The Time of the Stripes

by Amanda Bridgeman

  “So,” Peter argued, “you never accused Randell for taking her in! So why us now?”

  “Dad!” Josh warned, eyes wide.

  “That was before we found out the Clean Skins lied to us,” Magnus replied in his rough voice. “Back then, she was just trash who had a striped kid. Things are different now.”

  “So?” Peter asked.

  “So, that Randell bitch will get hers!” Austin spat.

  Richard tensed. He exchanged another look with Dr. Pellan, then took hold of Abbie’s arm again. “I think we should go,” he whispered. “Now.”

  Abbie looked at him, perplexed. “We can’t leave them!”

  “So what do we do?” Magnus called to the crowd, raising a heavy arm as far as he could. “What should we do with the Clean Skin and these traitors?”

  The crowd started yelling all manner of things. Richard noted, however, that some people looked frightened about what was happening, their eyes darting around, as though they wanted to walk away, but were too scared. They knew, Richard thought. They knew things had gone too far.

  Magnus held his hand up to his ear. “Do we set them free? Or do we punish them?”

  Roy’s pacing stepped up a notch and he ran his hand back and forth over his closely-shaved skull, his face twitching occasionally. Austin moved agitatedly, shaking his legs and flexing his hands, his glare still fixed on Josh.

  “Goddamn it, Austin!” Josh pleaded. “Don’t do this!”

  “You’re a fucking traitor!” Austin accused. “You lied to my face! You said you were with us!”

  “She’s my mother!”

  “You fucking lied to us this whole time!” Austin shouted back.

  Wendy wiped an angry tear from her cheek, smudging black mascara, then lunged forward and kicked Josh in the side, making him curl in pain. “You piece of shit!”

  “We can use the Clean Skin as more leverage,” Magnus thought aloud, studying Karen.

  “Yeah! Leverage!” someone yelled.

  “No, you should punish them!” Trent shouted.

  Roy suddenly stopped and pulled out his pistol and held it to Karen’s forehead.

  “Roy, no!” Peter lurched toward him, arms raised in a peaceful gesture. “Please, Roy! You know me. We went to school together, for God’s sake!”

  Roy stared at Peter, mind ticking over. “Betrayal has a price, Pete.”

  “Don’t, Roy!” Peter pleaded. “Please, I’m begging you.”

  “We have to do something,” Abbie whispered to Richard.

  Richard’s hand pressed her arm. “If they’re going to kill them, they’ll kill you too!”

  “What, Pete?” Roy asked. “What will you offer us in trade not to kill your wife?”

  “I’ll trade anything you want, Roy! Anything!”

  “Anything?”

  “Yes! Don’t hurt them, please,” Peter begged, turning to Karen and Josh. “They’re my family, I love them.”

  “Yeah?” Roy asked. “How much do you love them?”

  Austin barged forward, shouldering Roy out of the way. “Enough talk! No trade! Just do it!” he yelled, then held up his pistol and fired.

  Peter Chalmer’s head flew back, and his body followed.

  “NO!” Josh screamed, jumping to his feet and tackling Austin to the ground.

  “Austin!” Magnus barked, eyes wide with shock.

  “Jesus!” Roy panicked, stepping back, eyeing Peter’s dead body.

  Karen threw herself on Peter, wailing in despair.

  “Oh my God!” Abbie suddenly lurched through the crowd, tearing away from Richard’s grip, but he went after her. He caught her and threw his arms around her to stop her. “Abbie, no!”

  Some of those in the crowd turned around and looked at them, wondering what was going on. Richard held her tightly, dragging her back, “Abbie, please!”

  Up ahead Roy was watching Josh and Austin scuffling on the ground, as was most of the crowd. Richard saw Roy look around at Magnus for his next move. They were panicky. They hadn’t planned on that happening—Austin shooting Peter. Karen screamed and wailed, and turned her attention to Josh, moving toward him. but Roy quickly stopped her. Magnus motioned for Roy to take her inside with the other hostages. He tried to, but Karen fought, sinking her teeth into his hand. Roy cried out in pain, pushed her back, and she lunged at him, hands clasping around his throat, but he raised his gun and fired. Richard watched helplessly as Karen, shot through the chest, fell to the floor in a heap. They heard Josh screaming as Austin stood and started laying into him with kick after kick. Trent and Langdon began to join in. And that was the moment Richard knew all hope was lost.

