Fight the Shock

by William Oday

  “Stop being such a pansy. It’s not an electric eel. Take it!”

  Zeke took the gun, holding it like a wild animal that might turn on him any second.

  Donny retrieved another pistol and set it on the dash. Next came the ammo. He checked and loaded each in turn while Zeke stared in silence.

  Next, he dug out a flashlight and a couple of rubber Elvis masks. They were late Elvis. The overweight, drugged up days. A swoop of black hair on top, huge sideburns and gold-framed glasses that were part of the mold. Poorly painted and oddly warped from the latex being too thin. The King of Rock and Roll, resurrected by some factory in China.

  He’d used them on the previous jobs and it had worked out great. Whatever footage the cameras got would show some Elvis robbing the store. And Las Vegas was a town chock full of Elvis Presleys. There were hundreds of potential suspects cruising around on any given weekend.

  He handed one over.

  Zeke let it fall in his lap. “No way. I’m not going.”

  Donny knew this was coming. “Listen, man. There’s nothing to worry about. I mean, look around. Nobody’s got power. And you heard those explosions. Sounded like bombs going off.” He flicked a finger up and down the street. “And those fires are still going. You think the cops are gonna ride to the rescue?”

  “I’m not worried about the cops! With them, you have a pretty good chance of getting arrested. Casinos are different, man. They play for keeps. You know what they did to One Shoe.”

  The tweaker. Stupid name, but that was all anyone ever called him.

  “One Shoe was an idiot. You think I’m an idiot?” The question had an edge to it. A warning.

  “No, of course not. I’m just saying it’s too dangerous. We’ll probably get shot!”

  “No, we won’t. And me not paying off Jax is a guaranteed death sentence. You said it yourself. He’ll kill me. And what do you think he’ll do to you?”

  Neither of them knew for sure, but Jax had a reputation for getting carried away. It wasn’t a stretch to think that they would both end up in an unmarked grave somewhere in the endless desert.

  “Dammit, Donny! You know I’m not cut out for this.”

  Yeah, he knew it. But he needed backup and the pathetic moron in the passenger seat was all he had.

  “I know. On any normal day, I’d never ask. But this ain’t a normal day, man. This is the first day of the rest of our lives.” He puffed up a little, thinking that last part came out pretty smooth.

  “Yeah, this is the last day of our lives.”

  So much for smooth.

  “Look, it was chaos in there when we left. It’s been a while, but you know they haven’t gotten it all sorted out yet. We have to strike now while we have the chance.”

  Donny ferreted out the baggie and pipe. The last of the meth would get them cranked up and ready for action. He let Zeke have the first hit which wasn’t something he usually did.

  They passed the pipe back and forth until it was gone.

  Donny breathed through the electric splinters, his fingers tapping the side of the gun like piano keys. All of a sudden, the rush hit and it was time. “Let’s go!”

  He wondered if he’d have to threaten Zeke into action, but the speed was working its magic, giving his buddy an extra dose of courage that would last as long as the high did.

  They slipped on the masks and got out.

  Zeke came around with the pistol in hand.

  Donny grabbed his arm. “Keep that pointed at anything but me, okay?”

  “I know that!” The gun was vibrating in his trembling hand.

  Not the best back up, but whatever. Too late to worry about it.

  “Come on.” Donny grabbed him by the shoulder and they jogged across the wide street. “If anyone points a gun at me, you shoot them. Okay?”

  Zeke didn’t answer.

  Donny spun him around so they were face to face. “You hear me? You watch my back and we’ll get out safe and sound. Ready?”

  Zeke straightened his mask so he could see better out the eyeholes. He nodded half-heartedly.

  Donny grinned, but the mask hid it. He tried the door and found it locked. Not a problem. He aimed at the glass and fired.

  They climbed through the metal doorframe and Donny clicked on the flashlight.

  The interior was still dark. People hurried here and there using their phones for light, paying no attention to anything not immediately in front of them. It looked like a tornado had blown through. There was crap everywhere. Overturned tables and chairs. Bright glints of glass reflecting off the floor. Clothes that had been left behind in the rush to get anywhere else.

  Donny noticed a particularly nice brown leather motorcycle jacket draped over a chair and snagged it as they passed. He stuffed it into the duffle bag hanging on his shoulder and continued on toward the cashier’s cage.

  They turned a corner and nearly ran over some idiot. The guy’s hands shot up and he backed away after Donny pointed the pistol at his face. He wasn’t going to kill him. Not for no reason. He wasn’t some sicko that got his rocks off by making people bleed.

  Not like Jax.

  They made it back to the cashier’s cage without incident and Donny was starting to have a good feeling like this was all going to go according to plan.

  And then he noticed all the cashiers were gone.

  He cursed under his breath as the plan started to crumble.

  They got to the cage and quickly tried all the cashier windows. All locked. And it wasn’t like he was going to shoot through bars that thick.

  He twisted the flashlight around, playing the light up and down on the inside of the window.

  There!

  The lock that held it shut.

  “This is gonna be loud.” He aimed the muzzle at it, looked away and fired. It took another shot, but it worked.

