Fallen Earth | Book 1 | Remnants

by Morrow, Jason D.

  “Don’t,” he said.

  “But he’s going to kill him!”

  “Do you think charging after him in the street is going to change anything?” he whispered. “You will just get yourself killed.”

  Gwen yanked her arm away from him, but she didn’t run toward the street. Her eyes stung with tears and quiet sobs escaped her lips. “Please,” she whispered. “Please...”

  Savage dragged Mayor Roberts to the middle of the street. The white-haired man sunk to his knees, his glasses slipping down to the end of his nose. If he was saying something, Gwen couldn’t hear it.

  Savage began yelling. “If you’re out there, know that I am done playing games! I’m done waiting for you! If you want to end this, then come down here! Pay for what you’ve done!” He lowered his pistol and pointed it at the mayor’s head.

  “Please,” the mayor said. “Please. I will do anything. I will say anything. Do you want me to go out there and look for Leland? I will. We’re friends. He will listen to me!”

  “Don’t lie to me,” Savage said. “I hate liars.”

  “Please! You don’t have to do this.”

  Savage pulled the trigger and the man fell to the ground, a pool forming around his body.

  There was nothing left for Gwen to throw up or she would have done it all over the prisoner’s shoes next to her. Instead, she closed her eyes and buried her head in her hands.

  She didn’t know if her dad was out there. If he was, he was running out of time to do something, but he was just one man against fifty. Where was the backup? Why was the power out? Why had prisoners taken over Hope?

  Gwen had never felt more helpless than at this moment. Not in her entire life.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Leland watched in horror as the mayor was executed in the middle of the street. There was little he could do from this vantage point. It was obviously an attempt to get Leland’s attention and try to draw him out from the woods.

  He didn’t think Henry had ratted him out. The other possibility was that Savage was simply guessing. Perhaps he had no idea whether Leland was nearby or not. Maybe he just sensed it. From this distance, he had seen plenty of commotion in the town, but he still hadn’t seen Henry and he hadn’t seen his daughter. He didn’t know whether to take comfort in this or to be even more worried. It had only been about twenty minutes, but those minutes went by at a snail’s pace. It had felt like hours since Henry had left.

  Leland hated being stuck in the woods, unable to do anything. He felt useless. He felt like a coward. He felt like he was hiding from the enemy and too afraid to run in and save his daughter. But he didn’t even know if his daughter needed saving.

  It was strange seeing Savage again. He had seen the man plenty of times on the news, and though face-to-face contact had only been a matter of minutes, it had changed the course of both of their lives. Those few minutes etched in Leland’s brain as though they had happened just days ago. It had been five years. That was five years Savage spent stewing in a cell, waiting for the day where he would get his revenge. The prisoner had probably never dreamed of such a day where he could actually take over Leland’s small town and goad him into fighting him in the streets.

  This wasn’t right. Nothing about this was right. The whole night had been bizarre. It was like something out of a nightmare or some screwed up television show. These things didn’t happen in real life.

  Leland didn’t have much to say about the massive power outage, but he knew that it had to be big if there was no backup by now. Any other day of the week if there had been a massive breakout at the prison, police would have stormed in. SWAT teams would’ve converged on the town before they ever had a chance to pull anyone out of their beds. The only executions might have happened during a standoff against a whole army of police officers. But as it stood, there was just one police officer. One against a large number of prison inmates. Leland had no doubt there would be more executions, but if his daughter was down there, he knew Savage wouldn’t kill her until Leland was able to see it happen. He had to tell himself this over and over. It was hardly a reassurance, but it was enough to keep him rooted to this spot where he needed to wait for the moment.

  Leland had stolen the only thing important to Savage, and it didn’t matter whether or not it had been intentional. Savage saw justice as an eye for an eye. There was no telling what they were willing to do to Leland’s daughter before he finally showed up to try and save her.

