Undone

by A. R. Shaw

“I don’t know. She stared at him for a while and then freaked out. Can she know him? Did he do something to her?”

  Sloane pulled the slide on her Glock. “Stay with your sister.”

  “Mom…don’t. Wait for Kent.”

  Since when did she wait for Kent for anything? When did he take over? Sloane only cut her eyes at her daughter. “Go inside.”

  Mae ran inside but a half second later, she heard Nicole on the radio to Kent. “Something’s happening. Get home,” she said.

  That meant Sloane only had a few minutes to find out what the guard knew before Kent intervened.

  Running down the stairs, her boots flew past each rung, narrowly missing the breaking point on the rotten wood. Then she heard her daughter Mae running behind her.

  “He said to wait, Mom.”

  Sloane let out a sarcastic breath, her boots nearly running down the lane.

  “Hey!” she yelled out at the guard.

  “Mom!” Mae shouted.

  “Hey you! Who the hell are you? What did you do there before?” Throwing out her worlds like accusations of guilt, Sloane closed the gap between the guard and herself.

  He turned to her then. Pointed his weapon to the ground.

  It was him. She stopped then.

  The apologetic one. The breakable one. The one that ran that night and pointed to where Wren was.

  “What are you…what are you doing here?” she yelled, spit flying out with her rage. He was one of them.

  Putting his hands up in the air, he pleaded, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice.”

  “Mom, don’t,” Mae yelled again just as Sloane lifted her Glock, arm shaking as if she had her own personal earthquake going on beneath her feet. In a way, she did.

  “Get. Out! Get. Out!” Sloane demanded through clenched teeth.

  Tires squealed in the distance.

  Still pointing the gun at the young guard, it took everything in her not blow the man away in front of her child.

  The guard picked up his rifle and left at a slow jog.

  “He didn’t do anything. He was protecting us,” Mae said, the palms of her hands facing up to the sky, her arms stretched out.

  “Go back to the house, Mae.”

  The truck engine neared. She saw sand pushing up from the wheels. He slowed a bit when he passed the guard running in the opposite direction, but he kept coming.

  “Now, Mae, go back to the house, now.”

  She kept her eyes on Kent. Burrowing a hole through him. He didn’t know, she told herself. He didn’t know. She wasn’t sure if Mae had followed her orders or not, too focused on the next confrontation.

  Kent stopped the truck, flung the door open, “What happened? Are you okay?”

  Pointing at the derelict running away, she said, “You let him watch over us?” Tears of anger began streaming down her face. “He was one of them, Kent!”

  Kent took large steps toward her, closing the gap.

  She backed away.

  He stopped.

  “He…helped them take Rose away.”

  “Sloane,” he said, reaching for her.

  “Wren recognizes him. He scared her.” She was sobbing now. “She finally went outside, Kent…finally, and she saw him and ran back to the house. He’s one of them!”

  Kent pulled her into his chest. “I’m sorry. We’ll figure it out.”

  “What did he do to her?” Sloane sobbed, not meaning the guard…the other one. “How could I let this happen to my child?”

  “Shhh…you can’t do that to yourself, Sloane. It’s not your fault.”

  She just cried then.

  Kent could only hold her.

  “Mom?”

  It wasn’t Mae standing there. It was Wren. She’d come back.

  “Where is he? Where did he go?”

  Wiping her eyes, Sloane pushed the tears away. “I sent him away. You won’t see him again.”

  Wren nodded her head.

  “Wren…did that guard hurt you in any way?” It was Kent that asked the question Sloane would ask next.

  Wren’s pallid face evinced no response at first. Then she just shook her head. “He was just one of the guards,” she whispered. “He brought me to him. He said he was sorry.”

  Sloane wanted to say that she too remembered him apologizing, but all she could think of was Rose’s last moments. That could have been her own daughter in time.

  The one that Kent killed out of mercy even though her life was over long before.

  “I’m going to the beach now,” Wren said, walking past them, just like that.

