Escaping Darkness (Book 6): The Shadows

by Richards, E. S.

  Petrified of making the wrong decision, Jorge didn’t know how to reply. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing other than a strangled gargling sound came out, his words lost as he quickly tried to figure out if the three masked figures were friends or foes. They knew why he had traveled to Phoenix, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were on his side. They were breaking him out of his prison. How could Jorge know whether that was to free him or simply lock him up somewhere else? The seconds dragged at a snail’s pace, the Spaniard unable to decide.

  “Time’s up,” the figure from the window—this one male—spoke again. “It’s finishing. We need to move now.”

  “Last chance, buddy. Are you the guy from Yellowstone? Are you coming with us or should we lock you back up in this room to rot?”

  Swallowing in an attempt to lessen his fear, Jorge finally managed to nod in response. “Yes,” he croaked out. “I’ve come from Yellowstone. Who are you?”

  “Bingo,” the woman called out. “That’s good enough for me. Let’s go.”

  The three masked figures made a beeline for the door of the hotel room, one of them checking the corridor carefully before stepping out into it, a gun pointed ahead of them. Jorge paused for a second before forcing himself forward. This was at least a way out; an escape. He didn’t know who these people were, but he knew he would be a fool if he didn’t follow them and get out of the building. Once outside he could try and get away from them as well. For now, he needed them. For now, he needed to make it out alive.

  “Come on,” another of the masked figures—either the man who had been by the window or the one who had dragged the body in from the corridor—called after him. “Get a move on.”

  Increasing his speed to a jog, Jorge did what he was told. The four of them ran down the corridors in a precise manner, turning in certain places and clearly making their way out via a previously determined route. They didn’t run into anyone else as they moved, despite stopping before every bend and checking what lay ahead. It was smooth sailing. A perfect rescue attempt, though Jorge still worried about why. Who were these masked people and how did they know about him? He felt far from safe within their company, the need to escape still paramount in his mind.

  “Whoa there! No you don’t!”

  As the four of them burst out of a side door and into the street that ran along the back of the hotel, Jorge saw his chance and tried to make a run for it, lurching forward in an attempt to get away. But one of the men grabbed him immediately, stopping him before he’d even gained a meter on them. The grip around his forearm was tight and unyielding, making Jorge well aware that he was not getting away that easily.

  “Nice try, friend,” the woman spoke again, shaking her masked face at Jorge. “We need you. You’re coming with us now.”

  “Where are you taking me?” Jorge cried out, starting to panic as he was steered farther down the small backstreet and into the gloom of the ash cloud. “Who are you?” He coughed and spluttered, trying not to breathe in the toxic air and yet at the same time, trying to call out for help. Should he draw attention to himself? All logic vanished from Jorge’s mind and he started to struggle, kicking and flailing around until both men were forced to grab him from either side, restricting his movements completely and trapping him between their large bodies.

  “I’d give that a rest if I were you, buddy,” the woman continued. “We don’t want to hurt you, but we will if you keep causing trouble. Just come with us quietly and we’ll explain everything. We’re on your side. All we want is our city back and to bring justice to the people who caused this madness. Now, are you with us or are we going to have to kick things up a gear?”

  Jorge stopped struggling, listening to what the woman was saying. He didn’t like her tone of voice or the way she conducted her business, but he was intrigued by what she was saying. More importantly than that, it didn’t look like he had much of a choice. He didn’t like the idea of being knocked out by one of the masked men and he didn’t stand a chance at getting away from them. Like it or not, Jorge was going with the masked figures, hoping that he didn’t end up somewhere worse than the last time.

  Chapter 10

  “No way,” Jerry smiled at his granddaughter, his voice wheezing somewhat as he spoke but feeling determined to join in with the conversation. The return of Chase and Riley had filled him with hope, and he refused to let any of his pain be shown to his grandchildren.

