He needed to escape.
The thought arrived out of nowhere and felt ludicrous. Something out of a movie. How the hell could he even think about getting out? The cells still had physical locks that required a key. The guards shackled everyone any time the inmates went anywhere. Before Eric, the last guard who’d entered his cell block—it had been late lunch yesterday, had he really missed dinner?—had given Max a look of hidden terror before handing Max his food tray.
As he put things into perspective, he realized that these might very well be his last days on earth. So far, he’d spent them wishing he could find a dark hole to crawl into and hide. Yet some part of him kept screaming at him to break the rules again.
Taking another deep breath, Max dug deep to find steel in his constitution. He thought of Kathleen, how they’d been so stupid and brave when they were young, and figured enough was enough. He could either die here, or die out there. He’d take his chances out there.
After his breakfast didn’t arrive, his decision to escape had hardened into something that must happen. Now that he knew something was wrong, he couldn’t unsee the problems. Each passing moment made him even more concerned for his life.
It took three days for Max to finally figure out the current prison rotation schedule. Eric was one of the remaining guards who seemed to have a family. By the dark circles under Eric’s eyes, Max figured the poor man would have vanished too if he wasn’t banking on a paycheck. A couple of the other remaining guards were mean and tough. Definitely ones that Max didn’t want to have a scuffle with. None of them gave friendly advice like Eric did, or waved hello like Eric did whenever Max’s food tray was finally brought to him. Eric was a good man. A kind man. The one that Max would have to take advantage of.
He knew Eric would be on morning rotation that day. As soon as Max knew Eric would be coming down at any moment with his breakfast, he flung himself onto his bed and began to clutch at his stomach and moan as if in agony. The other inmates down the row yelled at him to shut up. Max ignored them and continued to fuss.
He had to be careful. There was only one opportunity for him to do this. He wouldn’t have another shot. Eric, while being a kind guard, was still a guard. Given the chance and the realization of Max’s intentions, he’d beat Max to a pulp or even shoot him if it came down to it. To the guards, Max was just another bad dog. If he put together that Max was trying to escape, Max knew Eric would throw him into the dark pit of solitary confinement. Then, who knew how long he’d be stuck down there? Probably forever. No one would remember he was down there to pull him out.
Max let out another long, dramatic moan. He heard the jingle of keys and the clunky footsteps of a man wearing heavy boots. Max peeked out to see Eric standing in front of his cell with a tray in hand.
Max moaned once more.
Eric paused and then said, “Hey, are you okay?”
“Something doesn’t feel right,” Max said through gritted teeth. He twisted too hard to the side and let out a real gasp of pain. Not everything was faked. “My stomach hurts really bad. I think Colin ruptured something.”
“Where’s the pain at?” Eric asked. The keys were poised in his hands.
“Everywhere,” Max said and realized that would be unlikely to get someone’s help, “but mostly in my lower stomach. Like near my kidneys. Do you think I have internal bleeding?”
Eric’s face looked panicked.
“You gotta take me to the hospital,” Max urged. He sensed victory. “Something is really wrong with me. I could be dying.”
“Okay, okay, hang on.”
“Hurry! I feel my whole body is seizing up!”
Eric muttered frantically under his breath and set the food tray on the floor. He fumbled with the keys and opened up the cell door. He rushed inside and knelt next to Max, putting a hand on Max’s shoulder. “Hey, you’re gonna be okay. Let me help you up and—”
Max grabbed Eric’s head and slammed it into the concrete wall. Eric let out a soft gasp before Max repeated the action. Eric crumpled down into the bed and halfway on top of Max, his eyes rolling up in the back of his head.
“I’m so sorry,” Max whispered as he eased out of the bed. He pulled Eric into the bed and covered him up with the blanket. “You’ll be home with your son soon. I promise.”
Then he slipped to the cell door and closed it behind him, locking Eric in his place. When he pulled it out of the lock, the key bit into his palm. There was no going back now.
