Dead Last, Vol. 3

by Quaranta, Marc

  “I’m worried about her,” I said as soon as we were out of the kitchen.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know. She hasn’t slept much, she’s not eating anything or talking to anyone. I barely was able to get anything out of her and…”

  “And what?”

  “Honestly? She’s kind of a bitch.” A part of me felt bad for saying that.

  “The only two people she had left in the world are gone, possibly for good. She’s in a very strange place with random people she doesn’t know.”

  “I know,” I said. “I know.”

  “I’m sure she’ll adjust. She’ll be fine. Besides, she is somebody else’s problem. Not ours.”

  “She’s our problem now. She lives in this house. She doesn’t have anybody else.”

  “Okay, okay,” he said. He put his hands on my shoulders. “You know what I mean, though. We need to worry about Elyse. Okay?”

  “I know. Honestly the more I think about Elyse the sadder I get.”

  “I know.” He hugged me tightly. It was so nice to be able to be in his arms and not worry about what we were feeling. We were together and we were happy.

  There was another knock at the door and Jack walked off ahead of me. I followed around the other way back through the kitchen.

  “Are you kidding me?” I heard Jack say.

  I came around the corner and saw Scott standing at my doorway. That was not somebody I cared to see in my house. I was going to say something and get him the hell out of here, but I didn’t need to. Jack pushed him outside and then followed him out. He closed the door behind him and I could hear their voices from inside.

  I was worried that Jack was going to beat the hell out of Scott again and that others in the neighborhood would see it. If that happened, they’d probably arrest Jack or kick him out and banish him from the place. I didn’t want that to happen, but I had faith in Jack.

  I grabbed a bottle of water but headed right back to the door. I stood in the foyer and listened for any clear words I could pick up. I peeked out the side window but their words were still mumbling. Scott was doing most of the talking now and Jack was listening. He was listening intently.

  I walked away and drank half the bottle of water. I didn’t have any clue as to what they were talking about and couldn’t guess why Jack would actually be halfway interested in what that monster had to stay.

  The handle turned and Jack came back in. I opened my mouth to get some information on what had just happened, but I stopped when Scott was following him closely behind. Jack was letting that damn rapist into my house. The same man that had put his hands all over my daughter and was the reason why my daughter was in the state of mind she was in was standing in my house.

  “What’s going on, Jack?” I asked.

  “You’ve got to hear this.”

  22

  Haylea Meyers

  F or the first time in a long time, I was alone. Heather was out with the man that ran the whole district, Glen, and Jack was across the street participating in a new romance that would probably drive a wedge between the woman he was falling in love with and that woman’s daughter who was falling in love with her mother’s new love.

  It was a reality show waiting to happen. I did my share of editing before I became a reporter, and even shot a lot of my own footage when I was a reporter covering a story. I knew how to handle the camera. If Glen had any cameras lying around, I could film Jack, Emily, and Elyse’s disturbing love triangle, edit it, package it, and sell it to the rest of the District 7-1 community. It would be only reality show still being produced for television.

  I made enough jokes in my head to warrant a good chuckle, but in reality, I did worry about them. Elyse was falling off the rails and if she didn’t want Jack and Emily together, she was not going to keep quiet about it. I wasn’t sure what she was capable of, but I’m sure her relationship with Emily would be all but dead.

  Again, I was alone for the first time in a long time. It was also the first time I’d been alone and couldn’t remember not being scared. Most of the time, before the outbreak, I was only alone on nights when Kurt had to work. That meant he was at work in the middle of the night and I was home alone by myself. The night can be a terrifying thing. I always hated falling asleep alone.

  Since the outbreak, I was usually with the rest of the group. We slept no more than ten feet apart, in different offices, and Kurt was always there with me. If Kurt left WTIX to get supplies or go on a run, I was with the rest of the group. Being alone wasn’t something any of us hoped for. We had strength in numbers.

  I felt at peace now, though. I wasn’t afraid for my life or worried somebody would break in and rob the place. Like Jack was saying earlier, we had no idea what kind of place District 7-1 was, but for some unbeknownst reason, I felt protected.

  I thought about what Glen had said earlier about nicknaming the place Esperanza. I was living in the most dangerous era in the history of the world. This was worse than any World Wars or terrorist attacks. The outbreak we were living through was so bad that it was never going to be in any history books. It wiped out the whole world.

  But when I think back to the brief explanation Glen gave me about his wife and why he named District 7-1 Esperanza. It gave me what it means; hope. Not hope that District 7-1 would end up being a safe place we could call home, or that the world would be able to kill every single straggler in the world, or that the world would rebuild itself even. The only hope it gave me was hope in love.

  It gave me hope that Kurt would come back and that we’d be together. It gave me hope that Emily and Jack could make it work and that Elyse would eventually forgive them both. It gave me hope that as weird as Heather possibly dating Glen would be, that it would work out.

  Esperanza.

  It was my first time alone in the house so I started looking through things more vigorously. I searched closets, drawers, dressers, looked under beds and furniture, and pulled anything out that I could to look through.

