by Scott, Zack
Then there was Howard, who had suited up for a fun night and got zombies instead, which probably made him happier. Howard sat on a bench by Kale’s side and he turned his back, staring at the rest of the yacht.
There were two decks. Kale and Howard stood on the main deck across from an opening that led down to the interior, which housed several berths and the captain’s corridor. The upper deck was a vacation spot loaded with lounge chairs and a hot tub. Kale was tempted to go in and enjoy the bubbles, but figured it wasn’t a good time. Above the sun deck was the bridge, where the captain and his nephew were discussing some matter, possibly familial, possibly not.
Kale didn’t care. He had much to discuss with Jeff and Alec, but he would give them time to mull things over. I’ve waited this long. What’s a few more hours or days, or even weeks? So he sat down next to Howard, crossed his legs, folded his arms and waited.
Several long minutes passed before Howard spoke, “Well, now I’m bored.”
“Yeah, same here. But we should enjoy our safety, right?”
“I guess. I don’t even remember much from last night. It feels like a drunken dream.”
“No dream, Howie.” Kale scratched at his leg. Movement on the bridge caught his attention. The captain and his nephew were arguing about something.
“Spy Ops?” Howard stood, extending a hand to his friend.
“We can’t trust them.”
“Who said anything about trust?”
“Well, what if they catch us and do something drastic?”
Howard rubbed his chin. “So...Spy Ops?”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”
Spy Ops was a game they’d invented a few years back and had played numerous times. The premise of the game was basically exactly what it sounded like. They would spy on someone, trying not to get caught. Most of the time this involved looking at girls. Some people called it stalking, or creeping, but they called it Spy Ops.
Their mission commenced. They lurked up a curved white staircase that lead to the upper deck. Erica was on a lounge chair, wearing sunglasses she had found earlier on the yacht. Her skirt was rolled up her thighs, and she wore only a bra. Why she was tanning at a time like this, Kale had no idea, but then again, they were playing Spy Ops. Perhaps it helped ease her mind from the horrifying situation they’d barely managed to escape.
Deputy Miller was also on a lounge chair, wearing the same uniform as the night before, toying with his pistol. His back was turned to them, so it was easy to get to the short set of stairs leading up to the bridge unnoticed. Kale, ahead of Howard, took a careful step off the wooden deck, holding the metal railing of the stairs. The door to the bridge was open and he heard them inside.
“I’m sorry you lost your team, your friends,” said Dylan, Evans’ uncle.
“They died heroes. I won’t shed a tear for them.”
“Why not?”
“Accomplishes nothing.”
“Right, well, what do you make of all this?”
“All of what? We have a situation. We deal with the situation.”
“Yeah,” there was a short pause in his uncle’s breath, “but this situation will eat us.”
“We sail north to the VTF headquarters, Camp Numark. We speak with Colonel Hutton. We go from there.”
The uncle huffed. “What if there is no Numark?”
“Like I said, we go from there.”
“What’s really bothering you?”
Evans took a couple steps that drew closer to the door, and Kale was ready to run, but Howard grabbed his arm, motioning for him to wait. Evans gave his response. “That girl out there, Erica, I killed her boyfriend last night. He was innocent for all I know.”
“I’m sure you had reason to,” his uncle replied.
“I think I did. I mean, I know I did. He was bit. People who are bit change into them. It happened to a fallen VTF.”
“So, you did good.”
There was silence for a while and Howard even yawned. Kale smacked him.
The uncle, Dylan, spoke again. “You’re mourning your fallen team members. I get it. We can wait to return to Numark. We can float out here for a day if you want. Rest. Then return to shore.”
“I should’ve been there with them. I should’ve fought until the end.”
“Then I get to lose you? Chances are Erica would’ve died, too. You did the right thing.”
“Then why do I feel like shit?”
“Because unlike those things back on land, you actually have a soul.”
Howard let a quiet giggle escape and Kale was ready to hit him again, until Evans spoke. “There’s more.”
“What?”
