After the Fall: Catherine's Tale Part 2: The warrior's fight for survival begins

by David Nees

When they came to the right street they carefully peered around the corner. The condo was half a block away, on their side of the street. It was a white stucco building, set back, with a U-shaped driveway. The front doorway jutted out from the rest of the wall, and, sure enough, there was a guard. He was seated on the steps, his rifle propped against the railing next to him. He looked bored. Catherine and Billy backed out of sight.

  “Okay, then.” Billy thought for a moment. “Why don’t you go around the block in back and work up close from the other side. It looked like there was another driveway going down the far side of the building.”

  “I can do that, but what are you going to do?”

  “I’ll just walk up like I’m allowed to be here. I can ask the guy what he’s doing way out in this part of town. If he asks, I’m heading out to do some hunting.”

  “Don’t start until you see me in position, okay?”

  Billy nodded.

  She could see the strain of worry about Lori Sue on his face. “We’ll get her out, don’t worry.”

  “S’pose there’s guards in the back, and you get blocked?”

  “I’ll find a way to get to the other side. Just don’t do anything stupid without me,” Catherine said. She turned and jogged quickly back the way they had come. Fear and the tension it brought slowly began creeping in. Time for action. Time to finish this job.

  At the next corner, she turned and scanned the block to her left. It was empty. She began to run down the street. The condo building was long, with a rear parking lot on this side. The drive Billy had thought was there did run down the side of the building to the lot. It looked like there were apartments facing both front and rear. Probably with a hall down the center.

  She crossed the weedy strip of landscaping into the parking lot and turned up the driveway. When she got to the front of the building, she carefully peeked around the corner. She was shielded from the jutting front entrance by overgrown bushes along the wall. Looking past the building towards the corner where she knew Billy was waiting, she waved her hand.

  She saw Billy come into view, walking casually along the sidewalk. Billy turned onto the driveway and walked towards the front door. Now she could see the guard. He had stood up and grabbed his rifle. He stepped forward to meet Billy.

  “Who’re you?” he called out.

  Catherine began to crawl along the wall, behind the bushes. She had to get closer.

  “Name’s Billy Turner. I hunt for the city. What’re you doing way out here? Hardly anyone lives in this area.”

  “Question is, what are you doing out here?”

  “Right now I’m looking for my girl.”

  “This look like anyone hangs around here?” Catherine heard tension in the man’s voice.

  “She said she was headed here. To see a friend. My girl’s name is Lori Sue.”

  Catherine kept moving forward. Now she was up to the corner where the entryway extended a few feet outward.

  “Lori Sue?” The man repeated the name.

  “That’s right. She’s friends with Leo’s woman. She come by?”

  Catherine moved out to the end, holding her breath. There was a large shrub beside the entrance. She stopped behind it. She was now within five yards of the guard.

  “Oh, yeah.” The guard snickered. “Yeah, she did. You’re her guy? Lucky dog. She’s hot.”

  “She still here?”

  “Yeah, she went up a while ago. I let her in. Why not? No one said not to. Didn’t really expect anyone to come by. Then Leo showed up. He said not to let anyone in, so you’re out of luck now. Lori Sue may be out of luck too, if Leo thinks she’s messing around with his property.”

  “Shit! I got to get in there.” Billy moved towards the door.

  The guard stepped in front of Billy. “No you don’t. It’s locked, and Leo said no one gets in.” He pushed Billy back. “So get lost or you’ll be answering to Leo, and he looked pissed.”

  Catherine took three quick steps and was at the guard. She pressed her 9mm into his back. “Don’t move, don’t turn around or you’re dead.”

  The guard started in shock. Billy reached behind him and drew his own pistol from his waistband. He leveled it at the man. “Give me the keys, or I’ll kill you myself.”

  The guard took out the key ring and handed it to Billy. “You’re in a heap of trouble,” he said, in an effort at retaining control.

  As Catherine stepped around him, he looked at her in surprise. He was a broad man, with badly-cut short black hair. .A vicious scar ran down his right cheek. “You’re that girl. The one from the valley. How’d you get here?”

