by Logan Keys
“No.” Cal pushed his head back against the wall with a thud. “No. God, I am supposed to be working in a hospital or gunning for a position on some board where I can get fat from eating everything I tell my patients not to. I’m not supposed to even be here in this place. Snakes and tarantulas and scorpions and everything wants to sting or bite you.”
“Why are you here?” Luckman asked, trying to get him to talk and keep Cal from panicking.
“My parents live in town. They’re fine though. My dad’s a prepper. He’s so prepared it’s not even funny. I doubt these guys would have gotten into their house so easily. Josephine’s a friend, so is Joseph. I’ve known them both since I was a kid. She needed help and so I helped, and now I’m here with a gun ready to fight like some…some…action star! I’m not cut out for this.”
“Hey now…”
Cal turned to him with hope in his gaze. “What if we just give up? Tell them they can have the place?”
“And if they let us, then what? You think they want to keep a bunch of prisoners around? Feed them and waste resources?”
“True,” Cal said begrudgingly. “But I have no idea if I can even hit anyone with this thing.”
Luckman nodded. “That’s how I felt. But I did. I hit their leader.”
“You what?”
“That’s right. Me. A scientist. And if I can man-up so can you. Ready?”
The door kept booming as they used whatever they were trying to break it down. It was a huge oversized ranch style door so it was taking the beating like a champ.
“I can’t see a thing,” Cal said, wiping sweat from his eyes.
“But then neither can they…” Luckman trailed off as the back door handle jiggled.
They both watched in silence as it turned. Neither of them had locked it behind them. The door opened, and a figure stood in the shadows. Luckman lifted his gun. Squeezed and…
“Lucky…?”
Luckman sagged against the wall, everything leaving him in a whoosh. “Terry,” he said.
She sounded strange. Upset.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Someone…someone’s following me.”
Chapter 2
New York City, New York
When they pulled up to the bowling alley, Bob had said he was going to finish this. They knew his partner Al and that demon in a suit Seagerman waited in side.
Michelle opened the car door, but Bob turned around in his seat and pointed at her. “You stay in the car,” he demanded.
Michelle paused. Then she stepped out onto the sidewalk. “You can’t do this alone.”
Bob threw open his door and strode over with his brows slammed down on top of his eyes. “Get back in that car.” He pulled her door wide and pointed for her to get back inside.
Michelle wanted to argue but something flashed in his gaze. Some desperate thing that she didn’t want to argue with. He really felt he needed to do this thing. Like it would bring back his son maybe. Or keep him from having to be separated from his family. It wasn’t going to do any of those things, however.
Michelle jutted her chin out. Her eyes found the road, and she pictured them getting back inside the car and leaving. Never looking back. Dumping Reese somewhere the earliest that they could. With help for her wounds, of course.
Speaking of Reese, the woman had been barely breathing before, and Michelle checked on her now. “She still alive?” Bob asked.
“Yes. Bob,” Michelle said softly. “I know you are hurting. I know you want revenge. But I think we should go. We should just leave. Please.”
Bob shook his head. “I don’t expect you to understand.” His eyes filled with sorrow. “But, I’m going to do this. Alone. And then we are going to leave this city.”
“What about…her?” Michelle motioned to Reese who was laid out in the back of their car. The bleeding had stopped but she was still out.
“We take her with us. If she lives.”
Bob turned and strode away, and Michelle got back into the car. She shut her door and started the engine, hoping the heater would work enough that they wouldn’t freeze while they waited. She knew Reese was probably already too cold with blood loss, so this was one nice thing she could do for her after having shut the door before—after leaving Reese outside of the building to be shot.
Guilt clogged her throat, but she tamped it down behind rationale. This wasn’t her fault. The snow, the ice, all of it was Reese’s fault to begin with. And those men were her own men who’d shot her.
“Wait!” Let me in!” Reese shrieked from the other side, and then another gun went off.
Michelle forced the memory of Reese’s voice pleading with them through the door back and away. It wasn’t her fault that Reese had made these enemies, and it was Reese’s fault that Michelle was running for her life in the first place.
She turned in her seat and glared at Reese for making her have to make these terrible decisions in an already trying time. Reese was making her feel evil for trying to survive. For not opening the door and taking bullets for a woman who wouldn’t do the same.
Reese wasn’t awake but Michelle told her anyway, “I’m sorry. Okay? You happy now? I’m sorry I left you out there. I was scared. I didn’t know they’d shoot you like that. I really didn’t.”
It didn’t make it any better but she felt she could move on. What was done was done. She wasn’t as evil as Reese and her ilk, but this made her a tad less judgmental of the woman.
The radio was on but it was just crackles of noise. There was no one trying to send any messages through the sound waves. No theorist trying to warn people about those like Reese who’d caused their doom. All were either gone or frozen or inside and using the last of their supplies. Then they’d freeze if they didn’t leave. Michelle knew that strange crawling ice from before would return. It was probably headed this way right this moment.
Michelle counted thirty seconds. That was all she could bear to wait. “All right. I’m going in,” she muttered and flung open the door.
