A Glimpse Of Decay (Book 2): Staring into the Abyss

by Santiago, A. J.

  “Thanks.” He carefully put the photo back into his wallet. He sighed and said, “They were beautiful and cute. They were my life.”

  “Uh, what’s in the fridge that we can eat right now,” Randy said as he sensed that the topic of conversation needed to change.

  Kara, picking up on Randy’s intent, said, “Well, looks like there is turkey and ham in there, and some cheese. Some soft drinks and some tea as well. Oh, and those pudding packs.”

  “Uh, who feels like a sandwich?” Randy asked half-heartedly. “I’m buying.”

  “I could go for one,” Kara answered.

  “What about you?” Randy asked Trent.

  “To be honest, I’m really not hungry.”

  “Come on, you gotta eat something,” Randy countered. “I know it’s been a tough day, but you gotta keep up your strength.”

  “Uh, it’s been a little more than just a ‘tough’ day. I lost my family today. And to top that off, the world is turning upside down, so you’ll have to forgive me if I’m not hungry right now.” The agitation in Trent’s tone was obvious.

  “Hey look…man, I’m sorry,” Randy said in an apologetic voice. “Look, if you need some time to yourself, me and Kara can go to another part of the house.”

  Trent, sensing that he had hurt Randy’s feelings, blurted, “No, I don’t want to be alone. For Christ’s sake, you’re the one who saved my ass today. You don’t have to go anywhere. I just need a little time to think, that’s all. I’m good.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  “Cool.”

  “Well, whatever we do, we need to kind of get going,” Kara said. “It’s starting to get dark, so we should go ahead and eat and then maybe build that barricade so we can get up stairs and get settled in for the night. Maybe we can pick up some new info on the T.V. I just can’t believe that they don’t have a computer or laptop here. They must have really been old school.”

  “You know, sometimes I wish there weren’t any computers or cell phones or any of that junk,” Randy said. “I remember when none of that nonsense was round. Life seemed a lot easier back then.

  “I couldn’t live without my cell phone or my laptop,” Kara said. “If my laptop wasn’t in the shop getting repaired, I would have brought it with me today. What a day to be without it!”

  Chapter 8

  Downtown San Antonio

  “Pull over right here,” Magda Santos said as she looked out from the passenger side of the news van she was traveling in.

  The man driving the van quickly glanced over at her and asked, “You sure?”

  “Yeah, right here.”

  “In the middle of this fucking riot?”

  “Yes, Darrin, right here!” Magda snapped. “We’re the only station on scene, so we gotta take advantage of this opportunity.”

  “Okay, you’re the boss,” he said sarcastically. “But I don’t really think this is such a good idea. I don’t see any cops around. Not even the bicycle cops. As a matter of fact, especially after the speech the president gave earlier today, I don’t know why we’re even out here.”

  “Because we’re doing our job. Anyway, I don’t believe all that end of the world bullshit. Trust me, we’ll be alright…we just gotta shoot some good footage of all of this and send it back to the desk. I promise, we won’t be here any longer than we need to be.”

  “Okay, but if things get crazy, we’re out of here.” Cautiously, Darrin brought the van to a stop along the curb of a debris littered Commerce Street; a thoroughfare than ran east to west across the span of downtown. He made his way through the interior of the vehicle to retrieve his news camera and he looked over at Magda, shaking his head in disapproval.

  “Trust me,” Magda said to her worried friend and cameraman.

  “I trust you, I just don’t trust the people outside of this van. And I don’t know if you heard what Janice was saying this morning before they went on with the morning show.”

  “No, I didn’t hear what she said.”

  She said half of the staff was calling in sick and that they were having a hard time finding someone to cover the evening broadcast. She also said that she wasn’t going to show up tomorrow. I’m telling you, it’s getting bad out there.”

  “Well, not bad enough for me. Remember, I grew up in El Salvador. This is nothing to me. Shit, I was practically a guerilla when I was 10 years old.”