  She ignored him as Billy unlocked the door.

  “Shoot him,” Billy said. “We got to hurry, Leo’s up there.”

  “I can’t shoot him. It’ll make too much noise.”

  “Good point,” the man said.

  Catherine kept her pistol aimed at his chest. “I will, though, if you try anything.”

  “We can’t turn him loose. Come on, we got to hurry.” Billy was dancing around on both feet, in a panic to get to the apartment.

  “Take his belt and the strap off his pack. We’ll tie him up in the lobby.”

  “He’ll just scream his head off,” Billy replied.

  “Not if we gag him. Here, get him inside!” She shoved the man to the door. “Understand,” she told him, “if you do anything at all, I’ll take my chances with the sound and shoot you in the chest.”

  The man did his best to sneer, but she could tell he believed her. Inside, after tying the man up, with his wrists and ankles connected, she had Billy cut off his shirt. Billy wadded up part of it and stuffed it in his mouth. The rest Billy tied around his face to keep the gag in place. She didn’t want him using the barrel of his M16 as a pry-bar to help him get loose somehow; she slid it far away from him across the polished floor, sending his pack after it. They left him panting through his nose on the floor and ran for the stairs.

  “He’s in five-thirty,” Billy said, his voice harsh with anxiety.

  When they got to the fifth floor, they stopped to catch their breath on the landing.

  “What’s the plan?” Billy whispered.

  Catherine slipped off her carbine and pulled the charging lever back, chambering a round. “We bust in and shoot Leo. I don’t have any fancy plan. Stay low and don’t shoot any females.”

  Billy looked at her with a puzzled expression. “I thought you’d have a plan.”

  Catherine shook her head. “We just have to wing it. Still, two shooters against one are good odds.”

  They heard two shots, fast, and then a third.

  Catherine gasped. Billy’s eyes bulged. He grabbed for the doorknob and threw the door open. Another shot shook the air. To the left there was a long hallway, bright skylights spaced along it. The shooting was down there.

  Billy broke into a dead run, and Catherine was right beside him.

  They heard a door open far down the hall, and then a woman in a pale blue nightgown stumbled out and ran towards them. She was barefoot. Her eyes were wild.

  “Leo!” she shouted. “He’s got a gun.”

  The woman was almost on top of them when Catherine saw Leo stagger into the hall. He had a gun in his hand. The woman was blocking her line of sight.

  Catherine shoved her to the side violently. The woman crashed into Billy. They both went down in a heap beside Catherine. Oh no! What’d I do? Catherine dropped to one knee. Leo fired off a wild shot in their direction.

  Catherine’s sights swung across Leo’s torso. She fired. He lurched back. She thought she had hit him in the stomach, but he was still standing. She fired again and saw the second round hit his shoulder. The pistol spun out of his hand. He dropped to his knees. He reached out, trying to find the pistol, while he glared at Catherine. His face was ugly with pain and rage.

  “That was for me,” she shouted at him. “This is for Bird.”

  And she shot him in the face. His head was flung backward, and his
body sagged after it. He lay slumped in a heap with his legs folded under him, what was left of his face staring at the ceiling.

  Billy was already up and running toward the apartment. He ran past the body without even looking.

  Chapter 26

  Lori Sue lay in the short hall just inside the doorway, a red stain of blood spreading out from under her and soaking into the beige carpet.

  “Lori!” Billy shouted as he dropped to the floor beside her. “Oh my God, you’re shot.”

  She looked up at him. It took a moment for her to find her voice, but when she spoke she sounded almost normal. “You came. I’m glad. I ain’t hurt bad…I’ll be okay now you’re here.”

  “You’re bleeding.”

  “Yeah. From my gut. Guess I wasn’t so good at shooting Leo. He turned the gun on me.”

  Billy cradled her head in his arms. He looked up as Catherine and Donna Bishop came in. “We got to stop the bleeding.” His voice was filled with a desperate intensity.

  Donna stumbled past them and disappeared to the left. She was back in a moment carrying an armful of towels. She knelt down across from Billy. Her face was very pale, but she spoke with a mother’s authority. “Help me press these to her side to stop the bleeding. We get that under control, we can get her to the hospital.”

