Phobia: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller

by Jack Hunt

  Frank went over to the door and yelled out, “Hey Sal, you there?”

  A grumble came from the right side. “Where else would I go? I swear, Frank, if I get out of this we are going home. I am not going to Queens, I’m hiring that rental car and heading back to Clayton.”

  “No you’re not.”

  “Don’t tell me what I’m going to do.”

  “You’ve come this far, you aren’t going to go back.”

  “Oh yeah, how come you are so sure?”

  “Because quitting isn’t in your vocabulary.”

  “How so?”

  “You’ve had numerous chances to give up on me over the past year and yet, there you are… Every week on my doorstep like the black plague.”

  “You pay me. It’s a job.”

  “Really? What about Gloria?”

  “What about her?”

  “The way she goes on at you. Any man would have dumped her ass by now but not you. That tells me a whole lot about who you are and what you will do. You’re a sucker for punishment.”

  “Go to hell, Frank.”

  Frank chuckled and he returned to pacing his cell. Minutes turned into hours and by the time he heard boots heading towards his door he was about ready to go ape shit on someone. A key was inserted into the lock and the door was opened.

  Frank was about to break into a speech about why it had taken this long to confirm a wire being transferred when his mouth dropped wide open. Standing before him in full police uniform was none other than Chester.

  “Oh, you have got to be shitting me.”

  Chester stepped inside. “The irony of life. How it takes us full circle, Frank, right?”

  “Does your chief know about your extracurricular activities?” He stared at his badge. “Officer Grayson.”

  “Hell, he pays for them.” He broke into a chuckle as if finding this all amusing.

  Chester chewed on gum and stood there with his chest out like he owned the place. “Now, I’ve got to give you some credit. You really were smart in placing some of your guns and supplies elsewhere. But showing up in a town outside a bank? Uh,” he wagged his finger in the air. “That’s just sloppy, Frank.”

  Frank’s eyes darted up to the camera in the corner of the cell and Chester followed his gaze. “Oh, don’t worry. It’s turned off. Nah, I can’t have you acting all erratic, now can I? Take a seat.”

  Frank remained standing.

  “Take a seat!” Chester yelled.

  “Hey Frank, you okay?”

  He heard Sal call out to him and Chester got this big grin on his face. “Did he change his underwear yet?”

  Frank didn’t respond. He wasn’t going to engage with a lunatic. The fact that he was a police officer only made it that much worse. The fact that they had rolled into his town and got pulled in over a misunderstanding was beyond irony, it was a kick in the pants. Perhaps, it was karma?

  He took a seat and Chester closed the door on the cell behind him, then leaned up against the wall.

  “As much as you think I shouldn’t be wearing this badge, I like to pride myself on thinking I’m a fair man. That whole thing back in the forest, I had to do that. You know, I had my cousins with me, and well, they kind of look up to me. Now if you strip a man of his respect, what else does he have going for him? No, it’s a slippery slope down from there. I think you understand that, right?”

  “I understand that they let assholes into the police.”

  He chuckled. “Of course they do, Frank. Hell, you find them in all walks of life. Anyone who thinks the military and cops are free from assholes, is probably an asshole themselves, right?”

  “What do you want?”

  Chester pushed off from the wall and walked in front of him.

  “Look, I can make this go away very easily. An hour from now, you and your friend can be on your way, long gone and this can all be behind you. Or, I can make your life a living hell. Two armed men potentially looking to rob a bank doesn’t go over well in court.”

  Frank slapped the bed. “Oh come on, man!”

  “They pull guns on officers, one of them has to open fire.”

  “Open fire? But none of us was shot.”

  Chester raised an eyebrow indicating that he could fix that. Details, it was all details to him, a swipe of a pen, a tap of a key and their lives could go from innocent civilian to criminal.

  “So what do you think, Frank?”

  “Just cut the bullshit, what do you want?”

  “You were right about that wire. Five grand. Now I’m thinking that you are going to need some money when you head out of here.”