  Sloane began to reach for her daughter, but Kent pulled her back gently. “Let her go,” he whispered. “She needs this. She’s healing herself.”

  As they watched Wren walk away, down the long path that led to the beach, Mae passed them too…trailing her sister at a long distance.

  “Mae,” Sloane said, with the intent to call her off, but Mae ignored her mother too. She would also do what she needed to do.

  “I feel like I’ve lost control of everything,” Sloane said.

  Watching them, Kent pulled Sloane into him, engulfing her with his strong arms. Kissing the side of her cheek, he said, “I don’t think we ever have control. We’re just fooling ourselves thinking we do.”

  Nicole called from the house window then. “Someone on the radio, Kent. They’re asking for you. Said the cigar guy is back.”

  He pushed Sloane away by the shoulders.

  “What is it?” Sloane asked him.

  “Tell them to keep him talking…I’m on my way,” Kent yelled.

  40

  Kent

  “Why are they calling for you?” Sloane asked before Kent could get back into the truck.

  “I don’t know. Seems we’re the town council suddenly. Kill a few bad guys and the locals elect you president.”

  “That’s not even funny.”

  “Sloane…I don’t want this guy back here. I have to go take care of this.”

  “He’s no worse than that guard we just let go.”

  “That guard is a kid who bartered for his little sister’s life with his own. I swear to you, he means no harm. The cigar guy, on the other hand, sold them supplies, including a few humans, in exchange for some of the wealth they stole. He’s one of them. Like a Nazi, he’s guilty of war crimes,” he said and slammed the truck door closed. “I won’t be long.”

  He watched her in the rearview mirror as he sped away. She was right in a way. Perhaps he should have just killed the young guard. He nearly did. He wanted them all dead. But when the kid told him why…he didn’t have the heart. Killing Rose was one thing. She was no longer recoverable. That was a mercy killing, but the young man…mercy had a place here in sparing his life, even in this brutal new existence.

  Moments later, the truck screeched to a halt again outside the burned-out compound.

  The old man talked with the bloated cigar guy.

  “Here he is,” the old man said with a wave of his hand. “He can tell you more than I can.”

  Throwing the truck in park, Kent stepped out, one rigid step after another, his boot heels leaving half-moon marks in the gravel as he closed the distance.

  As before, the jovial man puffed on a cigar. The creamy scent lingered in the air. It made Kent sick.

  “Your friend here tells me they left suddenly and burned down the whole shebang? Where the hell did they go? They owe me. My name’s Victor, by the way.” He stuck out his chubby hand for Kent to shake.

  Kent pulled his pistol from the back-waist harness, brought the barrel to eye level on the man and pulled the trigger at his temple.

  The body dropped instantly. The cigar flew a couple feet away.

  Kent smeared the burning red end into the gravel with the tip of his boot.

  “Clean this up, will ya?” he said to the old man.

  “Yup.”

  41

  Wren

  “Stop following me!” Wren yelled as
the gravel path road blended to sand beneath her feet. Strands of hair flung across her face, with the whipping wind blocking her view of the angry ocean before her. Crashing waves collided ashore, making her heart speed with the pace of a racehorse.

  With both hands, Wren flung away the hair blocking her view. “I mean it, Mae. Leave me alone!”

  She didn’t see her back there, but she knew she was there somewhere, watching from the dunes. She could always feel Mae’s presence.

  Wren wanted to scream where no one could hear her wrench the pain from its hiding place in the center of her chest. She wanted it gone and she wanted no witnesses to the act.

  The ocean would aid her in the task. Its anger was always louder and more profound than anyone’s. The ocean would help her drown out the shame.

  Then she started as Mae stood by her side. She too stared ahead at the angry waves. “Would you leave me, if I were you?”

  Wren huffed. That wasn’t fair. A tear slid down her cheek. Before it reached her jaw, the whipping wind dried it there, leaving a salt trail upon her skin.

