by Ami Urban
I followed the guy"s movements as he stepped out into the open air. He was in my territory now. He wasn't wearing much, either. Just a cross belt of ammo and some ripped shorts. I could see his ribs. His feet were bare. Each footstep kicked up a bit of dirt.
Alex was faced away from him, but she knew he was there. I told her how I predicted the plan would go. The man inched forward until his shadow fell over her.
"you're ours now, little brown girl." He snarled at her.
Alex immediately stopped crying and spun around. "I think not." I'd given her a rusty screwdriver that was in the glove box. She did exactly as I told her " blindly aimed it toward his face. She caught his cheek, ripping a nice sized hole and leaving some of the orange rust behind on his skin.
"You little brat!" The man held one hand to his cheek while drawing a pistol out of his cutoff jeans. But before he could even pull back the hammer, I slammed the butt of my shotgun into the side of his head. There was a massive crack and he fell over into the dirt. Blood began to pool, turning the sand orange.
"That's not... You just got... Damn it. I was hoping to say something really cool right now." I picked up his gun and checked the chamber as Alex giggled. I tucked the gun into the back of my jeans, then gave her a thumbs up. "You kick ass, Seabass."
She gave a little nod of her head with a knowing smile. "My gramma taught me good."
***
Alex told me she'd seen the location of Rupert's "throne room" when she was trapped inside. I thought I could use that information to my advantage. I just had to find a way to be quiet about entering the building.
"How many of those guys are there?" I asked her. I'd put her into the SUV and told her to stay put with the doors locked.
"I don't know. I didn't see very many, but they were mostly in the front of the casino. They like the dark."
That was all I needed to know. As long as I stuck to the shadows, I could quickly eliminate anyone I came into contact with without alerting attention. Before shutting her in, I loaded up on supplies. I took a hunting knife and about two feet of nylon rope. I left the screwdriver with Alex.
"Okay." I turned to her. Her face held an expression of anxiety. "Your mom ever let you drive?"
She shook her head. "But my daddy did."
"So you know which pedal is gas and which is brake?"
She nodded. "And I know you have to put it in drive and take off the...emergency brake?"
"You got it. If I'm not back in thirty minutes, you take off. Drive as far as you can. Find someone or something that looks safe."
"Okay." She nodded.
I stood and shut the passenger door, leaving my hand pressed against the window for a second more than I should have. Seeing her watch me about to do something stupid was difficult. I had to choke back some emotion. There was a chance I wouldn't be back. Leaving her by herself was better than leaving her with those men.
As I walked backward, I made the motion to lock the door. She nodded. I gave her a thumbs up and she returned the gesture.
The metal door at the side of the casino was still open, so I slipped through without widening the opening and quietly shut the door. Surprisingly, the casino wasn't dead quiet as I thought it would be. There were sounds of shuffling, yelling and...chewing. I looked up to the second floor stairwell and saw Rupert pointing to something. He looked flustered. There was a moment"s pause, then he threw up his hands and walked into a room in the middle of the hall. I counted. Third door on the right. that's the one.
She'd also given me the general direction of where she'd been held so I could check there for Rex and Lisa first. I pressed against the wall and began making my way to the staircase. The sounds seemed to become louder once Rupert was gone.
I was almost to the stairs when I noticed one of his men hunched over facing away from me. He was eating something " hoarding it like his life depended on it. I unsheathed my hunting knife and crept toward him. In a swift movement, I slid the blade across his throat while holding a hand over his mouth until he was limp. Killing someone so brutally on purpose was difficult, but I knew it was necessary. I glanced at the wad of meat the man was chewing on and hoped it wasn't Lisa.
The staircase was right in front of me. There was no movement the entire way up, but I could see two people in the shadows at the top. They seemed to be arguing quietly over something. I turned and picked up the stringy pile of meat my late friend had been chewing and tossed it up where it landed between the feet of the two.
