Dark Days | Book 7 | Hell Town

by Lukens, Mark

  Then she saw a black pickup truck parked half a block down from the gas station on the far corner of the intersection. She couldn’t make out the people inside the truck. There was no DA symbol on it, but she had to assume they were Dark Angels. The truck had what looked like big pieces of metal grids welded to the grill and the tailgate, with other smaller pieces of armor attached to the sides. There was a kind of steel mesh over the side windows.

  “It’s still coming this way,” Tina said as she watched the drone through her binoculars.

  “It’s definitely carrying something,” Fernando said. “A small box. Maybe a wood box or a metal box.”

  Jo grabbed her walkie-talkie. “Max. Kate. Come in.”

  “We’re here, Jo,” Max answered.

  “Get ready down there. Something’s coming for the store.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s a drone. It’s carrying something. Might be a bomb. Just get ready down there.”

  CHAPTER 36

  Max

  Max hurried to the ladder attached to the scissor lift while Kate took Brooke back to the tent. Max didn’t wait for Kate; he scrambled up the ladder, which was tied tighter to the lift now. Someone had retied the ropes, securing the ladder better, just one more job that had to be done in the seemingly endless tasks around the store.

  His heart thudded as he climbed the ladder up to the skylight. Jo had sounded alarmed on the walkie-talkie. She’d sounded scared. She’d said a drone was coming toward the store and that it was carrying something. Possibly a bomb. She’d told him to get ready down in the store, warning him, probably expecting him to stay down in the store. He couldn’t do that. He needed to be up there on the roof—he needed to help.

  It was another attack from the Dark Angels, that much was certain to Max. How many were out there now? Had they doubled their forces? Tripled them? Would they bring more powerful weapons? They’d brought a drone. Would they bring a bomb? A rocket launcher?

  Max’s mind turned to Petra and the other hostages. The Dark Angels had used Lance, Crystal, and Dale as hostages last time, and then slaughtered them in the parking lot. Had they brought other hostages this time? Had they brought Petra? Max already decided he couldn’t watch Petra die—he’d give up the store if he could save her life. If they could all get out of the store, if they could survive, then they could come back to fight another day. But they couldn’t do anything if all of them were dead, picked off one by one over the next few days.

  He knew Jo was loyal to the store, but it was more than that—the store was her only source of comfort. She was like a shut-in afraid to venture out into the world, into the unknown. Jo hadn’t been out there traveling the roads and journeying through the cities and towns; since the Collapse she’d been here in the store, hidden behind the safety of these walls. She was afraid, pure and simple. But Max had survived out there in the wilds. So had Petra, Kate, and Brooke. They’d survived before and they could do it again.

  When he got onto the roof he expected to hear the sounds of an approaching army, maybe a Dark Angel shouting orders and directing troops through a megaphone. But everything was strangely quiet except for the buzzing/whining sound in the sky.

  He hurried to Jo. She stood near the knee wall at the edge of the roof at the front of the building. Fernando and Tina were beside her, Fernando with his rifle aimed up at the drone in the sky, Tina tracked the drone with her binoculars. They looked like three people staring in awe at a UFO.

  “It’s a drone,” Jo said as soon as Max was beside her.

  Max watched the little drone fly toward the store, but it was slowing a little, hovering toward the far end of the store, over the fenced area in back.

  “What’s it doing?”

  Max whirled around when he heard Kate’s voice.

  “Looks like it’s landing in the fenced-in area,” Fernando said.

  “It’s got a small wooden box attached to it,” Tina told Kate.

  “You think it’s a bomb?” Kate asked.

  “Could be C-4 explosive,” Fernando said as he watched the drone hover in the air forty feet above the fenced-in back area.

  “You think they’ve got C-4?” Jo asked.

  “They have other military equipment,” Fernando answered. “Maybe they found some C-4.”

  “Then why not drop it on the building?” Max asked. “Blow a hole in it.”

  “Maybe they’re trying to get it to the rollup doors,” Fernando suggested. “The one Jeff tried to blow with the grenade.”

  “But even if they blow the door, they still need to get through the fence,” Max said. “Why not blow a hole in the front? Easier to get in that way.”

  “The explosion would attract rippers,” Fernando said. “Maybe that’s why they want the fences intact, so they can still have a barrier around the store.”

  “Why is the drone just floating there?” Kate asked. “What’s it waiting for?”

  “If they’re planning on blowing a hole in the doors, then where are all the Dark Angels?” Jo asked. “I haven’t seen any except for a black pickup truck near the gas station over there by the intersection. I’m guessing someone in the truck is piloting that drone.”

  “There’s something else on that drone,” Tina said. She held her binoculars steady, watching the drone as it hovered in the sky.

  “What?” Max asked. He hurried to the middle of the roof to get a closer look.

  “What do you see?” Jo asked Tina.

  “It looks like a little white flag on the corner of the wooden box.”

  “A white flag?” Kate asked. “You mean like a surrender flag?”

  Max thought of the cartoons he’d watched as a kid where a character raised a white flag after being blown up, the flag full of holes, the stick bent.

