Dead Last (Vol. 1): Dead Last

by Quaranta, Marc

  "We'll wait until they wake up. See what they want. If we can help them we will, if we can't, we'll let them go."

  "I'm interested in knowing who made you boss?" Jack said to me.

  "Nobody made me boss, Jack," I assured him.

  "He's the only one who doesn't have his head up his ass. He's making the best decisions," Haylea stood up for me.

  "The best decisions? I'm sorry; did you say the best decisions? His best decision just let three guys in here with guns. If it wasn't for me you'd all have a bullet in you!"

  "But I did let them in! Alright! And everyone is fine," I said to him. I tried to remain as calm as I could, but Jack was slowly getting a rise out of me.

  "Everyone? How about Scott? Scott isn't fine."

  "Scott is fine, Jack," Haylea said.

  "Will all of you just stop?" came a voice from the side. It was a voice that I hadn't really heard yet and judging by the look on everyone's faces, it was a voice nobody expected to hear.

  It was that of Janet Roush. She was the oldest lady in the group and up until that point, I hadn't heard her speak. She was the one married to Barry, the deaf man. They had spent most of the time in here over the last week with each other. They were very quiet and didn't really talk to anyone. I saw Haylea talk to Janet a couple of times, but no one else. I think they were happy being with each other and didn't want to get wrapped up in all the bullshit that was going on.

  "Stop playing 'whose dick is bigger than whose.'"

  Jack chuckled at the sight of an old lady saying those words. He tried to hide it like it was a sudden cough, but I knew he was laughing.

  "Nobody was chosen to represent us as a group. I don't remember voting on that. You two need to stop pretending to be our leaders. We all have say in what happens in this building. We all are staying in here."

  It was hard for me to admit it, and probably harder for Jack to, but she was right. Nobody had named me leader, nobody named Jack leader, and nobody named Haylea the leader. We always seemed to be the three people that were debating on the important issues, but everyone else had to put their input in as well.

  "Alright, we'll take a vote," I said.

  Nobody wanted to make it a bigger deal than it was, so we just decided to tally the votes of the people in the room.

  It was Jack, Haylea, Heather, Janet, Dan, Elyse, Travis, Jenny, Joe, and myself. Sam was in his office with Emily, Barry was resting, Scott was in the shower, and Molly was watching the kids in the back. There were ten of us voting. I figured in a tie that I would make the ultimate decision, but that is what got us in trouble in the first place, so I guess I would wait and see if there even was a tie and we would figure it out then.

  "Should we put our vote in a hat?" asked Dan.

  "Don't be an idiot. That'll just waste more damn time. Just raise your hands," Jack said. He had a way of undermining Dan. Every time that Dan spoke, it seemed it was Jack who was putting him down.

  "Alright...so who wants to wait until they wake up, we'll see what they want, if we can help, we will, and then we'll send them on their way?" I was the first one to offer an option. I put my hand in the air and waited to see who agreed. At first nobody did.

  Haylea put her hand up, though. We waited for others. Dan put his up. It looked like he was going to lower it back down when Jack glared at him, but Dan stood his ground and kept his hand in the air. Janet also raised her hand. This time she was the one to glare at Jack and I think it almost made Jack leave the room. That was it. There was only four of us standing there raising our hands. Haylea looked over to Travis and Jenny, whose hands weren't in the air, and wanted to hear an explanation.

  "I'm sorry, Haylea, but Jack is right. These guys didn't give us a chance to explain ourselves," Jenny said.

  "We need to get them out of here," said Travis.

  "Do the rest of you agree?" Jack asked. "Six against four to kick them out right now?"

  Elyse, Heather, and Joe nodded along. They all agreed with Jack. We were no longer a civilized group. We were sending a group of young men to their deaths. Nobody seemed to care.

  "Alright, we'll let them go," I said.

  "We have a problem," Emily said.