  “JOSH!” Abbie screamed.

  Richard heaved and swung Abbie around and began to drag her away.

  “Hey!” someone yelled, noticing him forcibly removing her. “What’re you doing?”

  Richard ignored the voice and kept moving, as Abbie cried and looked over her shoulder. “We can’t leave him!”

  Dr. Pellan quickly followed them.

  “Hey!” someone else yelled and grasped Dr. Pellan’s scarf. His neck yanked back with the movement and he spun around as it was pulled from his throat.

  Richard yelled in pain when someone hit him hard in the back. He let Abbie go and turned around.

  “Hey! Hey! It’s Pellan’s Theory!” a woman shouted, pointing at Dr. Pellan.

  “Shit!” Richard muttered as a man walked up to Pellan, knocked off his hat and grabbed his face. In the scuffle with the scarf, the makeup stripe had smeared across his cheek.

  Dr. Pellan pushed the man away and stepped back, but the man simply stepped forward.

  “You’re Pellan!” the man pointed. “You’re the Clean Skin who was working for those lying assholes!”

  “No, I brought you the truth!” Pellan said, stepping backward.

  “Leave him alone!” Abbie threw herself in front of him, holding her hands out against his attacker.

  “You’re that Randell bitch!” The man pointed viciously as an angry crease furrowed his brow.

  “And he’s that reporter!” the woman accused, pointing to Richard.

  “What are you doing here?” the angry man asked, then looked at Abbie. “You harboring them, too? You selling us out?”

  Richard, Pellan and Abbie walked backward, keeping an eye on the four or five people moving toward them. Just then they heard another shot ring out. Everyone turned to see Austin standing, still holding his gun, and Josh, unmoving, on the ground.

  Richard quickly grabbed Abbie’s arm and caught Pellan’s eye, and while the crowd was distracted, they ran for their lives.

  *

  Lysart looked over his shoulder as he ran away from the warehouse area with Richard and Abbie. The group harassing them hadn’t noticed their departure yet, their attention fixed on Austin and the commotion caused by the gunshot. Lysart and his companions disappeared around the corner of the hardware store, out of view of the maddened crowd. All three ran toward the interzone gate.

  “Please!” Lysart called out to the bio-guards manning it, wiping his chin. “Please, let us in! I’m a Clean Skin!”

  The chief stepped forward, eyeing him cautiously. “What the hell’s going on back there?” he asked. “We heard gunfire.”

  “Hey!” they heard a shout and turned to see a group spilling out from behind the warehouse.

  Lysart eyed the mob reforming, then looked back at the soldiers. “Please! They just killed three people!”

  “What?” the chief’s face fell.

  They heard more shouts and looked back to see the armed mob jogging toward them.

  “Teargas!” the chief yelled to the soldiers, pulling on a mask. “We’re going in!”

  Lysart saw the gate open and a mass of armed soldiers head toward him, shooting teargas. He spun around to see the mob approaching from the other way.

  “Dr. Pellan!” Abbie yelled, waving at Lysart
to follow her and Richard as they turned and ran back toward her house. He followed them, wanting desperately to get out of the way of the two groups about to clash.

  He ran as fast as he could, catching up to them. “If they come for us they’ll go to your house, Abbie!”

  “We’ll go to Josh’s!” Abbie panted, darting a glance at the clashing mob behind her.

  As they neared the Chalmer house, she ran straight to the pot plant, retrieved the key she saw Josh hide the night before and unlocked the door. They rushed in, slammed the door shut and locked it again.

  “Stay down!” Richard hissed, and the three of them dropped to the ground. They held still for a moment, panting, before Abbie peered out the window.

  “They’re coming!” she said, spinning around and moving to the middle of the kitchen. She threw aside the rug that lay on the floor. Lysart saw a hatch, which Abbie quickly lifted. “This is where they hid Karen!” she told them.

