by Jack Hunt
The round struck him in the head as a look of astonishment spread on his face.
As soon as she reached the door, she peered around and caught sight of naked women huddled together. Among them was Rayna. Rage welled up as she noticed a needle sticking out of her arm. “NO!” she blurted out as she stepped inside only to find herself confronted by a bald-headed asshole wielding a large revolver.
“Put it down,” he commanded.
Jill knew the moment she dropped it he would kill her.
Her finger twitched on the trigger, keeping it aimed at him even as her eyes flicked over to Rayna. Rayna was barely conscious. Her eyes were glassy and void of emotion.
“What have you done to her?”
“Oh, you know her?” He chuckled. “Don’t you worry about her. She’s golden.” He nudged again with his gun. “Lay the rifle down and you can join her. I’ll take you to your happy place. There’s more than enough of me to go around.”
There in that moment she realized what Rayna meant to her.
How could she have held on to so much bitterness for so long?
“Just let her go, and I’ll leave.”
He shook his head. “No can do. I paid for her.”
“With a bag of drugs?” Jill met his gaze. “Is that what human life is worth?”
“Oh it’s worth more than that. They were the ones who got the shabby deal.”
Jill glanced at Rayna and the other women. Her eyes bounced around as the bald-headed freak started to get antsy. “Do you really want to take the risk? Is she really worth it?”
Jill snorted and chuckled a little. “You’re right.”
“I know.”
“She’s worth it.”
With that said she pulled the trigger. The round punctured his stomach. He stumbled back but returned fire. The round caught her in the chest and her legs went out from beneath her. She let out a cry and squeezed again. One, then two, then three rounds, each one hitting their mark until he no longer moved.
Gasping for air, she gripped her chest, squeezing tight. The pain was excruciating. Searing hot. Her vision blurred and the sound of gunfire outside the building echoed. She opened and closed her mouth trying to get control but it was virtually impossible. She staggered to her feet, stumbling as she made her way over to Rayna. The first thing she did was pull the needle from her arm. Warm tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Come on darlin’, wake up.”
She slapped Rayna and her eyelids parted. Rayna muttered something but it was incomprehensible. Jill collapsed beside her, gripping her hand. A reel of memories flooded her mind; her childhood, her mother and father, meeting Gary, their wedding, life together, meeting Rayna and Elliot, laughter, tears, hope and a mixture of dreams — all of it blurred, a chaotic kaleidoscope of life. Her breathing became labored and with each inhale it was getting harder to stay conscious. Quickly darkness crept in at the corners of her eyes and she gripped Rayna’s hand tight before her life slipped away.
Elliot led Dallas’s group on one hell of a chase through the streets of Saranac Lake. By the time they managed to shake them they found themselves inside High Peaks Wine and Spirits in the late afternoon. The floors were covered with shattered bottles, discarded plastic cups, crumpled beer cans, empty boxes and all manner of trash. The shelves had been toppled.
Glass crunched below their boots as they sought cover. There wasn’t one unopened bottle to be found in the place. Next to food, water and shelter, alcohol was like gold. If people weren’t trying to survive each day, they were numbing out to escape the horrors of a collapsed society. Elliot and Gary leaned up against the front door and peered down the street from inside, fully expecting to see more of them.
Satisfied they weren’t coming, they ventured further into the back. Even though it was still light out and daylight seeped in, it was dark inside. They walked into a storage area which once held hundreds of bottles of wine and beer. Now all that remained were empty pallets, boxes and crumpled cans.
Gary pushed the door closed behind them and locked it, then slid down with his back against it. All of them were sweating profusely and out of breath.
“Anyone hurt?” Damon asked.
“Nope.”
“How you doing for ammo?” Elliot asked Gary.
“I’m out.” He tossed the gun across the ground.
“Don’t throw it, we might find ammo.”
“Where? In your dreams?”
“We’re gonna get out of here. We just need to wait for the sun to go down and then we’ll head out.”
