by R. Brewer
“Well, thanks, but no thanks,” Jodie said, appreciating the light moment. She reached in and grabbed a map RJ had drawn for them. "Let’s look at our route again.”
“Good idea,” Eric said. “It should be dark in about two hours and then we’re on, right?”
“Right,” Jodie said. “We go in this entrance to the ranch,” she said, pointing to the map, “Where we’ll use RJ’s security card to enter a locked gate. Then, we drive up to this utility building, where we’ll encounter the first two guards. I’ll attempt to subdue them without killing them or shooting either one in the knee, as you requested.”
“I know you can do it, Jodie,” Eric said, a smile spreading across his face. “But if we don’t get in, the consequences will be terrible, won't they?”
“Right. Then we’ll be responsible for a lot more than just a few blown out knees,” she said. “On the bright side, we won’t be here to feel bad about that.”
Eric’s smile vanished and he looked at the ground. “You know, I’ve never shot at anyone before. I’ve been hunting, but I’m sure it’s nothing even remotely the same. Shooting at people, that is.”
“Let’s concentrate on getting in there unnoticed and doing what we need to do to stop them,” Jodie said. “You know, at this point, I’m not even sure what that is.”
* * *
“How much farther?” Chuck growled at Billy. They’d been walking for a good fifteen minutes and Chuck was starting to fear they were being led into a trap. There wasn’t anything he could do about it if they were, but he was second-guessing the idea of bringing Fester with him. He gave the leash a tug. “Hold up there, Billy.” He tied the leash to a pipe running along the ceiling, out of Billy’s reach. He turned to Fester.
Fester’s mother was awake and the boy spoke softly to her and held her hand. Watching the scene, Chuck felt that familiar burning in his eyes. He wondered what turned men into such monsters. If he had his way, they would all pay before he was done. Fester’s mother began to whimper a bit as he approached them.
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Fester said. “He’s okay. Remember Officer Wending from Mountain City?”
"Hello, Ma'am," Chuck said, looking down at Fester's mom. "I'm sorry if my appearance scares you. I'm not sure why I look this way." After the words came out of his mouth, he thought the whole statement was a little self-indulgent, given what she'd been through.
"Bonnie," Fester's mom said. "My name is Bonnie."
Chuck leaned down a little closer to her. "We're going to find your friends and get you out of here. First, I want to make sure that it's safe, so I'm going to put you and Fester in one of these rooms where you can hide. Is that okay with you?"
Bonnie nodded.
"Good," Chuck said, looking down the hallway for the next room. "There's a place just ahead. Follow me, Fester." Chuck walked up to the door, bent down and looked inside. Seeing no one, he entered and found a corner not visible from the doorway. The small alcove was partially illuminated by the exit sign above the door. When Fester wheeled the gurney inside, Chuck pulled it into the alcove and searched through the rest of the room coming up with whatever medication, food and water he could find to make them comfortable. Luckily, this room contained a hefty store of painkillers for Bonnie. He gently draped a blanket over her that he found in a cabinet. "Fester, I want you to stay here, no matter what you hear. You lock the door behind me and don't let anyone in, except for me or your friends. Got that?"
Fester nodded.
Chuck pulled his handgun out of the holster. "Ever use one of these?" he asked.
"No," Fester said. "But I target shoot at home. I use a rifle, though."
"Same thing, really," Chuck said. He pointed out the safety and other features of the gun. Afterwards, he took off his gun belt and strapped it around Fester's waist. "Any of those guards come near and you don't hesitate. Understand?"
Fester nodded again. "But, won't you need your gun?"
Chuck thought about it for a moment. He'd be better off not announcing his presence with a gunshot. Having his weapon would likely just get him into trouble. Then, he thought of how nice it would've been to have a son like Fester. A wave of sadness over what would never be hit him and the now familiar burn in his eyes made him think of Jodie, too. It was time to move. "No, I'll be okay. Go sit with your mom now. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Chuck walked from the room, closing the door behind him. He waited until he heard Fester lock the door, then walked back toward Billy, who was dangling from the leash, trying to climb to the pipe it was tied to. Unfortunately, for Billy, he'd twisted the leash so badly that he couldn't let go of the pipe he was holding onto or he'd be hanged. For a moment, Chuck thought about leaving him there, to die by his own hands. It would save him the trouble of killing Billy later. But, he thought, given what an idiot this boy was, he'd likely have other opportunities to do himself in. Chuck reached up and yanked the leash off of the pipe, sending Billy crumpling down to the floor. Lying there gasping for air, he looked not much older than Fester.