  He whooped with joy. The lock had been blown clean off. A hard shove and the window scraped up. He was considering making Zeke crawl through but decided against it. A few too many Big Macs had rounded out Zeke’s belly. The last thing they needed was him getting stuck in there.

  “Keep an eye out!” Donny shouted as he jumped up and wriggled feet-first through the narrow opening. It was tight, but he managed to squeeze through.

  He turned to the nearest register and tried to pull the drawer open. Locked. He smashed it with the butt of the pistol but got nothing out of it but a tiny dent.

  “Dammit!” he yelled in frustration and then hammered it over and over, hoping the stupid thing would open up eventually.

  It didn’t.

  It bent and crumpled and keys flew off like popcorn on a skillet. But the drawer didn’t come out.

  He yanked at it a few times, but it showed no signs of getting looser.

  The plan was definitely falling apart now.

  Donny spun around, searching for anything of value. A woman’s purse was tucked into a cabinet under the counter. He found a wallet inside with ten bucks in it.

  He slung it against the bars, positively fuming with fury. He hadn’t come back to score a few measly dollars! He wanted his money!

  “Drop the weapon!” a voice shouted from behind.

  He turned with the pistol in hand.

  The gun pointed at him fired.

  A bright spark as the bullet ricocheted off the cage.

  Another gunshot and the security guard jerked. One more and he crumpled to the floor.

  Donny turned to see Zeke with his pistol raised, smoke leaking out of the end of the barrel.

  More voices shouted in the distance. Security guards and they were coming quick.

  Donny wriggled out and jumped to the floor. He grabbed Zeke by the elbow and dragged him along. “Time to go!”

  Shots fired as they ran out the front entrance, but none found their mark.

  They sprinted across the street and Zeke stupidly headed straight for the Mino.

  “This way!” Donny shouted. If the guards came after them, he didn’
t want the Mino getting shot to pieces. They ran around to the back of the Panda Express and fell against the side of the building.

  Panting for breath, listening for sounds of pursuit.

  There were none.

  The guards weren’t coming after them.

  They slowly edged to the corner and peeked around. The street was quiet and nothing hinted at what had just gone down.

  Donny chewed on the inside of his already ruined cheek. He tasted blood and hacked out a loogie.

  What was he gonna do now?

  Jax wasn’t going to accept another excuse. And while Jax was open to payment in various forms, Donny had nothing to offer. The Mino was all he had that was worth anything and Jax would laugh in his face if he offered it as partial payment.

  Besides, the Mino was too good for that uppity bastard. There were abandoned cars left in the street. Some of them real nice, but they’d tried them a while ago. None started for some reason.

  What else was worth serious money?

  The kind that could clear his debt and then some.

  Whatever it was, he had to figure it out soon.

  Because he was running out of time.

  21

  Samantha steered the portable generator through the side door of the garage and wheeled it out to the back patio. “Ethan, I need those cords!”

  “Coming!” Her gangly son came out with thick bundles of orange cords lassoed over his shoulder. He dropped them next to the genny and started untangling the mess. “You think Mr. Hensley is right?”

  “I don’t know. It does sound like what your father told us about. And I don’t know what else would make sense.”

  She didn’t want to scare him, but she also didn’t want to downplay a situation that could very well be a catastrophe in the making. If Gary was right about it being an EMP, then they were all in trouble.

  A dagger of worry stabbed her in the chest.

  Lily was in Las Vegas with her best friend. She was eighteen and had long ago established a solid foundation of trust between them. She’d promised to stay out of trouble and be back Sunday night. Sam had every confidence that she would hold to her word.

  Even Cade had finally agreed to the trip and he wasn’t an easy sell. She’d had to talk him into it. But now, she wondered if she’d made the biggest mistake of her life by doing so.

  Lily was smart and capable, but she still was just eighteen. And if this turned out to be anything like Cade had described…

  She couldn’t let herself think about it.

  All the things that could go wrong.

  A part of her wanted to pack up this instant and drive the five hundred plus miles to get to her. A big part.

  But was that overreacting?

  Was that letting her anxiety take over?

  And then she remembered Cade’s truck wasn’t working anyway so it didn’t matter.

  If this was some kind of EMP event, then her old Volvo should still work. That meant the girls could get home. For now, she had to trust that they would do exactly that.

  “Mom?”

  Sam blinked awake and saw Ethan staring at her.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just worried.” She found the right cords and got them plugged in. The genny fired up on the first pull—she made a mental note to thank Cade for his diligent care–and they had the refrigerator, a few lights and a power strip hooked up a few minutes later.

  They settled on PB&Hs with chips for dinner so they could keep the fridge closed. The H stood for honey, and it was just as good as jelly for anyone that wasn’t a sandwich purist. She didn’t want to run the genny overnight and the fridge would stay cold enough so long as they kept the doors shut.

  Which was easier said than done.

  Ethan opened it once on accident looking for something. She grabbed the handle a few times and nearly opened it herself. And that was just during dinner. It was so automatic. Wonder what’s in the fridge. Open the fridge and look.

  So she put a strip of blue tape across the handles as a reminder.