  She came walking up to us at a hurried pace. Although, I did agree with Janet that nobody had voted us leaders, the others in the group seemed to look at us that way. Emily walked straight up to Haylea and I. I guess she came up to Jack as well, but I think that was only because he was standing behind us. At this point, some in the group saw me as a leader and others saw Jack as a leader.

  "What's going on?"

  "The medicine cabinet is empty. I went in there to grab some Ibuprofen and it's all gone. There are no bandages. There isn't anything in there."

  "Was it full before?" I asked.

  "It's always full. Nancy, at the front desk, always made sure that thing was stocked," Heather spoke up.

  "There's nothing in there," Emily said again.

  "So... somebody in here took it," Haylea said.

  It didn't take us long to figure out who it was. I connected eyes with Haylea and it was like we read each other's minds. Couples that have been together for a long time seem to do that every now and then. Even on the most random of situations, but this was an easy topic to agree on.

  It had to be Jack.

  He was the one that took Scott's gun. He was the one that lied to us when we found out about it. It had to be him.

  "Jack...do you know anything about this?" I asked him.

  "Me? No. Why the hell would I take all the medicine?" he replied.

  "I don't know. Why would you take a gun?" Haylea said.

  "For protection. I'm safer with a gun. What do I have with medicine?"

  "Power. If you're the only one with medicine, then you have all the power."

  "Power? You think I need power in this place? What would I possibly need power for? What can any of you people give me in this fucking place?"

  "Jack, give me the fucking medicine!" I screamed at him.

  "Fuck you!" he yelled back.

  I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer to me. Jack didn't react. It was kind of like a game to him. I could see he was slightly smirking.

  "That's enough! I took the medicine," Janet said to us.

  I couldn't believe it. Haylea couldn't believe it. Even Jack, whose collar was still grasped in my hands, couldn't believe it. He still had that smug smirk on his face and I wanted to hit him, but instead I let go of his shirt.

  "You took it?" Heather was just as shocked.

  "Why did you take it, Janet?" Haylea asked her.

  "Barry's medicine is at home. I thought that maybe the Ibuprofen would help him."

  "Why did you take the bandages and everything else that was in there?"

  "I don't know. It was the first day we were in here and I was panicking. I didn't know what to do and when I found the cabinet, I just...I just grabbed everything that I could. I didn't need it all, but I didn't know what to do. I was so worried about Barry."

  "I need the medicine, Janet. Can you grab it for me?" Emily asked her in a panic.

  She nodded and took off running. At that moment, I was a little curious as to why Emily needed the medicine so badly.

  "What do you need it for, Emily?" asked Dan. "Is everything okay?"

  "What? Yea. Everything's fine," she said.

  "What do you need it for?" I asked her.

  "Sam has a headache. That's all."

  "A headache?"

  "Emily, what's going on? When I saw him earlier this morning, he didn't look well at all," Haylea said.

  "What are you saying?" Emily took offense to people thinking she was lying, but I didn't believe her.

  "I'm not saying anything. We would just like to know what's going on."

  "I told you; Sam has a headache."

  "Can I talk to him real quick?" I asked her.

  "No. If he has a headache, you think he wants people coming in and questioning him?"


  "Not people, just me."

  "No, Kurt. He's resting."

  I could see as I started to approach her that she was starting to break. She was tapping her fingers against her thumb and beginning to act fidgety. Having everyone around her was beginning to get her nervous.

  "I think it'd be best if I come talk to him."

  "He's sick okay!" she finally said. "He's got a fever and is exhausted. There are you happy!"

  "A fever?"

  "Un-fucking-believable. He's sick," Jack said.

  "You don't know that!" Emily yelled to him.

  "Emily, we need to see him," I said.

  "Why? He's fine. It's just a fever. He didn't go outside."

  "No, but people came in here. Emily, if he's sick..."

  "He's not. Stop saying he's sick. He's just got a fever."