  “We’ll have it.”

  “Ah, see that’s where I was thinking we could meet in the middle. Now they don’t pay much in this job.” He gazed at him with a devilish grin. “I know. I know you think that cops get paid a lot. I mean all the shit we have to deal with. The scum of life, the underbelly of society and risking our necks every day against armed men outside banks. Yeah, I would agree they should be paying us more. So, here’s what I’m gonna do. Now that we are thoroughly acquainted with one another, I’m going to cut you some slack. To be honest I kind of feel bad about the way things played out back there. I have to admit; I even lost a little bit of sleep over it. But that’s water under the bridge now. You’re here. I’m here. And there’s a nice stack of cash back at the bank.” He sniffed the air as if relishing the moment. “So… I’ll go do the paperwork, get you cleared away, obviously we will have to confiscate the guns as we can’t have you out there open carrying and having no license on you, now can we? But you and your pal will be free to go and collect the five grand. Once I have that in my hand, I will personally drive you to the outer limits of the town and drop you off. You’ll go your way and I’ll go mine. How’s that sound?”

  “Um, let me think, as that’s… well… quite the tempting offer. But how about this? You go fuck yourself, get that paperwork squared away and I don’t tell your chief that you are the asshole who held us up at gunpoint. How’s that sound?”

  Chester grinned showing his pearly whites. In an instant, he threw a hook that connected with Frank’s stomach causing him to gasp and drop to his knees. Chester then crouched down and took a hold of the back of Frank’s hair.

  “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. Cause things can get a hell of a lot worse. Believe me.”

  He stood up and walked to the door to let himself out as Frank remained on the ground trying to catch his breath.

  “Think it over. I’ll be back in a couple of hours to get your answer. And Frank, I wouldn’t advise opening your mouth unless you want to find yourself pushing up daisies.”

  The door clanged behind him and Chester gazed through the hatch before closing it. He whistled a tune as he walked away, as though it was just another day on the job. Crooked cops, god, he hated them. He made them all look bad.

  “Frank. Frank!” Sal yelled out. He could barely hear him now that the hatch was closed. Frank groaned and rolled onto his back. He had smashed him in the solar plexus. Shots of pain went up and down as he coughed multiple times trying to catch his breath.

  “Yeah.”

  “Was that—”

  “Yeah, Chester.”

  “Shit!”

  “My thoughts exactly,” he muttered to himself.

  On one hand they could get out, on the other he kind of figured that Chester wouldn’t just let them roll out of town; then again, perhaps he would. The guy was on a power trip; even out of uniform he couldn’t bear to have anyone make him look bad.

  Frank slowly rose to his feet and staggered over to the door. “You’re going to need to get Gloria to send you more money. I’ll pay you back, Sal.”

  He wanted to kill the guy and make him suffer but he knew Chester had the advantage. He could file a false report and have them sent away to prison to await trial, or worse, turn off the camera and pretend that Frank went for Chester’s gun. The gun would go off and no one would doubt a
man of the law.

  CHAPTER 23

  Two hours later, the smug-looking asshole returned. Frank could hear him whistling all the way down to them. The guy thought he was untouchable. How many others had he done this to? They couldn’t have been the first. Frank had heard of cops abusing power, having sex with drunken women, beating unarmed individuals for no reason and planting evidence. Chester opened the door and leaned against the frame. He spun a pair of keys around his finger like he was some Wild West outlaw.

  “So Frank, what’s it going to be?”

  Frank groaned as he stood up. “Let’s get started.”

  “Good. I was hoping you would come around. Well, let’s get you and your friend out of here.”

  He turned to leave. “Hell, maybe when this is over we might even become friends.”

  Frank scowled at him.

  “Or maybe not,” he added.

  He led Frank out and had another officer open the door on Sal’s cell. They were led upstairs where they signed off on a statement that Chester had written up. He filed it away and then personally led them to his cruiser. They only thing returned to them was the bag that Frank had stowed away but the guns they would never see again. He couldn’t think of a worse situation. Once inside the cruiser, Chester sat there for a few seconds texting someone on his phone before he swiveled in his seat.

