“Stay here,” she announced to the rest of the car. “Keep the engine running. I’m going to go and check it out.”
“I’ll come with you,” Jadon offered immediately, unbuckling his seat belt. “Are all the filtration masks back there?”
“Yep,” Mia pulled two out of the bag that sat between her legs and passed one forward to Jadon. “Thanks,” she said with a smile, looking shyly to where Jorge sat beside her as she spoke. She remembered a time when Jorge would’ve been the one offering to help her. How things had changed. “Be ready to drive,” she told Marcus. “We don’t know what we’re walking into here.”
Marcus nodded as Mia and Jadon climbed out of the car, quickly closing the doors to keep everyone else safe from the air. Mia wondered when it would be safe to breathe without wearing a mask again. From her calculations and what she’d seen so far, she believed it might never happen. Without doing tests she couldn’t say for sure, but based on how it had affected the residents of Tanner especially, Mia was reluctant to breathe freely until she was certain it wouldn’t damage her insides.
“What’s the plan?” Jadon asked as the two of them walked up the front porch, pausing in front of the door.
Mia looked over at Jadon before turning back to the door and knocking. “Whoever lives here already knows we’re here. We just have to see if they’ll welcome us.”
“I’ve got a gun,” a woman’s voice shouted from inside the house. “Back off or I’ll shoot.”
“Please!” Mia called back, putting her hand out to stop Marcus from immediately running back to the car. “We don’t want any trouble. We just need a place to spend the night. We’ll be gone in the morning. I give you my word.”
“Mommy, what’s going on?” A child’s voice could be heard inside as well, making Mia and Jadon both pause and look at each other. The aggression of the woman’s first sentence didn’t pair up with looking after a child—though Mia could understand the mother was likely just trying to protect her child.
“We’ve got supplies we can share with you,” Mia called out again. “High quality breathing masks that can help you survive outside. We’re more than happy to share them with you.”
“Go back upstairs, Isabelle.” The woman’s voice came again from inside, addressing her daughter.
“Please,” Mia begged through the door. “We can help your little girl.”
Mia’s final plea met with silence from the other side, the woman’s voice and the young girl’s having faded away. Looking at Jadon, Mia tried to decide what to do. They needed to get inside and stay there. It sounded like there was only the mother and daughter inside. It wasn’t dangerous. This was the best chance they were going to come across for several miles. They had to take the opportunity. Just as Mia was considering trying a different tactic to get inside the house, she heard the lock in the door click and the old wooden entrance was tugged open.
“Hello?” Mia spoke, stepping forward and positioning herself in the crack that was visible through the door. “Please, can we come inside?”
The woman’s figure that Mia could see through the door paused for a second, looking her up and down before she finally opened the door fully. “Okay,” she ushered them in. “Come quickly.”
“Thank you.” Mia smiled at the woman once they were inside, pulling her mask down from her face. Jadon did the same beside her, the tall boy looking around the house quickly before returning his gaze to Mia and the woman. The daughter was nowhere to be seen, clearly having hidden like her mother instructed her to. “Thank you for letting us in. My name is Mia—is this your home?”
The woman nodded. “Yes,” she answered. “I’m Lois. I live here with my daughter. Where—where have you come from?”
“Miles away,” Mia replied with a slight smile. “There are a few more of us in the car—do you mind if they come inside too?”
“How many?”
“Three,” Mia explained. “Jorge, my colleague, and Jesse and Marcus, two of Jadon’s friends from college. Once we’re all inside I’ll tell you everything about where we’ve come from if you’d like. We really appreciate you letting us in.”
“Okay,” Lois agreed. “Okay, sure.”
“Thanks,” Mia gratefully replied, nodding to Jadon as the young man slipped his filtration mask back on and went outside to collect the others. “Is it just you and your daughter here?”
“It is now,” Lois replied, hanging her head in sadness. “My husband, father, and two sons were out on a camping trip when everything happened. I’ve waited here every day for them to come back, but there still hasn’t been any sign of them.”
“Oh my,” Mia remarked, her right hand moving involuntarily to her mouth as she spoke. “I’m so sorry.”
“I keep hoping they’ll come back,” Lois continued, the woman’s voice getting higher and threatening to break. “But I’m still waiting.”
Mia opened her mouth to reply just as Jadon opened the front door again, walking inside with everyone else behind him. Lois very quickly pulled herself together and welcomed them, guiding everyone into her front room and allowing them to remove their shoes and jackets. Everyone immediately relaxed and felt at ease in the house, a resounding difference compared to the situation in the car.
“Let me brew a pot of coffee,” Lois offered, “then we can chat.”
Following Lois into her kitchen, Mia was impatient to talk to the woman and find out a bit more about what had happened to her. From what she had learned already, Lois was a very stark reminder of how easy it was to lose your family. While she bustled around the kitchen, Mia received a longer explanation about how the rest of Lois’s family was missing and how—despite trying to go out and find them—she had no idea where they were.
