I Took a Walk Episode Eight Walking in Air
Earning this bonus could cost Jimmy his life
Jimmy emerged from the side of a cliff, his feet yards above the ground. That gap so surprised him that his feet went out from under him.
He landed on his back shoulder inside the cliff, but with yards between him and the ground. Lying there in midair, he knew he looked strange, but turning his head, he saw no one near, just dried-out scrub. Again, he began the careful process of rolling over, then standing up. Between being able to see and now having practice at it, he did it far faster.
The first thing he noticed was the concrete pipe coming out of the cliff two yards to the left and one yard below him. That had been the source of the light. One yard up, he saw a guard rail. In all likelihood, the pipe he had been walking in drained into a storm sewer for that road but didn’t appear to be one itself.
What had it been?
That would be a puzzle for later.
Bringing up his heads-up display and its step meter, he got a shock. He had walked eight miles. He must be on the other side of the ridge from the lab. This didn’t look like any place he drove through heading to work.
“What in the hell am I to do now?”
The answer to that was he would die unless he figured something out in, he glanced at the power readings, roughly ten hours and seventeen minutes. Shifting his eyes, he took note of what was around.
Down below, off in the distance, he could see several roads. To what he guessed to be north on higher ground were several more roads and scattered houses. One road was climbing, and it looked like further up it, stood a small town at about the same altitude he was at.
He chose that direction, well aware of the panic he was likely to cause, a man in a space suit walking in thin air, but saw no other option.
Had there been a company logo on his suit?
Most stuff there had them, but he didn’t remember seeing one.
No, they would not have put one on a suit he would wear to steal secrets.
At a guess, the town was a four-mile walk.
Damn, Greave.
Damn, Eastland.
And damn him for being desperate enough to take the job.
He got a mile before being spotted by someone. A car stopped on the road he would converge with, and someone got out. At nearly a mile to his right, he could not really make them out.
He kept walking.
Another car joined the first.
He watched the driver of the first approach the second parked car and confer with that driver. Then the first one got in his car and the two cars moved along the road, keeping pace with him. Before long, another car joined them and then another.
At roughly the halfway point to the town, and after he had converged to within a quarter of a mile of that road, a cop car showed up.
That decided it for him. He turned and began moving in that direction.
There was a flash.
He hadn’t realized that they had guns drawn.
More flashes.
Fuck, they were shooting at him.
He turned back toward the town.
The muzzle flashes increased. Not only were both cops shooting, but people from two of those cars were out and firing.
This was insane. All he wanted to do was get low enough to try to communicate his need to them.
Maybe he would have better luck in the town.