“Safest to walk around the perimeter,” Buzz suggested. So far, they’d encountered nobody, but it was still early and anyone with sense would be hunkered down against the cold.
He followed the line of the road that wound around the library center, noting the occasional footprints in the snow—though their fuzzy edges suggested they weren’t fresh. They’d need an SUV or similar to make any progress, he decided, and even then, it would be a struggle.
“I’ve found something!”
Buzz looked across to where Ted Pope stood, gesturing downward.
“Underground parking,” he said as they caught up. “I can see some cars inside and it doesn’t look as though it’s been broken into.”
They followed him down the slope, pushing their way through a pile of snow that almost entirely covered the entrance.
“Looks like it flooded here,” Buzz said as he pointed at a thin layer of brown and green inside the dim interior.
Pope muttered something, then headed into the darkness. “I still want to take a look.”
“Stay close, kids,” Otis whispered to the children, his voice magnified by the cave-like interior of the garage.
Buzz felt them brush past him.
“They’ve got good night vision,” Otis said. “Wouldn’t have survived this long without them.”
They continued in the slippery, foul-smelling dark until they reached firmer ground.
“There’s somebody there,” Reba said.
Buzz pulled the gun from his belt, but he could barely see the girl, let alone what she was pointing at.
“What do you see, Wendell?” Otis asked.
“It’s okay, they’re dead, I figure. They ain’t moved.”
Pope and Yen moved up to walk alongside Otis and the children, leaving Buzz to shepherd Max through the cloying dark.
“There’s a truck here,” Pope said.
Yen called from the right, “These people have been dead for some time.”
Buzz told Max to hang back and went to look. A group of four sat with their backs to the ash block wall. Mercifully, their heads had all fallen to their chests and were covered with hoods. Food wrappers and a handgun lay on the floor around their legs. Two adults and two children.
A curse word echoed from their left. “I know what happened and it doesn’t help us at all. They turned the engine on and asphyxiated.”
“How can you tell?” Buzz asked, making his way to where Pope stood, looking into the cockpit of a truck.
“The key’s in the ignition and turned. I am an investigator, you know, and this isn’t exactly a tricky one. But it means there won’t be any gas in the tank. A pity; it’s ideal otherwise.”
Buzz moved back and could just make out a handful of cars parked alongside. “Yeah, these are too small.”
“And their batteries will be dead,” Pope said.
“Couldn’t we bump start?”
“What? The truck? Firstly, no we couldn’t. It’s far too big. Secondly, in case you didn’t hear: it’s got no gas in the tank!”
Buzz felt movement behind him and was surprised to see Max. “We could siphon the gas from the other cars into the truck, just leaving enough in one of them to bump start it and jump the battery.”
Even in the darkness, Buzz could see Pope’s jaw open and close. “We’d…we’d need to find some hose and a container. And jump leads.”
“Let’s get looking,” Buzz said. “And good work, Max.”
They found an emergency kit in one of the smaller cars. It had been locked—probably since before the flood—so they had to smash the windows to get inside and release the lid of the trunk. But now they had cables. Yen found a length of hose attached to a faucet beside an internal door that, presumably, led up into the library. A crate in the back of the truck served as a container.
By the time they had the truck filled with gas, the sun was shining outside and reflecting light into the garage. The tangy stink of petrol masked the sickly stench of death and they were ready to bump start the smallest stick shift car, a Fiat that looked as though it could have starred in Cars.
Otis sat in the driving seat with Buzz, Max, Yen and Pope pushing. It took two complete laps of the garage before finally the car sputtered into life, overlaying exhaust fumes on top of everything else, burning the back of Buzz’s throat.
Parking the car in front of the truck, Otis left it running while he connected the two cars together. “Let’s give it twenty minutes to give the battery a little charge,” he said. “Then we can give it a try.”
They were relaxing and eating a little of their supplies—shared with Otis and the children—when they heard the voices.