  I had no idea what I was looking for. There was no reason I would get any information about District 7-1 from inside my house. Surely, they wouldn’t put us strangers in a house that had hidden information. I was being silly. Jack had talked me into a conspiracy theory that didn’t exist.

  I was about to walk into Heather’s room to start snooping but my search for absolutely nothing was interrupted by somebody at the front door. Would Heather have cared that I was looking through her room? Nobody likes when somebody is going through their stuff, but nothing in that room belonged to Heather. It’s not like she’s had time in that room to do anything or hide anything. Knowing Heather, though, if she caught me in her room, she would have made way too big a deal about it.

  I jogged down the stairs and opened the door before the person could knock a second time. I had no expectations for who was on the other side. After all, after seeing Scott so willingly show up on our doorsteps, it could have been anyone.

  It was somebody I’d never seen before. A young guy stood there. He was dressed in one of the security, military uniforms. He had a gun and a radio and was dressed just like Kendrick had been dressed before he shot at us.

  “Can I help you?” I had my hand firm on the door in case I felt like shutting it in his face, but even with some strange guy at my door, I didn’t feel like I was in any danger.

  “Are you Haylea? Haylea Meyers?” he asked me.

  “Yeah, who wants to know?”

  “Kurt’s Haylea?” his mouth hung low waiting for my response or for some sort of facial reaction from me.

  “What did you just say?”

  He looked around the street and then quickly walked into the house and closed the door behind him. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away from the door and away from the windows toward the center of the house.

  “You are Haylea, right?” He spoke softer.

  “Do you know who Kurt is? Who are you?”

  “My name is Ryan. After
the attack on your bus, I managed to catch up with Kurt and the others in the woods before they escaped.”

  “They escaped?! They’re alive.”

  “Yeah,” he said with excitement before taking a step back. “I mean they were alive when I last saw them.”

  “Well, where did they go? Why did they escape? Are they coming back?”

  “Yes. He’s coming back. Look, I’m sorry it took me so long to get to you, but I couldn’t just tell anyone that I was coming to see you.”

  I could see that he was nervous about talking with me. He was out of breath and was in a difficult situation. I grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it to him. He thanked me and chugged for half a minute.

  “I told Kurt that I wanted out of this place and that we all needed to get out of here. I told him I would help you guys get out if you took me with you.”

  “Why? Why would you want out?”

  “The Captain you met, Kendrick, he’s a bad guy. I don’t trust him. I’ve worked closely with him and he’s planning something. I know it.”

  “Like what? Isn’t he behind bars now?”

  “Yeah,” he said. He drank more. “I’m not entirely sure how long that is going to last. And if I were you, I’d want to be far away from this place if they ever let him out.”

  “Why would they let him out? He murdered people. Would Glen really do that?”

  “I don’t know. Honestly, I’d hope not, but Glen is full of surprises.”

  “But you saw Kurt? And he was okay? He’s coming back?”

  “Yes, to all of the above. I told him I’d find you and make sure you guys were safe. It’s going to be okay. He’s coming back.”

  My mind went white and I couldn’t control my own decisions. I jumped into his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck. I was so full of joy from hearing him say those things to me. I believed every word he said. He went out of his way and put his life on the line to get me that information. There was no reason not to believe him.

  Suddenly, the door shot open and Heather trotted into the house. She slammed the door closed and threw her jacket on the floor angrily.

  “Heather, what the hell is going on? What’s wrong?”

  “Who the hell is this?” she asked.

  “I’m Ryan,” he said.

  “This is Ryan.”

  “Whatever,” she said with no interest.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Glen had to cancel lunch before we even started eating.”

  “Why?” I asked, this time I had no interest.

  “I don’t know. He said there was some problem at one of the gates or something. A breach,” she spoke with no clear idea of what Glen had told her.

  “A breach at one of the gates?”

  “Is that bad?” I asked Ryan.

  “It isn’t good.”

  Before Ryan could make a call on his radio, an alarm sounded. It was loud. It echoed through the walls of the house and sounded like the 11 am inclement weather test that went off every Friday. It was a warning for everybody in the community. That much was obvious. What it was for, though, wasn’t obvious. Was bad weather coming?

  “This isn’t good,” Ryan repeated. “Confirmation for the alert. I am looking for confirmation on the alert. Is this a test?” Ryan spoke into his radio.

  “Negative. Negative.” A choppy voice came through from the other end. “This is not a drill. Hostiles have broken the barricade and are on the premises. I repeat. Hostiles are on the premises. Armed and Dangerous.”

  I didn’t need to be in the military or go through the police academy to crack that code. Hostiles. Armed and Dangerous. I knew exactly what that meant. We needed to get over to the other house immediately.

  23

  Scott Daugherty

  I knew exactly what it felt like to be a defendant on trial. I knew what it was like to have this crime written on your face and whether you did it or not, it was your new reputation. It was the only thing people saw you as. I knew what it was like to have a jury of people judging you and blaming you and accusing you.

  Emily and Jack gave me that feeling. It didn’t matter what I ever did or said, they were always going to see the crime I committed. Yes, I did it. Yes, I was guilty. Doesn’t time heal all things, though? Don’t criminals become forgiven after a certain amount of time?