  “Thanks, Donna,” Lori Sue said. “We girls got to stick together.” Her voice was softer, without its usual sharp edge.

  “I’ll go and get some help,” Catherine said above them. “We have to get her to the hospital.”

  “Hurry,” Billy said, but he could already hear Catherine’s footsteps receding quickly down the hall.

  He told Lori Sue, “We’ll get you some help. You’re gonna be all right. Damn, I wish you hadn’t gone.”

  “Had to go…promised. Gonna be all right. We’re gonna be all right.” She paused to gather her strength. “Leo?”

  “Catherine shot the bastard. He’s dead in the hall.”

  Lori Sue sighed. “That’s good. Glad he’s out of the way.” She turned her head towards Donna. “Now we got to get your son out of that school.”

  “I’ll get him later,” Donna said. “He’ll be all right, Leo can’t hurt him. We have to help you now.” She looked down at the towels, and Billy saw the red seeping through. “Billy, hold them tight. We have to control the bleeding.”

  Billy groaned out loud. “I’m trying. I don’t want to hurt her by pushing too hard.”

  “You ain’t hurting me.” Lori Sue reached up and touched his face. “I love you, Billy Turner. We gonna have a good ol’ time when this is over. We gonna make lots of money with our bar. Everyone’ll come, you’ll see.”

  Billy could feel tears streaming down his face. “I love you too, Lori Sue. We’ll have the best bar around. People’ll come from all over.”

  “Yeah,” she said. Her voice was getting softer, breathier. “I know how to work a bar. I’ll show you too. You do the huntin’, make the liquor. I’ll even teach you how to make drinks. I can work the tables.” Billy just nodded, staring into her face as she looked up at him.

  “It don’t hurt bad. I’ll be fine.” She paused and seemed to gather her strength. “You want kids? I’d like kids someday.”

  “Sure, we can have kids. Don’t know much about raising them, though.”

  She smiled. “It ain’t hard. Just do what comes natural. Course, we got to make the bar work first. That’s how we’ll support them. How many you want?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know, two, three? Can’t think about that now.”

  “Hope it ain’t a lot. I ain’t a big girl.” She started to breathe harder. “Just thinking about it makes me horny. Sorry, Donna. Something about having babies with Billy just turns me on. That happen to you?”

  Donna smiled back at her. “I guess so, when we did it…you know, conceived. I only got to have one child with Jim.”

  “I’m sorry for you. I’ll have an extra for you. You be their grandmother? We could make you one.”

  “I’d be proud to be their grandmother…or maybe their aunt.”

  “Aunt Donna. That’s good.” She looked back at Billy. “See we already got us a family. She can babysit when we need to be alone…you know, when we get horny. Damn, I can’t wait.”

  Lori Sue’s grin looked brave, but Billy had a terrible feeling that her labored breathing didn’t come from being aroused. “Shouldn’t we get Lori Sue to a bed…or couch? She’d be more comfortable.”

  “I don’t think we should move her,” Donna replied. “It might make the bleeding worse.”

  “I ain’t hurtin’. You being here makes it okay. Just hold my head and keep telling me you love me. I need that now.” Lori Sue grabbed Billy’s shirt and looked hard at him. “You tell me every day we’re together, promise?”

  Billy nodded.

  “You’re gentle, that’s good. Promise you’ll tell me you love me every day and never beat me.”

  Her words tore at Billy’s heart. “I’d never beat you. I love you. And I’ll tell you I love you every day of our lives.”

  She relaxed and sighed. “I like that. Plus it’ll get you more lovin’. I got lots of tricks still to show you.” Her face turned serious. “I got to tell you something. In case things don’t go…in case I forget. Come close.”

  Billy put his face close to hers, making a small, private place between them, shutting out the rest of the world.

  “I’m sorry for whoring around. I know it made you sad. You didn’t get mad or hurt me, but I hurt you. I shoulda stopped when we got together. It was just easy to do, and it made it easy to get things I thought I needed...”

