by Hunt, Jack
“Why didn’t you go to a shelter?”
Elliot scoffed. “You want to get robbed, have your throat slit or be sexually assaulted, by all means, check one out. Chat to anyone on the streets, they will tell you to avoid them at all costs. And the decent ones, well, you have to have been in the system for a while to qualify for those.”
Damon squinted into the darkness, washing his flashlight over rear bumpers. “And I’m guessing you shied away from being in the system. Why?”
Elliot didn’t like the constant barrage of questions. It was another reason why he avoided shelters, they asked too many questions, expected too much and were too damn nosy. At least below the streets of New York he could find solace, peace even. There were days he attended a group therapy session in the city, however he never went in. He would just stand outside and listen to the group talk. Most of them were vets, some survivors of traumatic sexual assaults. It was a mixed bag. Of course, there had been a few times the gal running it had spotted him and had welcomed him, but he couldn’t go through that — sitting there in front of a bunch of strangers and pouring out his life to them. Nah, how was that going to help? It didn’t take away the nightmares. It couldn’t turn back the clock on what he’d done since returning.
His mind returned to that night, the flashbacks, Rayna’s attempts to help him.
They’d had her brother and sister over for Thanksgiving. By any measure it should have been a good day. Kong had been by his side, keeping him from losing his cool even though internally he felt like he was losing grip on reality. Up to that point, he’d never had a visual flashback, just nightmares and depression.
“Hon, I forgot to get the wine, can you do a run to the liquor store?”
“I’ll take him,” Keith said.
Keith was Rayna’s younger brother. He was twenty nine with three kids.
It was a quick trip down the road. He wished he’d taken Kong with him. Maybe if he had, it would have ended differently. And maybe if he hadn’t been carrying a concealed weapon, the outcome would have been different.
Elliot’s thoughts trailed, his mind snapping back and forth between the present and the event replaying.
He recalled getting out of the Jeep and heading into the liquor store. Browsing through the bottles at the back of the store. The ring of a bell as someone else entered and then loud shouting, the commands to give money and a gun going off, then another round and glass shattering. After that it became a blur. All he could hear was mortars ringing in his head, his fellow soldiers yelling for help, he could see blood and…
“Hey, Elliot, you okay?” Damon said snapping him out of his dreamlike state. “I think I found a vehicle. What do you think?”
He stepped back from a fair sized truck, the model was a Toyota Hilux, early ’80s.
“If it worked, it wouldn’t be here,” Elliot replied before walking on.
“That or they left it here. We can at least try it, right?”
He shrugged still lost in the vague memories of the past. Usually when he felt this way he would drink, withdraw into the darkness of the tunnels and go a full twenty-four hours without seeing anyone. Before he could say anything, Damon used his elbow to smash the driver’s side window. He then reached in and unlocked the door and slipped underneath to try and hotwire it. Elliot didn’t get in but looked around, expecting a security guard to emerge at any minute, but no one came.
He heard the sound of sparks, a ticking sound, and then the roar of the engine.
“Hey, look at that!” Damon put his hand out and banged on the roof. “Get in.”
Elliot slipped in the other side and wiped off shards of glass from the leather seat.
“You still want to leave them behind?” Damon asked.
Elliot thought about for a few seconds.
“No, let’s go get them.”
Damon chuckled. “There’s hope for you yet, Elliot,” he said with a grin on his face as he jammed the gear stick into drive and smashed the accelerator. They tore out of there with a new sense of hope, how long that would last was to be seen. There were only a few things valuable in a world without power — food, clean water, medication, shelter, weapons and transportation. They might as well have had a bull’s-eye attached to their backs.
Chapter 18
Maggie peeled back the bloodied bandage and took a look at the wound. It wasn’t that bad, but it was going to need some stitches. Elliot had offered back at the house when he’d been cleaning it with the hydrogen peroxide, but she’d declined. She didn’t deal with needles very well and that was just when she was visiting the doctor, but getting stitched up without an anesthetic, well that was too much to deal with. Her pain tolerance wasn’t very high. “It’s all in your head. Just a mental game,” Elliot had said. Yeah, right, she thought. It was easy for him to say as he wasn’t the one who had to endure it. She shouldn’t have told him that, though, as he ended up showing her two wounds from his time in Iraq.
“The shrapnel is still inside,” he’d said pointing to his shoulder.
Jesse had walked a short distance away to take a leak. Every now and again she would look up and realize how strange it was to not hear vehicles driving by, or horns honking. The only sounds now were the odd gun going off, and the patter of feet as different people hurried down the street, probably escaping with stolen goods.
“So what did you do before this?” Jesse yelled, his head just visible above a gravestone. The steady sound of piss trickling followed.
“I did tech support for Dell.”
“Dell? Didn’t think that company was still in existence. I thought it had gone the way of the dinosaur like Microsoft.”
“You do know that both are still around? Guessing you are a Mac user.”
“Going on nine years,” he replied as he emerged doing up his zipper. “So did you like it?” he asked.
“It was a means to an end.”
“In this case, the end of the world, or the breakdown of New York,” he said taking a seat beside her. “How’s the leg?”
