Dead Meat | Day 5

by Clausen, Nick

  Sebastian is quiet for several seconds after William stops talking. He looks from William to Dan and back again. Then over at his daughter, who’s listening to music.

  Then, finally, he says: “Tell me what you had in mind.”

  William breaks into a wide grin. “I knew you’d get it. I knew you’d go along.”

  “I didn’t say I would,” Sebastian points out, still very calm. “I just want to know what your plans are, exactly. How do you picture this going down, provided I agree to do it?”

  William holds up a hand. “Wait, there’re a couple more of us waiting in the car. I think it’s best they join us for this—don’t you?”

  TWENTY-SIX

  Dennis climbs down the ladder very carefully. It’s difficult because his legs are shaking and his palms are sweaty.

  He reaches the tunnel and looks back up. Silas is crouched by the opening, pointing the rifle down at Dennis.

  “Right, now, move back a little, Dennis. Three steps.”

  Dennis obeys.

  “Perfect. Stay there.”

  Silas climbs down the hatch, using only one hand, the other one holds the rifle aimed at Dennis.

  He jumps the last few rungs and lands in front of Dennis, looking around. “Damn … Holger really did a cool job of this. Okay, keep going.”

  Dennis walks back through the tunnel. He can hear Silas’s footsteps right behind him.

  They reach the steps leading up to the bathroom. The secret wall-door has almost closed itself, only a thin slice of light is coming down.

  “Dennis?” Mom’s voice from upstairs. “Dennis, where are you?”

  Dennis is about to answer out of pure instinct, when a hand grabs his shoulder hard.

  “Don’t say anything,” Silas whispers. “Just go up there and open the door slowly.”

  Dennis holds his breath as Silas lets go of him, and he begins the ascent. As he reaches the door, he pushes it open very slowly, revealing the bathroom.

  He doesn’t have the nerve to look back, but he senses Silas being right behind him.

  “Dennis?” Mom calls again, sounding like she’s in the kitchen. “For heaven’s sake, where are you, boy?”

  “You can answer her,” Silas whispers in Dennis’s ear. “Tell her you’re in the bathroom.”

  Dennis opens his mouth, and for a few seconds, he’s completely forgotten how to talk. Then, the words come to him.

  “I’m … I’m in the bathroom, Mom!”

  “Perfect,” Silas whispers. “Just stay right where you are, Dennis. And don’t say anything else. I’ll take it from here.”

  A very long, nerve-racking moment passes by in tense silence, before Dennis hears Mom’s steps coming this way, and she appears in the doorway. Her eyes fall on him immediately, a trace of annoyance on her face.

  “Darn it, where were you? I’ve been calling for five minutes. There’s a car parked up the driveway, we need to—” Mom interrupts herself as she notices the open wall-door behind Dennis. “What’s that?”

  “Hello again, missy,” Silas says, popping his head out from behind Dennis’s shoulder. “I’ve got a Winchester pointed at your son’s spine, so please remain calm.”

  A flutter of surprise flies across Mom’s face, and Dennis notices her right hand going for the belt before she can help it.

  “Ah-ah!” Silas says loudly. “Hands off that shiny thing. I know you used it on Holger, but you’re not doing it on me.”

  Mom takes her hand away from the dagger very slowly, staring at Silas with burning eyes. “What do you want?”

  “The same thing we wanted last night. A little chat and a safe place to stay.”

  “We’re not interested in—”

  “Shut the fuck up!” Silas bellows, causing Dennis to jump in surprise—both because of the sudden change in his voice from almost giddy to hateful, but also because no one talks to Mom that way. “You don’t call the shots anymore, lady,” he growls. “And you’d better get used to that real fast. You do as I say from now on. And I don’t want to hear from you unless I ask you a question. Got that?”

  Mom stares at Silas for a few seconds. Then she nods, once.

  “Perfect,” Silas says, the lighter tone returning to his voice. “Glad we got that out of the way. Now, before we go out to invite my brother inside, I need to know if anyone else is in the house?”

  Mom shakes her head.

  “Are you sure about that? If I walk to the front door with Dennis here, I’m not going to be surprised by anyone, am I? ’Cause if I am, I’m afraid I might get scared and blow out your son’s liver. None of us would want that, would we?”

  Mom keeps completely still, as she says: “No one else is here.”

  “Okay, I believe you. But just in case, I’m bringing Dennis. And you’ll lead the way. Please leave the knife here. Put it on the floor. Slowly.”

  Dennis and Silas both watch as Mom takes the knife, kneels down and places it on the floor.

  “Good job … uhm. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

  “My name is Birgit,” Mom says with an icy calm.

  “Nice to meet you face-to-face, Birgit. I’m Silas, and my brother’s name is Jonas.”

  A car honks outside.

  “Speak of the devil!” Silas grins. “Let’s go greet him.”

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  “I just don’t see what the problem is,” William says, throwing out his arms. “Of course we can steal a plane; people do it all the time.”

  Everyone else around the table looks at him with expressions ranging from mild skepticism to outright disbelief. The rest of the group have joined them and are now taking up every one of Sebastian’s dining room chairs.

