by Mark Gordon
Chapter 28
Prisoners
Matt awoke from his shallow sleep to find Elvis licking his face. He went to hug the dog, but realised his arm was still shackled to the heater. Damn! He’d forgotten where he was for a moment. “Good boy Elvis. Sit.” he whispered, as he tried to assess his situation.
Outside the shadows were lengthening, but he didn’t think he’d been asleep for much longer than half an hour or so. Brock was sprawled across his narrow bed, snoring loudly. His t-shirt had ridden up and Matt could see his fat, pale stomach rising and falling with each laboured breath. He glanced at Montana and saw that she was looking at him over the top of a tawdry gossip magazine. Her gaze quickly returned to the article she had been pretending to read, once she noticed him, however. Matt quickly weighed up his options and realised that the easily led Montana might be his only hope in this potentially deadly situation. So quietly, so as not to awaken the sleeping Brock, he whispered to her across the room, “Hey. Montana.”
She didn’t look up from her magazine, and even though she was attempting to ignore him, Matt could tell that she was interested. Brock might have her under his evil influence for the moment, but it was obvious that it wouldn’t last once she met other, more agreeable, post-apocalypse companions like himself.
Another attempt. “Montana. How are you? Are you okay?”
She glanced at the sleeping Brock and hissed across the room, “I’m not supposed to talk to you! Brock will be pissed. Leave me alone”.
“Hey. I’m sorry, okay. I don’t want to get you into trouble,” Matt replied in his quietest voice, realising immediately that Montana would be a pushover if he handled her properly.
“My name’s Matt. My family’s gone. Yours?” She glanced nervously again at the big sleeping man and answered sarcastically, “What do you think, genius?”
Despite her surliness, Matt had to keep her talking because he understood that she was only trying to put up a tough facade when, in fact, she would be suffering inside just as much as he was. He spoke to her.
“I really miss my parents,” he continued. “I could use a friend. Someone nice, I mean. I don’t think I could be friends with him.” Matt motioned with his head towards Brock.
“He saved me from those creatures," she said.
Although Matt struggled with the vision of Brock as a knight in shining armour, it was clear that this girl had developed an allegiance to him. Now Matt was going to do everything in his power to break that faithfulness.
“Of course,” he agreed. “He’s trying really hard. I’m sure he’s doing the best he can, but maybe he’s a little out his depth? Have you talked about how he is going to look after you in the future?”
She looked at Matt and frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well, what’s his long-term plan? How long do you intend to stay here? You don’t even have electricity.”
She whispered back, “Nobody has electricity. It’s off everywhere.”
“I have electricity."
That really got her attention, and she went over to Matt, tiptoeing past the snoring figure of Brock. She knelt down beside him and Matt could smell her cheap perfume, which for some reason he couldn’t quite comprehend, found touching and thought he thought he was going to cry again. The world was in ruins, but this girl needed to appeal to somebody, even if it was only the hapless Brock.
“How can you have electricity? “ she murmured.
“I live on a farm near Millfield,” he said, putting his emotions to one side. “We have our own generator. I have a fridge, TV, electric lights, hot running water, everything. You and Brock should come back with me before it gets dark.”
Montana looked over at Brock. “I don’t think he’d come. He’s fucking crazy. I think he’s been … playing around with some of those bodies out there. I think he’s actually enjoying this nightmare. He told me he loves me, for chrissake! I think if I tried to leave he’d go nuts. I’m only with him ‘cause there’s no one else left.”
Matt could see tears welling up in the girl’s eyes. He had to convince her to come with him immediately, or Brock would wake up and it would be too late. He decided to go for it and tell her everything. “Montana, listen to me. I can look after you. You don’t need this guy. He’s bad news. We can get in my car and go back to Millfield right now. Tonight you can have a nice warm shower and a proper meal, not just junk food. You can help me look after Elvis.”
The girl was listening intently and Matt knew he almost had her. In the background Brock mumbled something about monsters, farted and resumed his snoring. Matt decided to risk it all and tell her everything.
“Montana, this isn’t just about you and me. There’s somebody else. A little girl I brought here with me; she’s in my car now. If I don’t get back to her before dark those feeders will get her and it will be all our fault.”
“What?" she exclaimed. "Are you kidding me? Why didn’t you say? Is she okay? You can’t leave her out there! We have to get her out of here! We can’t let those things get her!” Then she remembered Brock and her face darkened. “What about him?” she asked, pointing to the bed.
Matt didn’t want anything to do with the unhinged corpse-molester, so he took a chance. “What do you think we should do?” he asked her.
The girl paused and looked across at the obese figure before returning her gaze to Matt. “Fuck him!” she hissed. “Let’s get out of here.”
Matt’s relief was overwhelming, and if his hands weren’t secured he would have hugged her. “Good girl. Get these cuffs off me and let’s get going, but don’t wake him up.”
Montana nodded happily, and went to find the keys, but it was obvious that she didn’t know where they were. She looked at Matt and shrugged her shoulders. Where were they? Matt tried to think! What had Brock done with them? He tried to play the scene back in his mind after his hands had been restrained. What had that freak done with the keys? Matt had nothing. He looked at Montana frantically and shook his head. He motioned for her to keep looking while he searched his memory for a clue. He closed his eyes to help him think. Brock had sat him in the corner before Montana had thrown the cuffs at his head. Then the fat man had bound him to the heater … Shit! Had Matt seen Brock with a key? He didn’t think so. That was why there was no key! The cuffs were open before they had been secured onto his wrists. Brock hadn’t needed a key to lock them! They could be anywhere. Matt’s hopes of getting out of the room before dark seemed hopeless.
Montana continued to search the room while Matt desperately considered his options. If Brock woke up now, they would be trapped here until night fell and Gabby would almost certainly die brutally at the hands of the feeders. They had to try something. Maybe Matt could talk Montana into knocking the kidnapper unconscious while he slept, giving them more time to search for the key. But what if she hit him too hard and killed him? They might never find the key, and by the time he finally escaped from the handcuffs it would be dark anyway. And if she didn’t hit him hard enough and he wasn’t knocked out, he would wake up angrier than ever and maybe kill them both. He needed a plan, and suddenly the plan came to him. He called Montana over.
“I can’t find it!” she whispered hysterically.
“Don’t worry about it. I have another idea, but you need to do exactly as I say. This might be our only chance. Be strong and follow my lead.”
He looked into her eyes and tried to judge whether she was capable of performing the difficult task he had planned for her. All he saw in that pretty face was anxiety and doubt, but he had to trust her to get this right. It was their only shot. He leaned forward and whispered into her ear. Outside the afternoon was getting darker.
