by David Haynes
“I didn’t do anything!” he shouted.
Leo opened his mouth to argue but didn’t get the chance. A second later, the lights in the store went out. Everything was cast in black.
3
“What the hell?”
Chris’s face was lit up by his computer. Apart from the grim glow of the emergency lighting, it was the only source of light in the store. The refrigerators, the coffee machine, the register, they were all out.
Leo let go of the woman. She was safe. Out of the storm, warm and dry. He walked over the Chris. “What happened?”
“Power’s out,” he replied. “The shutter dropped down as a precaution.”
“Can you bring it back up?”
Chris frowned. “I don’t know. It runs off the mains. And we haven’t got any juice at the moment.”
A cigarette lighter fizzed and then caught, illuminating the largest of the three Asian men. He was grinning, pushing a cigarette between his lips.
“Not in here,” Leo said.
The guy paused and then shrugged. He removed the cigarette, pinching the end between his fingers.
Leo peered around the store, trying the make out who was who in the gloom. “Sam? Michelle? You there?”
A couple of shadowy figures moved closer to the counter. “We’re here,” Michelle said.
The guy with the Zippo sparked it again, holding it beneath his chin. “Spooky,” he whispered. The other two laughed and stood beside him.
“Lady?” Leo called. “Where are you?”
There was no reply.
“Lady?” He shook his head. “You see her?”
Nobody answered. She couldn’t have gone far.
“Is there…is there a backup generator or something?” Michelle asked. Her voice was a little shaky. “It’s really dark.”
“Sorry,” he replied. He paused. “Tell you what though, I’ve got something we can use. Stay here.”
He walked quickly toward the rear of the store. He didn’t need lights to know where everything was. It was imprinted on his brain.
Next to the cheap, knock-off Lego and the decades-old DVDs was the camping gear he’d got from Marvin last year. Unless he’d sold some of this junk in his sleep, he was sure there were a couple of kerosene lamps and a few spare bottles of fluid for them. He rummaged through the crap. There were some cheap backyard tents and a portable stove. The orange star price stickers felt dusty. The only way he was going to get rid of all this was by throwing it out onto the sidewalk.
He found the lamps and straightened.
“Shit!” he hissed.
The woman was standing about three feet away, just by the entrance to the storeroom.
“You scared me,” he said, half-joking.
She didn’t move. She wasn’t even looking at him, just staring at her feet.
“You should come back to the front,” he said. “I’ve got some lamps.”
He waited for her to say something, to turn his way; just to register his existence would have been an improvement. But there was no sign of anything.
He shrugged and turned away. He wasn’t about to force her to move. She could stand there all night as far as he was concerned. He was more than just a little curious about her, but she was safe and that was all that counted. Her and her baby.
The door to the apartment creaked open and a flashlight beam cut a tract through the gloom. He turned. Kim was walking toward him but the woman had gone.
“I guess this means we’ve lost power here now too?”
“Looks like it,” he replied, peering around the shelves.
“You looking for something?”
“Just another stray.”
“What?”
He held the kerosene lamps up. “Let there be light,” he said.
At the front of the store, the three Asian men were huddled around each other, the glow of their cell phones lighting up their faces.
“You won’t get any joy out of those,” Sam said. “We already tried but there’s no cell signal.”
They ignored him.
Kim paused as she neared the group. Leo saw her pull her jacket over her waist band, covering her badge and gun. The pause in her step was fleeting, almost unnoticeable, but he heard it on the tiled floor.
“The security shutter dropped down,” he said, putting the lamps down on the counter. “But Chris is going to open it up for us.” He patted Chris’s back. “Isn’t that right, Chris?”
Chris smiled, looking anything but convinced.
“Whoa!” the largest of the three men said. “Where did you come from?” He stared at Kim.
“I work here,” she replied.
“Haven’t seen you before.”
“I’m new,” she said, turning away. “Need a hand with those?” She took one of the lamps and unboxed it.
Leo passed her one of the disposable cigarette lighters from the stand on the counter. They exchanged glances as she sparked the lighter and held it to the wick. A couple of seconds later, the store was cast in an orange glow. It wasn’t that much brighter than the security lighting, but the effect was comforting. It was almost like a camp fire.
“What do we do now?” Sam asked. “My dad’s going to be pissed if he can’t get hold of me.”
“Mine too,” Michelle added. “He thinks I’m at Emily’s house.”
“Now isn’t this cozy!” The guy who’d been leaning on the counter when Leo came downstairs was laughing. “Maybe we should get the marshmallows out and tell ghost stories?”
“Wooooo!” his buddy laughed. He was the smallest of the three. His hair, jet black like the others, was spiked on the top. He wore a diamond stud in both ears.
The steel shutters made a loud bang as if someone had driven their truck into it. Leo smiled when he saw the small guy jump.
“Don’t think we need any ghost stories, buddy. You’re jumpy enough already.”
He fixed Leo with a hard stare. The lack of humor in his expression was obvious.
“It was just the wind,” said Michelle. She turned to Leo. “Right?”
He nodded. “You hungry?”
She shook her head.