  Sebastian’s daughter has joined them and is sitting on her father’s lap. Sebastian briefly told her what their guests wanted, and she has been following the conversation with quiet amazement.

  Sebastian shakes his head. “I’m telling you, there’s no way. It doesn’t work like in the movies. We can’t just Jack Bauer our way into a locked-down airport, steal a plane and take off without anyone noticing.”

  “Okay,” William says. “Take me through it, then. What would you need for it to work? A key?”

  “If it’s an old plane, yeah. If it’s a newer one, you’d need an electronic card.”

  “What else?”

  “What else what?”

  “What else do you need to get the plane started? Is there any kind of password or finger scanner or …? I don’t know, anything?”

  “No, there’s only the card. As long as there’s fuel in the tank, you could theoretically take off.”

  “And how do you get that card?”

  “You get it by being a pilot who has access to that particular plane.”

  “So, you have a card for the plane you normally fly?”

  “I have seven.”

  William claps his hands together. “Well, that’s perfect! What are we waiting for, then? Let’s go get the nearest one!”

  Sebastian scuffs. “You still don’t get it, buddy. It’s really not that simple. It’s not like a car parked out back. Those planes are inside locked hangars. Well, most of them are, a couple of them are probably parked outside, but—”

  “Then we take one of those outside!” William interrupts, throwing out his hands again.

  “But,” Sebastian goes on, “like I was trying to tell you, the airfields are being surveyed by cameras. There are round-the-clock guards. We probably wouldn’t be able to even enter the airfield without them knowing.”

  “Can’t we just outrun them? I mean, it’s not like they have guns or anything, right?”

  “No, they aren’t armed, but …”

  “So what can they do? If we just rush in there, get in the plane and take off? Is there any way for them to stop us?”

  Sebastian blinks, as though this scenario is so far out, he hasn’t even considered it. “I guess not. But they’ll report us right away.”

  “To whom? The
police? I think they’re plenty busy already, with all the dead folks eating people and all. One stolen plane probably won’t cause too much concern right now.”

  Sebastian folds his arms, looking at William. “You really think we can do this, do you?”

  “I can’t see why not.”

  “Well, how about once we get in the air? How do you suggest we avoid being forced down again and put in jail?”

  “Can’t we just fly straight out of the country? Like, out over the ocean?”

  “There’s at least forty miles to the nearest sea from any airfields I have access to, and that’s plenty of time for the military to pick us up on the radar.”

  “Okay, then we fly under the radar! Isn’t that where the expression comes from?”

  Sebastian shakes his head. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am! I saw a documentary from World War II, and they said the pilots could fly low enough that the enemy’s radar couldn’t pick them up. What was it—below a thousand feet or something?”

  “More like three hundred. We’d basically be flying in between rooftops.”

  “But it’s possible?”

  Sebastian scuffs again. “Jesus, man … yes, it’s possible, but so is surviving being shot—would you run the chance?”

  “We’ll just avoid flying over any major cities,” William says. “It’s not dangerous crossing the open landscape, is it?”

  “Not if you aren’t worried about stuff like trees and telephone poles, not to mention hills. And by the time we got flying—supposing we disregard any logic and actually go through with this—it’d be dark once we got airborne. The chances of crashing into something are way too high.”

  “Couldn’t we just—”

  “How about a helicopter?”

  The question comes from a completely unexpected angle, spoken in an unfamiliar voice.

  Dan turns around on his chair to see a boy only a few years older than himself staring at them from the doorway.

  “I thought you said you were only six people in the group,” Sebastian remarks, addressing William.

  “I did,” William says, looking at the boy. “Who the hell are you?”

  “My name’s Eli,” the boy says.

  “Wait, he’s not with you?” Sebastian puts down his daughter and gets to his feet. “How the hell did you come in?”

  “Dad, language,” his daughter remarks, but Sebastian doesn’t seem to hear her.

  “The door wasn’t locked,” the boy says, looking pretty uncomfortable, like he’d rather not be here.

  “Jesus, will you get the hell out of my home?” Sebastian strides around the table.

  “Wait!” the boy says, holding out his hands. “Wait, I know where there’s a helicopter we can take!”

  Sebastian hesitates.

  William gets up from the table, too. “Where is it?”

  The boy shakes his head. “I’m only telling if you’ll bring me along.”

  “Wait a minute,” Dan hears himself say, as something suddenly dawns on him. “I saw you in the car, the white Mercedes … out on the freeway.”

  The boy looks at him with bemusement, but says nothing.

  “Why the fuck would we believe you just happened to come upon a helicopter?” William asks.

  “I saw it land,” the boy persists. “Just outside town. While I was driving here. I came to visit a friend of mine, Claus. He lives upstairs, but … he’s not home. And then you guys came …” He points at Dan and William. “And I heard some of what you said, so I … I listened through the mail slot.”

  “Jesus,” Sebastian mutters. “The nerve on this kid.”

  “A helicopter,” William says thoughtfully. “Why hadn’t I thought of that?” He turns to Sebastian, a look of elation on his face. “A helicopter would be better, wouldn’t it? It’s easier to fly low in a helicopter.”