“It’s a long trek back home.”
“Well I wasn’t planning on going home. He has something of ours,” Elliot said.
Gary frowned. “Are you kidding me? You want to go back?”
“Without that truck, or horses, we aren’t going anywhere. Not to a FEMA camp, not to Texas, nowhere.”
Ella was looking around rooting through some boxes.
“Don’t waste your time,” Damon said. “It’s all gone.”
“Nothing else to do,” she replied.
Gary focused his frustration on her. “Tell me something. For the last two months you’ve been killing their crew and avoiding them. Why and how?”
“Pretty obvious. They killed my parents.”
“So you planned on killing them all?”
“That was the plan until Damon here showed up,” she said with a grin on her face. She continued tossing boxes and searching.
“And how did you manage to last two months without them finding you?”
“I just did.”
Gary looked at Elliot and shook his head. “No. Saranac isn’t that big. There are a lot of them out there.”
“And there are a lot of places to hide. I didn’t sleep every night at my parents’ place. You just happened to luck out yesterday. I would go back there when I could. I thought Damon was with them when they first showed up.”
Damon nodded. “She nearly shot me in the face.”
“Nearly? I would have.”
There was silence except for her rooting around.
“Well damn, there we go!” She pulled from a box a small bottle of rum. “See, not everything is gone.”
Zach made a gesture. “Toss it over here. I could use some of that right about now.”
“Find your own. It’s a small bottle.”
“Hey, c’mon,” Zach replied.
She unscrewed it and knocked it back, then smiled and handed it to him. Gary got up and scanned the area. He climbed up on a shelf and tried to look out a small window. “So come on then. Tell us where you stayed?”
“Everywhere. Some nights I slept under a bed, other nights I hid in a kitchen cupboard. Those were the worst. I only did that if they had chased me and I couldn’t get out.”
“If you can’t get out, wait ’em out,” Elliot said.
“Exactly!”
“Well as much as I would love to hang around here and swap stories, I’d prefer to get home,” Gary said, jumping down and wiping grime from his jeans. The building they were inside was a huge house that had been converted into a place to sell liquor. It was an unusual-looking place but seemed to do the job. Ella wandered off through a door into another area. Elliot could hear her banging doors and crushing boxes.
“What on earth is she doing?” Sean asked
“Does it matter?” Damon replied.
“Well yeah, I don’t want them finding us because she’s making a shitload of noise.”
Elliot motioned to Damon, and he headed out back to check on her. It soon quieted down.
Zach sat despondently looking at the ground.
“You okay?” Elliot asked.
“Yeah, I just wish I hadn’t come out today.”
“It’s unavoidable. Maybe you escape these gangs today but what about tomorrow? Eventually they are gonna come knocking.”
“It’s just tiring,” he said. “You’d think they would just work together instead of attack strangers.”
“Sure but we don’t know each other well.”
Elliot shrugged. His mind drifted back to Fallujah and those his platoon had come across. Every day as they searched for insurgents he could see the look of fear in the faces of Iraqis.
Damon came out of the back room with a big grin on his face, his hands behind his back. “Ladies and gents, I do believe I have a solution to our problem.”
With that said he whipped out two bottles of wine.
“Can you believe it?”
He held them high like he’d just won them in some raffle.
“Great, we can get drunk,” Gary said shaking his head and walking back over to the shelving so he could take a look out of another window.
“Dude, you need to ease up. We are going to be here for a while.”
Gary hopped down. “We need to stay clear-headed.”
“And we will. Now to get these babies open. Anyone got a corkscrew?”
“No need,” Ella said coming out with two more bottles. She pulled out the wrench in her back pocket that she’d snagged from the garage and went over and began searching the shelves. “There we go.” She picked up a piece of dirty rag on the ground and proceeded to twist out a screw that had come loose from the toppled shelving. Everyone watched curiously as she retrieved it, then stuck it in the cork and started working it in. She then stuck the bottle between her thighs, put two fingers around the screw and pulled until she got enough of the cork out. Then she used the wrench to work it loose.
