Black Rain

by William R Hunt

  Pete said nothing for a few heartbeats. His finger lay on the trigger, caressing it. “Where is this refrigerator?”

  “Down that way.” Nigel pointed down the hallway to his left. As Pete turned, the gun drifted in that direction as well. Nigel immediately pulled his right arm back, clutching the softball he had picked up earlier, and pitched it at Pete. The ball hit the side of Pete’s head and caromed off into the shadows. The gun went off, spitting plaster from the wall beside Nigel.

  “Son of a bitch!” Pete roared.

  Kay didn’t stay to see what happened next. She jerked Luna forward, nearly pulling her to the ground, and then Luna was running beside her as they rushed to the entrance. Kay glanced back in time to watch Susanna try to slip past Pete. He threw his shoulder into her, bouncing her off the lockers. She fell to the ground on her hands and knees, gasping for air.

  Kay stared down the hallway, uncertain what to do. This might be her only chance to escape with Luna. If Pete got his hands on the gun again, she would be his prisoner again—at best. But what about Susanna and Nigel? Could she really just run off with her daughter and abandon them?

  Kay took a step toward Susanna, but before she could move any closer, a set of keys came whistling at her chest. She caught them and stared.

  “Go!” Susanna shouted.

  Pete and Nigel were wrestling for the revolver now. The flashlight rolled along the floor, illuminating the scene in lurid detail. Pete punched Nigel in the face. Nigel fell to the ground, ripping off Pete’s mask as he fell.

  Kay turned and rushed to the car. She helped Luna into the passenger seat, then hurried around and opened the driver door. She fumbled with the keys. Which one was it again?

  “Mommy?” Luna asked worriedly. She was staring into the school. Kay lifted her head and watched with horror as Pete stood over Nigel, kicking him in the side. Nigel managed to grab Pete’s leg and pull him down.

  “Don’t look, honey!” Kay said as she found the right key and stabbed it into the ignition. She turned it. The engine protested, grumbling like a sleepy teenager, and then it growled to life and she threw the SUV into drive.

  As she pulled forward, she saw Pete standing over Nigel with the revolver.

  “Look away!” she cried just as Pete pulled the trigger, shattering Nigel’s skull in a bloody spray across the concrete. For a moment of hot, unreasoning rage, Kay thought of backing up and accelerating through the glass entrance doors and running Pete down. Then Pete straightened, the gun came up, and Kay spun the car around just as the gun went off, shattering one of the brake lights.

  He’s aiming for the tires! she thought.

  Another shot went off, thumping into the undercarriage of the vehicle. As the car gained traction and shot across the parking lot, it occurred to Kay that Susanna had not been in the hallway when Pete killed Nigel. Perhaps she had crawled into one of the classrooms.

  As she turned onto the road, she glanced toward the school again to see Pete standing in the rain, aiming the gun at them. The distance was much too far, and he must have known it. He dropped to the ground, his face splitting into a terrible grimace as he seized his exposed hair and turned his face up at the black rain. Just before a cluster of trees hid the school from view, Kay saw Pete jam the barrel of the revolver into his mouth.

  She never heard the gunshot.

  Epilogue

  The car climbed the long hill, struggling to gain traction due to the flat tire that sagged and flopped with every revolution, laying rubber like bacon along the side of the road. Kay glanced at the fuel gauge and watched the needle quiver just below the final red mark.

  This was as far as they would go.

  At the top of the hill, she pulled onto the gravel shoulder and eased to a stop. A haze of smoke hung in the distance, obscuring the horizon, but the rest of the sky was blue and featureless, bearing no memories of the bygone storm. A pair of dark shapes, hawks or perhaps vultures, circled high in the late summer air.

  “Are we there?” Luna asked drowsily, stirring from her nap. Her chest rose and fell in shallow breaths. Looking at Luna’s rubber suit, Kay had the peculiar feeling she had stepped into a Twilight Zone episode. “The Family from Outer Space,” maybe.

  “This is it,” Kay answered, not really certain where they were but entirely confident it was as far as they would go on a flat tire and some gas fumes. “Just stay here while I take a look, okay honey?”

  “I’m cold, Mommy. Where’s Daddy?”

  “I’ll be right back,” Kay reiterated, handing her daughter a blanket.

  Kay climbed from the car and stepped into the tall weeds fringing the road: chicory, goldenrod, evening primroses with their delicate yellow flowers. She listened to the blades of grass rasp together in the breeze, a sound that seemed to come from all sides of her, and turned her face to the sunlight. Already the light was congealing like amber, turning to that golden hue that was precious not for its color but for its ephemeralness.

  So dawn goes down to day, she thought. Nothing gold can stay.

  Beyond the weeds, the ground rolled downward into fields thick with crops. Here and there, in the grassy lanes between the squares of crops, tractors stood dormant like the abandoned exoskeletons of cicadas. Farther still, where the light began to fade and the shadows of a forest stretched toward them with dark fingers, Kay could see foothills rising up to the gunsmoke blue mountains.

  “Mommy?” Luna asked, fighting to open the car door, which pushed back against her due to the pitch of the hill. “Can I see it too, Mommy?”

  Kay nodded and watched her daughter climb from the car, blinking her eyes and studying the world with solemn wonder. Seeing the girl’s innocence, Kay reached deep inside herself for courage, knowing Luna would need her leadership, her confidence, her assurance that all would be well.

  “How do you like the view?” she asked, forcing a smile.

  “Is Daddy up in the mountains?”

  Kay stared at the fringe of mountains, struck by the tiny caps of snow clinging to the peaks. It was like looking at Heaven, a world that knew nothing of Earth’s troubles, and she wondered if perhaps John was looking down into the valley just then, wondering about his wife and daughter, hoping they were okay. He would come for them as soon as he could...but would it be soon enough?

  “I think so,” Kay answered.

  “Do you think he remembers us?”

  “Of course he does, honey. He’ll never forget us. But right now we have to be strong for ourselves, okay?”

  She pulled her phone out and checked it, as she had numerous times since leaving the school. Still no service. She stared at the background, a picture of a family gathering with John, Luna, Kay, and Kay’s parents. John was standing beside her father, Roger, looking a bit out of his element in slacks and a dress shirt. Luna, however, was nothing but smiles as she sat in her grandmother’s lap.

  “I want to go home,” Luna said. “Can we go home?”

  “Soon,” Kay answered, thinking, As soon as we learn where home is.