  “Please Mae,” she said, not screaming this time…only a plea.

  Mae touched the back of her forearm. “I’ll be over here, but I’m not leaving you. Do what you need to do.”

  That was as much as Wren would get out of her sister. She knew how stubborn Mae could be and she was right. There was no way Wren would leave Mae in reverse. That was something she’d have to live with. Love. She didn’t want love from her sister or anyone right now. She only thought she wanted to be left utterly alone in her wounded state.

  Mae turned away and Wren walked onto the beach. The blowing sand made it harder to walk, like a sludge meant to trap your feet…hold you down, devour you.

  Pulling the jacket tighter around her sides, Wren hugged her own waist. Her loose jeans barely hugged her hips. She couldn’t stand them tight against her skin. The wounds were healing now; with any luck there would be no visible scarring. Not the kind you can see. Just inside. She was changed now. He’d changed her. He’d taken something from her. I’ve got to fix this. I can’t let him win.

  The pit she found herself in seemed endless and dark. Reaching for the light seemed an impossible effort, let alone getting a foothold in the crumbling sides.

  She didn’t realize it then, only moments later…the sobbing began and this time the tears flowed without the drying wind taking notice.

  Then Wren screamed…on her knees in the soft sand.

  And the angry waves ceased to give up their secrets but absorbed that anger, giving back what she needed. Something larger than herself, something larger than her own pain.

  42

  Mae

  “Everyone’s falling apart,” Mae said to Nicole in a whisper as they lay down that night. She’d already told her about Wren breaking down at the beach.

  “Mom’s lost it. Kent’s killing random strangers. I only hope he knows what he’s doing. Wren…I think she’ll be better now. We can’t let anything else happen to her. We have to watch them.”

  Nicole nodded by her side. She could only see her in the dim peripheral light. When she didn’t answer Mae knew she was falling asleep.

  “It’s up to us, Nicole. We have to get them right.”

  Again, Nicole nodded as her eyelids fell shut.

  The wheezing of Nicole’s breaths came as a constant companion now. Mae only startled awake if she didn’t hear Nicole’s raspy breath. Nudging her in the side caused her to begin the cadence again. At least she knew Nicole was the same then. Only then could Mae sleep.

  The next morning when Mae woke, something else was wrong. Order and routine were important to her and suddenly something was off in the new day.

  In the main room, Wren made breakfast, while her mother was nowhere to be seen.

  “Hey! You’re up already,” Mae said, surprised.

  Wren nodded as she scooped out her portion of oatmeal from the pot on the stove and handed it to Mae, then grabbed another bowl for herself.

  “Okay…where’s Mom?”

  “She said she was going for a run and she’ll be back soon.”

  “Wait…what? Mom’s running again? She hasn’t done that since…well, since things were…normal. Does Kent know?”

  Wren stared at her oatmeal bowl. Moved her plastic spoon slowly through the gelatinous mass. Mae noticed her Adam’s apple purposely bob down and then back up as if she was doing her best to not gag on the oatmeal before it even hit her mouth.

  “You can put raisins in it if that’s the problem,” Mae suggested.

  Wren darted her eyes at her sister, then scooped up a spoonful of the white mass and swallowed.

  “Not the problem,” Wren said, though she nearly gagged on what she’d just swallowed.

  “Okay…when did Mom leave?”

  “Who are you, the timekeeper?” Wren asked.

  Mae wasn’t going to bite on that. She had a job to do and fighting with Wren wasn’t it.

  “Never mind,” she said and when she was about to leave, Wren downed several more bites and put her dish away, grabbed her backpack and headed to the door. What Mae had not seen before was that Wren already had her shoes on.

  “Where are you going?”

  “If you’re going to follow me around, you’re going to have to keep up.”

  Without a glance back, Wren left the house, her boots tumbling down the staircase.

  Like a flash, Mae ran to the room she shared with Nicole and pulled the covers from her. “Up, hurry.”

  “What’s going on?” Nicole complained.