  “I know. How can I forget? You keep reminding me all the time.”

  “Well, I’m just glad I wore jeans and boots today.”

  “I know, it’s a miracle that you didn’t wear your skirt and platforms, but if you had to run in those, I know you could. I’ve seen it before.”

  Magda grabbed her wireless mic and brushed her straight, long dark hair to one side. She took in several deep breaths as she readied herself to confront the volatile unrest just outside of their van. She flexed her shoulders and contracted her muscular thighs as she tried to relax the nervous tension that was building up in her body. Out of habit, she applied gloss to her full lips, and as she put the bottle away, out of the corner of her eye she saw Darrin shaking his head in disbelief.

  “What?” she asked.

  “The world is falling apart and you gotta put on makeup.”

  “Is that bad of me?”

  “Well, yeah, kind of. But in a way, it’s kind of hot too.”

  “You think so?”

  “We’ll talk about that later on, but for right now, let’s focus on this. It sounds pretty bad out there.” Darrin pointed his finger to the wall of the van as the sounds of people shouting and screaming could be heard outside. “We just gotta be careful that’s all. Crowds can be real funny. When I was up in Seattle covering the W.T.O., I saw some reporters and cameramen get caught in the middle of the shit and they got messed up pretty bad.”

  As the reporter and her cameraman prepared themselves inside the safety of their van, the scene unfolding around them was one of total chaos and mayhem. Earlier in the day, a sudden and unexpected wave of rioting had erupted in the downtown area around the Alamo. Magda and Darrin had been in the vicinity of the unrest because she had been sent out to do a report at a local medical clinic on the health crisis that was enveloping the country. While heading to the clinic, she had received a call from her station asking her to get some footage of the upheaval, so the two quickly made their way towards the pandemonium. Although Magda was jumping at the opportunity, Darrin was wary of the assignment and wasn’t as eager as his partner was.

  Darrin pulled back on the handle of the sliding door and looked at Magda. “Ready?”

  “Yeah, I’m ready. And like I said, if things get too crazy, we’re outta here, okay?”

  “Sounds good to me.” Darrin slid the door open and the two stepped out into the scorching heat of the day. They were immediately greeted with the acrid smell of burning structures and the sounds of glass being broken. The metallic ringing of burglar alarms echoed off of the surrounding walls, causing Darrin to have to yell to be heard. “Stick close to me!”

  Darrin ducked behind the van and immediately began to film the carnage in front of him. The street was congested with throngs of people running up and down the storefronts, carrying away whatever they could. The sight reminded him of an ant nest that had been disturbed. Men and women, both old and young, were dashing past the two journalists and none of them seemed to notice them.

  As Magda stepped onto the street, broken glass crunched under the sole of her boots. The sidewalks glittered with shiny shards and thick black smoke billowed from some of the businesses that sat across from the Alamo. Just ahead of them sat an overturned taxi. It was on fire and an inferno were leaping skyward from its shattered windows. The flames roared and a large group of rioters stood around it; chanting and cheering as the orange bloom grew taller. Several other vehicles, their doors open and their contents scattered on the pavement around them, sat empty on the street that ran in front of the Alamo.
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br />   “Look, get that!” Magda yelled as she pointed towards the Alamo itself.

  Darrin turned his camera and focused in on a large group that was spray painting over the wooden doors to the ancient shrine. One individual, his face obscured by a black bandana, was soaking the door with a bottle of lighter fluid, and with the flick of a match, the wooden entrance erupted into a bright fireball. Driven back by the heat from the blaze, the crowd jumped and cheered as they reveled in the destruction they had caused.

  “Holy shit, they’re burning down the Alamo!” Magda exclaimed. “Where are the police?”

  The sound of gunfire caused the two reporters to duck as a man walked down the middle of the street, firing a pistol into the air. He was shouting and cursing and then took aim at the windows of a café that sat across from the burning Alamo. Several randomly placed bullets exploded the window panes to the café and in the next instant, a mob was pouring into the exposed building.