With her gun in her pocket, Michelle stiffly walked towards the bowling alley. The cold was painful, and her eyes and cheeks burned. The freeze was coming, and it was truly time to go. Bob’s business might be unfinished, but they’d all be finished if they stayed.
“Bob,” she whispered when she got close enough to the entrance. The door was open, and it was dark inside.
Michelle pushed the door wide and peered in. It was quiet, but the heaters were still going. It felt much nicer than it did outside.
Michelle stepped into the hallway then into the main area towards the empty lanes. There were still pins standing at the other end waiting to be knocked down. Balls sat in the holders, clean and shined, ready to be used. It was hard to imagine only a short time ago people had been happily joining friends and family here to play. She pictured birthdays and bowling teams all gathered for fun, pizza and beer…her mouth watered at the thought. But now it was empty and eerie. It was something opposite of the noisy American pastime.
The floor was slippery, slick where someone was supposed to wear bowling shoes, so Michelle stepped down off of the wooden floor onto the thin, worn carpet and moved to where the snack shop was. She heard a click of sound that had her ducking behind the table and squatting down. She could see through the glass display case as a shadow glided opposite her, and she could tell by the tall, slender frame, that it wasn’t Bob.
Seagerman, she thought.
He was a creepy man and he moved in a smooth fashion befitting his strange ways. Like a shark through the water he glided across the floor, hunting. And it was her friend he was hunting.
Michelle steadied herself and stood, pulling her gun from her pocket. She aimed at Seagerman and followed him across the floor until Al stepped in and the two men whispered to one another.
She now knew where the two men were, but where was Bob?
Not wanting to give themselves away just yet, Michelle stepped back and her heel crunched so
me glass. She froze, but Seagerman’s head whipped in her direction.
The two men raised their weapons and approached her.
Should she shoot now? Should she run?
Before they could get to her, the back door opened with a bang.
Seagerman jumped behind the desk where the bowling shoes were kept but Al stood his ground and raised his gun at the light that flooded into the area---a light that framed Bob as he stepped inside, his own gun trained on his ex-partner.
“I should have done this long ago,” Bob said.
“This time I won’t miss your heart,” Al said.
They both stood not more than fifteen feet away from each other, guns aimed. Michelle knew they’d both fire. They’d both aim true. And she’d lose Bob once and for all. And that wasn’t going to happen. Not on her watch.
Michelle aimed and fired at the shoe casing where she’d seen Seagerman go. The tall man popped up like a gopher and returned fire while Bob’s gun and Al’s both also went off all at the same time like she’d known would happen.
It took her a second to think clearly. To see what had occurred.
Bob had shot Al. He crumpled down while Bob still stood, unharmed. Al and Seagerman had fired their guns at the same time, but not at Bob…at her.
With a frown Michelle glanced down at her chest and sighed out her surprise. Blood. She was warm with it as it ran rivulets down her side.
Seagerman was still aiming at her. Limply she tried to lift her arm but it wouldn’t obey her. She hated herself for making the sound, but she whimpered as he aimed at her knowing this was her last second. One of them had hit her in the shoulder and he was going to finish her off.
Michelle decided there was only one way to win this. She clutched her arm and fell backward, pretending that it was a fatal shot, cringing when she heard Bob make a desperate sound thinking she’d been hurt more than she had. The truth was she didn’t know how hurt she was, but she laid on her back hoping Seagerman would forget about her even if it meant putting Bob back in danger. He’d be in danger anyway once Seagerman took his shot and actually did hit her heart this time.
She could hear the men speaking. Al was pulling himself across the floor, but he was coughing a wet sound of death.
“So you finally got your revenge,” Seagerman said. “Perhaps we should call this a truce and give up.” He was shouting from his crouched position behind the counter at the shoe return, and Michelle could see him from her place on the floor, as she’d fallen to the side and was partially out of the protection of her case.
Seagerman was keeping low to avoid from being shot by Bob. Michelle could hear Bob moving.
“Michelle,” he called, no doubt fearing the worst.
She wouldn’t dare answer. Seagerman would turn and shoot her. She knew he had better aim than she did and that he could see her if he turned to look.
Michelle wanted to call out to Bob with every cell in her body. So that he wouldn’t try to make it to her side, but he was already on his way. He paused at some point, and his gun went off. Al’s moans ceased.
He rushed across the area, and Seagerman popped up and fired once. Bob threw himself behind the snack counter on the other side, still a few feet away from her place so Seagerman couldn’t see him. She still laid still when Seagerman faced their direction, knowing if she moved, he’d start to shoot at her.
“Michelle,” Bob said, army crawling towards her. He was about to be in Seagerman’s line of sight.
Moving her lips as little as possible she hissed, “Stay put. I’m fine.”
Bob was staring at her bleeding shoulder with wide eyes. “No, you’re not.”
“Shhh,” she replied quietly.
She had to get out of the dangerous and open spot before Seagerman noticed she was still alive. “Drag me,” she mumbled to Bob. “By the foot. Pull me back in.”