They immediately stopped arguing and stared at it. Then, they looked up at each other. that's when the fighting began. They clawed and screamed at each other, ripping off hair and chunks of flesh. One of them let out a low groan and fell to the floor while the other grabbed the meat and ran off.
I shook my head before ascending the stairs. The entire casino was covered in dust. It smelled like blood. There were brown stains all over the carpets. Chunks of meat hung from railings, slot machines and chandeliers. The hotel room doors were mostly broken off their hinges or completely gone.
At the top of the stairs, I came to the loser of the earlier argument. It was female. Her hair curled into greasy strings. Clothes hung from her bones. Her eyes were sunken. She was still breathing. Her gaze focused on me and her eyes widened. She lifted her hand, beginning to close her first to point at me. I showed her the knife, making sure it glinted off the dull light, and shook my head. Her hand fell back to her side as her head lolled the opposite way.
I stepped over her. The whole air of the place made me feel as though I had to wash my hands. Ugh.
I peeked into one of the hotel rooms without a door. The carpets and beds were completely splashed red with blood. Chains with shackles on the ends of them hung from the walls. Lisa and Rex were in a room like this. If they were even still living.
"Go and don't come back until you've retrieved what I want!"
My head turned toward the sound of Rupert's voice. There was a frightened looking skinny man cowering at the open door to his chambers. The man nodded and shook, hobbling off toward the opposite end of the hotel.
Using the shadows to conceal myself, I crept toward his open door. There was a faint sound of classical music coming from inside. I positioned myself in a way where I could see how the room was setup. The bed was opulent to say the least. Gold sheets and a canopy. Everything looked like it was made of silk. A stereo was propped up on one night stand and what looked like an executive chair was facing the window " away from me.
As I silently approached the chair, I could see him waving his arms about, trying to conduct the music. I wanted to roll my eyes, but I had more important things to do.
The closer I got to the chair, the more I straightened myself until I was right on top of him. He looked up at me, but it was too late to scream. I threw the nylon rope around his throat and pulled as tightly as I could.
He struggled hard, clawing at the rope but only tearing skin from his neck. He tried to stand and nearly knocked over the chair. I caught it with my foot, letting it slip to the ground quietly. When I was focused again, I tightened the rope more and pressed my knee into his back for leverage.
"This is for her."
After what felt like hours, he finally quieted down and stopped struggling. I slowly dropped him to the floor and, with one last tug to tighten the rope and make sure the deed was done, took a moment to make the sign of the cross over my chest.
"Now to find them."
From the Desk of Dr. Lisa James
"Shut the kid up!"
I glared up at the man who'd thrown us into the hotel room. Rex was screaming as I'd imagined, but they'd separated us so I couldn't soothe him.
"I can't! He won't!" The other man struggled to secure my son.
"Momma!"
"Just hit him!"
"don't you dare touch him." While my blood was pumping and my heart thundering, I kept my voice low and still.
"We can't. Boss doesn't want them bruised, remember?"
The man on my side of the room looked down at me, hunger burning in his eyes. "How do you shut him up?"
I started at him for a second more. "I need to be with him."
He sneered. "Yeah, right, lady. I know this trick."
"It is not a trick."
He prodded me with the wooden stick he used for a crutch. "Give me a break."
"Momma!" Rex's scream was ear-shattering. Both men covered their ears.
"Just let her go! She can't get past us!"
The man on my side let out a guttural growl and bent down to unshackle me. I held my breath. I was going to do something risky, but necessary. As soon as both my hands were free, I clenched my right fist and aimed for the man's temple. I caught it at just the right angle and he went down. The other man didn't even have time to react. I grabbed the walking stick and jumped to the other side of the room. Without hesitation, I began beating the other man with the stick as hard as I could. Rex continued to cry but was no longer screaming; the other man was. I pummeled and pummeled until the screaming stopped. Then, I hunched over to catch my breath.
"Momma!"