“Erica, I’m pretty sure she’s been bit.”
“She—”
“She will change if we do nothing. I don’t know what to do. I should’ve just shot her down with her boyfriend. We can’t save everyone.”
The uncle’s voice interjected, “No, but we can do something.”
“What?”
“We can operate.”
The subject matter of the conversation suddenly changed and was filled with mundane topics. They talked about Evans’ mom, his uncle’s partner who was fast asleep in the captain’s corridor, and other nonsense that neither Kale nor Howard had desire to hear. So they returned to the aft.
They didn’t talk about anything they’d overheard. They didn’t speak at all. Howard quickly fell asleep and all Kale could think about was the fact that Erica was bit. She would change. They would have to do something. In fact, they should do something right away, he knew. The longer they waited, the more the danger to them all increased. Assuming of course she was actually bit.
I can do something. I can be the hero we need. Kale crossed his legs, folded his arms and lay slouched on the cloth bench once again, letting his face soak up the sun. His eyes closed beneath his bushy black brows and his body finally felt calm.
Another interruption. To his surprise, it was Alec.
Kale sat straight. “Hey.”
Alec didn’t look at Kale, eyes on the snoring Howard. “Is he a deep sleeper?”
“The deepest I know.”
Their eyes finally connected. “We have to talk. I owe you this talk.”
Holy crap, it’s happening. He’s realizing it all now! Kale shifted to give Alec room to sit. He never did though, and remained standing at a distance. “I’m ready when you are. You and Scot and Homer know that.”
“I need to say a few things. Don’t act out. Don’t respond. Just listen, okay?”
Kale nodded.
“First of all, I’m grateful every day you were there to save us when...” Alec’s voice drifted, concerned about Howard overhearing.
“I swear, don’t worry about him. Nothing wakes him.” Not exactly true, but I need Alec to say what I hope he’s going to say.
Alec continued, “I’m grateful you were there, Kale. Okay?”
“I appreciate that.” Tell me I was right all along.
“Listen. You’re wrong about me. You always have been. I’m just a normal guy. I’m not special. I’m no hero, okay? I tried to be a firefighter and because of me, a good man was killed. A hero died.” Alec pressed his fingers to his temples. “Then I tried to save my brother. Brian was a hero. It was my fault back then, and it was my fault last night. They’re both dead.”
Kale’s gaze remained strong and direct. “I’m sorry, Alec, but you’re wrong.”
Alec grabbed Kale’s shirt with two hands and tugged him. “I told you to just listen,” he seethed.
Kale’s mouth stayed shut. How can he still act like this? After everything that has happened—how?
“I acted like I didn’t believe you at first. Truth is, I didn’t, but after a while things started to happen that changed my mind.”
“Like what?”
Alec clenched his teeth and released Kale. “It doesn’t matter. I wanted to have a normal life with Nicole and still try to use my,” he cleared his throat, “you
know, I just wanted to keep some of it. Not let it all go like Scot. I wanted to feel some—”
“Power,” Kale supplied, his face hard.
“Whatever you want to call it. The fact is, I don’t have any gifts or powers. I get people hurt.” Now his fist clenched. “I couldn’t even save my own brother.”
“Alec, buddy, look—”
“No. I’ve said what I needed to say. All that matters is that Homer gets well and we hope for the safety of Scot and our families. I just want you to know I don’t hate you, Kale. I never did. I want you to understand that.”
Alec pulled away but Kale grabbed his arm. “Have you talked to your parents?”
“No, cell reception was gone last night and it’s still not back.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t get through to them either. Do you think we made the right choice going with these guys? I mean, I was arrested so I didn’t really have one.”
“Running off to my parents’ house with Nicole would’ve been too dangerous. Keeping her safe is what’s most important to me. Being with the guns seemed like the safer route. I think we made the only good choice available.”
Kale allowed himself to be mollified and leaned back on the bench, his gaze still holding Alec’s eyes. “Let me know if Homer wakes up.”
Alec nodded and disappeared into the interior of the yacht.