  The kids used to have an annoying habit of opening the fridge and staring inside like it was a puzzle they couldn’t figure out. They’d stand there for minutes at a time, pulling something out, putting it back in, thinking about another option.

  It used to drive her and Cade crazy. She’d gone full mom-mode one time and took a picture of the contents, printed it out and taped the paper to the door. It had actually worked for a few days. They stared at the paper instead of standing hypnotized with the doors open.

  But a few days of eating changed the inventory and she didn’t update the picture. So it was back to fridge hypnosis.

  A few summers ago, it had seriously turned into a thing in their house. Parents versus kids. Constant haranguing and resulting resentment. Cade had finally landed on the idea that changed it for good.

  They got charged a quarter every time they got caught doing it. Ethan ended up losing his entire allowance for a month before he changed his ways. Lily wasn’t as thick-headed as her brother. It took her less than two dollars to get on board.

  “It’s your move,” Ethan mumbled through a mouth full of sandwich.

  “Right. Sorry,” she said as she glanced at the Otrio board. Otrio was like Tic-Tac-Toe, only for grown ups. Once the colored rings and pegs started filling up the board, it got really hard to keep track of all the possible moves. It rarely ended in a tie, which was something that Tic-Tac-Toe hadn’t delivered since elementary school.

  Ethan tossed a chip to Dennis who was lying on his bed in the corner of the dining room. He snapped it out of the air like a frog hunting a fly.

  “I saw that,” she said. “No feeding from the table. You know the rules.” She picked up a large green ring and held it over an empty groove in the board.

  “Sure you want to do that?”

  “Not now,” she replied and scanned the board again. He’d long ago been crowned the de facto Otrio champion of the house. She spotted where he was about to win and blocked it, clicking the ring into the groove with a triumphant smirk. “Your move.”

  He nonchalantly placed a red peg in another spot and won the game. He shrugged. “I had two ways to win.”

  They reset the board and played another round while they finished dinner. She didn’t win. They cleaned up, ran through the evening routine, and decided to go to bed early.

  Sam shut the genny down and made sure the house was locked up before retiring to the master bedroom. The master bedroom that had felt conspicuously lonely for the last two months.

  She folded the sexy black nightie and tucked it into a dresser drawer. It and the champagne would have to wait. She found the chocolate in her purse and tore open the wrapper. A few ravenous bites later and it was gone.

  Chocolate never lasted long.

  A while later, she was in bed with the covers pulled up and a Kindle in hand. Thank God it still worked. Slipping into a story was the only way to shut off her mind sometimes.

  Night was when all the worries came out of the woodwork. And there were far more than usual with Cade and Lily so far from home. And worse, she didn’t know if they were safe.

  Sam tapped the screen on and picked up where she’d left off the night before. It took six chapters before she finally got drowsy enough to fall asleep.

  She set the Kindle on the bedside table and closed her eyes.

  She could worry more in the morning.

  22

  Something jarred her awake!

  She blinked a few times, expecting to see the soft blue glow of the nightlight in the hall.

  But it was dark.

  Was she still asleep?

  The muffled sound of Dennis barking like crazy echoed down the hall from Ethan’s room.

  She was definitely awake and angry now that she realized why. That hyperactive dog was going to wake up the whole neighborhood. She grabbed her headlamp off the side table and swung out of bed. Dennis was going to get it for scaring her h
alf to death!

  Her heart hammered in her chest as she hurried to Ethan’s room to see what was the matter. She threw the door open, ready to scold Dennis for this middle of the night freakout. She’d barely opened it when Dennis pushed it open with his muzzle and burst out.

  He raced downstairs, still barking like crazy.

  And that was when she heard a knock at the front door. The knock drove Dennis into another frenzy of growling and barking.

  Who would be at the door at this hour?

  She considered going back to the bedroom closet for the Glock 19 they kept in a safe. But then thought better of it. She was overreacting. She didn’t want to open the door wielding a gun. It was probably the other neighbor Brenda Finch over to complain about something. That woman had been a pain in the ass from the minute they’d met. She was so self-centered and self-righteous that anything and everything had to be someone else’s fault. A perpetual fake smile plastered on her face communicated equal parts disdain and derision.

  And she got spiritual joy in finding something to complain about.

  The side irrigation was spraying on her sidewalk making it dangerous for her to walk on her own property. Never mind that the sidewalk was technically owned by the city.

  Ethan’s bike got left out one night and she didn’t want to attract a criminal element with easy pickings.

  They’d have to get rid of the azaleas because she was horribly allergic. How did they expect her to breathe in her home with those toxic weeds right next door?

  She found poop in her yard again and knew it belonged to Dennis. To be fair, it had once or twice.

  Sam headed downstairs, already angry about whatever that crazy woman was going to say this time. She stopped at the door, petting Dennis to calm him down and also to thank him for doing his job. She flicked on the porch light, but it stayed dark. She jiggled it a couple of times before remembering it didn’t work.

  She peeked through the blinds covering the side window and saw an agitated-looking Gary Hensley standing outside. A flashlight bouncing against his leg. She unlocked and opened the door, holding onto Dennis to keep him under control.

  “Gary, what time is it?”