And then I felt a sharp pain in my side. It was dull at first then white hot, spreading into my left arm and down my leg. My vision went a bit fuzzy. A loud shot resonated throughout the room. I slowly turned, clutching my side where the pain began throbbing.
The man was now on the ground, bleeding from his left shoulder. In his hand was a dagger with a red tip. No, the tip wasn't red. That was my blood. he'd stabbed me.
"Lisa!"
It was Jack. I turned my tunneled gaze to him, but could barely get a word out. All I could do was lift my hand to show him the wound. It needed to be treated right away; that much I was sure of.
Jack stared at it hard for a second or two, then turned to the man.
"what's on that knife?"
The man cackled. "Something wonderful."
Jack's jaw clenched as he stooped down. Placing the barrel of some pistol against the man's groin, he asked again. "what's on the knife?"
I could see a ribbon of fear travel through the man's body. "Okay, okay. it's LSD, man. Just chill. She'll be fine in an hour."
Just as I slumped to the floor, I heard the blast of a gun and the man's head exploded into a kaleidoscope of colors.
"Impressive." I felt as though I'd said the word, but didn't hear it.
Jack's face suddenly swam in front of mine. It literally swam. It seemed like he had no body. His eyes were too large. He held up a hand in front of me.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" His voice sounded distorted.
"Eighteen."
There was a pause. "Not only is that very, very wrong, but I think you may have a brain tumor."
"I'm serious. There are eighteen. You should see a doctor about that. You should only have ten. Twenty if we're counting toes."
He gasped comically. "You know the situation is bad when Lisa makes a joke."
"I'm actually not. You literally have eighteen fingers."
"No, I don't. I was holding up three."
"What on Earth are you talking about?"
He just wasn't making any sense. A garbled cry caught my attention. When Jack stood, a rainbow dripped from his knee.
"You might want to get that checked out as well. Rainbows can turn septic."
"I think the only person who's been higher than you are right now was Jack Kerouac." He held out his eighteen-fingered hand and helped me up.
"Solid reference." I used him to steady my feet. I couldn't understand why my left leg refused to move. "I didn't know you'd read any Kerouac."
"I haven't. But I've watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas about a thousand times."
"Good film."
"Momma!"
I looked toward my son and felt utter and complete horror grip my heart. "Oh, my God! There are snakes on him!" I lunged toward him and tried to fight off the rattlesnakes winding themselves around his wrists, pinning him in place. I didn't care about my safety.
"Lisa..." Jack's hand fell on my shoulder. "They aren't snakes."
In my panic, I stared up at him. How could he not see that my son was going to get bitten?
"Yes, there are. Please help me, Chase."
He slid me gently out of the way. "The name's Jack, but anyway..."
"No. you're Chase."
I watched as he removed the snakes from my son"s wrists. They fell to the floor, hissing and spitting, but stayed away from him. It was as if he'd done it thousand times before.
"Chase is dead, baby." When he stood up with Rex in his arms, I tried to stand too. But a pull in my side stopped me. I looked down and noticed a rainbow leaking from my shirt.
Rex's eyes were also too large for his face. "Momma bleed."
I couldn't understand what he was saying. "Does he have any rainbows?"
There was a laugh under Chase"s next words. "No. No rainbows on this buddy, huh?"
Rex chomped at the air.
"Come on, pal." He lifted my son onto his shoulders, but turned to look at me before he left. I didn't remember Chase having hazel eyes and light brown hair. I remembered him dead. "Need help?"
I shook my head. "Has anyone ever told you that you look like that actor?"
He tilted his head at me. "I could guess, but give me more?"
I searched my mind. "Van Wilder."
His mouth twisted into a smile. "Yeah, everybody says that to me. it's probably because we share a last name, though."
My footsteps fell into place with theirs. "No you don't. you're last name is Barclay."
"Bzzt! Wrong! Best two out of three?"
"What are you talking about?"
