Behest

by Sara Bourgeois

  You should take it with you.

  That was where Kevin and I agreed. He’d vanished again, but that was most likely so he wouldn’t scare the dog. I let the sad-looking German Shepherd out of the cage and took it outside.

  After finding a hose, I cleaned her up as well as I could and filled a bowl with water. It took me a while to find where Floyd had kept the bag of cheap dog food, but I let her have her fill.

  “I’ll buy a bag of something better. I swear,” I promised the dog as I dried her off.

  I’d wanted a dog my whole life, but Mother had made that impossible. Since the shepherd was a girl, I decided to name her Trixie.

  The keys are in the Florida coffee mug at the top of the cabinet to the left of the stove.

  “I have to go back in for a minute,” I said to Trixie. She laid down on the rickety front deck. Trixie was never going back inside of that trailer again.

  Chapter Eleven

  Olivia

  Dr. Olivia Jacobs needed a weekend away. She’d take her notes to the cabin with her, but the haggard doctor needed at least one day away from the lab.

  She’d been working around the clock since the CDC had announced the impending outbreak. Her mind had dulled with fatigue and overstimulation, and she was no longer doing anyone any good.

  In the past, when she’d been stuck, a trip to the cabin had been the perfect remedy. There was no television, no cell phones, and no internet. For the trip she’d been planning that time around, Olivia would have to take the satellite phone in case her office or the CDC needed to reach her.

  “Whatever you need to do,” her boss had said. “We need you fresh. You’re so close, and I’m honestly not sure what we’re going to do if you don’t have a breakthrough.”

  “I’ll be back on Monday at the latest. Most likely, you’ll find me here on Sunday,” Olivia said. “Thank you, Maurice.”

  “Hey, we’re counting on you to save the world, Liv. If you need a day or two off, then take it.”

  Olivia checked her samples one more time before she left. She’d been hoping for a Hail Mary, but that wasn’t meant to be. All of her tests were still negative. Part of her knew that she was going to the cabin to say goodbye, too. If they’d reached the end of the line and eighty percent of the world’s population was going to die, Olivia didn’t want to spend every day of the rest of her life locked up in the lab.

  “Fuck,” she said. “Just one positive test. I can do something with that.”

  “You’re leaving?” Kyle had walked up behind her.

  “Yes, I’m going to the cabin for a day or so to clear my head. I’m tired and I can’t think cooped up in here anymore.”

  “You sure that’s all this is about?” Kyle asked.

  “Kyle, please. All this is about? We’re talking about the end of the world as we know it. I need a solution; this is not about us. “

  She’d kissed him goodbye when she left. Olivia knew that she and Kyle might never get the chance to work things out, and that sucked. But it wasn’t the end of the world.

  Liv chuckled at that thought. It was a good sign. She was only halfway to her car, and already the tension of being locked up in the high-risk lab melted away.

  She checked the backseat of her car. Her overnight bag and sketch pad were still there. The cabin was a three-hour drive away. It sat on a small lake at the foot of the mountains. There was only one other cabin, and it was located across the lake. Because of work, Olivia didn’t have much time to visit her cabin so she’d never met the people who owned the other one.

  Olivia also assumed there was a campground somewhere nearby because she’d run into groups of campers a few times over the years. It couldn’t have been too close though, because the groups were usually almost all kids. And she never heard them at night.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jacksonville was the last town before I arrived at the cabin. I stopped there to get something to eat, buy groceries, and get supplies for Trixie. I pulled into a strip mall that had a Walmart on one end. In the middle of the line of stores was a pet store. I’d decided to get professional help with selecting stuff for Trixie.

  Since I’d never owned a dog, I wanted to make sure she had everything she could need or want. Her life had been complete shit up to that point, and I was determined to make up for it. I had plenty of cash since I hadn’t had to pay the deposit on the cabin.

  What I was going to do after my current situation was over, I had no idea. I had vacation time saved up at work thanks to the fact that I’d been there for ten years, but company policy required that we put in for vacation time in advance. It had to be approved. When I called in and told them I was taking time off without notice, I feared that I could be fired.

  Then there was the alternative. Kevin had pushed me into the mission through coercion. He’d made me no promises that I’d avoid arrest for what was most certainly going to appear as a heinous crime.

  Whether I got fired from my job or not meant nothing if I spent life in prison. Going to prison meant that I’d have to give up Trixie. That thought choked me up a bit.

  “Is there any way that I can do this and not end up in prison?” I asked the empty but Kevin-drenched air.

  No answer.

  I went into the Walmart to grab a few days’ worth of food. I hurried as fast as I could. It wasn’t hot outside, but I still didn’t like the idea of leaving Trixie in the car for too long. I wished I hadn’t had to leave her at all.

  Ten minutes later, I was back outside. Trixie slept peacefully in the backseat, and I figured the car was a paradise compared to the cage I’d liberated her from in the trailer. The next stop was the pet store, and that was better because I could take Trixie in with me.

  “Sir, you have to have your dog on a leash,” a lady in a purple polo shirt said after we’d walked in. Her name tag said her name was Sheila.