Bob grabbed hold of her ankle and heaved her towards his place fully behind the counter. She breathed a sigh of relief as he joked, “You are heavier than you look.”
“Very funny,” she whispered not wanting Seagerman to know she was alive yet.
With a sigh of relief, Michelle sank back against the display case. He touched her chin and turned her head to face him before he smiled at her. It was just a small gesture that Bob made as he checked her over, but it meant so much. They were both still alive, and Al was dead. One down one to go.
Bob moved her jacket, and they both stared at her oozing shoulder.
“Bob,” Michelle whispered. “Bob. Look.”
The fire that had been burning in the middle of the bowling alley went out. It made a noise as if wind that they didn’t feel had blown it. There was a cracking and creaking that began high above. They both listened as it sounded like ice shifted on the roof. “It’s here,” she breathed. “The freeze is here. We have to get out of the city.” Michelle grabbed Bob’s sleeve and tugged for emphasis. “Right? We can go now? You know that sound; it’s the same as happened with your house. Let’s go.”
“Why don’t we drop this and all go home?” Seagerman said obviously noticing the change in the temperature.
Michelle nodded at Bob but he shook his head.
“This ends now,” Bob shouted back.
Michelle gritted her teeth. “Bob,” she whispered fiercely “We have to make our run for the south while we still can. He will let us go. Just agree to a truce.”
She cringed and put a hand to her shoulder to try to stop the bleeding.
Bob nodded. “All right,” he said standing, and she thought he was about to agree to the truce but Bob aimed at the shoe counter. He moved out from behind the snack display and approached the spot where Seagerman hid.
“Come out and face me like a man!” Bob called.
Chapter 3
Just Outside Oklahoma City
Rufus and Colton were good at digging graves nowadays. They’d had lots of practice. But Colton wasn’t ready for this. He just wasn’t ready to say goodbye to his brother. When they finished, they stood over the unmarked grave and he hesitated, unsure. How was this happening?
Bart had been joking with him only an hour ago. Playing hero in his own action movie and hanging out of the car like a maniac. He was vibrant. Alive. And one stray bullet had ended all of that.
Colton was trying to come to grips with the fact that he’d waited until his brother’s body had turned stiff enough that there was no doubt and then wrapped him up in some blankets they found in the crazy woman’s SUV.
Then they’d dug a hole extra deep because he was afraid animals would come. Or maybe the earthquakes would unearth his brother.
“I uh…” His voice cracked. “I don’t know where to begin, Bro. I bet you thought you’d be doing this for me huh? Some war finally catching up with me, right? That seemed like the plan, anyway.” Colton sniffed, cleared his throat. “The plan that I’d be the stupid one and get myself killed and not the other way around.” Tears blurred Colton’s vision. “But life had other plans, huh? And here I am…and there you are. And…Bart…I dunno what to say anymore.” He paused for a long moment of silence. Finally, he felt like he’d just talk to his brother as if he were still there. “Mom told me when I was really little and sick, you’d get sick, too, like in sympathy or something like that. I had a fever and then she’d feel your head and you’d have one, too. At first she just thought we always caught the same cold or virus, but in the end, she realized that it was something else. You’d stress yourself out and get sick because you couldn’t stand the sight of me not feeling well. She said you would have thought we were twins, how close we were.” His voice broke off and the words were clipped. “Bart,” he said softly, nearly in a whisper. “If you can hear me, I love you and I’m sorry.”
Colton turned and Rufus pulled him into a hug. He meant to get back on the road, to reassure the children, but instead he broke down. He sobbed loudly, his body shaking with giant hiccups, and then he poured out his heart into Rufus’s shoulder.
Bart wasn’t there anymore. Colton could feel it.
“Okay,” Colton said, giving the mound of dirt one more glance, and he sighed staring at the rocks they’d all gathered as a headstone. “Let’s go. Let’s go home.”
He meant to Texas.
“I’ll go with you—to Texas, I mean,” Rufus said. “Just until I get word from the military about the whereabouts of Shelly. My daughter, that is.”
Colton wiped his eyes. “You sure?”
Rufus gave a half smile. “I am.”
Together, they all got back into the SUV and Colton started driving.
He took the long way around Oklahoma City and started south once more. Texas. Lubbock to be exact. He’d have to tell his mom and dad that Bart was gone. He’d have to deliver that bad news himself. Maybe they knew it already. Felt the change like he did. And when he’d show up without his brother, they’d already have guessed, and it would save him from having to actually say it.
Colton realized he was thinking crazy. That he was in a daze, shock. But would his mother sense it? She was smart like that, had a woman’s intuition. Colton had to stop focusing on it because he honestly wanted to pull over and curl into a ball on the side of the highway. He wanted to stop fighting and trying, and that’s not what the kids deserved. They deserved to have a stable individual carry them home. But that got Colton thinking about something else. Rufus could do it. He could take care of the kids, if push came to shove.
Colton sighed. If something happened to him. But he was going to press on and fight to the last breath to be sure. He would try his hardest to be there for them.
“How far is home, Son?” Rufus asked as he was mapping out the way so they could avoid any more major cities.
