Neighborhood Watch: After the EMP

by EE Isherwood

  He patted Trevor’s shorts and shirt but came up empty.

  “Okay, thanks, Luke. Now I need you to open that chest.” I pointed to the other corner of the room. “It’s supposed to have the stolen goods inside.”

  “Sure thing, boss,” he replied.

  “Why are you sucking up to this guy?” Trevor snorted toward my friend. “If you want to be rich, just take what you want from my chest when you open it. All you have to do is get your ‘boss’ to let me go free.”

  Luke and I shared a bemused glance.

  “Do I need to be worried?” I asked Luke with a laugh.

  “You know me. Two days ago, I was just an honest internet programmer working from home. Now, after the EMP, I’m in this purely for the riches. Sorry, Frank.” Despite his words, Luke worked on opening the chest as I’d asked.

  That interplay seemed to piss off Trevor even more.

  “Dammit! This isn’t fair. Just take it all, and whatever else you want in here, but for the love of god, let me go. Zen and his gang don’t have to know we made any kind of deal.”

  “Wow.” Luke had the chest half-open. “It looks like someone raided a cartel’s stash.”

  I side-stepped until I could see the chest and my prisoner at the same time.

  “Wow indeed!” I exclaimed. “How much is it worth?”

  Despite seeing truckers hopped up on every kind of drug imaginable over the course of my career, I’d never been into them myself, so I didn’t honestly know what I was looking at. However, the flat rectangular bag of white powder looked exactly as it did on TV.

  “That kilo is worth twenty-five grand. As I said, one or both of you can take it for yourself and sell it or use it. I don’t care, as long as you let me go right now.”

  “Looks like you skimmed a bit,” I said, pointing out a small hole near one end.

  Trevor looked away.

  “Sampling the stolen goods. I get it.” I watched as Luke set it on the bed next to the stolen rifle, careful not to let any spill out of the hole on top.

  “Do we have a deal?” Trevor pushed.

  “It is a lot of money.” I pretended to consider it. “We’ve got a nice drug runner-style AK-47 with gold trim, and a bag of blow. What do you think, Luke? Shall we arm wrestle for who gets rich?”

  “My wife would not approve, either way,” Luke laughed.

  “Is this everything you took?” I asked Trevor motioning to the two items. “If we get up to the roadblock, and they say there’s more, I’m not going to be in as good of a mood.”

  “I swear it is. This and the pistol I threw at you. The one Pike had was my dad’s. He had it hidden in the attic.”

  “So, you didn’t come clean when you had the chance. I told you what would happen if I caught you with another gun.”

  I picked up the gold-plated AK-47.

  “Get moving,” I commanded.

  Luke grabbed the bag of powder, but when he came near me, he noticed something on my head. “Frank, you okay?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve got an angry welt behind your ear.” He pointed. “It wasn’t there before.”

  “I’m fine,” I replied as I caught on. “Genius here threw his gun at me. It was my luck to dodge all the bullets, but still get hit with the gun itself.”

  “Doesn’t look too bad,” Luke assured me.

  “Trevor, a friendly word of advice,” I said as Luke stood close. “When you run out of ammo, don’t let your enemy know about it. I would have never come up those stairs if you wouldn’t have tossed your empty gun.”

  “I’ll remember that,” he replied in a hangdog way.

  It was an act. Instead of being beat down, he made a sudden, athletic leap over the entire bed, as if doing parkour. Luke and I were bunched up closer to the foot of the bed, so I wasn’t able to grab him in the air.

  “Stop!” I yelled as I lunged for the door, the only place he could go.

  He stuck his landing perfectly and was a few paces from the exit, but he’d misjudged his ability to surprise me, so he didn’t get much of a headstart. He and I reached the doorway at the same moment, and I used my rifle as a battering ram to drive him against the far side before he could get all the way through.

  Trevor collapsed into the hallway.

  I rushed next to him, with Luke a few steps back.

  The young man broke into tears.

  “Just let me go!” he moaned.

  “Not a chance,” I said without emotion.

  “Why?” he sniffled.