4
By the time they rounded the corner and the hotel came into view, Matthew had recounted everything that had happened to him and his father during their journey to get back home. Kathleen had listened to his whole tale with wide eyes and rapt attention. She uttered small sounds of approval and disbelief as Matthew told her about his choices over his journey. He couldn’t help but feel proud of himself about everything he’d accomplished, but at the same time he was also relieved to see that his story had distracted Kathleen from overthinking about the bikers and her earlier experience. Her cheeks now bloomed red from exertion. The sickly pallor of shock had been washed away. The tension had eased out of her shoulders. She no longer looked so hunched over, as if braced for an attack. Matthew continued to talk, and he watched with quiet joy as his wife seemed to come back to life.
He wanted to ask her about her journey, but whenever he left an opening in the conversation for her to fill, she avoided it. He had no doubt that her own journey had been just as harrowing as his. They had time. When she felt more comfortable, he’d ask again about what she’d been through to get back home.
At the end of the lane, he saw his family hunched in a tight circle. Jade stood close by with her attention focused on the rustic hotel. Patton’s dark head popped up, and then suddenly he was running toward them. When he reached them, he flung himself into Kathleen’s arms. She let out a startled cry. Her bicycle clattered to the ground. She clutched at Patton as though he were her lifeline.
Matthew smiled softly upon seeing their reunion and met Kathleen’s tearful eyes. He knew the feeling. He’d been so terrified for the safety of his children that when he finally saw them safe and sound, he had a hard time trusting it was true. Now that his family was safe and whole once more, he wanted to cling to them and never let them go.
Matthew heard gravel crunch behind him, and he turned to see Allison. She had her hands shoved in her pockets and looked somewhat shy, as if she was intruding. Matthew wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m so proud of you,” he whispered in her hair. “I know you took care of your mother.”
Allison nodded, even though she shivered against him, as though her fear was finally leaving her. Behind her, Ruth and David watched their reunion with pride. Matthew wanted to bask in this moment forever. They were all together. Yet, even though he knew they were safe, the threats of the outside world still sat in the back of his mind.
He pulled back from his daughter and looked at Kathleen and Patton. “Let’s go inside,” he said to his family. “We have a lot to discuss.”
Kathleen nodded, let go of Patton, and stood up. She picked up her bicycle, and Patton grabbed the one Matthew held. Letting out a shaky sigh, she said, “I’m so happy to see everyone is safe.”
“Grandma and I tried,” Patton cut in, sounding unnaturally stern. “We really tried to keep the hotel safe.”
“You did a great job, honey,” Kathleen said, and she leaned down to push hair off of Patton’s forehead.
Patton still looked concerned, as if Kathleen had misunderstood him.
“C’mon, buddy,” Matthew said, gesturing to Ruth and David. “Let’s get Grandma and Grandpa inside. We need to figure out our next move.”
Patton turned the serious look to his father and nodded in agreement. Matthew felt a tightness in his throat and he wondered where his carefree son had gone. While Samuel hadn’t succeeded in taking the hotel from them, he had stolen other irreplaceable things. Matthew only hoped that Pat
ton could get back his youthful joy.
They walked toward Ruth, David, and Jade. Kathleen hugged Ruth and David. Ruth laughed and brushed her tears away. Again, Matthew felt whole. As if now that his family was back together, he’d do anything to keep them that way. He watched Kathleen’s brow furrow as she seemed to consider Jade, who was watching the family reunion from a short distance. He knew that look. Kathleen was displeased.
“We need to have a family meeting,” Matthew said, looking away from his wife. “I need to sit down and go through what we need to do next.”
“Me too,” David said. “My feet hurt, and I think it’s a great idea to make a plan. How does the lounge sound?”
“Perfect,” Matthew said, and he took up the rear as the Riley clan began to walk inside. Jade turned to follow them inside, but Kathleen stood and crossed her arms, blocking her path. Matthew felt her nudge his arm, and then she said in a low tone to Jade, “This is a family meeting. We need our privacy.”