  “Burn it all!” screamed a young woman as she ran in front of Darrin. Clothed all in black and with a black ball cap pulled down low over her eyes, Magda recognized her as the type of troublemaker who often infiltrated peaceful demonstrations with the intent to instigate violence and hooliganism. She stopped to pose for the camera and made a wicked scowl, letting her tongue hang out to one side. She then made the rock-n-roll devil sign with her fingers and screamed, “Burn!”

  As Darrin focused on the female rioter, several young men wearing basketball jerseys with shaved heads and tattooed arms came running up to the van. They began to rock it back and forth as they tried to flip it on its side. Darrin stepped back from the vehicle and yelled, “What the hell are you doing!”

  One man, tattoos stenciled across the back of his head, turned and began to walk towards Darrin. He reached into his waist, pulled out a silver pistol and shouted, “Fuck you!” He raised the gun and pointed it at Darrin. “You don’t belong here, white boy!”

  “Hey man, we don’t want any problems. We’re just here to film the news.”

  Magda, who had been distracted by the scene at the Alamo, turned to check on her cameraman and saw that he was staring down the barrel of a gun. A wave of rage coursed up and down her spine and she ran up to Darrin, stepping in front of him and placing herself between the gunman and her partner.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Magda screamed at the man with the gun. She stepped forward and the barrel of the pistol pressed up against her large bosom. “Don’t point your fucking gun at us!”

  Taken by surprise at Magda’s bold move, the gunman stepped back and then realized that he was looking at a familiar face. “Oh shit, Miss, you’re the lady from the news.”

  “No shit!” Magda barked. “I’m the news lady and I’m trying to do a news story here, but I can’t…not if you’re here pulling a damn gun on my cameraman.”

  “Hey, check it out homies,” the man called to his cohorts. “It’s the news lady from channel eighteen.”

  The other men stopped trying to flip the van and they all turned to see what their friend was talking about. One of the mutineers immediately recognized Magda and ran up to her. “Damn, you’re Magda Santos! My moms watches you on the news!”

  “Yes, I’m Magda Santos and this is my cameraman Darrin, and we don’t appreciate having a fucking gun pulled on us!”

  The second man looked over at his friend and saw the gun in his hand. “Hey pendejo, put that shit away! Come on, Nando, you know you don’t pull guns on no lady.”

  Embarrassed, Nando tucked the gun back into his pants and said, “My bad esè, I didn’t know she was the news lady at first.”

  Sensing an opportunity, Magda told Darrin to focus the camera on the second man and she asked him, “So what’s your name?”

  “What?” the man asked.

  “You’re name. What’s your name?”

  “Why do you want to know my name?” he inquired with suspicion.

  “Because I want to do a news story on you. I want to know why you’re down here.”

  “Oh shit, you want to put me on T.V.?” he asked with excitement.

  “Yes, I want to put you on T.V.” Magda could sense that the immediate danger was over—as long as she kept the man’s attention on being interviewed.

  “Well then, my name is Angel, but they call me Casper.”

  “Okay Casper,” Magda said as she tried to appeal to his ego by calling him by his street name. “Why are you down here, especially with what’s going on across the country right now?”

  “Oh, you mean about the zombies and shit?”

  “Yes, there are reports about something like that happening across the country.”

  “Well I don’t know about any of that. I think it’s all fake anyways. ¿Que no? Anyways, we’re down here to show that we own downtown. We’re here to show that the people own the street, not the laws. We own the Alamo, we own the mall and we own the Riverwalk.”

  “You got that right, esè,” Nando agreed.

  “What do you mean when you say that you ‘own’ downtown?”

  “That this place belongs to us now. Not the businesses, not the cops, not the fucking tourists. We own this bitch now!”

  Sensing that her next question might be seen as a challenge to his perceived authority, Magda was hesitant to ask it, but after giving it a few seconds of thought, she decided to go through with the query. “So, if you own it now, why are you destroying it?”

