by Victor Cruz
“Okay. So why are you hoarding?” Catalina asked.
“Well… it wasn’t just for us. Yeah. It was for all of us.”, Konrad nodded. “Just in case we needed it to…”
“Quit fucking lying, Konrad, there were more drugs and booze in that trailer than food and medicine,” Maxson was done listening to the nonsense. “Besides, I followed you the other night.”
“You followed me….” Konrad wasn’t asking, but instead just processing the information. He looked dizzy as he stared blankly at Maxson. The silence from everyone only added to the tension of weapon wielding survivors. Maxson realized while surrounded by Pete, Colton, Reggie, Tyler, Catalina and her sister that he was unsure of everyone’s allegiance. Scott wasn’t too far away and nobody truly knew what Yargan would do at any given time let alone know who he sided with. Maxson even felt like Colton had been wavering lately.
“You have one shot at being honest here. A chance to right any possible wrong,” Catalina’s words were soft and her gentleness was loathed by Maxson.
Konrad finally exhaled a deep breath. “Fine.”
Maxson was surprised and disheartened by Konrad’s compliance. Catalina looked equally surprised, but in a pleasant way.
Konrad finally continued, “So over the last few months… while all of you have been cozying up with one another…. Some of us…. Have been venturing outwards.”
“Who has?” Maxson wanted to know who has been going out behind their backs.
“Me and Eddie… and Dusty…. Uhhh… I think that’s it,” Konrad rubbed at the back of his neck.
Maxson would have added Tyler, but he didn’t want to give him too much information. “Okay, so you guys ventured out and what?”
“Like I was saying, we been venturing out, you know, to find us some better opportunities, and since have ran into a few different groups of survivors,” Konrad spoke.
A few different groups? What the hell?
“Survivors? What kind?” Maxson asked the question already knowing.
“A group of bikers. Call themselves The Riders…” Konrad admitted to the entire group. Everyone began to whisper amongst themselves hearing another group of people being mentioned. Konrad continued, “…some were just passing through, while others are hopping around, looking to do the same things we-was-doing.”
“Which was?” Catalina asked in a way that Maxson knew she didn’t believe him.
“You know, kitten, scavenging!” Konrad professed his innocence.
The group was still talking amongst themselves about potential outsiders. It had been so long since they had contact with anybody outside of themselves that it was met with a cautious excitement. Everyone began randomly raising their voices to ask questions, but Catalina hushed everyone down before interrogating Konrad in front of everyone. Eddie had finally started to loosen his posture, but he held his knives in each hand.
“And you met a group of bikers and decided to join them? You scumbags were just going take your shit, and leave us?” Catalina accused.
“Don’t make it personal, m’love. This is about survival and we weren’t sure where we stood around here. We was feeling that having a plan B was called for,” Konrad explained.
“Yeah? And how long before your plan B turns into plan A?” Maxson asked aloud.
Konrad responded to Maxson, but spoke to Catalina, “It’s not like that. I know how it looks and sounds, but remember, I have a younger brother to look out for.”
Eddie scoffed at the idea that he needed somebody to look out for him. Anything could set the ticking bomb off that was the younger Essex at any moment. Catalina remained firm.
“And I don’t have a younger sister to do the same for? Do you see me plotting and scheming against the group?” Catalina retorted in reference to Inez. The younger sister was standing at her side and just as ready as anybody else to fight if it came to it.
Konrad sighed and then shrugged, “I’m sorry darling, but the stuff you have taken is not for me to give.”
Catalina was confused and conveyed it with her eyes.
“It belongs to The Riders, now. Whether we earn our cuts with them or not,” Konrad explained.
“Well then you can explain to them that you lost their goods,” Maxson narrowed his eyes.
Konrad’s demeanor became more relaxed and he started to grin to Maxson’s annoyance, “But I didn’t lose their stuff. I know exactly where it is.”
“Is that a threat?” Maxson asked.
“That, Maxy-boy, is a simple fact,” Konrad had the nerve to wink.