The ocean was calmer than before, still as beautiful. And although Kale appreciated Alec’s words, and although the day was still bright, he couldn’t help but curse under his breath. Something must open his eyes.
ALEC
Flames forever burn.
Although he lay with Nicole on a berth inside the yacht by the captain’s cabin, his mind traveled back to Lake Terrace, a city neighboring Green Hills. He was a firefighter rookie — a ‘probie’ to his fellow firefighters. He had always wanted to fight fires. A fireman? Kale would mock him. Sure, and I want to be an astronaut. Although it sounded like a childish dream, Alec took great pride in the profession, and ever since that day at the well, he’d felt change he needed to unleash. Of course, he would’ve never admitted this to either Kale or Jeff. They would’ve barraged him incessantly to do silly things that would cost him time with Nicole. But he wanted to do well in the world. He wanted to save people. So he chose the path of the firefighter.
And failed abysmally.
Back in Lake Terrace, an apartment complex was ablaze as Alec stood outside in his yellow bunker gear. Trucks, squad cars, and ambulances surrounded the area. People were screaming, crying, searching for loved ones. He was wearing his helmet and face mask, unlike the man he was to follow in, Cecil ‘Clutch’ Hutchenson. Clutch was braver than the other firefighters in Alec’s house. A little too brave, perhaps. Sometimes reckless and constantly on the Chief’s radar, Clutch was a renegade. Many aspired to be him.
“You ready, kid?” Clutch asked Alec.
Alec nodded behind his mask. They were the first in, joined by four others. Clutch took to a stairwell immediately and Alec followed, one other firefighter behind him. Clutch charged with his axe in hand. The higher they went, the thicker the smoke. The stairwell was dark, cloudy, burning and tight. They all wore their breathing apparatuses, even Clutch.
Behind Alec came Archer ‘Archie’ Crane. He had worked at the Lake Terrace house for a couple of years before Alec joined. He never talked much, except during fantasy football season. He ran the whole thing for the house.
Clutch slammed his shoulder into an apartment door that refused to open. They could hear a girl screaming on the other side. Archie told Alec to stay low, and he got on his knees, axe in hand. Archie and Clutch swung their axes at the door, alternating blows.
The entire complex shook with the violent force of an explosion. The floor at the end of the hall they were in buckled, and flames ripped through the air.
“We need to go!” Archie grabbed Clutch’s shoulder.
“Keep hacking!”
Alec stayed, crouched under the smoke, not knowing what to do. All his training and preparation had suddenly vanished. The apartment door crashed down and Clutch charged in first. Flames tore through the carpet at the end of the hall and spread onto the walls, forming a fireball that shot down the hall straight for Alec.
“Get in!” Archie screamed from the doorway.
Alec pushed off his knees as the flames licked at him, only to be tugged in the apartment by Archie. They both tumbled in and watched as the fireball shot across the hall.
“Is that normal?” Alec grabbed Archie’s arm.
“No. I’ve never seen something like that!”
“Will you two Chatty Cathys get up and find us a way out of here?” Clutch held the now unconscious girl over his shoulder. At least her screaming had stopped.
Archie rose first and tugged Alec to his feet. The hall outside was being devoured by flames and clogged by smoke. Archie leaned out the apartment and tapped the hall floor with his axe. One hard tap caused the floor to cave in, revealing the burning inferno below them.
“Obviously not that way!” Clutch turned back.
Alec rushed to a window overlooking the complex’s courtyard. There was a pool, but it wasn’t nearly close enough for them to make the jump. No safe way down.
“Hack through the walls until we get to the last apartment and pray we get a ladder, boys!”
Alec heaved and hacked and heaved and hacked. Archie did the same, and even Clutch put the girl down to help. They ripped through the first apartment and rushed to the farthest wall from them. If Alec remembered correctly, they had three or four more apartments to bash through until they reached the end.
Alec beat the other two firefighters to the wall and began to hack at it. Archie yelled for him to wait. He turned and as he did he saw the floor ignite. From below!