  “Yeah,” Riley nodded enthusiastically in response, excited to tell her grandparents about everything she and Chase had done while away from the farmhouse. “The Authority had no idea what we were doing. We had almost planned the escape ourselves before Mike’s dad broke us all out.”

  “Mike was one of your friends in there, right?” Linda asked, doing her best to keep up with all the information being shared. She was finally ready to hear about what her grandchildren had been through, but she had not expected the tale to be so filled with drama and interchanging characters. She was both impressed and frightened by the things she was hearing, learning that both Chase and Riley had grown up a lot more than she gave them credit for.

  Chase picked up the tale, answering his grandmother’s question. “Yeah, he was in the pit with us”—he gestured to Leo at his side— “and Joel. His dad is the guy who set up the rebel faction that broke us out; the one that Vic and Blake were a part of.”

  “Well, not from the start,” Blake cut in, trying to make himself and Vic sound less like a pair of radicals and more like two guys who just wanted to do what was right for their city. “We were camped in Vic’s store for a couple days, then went out and discovered what was happening to you kids—though not to the extent we found out later. Jackson accosted us in the street one day, and that’s how we became a part of his group.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Chase shrugged, not feeling like Blake’s input was relevant to the story and letting his excitement get the better of him as he recalled the story. “They took over this massive building in the city and brought us all back there when they broke us out of the pit. It was incredible,” he sighed. “I can’t believe how well it all happened.”

  “And Mike’s still there?” Linda asked, making sure she was keeping track of everyone’s names. “And Joel?”

  “And Hazel,” Riley interrupted, wanting to remain involved in the storytelling. “She was my friend and Joel’s little sister. They stayed behind with their mom.”

  “Sounds like you had quite the gang,” Jerry grinned, nudging Riley on the shoulder and winking playfully at her.

  “Aha, it wasn’t like that, Pop,” Riley giggled in reply. “Hazel was fun though. I liked her.”

  “I’m sure she misses you, sweetheart,” Jerry smiled, fighting through the tightness in his chest that he felt as he spoke. It brought him such immense happiness to hear his granddaughter’s laugh again; it was a sound that he had thought was gone from his life forever. “I bet you were a great friend to her.”

  “Thanks, Pop,” Riley smiled, feeling her cheeks flush slightly at the compliment as she shuffled backwards along the carpet, moving closer to her grandfather.

  “So, what happened next?” Linda asked, looking to each person in turn as she wondered who was going to continue. “What does this Jackson plan to do about the Authority? It sounds like they need to be stopped.”

  “They do,” Blake answered in a serious tone. “In all honesty, we are worried about how far their reach is. I thought we might bump into some of them on the journey out of the city, but it looks like they’re confined to Houston for the time being, which is good. With the full strength of our faction I think we can defeat them. People should be allowed to live how they want; it’s just plain wrong for some totalitarian party to try and gain control.”

  “Are you planning on going back, then? To help them?”

  Blake nodded, maintaining eye contact with Linda as he replied to show his honesty and sincerity. “Yes. Once we’ve got your roof fixed up, we need to return to the city.
We’re needed there, and we have to defend our home.”

  “And I need to make sure my store is still there, too,” Vic added with a slight smile, the Ukrainian man not much for serious conversations.

  “That makes sense,” Linda replied with a nod. “I appreciate you sticking around to help with the roof. You have no idea how much we’ve needed that done.”

  “Yes,” Jerry coughed, “thank you. It means—” the remainder of the old man’s sentence was stolen from him as hacking coughs ripped through his body and exploded from his mouth.

  Riley jumped forward, feeling her grandfather’s body shudder and shake behind her. “Pop! Are you okay?”

  Jerry tried to wave her away, embarrassed that another of his coughing fits had befallen him at such a time. He tried to breathe deeply and fight his way through it as he had learned to do, but the tightness in his chest only increased the more he tried. Trying to push himself up into a more upright position, Jerry continued to cough as he struggled to clear his airways, something feeling different from how it usually did. It didn’t feel right.