  I wasn’t expecting them to forgive me tomorrow, or even next year, but someday. Maybe the problem was that I was never going to pay for my crimes. There weren’t trials or juries anymore. There weren’t prisons where I would go away for a long time. At the same time, though, they needed to get over it, because there were no laws for them either. If they truly wanted me to pay for my crimes, they could do anything they wanted to me and nobody would stop them.

  I finished telling Jack and Emily my story and waited for their reaction. I had just told them that Elyse came to my apartment to blackmail me into killing Jack. It took me a while to get the true story out, especially with Jack’s don’t-give-a-shit attitude toward me. I ended up just blurting out what Elyse had said.

  “Why are you wearing that outfit?” Jack asked me.

  “Jack!” Emily shouted. “That’s your first question? He just told us that my daughter is trying to have you killed.”

  “What? You believe him? Him?” His finger almost hit me in the face when he pointed at me.

  “I’m not lying, Jack,” I said.

  “Oh, shut the hell up. After what you did, now you come in here and tell us this shit? No.”

  “Why would I make this up?” He was useless. “Emily, why would I make this up? I have nothing to gain and everything to lose if this was a lie. It wouldn’t make any sense.”

  Emily pinched her lip with her thumb and index finger. She looked at Jack and then looked at me. She looked out the window and walked in a big circle. Meanwhile, Jack still had his finger pointing at me. I wanted to hit it away, but I didn’t want to get physical.

  “I don’t know, Jack,” Emily said. Finally, Jack dropped his arm. “What if he is telling the truth?”

  “Really?” Jack asked.

  “He’s right. He has no reason to lie to us about this. Why would he?”

  “Because he’s crazy. Because he is a nut. He is the devil trying to rile us up. I don’t know why he would do this, but it doesn’t make sense.”

  “Of course, it does!” Emily shouted. I was taken aback by her inflection. “She’s not my Elyse anymore.”

  Jack looked at me with a look that could have ripped my heart out of my chest. I knew exactly why he looked at me that way. I am the reason Elyse is not Elyse. It was all my fault. I stepped back and gave the two of them some privacy.

  “Emily, I know she’s hurting and she’s losing it a little bit, but this is insane. You really think she wants me dead? Over this?”

  “Over this? Jack, this isn’t really a little thing. My daughter was beaten and broken into an unrecognizable victim. Unrecognizable even to herself. And during that time, she became a little…lost.”

  “I know,” Jack said softly.

  “And the only last grasp of humanity and life and love and sanity she had was you, Jack. You were the only thing that she felt safe with.”

  “Emily, that wasn’t real. None of that was real.”

  “It was to her. In a dark, lost obsession it was real to her and now she is hurting all over again. She’s not Elyse anymore.”

  “Emily,” Jack said.

  “No, Jack enough. My little girl has lost her damn mind. She has demons. Something is wrong with her and I don’t care who it is coming from or what he is saying, we need to take this seriously.”

  Jack stepped back and ran his fingers over his head. He took a long deep breath and looked at me. I could see he wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue to talk to Emily or come over to me. He bounced back and forth for a second before deciding to come over to me.

  “Scott, if you are lying to me,” he said. He spoke very malignantly. “I swear to God I w
ill kill you. I will kill you.”

  “I know.” He didn’t scare me. I had the truth on my side. “I told you already I don’t have any reason to lie about this, Jack. I’m telling you the truth.”

  “So, what do we do?” He turned back to Emily.

  “We’ve got to go find her,” she responded.

  “Emily,” I said. It was without thought or control. “Listen, I know it doesn’t mean much to you, but I am truly sorry for what I did and what I became. I am so sorry. To both of you.”

  “You’re right,” Emily said. “It doesn’t mean anything to me. Not a damn thing.”

  Jack’s evil stare was focused on me as if he had just realized that there were no laws to protect me and he could have killed me in their kitchen.

  “I don’t care what happens or what you do,” Emily continued, “It will never be okay between us. You are a monster. I hate you and I pray every night that you will get yours. I pray to God you feel the pain that you’ve caused us to feel.”

  I nodded and before I could speak an alarm started to sound. I looked around the house as if we were about to be bombed by another country. Jack and Emily didn’t show their confusion as much as I did.

  “What the hell is that?” Emily asked.

  “I don’t know. Some kind of a warning. Tornado warning or something?”

  “The weather is fine,” I mumbled.

  Heather and Haylea burst into the house and slammed the door behind them. Heather had tears in her eyes and I couldn’t tell if she looked scared or sad. I gave up a long time ago trying to understand Heather’s emotions.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Haylea asked me as she walked by me to Jack and Emily.

  “What’s going on?” Emily asked.

  “There’s a problem at one of the gates. The radio said hostiles were here. Armed and dangerous,” Haylea said.

  “The radio? What radio?”

  “One of the guards came to talk to me about Kurt. He saw Kurt. Kurt is alive,” Haylea said.

  “What guard?” Jack asked. “Where is he?”