Jade looked confused and a bit sad. “Oh,” she said, as if struggling to find the right words. “Would it be okay if I provide some input? Help out a little?”
Kathleen’s eyes narrowed, and she scowled. “Are you part of the Riley family?” she asked.
David had paused in the doorway and was watching the exchange. Matthew felt the tension in the air and knew from his wife’s tells that her distrust was swiftly morphing into anger.
“No,” Jade said and swallowed hard.
“Then you won’t be coming to our family meeting,” Kathleen said, as if that settled the matter. “Don’t you have someplace else you need to be? Your own family to find?”
Matthew cleared his throat, but David stepped in. “Now, Kathleen,” he began, “I think we can include Jade in our discussion. We will have to figure out her role in all of this, too.”
“Why?” Kathleen demanded. She looked to Matthew as if begging for his support.
Matthew’s mouth went dry. His mind went blank. He didn’t know what to say or even what to do. A couple of hours earlier, he would have backed Kathleen one hundred percent. That was before he knew that Jade had helped David when his father was sick and dying on the road from a gunshot wound. It also happened to be Jade who had caused said gunshot wound in the first place when she hadn’t gotten her way.
“Let’s focus on what’s really important, here,” David continued, talking to Kathleen as if she might be easily spooked. “For now, Jade is part of this group. We should get her input. It doesn’t make sense to exclude her.”
“It doesn’t make sense to include her,” Kathleen snapped back. “From what Matt told me, she isn’t exactly trustworthy.”
Jade’s cheeks flared red. “I know I did wrong before, but I plan on making it up. To everyone.” Her fingers sought the fringe of her jacket, and she began rubbing the leather.
“She saved my life, Kathleen,” David said.
“From what I hear, she was the reason your life was in danger in the first place,” Kathleen countered. Her voice rose in anger.
“Kathleen…” Matthew began.
“She deserves to have a say,” David said. “Yes, she did injure me, but as the wounded party, if I think she has value to our group, then you have no reason to doubt my logic.”
“Please,” Matthew said to Kathleen softly. “We can’t turn on each other.”
Kathleen went quiet and pursed her lips. She looked at Matthew with those narrowed eyes for a moment as if sizing him up. “Fine,” she finally said and then pushed past them all to enter the hotel.
David gave Matthew a pointed look.
“She’s been through a lot,” Matthew said, suddenly feeling the need to defend his wife.
“I’m sure she has, but Matt, I wasn’t lying when I said we needed to focus on what was important. Safety. Survival. That needs to be first and foremost in our discussion. Not turning on others.”
“I know, Dad,” Matthew said and motioned for Jade to follow them inside. He felt on the fence about everything. The fight that had almost exploded between his wife and father left him uneasy. He didn’t trust Jade, either, but she was very street-smart compared to Matthew’s book-smart. If David could trust her for now, so could Matthew. For now.
When Matthew stepped inside the hotel’s main lounge area, his eyes were immediately drawn to the bullet hole in the wall where he’d missed shooting Samuel. Had that been today? It seemed like a lifetime ago. In reality, it had been earlier that afternoon. He’d almost killed someone.
Jade eased past him and settled in one of the wingback chairs with her hands clasped in front of her. She’d gone very still, as though she were a rabbit in the fox’s den.
David sat next to Ruth on the love seat. Matthew made his way over to where Kathleen sat on the sofa. Patton was sitting cross-legged at her feet, and Allison sat in the middle. Matthew sat on the other side of Allison and gave her a comforting smile. He didn’t like the listless way she looked back at him, as if she were a ghost. As soon as he sat, he felt his legs relax and nearly groaned in relief. He had been on his feet for so long. Then he spread his hands and began to speak, as though delivering some kind of speech.
“I know we’ve been through a lot,” he began, “and I know that our experiences have made us all scared and worried about what we need to do next. We need to think of our home as our castle, and our castle needs to be fortified. When we bought this place, we knew it had a lot of issues that needed to be fixed. This place hadn’t been well-maintained.”