  “Jerry!” Linda moved over to her husband’s side and hovered over him frantically, Riley moving out of the way and getting to her feet as she—like everyone—watched her grandfather fighting for breath.

  “What can we do?” Chase asked nervously, his eyes darting quickly between Jerry and Linda, waiting for his grandma to come up with a solution and for Pop to calm down.

  “Jerry, come on,” Linda coaxed her husband. “You can do this. Breathe slowly. In and out, that’s it, my love.”

  Jerry could hear everyone’s voices in his ears as he tried to do what they said, desperately trying to pull oxygen back into his lungs and hold it there. Unfortunately, it wasn’t working. His vision began to blur, and his gulps of air became more and more frantic, staccato gasps puncturing the room as everyone watched and waited. Jerry couldn’t do it. He could feel the end coming. He wasn’t strong enough to hold on any longer.

  Time seemed to stand still for Linda. She was unable to tear her eyes away from her husband, watching as the love of her life slowly suffocated, his lungs failing and his heart slowing to a standstill. A high-pitched buzzing rang in her ears, immersing her in some sort of trance as she watched the life fade from Jerry’s eyes and her husband’s soul drift away. Vic and Blake rushed over, lifting Jerry’s body from the couch and onto the carpet, where they quickly began trying to revive him with chest compressions and rescue breaths. It was no use. Linda’s husband was dead, and there was no bringing him back.

  Everything moved in slow motion for Linda then. She didn’t know how to react, her eyes transfixed by her husband’s body lying motionless on the floor. She couldn’t hear anything except her own heartbeat in her ears, pounding like a drum that shook her body with every stroke.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Linda saw Riley throw back her head and cry, lurching forward to her grandfather’s body and curling over it, refusing to believe what had happened. Linda wanted to go to her granddaughter, but she couldn’t move. She was frozen. Unable to react to what had just happened.

  Chase also felt numb. He looked from his grandfather’s body, to Riley lying on top of it and Linda standing motionless, her eyes glazed over like a ghost. What was he supposed to do now? How was he supposed to react? He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out, just a croaking noise and a slow exhalation of breath.

  “Come on, my friend,” Vic spoke softly to Chase, seeing the shock on the teenager’s face and understanding that none of the family knew how to react. Riley was wailing loudly, screaming and crying as she begged some unknown power to bring her grandfather back. Linda still hadn’t moved. “You don’t need to see this.”

  Vic took control, nodding to Blake, who moved over to Riley, gently trying to pull her away from the body. Chase allowed Vic to lead him into the kitchen, sitting him down at the table and facing away from the front room. Leo sat beside him, unsure whether he should say anything or just be there for his friend. There had to be something that he could say, but seeing the expression on Chase’s face, Leo couldn’t find the words to comfort him. They had all just watched the old man die, everything changing so suddenly and without warning.

  “Come on, Riley,” Blake gently picked Riley up from Jerry’s body, easing her small and weak frame away as she gave up and sobbed profusely. “That’s it, girl. You’re okay.”

  Riley let Blake carry her out of the front room—her senses all going numb as she cried, just like her brother’s had. She was dazed and disoriented, climbing on to Chase’s lap where he sat and wrapping her arms around his neck, her face buried in his shoulder. It was something she had done when she was much younger but hadn’t for many years. Now—to both Chase and Riley—it felt natural. Chase curled his arms around his younger sister and started methodically rocking her body as she cried, his own eyes vacant and glassy as he held her, unable to process what had just happened.

  “What should we do?” Blake whispered to Vic as they both stood at the entrance to the front room, looking in at Linda who still stood in exactly the same place, staring at her dead husband on the floor.

  “Leave her a moment,” Vic whispered back, pulling the door to the front room toward him so it was almost closed, granting the new widow some privacy. “There’s no comfort we can offer her now.”

  Linda didn’t hear the two men talking. She couldn’t hear anything except the ringing in her ears. Jerry was dead. Her husband was dead. No matter how many different ways she repeated the sentence to herself, it still didn’t sound real. Even though she was literally staring at his body, Linda still couldn’t bring herself to accept the fact that he was gone. Jerry had left her and now, she was alone.

