by Hunt, Jack
“Morning. Sorry to bother you. The name’s Corey. I’m working with the local police to check on the well-being of those with homes in the area. Wanted to know if you have seen or heard anything unusual in the last twenty-four hours?”
“Unusual. Like a power outage?” Gabriel chuckled.
Corey smiled. “Well that of course but I’m referring to a group of individuals.”
Gabriel frowned. “Who are you?”
“Sorry. We’re volunteers with search and rescue. We had a plane go down in the lake last night. We were wondering if you might have seen anything, or anyone.”
“Oh that, did anyone survive?” Gabriel asked.
“Well that’s what we’re trying to establish.” Corey looked past him. “You home alone?”
“Yeah. Just me. The wife is at her mother’s. I’ve been trying to get hold of them but haven’t had much luck. You know when the power is coming up?”
“Have you tried the landline?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t working.”
“Strange. As it usually works for at least a few days after a power outage unless there has been a flood. The power is supplied by backup generators. It’s actually the one thing that tends to work for a while. You mind if I check?”
“Um. Sure. Come on in.” He opened the door and was about to head in when someone called out to him. “Hey Corey. You want to come and check this out?”
The guy had one foot in the door when he looked over his shoulder.
“I can check,” the other guy said. “You go.”
“You sure, Noah?”
“Yeah, seems fine.”
Corey looked at Gabriel again, made a face and nodded.
“All right.”
He jogged up the driveway while Gabriel welcomed Noah in. “Sorry, I didn’t get your name?”
“Noah Peterson.”
Gabriel shook his hand before closing the door behind him.
“Nice place you got here.”
“Yeah. Was gifted to us by a close family member,” he said, watching as Noah walked around and observed.
“So, where’s the phone?”
“Oh, it’s over here.”
As he led him across the room, he suddenly remembered what Hauser had said about yanking out the cord from the wall. Thinking fast, he slapped a hand against his head. “Damn. I forgot. We’re in the middle of upgrading. Yeah, getting a whole new system. Satellite phones because reception is crap out here.”
“But it’s a landline.”
“Yeah but we get our landline through the internet. So, when the internet goes down so does the phone.” He groaned. “Sorry. Completely slipped my mind.”
Noah looked at him skeptically, his eyes darting to the phone. He saw the exposed wires. “You do that?”
“Oh that. No. We had the guy in a couple of days ago but he got called away at the last minute.” Noah pursed his lips, narrowed his eyes and nodded. Gabriel leaned against the counter, and his eyes fell upon a magnetic wall bar that was used to hold large kitchen knives.
“Well, I guess I will let you get on with it,” Noah said turning his back and heading towards the door. Gabriel grabbed one of the knives off the bar and put it behind his back so it was out of sight. He followed Noah to the door as he opened it.
“I hope you find them.”
“Yeah,” Noah said looking one final time around.
Right then, just as he was about to go out the door, a noise came from the back of the house. It sounded like something had dropped on the ground. Noah let go of the handle and frowned.
“I thought you said you were alone?”
“I am. It’s probably boxes I stacked up. Too many.”
“Right. And, uh, what was your name again?”
“Gabriel.”
“Gabriel…” he fished for more.
Instead of saying Johnson, he glanced at a stack of mail on the counter and used the last name of the family who lived there. “Rickman. Gabriel Rickman.”
Noah extended a hand. “Well, Gabriel. Have a good one.”
Again the noise came, this time it was louder followed by a muffled cry.
Gabriel acted fast before Noah could say a word. His hand came around with the blade in one smooth motion and jammed it into his gut. He used his other hand which was shaking Noah’s hand to pull him in close. Noah let out a gasp, and Gabriel twisted the knife and pushed it in even deeper. “That’s it. Just relax,” he said guiding him down to the floor. Then he called out to Marcus. “Marcus. Get out here now.”
The door across from them opened and he emerged.
“We need to leave immediately.”
22
The journey out of the city to Midway, Utah, wasn’t easy. They stayed on Highway 91 traveling northeast, parallel to I-15. For many hours all that separated them from the clogged interstate was a wide, flat dirt median covered with green desert shrubs. Though contrary to Nate’s advice, others had the same idea and so they spent a great deal of time swerving around vehicles. Tyler kept a close eye on the gas gauge. They had a five-gallon drum of gas in the back, enough to keep them going for a while. The only upside to being out of the city was there was less chance of someone hijacking the Jeep.
“This road just seems to go on forever,” Erika said. An hour ago, she and Nate had swapped seats as Nate wanted to get some shut-eye. He curled up in the back under a blanket.
“Why didn’t you tell me about killing that guy?”
She glanced at Tyler. “For probably the same reason you didn’t tell us. It’s not exactly our finest moment, is it?” She breathed in deeply. “Can we just avoid the subject?”
He shrugged. “Sure.” They drove for another ten minutes in silence, the wind whipping around them. Tyler had given a lot of thought to what Erika might do if she found her parents dead. There was a strong possibility that a home invasion had happened.
“About your parents. If…” he trailed off rethinking talking about it.