  “No,” Jo said immediately. “They’re not giving up. They still want this store. They want the food and supplies we have inside.”

  “Maybe the flag is a message,” Tina said. “To let us know that the wooden box is safe. Maybe that’s why it’s hovering there so long, so we know they don’t mean us any harm.”

  “Yeah, for now,” Jo said.

  “They want to show us something,” Kate said. “They want us to see what’s inside the box.”

  As if the drone had heard them, it lowered to the ground out of their view for a moment.

  Max and Fernando hurried over to the other side of the roof.

  “It’s setting the box on the ground,” Fernando called out.

  “Being careful with it,” Max added. He watched as the drone lifted up from the ground, leaving the small box behind, the little motors buzzing louder, the drone moving faster as it rose above the fence and then flew away toward the small street on that side of the parking lot.

  “I could take the drone out,” Fernando said, looking through the rifle’s scope at the drone as it flew away.

  “No, wait,” Jo said. She had come to that side of the building with Kate and Tina.

  “They’ll just send another one,” Kate said.

  Max wasn’t so sure Fernando could shoot the drone out of the air, but he didn’t say anything.

  The drone was across the parking lot, then to the side street, then to the intersection and to the pickup truck, landing down in the bed.

  The drone had caught the attention of the rippers that had been wandering around the parking lot and near the partially constructed building across the street, riling them up. Some ran toward the store, a few were already at the base of the building, yelling and screaming. One of them touched the fence and shocked himself, knocked back onto the ground, dazed for a moment.

  Some of the rippers across the street ran for the black pickup.

  “They’re leaving,” Tina announced, her binoculars trained on the black pickup truck. “Rippers headed their way.”

  Max heard some machine-gun fire from the pickup as it sped away.

  The truck was gone; the world silent again except for a few calls and screeches
from the rippers, but even those seemed to be half-hearted now.

  Max stood at the edge of the roof that looked down onto the fenced-in area of the back of the store. Jo and the others were lined up beside him, all of them staring down at the small wooden box at the far end of the fenced area.

  “If that’s supposed to be a message,” Jo said, “let’s see what they have to say.”

  CHAPTER 37

  Kate

  “It could still be some kind of bomb,” Kate said. “Maybe not something to blow a hole in the doors, maybe not yet, but something to hurt or kill one of us, take some of us out.”

  “Like an I.E.D.” Fernando said.

  Jo looked at him.

  “An improvised explosive device. They used them in Iraq, blowing up military vehicles.”

  “Like a booby trap,” Jo said. She looked at Kate. “What do you suggest?”

  “Shoot it?” Max asked.

  “No,” Kate said. “It might not be a bomb. If it really is a message, we might need to see it.” She looked at Jo. “I think one of us needs to go open the box. One of us needs to volunteer. Just one of us. That way if it is an explosive, only one of us will get killed.”

  “Who’s going to volunteer?” Jo said.

  “I will,” Kate answered.

  “No, let me,” Fernando insisted.

  “I should do it,” Jo said. “I’m the manager here. If anyone is going to get hurt . . . or killed . . . I can’t ask anyone to do that.”

  “We need you,” Fernando said.

  “We need you too,” she answered. “Everyone is needed here.”

  “We draw straws,” Max suggested. “Or something like that. Maybe a bag of marbles. A bag of black marbles with one white one.”

  “Okay,” Jo said.

  *

  It took a few minutes, but Jo came to them in the loading bay with a small cloth bag. “No marbles,” she said. “Probably with all the other toys stacked up in the loading bay. But I’ve got a bag of walnuts. One of them is marked with an X. Whoever draws that walnut will go open the box. Is that okay with everyone?”

  Kate nodded. They all nodded.

  “Okay,” Jo said. “We all reach into the bag one at a time and grab a walnut. We don’t look at it until we’ve all drawn. Okay?”

  Again, they all nodded in agreement.

  They went one at a time: Kate first, then Max, then Tina, then Fernando, and finally Jo.

  “Okay,” Jo said. “Let’s open our hands and look.”

  Kate opened her hand and looked down at the walnut in her hand with a big black X drawn on its shell with a marker.

  “No,” Max said. “No. We should do this over.”

  “We agreed,” Kate told him.

  “But Brooke, she needs you.” He looked at Jo. “We should do this over again, this time without Kate.”

  “Nothing’s going to happen,” Kate told him. “We’re all in agreement that there’s some kind of message in that box.” She knew what she was saying made the most sense, but it still didn’t push away the fear or slow her racing heart. “They have a white flag on it.” She tried to smile, but it felt like her face was cracking.

  “Yeah, of course,” Max said. “They would never lie or try to trick us.”

  “It’s settled,” Kate said.

  “I’m going too,” Max said.

  “Max,” Jo warned. “We agreed. If this is some kind of bomb, they want as many people around that box as they can get.”

  “I don’t care. What’s one more of us?” He stared at Jo like he was daring her to keep him away.

  Kate saw a dark look in Max’s eyes, like he was bracing to defend himself against Jo.

  “Okay,” Kate said. “Let’s just all calm down.” She looked at Max. “We’ll both go.” Then she looked at Jo. “And everyone else will stay back.”