“Tender but I’ll survive.”
“You really should have let him stitch it up.”
“Once he finds something stronger than bourbon, I might do that,” she replied, squinting and then cupping a hand over her eyes to block the glare of the sun. Jesse brought his backpack around and unzipped it. He dug around inside for some fruit and offered her an apple.
“What else you got in there?”
“Oh just a few cans, some bottles of water, a lighter, a butter knife, stinky gym clothes and yesterday’s newspaper.”
“Sounds like a poor man’s bug-out bag.”
“Didn’t exactly have time to pack,” he said. He took a bite out of the apple and leaned back against the gravestone.
“What do you make of our ex-convict friend?”
Jesse squinted. “Seems harmless enough.”
“But why wouldn’t he tell us?”
“Would you?”
“Nah, I guess not.”
“Everyone has their secrets.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” she replied. Out the corner of her eye she spotted a young girl making her way over to them. She couldn’t have been more than twelve years of age with cornrows in her hair and wearing an Adidas tracksuit.
“Jesse,” Maggie muttered. He sat up and looked, then reached for his gun.
“Put it away, she’s just a kid.”
He removed his hand and covered it up.
“Hello there,” she said stopping about ten yards from them. “You wouldn’t have any water, would you?”
Maggie went for the bag and Jesse put his hand on top of it. He was quick to speak up. “No, actually we don’t, but if you walk six blocks, you’ll find a pharmacy that has been looted. You might find a couple of bottles in there.”
“And why would we want to do that?”
Jesse heard the click of a gun and smelled a smoker’s breath near his face before he felt the gun press against the back of his h
ead.
“Tonyah, take their bags, and oh,” he said leaning forward, “I’ll take that.”
He reached under Jesse’s shirt and pulled out the Ruger revolver. Jesse squeezed his eyes shut, chiding himself for listening to Maggie. Just a girl? Stupid.
“Now what else you got?”
He still hadn’t seen this man’s face. The guy stayed behind him pressing the muzzle of the gun against his head.
Jesse kept his hands up. “That’s it. You’ve cleaned us out.”
“What’s inside the bags, Tonyah?”
She unzipped them and started tossing out his belongings. “Just a bunch of shit.”
“That’s all?”
“Like I said, we weren’t carrying much. Just take whatever you want.”
“Both of you lie down on your stomach.”
“C’mon, man, we don’t have anything else.”
“Am I not speaking English? Roll over!” he bellowed.
Jesse cast Maggie a look and then slipped forward.
“Hands behind your head and interlock your fingers.”
They did as he said. Jesse turned his head and could now see the guy. He was a tweaker-looking dude. Wild eyes, dreadlocks and he kept licking his lips. He had several gold chains around his neck and tattoos across the front of his chest. He had the young girl check their pockets. All the while Jesse tried to make it clear that they weren’t a threat, but it didn’t seem to help.
“Shut the hell up!”
“Jerome, they ain’t got anything, let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Well that’s too bad.” He came around to the front of them and kicked the bag across a few of the gravestones. “You won’t be needing that anymore.”
Maggie piped up. “Please, just…”
He fired off a round near her head. A chunk of soil kicked up and struck his face. “Seems ironic that these two assholes are going to die in a cemetery, don’t it, Tonyah?”
Jesse heard the gun cock, and he squeezed his eyes shut waiting for the end to come.
When the gun fired, he turned his head thinking that he’d shot Maggie first, but she was staring at the guy. Jesse turned his head towards their attacker and watched as he reached for his chest and then crumpled. The young girl bolted, dashing through the cemetery and disappearing into the tree line.
“Well, I go back on what I said about cemeteries not being a dangerous place,” Damon said casually strolling up. Jesse turned to see both of them making their way up. Of course it had been Elliot who had shot the guy. Jesse breathed a sigh of relief. He had never been so pleased to see anyone in his whole life. He honestly thought he was going to die. They rose and brushed off the dirt. He stared down at the black guy’s body and went over and took his gun back and relieved him of the one he was holding. Jesse offered it to Maggie, but she declined.
“I don’t know how to use it.”
“You’ll need to learn,” Elliot said. “Now how the hell did you get yourselves into this situation?”
Jesse looked at Maggie and her chin dropped. He cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one foot to the next.
“I didn’t think the girl was a threat,” he said speaking on her behalf. She glanced at him and the corner of her lip curled a little. “Anyway, how did you get on?”
“We’ve got a ride.”
“The four wheels kind?” Maggie asked.
“Is there any other?”
“I was expecting you to show up with bicycles.”
Damon rested his arm on a tombstone. “Ah, I hadn’t thought about that.”
Elliot stood nearby staring down at the body of the man he’d just shot. Maggie went over and touched his arm. “Elliot.” She repeated his name again before he looked at her. He got this confused expression on his face that made it seem like he was somewhere else. What was his deal?
Chapter 19
An hour later, Rayna sat inside Jill’s kitchen drinking a hot cup of tea. She’d whipped it up using a camping stove from the garage, Rayna had helped dig it out. Now they both sat in a quiet kitchen watching Lily, Evan and Kong play in the next room. Gary and Jill didn’t have kids, though it wasn’t because they hadn’t tried. Jill was unable to have kids.