  “My love,” she whispered, finally able to speak as her body freed up and she collapsed to her knees in front of her husband. “Jerry.” She picked up one of his hands in her own, his skin still slightly warm as she lifted it to her lips and kissed his fingers. “These hands. I can’t believe I’ll never get to hold these hands again.” She squeezed gently, smiling at how their skin molded together perfectly.

  “Your touch,” she whispered, slowly laying his hand back down beside his body, inching up to his face on her knees. “Your smile. Your kiss.”

  Jerry’s eyes were still open, staring blankly up at the ceiling in death. As Linda’s bottom lip quivered, she leaned over and closed them for him, making the old man look like he was merely sleeping. As much as he looked like it though, Linda knew it wasn’t real.

  “Oh, Jerry,” she whimpered, sitting back on her heels and letting her head loll backwards and her eyes close. “What am I going to do without you?”

  There Linda remained as the seconds turned to minutes and the minutes ticked by. Just out of sight in the kitchen, Chase held his younger sister as they too mourned the loss of their grandfather, an incredible man who hadn’t deserved to die. Everyone was silent and solemn. No one said a word as they all pictured Jerry in their memories, saying their own private goodbyes to a man who was too good for the what the world was turning into.

  Chapter 11

  “Ugh, man. Where are we?”

  Mia looked over her shoulder quickly to see Jesse finally stirring, the painkillers she had administered to him before they all went to bed the night before finally wearing off. After finding a place to spend the night, the three of them had carried Jesse inside, Mia dosing him up on medication so he would sleep through the night relatively pain-free before she, Marcus, and Jadon all managed to get some shut-eye too. As it happened, she might have slightly overdosed him, getting slightly carried away due to his size and how much pain he had been in earlier. Now he was finally waking up again, his mind foggy from everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours.

  “Jesse!” Marcus cheered as his friend finally stirred in the back seat, having handed over the steering wheel to Mia about an hour ago. “How are you feeling, man?”

  “Take it easy back there,”
Mia commented from behind the wheel. “You’re coming off a lot of meds. You might want to take a couple of the smaller dosage ones now, just to ease yourself back into things slowly. Otherwise that pain is going to bounce back at you like, well…” Mia paused and chucked, “like a bullet.”

  Jesse nodded groggily and did as he was told, accepting help from Marcus, who handed him a bottle of water with which to down the pills. Looking down at his shoulder, he saw it was completely bandaged up, the bullet hole hidden behind swaths of bloodied fabric.

  “You okay?” Marcus repeated, concerned about his friend as he saw Jesse slowly trying to move his injured arm, wincing slightly as he did so.

  “Yeah,” Jesse eventually answered. “It just feels,” he paused, “weird. It’s like I can’t feel it, but at the same time I can. It’s like an ache—is that what it’s supposed to feel like?”

  “I’m not sure,” Mia replied, seeing Jesse looking at her in the rearview mirror. “I’ve never been shot myself, but so long as you’re not in too much pain I’d say that’s a good thing. We’ll change the bandages again when we stop and I’ll have another look at it. The wound was clean. I think you’ll make a full recovery.”

  Jesse smiled, grateful for the news he received. “Thanks, Mia. That was insane back there; what happened after I got shot?”

  Mia allowed Marcus to explain everything that had ensued at the border crossing, turning her focus back to the road ahead of her and pressing her foot down on the gas pedal. They were incredibly close to her parents’ farmhouse now. She recognized the surroundings, having just passed a nearby hardware store where her father used to go and get odds and ends for fixing up the house. It was completely ransacked, the windows smashed in and the parking lot covered in trash. Mia knew there was zero point stopping there to look for supplies.

  “No way,” Jesse piped up from the back, Marcus reaching the end of his brief summary. “Are we close now? How much farther is it?”