“Creative. I’ll give you that,” Zach said. She took a big swig and handed a bottle to him. He quickly chugged it back. Although Gary was right about staying clear-headed, even Elliot wanted a couple of swigs. He joined them while Gary shook his head.
“We’ll leave in a few hours. You have my word,” Elliot said.
“No, we leave now,” Gary replied.
“It’s too dangerous.”
“And you don’t think it will be later?”
“At least we’ll have the cover of darkness working for us.”
He let out an exasperated sigh and ambled over to take a swig.
“Not bad, eh?” Ella said. He only took one gulp. Elliot didn’t drink much more either. He slumped down against the ground. “Man, I could use a cigarette.”
After leaving that message over the radio at the moment of capture, he assumed Rayna would be beside herself with worry, but at least she was safe.
Chapter 12
An hour later as the sun vanished beyond the horizon, light stabbed Rayna’s eyes, and a chill made her shiver as she came around from the drug-induced coma. She cowered back unsure of where she was or what was happening. Someone was shining a flashlight directly in her eyes. She squinted and brought up a heavy arm to block the glare.
“What’s going on?” she mumbled.
“You’ve been out a long time,” a female voice replied.
Rayna felt a blanket slip off her. A partially dressed woman with long flowing hair and deep-set brown eyes looked back at her. She couldn’t have been a day over twenty. Rayna’s lips were dry. As the world around her crept in, she realized she was naked. That was when the memories hit her, fast and hard. The man they called Doc tearing her clothes off and the sexual assault that followed. Rayna cowered back thinking he had to be nearby but that fear soon subsided when her eyes fell upon him
Ten feet away the body of Doc lay motionless in a puddle of his own blood.
“It’s okay. You’re safe. He’s dead.”
Then she saw Jill.
“Jill?”
She reached for her and touched her cold hand.
“I’m sorry. She’s dead too.”
Rayna’s mind tried to piece together the puzzle before her; the rifle laying five feet away, a trail of blood leading away to where she was. Jill had done this. She’d come for her. Tears started to roll down her cheeks. Her breathing became rapid, her focus blurred, and she felt like she was going to vomit.
“Slow down. Take it easy. You’ll make yourself pass out,” the girl said.
“Who are you?”
“Brianna Cooke.”
“Where are the others?”
“Gone. When I woke they’d left. There’s no one outside except dead bodies.”
“Where’s my clothes?”
She gestured with her head to a pile over on a chair. “What’s left of them are over there.”
Rayna went to get up, but it felt like her legs had no bones in them. She wobbled and gripped the sofa before padding across the room and picking up torn panties. Another flash of memory. The only items that weren’t ruined were her jeans and jacket. She slipped into them and grabbed her boots, then darted across the room and scooped up the rifle. The first thing she did was check the magazine before crossing over to Jill and crouching beside her. Her eyes were still open, locked in a death stare. Rayna ran her hand over her face to close them. She couldn’t believe she was gone. Again she felt herself becoming choked up. What would she tell Gary? This was all her fault; if she hadn’t gone to check on that girl — if she hadn’t tried to help — if she’d only listened to Jill she would have been alive.
She deserved a proper burial, but no one buried the dead now. It wasted too much energy. That wasn’t Jill anymore. She was gone. At peace. Free from this hell. Before leaving she reached down and took off Jill’s wedding and engagement bands and pocketed them. At least that was something she could give Gary.
While she was doing that Brianna got dressed.
“Where’s home?” she asked.
“East side,” Rayna replied without taking her eyes off Jill. “You?”
“Here. This was my home. This apartment.”
“No, I mean before him.”
“Here.” She walked over to Doc and gave him a kick. “This man was my uncle. After my parents died, he moved in. I thought he wanted to help. Sick bastard!” She kicked his corpse three more times before spitting on him.