"Gather yourself up, Billy," Chuck said, towering over the prone man.
Billy scrambled to his feet, tugging at the leash, which had embedded itself in his neck. "I can't breathe," he coughed out, tugging at the wire.
Chuck reached over and yanked the wire in two with his hand. "Take it off."
Pulling the severed pieces of wire out of his neck, Billy looked at Chuck with a confused expression.
"How old are you, boy?" Chuck asked.
"Wha ... what?" Billy choked out. "Why would you want to know that?"
Chuck just glared at Billy in response.
"I'm nineteen, if you really need to know," Billy said, wiping the snot from his nose.
Chuck put his hand on Billy's shoulder. "Nineteen. Nineteen years old and you're already so morally bankrupt that you thought it would be fun to joke about abusing a woman? Nineteen years old and you follow these Gypsum people and do whatever they want you to, no matter how wrong it is?"
Billy lowered his gaze to the ground. "I already told you, I had nothin' to do with what happened to that woman," he said, gesturing to the room where Fester and Bonnie hid.
"Well, Billy, I'm feeling exceptionally generous right now, so I'm going to let you redeem yourself. I'd suggest you think about all the things you could do to accomplish that. You take me to Christy right now. I'll give you ten minutes. Then, we'll see if you've made any progress before I decide what to do with you."
* * *
For the past two hours, Isaiah had been exploring every corner and crevice of the room where they were being held, looking for weapons and a way out. He and Nick had managed to find little useful except for a pair of scissors. Christy had given up long ago and sat on the floor watching them, with Noah and Hunter at her side. Isaiah glanced over at Evan, who lay in the bed sleeping.
"You take them," Nick said, handing Isaiah the scissors. "I'll probably just stab myself with them, or something."
Isaiah slipped the scissors in his back pocket. "Okay, there's one more place we need to look," he said, pointing at a vent in the ceiling.
Nick's face paled. "I'm not sure if I can do that again. I mean, after our trip down here in the vent, and all."
Isaiah thought about what it must have been like for Nick and the rest of their group, having to jump down a vent in order to avoid gunfire when they first found the Gypsum installation. "Well, let me take a look first and then we can decide what to do."
Nick nodded. "Okay, I'll give you a boost."
Isaiah positioned himself under the vent and Nick knelt in front of him, his hands cupped. Isaiah stepped into Nick's hands and felt himself being hoisted all the way to the ceiling. "You okay, Nick?"
"Yeah, man, you're as light as a feather," Nick said.
Isaiah glanced down at Nick, who didn't even look like he was straining. Good to have a strong guy around, he thought. He reached up for the vent cover and pulled. It wouldn't budge. He gave it another yank and it
came down quickly, dropping a pile of dust on him and Nick, who let out an exceptionally loud sneeze. "Sorry, man," Isaiah said.
"That was some nasty stuff," Nick said, sneezing again.
"Can you boost me up higher?" Isaiah asked. Nick lifted him, shoving him right into the vent. He slid his arms inside and hoisted himself up. The vent was illuminated somewhat by light streaming in from the rooms beneath. About three feet in diameter, it extended for as far as he could see. Turning to look in the other direction, Isaiah stopped, thinking he saw something move. His eyes adjusting, he kept looking until he saw it again. Something was moving. Slowly. Crawling toward him. He strained to see what it was in the dim light. As it moved closer, he realized it wasn't human. He could hear it scraping what appeared to be claws along the metal vent, pulling itself forward. He reached for the gun that had been strapped to his side every day for so many years, before remembering that it was gone.
"I'm coming down," he whispered to Nick. As he slid through the hole, Nick grabbed his legs and lowered him slowly, stopping to let him close the vent cover. When he hit the floor, he made a signal for Nick to stay quiet. "There's something up there. I don't know what it is, but it's coming this way and I don't think we want to meet it. Let's move away from this vent."
Nick gave him a confused look and moved over in the corner by Christy and Noah. Suddenly, Hunter sat up, his ears pricked, listening to the scraping in the vent.