“Who’s down there?” a man called out.
Instantly, Pope and Yen ran toward the entrance of the parking garage, hogging the shadows on each side.
“Better see if you can get it started,” Buzz said to Otis.
“No—me and the kids’ll take the Fiat. You get in the pickup. I don’t want them in the firing line.”
Buzz nodded and got into the front of the truck, directing Max to hide under the back seat. Otis revved up the Fiat and gave a thumbs-up to Buzz as, above the noise of the engine, the crack, crack of gunfire echoed from the entrance.
Saying a silent prayer, Buzz turned the key. The truck engine made a tired, groaning noise, turned over once and then the lights went out. “Dammit!” he said. “I might have blown our chances, Max.”
“Give it another go,” the boy called from behind him.
Buzz looked at Otis, but his attention was on the entrance where the shadows of figures moved. The engine turned reluctantly, and then, as he was about to give up, it suddenly caught, emitting a huge cloud of smoke as it roared.
Otis heard, jumped out and pulled the cables off before dropping the hood and reversing his car to allow Buzz to pull out. “Ready, Max?”
He didn’t wait for an answer, he just put his handgun on the passenger seat, then put the truck in four-wheel drive, took in a breath and put his foot to the floor.
Tires squealing, the truck burst out of the bay and accelerated through the garage as Buzz fought to control it, sending the truck winding back and forth, clipping the front of a parked vehicle as the air around him erupted with the sound of gunfire.
Behind him, Otis followed in the Fiat.
The crowd that had gathered in the entrance scattered as the truck hurtled toward them. Buzz burst through the barrier, bouncing as he hit the bottom of the slope and emerging into the suddenly bright light of the outer parking lot.
As he reached the top, he saw the Fiat climbing up the slope behind him and figures starting to emerge from the shelter in the entranceway, guns raising.
Buzz put his foot down, plowing into the fresh snow and creating a path through it that Otis could follow, turning the corner just in time as the first gunshots tore through the air.
Max’s head appeared in the rearview mirror. “What about Ted and Yen?”
“They can look after themselves,” Buzz said, praying that he was correct about that.
He took the car as fast as he dared along the road that ran around the building. Then he pulled up outside the entrance they’d seen when they’d first arrived.
Otis pulled in behind the truck and got out.
“I’m giving them five minutes, max,” Buzz said. “Keep your engine running and be ready to follow me if we see anyone following us.”
Buzz kept his eyes on the main entrance, so he was surprised when Max called out. “There they are!”
He spun around in his seat to see two figures running and dodging toward them, each covering the other as they retreated
“Hold on to your hat,” Buzz said as he put the truck into reverse and guided it back around Otis’s car, putting his foot down as soon as he’d gotten past it.
“Get down!” he shouted at Max as a large-caliber round rocked the metal of the truck bed. “If they hit the tank, we’ve had it.”
Pope a
nd Yen broke from cover when they saw the truck approaching, taking a diagonal path and only sending unaimed shots in the general direction of their attackers. Buzz had expected the back window to explode at any moment, but the attackers weren’t shooting as much as he’d imagined.
The door opened and Pope threw himself onto the back seat just as Yen appeared in the front. “Go!” she yelled.
The last thing Buzz saw as he put his foot down and they turned onto the main highway was a ragged army running at them, hands raised high in anger and, if he wasn’t completely mistaken, pleading.
But he couldn’t help them. He had a job to do and it lay to the north.
Chapter 8
Joel
Jodi sat in the half-light, sobbing. And she hated herself for doing it. All her life, she’d resisted the stereotype of the spoiled brat-child of a movie star. She’d known enough of them during her early years. Golden-haired, self-centered and shallow. It wasn’t their fault, of course—they were what their self-centered and shallow parents had made them—but still she loathed them.