  “I’m sorry. I just rescued her. I’d love to buy a leash.”

  It was a risk because I knew that Sheila would remember me, but she did ensure that I got everything I needed for my new friend. A half hour and two hundred dollars later, Trixie had everything she needed. That included expensive vitamins that Sheila said would help Trixie recover from the malnutrition she’d suffered.

  Trixie and I went through the drive-through at McDonalds. I knew that neither of us should be eating there, but I figured it was a treat. We both got a McRib sandwich. I didn’t have any fries because I’d heard somewhere that dogs couldn’t have potatoes. I might have been on my way to murder three middle-school-aged boys, but that didn’t mean I had to eat fries in front of the dog.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The cabin was in far better shape than I imagined. It was small, but it was right on the water. There was another cabin across the lake, but when I arrived, the other place looked empty.

  I looked around and found that the house in the woods, that would most likely be my last home as a free man, was two rooms. One larger room served as a kitchen, dining area, and living room. The back room was a tiny bedroom that was only a little larger than a closet. It held a twin bed and a narrow nightstand. On the bed table sat an old kerosene lamp. I hoped that there was fuel for it somewhere in the cabin because I hadn’t purchased any.

  Just about the time I’d resigned myself to having to do my business in the woods, I opened a door in the kitchen that I’d assumed was a pantry. It turned out to be a claustrophobic bathroom. Even thought I could literally shower while I was on the toilet, it was better than having to bath in the lake and shit in the woods.

  Floyd had said that he’d kept people locked up there, and I was expecting a house of horrors. I’d convinced myself that he lied until I found the metal door in the ground while I played ball with Trixie.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Camping in the Woods

  “Get your ass in the truck before I have to tan it for you,” Evan’s father barked at him from the bottom of the stairs.

  Lyle looked a little sho
cked and Chris blushed at the rebuke, but Evan just shrugged. “Guess it’s time to go, guys.”

  “I think I might go home,” Chris said. He’d had enough of that kind of talk. At least at home, hungry as he would’ve been, he could hide in his room.

  “Aw, come on, ya pussy,” Evan said. “He doesn’t mean it. My pops just gets grumpy when he thinks he’s running late.”

  Evan didn’t give a shit if Chris went or not, except that he thought he might need a third set of hands if the opportunity he’d hoped for presented itself.

  They arrived at the campground in the middle of the afternoon. Evan was in a hurry to get out on the hiking trails, so he dutifully helped his father set up the tents. He knew there was no way that they were going to be allowed to go anywhere until all of the work was done.

  Once the campsite was ready, Evan made his move. “Can we go look around? We’ll stay on the trails.”

  Evan’s father looked as though he might say no, but his eyes dragged themselves to the big blue cooler that contained his beer. “I want you back here before dark. We’re having hot dogs for dinner.”

  And that was that. Evan led the way and the other two boys followed. That was the way it always was, and being in the woods wasn’t going to change anything. Lyle and Chris knew nothing of their ringleader’s plans, but that wouldn’t matter. Neither of them would dare tell him no. Especially not out in the forest. There were just too many accidents that could happen.

  The sun got low, and Evan got frustrated. His face turned a ruddy shade and he began to kick trees and plants like a toddler who hadn’t gotten a lollipop.

  Chris didn’t want any trouble. He was so close to all-you-could-eat hotdogs that he hoped Evan wouldn’t do anything to ruin the evening. He’d been sent to bed without dinner almost every night for the slightest infraction. Chris knew that his mother was just making things up so that she didn’t have to fix him any food, but that wasn’t going to happen that night.

  “What’s wrong, Evan?” Chris asked in his most placating voice.

  “Nothing, faggot. God damn, don’t be such a queer,” Evan said menacingly.

  “Hey, look over there,” Lyle shouted.

  Evan whipped around and a wicked smile spread across his face. He felt his heartbeat rise at the site. Not much made him feel anything, but there was something bordering on excitement brewing in his gut.

  A few hundred feet down a side trail was a cabin, and across the lake was another one. Across the lake, someone played with a dog. Evan was sad to see that it was probably a man, but the cabin closest to them held potential.

  It appeared to be empty, but Evan had a feeling. It was far nicer than the cabin across the lake. He imagined that a family used it. All they had to do was come to the cabin for the weekend. A family meant women and little girls.

  Evan found himself smiling so hard that his face hurt. He wasn’t accustomed to that level of happiness. It had become increasingly difficult to feel anything, so this was a revelation. Evan Little had found his life’s calling.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I didn’t want to open the door in the ground. I’m not sure how long I stood their staring at it, but when I finally emerged from my stupor, Trixie was sitting next to me with her red ball held tightly in her jaws. She still wanted to play but sat their patiently like a little lady. I couldn’t believe that someone had ever treated her with anything less than complete kindness. Faced with what lay beyond the door, I knew that Trixie was a better soul than most humans.

  My breathing was quick and shallow, and my stomach began to tie itself in knots. I had to consciously slow myself down. I kept expecting to hear Kevin’s voice chastising me for being scared or pushing me to open the door, but I was alone. Ever since I’d spied the door, his presence had been absent.