  The thought made him boil inside. He wanted to kill every last one of them for their part in this takeover. Maybe most of them didn’t even know why they were there or what they were doing, but they all had a part in it. Their ignorance did not absolve them from their crimes.

  All Leland needed was a glimpse of his daughter or the signal from Henry. A thumbs-up to let him know that she was there, or a thumbs-down to let him know he hadn’t found her. Either signal would help Leland determine what he needed to do next.

  A thumbs-up was good in that his daughter was alive, though it would mean she was probably held captive. A thumbs-down, however, would not change his position at all. Whatever the case, he needed Henry to come back as soon as possible to give him a headcount and approximate locations of each of the prisoners.

  Leland wondered what he would be doing right now if Henry hadn’t been with him. It was a strange turn of events working with the fugitive rather than trying to take him in. Of all the bizarre things he had seen as a police officer throughout his career, he wouldn’t have imagined this in a million years. He knew he couldn’t fully trust Henry—he was still a prisoner after all—but there was something about the boy that made Leland want to trust him.

  During his time as a police officer, from day one until this moment, Leland had taken two lives. Most officers in the course of their careers never even pull the trigger while on duty. Having killed two people, Leland had let more than his fair share of bullets fly. In the case of Jim Savage’s daughter, the death had been an accident. He obviously would have never targeted a child, but having discovered such a high profile fugitive, Leland’s judgment had been impaired, and he had made a stupid decision. In the other shooting death, Leland’s judgment had not been impaired. In fact, his mind had never been clearer.

  The killing had been early in his career. He and another officer had been chasing down a drug smuggler in El Paso. They had gotten a tip about the smuggler being in a certain area, and the two of them gave chase. At one point during the pursuit, he and his partner split up, which went against their training. Leland ended up being the one finding the guy. Shots were exchanged, and Leland came away unscathed. The drug smuggler had been hit in the shoulder and the leg, and had lost his gun. The problem was Leland had known about this man’s past. He had known that the smuggler had a connection with a prominent judge in the system. He had an idea that the judge was corrupt, and would let the smuggler off with a meager charge. The man was a murderer, he was a rapist, he was a drug smuggler. He deserved every punishment they could give him. He had been known to torture his victims, and Leland had known he would do so again. It hadn’t been his place to do so, and he should have fought against the urge, but he aimed at the man’s head and fired a round, sentencing the man to death.

  The official story was that there was an exchange of gunfire, proven by the bullet holes in the wall behind Leland. He had never told his partner what happened, and he had never told anyone else either, but his partner went on record saying he had heard the exchange of gunfire. He never mentioned another shot that followed about ten seconds later. That would’ve implicated Leland in a murder.

  It was a strange thought that ten seconds could be the difference between self-defense and murder. Had the third shot just been a second after the first two, even Leland would’ve been able to justify the killing as self-defense. But what made it murder was the fact that he had stood there for a moment, thought about what this man had done, and thought about what he probably would do again. It was tha
t moment he had decided to pull the trigger. It was premeditated, even though the premeditation only took three breaths. Leland was a murderer and he was the only one in the world who knew about it.

  He felt guilty only because he had ended a man’s life unjustly under the law. Over the years he had argued to himself, telling himself that he had saved potentially dozens of lives. There were days when it haunted him, and there were days where it didn’t bother him so much. But there was rarely a day he didn’t think about it.

  There was no justifying what he had done to Savage’s daughter, even though it had been an accident. He had been on the force for many years and then had become the sheriff of this small town. He should’ve known not to go into a room blindly firing his weapon when he didn’t know exactly what he was firing at. Now, it seemed that Leland’s actions were coming full circle.

  He knew he deserved everything that could be thrown at him. He deserved to be the one wearing that jumpsuit. He deserved to be Savage’s cellmate. But no matter the case, Gwen didn’t deserve it. She did not deserve to die for the sins of her father. Leland was ready to die. He was ready to give up his life and pay for the things he had done, but he was not ready for his family to pay for his actions. He had already lost his wife. He had already lost a son. To lose Gwen would be more than he could handle.