“If they’re dead?” she asked. Her response caught him off guard. “I’ve thought about it. I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Look, if they are, you know you are more than welcome to return to Whitefish with me.”
Her eyebrow went up. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
He caught an edge to her tone. Tyler considered calling her out on it but understood that she wasn’t in a good place mentally. How could you be after hearing your mother scream on a phone, getting no response from repeated calls and by day two of the blackout killing someone? Strangely he didn’t need to say anything as she must have picked up on her own attitude. “I mean. I appreciate that offer. Maybe I’ll take you up on it. So, what brought you to Vegas?” she asked.
“Wow. If I wasn’t mistaken, Erika Lyons, you almost sounded interested in me.”
She gave him a nudge and smiled. “No seriously. Montana is beautiful.”
“You been there?”
“Twice.” She ran a hand through her hair. “We have several hotels in the state.”
He nodded. “Of course you do.” He bit down on the corner of his lip and thought back to the last day he left Whitefish. “I…”
“You had problems with your father?”
He turned his head and frowned. “How did you…?”
“I overheard you talking with your uncle. I didn’t want to intrude.”
He nodded and gripped the wheel a little tighter giving it a bit more gas. “Yeah, we had a bit of a falling out. It was a long time ago. I left when I was eighteen. I headed to Vegas to go to college.”
“Why Vegas?”
“My uncle was already there and I think that kind of helped convince my father.”
“But you were old enough to make your own decisions.”
“As were you,” he said. “And look where you ended up.”
She nodded, and a faint smile appeared. “Point taken.”
“Unless of course you had an interest in hotel hospitality?”
; She stuck her tongue out and pushed a finger into her mouth and made a gagging noise. “I did what made them happy. I figured if I took on some responsibility and they saw how bad I was at it, that they would be more than happy to pay for what I really wanted to do.”
“Which was?”
“You’re gonna laugh.”
He smiled. “No. Go ahead. Can’t be much worse than being a tour guide.”
“Hey, don’t knock it, it piqued my interest.”
“Ah, so it wasn’t all bad,” he said.
“The date yeah, your profile no.”
He laughed.
Their smiles soon faded as they took in the sight of more stalled vehicles — cars, trucks, 18-wheelers and delivery vans dotted the highway. There were many families trying to hitchhike on the side of the road, carrying luggage in the hopes of reaching the city. Some of the RV owners were still there. Someone had used clothing spread out on the ground to form the word HELP just in case the government sent in rescue helicopters. Others stuck a thumb out expecting Tyler to stop but he zipped past them without even slowing. Erika looked in her side mirror. “That’s gotta suck.”
“Yeah, being stranded in the middle of nowhere. I don’t envy them but that might be us by the time the day’s out.”
They passed a few older vehicles still in operation — Tyler figured they were heading back to the city — probably expecting it to be better, not worse. His thoughts switched to his father. He hadn’t thought about what he would say to him when he returned. For the longest of time he’d kept his distance, and the few times he’d seen his brother Corey, he’d steered the conversation away from their old man.
After being on the road for several hours they agreed they would stop, so they all could all take a piss and stretch their legs. There was only three hours left to go before they hit Midway so when they saw the rest stop near Quail Creek State Park and saw how few vehicles were in the vicinity, Tyler pulled off the main stretch of road that cut through the red rock mountains. He weaved the Jeep down to what appeared to be a quiet lake and parked just a stone’s throw away from public toilets. According to a sign nearby it wasn’t a lake but a manmade reservoir that diverted water from the Virgin River and transported it using buried pipeline. Tyler got out and stretched, looking around for any sign of trouble. On any other given day it might have been busy with campers, boats and anglers but it was absent of all three. There were only a few buildings nearby; one was for a service that rented canoes and kayaks, the other one was a restroom. Close to that was a large pavilion with BBQ amenities, coin-operated showers and a concessionary shop. Much further down near a steep grassy hill was a campsite, where there were six RVs. Smoke was coming from one of the BBQ areas.
“Okay, don’t take long,” Tyler said, holding his rifle nearby and keeping a close eye on the campsite. He sat on the front of the Jeep and brought a pair of binoculars up to see if anyone was near the concession area. On the outside it didn’t look as if anyone had broken in but the doors were locked. Was it possible that those who were camping had opted to take time out from civilization and unplug completely? If so, would they have even been aware of the situation? No, the main road was just up from them. He figured they would have seen vehicles stall or a lack of vehicles on the road.
Nate came out doing his zipper up. “Ah man, it’s surprisingly clean in there.” Tyler directed his vision towards the campsite. “Any trouble?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
Tyler headed into the bathroom. He entered one of the stalls and tried flushing the toilet. It was no longer working. Some would see that as a problem but a simple bucket of water flushed down it would do the trick. He closed the door and set his rifle down beside him. After sliding down his jeans he squatted and checked to make sure there was paper. When he was in there, he heard someone come in and go in the stall beside him. “Nate?”
There was no reply. He tilted ever so slightly and looked at the boots of the person that were partially visible beneath the raised panel. He heard him grunt and went back to focusing on finishing his own business. Every few seconds he would glance down to check if the man was still there. The boots weren’t moving but he could hear movement.