“You tell The Riders the stuff in that trailer is rightfully ours, then,” Maxson growled.
Konrad said nothing, but stared at Maxson with amusement. The fear in his eyes had washed away since Eddie had his outburst and Maxson regretted not antagonizing and baiting the two brothers more. Then, Konrad’s lips twisted into a prominent grin. “You can tell them that yourself. I’ll be interested to see what that little whispering mouse has to say.”
Both Maxson and Catalina looked to one another and there was an eerie silence.
“Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have work to do. We’ll want to make sure we’re all snug and cozy in our new home before winter hits,” Konrad said with an even wider shit eating grin. Konrad, Eddie and Dustin all began to walk off. Each of them had a smirk or grin on their face as they walked off in victory.
“This is going to be a problem,” Catalina said watching them walk towards the main building.
“You think?” Inez asked sarcastically while watching Konrad walk away. “Just give me the word, Cat. I’m not fucking scared of him.”
“I’ve always liked your sister,” Maxson said to Catalina.
“Yeah? Probably more than me. Especially in times like these.” Sighed Catalina with worry.
be quiet about it
By the time the group had huddled around the entrance of the main building the main building, the sun had made its trip across the sky. Its descent in dusk caused the surrounding trees to darken. There was still an hour, maybe two, of light left, but it wouldn’t last long.
Slug and Scott stood in the back with Suzie to marvel at the size of their new home. Colton stood by the big wooden double doors that were at least seven feet tall and stood taller than the average doorframe. Each panel of wood was designed with intricate carvings that would have taken a master carpenter a week to make by hand.
“What’re we waiting for?” Catalina said as she passed through the small crowd.
Colton gave a jingle of the large brass doorknobs on the door to show he couldn’t turn them. “Damn doors are locked.”
Yargan raised his sledgehammer. He looked over to the other with raised eyebrows waiting for permission to breach the entrance with one might downward thrust.
“Uhh… no thanks, Yargan. We don’t want to break the door down,” Catalina gave a smile to Yargan.
Her smile confused Yargan, but Maxson grunted to get Yargan’s attention. Maxson shook his head and waved the large man back and he complied. Removing his own large form made extra space vacant for them to unlock the last barrier.
“Guess it’s time for The Punisher?” Maxson couldn’t resist.
“Shut up,” Catalina snipped before bending over. Her less than modest position gave Maxson a moment to admire her feminine form. Her large breasts hanging from her chest and curvaceously athletic figure. It wasn’t just him admiring her either as every man enjoyed the view of her bending over right in front of them. Nobody heard the locking mechanism trigger as they were too distracted and when Catalina stood back up, she caught them all staring.
“Boys,” Catalina said putting a hand on her hip with the other on the doorknob. “Welcome to your new home.”
She twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open with her arm extended out for the group. Darkness was the only thing anyone could see inside as the windows made sure to blot out any light from entering or exiting the building. Maxson opened the other half of the front dou
ble door and before long the entire group was funneling themselves into the entrance. There was a small corridor that lead into the giant main entrance hall with a tall dark cherry desk at end of the corridor. Behind the desk was a staircase that lead to the second floor. Even though the tall wooden main building had big glass windows covering it, the inside was dark.
Maxson looked up to the windows, “Nobody noticed that they’re all covered?”
“Well I thought that was strange at first, but nobody else said anything, so I didn’t either,” Colton shrugged.
Maxson took a few steps into the building and the wooden floorboards creaked underneath his boots. His eyes were adjusting to the dark place and was surprised to find that the place was still organized. Not like any of the other places that were always disheveled and ransacked.
A shadow at the top of the stairs behind the desk moved and got Maxson’s attention. His eyes widened when an outline of a person was imagined and he quickly tensed up.
“Did you see something?” Catalina said standing now a few inches closer to him and staring into the large dark entrance rooms.