  “It’s all right—”

  She put her hand to his lips. “It ain’t. I’m sorry, but that ain’t happening anymore. I’m your gal all the way. Nobody gets my lovin’ but you. You’re my man and I’m your gal.”

  “Yeah. That’s the way it is…the way it will be.”

  She reached up. “Kiss me, Billy. I miss your kisses.”

  He kissed her gently.

  “Don’t hold back. Your kisses give me energy. I need that now.”

  He kissed her harder as she did her best to respond.

  “You got to breathe,” Billy said, breaking off the kiss.

  “Kissin’s like breathin’ for me,” she replied, but she was panting when their lips parted.

  The towels were getting redder. And wetter.

  “We need more towels,” Billy said. His voice was desperate.

  Donna got up and was back in seconds with more, along with a couple of clean sheets. When she changed them out she gasped at the heaviness of the towels. Billy could sense their weight, as if he were lifting them himself.

  “It don’t hurt,” Lori Sue said.

  Billy clamped both his hands on the fresh cloth. He found himself speaking. “Run and get help. Maybe Catherine didn’t make it.” He was beginning to panic. Donna looked at him. “I can do this,” he said, making his voice sound calm. “Get some help. You know where the hospital is. Go.”

  Lori Sue reached up suddenly and grabbed Donna’s arm. “Go, do what Billy says. Girls got to help each other out.”

  “We stick together,” Donna said, her voice sounded choked with tears. Donna bent and kissed Lori Sue on the forehead. “I’ll be back as quick as I can,” she said. “Stay with us, don’t quit. Don’t give up. Remember, you’re a fighter.”

  Lori Sue smiled.

  Donna got up and ran out. Billy heard her footsteps fading down the hallway. He thought of her trying to get to the hospital, braving the militia. Could she bluff her way through them? He thought of Catherine, probably still on her way—where? To the hospital, or had Catherine gone back to Charlie’s people to get help in transport? He thought of the tied-up guard in the lobby. There could be no help closer at hand they could trust. His heart bled.

  He bent his head close to Lori Sue. “You stay with me. You gonna be okay. We’re gonna have that bar…all the things you want.” Another
groan came out of him. “I ain’t never figured I have someone like you. You can’t die. You can’t leave me.”

  Her voice was so calm. “Remember when you saved me? It scared me so when that guy stuck his knife into my neck. Scared me just as much when you shot him…right over my head. You coulda killed me, but you was a good shot.”

  “I remember.”

  “Why’d you take that chance?”

  “Didn’t think about it. They wasn’t treatin’ you right.”

  “Were you nervous? Shooting over my head like that?”

  He shook his head. “I took harder shots than that hunting. I knew I could make that shot.”

  “I’m sure glad you did.” Lori Sue started to laugh, and it turned into a cough. “That woulda been a hell of a thing, if you had shot me.”

  “Don’t say that. I never would have missed.”

  “Lucky for me. I think I fell in love with you that night. Or I decided I wanted you around. You had somethin’ I wanted.”

  “I fell in love with you that night,” Billy said to her. “I never experienced anything like that before.”

  “Yeah. I was your first.” She smiled at him. “It was fun, wasn’t it? It’s always been fun with you. Never felt like that before with anyone else. Sometimes a rush, but never fun and with a good feeling after. You know what I mean? Course you don’t. I’m the only girl you ever had…I like that. And you’ll be the only guy I’m having from here on out.”

  He had been listening to her voice growing weaker. It seemed to him that he had never listened to anything so closely.

  She had been holding her head up a little, but now she sagged back.

  After perhaps twenty seconds she spoke again. “This ain’t workin’, Billy. Don’t think I’m gonna make it till help comes.”

  A terrible dark wave had been building in Billy, and now it broke. He shouted, shocking himself with his intensity, “Yes you will. You hold on!”

  “Don’t yell at me. I’m tryin’. Just hold me and kiss me.”

  He started kissing her face, her cheeks, her forehead.

  “Mmmm, that’s nice.”

  He kept kissing her, kissing her chin, her neck, her face. Nothing in his world now but holding her tight and kissing her. He felt her slowly relaxing.