  “Because you made this personal, jagoff. I’m a nice guy, but you’ve spit in my face every time I’ve held out the hand of friendship. Eventually, even nice guys have to take out the trash. You are definitely the bad news of this cul-de-sac. It’s high time I throw you out.”

  “You’ve ruined everything,” he cried.

  “Get up, Trevor. You’ve got a hot date waiting up at the roadblock. I hope they treat you as shittily as you did to us.”

  He stood up but acted like he was moving at half-speed.

  Not that I blamed him.

  He was about to see the new law in town.

  We all were.

  CHAPTER 16

  Walking out Trevor’s front door with our prisoners, my body finally let go of all its adrenaline. I shivered from a chill, despite it probably being eighty degrees. My free hand shook a bit, as if those muscles excitedly danced off the tension from the near-death encounter. However, even as I recognized the shock, I tried to act calm, to minimize the same effects on Luke.

  “Thanks for your help in there,” I said to my friend. “That was some scary shit, wasn’t it?”

  “Nah, I just followed your lead, Frank. I knew we’d be fine.”

  A voice crack betrayed his commendable attempt at bravado, but I wasn’t going to dwell on it. The truth was, I had no idea what it was supposed to feel like after a person’s first gunfight. Maybe it was a little like an almost-fatal car crash, of which I had been in a few. Right after surviving the experience, I would relive it over and over in my head, wondering if it would ever go away. At the same time, I didn’t care what my brain did with the memories, as long as I wasn’t dead.

  “Wait up,” I said to Trevor.

  Pike needed to sling his arm over Trevor’s shoulders, since his leg injury made it difficult to walk. I knew almost nothing about gunshot wounds, but I assumed being able to travel upright meant his prognosis was good. The pair stopped in the front yard under the palm tree.

  I waved Carmen over to us. “See? Piece of cake.”

  “Oh, thank God. I prayed you wouldn’t be hurt.” She let go of a million-dollar smile but then looked over to Luke and shed a little of the value. “I prayed for you both.”

  “Are we okay to come out?” Ben peeked out from behind a wall in my garage.

  “Yeah!” I replied.

  In seconds, all the teens came out of hiding from inside my spacious garage.

  “Good job getting the orcs!” Tyler shouted with glee.

  I gave him a thumbs-up, not sure exactly what piece of pop culture he was referring to. While I watched as he and the others celebrated our victory, I only concentrated on the blockade. It was entirely possible the real risk to our lives was still ahead, so I had to plan the safest course of action.

  “Luke, I need you to go to my house, gather everyone together, and be ready to run if there’s trouble at the roadblock.”

  “Seriously? Shouldn’t I go with you to present a show of force over there?”

  “I’ll go with you, Frank,” Carmen interjected. “You said I’m your PR person, and I’m definitely a people person, so I can be useful talking to strangers.”

  “I know you’re both trying to help me again, but this is different. Please go back and protect the others. Grab your weapons and keep an eye on what happens to me. I bet you’ll know when it’s time to head for the hills.” It was an expression I’d used back in the Midwest, but it didn’t work as well in
Florida, since there were no hills to run to.

  “Then we should come to your rescue?” Luke laughed.

  “Would you?” I mused.

  “Of course,” he replied with confidence. “After what you’ve done for us, we’d do whatever was necessary to help you.”

  Carmen nodded along.

  I’d placed the roadblock by the new construction because there were two empty lots between it and the houses on our cul-de-sac. If someone attacked the blockade from outside and wanted to get to the families, they’d have to cross a huge open field. On the flip side, if my neighbors wanted to attack the roadblock from the other way, they’d have the same problem. “Don’t head toward the trouble. If something goes wrong, you need to get the kids out of the area as fast as possible. Go into the woods and stay hidden until the threat is gone. It’s really that simple.”

  “You want us to run away?” Luke said in a subdued voice.

  “Until electrical power and the law comes back to town, we’re on our own. Since we have young people depending on us, we have to be aware of their needs. Keeping them alive is our primary concern, right?”

  “Of course,” he replied.