  They heard a smash across the street, and Abbie moved back to the window. Lysart followed and saw some of the mob who had made it through the teargas and soldiers, smashing windows and kicking down her door. Abbie covered her mouth in terror.

  Lysart eased her back from the windows.

  “What are they doing?” she cried, tears rolling down her face. “They killed them! They killed the Chalmers, and now they’re going to kill us!”

  Lysart pulled her into a hug. He wanted to tell her it was going to be alright, but he honestly wasn’t sure it would be. He released Abbie and moved to the window to peer out again. He spied Austin among the small mob at Abbie’s house. He stood on the porch scanning the surroundings, then suddenly looked across the street at Josh’s house. Lysart threw himself back from the window, shepherding Abbie and Richard behind him.

  “What?” Richard asked. “What is it?”

  “Austin,” he whispered in dread, “I think he saw me.”

  *

  Abbie, huddled on the floor with Richard and Dr. Pellan, held her breath. They heard someone rattle the knob on the front door, and her body tensed in fear at the sound. She looked at Richard and motioned to the opened hatch. She saw his green eyes study the opening, then look over at Dr. Pellan and motion for him to go first. Dr. Pellan shook his head.

  “You two go,” he whispered. “I’ll cover it up.”

  Abbie and Richard shook their heads. The doorknob rattled again, more violently this time.

  “Go!” Dr. Pellan hissed.

  Richard motioned for Abbie to move, and just as she did, the front door burst open with a loud, frightening bang. Abbie’s eyes widened in terror as Austin, Langdon and Trent tumbled through. She quickly scuttled to the opened hatch, but she knew it was too late. She heard thudding footsteps crossing the room, and as Richard and Dr. Pellan moved to counter the invaders, she heard the sickening sound of bodies connecting.

  She spun around to see Dr. Pellan wrestling with Langdon, and Austin fighting with Richard. She didn’t take either Pellan or Richard for a fighter, but didn’t have time to worry about that. Trent was rushing at her. She ducked beneath his swooping arms, throwing the hatch shut, not wanting Richard or Pellan to fall down the gaping hole as they fought. She lunged for the kitchen counter, to a wooden block loaded with knives. She grabbed hold of the largest one, as Trent latched onto her hair and pulled her back. She yelled in pain and swiped the knife around at him, but Trent jumped back, avoiding it. She automatically ducked at hearing a gunshot, and the cupboard beside her head spat splinters of wood. She looked up to see Austin with his gun out, and Richard trying to wrestle it from his hands.

  Trent lunged at her again, but she held the knife firm, viciously swinging it as he got close. She knew she was done for if he managed to disarm her. She had to hold onto the knife for dear life. Trent knew it too, and he began grabbing things off the counter—plates, cutlery, chopping boards—and throwing them at her and the knife. She cringed and cowered, as things hit her hard, darting her eyes to the others. Austin was throwing vicious punches at Richard’s face, which were connecting with such ferocity that his blood splattered on the wall.

  “No,” she screamed, swiping the knife at Trent again, “leave us alone!”

  She heard another gunshot, then heard Dr. Pellan moan. Langdon stood back from the doctor who cradled his stomach, blood pooling out and covering his hands.

  “No!” she screamed again as Trent caught her off guard and hit her hard across the face. She smacked into the counter on the way down to the floor and the knife spilled from her hands.

  “Bitch!” Trent spat, kicking her knife away.

  Austin yelled out in pain then, and Abbie glanced over to see that Richard had plunged a pocketknife into Austin’s shoulder and knocked the gun from his hand. But Trent rushed at Richard.

  Abbie blinked to clear her vision, resting her eyes on the kitchen knife on the floor. She looked back to see Langdon punching a wounded, bleeding Pellan, then saw Austin and Trent, who had now overpowered Richard, kicking him as he tried to crawl away.

  Shaking with the horror of what had happened to the Chalmer family, and what was happening to the three of them now, Abbie somehow scrambled to her feet and grabbed the knife. She wasn’t quite sure how she was moving; it didn’t feel real, it felt like something deep inside had taken over and was moving for her. A sound came from her mouth. It was loud. A scream. A roar.