“Run!” Archie yelled and Alec leapt on a bed as the floor was burnt to a crisp. He scrambled across the sheets as the bed tipped back, sliding into the furnace beneath him. He reached the end of the bed but began to slip.
Archie grabbed his hand and tugged him forward to safety. They stumbled out of the room but the floor kept burning in their direction.
The room spun. Alec froze. How? Why? Already?
“Back! Back!” Archie waved frantically to Clutch. They crawled and scrambled to their feet and rushed into the first apartment they’d entered.
“Bash through until we reach the staircase and hope it’s still there, boys!”
On the walkie, Chief yelled the fifth and sixth floors were gone. No shit. They hacked and heaved and hacked and heaved again in a last ditch effort to get out safely. The next apartment was finally revealed, but the hole in the wall needed to be bigger. Keep hacking!
“Pull it open!” Clutch commanded.
Archie neither hacked nor pulled, simply plowed straight through the hole, smashing the sides down with his flying body. He sprawled out across the ground and lost his helmet in the process. “Alec,” he coughed, a line of blood snaking down his forehead. “Alec, help me up.”
But Alec froze. The floor underneath Archie was engulfed in flames like it’d been beneath Alec minutes before. Archie writhed on the burning carpet. Eyes wide, he reached for Alec. “Grab my hand! Quick!”
The heat brought Alec back to focus. “Archie!” The floor vanished in a flash of heat and Archie fell, but Alec dove and managed to grab his hand. He slid forward, tugged to the flaming pit by the weight of his fellow firefighter.
Nicole. He saw the beauty in her eyes as he slid right to hell, leaving the heaven of her touch.
Clutch grabbed Alec’s legs, refusing to let him and Archie burn.
His fingers wrapped around Archie’s wrist, Alec watched as the man dangled above a jungle of flames.
Fire and smoke. Burning and death.
“Hang on!” Alec’s teeth clenched.
“I’m losing you!” Clutch yelled from behind.
Archie’s glove slipped up his wrist. No!
The floor cracked beneath Ale
c and he knew they’d all fall and burn. Just heave up, lift him, use the strength Kale knows you have. Just be the hero. Save them!
The floor broke, and their fall became ashes in Alec’s stomach.
Dripping with sweat, he came back to Nicole, who touched his cheek gently as they lay together on a berth in the yacht.
“Same nightmare?”
Yes. Although he couldn’t remember the details of how he managed to survive while Archie hadn’t, he knew why. Unlike Archie’s body which had ignited in mere moments, Alec broke through the fifth floor, and then to the fourth, in time for a rescue before the apartment was lost.
After his recovery, he chose to quit his dream; he’d not get another person killed. However, sometime later, his desire to return grew so strongly, he made another attempt. Word got around he was unstable and unreliable, which was why he couldn’t get hired at the Green Hills department. He didn’t blame them. He wasn’t cut out for it and deep down he believed he should’ve been the one that burned instead of poor Archie.
Clutch and the girl had somehow made it out. But that was who Clutch was — Clutch.
Two heroes in Alec’s life had died while he survived. Archie was the first, with his brother, Brian, being the tragic second. I should’ve been the one to hold the dead off last night, not Brian. I could’ve survived. Not him. I let him die.
“Alec.” Nicole’s touch was as soft as her whisper. Her brown eyes were shining and inviting. Her firm lips opened and he could see some saliva stuck between them. He grabbed her head, pulled her to his face, and kissed her with more force than he intended. Her tongue slipped wetly in his mouth. He flipped her on her back and hit his head on the ceiling. She laughed as she wrapped her legs around him, pulling tight. He stared into her eyes and the world was never deathly or dark when he slid inside her.
They were quick to finish, forgetting that Jeff was in the alcove next to them. Nicole blushed but Alec was quick to dismiss her worries, although he was just as embarrassed. He wasn’t sure why, exactly. Jeff had been in and out of his coma and even when he was conscious, his words were slurred and his eyes confused. His moments of consciousness lasted only seconds.