  “So, I need you two to keep them alive. Be ready to run if you see me in trouble. Don’t waste a second risking your lives for me.” I figured I’d never need to use my boss voice in retirement, but I’d spent a lot of the past day joking around with my friends. Now, I wanted to properly convey the seriousness of our situation, so I broke it out. “Is that understood?”

  “Yes,” Carmen grumbled.

  “I get it, too,” Luke added. “Just so we’re clear, it doesn’t feel right letting you go off alone, but I really appreciate how you’ve been risking your life for my kids. I promise I’ll get them out of Dodge if it comes to it.”

  “And I’ll make sure Penny and Daisy stay safe,” Carmen added.

  Luke and I shook hands in a meaningful way. In the short time we’d been cooperating, I’d come to depend on him, and I knew what he was going through. If our roles were reversed, I would find it hard to abandon him, too, but family always had to come first.

  Carmen gave me a hug, but she added a quick peck on my cheek before separating. “Be careful, Frank. I want you back in one piece.”

  “See you guys,” I said in a neutral tone.

  I’d never been so aware of the rule of law. When it was missing, even for a mere twenty-four hours, life itself seemed more precious. Every decision carried weight behind it. A good one could keep people alive. A bad one could get people killed. There would be no jury to decide whether I’d done right or wrong…

  It pleased me Trevor and I were on opposite sides of that coin. Whereas I’d been able to weave my way through a day’s worth of big decisions with the right choices, he’d selected the wrong path at every opportunity.

  “Alright, you two, let’s start walking.”

  Before we’d left the house, I’d instructed Trevor to retrieve anything else he’d taken from the guys who accused him. I assumed the huge bag of cocaine was the main attraction, and the fancy AK and pistol had some value, but I always assumed he had more hidden from me. Even with all the threats, however, he assured me there was nothing else, but it really didn’t matter since we’d have all the time in the world to comb through his house once he was gone.

  “Do you want to say goodbye to anyone else?” Trevor sneered.

  “Shut up,” Pike said under his breath.

  “What more can he do?” The asshole snapped back, almost at a shout. “He’s already going to get us killed!”

  “Whoa,” I said. “No one is getting anyone killed. We’re just going to return the lost goods, okay?”

  Trevor laughed as if someone had told the joke of the year. “Give me a gun so I can make sure they don’t do anything more!”

  “Shut the hell up!” Pike ordered. “You just don’t get it, do you?”

  “Get what?” Trevor replied, surprised his friend had turned on him.

  “These guys pulled me to safety when you were shooting in my direction. They came into your house instead of letting Zen’s crew come in. He’s giving us a chance to make our case with Zen. Can’t you see that?”

  “Pfft.” Trevor sniffled. “No.”

  All at once, it struck me how Trevor kept flying higher in the clouds. When his friends ran out earlier, they’d confirmed he was already high, but now he’d gotten a lot worse. He must have been partaking not long before we shouted up to his window. It explained his reckless bravado shooting at us.

  Pike glanced over his shoulder to me. “He doesn’t get it, but I do. I’m sorry I shot at you.”

  “I appreciate that,” I said. The gesture put Pike one rung above his buddy, though it wasn’t saying a whole lot. Pike was at the first rung. Trevor wasn’t even on the ladder, yet.

  We made it about twenty feet before Trevor stopped.

  “Dude, can we try one more time to make a deal? You seem like a smart guy.”

  “A deal?” I replied. “I’ve been trying to make a deal with you since the moment we met. I thought you hated me?” I knew he did.

  He wiped sweat from his forehead.

  “Nah, I was just mad. It’s like my dad always says, this is business now. You and I can do a mutually beneficial deal to sort this out. We don’t need to involve those guys up the street.”

  “What can you possibly offer me that you haven’t already?” I said, interested in what he’d try to use as leverage.

  “Don’t look over there,” Trevor replied as he nudged his head toward the house next to his. “We broke in there last night because we knew they weren’t at home. They’re never home, in fact. However, there’s a shit ton of valuables inside. TVs. Computers. Those expensive coffee makers. We didn’t lift anything, but you guys can take whatever you want, and no one will be the wiser.”

