by Hunt, Jack
“Yeah, real smart ones you got there,” Erika said sarcastically.
Denise scowled at her. “Watch your mouth.” She leaned forward in her seat. “Besides, you’re a fine one to talk. You couldn’t even escape.”
“Who’s to say I didn’t let you catch me.”
Denise offered back a blank expression before bursting out laughing. “Let us catch you? Oh that is a good one. Did you hear that Gus?”
“What?” he asked.
“Ms. Prissy Pants over here thinks she let us catch her. Oh that is priceless.” She laughed harder and downed more of her beer.
Erika looked back at her without smiling. Instead her eyes went to the clock on the wall. “I figure about five minutes from now, they are going to come busting in here and you assholes will spend the rest of your meaningless lives locked up. Let’s see if God gets you out of that one.”
Denise rushed over and pressed her cigarette against her face again. “What did I tell you about using the Lord’s name in vain?” She held the cigarette there until tears were streaking her face. She’d almost stubbed it out. It stung badly and burned. Oh God, did it burn. She gave Erika a few slaps around the face. “City girl thinks she’s all that. Let me guess, you probably had some upscale job? Had people waiting on you? Well let me tell you something. Here, you are nothing. The only reason you are still breathing is because the good Lord has use for you. And trust me, you will come in use one way or another.” She glanced over at Gus. “My Gus doesn’t get it. But he will. You see, this is a new world we are living in. And with it comes rules to survive. I’m not talking about the shit Andy Ford teaches. No. The key is to use this,” she said, jabbing Erika in the side of the temple. She lifted her nose and sniffed the air like a dog. “Food. Everyone thinks it’s about that but it’s not. You see, most will try to take supplies by looting, holding up people on the roads, breaking into homes. You know, your typical violence. But you’ve got to be smarter than that. Any idiot can shoot a gun. You’ve got to hit people where it really hurts,” she said jabbing her chest above her heart. “That’s what matters now. People, relationships, family. Food comes and goes but blood? People will give you anything to hold the ones they care about and love.”
“Then I guess you aren’t that smart because you should have taken Tyler then, not us.”
Denise didn’t like that response. She lashed out and struck Erika across the face. “You best watch that mouth of yours.”
Erika spat blood on a wooden plank.
“She’s right,” Gus said, heaving a large steaming pot off a stove onto a counter.
“No!” Denise bellowed back. “No one is stupid enough to take two strangers into their home in an EMP. Especially not a Ford. Not without having some feelings for them.” She turned back to Erika with a look of glee in her eyes. “I’ve been doing some thinking. We only need one of you.” She turned back to Erika. “So, tell me, do you have feelings for him?”
Erika offered back a confused look, then she started chuckling. “Oh, you think me and Tyler are an item? You really aren’t that bright.” She laughed again causing Denise to raise her hand.
“What’s funny?”
“What if I was to tell you that Tyler is gay and he was dating Nate.”
Her eyes widened with a look of shock, horror perhaps. Erika knew just where to dig the knife in. She continued laughing. “You got it all backwards. Why do you think he moved to Sin City?”
Denise gritted her teeth and she bellowed over her shoulder. “Jesse. Bring our other guest up.” She turned back to Erika. “If you’re telling the truth, I have no need for you. And if you’re lying, well you just sealed the fate on your friend’s life.”
Erika stopped laughing. Now it was Denise who was smiling.
Soaked. Cold. Hungry, and disturbed. That marked the rhythm of his mind as the hooves of the horse crunched over branches and leaves, and slopped through thick mud as he followed Bailey through a gloomy forest. The low temperatures and wind howling through the trees reminded him of his time out in the wilderness after his argument with his father. He remembered his spirit being broken down and using his knife to cut away at branches so he could make a lean-to shelter. It was the easiest and quickest shelter that could be made, consisting of nothing more than a long, stout branch between two trees and one side covered with thick branches, pine needles, leaves, moss and brush. The only downside was it wasn’t well insulated and if the rain or wind changed direction you were back to square one. However, it did the job and probably saved his life on the first night. After making it, he stuffed his pants and sleeves like a scarecrow with any dry leaves he could find. But had he not known how to start a fire without matches, he would have probably died from hypothermia. Tyler’s mind was circling around all his father had taught him, the good and bad moments and his recent encounter with him and Jude, when he crested a rise and looked down into a valley.
That was when he noticed smoke.
Bailey picked up the pace heading towards a small cabin, hidden between the trees.
His pulse sped up as he brought the horse into a gallop and took off after the dog. Once they were within two hundred yards of the place, he pulled on the reins, dismounted and removed his AR-15. Whatever lead Bailey had picked up on, he was about to find out who it led to. Tyler pressed on, mud slopping below his boots with only the rain and wind masking the sound of his approach.