It made Mia think of her own family back in Houston. The sudden reality hit her that they might not all still be safe and together. It was unlikely, but what if Chase had been at a friend’s house when everything happened? What if her father had been at the store, or if Riley had been playing outside and gotten lost somehow? Mia’s mind, which was normally rational and controlled, rapidly started coming up with reasons why something bad could’ve happened to her family. Her breathing increased as she worked herself up, her heart beating hurriedly in her chest. The worst thought ever occurred to her, causing Mia to go weak in the knees. What if she returned home and her family wasn’t even there?
Chapter 11
“This is crazy,” Blake whispered to Vic as they prepared to head back to his store. “You really think we can do this? You really trust all of those guys?”
“I do,” Vic nodded, giving his honest opinion to something he had thought about for several hours overnight. “We can’t let Houston be destroyed by what the Authority is trying to do. It’s not right. Jackson and the others have a good plan and we should be a part of it. We all need to work together to get it done.”
“Okay,” Blake replied, “we better get going then.”
In truth, that was all Blake had needed to hear from Vic. He had already completely bought into Jackson’s plan, the evening and night that the two of them had spent in his hideaway hearing stories and sharing secrets about what was going on in the city convincing him. They needed to do something to free the children from the Authority and Blake was one hundred percent behind Jackson’s plan.
It was impressive how quickly the faction had managed to band together once the Authority started storming through the city. Jackson had explained to Blake and Vic everything that was happening while they were hidden away in the old corner store. He told them about the first sweep through the city, gathering all the children they could find and shooting any adults who tried to stand in their way. Jackson had lost his wife that day, forced to watch as she was brutally gunned down in front of him and both of his sons. Blake couldn’t imagine such a thing, for the first time in a while feeling thankful that his family lived out of state.
A few other people in Jackson’s faction had shared their stories a
s well, each person recounting a tale of how their children or someone dear was taken from them. Blake almost laughed when they explained the Authority was claiming to be doing all of this for the good of the country. There were even people among the group who didn’t believe the stories about the toxic air, thinking there was more to the reasoning than that.
When it came to that part of things, Blake wasn’t sure what he believed. Everything had changed so quickly that it was impossible to keep his head up to speed with everything that was going on. The air being toxic to breathe due to the ash cloud was something he could very easily believe. All it took was one look outside to be reminded of how the city had changed, the dark cloud circling around it and trapping the residents inside. Apparently, it was the same everywhere—not that anyone within Jackson’s group had come from outside the city—their stories based on rumors and hearsay.
Once Blake and Vic had both been properly filled in on what had already happened, the conversation quickly moved on to what they were planning to do. Jackson revealed his plan to break into what they called the pit—the area of the theater district where all the children were being held. Blake’s knowledge of the surroundings came in handy here; he was able to supply additional information on the layout of some of the theaters he’d performed in. Working together deep into the night, they hatched a plan for a break-in that would hopefully cover all corners of the pit, saving all of the children.
The addition of Vic to the group was the one actual piece of the puzzle that made it all possible. Before him—and the arsenal of weaponry he had hidden away in his store—the faction was still trying to figure out how they were going to breach the walls. Now that question had an answer: explosives.
“What did you think about what that woman said?” Blake asked as he and Vic weaved through the streets of Houston, cutting a quick shortcut back to the store. “Emily? Emilia?”
“Emma?” Vic asked, picturing the woman that Blake was trying to remember in his mind. “The one who suggested all the children might not want to be saved?”
“Yeah,” Blake nodded. “Do you think she’s right?”
“She probably is, my friend. But,” Vic paused, “answer me this. Did any of the children get a choice in being there? They did not. So surely, by breaking a way out of the pit for them, we are only giving them the choice to escape? We’re not going to make any of them come with us; we’re just going to allow the option to be there. We’re giving them what the Authority did not.”
“True,” Blake replied, clicking his tongue against his teeth as he thought for a moment. Vic hadn’t completely understood what Blake was referring to. Blake knew they weren’t going to force any of the children out of the pit, but what if the Authority was actually doing a good thing by keeping them there? What if they broke the children out and then they all died, poisoned by the air in the city? Perhaps they were making a mistake.
Shaking his head, Blake tried to clear his thoughts, aware that he had to be fully behind this plan for it to work. When they were dealing with so many people’s lives, one uncertain motion or questionable step could change everything. He had learned that through the fake disasters he dealt with in his job—everything had to go exactly to plan or the shot was ruined. It was the same for the escape plan: every tiny part needed to work.
“I wouldn’t worry, my friend,” Vic interrupted Blake’s train of thought. “We are doing the right thing and we will do it well. Lives will be saved thanks to us, not put in more danger.”
Blake forced a smile on to his face, listening to Vic’s words and doing his best to believe them. It was bizarre how all these events had been put into motion, Blake stumbling into Vic’s store several days ago with absolutely no way of knowing how that one decision would send his life off on a tangent more action-packed than half of the movies he had acted in. He had to keep reminding himself that this was real life. He wasn’t just playing a hero now; he was actually trying to be one. And heroes didn’t shy away from the drama, they jumped into it. Headfirst. That was what Blake needed to do now. He needed to trust his gut and move forward.