“Uh… nah… it was nothing…” Maxson replied, realizing that the figure was actually a bear. At the top of the stairs was a giant brown grizzly bear that had been stuffed and taxidermized.
That explains the outline, but not the moving shadow. Maxson thought.
“What the goddam hell is we waitin’ for?” Konrad yelled from the back interrupting Maxson’s cautious suspicions. “I want to see what’s inside!”
“Cool your jets, sonny,” Henry said.
“Mind your business, old man,” Eddie sneered. “Nobody is talking to you.”
“Aw pfft,” Henry waved his hand back at the youngster. Mabel grabbed at him and pulled him back.
“Shut up back there. Both of you,” Snapped Inez.
Maxson took the silence to curve his hands around his mouth to create a megaphone and yell, “HELLLO?”
His voice echoed back, but there was no other sound accompanying it. Maxson looked back to Catalina who tilted her head to tell him to do it again.
“WE’VE GOT BEEEEER!” Maxson yelled out. The group behind him got a small laugh.
“Maxson!” Catalina snipped.
“What? I’d come running if I heard that,” Maxson defended himself halfway serious.
“That was in poor taste… wouldn’t you say?” Catalina rolled her eyes.
“As funny as you two are, I want to find my new bedroom. I’ve had a long day” Konrad pushed through the entire group and made his way into the doorway.
“We’ve all had a long day, not just you,” Reggie’s voice strained and Maxson could tell that he was at his wit’s end.
“You guys go ahead….” Scott walked towards the back and to a small gray stone wall that wrapped around the front of the main building of the resort. I’m going to have me a little seat for a quick breather.”
The wall stood only two feet off of the ground, Scott perched himself on it. Sweating and pale and still trying to keep his bearings straight after nearly losing his life less than a half hour ago. If it weren’t for Maxson and Yargan, he might have been torn to pieces.
Maxson hadn’t noticed Eddie until he popped out from behind Konrad. With Pete, Colton and Catalina also standing with them, the front entrance corridor became too tight for Maxson’s liking.
“Henry!” Maxson called back hoping that he would make his way up to the front and bring his revolver with him. However, Henry didn’t answer even after he called a few times.
“He’s not here,” Inez stated.
“What? I just saw him a minute ago…” Maxson could see over most of the group due to his height and saw for himself that Henry was nowhere to be found. Walking to the back and looking outside Maxson only found Scott catching his breath and the part-semi-truck-part bus that Henry had built.
Maxson had discovered that, Slug, Suzie and Mable were also gone. “Where the hell did they go?”
Those clowns keep sneaking off.
“Clean up the bodies?” Belle replied. She offered some water to Scott who accepted it.
“Aye,” Scott confirmed. His face had beads of sweat coming down from it.
“Yeah… alright… Belle you okay with Scott?”, Maxson asked her.
“Yeah, I saw Achilles running around just a second ago. Besides, I’ll protect him, right Scott?” Belle gave him a pat on the back that was a little too rough and it made the big man gag. Horrified, Belle apologized for causing his nauseated stomach, “Oops…. Oh no-oh my God! I’m sorry Scott!”
Scott raised a hand to indicate he was fine, but remained silent. Maxson was temporarily amused as he looked around to see where the dog had gone. He couldn’t see it, but could hear its paws trampling against the open walled in courtyard somewhere.
“Alright, yell if ya need anything,” Maxson told Belle before he returned to the house failing to retrieve the revolver from Henry. Catalina stood with Reggie, Inez and Yargan looking annoyed. The rest of the men were nowhere to be seen.
“Where is everybody?” Maxson found himself asking yet again and realizing that he had completely lost control of his group.
“They were unwilling to wait,” Inez looked perturbed. “Now they’re going to get first choice on rooms.”
A small glow of light illuminated the inside of the house as Colton pulled down a blanket that was covering the window. The bear frozen in time at the top of the stair cases lit up from the light from the window and it made Inez gasp.