"Keep him quiet," Isaiah said, pointing to Hunter, who appeared ready to pounce. Isaiah backed up slowly and stood near Nick.
Nick bent over and quieted the dog, muzzling him with a hand.
"What's --" Noah started before Nick made a signal for him to be quiet.
Nick pushed Hunter back a few steps, and crouched with Isaiah.
The thing in the vent continued clawing and scratching its way toward them, growing louder by the moment. It stopped for a few seconds and Isaiah held his breath, almost losing his balance when the thing let out a scream that echoed down the vents, rattling the metal with its sheer force. A few seconds later, another call rang out from somewhere else in the building. The things called back and forth to each other, a terrific howl spewing from the creature above, shaking the vent, pounding at Isaiah's eardrums until he had to cover his ears with his hands.
As suddenly as it started, the screaming stopped and the thing started to crawl again. Isaiah held his breath as it clattered over the vent covering he'd just been through. It continued to claw its way forward, away from them.
"What the hell was that?" Nick whispered.
Isaiah shook his head. "I don't know," he answered, turning toward Nick and speaking very quietly. "I don't think we want to find out, either. We have to get out of here."
Then, a different noise got his attention. Evan stirred in the bed and sat up. Before Isaiah could raise his hands or take one step across the room to tell him about the thing in the ceiling, Evan yawned loudly.
"What in the world are you all doing over there in the corner?" Evan yelled, his hearing not yet restored.
Isaiah frantically signaled to Evan to be quiet. He listened for the thing, no longer hearing the scratching. He waited thirty seconds, not moving, watching. He was about to let out the breath he'd held when a scream so ferocious, so piercing, so intense blasted through the vent that he felt as if it would puncture his eardrums. About the same time, the vent cover was punched out as the thing jumped down into the middle of the room, hitting the floor and sending up a spray of ceramic tile and dust. Isaiah reached for the scissors in his back pocket and watched, horrified as the thing turned in his direction.
CHAPTER 15
Jodie pulled the guard's cap down low to cover her face as much as possible. "You okay, Eric?" she asked.
He nodded, but Jodie could tell he was nervous. What she'd had to explain to him over the past day would have been disconcerting for anyone to hear and she was taking him into the heart of the beast, so to speak. She hoped Eric would be around when everything was over to tell people what Gypsum really was.
Jodie turned to look at RJ. Much to her surprise, he was awake and sitting up. His face revealed the pain he must be in. Sweat rolled off of his forehead and his jaws were clenched in agony. She rifled through the first aid supplies they had left and came up with a handful of medication. "RJ, what's your pleasure? Aspirin, Tylenol or Immodium?"
RJ laughed. "How about the aspirin and Tylenol? The Immodium can come later."
Jodie handed him the pills, almost remorseful for a moment that she'd shot him. She wondered what she was becoming, so eager to shoot, so willing to kill. Mostly, she wondered if staying alive was worth it if this is what humanity was reduced to. "RJ, I'm sorry I had to shoot you," she said.
RJ looked at her for a moment, his features softening. "Well, I gotta say, Agent Watts, I'm sorry you had to shoot me, too." He shifted his body so that he could bend his knee slightly. "Ahh. That's better." RJ breathed deeply for a moment and relaxed a bit. "You know, I woulda killed you, so it's probably for the best that you did what you did. I guess I just didn't care about anything anymore. Just survival. Somehow, I thought we'd be saved if we bagged you and brought you in."
Well, at least he's honest, Jodie thought. "Maybe we can make it up to each other by stopping Gypsum," she said.
"Sounds good to me, Agent Watts," RJ said, shifting his position again.
"We're getting close now, so cover up, okay, RJ? You need to look like a sack of laundry if anyone looks in the van." Jodie seriously doubted they'd get through inspection of the van that easy. One thing at a time, though, she told herself. In the dim light of dusk she could see that just up ahead, the turnoff RJ had told them about snaked into the desert toward a ranch house on a hill. Nothing lay between the road they were on and the gate opening for the fenced yard of the house. No protection, nowhere to hide. "You ready, Eric?" Jodie asked.
"As I'll ever be," he said, turning down the gravel road.