  “Hey!” Austin yelled in panic, realizing she was off the floor. Trent, however, didn’t have time. His back was to her as he kicked Richard, and it was that back that Abbie plunged the knife into, still screaming wildly as she did.

  Austin charged her, but not before she managed to plunge that knife another two times. Trent collapsed into Langdon, clasping his back, as Austin grabbed her. She felt a pain at her wrist as he made her drop the knife, then she saw his angry dark eyes as he raised his fist and landed a crunching blow to her face.

  She hit the floor again, saw feet at her face, but couldn’t move. She blinked heavily, all sound seemed distorted. Her nose was probably broken and she tasted blood in her mouth. She looked up and saw Austin reaching for the kitchen knife. Black spots filled her vision and she wanted to cry for help, but couldn’t seem to find the air to do it. She tried desperately to breathe in, then suddenly realized why she couldn’t.

  She was having an asthma attack.

  And her Ventolin was back across the street in her house.

  She gasped loudly, wheezing with all her might, trying to suck air into her closed-down lungs, as the black spots became more prevalent.

  “He’s dead!” She picked out Langdon’s garbled voice as he knelt over Trent.

  Austin turned back to her, a look of pure hate upon his face. He moved to her, holding up the bloodied kitchen knife.

  Everything felt as if it were in slow motion then. Breathless, she looked over at Richard and tried to reach for him, but his back was turned to her. His body was limp, motionless. She didn’t know if he was just unconscious or whether he was dead already. Caught in her airless vacuum, her eyes moved to Dr. Pellan, his entire stomach red with blood, but still he moved. He was reaching for something, grabbed it, then raised his arm. Austin’s gun, which had spilled across the floor in the tussle with Richard, was in his hands.

  She heard a loud noise. Through the black spots clouding her vision, she saw Austin’s throat burst open. Shot from behind, his wide-eyed body collapsed and fell onto her with a thud. He was choking and gurgling, his weight adding to the pressure in her airless lungs. Another two shots fired. Abbie saw Pellan’s body bounce and Langdon’s head fling back. They’d fired at each other. Langdon’s body fell onto the floor.

  Abbie looked back at Austin lying across her. His eyes were open, but she saw no life within them any more; his blood poured over her. She didn’t have the strength to move him. She couldn’t even move herself. She saw Pellan’s limp body slide down to the floor, lying in his own pool of blood on the other side of the
kitchen, his eyes blinking heavily at hers. Then she eyed Richard lying there so still between them.

  She didn’t know how long she hadn’t breathed for, but she knew her face was blue. After everything that had happened, after all the violence she’d seen, even though she lay here now covered in Austin’s blood, this was how she was going to die. This asthma, which had always been a controlled threat, would now be the thing to kill her.

  And Dr. Pellan’s bloodied body, and Richard’s battered body, would be the last things she would ever see.

  *

  Stanley Barrick burst into the operations room.

  “Report!” he yelled.

  “It’s happening again!” Wattowski called. “I don’t know how. As soon as the alarms went off it was there! It was that fast!”

  “Get me vision,” Stanley barked. “Get me status! What the hell is it doing!”

  “On it, sir!” Gavin yelled.

  “My units are on the move,” Colonel Levin reported, listening to something through a comms channel in his ear. “They got no weapons, they got no juice! Systems are down! The ship’s blocking us again.”

  “It’s just hovering, like before,” Wattowski called.

  “Where?” Stanley barked.

  “Victoryville.”

  *

  Abbie opened her eyes slowly. It took her a moment to realize where she was. Still lying on the kitchen floor, Austin’s body still weighing her down.

  But something felt different.

  She looked around at the carnage, the bodies strewn across the kitchen floor, could hear that familiar mechanical buzzing noise. Had that been there before? During the attack? It was loud. Louder than before. Where was it coming from? She could hear the sound of wind rushing wildly outside.

  Suddenly Richard moved, groaned.

  He’s still alive!

  Her eyes widened with hope as she stared at him. Richard rolled onto his back and raised a hand to his face, feeling along his bones and stared at the blood smeared across his fingers. Abbie’s brow crinkled. From what she could see, his face looked uninjured, just bloodied. There was no swelling, no bruising. It was odd.

  Then suddenly she gasped.