  “I don’t know!” Mae said. “They’re all doing their own thing.”

  Nicole rubbed her eyes as she tried to wake and make sense of things.

  “Man the radio. I’ll call in as soon as I know what’s going on.”

  Nicole’s eyes closed again.

  “Nicole?”

  “Yes, okay. I’ll man the radio.”

  She felt sorry for her adoptive sister, she really did, but she had to run and didn’t have time to explain.

  Once out the door, her stomach alerted her that she had not finished her own portion of oatmeal that morning. She didn’t have time.

  “The beach…Mom has to be on the beach.” That was her first concern. Just to find her and be certain she was there and unharmed.

  Running down the trail, she saw a familiar shape at the end of the drive. “He’s back.”

  As soon as Mae saw the guard, he looked at her, questioning.

  “Did you see her? Did she come by?”

  He nodded.

  “Did she say where she was going?”

  He shook his head.

  “Talkative, aren’t you? Did she cuss you out?”

  Looking to the ground, he shook his head no again.

  “Alrighty, thanks,” Mae said and double-timed her jog to the left. Torn by whom to seek out first, Mae ran and scoured Cannon Beach below in hopes of spotting her mom. Nothing so far, not even the tale-tell signs of darkened footprints in the sand. No runners on the beach passing Haystack Rock in a post-apocalyptic world. Not yet anyway.

  From the narrow streets, she soon ran into what used to be the old tourist town of Cannon Beach, mostly abandoned after the tsunami destroyed the majority of it. Only a few holdouts remained, mostly those who were freed from the prison down the road, intermingled with a few of the guards who’d escaped and hid from everyone. The house of horrors that caught both her sister and her mother nearly tore her family apart, just as the rest of those who remained in town were torn apart. Few were spared from the monster, Hyde. Just like few of the buildings were spared from the tsunami.

  Cannon Beach was a ghost town now, an eerie, decrepit shell of its former self, just like Wren and her mom. She hoped that wasn’t permanent. The ocean winds now claimed the insides of the old stores since there was no one human enough to keep up with the repairs…it was wasting away. She couldn’t let that happen to her family, too.

  When
she saw Wren’s back as she stepped carefully into one of the torn-out stores ahead of her, she said, “What is she up to?”

  Quietly, Mae walked now, out of breath. She knew where one of them was at least. When she caught up to Wren, she stood with her back to her, in front of a case inside a building with all the windows blown out of it. The case itself still had the glass intact, miraculously. The tsunami wave took out most glass. Shards of it crunched underneath her sneakers as it was.

  “We used to come here. Don’t you remember?” Wren said without looking around.

  Mae glanced around the perimeter briefly. “Was this the bakery or the candy store?”

  “The candy store.” She pointed to the right. “See, the taffy machine is in the corner. It’s all beat up now.”

  Mae looked to the front right of the store where the old mechanical puller used to be. She remembered now. You could watch the seaside taffy made from the window, its long strands stretching in bright gem hues. It’s was mesmerizing.

  “I remember.” Somehow, in a flash she even smelled sugar in the air.

  “And the seafoam…they had it in this case. Dad…was here with us once. Do you remember, Mae?”

  Shaking her head, Mae said, “Don’t, Wren.” She didn’t want to remember Dad right then. Perhaps another time. It made her heart hurt to remember him now. She wasn’t strong enough. But she did remember. She remembered her father ducking as they entered the store since she rode high up on his shoulders. She remembered airplanes hanging from ceiling strings that she touched only from that height. She remembered giggling as he bounced her…handing her paper-covered taffy and waiting for her to hand him back the wrapper after her little hand pulled the twisted ends open. She remembered.

  “It’s all gone now,” Wren said.

  She meant their father, along with everything else.

  “What are you doing here?” Mae needed more than anything else to change the current subject.

  “I’m exploring.”

  “The past or the present?”

  Her sister turned to face her then. “You’ve grown up, Mae. When did that happen?”