  “So, who’s making the phone call?”

  Sal stared back at him with a look of disdain. “Oh come now, Sal, you can’t really be still pissed. Did you really think I was going to burn your eye out? Me? A man of the law. No, I was going to frighten you. I wouldn’t harm either of you.”

  “I think our bruises tell a different story.”

  “Maybe, but no one will listen, so let’s get going.”

  He turned over the ignition, adjusted his mirrors so he had a good view of them in the backseat behind the plastic divider and then the cruiser pulled away. By the sound of the conversation that Sal was having on the phone, his request wasn’t going over well.

  Chester parked outside and turned on the radio. Over a period of half an hour they had to endure him ranting on about how shit the government was and how they treated their employees, specifically the police, like crap. If he was hoping to evoke sympathy from them it wasn’t working. He offered them both a cigarette, and even though he thought Sal would resist, he didn’t. He took one, lit up and the look of relaxation that spread across his face as he exhaled made it clear how much stress he was under. He glanced at Frank and shrugged. Frank didn’t need to say anything, he already realized that the situation had been tough enough.

  “So where are you boys heading after?”

  At first they didn’t reply and then Chester asked again but this time in a way that made them realize they better start answering or he was liable to rethink his agreement to turn them loose.

  “New York City,” Frank muttered.

  “Oh yeah? Planning on visiting the Statue of Liberty, doing a little shopping, are we?”

  “Something like that,” Frank muttered fixing his gaze on him in the mirror.

  “Um, that’s kind of odd, being as most of it is shut down because of this damn plague.”

  “Is that what they’re calling it?” Sal asked.

  Chester turned in his seat and blew smoke in his direction. “I bet you boys think that I’m ignorant about what’s going on.” He paused and took a deep drag on the cigarette. It glowed a bright orange before he blew smoke in Frank’s direction. Frank’s skin crawled. Ever since he had been picked up and manhandled and tossed into that room, he’d been itching to scrub his skin raw of the germs he must have picked up. Now, being locked in Chester’s cruiser with two guys smoking like chimneys, it was only adding to his torment. “You know what? I’ll let you guys in on a little secret. I know what’s coming down the pipeline. Oh yeah. You know where we were coming from the day we saw you two?”

  He paused as if Frank or Sal were interested. When they didn’t reply, he continued.

  “My cousins and I were coming back from a cabin we have upstate. Yep, you see, that’s where we are going to be heading if this shit gets any worse. What about you two? And don’t tell me that you aren’t preparing because I could tell by all the shit you are carrying that you are expecting the worst.”

  Sal shrugged.

  “Alright, if you want to keep it to yourself, that’s fine. Now how about one of you boys go in and get me my money?” He sniffed and got comfy in his seat. The doors unlocked and Sal got out and they watched him head on in to the bank. It was just a little after eleven in the morning. There were few vehicles on the road. Chester brought the windows down in the back just a little and a warm summer breeze blew in.

  “So now, after today I’m not going to see your faces around here again, am I?”

  “No,” Frank replied.

  “And let’s be clear, Frank. If you attempt to stir the pot, bring into question my integrity as an officer in this fine town, well, let’s just say that I have your home address and I might be inclined to pay you a visit. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Crystal.”

  “Good.” He breathed in the warm air. “I do like the summer. Tell me, Frank, do you have family? A good woman, a daughter or son?”

  When he didn’t respond, Chester chuckled. “Ah, that’s how it is. Yeah, I can’t say I’ve ever been with a woman longer than a year. They tend to get all up in your shit. Come down on you heavy about this and that, yada yada. But believe me, I’ve had some fine ass over the years. Of course, some of it has been from those who would have preferred to just get a speeding ticket, if you get my drift.” He scoffed at his confession but Frank didn’t find it funny. The guy was a sick bastard that should have been tossed in a cell to rot.

  Sal came out of the bank and strolled back to the car.

