a fight that resulted in someone thrown against the barrier, but so far I haven't found anyone else able to confirm seeing a fight."

"But you have said that this incident was different," Brent said. He sounded confused.

"Yes. The riot started after the pickup. I spoke to a clerk for the Eternally Teen clothing store. They are set up just across the mall corridor from the steakhouse. Miss Ferguson said that several people took shelter in her store at the start of the pickup. They did not join the rush towards the barrier," Minka said.

"We were seen?" Jason asked.

"That sounds a bit unusual, but hardly the reason to start a riot," Brent said.

We heard an exasperated snort. "I said the riot started afterwards. Once the field came down the crowd dispersed, and people started walking out. Many were young men who had lost girlfriends or wives to the pickup. They were streaming out when a girl ran to the people who had taken shelter in the Eternally Teen store. I have Miss Ferguson to say more."

A new voice spoke. This one had a really slow speech pattern and sounded bored. "It was like strange even from the start. I mean this group didn't look at the clothing. First there was an old dude, like my dad's age. But he had his arms around two women. One was a blond his age, and she was very pregnant. The other was in her early twenty's I think and brunette. Cute I guess. She was also pregnant."

"So a man out with friends?" Minka asked interrupting the girl.

"I don't know, I never talked to them. There were five others, and I noticed things here. There was one teenage girl. She was pretty and dressed in designer clothes. But there were two guys there and she didn't look at either one. I heard her say something about a Milli and Maurice, but the crowd was getting noisy," Miss Ferguson said.

"She noticed you Jessica," I said.

Jessica groaned. "I wish she was the only one. My head hurts right now."

"Was she with the others?" Minka asked.

"Definitely. The other four were two couples. Both were cute. I did see that the taller boy was with a woman who had to be at least twenty, and I doubt he was seventeen. I guess that's legal, but a woman that old with a boy..." Miss Ferguson said.

"You think he had a good score and somehow missed the pickup?" Minka asked.

"Someone did. The riot started when one of the boys leaving the restaurant charged at the girl," Miss Ferguson said.

"Wait, you are saying that it was the girl who was attacked first?" Minka asked.

"That fucking bitch dove out of the restaurant just before the wall went up. She could have taken me and Yvette. Instead some forty-year-old business fucker is already getting Yvette pregnant," a bitter boy's voice cut in.

We could hear the sounds of a struggle over the radio. It continued for a moment and then Brent Williams' voice spoke. "Sorry about that, it appears that an as yet unidentified young man has interrupted Minka. We'll try to get back to her in a moment. For now we'll take a short break and hear from our sponsors. Again, this all relates to a riot that occurred at the Fashion Mountain Mall."

The jingle of a commercial for the local dairy consortium started playing. "Wow," Jason said.

"This will be interesting, but it shows that people are already getting frustrated," I said.

"Yeah," Letty said. "And I hope you understand why they are frustrated.

"Doesn't mean its right they attack us," Morgan said. "We did nothing wrong at the mall."

"We were there," I pointed out. "We became the symbol upon which they tried to take out all of their frustrations."

The commercial changed. We now were hearing the voice of one of the local politicians. The man was asking for support in pushing a new law forcing people to wear the little CAP buttons that displayed a person's score.

"No way," Jason said. "That is just a way to say that we are targets. It's getting worse too."

"I know. I'm beginning to agree with Matti and think we should start looking for a way to be picked up, but I don't want to steal her opportunity to end up with Jessica," I said.

"What does happen if she tests once we are off Earth?" Jessica asked.

"I don't know," I admitted as the commercial came to an end.

"Welcome back," Brent Williams said over the radio. "Once again, if you just joined us, the big news for the day is that a riot broke out at Fashion Mountain Mall. The reports we now have say the riot actually started after a Confederacy pick up was completed. We have Minka Bryne on the scene, and she has been talking to witnesses. Minka?"

"Yes Brent," Minka's voice called out. "Sorry about that incident earlier. The young man was being wheeled out of the Eternally Teen store on a gurney, but actually broke the straps holding him down in order to grab at my microphone. I did ask Miss Ferguson, and she said he was the first to start fighting."

"So the fight was started by a young man who attacked the people standing in the Eternally Teen store?" Brent asked.

I pulled out my phone and activated the internet browser function. "Mark?" Ashley asked quietly.

I ignore her as Minka continued to speak. "That is what appears to have started the riot. The boy attacked the one girl. Miss Ferguson told me that the two teen boys worked together to pull the boy off their fallen friend."

"You said he was on a gurney?" Brent asked.