“Just help yourself if you need something. Okay? That goes for everyone.”
“I could go for a bottle of that vodka you’ve got up there. A carton of smokes too.” The small guy stepped forward but the leader put his hand on him, holding him back.
“I think he means sodas, Kenta. Chips maybe, but not liquor.”
“Aww,” Kenta replied. “There I was thinking we were going to have ourselves a little party.” He turned and walked toward the refrigerators. “What about you, Sota? Want some soda, Sota?” He broke out laughing. It was shrill and unpleasant.
“Fanta,” Sota replied. He didn’t find the joke funny at all. That much was clear.
Kenta appeared, a few seconds later, with two bottles of soda and some water. He threw the Fanta at Sota; it hit the shelving, bounced off and landed spinning on the floor.
“Dick!” Sota shouted.
He laughed again and then handed the water to the tall man. “And for Ookami.” He winked.
Leo didn’t like the three men. He didn’t like the way they talked or the way they acted, but he couldn’t deny them the same courtesy as he’d extended to the others in the store. He just hoped Chris would open the shutter before long and let them out. That would still leave them with the issue of what to do with Michael, but it was better than putting up with the three stooges all night.
“How is he?” he asked Kim.
“Who?” Kenta asked.
“Nothing to do with you,” Kim replied. It was curt, a little sharper than Leo might have said.
Kenta pulled a face at her and went back to his Coke.
“Same,” she replied. “Alison’s calmed down a bit.”
“That’s good,” he said. “Looks like we’re going to be stuck in here for a while.” He looked down into the shop, trying to see the woman. She must be keeping her
self to herself, staying out of the way. It was probably a good thing.
Leo glanced up. Ookami was watching them. That was the one to be careful of, he thought. The guy was quiet, observant and looked strong. The other two were punks, clowns that he probably kept around to make him look good. Guys like him usually liked to have a pet or two. He was older too. He had ten years on them, at least. Mid-thirties, possibly.
Chris tapped him on the shoulder. “You got a minute?”
“Sure.”
“Can we just go down there?” he said, gesturing toward the storeroom.
Leo shrugged. He turned to Kim. “Keep your eyes on Curly, Moe and Larry for me?”
She smirked and nodded.
“What is it?”
Chris didn’t reply until they were away from the counter. He glanced at the three men. “They were checking this place out,” he whispered. “Before you came down. The three of them. They’re up to something.”
“What?”
“One of those guys, Sota, I think they called him? He was asking all kinds of questions about the cameras, the shutter, what definition it was. He was trying to get a look at the software and the computer.”
Leo frowned. “You think so?”
Chris nodded. “It was more than just a passing interest. That’s why I asked Michelle to come fetch you.” He paused. “I don’t like them. Any of them.”
Leo scratched his head. “Can’t say I’m too keen either. Which is why I need you to get that shutter lifted. Then we can get them gone, out of…”
“I can’t do it,” he interrupted. “Without power, I can’t lift it. It’s all plugged into the grid.”
“Jesus. So, what do we do? Can your company do anything? Remotely, maybe?”
Chris shook his head. “Even if they could, which they can’t, how would I ask them to do anything? No power, no phone signal, no network coverage, nothing.” He paused again. “All we can do is wait for the power to come back on.”
“And if we go on recent evidence, that could be all night and half of tomorrow.”
Chris grimaced.
Leo released a long sigh. “Thanks for letting me know. Looks like I’ll have to keep my eyes on the liquor cabinet.”
Chris raised his eyebrows. “And the register.”
They stood in silence for a moment. The metallic noise of the shutter vibrating in the wind was the only sound.
“You want to help me with these?” Leo crouched down, pulling two boxes of inflatable camping mattresses off the dusty shelf. “There should be one of those foot-pumps down here too, somewhere.” He pushed things aside till he found it then handed it to Chris. “We’ll need somewhere to sit.”
He stood up, looked over Chris’s shoulder. “You see that woman?”
“The one you dragged in? She went in there, I think.” He pointed to the storeroom. “I’ll take these up to the front.” He started to walk away and then whispered “Kim doesn’t work here, does she? She’s a cop, right?”
Leo nodded. “I wouldn’t go shouting about it though. She seems to want to keep it under wraps. For now, anyway.”
“Thought so,” Chris said and then walked back to the front of the store.
4
Leo walked into the storeroom. The kerosene lamps extended only so far into the darkness. The faint security lighting was barely able to penetrate into the corners.
“You in here?” he called out.
The hulking shadow of the punch bag loomed in the corner. He instinctively rubbed his sore knuckles.
“Are you thirsty, want something to eat?”
He let his eyes adjust to the half-light, wishing he’d bought a lamp with him.
“I’ve found some camping beds…”
She wasn’t in here. He walked to the corner of the room, stood next to the open staircase to the basement and called “You down there?”
A cold breeze drifted up out of the darkness. He shivered and took his cell from his pocket. The light from the screen would have to do. He turned it around and aimed it downward, taking the steps slowly.
“You shouldn’t be down here,” he said. “It’s freezing.”