“Okay,” Blake spoke once he and Vic were back inside the store, the pair of them scaling down the secret escape route with ease. “What do we need?”
Vic looked around his store and smiled. Everything was as he had left it. The camping beds that he and Blake had been sleeping on were still positioned side by side, their sleeping bags laid on top of them. He had been slightly worried that someone might’ve broken into his store during the time away, but the security gate at the front seemed to have worked. It probably helped that it was covered in graffiti from youths in the area, their tags making the place seem like it was rundown and forgotten about.
Walking through into the main store where customers were served, Vic picked up a couple of bottles of water and threw one over to Blake. In addition to the explosives that they needed to collect, both men were aware that any food and water supplies would be valuable tender for the faction. Once the kids were out of the pit as well, they would need looking after—they would have to keep them hidden from the Authority for some time to stop them from being captured again.
That was Vic’s main worry when it came to Jackson’s plan. What was stopping the Authority from just storming the city again and doing the exact same thing? It had been made clear that the majority of adults in Houston were happy to just roll over and effectively play dead. He found it bizarre that just because they had been told they were dying they had already given up their fight. In the end, Vic was forced to just accept that that was how some people were. He had seen it back in Ukraine and it was a trait he had vowed never to carry himself. He was a fighter, not someone who just threw in the towel at the first sign of danger.
With most people being the opposite, Vic knew it would take a lot of manpower to truly overthrow the Authority. Jackson seemed to be prepared for it, but was everyone else? As he downed the contents of the water bottle, Vic decided it was a conversation he needed to have with the faction leader. If the two of them worked together, they could surely come up with a way to gain control over the city themselves. The way Vic saw it, that was the best plan of action.
“We’ll need to bag up a lot of this stuff,” Vic remarked as he looked around his store. “Water. Food. Most of it will last for weeks if rationed correctly. Do you think you can make a start on that, my friend?”
“Sure,” Blake nodded. “All of it?”
“Hmm, not all,” Vic shook his head. The survivalist in him told him that if he ever needed to return to the store—if things went wrong with the Authority—he would need enough supplies to still be there to survive himself. It was a selfish thought, but he knew no one lived forever by being selfless. “A couple of bags will do for now. We can’t carry everything,” he said as an excuse. “Just pack what we can take and we can come back for more if and when we need it.”
Blake nodded again, understanding that Vic probably had an ulterior motive for leaving things behind. He couldn’t blame the man. Vic had worked tirelessly for many years to build up what he had at the store—both in the front and the back—it was well within his right to want to keep some of that for himself. Blake knew he had already benefitted more than he could’ve imagined from Vic.
“Gotcha,” he replied with a smile. “I’ll add some candy bars, eh? For the kids.”
Vic laughed, appreciating that Blake understood him. He’d grown very close to the former stuntman in the days they had spent together. Everything had started off with a bit of a bang between them, especially after Jenson turned up and things spiraled out of control. Vic was grateful that Blake had stood by him, and together they had formed a close friendship. Over the years that Blake had visited the store, buying his daily requirements, Vic had always thought he was an admirable man. He would hold the door open for other customers or let certain people pay ahead of him if they had fewer items. They were small and relatively meaningless things, yet they had told Vic a lot about t
he man’s character over the years. He wondered if it weren’t for those actions whether he would’ve been so willing for Blake to stay in the store with him. It was funny how one random act of kindness could so easily shape one’s future.
Peeling off and returning to the back room of his store, Vic put his hands on his hips and acknowledged the walls of weapons he’d collected. It was a back business that he’d started up many, many years ago, his connections in America helping him to set up after only a few months in the country.
When Vic had first arrived in the country, Texas hadn’t been his first choice of home. There was a large population of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants in New York, including one of his cousins. Then after moving there and spending a few months with his cousin Yefe, Vic quickly decided that life in the city wasn’t for him. Even though Houston wasn’t exactly smaller, it felt a lot less cramped and Vic didn’t feel like he was fighting with hundreds of other people just like him to be successful.
It might have been a girl that had originally brought him to the city, whereas it was Houston itself that had encouraged him to stay. That girl was long gone—Vic wasn’t even certain if she lived there anymore—but Houston had truly stolen his heart. When someone mentioned the word home to him, Vic no longer thought of his parents’ house in Ukraine, thinking instead of his little store on the corner.
That was why he was so determined to team up with Jackson and the rest of his faction. He loved Houston and he couldn’t just stand by and let it be destroyed. It already hurt Vic to see parts of the city burning, and buildings crumbling or being destroyed by fighting. He couldn’t let the people be destroyed in that same manner. He’d watched it happen to his parents’ hometown when he was a child and he had moved to America for a better life—not for a repeat of a totalitarian government taking over and making everything worse. He couldn’t do anything about it when he was younger, but he could do something now. And he wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass him by. Pulling weapons down from the walls, Vic readied himself for a battle—a battle he was determined to win.
Escaping Darkness (Book 4): The Fallout Page 8