  Trixie walked over to the door and scratched it. She whined a little and then laid down next to the metal patch on the forest floor. I still didn’t want to open it, but then a worse thought wormed its way into my brain.

  What if I’d killed Floyd before he’d had a chance to dispatch his most recent victim? There could be a boy or young man down in that hole right at that moment. Then, the thoughts got worse.

  Would the poor soul occupying the underground prison know that I wasn’t their captor? Did they remember Floyd? I knew that they could attack me or run and turn me in, but that didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter. I wouldn’t just leave someone down there to die, essentially turning Floyd’s torture bunker into an oubliette.

  I had to get over my pathetic fear and go inside. After clearing away the remaining leaves, I got one moment of relief from the dread that threatened to make me swoon. There was a chain across the door and it was affixed by a padlock. I didn’t have to open the door just yet.

  Had it been a combination lock, I probably could have convinced myself to walk away and just phone in an anonymous tip to the police when I was done dispatching the boys Kevin had sent me to kill.

  “I don’t understand,” I said to Trixie, and she cocked her head to one side. “I’m so concerned about saving whoever might be on the other side of that door, yet I’ve committed myself to murdering three boys.” She pushed her muzzle into my hand and I petted her head. “I’m trading the life of three young kids for one girl. Why? Because I have an emotional connection to her? How is that moral?”

  “Oh, don’t worry, Billy Boy. If you don’t do what I want, a lot more people will die. You’ll have so many deaths on your hands that it will eat at you for the rest of your life. If you survive.” Kevin appeared a few hundred feet away in the tree line.

  It had startled me but not Trixie. I was surprised that Trixie wasn’t afraid of Kevin, and it dawned on me that she never had been. Even back at the trailer, she hadn’t cowered in his presence. I’d always believed that dogs hated ghosts and evil spirits. Maybe he’d been gone by the time I let her out? I couldn’t remember.

  “Don’t think on it too hard. You’ll hurt yourself,” Kevin said.

  “You’re not what you say you are,” I said. The words came out of my mouth before I had time to process them. The thought was pure instinct. It was intuition.

  “And what is it I told you I was?” Kevin asked with a chuckle.

  That stumped me. He’d never said what or who he was. I named him Kevin because of who he looked like, but the truth was that Kevin was a complete mystery. Still, I’d formed some sort of vague idea in my mind of what I’d thought he was. There was a niggling feeling that I was wrong, but I couldn’t put a finger on how.

  “What’s in there?” I asked and pointed at the door, but Kevin was gone.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Olivia

  Liv pulled into the parking space next to the cabin. Good memories of playing there as a child washed over her before she even had her car door open. She could smell the cookies her grandmother would bake in her mind, and Olivia was glad that she’d stopped at the store to buy the ingredients.

  Normally, she kept a very strict diet. A heathy body was required for a healthy mind in her opinion, but on this occasion, she felt the need for a splurge. Perhaps the extra glucose would be what she needed to fuel her breakthrough. There was also the little matter of it possibly being the last chance she’d ever have to eat a fresh-baked cookie.

  Olivia shuddered to think about how the world would change if she couldn’t find a solution. No more cookies. No more air conditioning in the summer. No more job. Everyone she loved would be dead most likely, and Olivia knew that she would probably be too.

  She was on the front lines. If the virus jumped the way the models projected, her whole department would be the first to die. Olivia shook her head. That wasn’t true. They had protections and protocols in place. The visions of them all dying were just bad dreams.

  No, Olivia’s fate would be worse. She’d be locked in the lab for god only knew how long. Contained. Doomed to live out the rest of her days in miserable isolation while her team rationed the food to drag
out their dismal lives as long as possible. She wouldn’t even be able to kill herself because of what they’d do. They’d put her in cold storage until they could dispose of the body, but eventually the food would run out...

  “Stop it,” Liv chastised herself and got out of the car.

  She had to keep her thoughts light. Anxiety and depression would block her creativity, and she needed every available scrap of it.

  The inside of the cabin was as she’d expected. The cleaning lady she’d hired came in once a month to keep things tidy, so it wasn’t even that dusty.

  Very little of the furniture that had filled the cabin when she was young had made it that far, but her grandmother’s kitchen table still stood there like a window into a softer past.

  She flipped on the lights and set her bag on the IKEA sofa that sat in the middle of the cabin’s living area. If Liv closed her eyes, she could still see the plaid pattern of her grandparent’s couch. They called it a davenport.

  “I still can’t believe you’re going to be a doctor.” Liv could hear her grandfather’s words and smell his pipe smoke with the memory.

  They’d come up to the cabin to celebrate her acceptance to medical school. Not only had she been the first in the family to go to college, she’d busted her ass until she had the grades and a scholarship she needed to go without taking out any loans.

  “I should sell this place.” Her grandfather’s face turned grave. “I should sell it and help you pay for school.”

  “No, Grandad. You worked your whole life to pay for this place. It’s our family treasure. It stays with us,” she’d said.

  Liv was glad that she’d convinced her grandparents to keep the cabin. Right now, it was the only thing standing between fate and the end of humanity.