  “Pick up the pace, Sal. I don’t have all day,” Chester hollered. Sal broke into a jog until he reached the vehicle. Chester sat with his hand out the window waiting for him to hand over an envelope stuffed with hundred dollar bills. He began counting it out as Sal got in the back. “Um, I do love me some green. Five grand. Nice doing business with you boys.”

  He swiveled around. “So now, where can I take you?”

  “Car rental,” Sal replied.

  “Right, because your truck is…” He let out a laugh and started the engine on the cruiser. Five minutes later they were being handed keys to an SUV. When they came out of the rental building, Chester was still sitting in his cruiser waiting for them to leave town. Frank eyed him with contempt. He tossed his bag inside and they made their way through the small village until they got to the outskirts. All the way, Chester followed them. Even after they had left the village limits they could still see his vehicle in their mirrors.

  Sal breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank god that is over. I don’t ever want to pass through that place again. What do you say?”

  Frank was still staring in the mirror. Anger spilled over as he gripped the wheel and thought of the many things he wanted to do.

  “Frank?”

  “Yeah.”

  He didn’t say anything to Sal but things between him and Chester were far from over. That was for sure. But right now, his focus had to shift to more important matters. Heading south on Interstate 12, they would cross over to I-90 and if they were lucky, would hit the university in around six hours. By all accounts Lowville had looked to be free of infection at least for now. Then again, many towns and villages would remain that way for some time. He switched on the radio and tuned into a news station to get an update on what was happening. Major cities appeared to be the places that were getting hit the hardest.

  The further south they went, the more traffic they began to see heading north. A large swath of cars clogged up the road while the road heading towards New York wasn’t half as bad. The news couldn’t really describe what they were seeing. Most of the vehicles heading north had an extraordinary number of canoes, bikes and luggage piled up
. Some of the vehicles were attached to RV’s. It all screamed escape. People were trying to get away from the big city and put as much room between themselves and others. He had to wonder if they had places to go to? Did they have family? A cabin in the woods? And if not, were they going to hole up in a dingy motel until they got word that it was safe to return? One thing was clear; everyone was on their own. The government was doing the bare minimum, as most of its resources would be taken up protecting key areas in the country, and making sure that the infected were controlled.

  Frank veered the truck into a gas station and went to buy several plastic gasoline containers but they had already sold out.

  “Yeah, sorry about that. We have been busy all day long. Folks are buying up beef jerky and gas containers like they’re going out of fashion.”

  He grabbed up an armful of snacks and water bottles and carried them out to the truck. Behind his truck were eight other vehicles. All the gas pumps were in operation and the man had warned him that they were looking to close in about an hour because of a shortage. Slowly but surely the situation was getting worse. It wouldn’t be long before gas stations all over the country would close down, and then what? With the sheer number of vehicles blocking the roads, delivery trucks would have a hard time getting through, if they were coming at all. The virus was spreading out across the main veins of the country and forcing businesses to close, schools to shut down and malls to be abandoned. They had already issued alerts telling people to stay clear of heavily trafficked areas.

  Frank piled the snacks on the back seat and Sal gave him a confused look. “Are you trying to give me diabetes?”

  “It’s all they had. The shop has practically been wiped out.”

  “But we are in the middle of nowhere.”

  “That’s what’s troubling.”

  How many other stores would they find empty as they got closer to Queens? Over the course of seventy-two hours, more and more people were learning about breaches in the containment areas and like any concerned citizens, people were taking matters into their own hands. It reminded Frank of the Northeast blackout in 2003. It affected over forty-five million in eight U.S. states along with another ten million in Ontario. Some would say people didn’t become frantic back then but he could recall people rushing to stores and buying up every single bottle of water. He had gone out to collect some only to find one case left on the shelf, and some guy ahead of him took that. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Gas stations shut down because their machines weren’t working, backup generation failed, water systems lost pressure, cellular service was interrupted, banks no longer gave people money and crime soared in those few hours that it was down.