  I took a step back, amazed at the ballsy effort. The guy was literally rich beyond the reach of almost every person on earth, but still he’d managed to break into all the empty houses on our street to take what he wanted. If he was poor, or seemed down on his luck, maybe I could at least understand why he’d done it. As it was, his effort only made me appreciate that he really was a galactic-sized asshole well worth the danger and effort to kick off our street.

  “You’d really share your spoils with me?” I fought hard to sound interested.

  “Yeah, bud, we can be in this together, right? Just like you always spout off… I mean, like you always say.”

  The drugs made him think he was smarter than he really was. That was evident in every word he uttered.

  I rubbed my chin for a few seconds, making him think I was considering the offer, but then I gave it up and laughed out loud.

  “Keep walking,” I insisted.

  “Dammit!” he whined as he took a few small steps. “Why won’t you take my deal? Hell, you want us gone? We’ll go right now. My dad has a house in the Keys. You let us sneak away, and I promise we’ll go straight there and never bother you again. You can even have whatever’s inside this house. How’s that for a deal? It’s literally everything I own!”

  “Wow, you’re offering me a house with broken windows, gunshot holes in the walls, and beds that probably have more mileage than my old Peterbilt. Doesn’t sound like much of a temptation, to be honest.”

  “Just take it, dude,” he hissed through his teeth.

  “He’s not going to help us,” Pike said to his walking partner, “so just take your punishment like a man.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Mr. Pike. Believe it or not, I’m helping you by ending your crime spree. If you would have kept up the robberies with your friend, I guarantee you would have been shot dead within a week. I almost shot you on night one. How do you think people will react once they’ve had a few more days of this?”

  “I—” Pike started to say.

  “Forget all that for now,” Trevor interrupted. “If you let me stay, you can call the cops. I’ll gladly go s
it in a jail cell, alright? All you have to do is let me and him remain in my house until the police can get out here. Confine me, so it’s just like a jail.”

  Even if I wanted to take him up on the offer, there was no practical way to seal him inside the giant mansion. I’d have to nail up all the windows and doors, and probably post a guard or two on his property to keep him honest. Then, we’d be stuck feeding and taking care of him. Tending to criminals was a classic scenario from many of the books I’d read, and there was no clear consensus on what to do with them. Was a firing squad the appropriate punishment for a robbery? If not, where was the line to be drawn? How much could a person like Trevor get away with before he needed to be put down like a rabid dog?

  Fortunately, the universe had presented me with a gift. My issues with the kid were mostly second-hand, since he’d robbed houses belonging to my neighbors instead of mine. However, it was personal for the men at the roadblock. Trevor had directly wronged them, which gave them priority on getting justice. I was going to generously offer them to take the two troublemakers away from Clownfish Cove for me. Whatever happened to the kids from there, it would come out of Zen’s criminal code of honor.

  That’s probably why Trevor was willing to wager his entire net worth to avoid it.

  “Sorry, but you already made yourself square with me and your other neighbors. You returned their stolen property, right?”

  “Yeah,” he said with pained sadness.

  “I could probably jail you for attempted murder, which is what you did when you shot at me, but—”

  “Yes! I tried to murder you. Put me under house arrest. I’ll face that charge!”

  Trevor’s stride had become more of a sideways shuffle. He faced me whenever possible so I would listen to his pitches. However, even I had to stop when he agreed to accept a more serious charge.

  “What’s wrong with you, kid? Where did you grow up that you have such a warped sense of manipulating people? Did you always get your way when you were little?”

  “No,” he replied in an unconvincing way.

  The laws of the apocalypse probably allowed me to off Trevor after he’d tried to do the same to me, but the morning’s events were a reminder just how fragile society truly was. I’d failed at waiting to shoot my gun for longer than one day, but I hadn’t gone all the way to the big one, which was killing a person. I had an opportunity to get the unstable young man out of my hair without resorting to manslaughter, and there was no reason to pass on it.