“Some of the doors have cracks in them,” Ruth murmured. “There’s water damage and rot.”
“Right,” Matthew said and fought the urge to rub his face with his hands. He didn’t want anyone to know how overwhelmed he suddenly felt. “We need to find all those cracks and patch them up. Honestly, we need to make a list of everything that needs to be fixed. Secondly, we need to create some kind of perimeter fence.”
“That’s a good idea,” Kathleen piped up. “Right now, it’s only there as a property marker.”
“It will help us know when people are coming here,” Ruth added and then said in a stronger voice. “I don’t want to be surprised by anyone else again.”
David took her hand and squeezed tightly. “We also need to know what our food supply looks like,” he said. “There’s a lot of mouths to feed, and chances are our supplies won’t last us long. If we can take an inventory of what we have, we can make a plan about meals and how long we can stretch everything out.”
“Grandma and I got some food from the grocery store,” Patton piped up. “We’ve been smoking and dehydrating meat and canning everything else. Plus, there was an abandoned van on the side of the road. We took some food from that too.”
“It’s good to know we have food,” Matthew said, even as he watched Kathleen’s face darken at the mention of the delivery van. “I assume you got a lot of perishable items?”
“From the van, yes,” Ruth said. “I also got a lot of rice and boxed food from the store.”
Matthew began to feel a little bit better knowing that. “That’s great. Now that we know we have food for the time being, we can focus on making sure the hotel feels safe for everyone. I want us to be comfortable and settled here. We shouldn’t be looking over our shoulders in our own home as though we’re expecting to be attacked. We’ll need to take inventory of everything that needs to be fixed, starting with those windows.” He pointed to the picture windows.
“Agreed,” Kathleen said. “Then we need to find a way to craft a protective fence that keeps people away and off our property.”
“We could build a gate across the road,” Matthew said, latching onto her enthusiasm. “Then we’d be able to completely control who comes and goes.”
Kathleen nodded and grinned at him, and Matthew felt as though it had been ages since he’d seen her smile like that.
“I’m in agreement,” David said. “Making this hotel our fortress is a priority.”
“I’m glad you ag
ree, Dad,” Matthew said. He felt ready to tackle the tasks at hand now that they had a plan. Just thinking about creating a fence to enclose them and keep their property safe from the dangerous outside world made him ready to jump up and start working at once.
“But I think we should be careful that we aren’t keeping people away entirely,” David finished.
Matthew paused for a moment, startled at what he’d just heard. His father, the one who was suspicious of everyone, was cautioning them to not be too wary of others?
“Why wouldn’t we want to keep people away?” Kathleen demanded. “I don’t want anyone showing up at the hotel and threatening us.”
Matthew felt the tension in the air spark again and foresaw another argument brewing between his father and his wife.
“Well, think about it,” David said. “We’ll need food supplies soon. We’ve already pointed out and agreed that we will need to somehow restock. I know for a fact that no one here has the first idea on how to garden or farm. Therefore, we will eventually need to seek out the support of other people with those skills. If we completely isolate ourselves, we won’t survive long.” David shrugged and met Matthew’s eyes as if daring Matthew to disagree with him. “I’m just as nervous of other people as you are, Kathleen, but there’s also safety in numbers.”
“It’s not safe if we don’t know who those people are!” Kathleen said.
“We’re from the city,” David continued. “We have to recognize that we don’t know how to survive in the country. While we’ve lived in this area for a while, we really don’t know a lot about the land. We don’t know what can and can’t grow here.” David paused, as if he’d suddenly overwhelmed himself, but then took a deep breath as if to strengthen his resolve. “It’s pragmatic to realize that we will need help later on. We should protect ourselves, of course, but not to the point of isolation. If we make enemies, no one will help us when we’re actually in dire straits.”
EMP Catastrophe | Book 2 | Erupting Danger Page 3