  He stared down into the street below through his binoculars and watched as the pool of blood drained from the mayor’s body. The mayor wouldn’t be the only victim today. The longer they waited to try and take on the prisoners, the more people would die. However, he wasn’t going in there without knowing the status of his daughter.

  He waited a few more minutes, and finally he saw Henry step out into the middle of the street and stand next to the mayor’s body. Henry looked up toward the woods, his eyes not quite landing on Leland, which meant Leland was well-hidden. Then he held up his hand and gave a thumbs up. He had spotted Gwen. Then Henry made another gesture. Palm out, then a zero. Five-zero. Fifty.

  Henry quickly walked away from his spot in the street and Leland felt relief wash over him.

  Gwen was alive.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Henry had broken away from the group to give a thumbs-up to Leland, though he wasn’t sure if the sheriff saw him. He thought he was in the right spot, but he couldn’t be sure. His stomach twisted in knots when he looked down at the body of the mayor on the ground next to him. Then, he walked away from the street and back toward the library.

  So far, none of the prisoners had paid him any attention and he was enjoying the anonymity of wearing a prison jumpsuit. He doubted too many people knew each other’s names because none of them planned to be here long-term. As far as being recognized, he felt a little more at ease than he did before. But the danger of the situation had gotten worse. Savage had just upped the ante by killing one of the hostages. Henry hoped the murder wouldn’t draw Leland out because they weren’t ready. Henry had only just now understood the kind of force they were up against. They would need more weapons, more people, and a lot of luck if they were going to retake the town. In fact, Henry was considering a run for it. He was happy to help the sheriff and whatever he needed to do to make sure his daughter was safe, but he wasn’t ready to start a war. He certainly wasn’t ready to die at the hands of other prisoners.

  When he got to the library, Savage was standing in front of a group of prisoners and seemed to be waiting as each of them started gathering nearby. He must have called a meeting, since it looked like nearly the entire group of fifty was surrounding him. Henry wondered if the people inside the library were beginning to consider attacking them. If they were, Henry hoped that they would reconsider. They were unarmed and most of them would probably die.

  Gwen was the only hostage outside at the library, and she stood next to Savage who apparently didn’t want her out of his sight now. Henry caught her eye just for a moment and he nodded at her ever so slightly, trying to reassure her that he was on her side. She let her eyes drop away from him, and he wasn’t sure if she understood his purpose. He should have said something about her father. He should have told her in those couple of seconds when they were alone together that her dad was just outside the city waiting, ready to help her at any moment.

  “I left our prize hostage to be guarded for one minute, and she escaped,” Savage said. He looked around the crowd, searching faces.

  Henry did his best to keep his head down. He couldn’t believe he was here at this moment. He should have just taken the information he’d gotten from Alex the prison guard and run back to the woods. It had been enough. He and the sheriff could have moved forward without confirming whether or not Gwen was there. Now, Henry was stuck.

  He should have been at home among the jumpsuits, but he felt like he might as well be wearing a police uniform.

  “The thing is,” Savage continued, “I didn’t leave him with whoever is lying in the bathroom with his throat cut. I left him with someone else. Blake.”

  Henry felt a shock go through his body—the kind of feeling when one sees a train bearing down on them, unable to move out of fear. Blake is a common name. Can’t be the same Blake. Can’t be the same Blake.

  “What I can’t have is people taking what I tell them to do and handing the responsibility off to someone else. If I give an order, I expect it to be followed.”

  Savage swallowed.

  “The power outage is more than an isolated incident,” he said. “I guessed it might be widespread when we were back in the prison. It is confirmed now that no law enforcement has shown itself. No one is coming for us. No one is going to try and take us down. This is our moment to seize the town and to keep it. We don’t have to hide. We don’t have to run. Not anymore. Hope is ours.”

  To some of the prisoners, the speech was rousing. A few offered yelps of support, while others nodded with Savage in agreement. They had gotten so used to someone telling them what they could and couldn’t do, what they were supposed to do, that some of them had lost their ability to think for themselves.