  A look of aggravation spread over Casper’s face and he stepped forward in a threatening manner. Darrin became enraged at Magda’s antagonistic question, and he found himself thinking that if he could have, he would have hit her over the head with his camera just to shut her up.

  Slapping his own chest with the palm of his hand, Casper yelled, “Because I can!” He stepped back and pointed over his shoulder. “Now get the fuck out of my face before I decide to own you too!”

  Darrin immediately lowered the camera and whispered to his reporter, “Come on, let’s get back in the van.”

  Not acknowledging Casper’s theatrical bravado, nor wanting to back down from him, Magda stood her ground and said, “You’re not man enough to have those kinds of thoughts! Fuck you, you don’t scare us!” Her eyes narrowed and her jaw tightened with anger.

  “Check out the tough bitch,” Casper said jokingly as he tried to play off Magda’s insult. He didn’t want his friends to think that he had been punked out by the female reporter.

  “Come on Magda,” Darrin pleaded with her as he nudged her towards the van. “You promised that we would leave if things got too dangerous.”

  As Casper walked past Magda, they stared at each other and she refused to let her eyes leave his, even turning her head to keep him in sight.

  “Fuck you, puta, we’re out of here!” Casper announced as he broke into a trot in the direction of the havoc taking place in front of the Alamo.

  “Okay, Magda, you made your point!” Darrin shouted at her. “Now let’s get in the fucking van and go!” He sprinted to the vehicle and unlocked the sliding door. In anger, he slid the camera across the floor of the van and waited for Magda to get in. In a show of annoyance, he slammed the door shut and ran around to the driver’s side, jumping in behind the wheel.

  “What the fuck was all that about!” he yelled as he cranked up the van.

  “What do you mean?” Magda fired back.

  “You’re playing with our lives, Magda. That guy was ready to kill us. And you were pissing him off…edging him on!”

  “That guy isn’t shit! He’s like all those assholes I grew up with in El Salvador. Macho, chauvinistic and stupid. He thinks that just because he has a group of thugs with him, it somehow makes him somebody important. That somehow, it makes him more of a man or something.”

  “Well, I don’t appreciate you putting the both of us in danger like that. The situation is already bad enough with everything that’s going on out there, and then you want to play ‘tough guy’ with an asshole like
that. I’ve got a wife and kids and I’m sure your husband wouldn’t want you to be doing what you just did.”

  As Magda calmed down, she began to allow herself to see Darrin’s point. She knew that she should have been more careful in the way that she had dealt with Casper, but when it came to things like that, she had no fear, and the fact that she had no fear scared Darrin enough for the both of them.

  “Okay, you’re right,” she said as she made her way up to the front passenger seat. She looked at her angry partner and reached over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for any of that to happen. And there is no way I would be careless with our safety. Okay?”

  Darrin swallowed as he choked back his irritation. He looked at her hand as it sat on his shoulder and he nodded in recognition of her apology. “I just don’t want anything bad to happen to us, that’s all.”

  “I know you don’t. Now, maybe we can get back to the station and see what’s going on. Let me see if I can get a signal. The damn phone hasn’t been working since we got the call to come over here.” Sighing, she looked down at her cell phone. “I can’t even get ahold of Tino,” she said in reference to her husband. He had been away at a medical conference in Mexico City and she hadn’t heard from him for almost two days now.

  “You still haven’t been able to contact him?” he asked as he drove west down Commerce. “Not even a text?”

  “Not even a text. I just hope he is alright.”

  “Jesus, look at this mess!” Darrin exclaimed as he rolled up on a small car that was smashed into a wall of a building. A gush of water was showering out into the street and Darrin could see a crushed fire hydrant under the front end of the battered car. Several people were standing around the small green compact, including one young woman with stringy brown, blood streaked hair. She noticed the approaching news van and ran towards it.