  Janet came back with the medicine and Emily angrily took it from her hand. She didn't say another word to us. She stomped off into the direction of Sam's office and left us all questioning her state of mind. I understood that it was her husband and that it would be impossible for her to accept that he was sick from the air, but a part of me wanted to believe her. There was no way for us to know if the air got him sick, but, then again, there was no way for her to know it wasn't the air.

  "We have to go in there and talk to him," I said to Haylea.

  "I'm right behind you," it was Jack that responded.

  XVII

  Scott Daugherty

  I was just finishing getting dressed after a shower. It was the first shower I'd taken since I was locked in the WTIX. It felt great. I have to apologize because just a couple of minutes ago I felt like I was beginning to lose my mind. I felt like I was beginning to act delusional. I wasn't myself. It scared me because I didn't know who I was becoming.

  The shower cleared away everything I was feeling. The terror, the horror, the anger was all vanishing as the water trickled down my body. When the first couple of drops hit the top of my head, some blood fell to the floor. It wasn't a lot. The gash in my head wasn't too bad. It was the original blow to the head that really hurt. I remember feeling helpless. I couldn't control my movements, let alone the situation.

  I remember standing in front of everyone while the guy that hit me had a gun on the back of my head. I remember being wobbly and didn't want to be standing. He actually did me a favor when he finally threw me down into the group. I can't even remember who he threw me by, but I was off my feet so it helped.

  It's hard to describe what the hit felt like. It is like when you get the wind knocked out of you and it's a struggle to catch your breath and all you can do is think about the pain and wanting to breath, but unable to. It was like that except instead of my chest it was my head. It's like all I wanted to do was open my eyes, see clearly, and react, but I couldn't. I could only stand there and think about the pain and the blurriness that I saw.

  Once I was dressed, I hung the towel that I had finished using on the railing of the shower. I figured that nobody had brought their own towels so this one would probably be used on several occasions. I stared at the dark green towel with a little dissatisfaction. Not for what it was, but for what it would become. It was only a matter of time before that towel got a lot more use and started to become dirty. Then what would we do? Just continue to use it? Probably not. We would have to turn to air-drying. Just throw our clothes on, dampen them, and wait for everything to dry. The future did not look bright.

  I wasn't quite ready to head back toward the group. I wasn't ready for the same question from every single person I passed, "how are you feeling?" I didn't want to be asked that. I was working quite hard to get attention off of me while we were here. Sure, I'd have to help with a couple of little things like finding breathing masks and extension cords, but I was letting Jack and Kurt take care of everything. I just wanted to sail under the radar.

  I wasn't sure, yet, who I believe in, Jack or Kurt. Each man brought great attributes to the table in terms of being a leader. Kurt was smart and was a thinker, but Jack was strong and went with his instincts. Using your head, and planning every detail out, was good in a career or in everyday life, but this wasn't everyday life anymore. I think Jack had it right when he just did what he first though. I wasn't mad that he took my gun. I was actually grateful. It saved us. It saved me.

  I was acting out of character, I knew that, but I also knew that it was only a matter of time before people began choosing sides; go with Kurt or go with Jack. I wasn't ready to choose a side, yet, but I was ready to start narrowing my decision down. If there was a problem and I needed to choose sides, I would probably pick Kurt. I knew Kurt better. I knew the things he was capable of. It's better to go with the devil I do know rather than the devil I don't.

  To stay away from the rest of the group for a little while longer, I took another walk in the news department. I stayed away from the set, though. I didn't want to go back to the anchor desk and sit in front of the camera. It only reminded me that I was quite close to losing my mind. I couldn't even remember what I was saying when I was pretending to be a news anchor. I have no idea what that was about.

  Instead I went over to where the assignment desk editor sat and where they did ENG. ENG was where someone would sit and set up live shots with on location reporters. The cameraman would drive the truck to the location of the report and then call ENG. Together they would turn the microwave signals toward each other and establish a connection so that the feed would transmit back to the station so that the reporter would be able to go live on the news. It was a pretty cool concept, but was hell to learn, so I've been told.