  Jo didn’t look happy, but she nodded.

  “You should take something with you,” Fernando said. “Something to help protect you.”

  “Yeah,” Tina said, her face brightening. “Like a blast shield or something.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Max asked.

  A few minutes later Fernando and Tina came back with two metal panels with handles on them.

  Fernando smiled sheepishly as he handed one of them to Kate. “They’re metal cabinet doors from the deli kitchen. I unscrewed the hinges. Not the thickest steel, I know, but maybe it will help.”

  “Thank you,” Kate told him and then looked at Tina. She had images of a bomb shredding through the flimsy metal door, shards of steel embedded in her face and body.

  It was almost dark outside when they opened the smaller back door and stepped outside. Tina and Fernando went with Kate and Max, then stopped halfway to the box. Fernando had his rifle with him, and Tina had her flashlight and binoculars with her. Jo waited by the door—she’d gotten the doctor, who stood ready with a first-aid kit.

  Max carried a flashlight in one hand and his metal cabinet door in the other, but he hadn’t turned the flashlight on yet. It was still light enough outside to see, but in ten or fifteen minutes it would be nearly pitch-black. Kate’s eyes had already adjusted to the darkness.

  They walked slowly across the pavement toward the far edge of the back area where the gate was. The small wooden box sat halfway between the gate and the back fence.

  “Thanks for coming with me,” Kate whispered to Max as they got closer to the box.

  “I can do this myself. You can go back.”

  “I got the walnut with the X,” she reminded him.

  “It’s not like we all signed a contract, you know.”

  “We agreed. That’s as good as a contract.”

  “I meant what I said about Brooke needing you. You should protect yourself for her. She needs you.”

  For just a moment Kate felt the pressure of taking care of a child, of someone’s life being so much more important than her own. She wondered if this was how a parent felt. For just a moment she considered Max’s suggestion of letting him inspect the box on his own; it seemed more logical than both of them risking their lives. But this wasn’t the last dangerous situation she was going to find herself in. At some point Brooke would have to learn to survive on her own.

  And who was she kidding? Brooke had survived on her own before Kate had met her. Brooke had saved her life. They all had survived on their own, and they would all have to face the possibility of going on alone. It was just a fact of life now.

  She wanted to tell Max her thoughts, but not right now. They needed to be as quiet as possible in case rippers were close by. But she wasn’t backing down—she made that clear by still walking beside Max.

  He didn’t say anything, knowing she’d made her decision.

  The wooden box was about the size of a paperback book, only much thicker. It was made of plain wood with a little white flag poking up out of one corner on a stiff wire. A clasp kept the box closed, but there was no lock on it. Simple hinges and a light varnish on the wood. Not a jewelry box, maybe something homemade.

  Kate and Max crouched down in front of the box with their “shields” in front of them.

  “Let me open it,” Max pleaded.

  Kate just nodded.

  Max brushed his fingers along the top of the box. He pushed the box back a little on the pavement, being careful with it. He turned the box all the way around, studying it in the beam of his flashlight in the dusk.

  “Nothing written on it,” Max whispered. “Nothing written on the flag.”

  He picked up the box with trembling hands and gave it a gentle shake. Something solid and heavy bumped around inside, a muffled thump against the inside walls. He set the box back down.

  Kate aimed her flashlight down at the box, keeping her other hand over the front of it to cut down on the beam of light.

  “Okay,” Max said, breathing the word out. “Let’s open it.” He flipped up the little clasp and opened the lid.

  No explosion.

 
Kate pulled her fingers away from the front of her flashlight to give Max a little more light. Inside the box she saw a cell phone and a small gray cloth sack closed and tied with a drawstring.

  “A cell phone,” Max said like he’d stumbled onto some mythical object that shouldn’t exist anymore. He picked it up.

  Kate knew cell phones could be used in bombs as triggering devices. Could the little gray cloth contain some kind of explosive? If so, it seemed kind of elaborate rather than just having a pressure bomb go off as soon as they opened the lid. And there was no cell service anyway. There were no wires attached to the cell phone, nothing else inside the box except the small gray sack.

  After Max turned the phone on, waiting for it to power up, Kate covered the end of her flashlight to cut down on the light. The rippers hadn’t come to the fence or the gate yet, but if they saw the light, they’d come. A few of them called out from the parking lot and the side street. Maybe some were already on their way.

  “We need to hurry,” she told Max. “The rippers are coming. I think they’ve seen our flashlights.” And they had already gotten worked up from the drone a little earlier.

  “Why a cell phone?” Max muttered to himself. “They’re not going to call us. They can’t. No phones. No internet.” He pushed icons on the screen. “A message? Just like you said. I think there might be a video on here.”

  The rippers were getting closer, getting louder.

  “Max . . .”

  Max found the gallery of photos and videos. “There’s only one video on here.” He pushed his thumb down on the screen and watched.

  Kate heard the tiny voice coming from the phone and saw movement on the screen, but from her angle she couldn’t make out what was on the phone. But there was no mistaking the shock on Max’s face. “What is it?” she asked, but she already knew. She recognized the woman’s voice on the phone now—it was Petra.