A soft shuffling sound came from the darkness. He reached the foot of the stairs and squinted.
“Hey, come on. It’s cold down here.”
To his left, in the gray, dim light of his mobile screen, he saw her crouched between the shelves. She was almost curled into a ball.
“Hey,” he said, walking toward her. Again, she gave no obvious sign that she had heard him, or knew he was there.
He crouched beside her. The thick woolen blanket remained pulled up around her. Only a few strands of black hair protruded from the side.
“You’ll be more comfortable with us.” He spoke softly but she didn’t move. “What’s your baby called?”
He reached toward the blanket to pull it back. She flinched away from him, jerking her body and that of the child to the side.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…I only wanted to make sure you’re both okay.”
She was scared to death. It was understandable. If she was living on the street with an infant, she was used to protecting herself and the child, hiding away in dark corners where she couldn’t be seen or disturbed. It was sad.
“I’m Leo.” He hoped she knew he wasn’t a threat, could hear it in his voice. But maybe she’d lived out there for so long, and been through so much, that she just assumed everyone was out to get her.
He got to his feet. He should just leave her. “You need anything, you just give me a shout. Okay? I’ll come back and check up on you in a little while.” He half-turned and then stopped. Was she lifting the baby toward him? The sound of a baby laughing filled his ears. It was a happy sound, a warm comfortable cooing that told him the child was healthy and being cared for. It was almost hypnotic.
“Got yourself a little girlfriend down here?” Kenta said, laughing.
Leo turned. “What’re you doing down here?”
He ignored the question, trying to peer around him to get a look at the woman. He would have liked to wipe that smile off his face but it wasn’t the time or place for that.
“Upstairs,” he said, and gave Kenta a gentle push. He didn’t trust him, especially not with a potentially vulnerable woman. They climbed the steps and walked into the front of the store again.
Chris and Sam were inflating the air beds while Kim and Michelle were huddled together.
“You have a bathroom we can use?” Kim asked.
There was a dingy hole in the storeroom but Leo only used it if he were desperate. “Just go upstairs and use mine. Check on the other two up there.”
“There’s two more?” Kenta asked.
Leo ignored him. “The bathroom in the storeroom is a little…grim.”
“Thanks,” Michelle said.
Leo grabbed a lamp but Kim shook her head. She pulled out her cell and activated the torch. It was a pinprick of light but it would do the job. She was about to walk away before Leo grabbed her arm.
“She’s down in the basement, the girl from the street. I tried talking to her but she won’t have anything to do with me. Would you try? She’s scared.”
Kim nodded. “I’ll give it a go on the way back.”
He watched them walk away together before turning to Chris and Sam. “How are those coming on?”
“Nearly done,” Sam replied. Leo noticed the steaming vapor of his breath in the air. As inefficient as they were, the electric heaters had at least provided a little warmth. Without them, the temperature was dropping.
Kenta and Sota were leaning on the shelves. They were both eating candy bars and hadn’t offered to help. Kenta released a long belch. “All this soda has given me a serious bladder issue. You know what, I could do with the bathroom too.”
“In the storeroom,” Leo said. “Behind the bag in the corner.”
“Hold on, those two got to go upstairs. I have a delicate constitution. Isn’t that right, Sota?”
Kenta mumbled something under his breath but stalked off. Leo thought about following him, making sure he didn’t try anything, but he couldn’t babysit all night.
Ookami fixed him with a hard stare. “How long you been here, Leo?” He didn’t say much but his voice carried when he did. The guy was over six feet tall, six-three maybe. Leo evaluated people as boxers, using their size and build to estimate their fighting weight. Ookami was too tall to be a middleweight, or super-middleweight. This guy was a cruiser, or maybe even light-heavy. It was difficult to say with real accuracy because of the clothing, but he looked too lithe to be one of the really big boys.
“Twenty years. Give or take,” he replied. They were standing on opposite sides of the store, but Leo knew when he was being sized up too.
“Must know everyone around here.”
Leo shrugged. “Used to. Things have changed a lot in the last few years. Lot of new people moving into the neighborhood.”
Ookami grunted. “People like me, huh?” He pulled at the corners of his eyes. “Gooks.” He laughed but it was humorless, almost spiteful. Sota followed the lead and joined in.
Leo shook his head. “That’s not a term I’d ever use. It’s not real friendly, is it?”
Ookami shrugged. “Can’t say it’s ever bothered me. But then again, I’ve got a pretty thick hide.” He paused. “Bet business is suffering though, huh?”
“It’s okay.”
“I bet that guy over the road is doing well out of the new neighborhood. He must be raking it in.”
“I couldn’t say,” Leo replied.
“You know him?”
“Not really. Only met him once.”
Ookami nodded. “Michael, his name is. Figure that out. Not a very Japanese name if you ask me.”
Leo kept quiet. He didn’t know where the conversation was heading. Something told him to keep quiet about the accident and that Michael was currently upstairs with a smashed head.
“Hey!” Leo recognized Michelle’s voice. It came from the storeroom. It was followed by a muffled voice and then laughter.
He set off between the aisles. “Everything okay?” he shouted.