Just as he reached for a handful of paper, a thin wire appeared in front of him. It happened so fast, before he knew it the noose went over his head and he found himself pulled upwards. Tyler flailed around, his pants around his ankles as one hand held on to the wire trying to pull it away from his neck and the other stretched for the rifle. He supported himself on the toilet seat for a second, but another hard yank and his feet slipped away and he slammed into the main door. He turned his head upwards to see who his attacker was. Gritting his teeth together, a long-haired, greasy-looking fucker with wild eyes was pulling tight. He could feel the wire tearing into his skin as he struggled to pull it loose. As darkness crept in at the sides of his eyes, he knew he was going to pass out if he didn’t get free. His fingers touched the tip of the rifle leaning up against the wall but as he was moving around so violently, his leg ended up kicking it and it landed flat on the ground. As desperation kicked in, he pushed his feet against the panel across from him and instead of fighting the man pulling him up, he used his feet to springboard himself back towards him, essentially over the top.
“Arrgh,” he cried out as he thrust his legs like a piston and went over the top, landing on top of his attacker. They both crumpled to the floor in the cramped space, Tyler with his underpants down and the man out of his boots. The bastard had slipped out of his boots and pretended as if he was sitting on the toilet when he was preparing his wired noose. Not even thinking to call out for help — something that was foreign to him after what his father had taught him — Tyler yanked the wire free from his neck just as the man was trying to go for his rifle under the raised panel. Tyler crawled on top of him and slung the noose over his head as the man’s finger reached the trigger. He managed to fire off a few rounds but because he couldn’t get his arm out from underneath, it did him little good. In fact, he was in a worse position because now he had Tyler’s full body weight on top of him and the same weapon of death wrapped around his neck.
Tyler began yanking hard even as he heard Nate’s voice.
“Tyler. Tyler!”
All Nate would have been able to see was legs flailing around and them banging against the door as he tried to kill the man. He was gripping so hard on the wire, it began to cut into his hands as he fought for control. The man reached up and scratched his face, trying desperately to stick a finger in his eye. Then he felt the man grab his balls. With his underpants down, he was fully exposed and the guy was using it to his full advantage. Tyler screamed in pain and released his grip on the wire in an attempt to pry loose his grubby hands around his junk.
A second later, Nate appeared above, leaning over the stall from the adjoining one. He aimed a gun and before Tyler could say no, he fired twice killing the man instantly. A mist of red hit Tylers face. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Nate to kill the asshole but it was the fear he would miss and shoot him. Fortunately, that hadn’t happened.
His attacker slumped down beside him and Tyler felt the pressure between his legs vanish. However, the pain was still there. It felt like he’d been kicked in the nuts.
“So, this is what you get up to in your spare time,” Nate said, smiling before disappearing out of view. When Tyler was able to stand, he opened the door and Nate pulled the guy out.
A few minutes later, once he’d cleaned himself up and gathered what was left of his dignity, Tyler came out gripping his crotch and moaning. “Don’t you say anything,” Tyler said.
He thumbed off to his right. “A little late.”
Tyler turned his head to see Erika standing in the doorway of the men’s restroom.
He groaned and shook his head as he went over to the sink and tried to get some water. It coughed out some dirty pipe water and he splashed it over his face. Tyler gripped the sides of the wash basin
and looked at himself in the mirror.
Tyler glanced at Nate. “Who the hell was he?”
“No idea,” Nate said.
“How the hell did he get past you then?”
Nate shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I do,” Erika said shooting Nate a stern look. Nate looked as if he was trying to signal to her to not say anything but she did. “He went to see if any of the campers had a cigarette. The Jeep was out of view of the entrance. I couldn’t keep an eye on both the Jeep and the entrance to the restroom. I looked that way but he must have slipped past me when dumbass here left to get his cigarette.”
Tyler gave Nate a dirty look and he threw his hands up. “What? I needed a cigarette. I was out. I figured…” Tyler wanted to grab him and smack him around but it wouldn’t have helped and besides he was in too much pain. He winced and screwed his eyes up as he exited the bathroom that was now covered in blood and smears of shit.
“I think we should lay down some ground rules,” Tyler said.
Nate frowned. “Rules?”
“For survival.”
Nate shook his head and brushed past him. “I should drive,” he said, offering to get in the driver’s side.
Tyler tossed the keys to Erika. “Like hell you will.” Tyler slipped into the passenger side and laid back his head trying to forget the pain.
“Just wanted to help,” Nate said in a half-ass manner before hopping in the back.
“Yeah? You can help by digging into my backpack and finding some Advil. And Nate. Next time you decide to walk off to bum a cigarette, you won’t need to wait for cancer to kill you, I will do it myself.”
23
The utility truck idled on the main road as they waited for Noah to return. Terry had been chatting to Officer Ferris about diving into the lake to check on the plane and see how many had died. Ferris was against the idea until the power came back on. “No point lugging the dead back to the surface at this point. Let’s hold off until the power comes up and we can determine how many were on that flight.”