***
Birds. I heard birds chirping. I hand't heard birds in months. The sound to sunk into my very core. My muscles loosened. I allowed my eyes to flutter open. I was on my back in the soft grass. I could smell it " sweet and earthy. The sky was visible through the tree above me. The clouds lazily moved in formation. Had I dreamt the entire apocalypse?
Then the pain awakened my senses. The smell of grass and sound of birds ended abruptly. My side was on fire. I gasped in a breath of stale air.
"Oh, hey..." Jack's face hovered over me.
"Where are we? What happened?" I tried to sit up, but the wave of pain radiated into the entire left side of my body. Jack placed a hand behind my head.
"it's ok. Lie back." His voice was soft and soothing. "Were in Las Vegas. At Paris Paris. You were stabbed."
"I distinctly heard birds and smelled grass."
Jack's features suddenly turned anxious. "Yeah...the blade was tipped in LSD. You might...hallucinate for a while."
I pushed myself up slowly onto my elbows. He watched me the whole time. "Did I call you Rex's father"s name? Were there snakes?"
"You did and you thought there were. No snakes." His smile caught me a little inside.
As I moved, a new pain arose " a stinging burn. I winced.
"I also had to use super glue to stitch you up."
"Super glue?"
"Yeah. you're the doctor here. What was I supposed to do? I wasn't going to let you bleed out."
The concern in his face was warming. "That was incredibly idiotic to risk your life to save ours, you know."
"Glad I could be of service." He grinned at me and I felt something form in the pit of my stomach. I pushed it away immediately.
"where's Rex?"
Jack held out a hand and helped me stand on both feet. It was a difficult process, but I could balance well enough. Rex was trotting along with Alex about three yards away. He seemed so randomly happy and at home in such a strange place.
"Wait..." I turned back to Jack. "What about all the men? Rupert?"
His face turned stony. "it's been taken care of. No need to worry."
"You killed him."
The surprise in his features was enough to tell me he had. "I had to."
I nodded. "I figured. Thank you for taking care of me.
"
He shrugged. "Hey, no sweat."
After feeling the wound under my shirt, I took a look around the casino. There were still a few men left wandering around cautiously " watching us.
"What about them?" I nodded toward one hiding behind a slot machine to Jack's left. He turned to look.
"They're not going to hurt us anymore. Or anyone else."
"But we'll starve!" A voice rang high above us on a stairwell. A few murmurs echoed afterward.
Jack rolled his eyes at me. "Then hunt shit."
A tickle of humor hit me.
"Hunt what?!"
Jack pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh, my God..."
"Hunt the infected." I didn't think my words were offensive until everyone went quiet. Even Jack was eyeing me. "What?"
"wouldn't they all get infected?"
I shook my head slowly. Did they really not know the basics? "Rabies can only spread through coming into contact with saliva or nervous tissues of someone who's been infected with the virus."
They all remained quiet and staring. Jack made a circular motion with one hand, urging me to continue.
"So, cook them well. Stay away from the brains, organs and bone marrow. And avoid the area where they were bit. Got it?"
There was some shuffling around the room. "We...we can eat them..."
"Yes."
An eruption of rejoice filled the casino. The man behind the slot machine jumped out and began to dance. Jack stifled an amused chuckle. The dancing man pushed past him and threw his skinny arms around me. My muscles tightened.
"Christ..."
He smelled like three-week old rotted food. He was sticky and half-naked. I shut my eyes tight.
"Thank you," he whispered in my ear.
I pushed my arms out to get him away from me. He was smiling while missing most of his teeth. "you're welcome."
An amused smile spread across Jack's face. "I think you have an admirer."
"Can we leave?" I tried to brush the dirt off my shirt, but all I managed to do was smudge the greasy human sweat into the cotton.
"Oh yes!" The man pointed to the locked entrance. "You leave through there."
"Thanks. Rex! Alex!"
The two children looked our way then came toward us. I grabbed Rex's hand and hurried toward the door without hesitation. The men unlocked the chains to open up our prison. The air smelled so sweet.