  At the ENG station, there were at least twelve monitors from what I counted. There were a set of monitors that were from each camera in the studio, there were a set of monitors that would turn on when those on location shots were set up, there were monitors that would be set onto other news channels in the area, and the final set was a camera around the station. Those were used for bumps to break during the news. It gave people and inside look at what people did around the station. It was a cool behind the scenes look.

  The camera was switched to the view of the front lounge. And as fate would have it, it was focused on Elyse and Heather having a conversation. Jack, Haylea, Janet, Dan, Travis, Jenny, and Kurt were all talking too, but all I saw was Elyse and Heather. Heather was a nice girl. She was cute, if you like that type, but she was no Elyse. None of them were. Heather was a nice girl that you thought about dating, but would make for a better friend. Elyse was girlfriend material. She was the girl that you wanted everyone else to see you with. She would be a great date...great in bed.

  I watched her run her fingers through her hair to get it out of her face. I could smell her hair from there. It was soft and smelled like coconut. Her perfume and shampoo, although she hadn't used any in a couple days, was still clear as day. They mixed together to form a perfect aroma of beauty. She was leaning over with her elbows on the counter listening to the rest of the group debate. The bend in her body gave the camera a perfect shot of her ass. It was so tight, so athletic. I knew that she had to play a sport while in high school. My guess was soccer.

  At that very moment, I felt myself beginning to lose connection with my way of thinking. While one thing happened, and I even knew it was happening, I saw something different. The conversation continued between the people on the camera and I sat there staring at Elyse. That is all that happened.

  But my brain was playing tricks on me. I saw something entirely different.

  Elyse was beginning to ignore the conversation that was being had. It looked like she was bored for her life. Then she looked up at the camera and for a brief moment we made eye contact. She looked at me only for a moment and then looked away. I smiled and then put my hand on my crotch. That is when she started to entertain me. She reached up and pulled her hair from her eyes one more time. She slowly moved her hand down to her neck and started massaging it. She turned her head to the side and started rubbing deep
circles in her neck. The way her head was tilted actually gave me a slight view of her wonderful, young cleavage.

  She moved her hand down a little further and covered her breast, but just for a second. She was teasing me more perfectly than I could imagine. She slid her hand down further and aggressively moved across her stomach. Then she got to her ass. She squeezed it and lifted it up and pushed down.

  I felt my erection growing, my hand on it, and my eyes closed. That is when I realized that nothing was real. Not a single vision I just saw was real. I opened my eyes and everyone in the group was still deep in conversation. I looked down and the only thing that was real was that my hand was pleasuring myself. I stopped and quickly stood up like I had sat on a hot plate of nachos. I walked away from the camera and didn't want to look anymore. I went and sat on the floor in the corner of the studio and took deep breaths. I didn't want anyone to see me like this.

  I was so close to losing it again. I was ashamed of myself. There were kids in the building. What if one of them had seen me doing that? What if one of the adults had seen me doing that? I would have been labeled as the weird pervert and that would have spread quickly. Jack and Kurt would no longer trust me to keep an eye on the building. They'd probably tie me up just as fast as they tied up those three stragglers.

  I couldn't do that again. I needed to focus on remaining sane. I couldn't lose the trust of everyone in the building. What if I lost the trust of Elyse? She would hate me forever. She would look down on me and think I was a sick bastard. Her and I would never be able to be together and that is all I wanted. I just wanted to be with her and to pleasure her in ways that she would never imagine. I wanted her to feel as good as she made me feel.

  Nobody would treat her as well as I could and she needed to know that. Everyone knew it but her. Jack and Kurt and Haylea all knew it. Heather knew that Elyse and I would be a perfect couple. Everyone knew it but Elyse. It needed to be shown to her. I decided I would show her sooner rather than later. She was going to be mine. I couldn't lose her. I needed to be with her. I needed to be with her in every which way.