And now here she was, engulfed in her own selfish grief and fear. She should be feeling guilty about Ellie—whatever happened to them it would be worse for her. Ellie had gone out of her way to make herself the focus for the tribunal. Whether they ever found out the truth or not, it would be hard for them to see Ellie and Jodi as equally culpable. But even if that were true, Jodi couldn’t see any way she’d be freed, and staying locked up here was an unbearable thought.
She was surprised out of her malaise by a soft knock on the door. She almost laughed out loud. Who knocks on a cell door? Even when it wasn’t a real cell but rather a converted interview room.
The door opened. She groaned inwardly as she recognized one of the guards, but she didn’t allow it to be reflected in her expression.
“How are you?” the woman said, coming inside and standing in front of her.
Jodi couldn’t hold back her response. “How d’you think?”
The guard’s face twitched momentarily, but then relaxed again. “Sure, I understand. Would a little fresh air help cheer you up?”
“Yeah, it would.”
The woman smiled. “Cool. My name’s Mandy. Follow me.”
Jodi had noticed before that this particular guard had been more friendly toward her than any of the others, and yet she’d been the one to break them up when Jodi and Ellie had been trying to talk. With a sinking heart, she began to suspect she knew what was happening here. But she did want to get out of the cell, and she was pretty confident she could handle this woman. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to deal with unwelcome attention.
She followed the guard out through the corridor, past Ellie’s cell, and waited as she unlocked the door to the exercise yard. It was late afternoon and the cloudy sky was full of the threat of snow, so she hugged her coat as she went outside, enjoying the fresh, cold air.
The guard locked step beside her, and Jodi saw they were the only ones outside at that time. She wandered over to where she and Ellie had talked a few hours before and looked through the wire fence.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she sensed the guard alongside her.
The woman looked out over the concrete to where a convoy of three SUVs was making its way toward a large building.
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. It’s just the so-called president payin’ a surprise visit. The major weren’t pleased, but I guess Booker’s got some skirt here he’s got a hankerin’ for. It ain’t the first time, after all.”
Jodi watched as the cars came to a halt a few hundred feet away.
“But you should be thinkin’ about how you’re gonna get by after the hearin’ tomorrow.”
Jodi could smell the woman’s breath on her neck as she inched closer.
“What do you mean?”
She chuckled. “Well, you ain’t gonna be released, that’s for sure. Scuttlebutt says you’ll be sent to a correctional facility, but that’ll take a while to organize. So, you might wanna think about makin’ some friends around here.”
“Friends like you?”
The woman smiled, and Jodi could see the lust in her eyes. She’d only ever seen it in men and boys before, and a swift kick in the crotch generally dealt with that, but that wasn’t going to work in this situation.
“Sure,” the guard said. “I mean, who better?”
Jodi turned away, looking again at the convoy, feeling sick to her stomach. In truth, she’d probably feel the same if it was a male guard, but at least she knew how to deal with men.
“Come on, sweetheart. Don’t tell me you’ve never thought about what it would be like.”
Jodi shivered as the woman’s breath tickled her ear. She was about to try to put some distance between them when something caught her eye across the concrete.
Figures had gotten out of the lead car, and in the middle, one tall man with gray hair. Beside him, another, this time with close-cropped blonde hair and a bald patch on the crown. Even as the guard got closer, hands on Jodi’s back, she found herself drawn to the scene. There was something familiar.
Then he turned.
Dad?
She slapped her hand over her mouth as she recognized him. At first because she couldn’t be sure, and then because she didn’t want the woman whose hands were heading south to realize.
Dad!
She retreated, eyes flitting between her father, her molester and the side gate that led out of the compound—the one she and Ellie had been brought through when they’d arrived.
“Come on, my sweet,” the woman said, almost pleading. “Most of the girls here are tough and ruined. You’re young and perfect.”
Jodi focused on the guard, not trying to break away, but guiding them both toward the locked metal gate until, finally, she allowed herself to be backed against it.