21
Jericho was dead. Another had fallen in the blink of an eye. He’d seen Corey rush into view and before he could react it was over. Gabriel lunged for the door, and would have shot Corey in the back if Torres hadn’t intervened, forcing him away down the stairwell. “It’s too late. We need to go.” Reid assisted him as they got further away from the stairwell door. As much as he wanted to protest and see vengeance for his brother’s death, he wasn’t stupid. He valued his life too much. He hadn’t come this far to lose it. As Pope had said, there was another day, another chance for payback but that wasn’t now. Reid and Torres blocked his way giving him no other choice but to head down to the ground floor. As they took two steps at a time, only Torres stopped to lift his rifle and engage with a cop who’d burst into the stairwell.
The echo of gunfire dominated.
A few seconds later, the cop’s limp body fell over the banister and landed in a crumpled heap on the stairs.
“Go. I’ll hold them back,” Torres said waving them on as he stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Call it ego, or pure insanity, he would never know as no sooner had they pressed through the door than a rapid succession of rounds erupted and ended Torres’ life. Gabriel glanced back just in time to see his legs buckle and his body slam into a wall and slip down leaving a bloody stain behind him.
On the ground floor he and Reid dashed down the corridor. Nurses screamed at the sight of them wielding rifles and patients cowered against walls giving them a clear path through.
Above them, Andy ripped into Corey and grabbed his arm. “What the hell are you playing at? You could have been killed.”
“That was the idea,” he said as he lightened the dead inmate’s jacket of magazines before taking his AR-15. Corey brushed past his father.
“Where are you going?”
“To end this,” he said taking off towards the smashed window after realizing those that had bolted were probably nearing the entrance by now. There was no time to go down the stairwell and give chase, he had to cut them off.
“Corey. Stop,” his father said catching up with him and getting in his way.
Through gritted teeth he said, “Either help me or get out of the way.”
“I won’t let you do this.”
“Get out of the way!”
“I know what it’s like to lose—”
Before he could finish, Corey shoved his father against the wall and hopped out of the window down onto the roof of the building. His foot slipped on the rain-soaked surface as he hurried towards the front entrance. The way the building was lai
d out he stood a chance of cutting them off if he shifted ass. Still reeling in pain from his arm, he pushed it from his mind, just as he had the many times he was injured while growing up. Rage drove him on. The thought of never seeing Ella again, or witnessing the birth of his child, cut him to the core.
Thoughts of what Ella had said the day he left her at his father’s now haunted him. They’d got into this big argument about him heading into town to help. He knew it wasn’t because she was against him helping the community, it was because she didn’t like being left alone with his father. They’d never really seen eye to eye.
“You’re going to be a father.”
“God, Ella, I know. I haven’t forgotten. But what do you expect me to do? Sit by idly and be like my father, just taking care of number one?”
“You’re not taking care of just yourself. There’s me and the baby.”
“And that’s why you’re staying here with him.”
“I can barely stand seeing him once a year at Christmas.”
“Ella,” he said taking hold of her by both arms. “You think I want to be here? We have no choice.”
“We could ride it out at home.”
“You don’t understand. You don’t ride out this kind of thing. Look, just stay here, I’ll be back soon. I need to be at this meeting. We’ll talk then.”
He left without kissing her and now he deeply regretted it.
The rain and wind battered him as he rushed towards the edge of the building and jumped over onto the overhang. As he landed his feet slipped on the metal roofing and he lost his footing and tumbled. The rifle went out of his hand, over the edge of the porch, and within seconds he found himself dangling from twenty feet in the air. Excruciating pain shot up his arm as he tried to adjust his positioning and swing his left foot over to one of the brick pillars. Corey shimmied closer and then wrapped his foot around one side, and tried to get his other foot in place. It might have worked if the guttering hadn’t given way. He heard the groan of metal and then without warning it snapped coming away from the porch. He had no choice but to jump into a flowerbed. As soon as he hit the ground he scanned the area for his rifle and was up, hobbling towards the front entrance. His eyes looked across the parking lot. They could have gone out the south side, he thought, as he hurried towards the lobby. No sooner had the thought passed through his mind than he spotted the two men running towards the entrance.
Corey lifted his rifle and opened fire, peppering the walls and shattering glass.
Gabriel returned fire and backed up. “Reid. This way,” he bellowed as an idea came to him. He sprinted over to the reception area and grabbed a nurse. The scared, thin brunette let out a scream as he wrapped his arm around her neck and dragged her out. Holding her with one arm while the other clutched an AR-15 tightly, he navigated his way back down the hallway to the next exit only to see another man emerge from the stairwell cutting off his path. Gabriel swung the nurse around to protect himself and unleashed a rapid succession of rounds that cut through everything in their path including three patients who didn’t move in time. Meanwhile Reid had taken the same initiative and had dragged a patient out of a room only a few doors down. Screams cut through the air as they tried to make their escape. But it wasn’t going to be easy.
No sooner had they moved towards the north exit than Corey came around the corner from the south and opened fire. Reid had made the fatal mistake of turning towards the north. Two rounds caught him in the back and his legs crumpled dragging the patient to the ground. Shock masked Gabriel’s face as he rushed back to him, returning fire and driving Corey back around the corner. The patient Reid had in his clutches scrambled away, screaming. Gabriel grabbed hold of Reid and dragged him into the nearest room, leaving a trail of blood behind them. He slammed the door closed and locked it, then pulled Reid into the bathroom. Propping him up against the wall he slapped his face a few times. “Hey. Hey. Don’t you die on me.”