They crept along at 15 mph to avoid kicking up too much dust and pulled up to the gate. Eric reached out and slid RJ's key card through the reader and waited. A few seconds passed and the mechanism started to move, sliding the gate to the side. As they drove through, Jodie could see the buildings RJ had described in back of the house.
"That looks like the one RJ told us to go to," Jodie said, pointing to what looked like a metal pole barn.
"He better have been telling the truth," Eric muttered.
"I heard that. Christ, you people," RJ snarled from underneath the tarp he'd pulled over himself. "Do ya' think I wanna get shot again? It's the right building."
"Okay, be quiet now, RJ. We're almost there," Jodie said.
As they pulled up to the building, the overhead door retracted and Eric pulled in and parked. Two large, muscular guards stood in front of the van, dressed in combat fatigues. Each was armed with an automatic weapon.
"What do we do now?" Eric said.
"Stay in the van," Jodie said. "Watch my back, though, okay?"
Eric nodded, sliding the gun Jodie'd given him earlier onto his lap.
Jodie jumped out of the van. "Hi, guys. What's goin' on?" she said.
The two men stared at her, glancing back and forth at each other, then back at her, seemingly confused as to how to respond.
"Not the talkative types, huh?" Jodie asked. Getting no response, she quickly raised her gun. "Put your weapons on the ground, please."
The two guards looked at each other, grinning. "Yeah, right. Who the fuck are you?" one guard said.
Jodie smiled back. "I'm the person who's going to ruin your day if you don't put your guns down." From behind her, Jodie heard the van door opening.
"I'm here," Eric said.
The guard in front of her screwed his face into a frown and bent down to set his weapon on the ground. At the last minute, he jerked up and raised it, firing off a burst in Eric's direction. Jodie thought she saw the bullets go wide and ricochet off of the metal wall of the building, but
didn't hesitate anyway. She emptied her clip on the two men, pulling the trigger until she was satisfied they weren't a threat anymore. She turned around, unprepared for the sight of Eric, lying face down in a pool of his own blood next to the van. Turning him over, she expected to see a gunshot wound to the face or chest, but found nothing. She pushed his body up and looked at his back again. He'd been shot in the neck from behind. She checked his pulse, realizing he was dead. Jodie swung around, looking for another Gypsum guard, realizing that no one except for RJ had been behind Eric. She heard movement from behind the van.
"Agent Watts, you okay there?" RJ called out.
Jodie knew it must have been RJ who shot Eric. "Why didn't you stay in the van?"
"I didn't want to be trapped in there," RJ said. "In case you and Eric didn't make it. I didn't want them to find me in there."
Jodie leaned down and peeked under the van, seeing RJ in a sitting position, propped up against the back bumper. She could see the gun in his hand. He must have had one in the cargo area that she’d missed. "Eric's hurt. I have to get the first aid kit," she said as she slowly crawled up into the van. Once inside, she quickly reached for the ignition and turned the key, shoving the gearshift into reverse almost at the same time. Jamming her foot down on the accelerator, all she heard was a yelp as the van bounced over RJ. Jodie pulled forward again, making sure the job was done. She put the van in park, turned the ignition off, and got out.
After grabbing one of the automatic weapons from a dead guard, Jodie walked around the back of the vehicle, finding RJ gasping for air. She'd driven over his chest. "You know, RJ, I'm not sorry anymore," she said. Jodie grabbed the rest of the weapons and ammunition and left him there, dying. Searching through the building, she finally found an overhead door and pulled it up, revealing a freight elevator. "Well, here goes," she said, pushing the elevator button.
* * *
Isaiah gripped the scissors tightly, thinking this would indeed be the last moment of his life. The thing in the middle of the room crouched, snarling at him. A long stream of bloody drool spun from its mouth. Isaiah felt close to vomiting from the smell of it. Its body looked something like a large praying mantis. Taking a clumsy step forward, it sniffed the air, snarling and snapping its enormous jaws together. Isaiah backed up slightly, before realizing he could go no further. Nick was right behind him, shielding Christy, Noah and Hunter. Isaiah looked the thing over, trying to find what might be a weak spot, but it was covered in a kind of armor. He thought it appeared to be chitin, the hard shell-like coating on some insects. From his vantage point, Isaiah thought it looked impenetrable. “Nick, I’m going to distract it while you get everybody out.”