“Thanks, Jill, this is nice,” she said nursing the cup with both hands. Jill was in her late forties. A woman with high cheekbones, short curly hair with a sharp nose. That morning she was wearing blue jeans, flats and a white winter sweater. She wasn’t a stickler for fashion and keeping up appearances like some folks she’d met, and perhaps that’s why Rayna liked being around her. She didn’t have to pretend.
“You know you and the kids are more than welcome to stay.”
She smiled and nodded. “Actually, that’s why I’m here. Do you remember when Elliot built the shelter at the house?”
“Yeah, vaguely.”
“I was going through one of the notebooks that Elliot left behind. Everything that happened so far, corresponds with what he believed would have been an EMP.”
“A what?”
She smiled. “An electromagnetic pulse. Usually caused by a solar flare or a nuke.”
Jill put her cup down and reached across placing her hands on top of Rayna’s. “Darlin’, the lights will come back on. Gary and the department are dealing with it.”
“I…”
“Rayna. I love Elliot but he went a little overboard when it came to these things. You told me that yourself.”
“I know I did, but that was back then. I just thought it was him being overly cautious for when he was away on deployment.”
Jill snorted. “Do we have a shelter?”
“No, but…”
“Rayna. Gary is no different. He talked about potential disaster situations but he never built a shelter.”
“You say that as if Elliot was crazy to do it?”
“No, but we know how things went with Elliot.”
Rayna leaned back in her chair and frowned. She couldn’t believe she had the nerve to say that. Was she insinuating that Elliot was crazy because he had PTSD? “Gary went through PTSD, Jill. He has many of the same symptoms.”
“And he got through it.”
“Oh so because Elliot didn’t, that makes him less of a person? Is that what you’re saying?”
Jill got up from the table and placed her cup on the counter.
“I’m not saying that. I…” she trailed off.
“What is it?”
Rayna could tell she was bothered about something. Jill gripped the counter for a few seconds and then turned towards her. “I know about you and Gary.”
“What?”
“The relationship.”
“What relationship?”
“Rayna, don’t take me for a fool.”
Rayna got up and placed her cup on the counter. She didn’t like where this was heading or what Jill was accusing her of. But it seemed pretty obvious.
“You want to say something, say it.”
“How long have you been seeing my husband?”
Rayna chuckled and ran a hand over her face. She cast a glance outside to where her kids were playing. “Let me ask you this, Jill. Have you ever brought it up with Gary? Have you ever asked him about this?”
“No.”
“Maybe you should,” she said scooping up her bag and heading to the back door. “Let’s go, kids.”
“But…” Lily said.
“I said, now!”
She could feel herself starting to boil. Jill looked over at her and opened her mouth but then closed it again. Evan and Lily hurried towards her while Kong bounded behind them nearly knocking them over. They headed towards the front door and Rayna stopped with her hand on the handle. “How long have we known each other, Jill?”
“A long time.”
“Then you should know me better than that.”
With that said, she closed the door behind her and they set off for home. She didn’t fault Jill for bringing it up. She would have done the same bu
t to assume that she was the one at fault, and then to get back at her by suggesting that Elliot was crazy, was a low blow. Her thoughts drifted to the past. In the time that Elliot was away on a deployment, it wasn’t uncommon for Gary to drop around and check in to make sure everything was okay. He would usually have a cup of coffee and they would catch up with what was going on in each other's lives. Sometimes he and Jill would invite her over for dinner a couple of nights a week but that was it. He’d never made a pass at her and to be honest she never got a sense that he was remotely interested.
That all changed two months after Elliot left them.
Gary would show up at all hours. Morning, afternoon, though usually it was in the evening. It was always the same. He wanted to talk about Elliot, find out how she was coping and see if there was anything she wanted done around the house. She should have picked up on it. He was overly interested and frequently visiting. But she just saw him as a close friend, nothing else. Then one night while Jill was away at her mother’s for the week, she’d extended the offer of having dinner at her place as she didn’t want him to have do all his own cooking. They ended up having a little too much wine and after the kids had gone to bed, he leaned in and kissed her. Of course, even in her intoxicated state she knew it was wrong and instinctively pushed him back and told him she was not interested.
He apologized and immediately left. There were a few awkward days after that but eventually it was smoothed out and things returned to normal — for a time. Then it happened again though this time she lingered in the kiss. She wasn’t sure why she did it, but it was the worst thing she could have done. He took that as a sign that she was interested and from there on out, he took every chance he had to show his affection. She refused to lead him on and made it clear that if he wanted to remain friends, it had to stop. Thankfully he listened, and there was a good eight months when they didn’t speak. It was difficult, but she had her morals and besides, she’d known Jill for far longer than Gary. She couldn’t do that to her. After ten months passed, he was back at it again, though it was less obvious. A hand on the back. An extra visit in the week. A gift here and there. It was only a matter of time before Jill got wind of it. The town wasn’t big and people talked, especially when they saw a police cruiser sitting in her driveway at all hours.