“That’s better. Look, it ain’t no different to kissin’ a man, except it’s better. Gets a bit different later, but…”
She opened her lips and lunged for Jodi who saw, out the corner of her eye, as the figures began moving toward the building. Jodi felt the woman’s hot breath steaming up the chill air. She opened her arms as if welcoming the embrace and the guard relaxed.
And, in that instant, she grabbed the bunch of keys that hung from the guard’s belt and ripped them off. The woman yelled, but Jodi’s knee was thrusting up, and it caught her in the midriff, winding her and sending her to the ground.
It took three attempts before Jodi managed to find the right key to unlock the gate. The guard was getting to her feet, cursing at Jodi but not raising the alarm. Good, she wasn’t supposed to be out here with a prisoner.
Jodi felt pressure on her arm as the guard grabbed her, but she kicked out again, then swung a punch that caught the woman on the jaw.
By the time the guard recovered, Jodi had slipped out and was running across the concrete. Now the alarm went up, with cries from behind her and a siren going off. By the time she’d made it halfway across, voices were shouting at her from behind and ahead. She could see figures taking cover behind the vehicles, weapons pointing at her.
“Stop, or I fire!”
But Jodi’s momentum carried her forward until a shot punched the dark and she felt as though it fizzed past her. She stopped, hands in the air.
And she screamed. “Dad!! DAD!!!”
Silence enveloped her, except for the thundering of her pulse in her ears. Then she heard the sound of running boots coming from behind her, from the prison.
But above it all, she heard, “Jodi?? My God, is that you?”
Seconds later, the figures who’d been aiming weapons at her were fanning out, surrounding two men who strode toward her. Jodi put her hands down, glanced behind to see the prison guards closing on her, and she ran.
Into the arms of her father.
Nothing outside the two of them existed. Nothing but the feel of his arms around her and the familiar smell of him as she buried her head
in his shoulder, shaking as all the emotions of the past months burst from her in one torrent of suppressed grief and blessed relief.
#
Ellie heard the alarm sounding, the noise of running boots and shouting voices. She’d been dozing between bad dreams, trying to calm her mind down as it sought some way out of her nightmare. One thing seemed certain: she’d never see Maria again.
Her cell/interview room had no external windows, so she could only guess what was going on from the urgency in the voices and the fact that they were all heading outside. That suggested someone had escaped, but she couldn’t imagine that would affect her—not positively, anyway. The most likely outcome was tighter security.
The noise died down and so she settled back onto her bed and tried to sleep again. Whatever was in store for her tomorrow, she’d rather be at least somewhat rested to face it.
She must have fallen asleep because she was woken by someone forcibly shaking her and half-dragging her out of bed. It was the guard who’d taken a liking to Jodi.
“You get on your feet, d’you hear?”
“What’s going on?”
The woman grinned. “Your pretty little girlfriend has gotten herself into trouble. Assaulted a guard and tried to escape. Last I saw, she was bein’ dragged away, cryin’ her eyes out. Pity, she had nice eyes.”
So, Jodi had been the cause of all the noise. “What do you want with me?”
The woman shrugged. “I’m just followin’ orders. But I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes. They was hoppin’ mad.”
Ellie pulled on her pants and allowed herself to be led away by the guard. She thought it was a bit odd that she only had an escort of one, but filed it away as there was nowhere to run, after all.
The guard led her along the corridor toward the back entrance where another guard stood waiting. Ellie thought she caught a look exchanged between the two of them, but she was then shoved toward the door and waited for it to open.
When it did, it revealed a dark lobby, lights flicking on to show another door at the far end. And, as she walked forward, she noticed that in the half-light a third door stood open. Though she couldn’t see much through it, she sensed outside air blowing in. And then the lights of a car moved from one side to the other. There seemed to be nothing in between. It was a door to the outside that bypassed the wire fences.
Lost: Deluge Book 5: (A Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Survival Story) Page 7