  “It is,” Sebastian agrees, still eyeing Eli.

  “So, we wouldn’t have any of the problems if we flew in a helicopter?”

  “None.”

  “Well, that’s perfect, then! You can fly a helicopter, right? A helicopter must be easy compared to a plane.”

  “It’s oranges and apples,” Sebastian says, shaking his head. “You’d need a separate education to fly a helicopter.”

  “Oh, fuck,” William mutters.

  A few seconds of silence.

  Then, Sebastian goes on: “Luckily, I do have that education.”

  William lights up. He smiles and points at Sebastian. “Oh, you got me!”

  Sebastian doesn’t smile back. He looks at Eli. “What kind of helicopter was it? And where did you see it?”

  Eli shrugs. “It was on a field, just off the highway. It landed right as I went by. It was one of those medical helicopters.”

  William looks at Sebastian, smiling. “Tell me this isn’t a stroke of fate.”

  Sebastian looks back at him, his face set in stone. “I don’t believe in fate.” He takes a breath through his nose, then he says: “But I’m willing to at least go take a look.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  “Please take a seat.”

  Silas casually points the rifle at the couch, then slings it back over his shoulder.

  Now that his brother—Jonas—joined them in the house, Silas seems a lot less tense, and he doesn’t keep the gun aimed at them all the time.

  “That’s not a friendly invitation,” Silas says, when neither Dennis nor his mom react right away. “Sit down.”

  Dennis willingly sits down on the couch, and Mom follows his example, placing herself calmly next to him. Dennis reaches for her hand, and Mom lets him take it. He’s surprised to find it cool and dry and steady, unlike his own, which is clammy and shaky.

  “All right,” Jonas says, pulling out a chair and tipping the pile of books placed on it to the floor. He sits down and crosses his arms. “Let’s work out how this is going to fly.”

  “What is ‘this’ exactly?” Mom asks.

  “All of us living together. You could call it a commune.”

  Silas puts the rifle on the table and leans his elbows next to it, looking at Mom. “Only without the orgies, of course. I mean … unless you want to.” He grins, and Dennis isn’t quite sure why, but he’s pretty sure Silas just made a dirty joke.

  Mom doesn’t reply, and Jonas doesn’t smile, either.

  “It’ll only be the four of us for now,” he goes on. “But tomorrow or the day after, a few more people will join us. It’s our mom, her new husband and his son. Also, my girlfriend will join us later on. She can’t leave her house right now, but we’ll figure out a way to get her here.”

  “That’s eight people,” Mom says, shaking her head slowly. “That’s too many.”

  “You’re right, I think six is a much better number,” Silas says, staring at Mom. “Much more sustainable.”

  “You’re welcome to leave if you want,” Jonas says. “You’re not our prisoners. But I suspect you prefer to stay?”

  Dennis looks at Mom.

  Mom shrugs. “We would have nowhere else safe to go. We wouldn’t make it till sundown.”

  The thought makes Dennis shudder.

  “Right, then we need to make it work,” Jonas says. “And I’m sure we can.”

  “Yeah, no problem,” Silas says with a sneer. “You see, unlike you, we don’t kill other people to get their hideout. We want to share, like good boys. By the way, how did you do it? I mean, how did you get in here?”

  “I think that’s beside the point for now, Silas,” Jonas begins.

  “No, it’s very important,” Silas persists, not taking his eyes off Mom. “I want to know how this sneaky bitch got past Holger’s security. Coming up with my own approach wasn’t exactly easy, but I knew it could be done. So, let us in on the secret, Mommy.”

  Mom is quiet for a second or two, as both brothers watch her closely. Then, she begins to talk. She tells them about the secret hatch in the courtyard.

  “So, it was just as m
uch dumb luck as strategic planning,” Silas concludes. “You just happened to see them leave.”

  Mom doesn’t answer.

  “Is the hatch locked from the inside now?” Jonas asks. “I mean, can anyone else get in that way?”

  Mom looks at him, then shakes her head once.

  “And do you know of any other ways anyone creative enough might find their way in here?”

  “No.”

  “We’d better check around to make sure we don’t get any surprises,” Silas interjects. “How about weapons? Did Holger have anything to defend this place with?”

  Mom hesitates for a moment, then she says: “There are quite a few weapons down in the bunker.”

  The brothers exchange a look.

  “What kind of weapons?” Jonas asks, addressing Mom.

  “Firearms. Knives. Explosives.”

  “Holy shit,” Silas whispers, grinning at his brother. “We hit the jackpot!”

  “I’m not sure you can get to them, though,” Mom goes on. “They’re locked in a metal cabinet. I have no idea where the keys are.”

  “You sure?” Silas asks, eyeing Mom up and down. “You sure you don’t know where the keys are? If I frisk you, will I find them?”

  Mom holds his gaze firmly, as she says: “You won’t find anything.”

  “We’ll check that out, too,” Jonas says. “But first, we’ll need to make some ground rules, to make sure we can coexist in harmony.”

  It sounds like he’s about to go on, but Silas jumps in, clapping his palms together, causing Dennis to jump.