  Henry agreed that the power outage was bigger than their prison, bigger than this little town. But none of them knew to what extent. If it was even regional, it was only a matter of time before authorities came down on this place. But Savage was ordering them to take this seriously and band together to the end as though this were a war to be won.

  Savage surveyed the crowd and to Henry’s horror, their eyes met for a brief moment. There was a look of recognition on Savage’s face. Henry started to look away, but at the last moment he decided not to.

  “I know you,” Savage said. “At least, I know who you are.”

  Henry didn’t say anything. Instead, he stood rooted to the ground, his hands gripped on the shotgun as though it were attached to him.

  Savage took a step toward him, and Henry looked to either side. The other inmates who had stood near him took a step back.

  “You escaped before everyone else did. And you escaped the old-fashioned way. How long was it? An hour three hours before the power went out?“

  “I don’t know,” Henry said.

  “This is hilarious,” Savage said. “You screwed over Blake to escape Lone Oak.”

  “Just trying to survive,” Henry said.

  “Oh, I know how it went down. It was pretty low of you, but I can’t say I wouldn’t have done it myself. In fact, I know I would’ve done it myself. But I can’t have two inmates on my team who are at odds with each other. So, you two are going to have to settle this.”

  Henry felt his insides turn to ice. He should have left. He should have never tried to find Gwen. Now they were going to kill him.

  “Oh,” Savage said. A smile formed at the edges of his mouth and he almost couldn’t contain himself with excitement. “You didn’t know he was here.” Savage turned to a couple of inmates nearby and nodded to them.

  In a flash, they overtook Henry, ripping the shotgun from his hands, and before he even realized what was happening, he was on t
he ground with someone’s knee digging into his spine.

  He tried to struggle and he tried to get away, but it was too late. He had been discovered and he should’ve never let himself get into this position. He should’ve run when he had the chance. But what were the odds that Blake was here as well?

  If he didn’t feel so stupid, if he didn’t feel so defeated, he would have been angry.

  Henry was a dead man.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  The worst part about Henry’s position was that in any other circumstance he would’ve never found himself here. He tried to think of where all of this had gone wrong, and it all had to do with the sheriff. Henry had struggled through five miles of woods in the middle of the night and had had a really good feeling about Fristo’s. Sure, he had known that plenty of cops were looking for him. He had known that, for the moment, he was probably the most wanted man in Wisconsin. But he would have never guessed that a lone sheriff of a small town would have been waiting for him at some gas station in the middle of nowhere. That fateful meeting had put him right in this spot.

  Almost all of the prisoners had gathered around them. Some of them were cracking jokes, while others were looking on in anticipation wondering what was about to happen. Finally, one of them brought Blake to the front of the group. He must’ve already been told who was waiting for him because when he saw Henry, there was no surprise in his expression. Instead, the man was angry and he wanted blood.

  “We are going to keep this very simple,” Savage said. “Just for reference, and for anyone who doesn’t know who this man is, we had an escapee at Lone Oak Prison last night. Of course, you all will remember the lockdown that happened just hours before the power outage. Well, this man is the reason why. He somehow managed to escape the prison before the power outage. The interesting part about all of this is that Blake was the one who had originally come up with a plan for escape. The exact plan that Henry Tash used to escape last night. I don’t know all of the details, and I don’t really care to know all of the details, I will just summarize to the extent that if Blake had not made his plans, Henry here would have escaped at the same time the rest of us did and Blake would have been the one to escape earlier.” Savage looked at Henry, a serious look on his face. “Now, I know most of you would say, well, it doesn’t matter because we have all escaped and we are all here out of the clutches of the prison. But to me, it does matter. Henry stole Blake’s attempt at freedom. If the power had not gone out, Blake would still be stuck in Lone Oak. I, for one, probably would’ve done the same thing. However, had I done such a thing, I would not show up at the same place as the man I betrayed.”