Rayna got up and started heading for the door.
“Can I come with you?” Brianna asked.
Rayna stopped and shook her head. “I can’t help you.”
“But I won’t be a burden.”
Rayna shook her head. Hours ago she would have opened her arms to her. That was before this. She couldn’t bear the guilt of losing anyone else. She stepped over dead bodies on her way out and made her way down the hall. Behind, she could hear Brianna following. She didn’t say anything to her as she trudged down the dimly lit stairwell until she was outside and breathing fresh air. It was dark now. She had no idea how long she’d been out, only that she felt sick to her stomach. She steadied herself against the wall to catch her breath just as Brianna came out the door.
“You okay?” Brianna asked.
Rayna waved her off. “I’ll be fine. I... just need a second.”
Once she caught her breath Rayna began making the journey back home. Tears welled in her eyes. She could hardly comprehend that Jill was gone. Every few minutes she would look behind her thinking she was being followed. She kept her finger on the trigger. If anyone dared come near her, she wouldn’t hesitate to shoot. The sound of a can kicked across the ground startled her and she spun around but no one was there. She picked up the pace heading north on Stevens Road. As she started to come down from the high of the drugs, her body ached. She could feel the pain of how he’d abused her. Rayna wiped tears from her cheeks. All she wanted to do was take a bath and scrub herself clean of that monster. Again she heard the sound of boots behind her. This time she broke into a jog and veered down Walsh Lane, then sprinted until she got to the Interlaken Inn. Rayna took cover behind the wall and waited. She heard someone running. Adjusting her grip on the rifle she readied herself. They couldn’t have been twenty feet away when she brought the gun up. C’mon! She thought, finger on the trigger. As soon as they came around the corner she went to squeeze the trigger and then stopped.
“Whoa!�
� Brianna said.
“Why the hell are you still following me?” Rayna shouted in her face. “I could have killed you!”
“I know. I just don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“That’s not my problem. Look around you. Find a house. That’s all we’re doing.”
“We’re?” Brianna questioned her.
Rayna shook her head and pressed on. The girl caught up like an annoying fly.
“Please just go back,” Rayna said. “There’s nothing I can do to help you.”
“I don’t need help. I just need to be with someone.”
“Well I’m not that person!” she stopped and yelled. The girl backed up a little. Rayna brought a hand up to her face and squeezed the bridge of her nose feeling a tension headache coming on. “You stick around me long enough, you’ll wind up dead.”
Jill’s lifeless face flashed in her mind.
“I have nothing,” Brianna said. “No family. Nothing.”
“C’mon. You must have grandparents?” Rayna asked.
“Dead.”
“Brothers, sisters?”
“Gone.”
Rayna sighed and looked into the distance. Her mind was too overwhelmed with all the shit that just happened to deal with anyone else. All she wanted to do was get back to her kids. “If you slow me down…”
“I won’t.”
“You’ll pull your weight.”
Brianna nodded, a smile flickering on her face. “For sure.”
Rayna motioned with her head. “C’mon. You know how to fire a gun?”
She pulled out the one that had belonged to Doc. “No, but I learn fast.”
“Well start by pointing the barrel away from me.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Oh, sorry!”
They hurried on; unaware of the desperate faces looking at them from behind dirty windows.
Chapter 13
In the early hours of that evening, a large crowd had gathered outside the walls of New Hope Springs. Frank Shelby and his brother John watched intently from the top of the closest watchtower while his men performed checks on the travelers who’d heard the broadcast. There had to have been eighty, ninety, maybe over a hundred. None of them were allowed in unless they handed over their weapons. Of course, unlike the FEMA camps, they were told it was only precautionary and once they had been vetted to make sure they weren’t a threat, they would get them back. He wasn’t lying either. He wanted more men patrolling the perimeter. 650 acres was a lot of ground to cover and he figured they’d need at least a hundred people working around the clock providing security.