Reid’s eyelids fluttered. Gabriel hurried to the bathroom doorway and looked towards the one he’d locked. He knew it wouldn’t take long for them to enter. It couldn’t end here. Not this way.
“I’m done,” Reid said. He coughed and blood dribbled out the corner of his mouth. Gabriel twisted and made his way over, pulling Reid forward so he could get a better look at his wounds. Sure enough, two rounds had entered his back. He was bleeding out fast. “Been one hell of a ride, hasn’t it?”
Gabriel scrunched up his face, guilt washing over him.
He’d forced them into this. Everyone was dead except Pope, and he was probably miles away by now. He should have listened to him. He should have listened to Marcus. “Yeah.”
Reid gripped his hand and went to say something else but then the life went out of him like air from a balloon. His head slumped forward and Gabriel laid him down. He never felt so alone as he did in that moment.
A loud bang echoed as someone kicked the door.
Gabriel dashed to the doorway and then opened fire multiple times, peppering it in an attempt to kill whoever was on the other side or at least buy himself some time. Gunfire was returned and he ducked back into the bathroom to take cover.
Then silence.
“It’s over, Gabriel!” a voice bellowed out.
He looked towards the door and then at the window, weighing his options. A part of him wanted to take the risk. See if he could take out Corey and the other man and yet the voice of reason in his head told him different. He was on the ground floor, it was simply a matter of climbing out the window and making a run for it. At night, the odds of being seen under the cover of darkness were slim. He still had a chance.
“Why did you kill her?”
Now he knew who he was talking with.
“I didn’t,” Gabriel yelled back. “Believe it or not, I wanted her alive.”
“Bullshit.”
“Believe what you will,” Gabriel replied. He hurried over to the window and tried opening it but it was locked. They’d put some damn lock on it. He pulled back to get out of the line of fire.
“Then who did?”
“She got caught in the crossfire,” he hollered over his shoulder.
“Like the cops?”
“No, they had it coming.”
“Like the rangers, and Noah?”
“Don’t act like you’re above me. You killed my brother.”
There was no response.
“He was all I had,” Gabriel continued.
“As were my fiancé and child.”
Gunfire erupted as Gabriel shattered the glass and began to climb out. As he did the door burst open and Corey fired a single round. It caught him in the shoulder, spinning him off balance and out the window. Before he could get up, or even react, Corey was there, his rifle aimed at him. “Go on. Go for it,” he said gesturing to the rifle that was a few inches from Gabriel’s hand. He thought about it. He really did. But that wasn’t the game he played. No, instead he shook his head thinking that maybe, just maybe he would take him in, hand him over to the authorities and then, under the strain of a community in darkness they would make mistakes and he’d be out once again, but that never happened.
The last thing Gabriel saw was Corey squeeze the trigger.
22
Nate put up one hell of a fight, so much that Jesse looked worse for it. At some point even Gus came to his aid. Shouting got louder then there was a thud. Erika heard the commotion as Nate cursed and blows were exchanged. When Nate finally emerged, he was restrained and thrown down by the scruff of his neck near Erika. He exhaled sharply and looked up at her with a bloody grin. A few seconds later, Jesse appeared, face busted up, eye sockets swollen and sporting a gnarly cut on his lower lip. He wiped the blood and scowled at Nate.
“Can’t you do anything right?” Denise bellowed at her son.
Jesse didn’t dare answer back. Instead he scuffed his boots as he shuffled across the room to a window seat. There he took a seat beside his sister.
“Put him in the
chair,” Denise instructed Gus. Nate struggled within his grasp but he’d already spent his energy on fighting back. Gus forced him into a chair. His ankles were bound to the legs and his arms were already behind his back. Denise smiled at Erika as she turned her attention to him. Her head cocked to one side. “Tell me something.”
“Don’t tell her anything,” Erika yelled. Denise turned and backhanded her. Erika’s head bounced off the floor and Zara let out a laugh. Denise looked back at Nate.
“You and Tyler. Are you an item?”
Nate’s brow furrowed. A smirk danced on his lips. His eyes darted over to Erika who nodded but Denise caught it.
“I knew you were lying. Take him back down,” she said to Gus.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Nate replied. “Me and him have been together for nine months.”
Denise glanced back at him. “Is that so?” There was an air of doubt to her tone.
“Yep. Can’t get enough of that guy,” Nate said. “I would invite you to the wedding and all but with you being religious and whatnot, I’m not sure you’d be down with wearing chaps. Though I think your Gus might, hey, lover boy,” Nate said mimicking giving him a kiss.
Denise laughed. It wasn’t the reaction Erika was hoping for. She expected her to lash out at Nate but instead she began to pace the room nodding slowly. “So where did you meet him?”
“Vegas.”
“Where?”
“Well that’s a long story, I don’t want take up your time. You seem to have so much going on here and well…”
“WHERE!” she yelled in his face.
“At a bathhouse.”
“Which one?”
“Entourage Vegas,” he shot back without hesitation.