“Damn… why the hell would someone want that?” Reggie said, putting an arm around Inez. She reacted by pushing his arm off of her to stand alone, embarrassed from her reaction to seeing the bear.
“I think it’s kind of cool,” Maxson stared up at the bear that stood upright on its hind legs. It was large and fierce with paws as big as a human’s head and claws that looked as long as any human’s finger. It’s mouth was frozen open to permanently growl silently for eternity.
“Thing gives me the creeps,” Inez said with a shiver.
“Hey Maxson! Come up here!”, Colton called from the second floor. He was on the second floor that was overlooking the large community room and was struggling taking down a second blanket. The light revealed a very large fireplace in the middle of the great room that had tall vaulted ceilings. “There’s a good view all the way across the lake from up here!”
“I told you and the others to wait!” Scored Maxson. “Where are the other guys?”
“Ah-heck, Maxson, I’m just trying to uncover these windows to get some light in here! And I’m not sure where they all went.” Colton called back. His voice sounding as though it was further than before and now was out of sight of everyone.
As Maxson lead the rest of the group inside the now poorly lit building, a dark figure came from the next room over.
“Ah!” Catalina jumped into a defensive stance.
Yargan, who was closest, immediately used the handle of his sledgehammer to restrain the figure against the wall.
“Hey-Hey-Hey! Yargs! It’s me! Pete!”, He said as his face became unveiled from the darkness.
Reggie had to hold back his punch that was aimed at Pete’s face, “G’damn it, motherfucker… we almost just killed you!”
Hm… On second thought maybe we should just wait for Colton to get some light in the place.
Yargan pulled back his sledgehammer and let Pete back down to the ground and appearing halfway disappointed by the anti-climactic scuffle in brute fashion. Pete was rubbing at his chest and neck where the handle of the hammer had been buried and was hunched over, “Yeah guys, don’t worry about me, I’m just fine.”
“You alright, Pete?” Inez asked.
“Inez… thank you for caring.” Overdramatically stated Pete before he answered. “Yes, I think I’ll be fine.”
“Good. Now fall back in line,” Inez ordered.
“Alright, alright… geez!” Pete said without moving. “What’re
we doing just standing here anyway?”
“Well… we thought Colton was going to uncover all of the windows more…. As a matter of fact…” Reggie said before yelling up. “Colton?! Where is your country-music loving ass?”
Colton didn’t reply causing Reggie to yell out for him again.
Not again. Fuck. Maxson said realizing that Colton must have walked off. The entire group had been fragmented into smaller groups. Henry, Slug, Mabel and Suzie were in the front of the walled complex. Scott and Belle were still out front. Maxson had no idea where Tyler and Krystal were. The same went for Dustin, Konrad, Eddie and now Colton. Their victory had become a chaotic mess without authority and without control.
“Everyone just stay right here…. I’m going to go and grab Colton and come back,” Maxson realized that the desk that was in front of the staircase was actually blocking the bottom of it off. He hopped over it and began to climb up the stairs. Each stair creaked under Maxson and there was no point to trying to be stealthy about it in his boots.
The bear looked even larger up close at the top of the stairs and it was the first thing that Maxson had to look up to in a long time. Maxson proceeded to walk into the big open room that looked like a second common area for people to lounge around. There were filled bookshelves, a few card tables set up along with multiple couches and cushioned chairs. The second floor was nothing more than a giant sunroom that overlooked the first floor that had a fireplace. A place where someone could grab a cup of coffee, take a seat and read a book inside, but still be under the sun or moonlight.
“What do you see?” Catalina asked from the first floor.
“There’s a door that leads out to a balcony. I see a hallway with a couple of doors. There might be more, but its still really dark in here.” Maxson said seeing the fabric that Colton must have been struggling with earlier. He ran into a few pieces of furniture in the dimly lit room making his way towards the hanging fabric.
“You okay?!” Catalina squealed calmly.
“Yeah… I’m fine!” Maxson said, but had a small smile on his face. “I’m just gonna’ light this room up a little more… almost there!”