Nemesis: Inception

by G. Michael Hopf

  “I’m not being political, just stating facts,” Liz said, defending her comments.

  “Those aren’t facts, those are opinions.”

  “Why else would someone attack us? It has to be in response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

  “Riddle me this, Liz, I believe September 11th happened before those wars,” Lexi debated.

  “That was also because of republican imperialism.”

  Lexi gripped the arms of her chair firmly and stood up. “Okeydokey.”

  “You’re not a republican, are you? How is that possible? You’re a woman,” Liz stated.

  “I’m neither a republican nor a democrat; I’m a person who is fucking tired of hearing bullshit. The door is right there, see yourself out.”

  “Rude!” Liz bellowed.

  Carey chuckleD.

  Liz strutted towards the door, turned and said, “You wait and see, this whole thing will be over in a week or so, and we’ll be able to thank the president for making it better. Once again he will have bailed us out.”

  “What is fucking wrong with you?” Lexi asked.

  Liz grunted and grabbed the handle.

  “Go ride your fucking mindless zombie crazy train to the altar of your demi-God president!” Lexi yelled.

  Liz opened the door and slammed it behind her.

  Not finished ridiculing Liz, Lexi hollered, “No man or woman should be worshipped. How about thinking for yourself, loser!”

  “Jesus Christ, Lexi! I never knew you were such a hater of the president.”

  “I’m not, I’m indifferent. I just hate ideologues who view the world through the prisms of politics. This entire view that one party is great and the other is evil is pure adolescence and ignorant. Did you know that Adam was a democrat? Yeah, while they declare one side is so bad, he’s out there waging his own personal war on women. So don’t tell me one side is so perfect and the other is to blame for all the bad that happens. It’s pure mindless bullshit.”

  “Damn, you’re fired up!” Carey exclaimed.

  Lexi fell into the chair, breathing heavily. “I just hate people, especially political people. Morons through and through.”

  A loud banging at the door made them jump.

  “Is she back for more?” Carey asked, referencing Liz.

  “God, I hope not,” Lexi said and got up and opened the door. “It’s you, thank God,” Lexi said to Jeff, whose face and arms showed telltale signs of being in a fight. “What happened to you?” Lexi asked, pulling him inside.

  “I got jumped. Luckily your neighbor helped me out.”

  “Neighbor?” Lexi asked.

  “Frank, the guy next door, older Hispanic guy, says he was a Border Patrol agent.”

  Lexi thought for a moment, the name didn’t ring a bell, but she did remember seeing an older man living in the condo next to hers. He kept to himself and they had only shared greetings over the time she had seen him living there. “Oh yeah, that guy.”

  Jeff walked further into the condo and looked around at the mess. “What happened here?”

  “Oh, we were having a pillow fight.”

  Jeff plopped into the chair and asked, “Do you have anything to eat?”

  “It’s funny you ask that,” Lexi said.

  “No, she doesn’t,” Carey replied.

  “I’m starving.” Jeff groaned.

  “Me too, but do I need to get a first aid kit or something?” Lexi said, pointing out the bloody scrapes on his arms and face.

  “I’m fine, nothing major,” Jeff said as he examined his arms.

  “Where did this happen?” Carey asked.

  “Not too far from here, near that frozen yogurt shop on the corner near the freeway. I was just strolling by when I heard a woman cry out for help. I went over to see what’s up and I found three guys around her car. Anyway, I asked what’s up and the only response I got was a punch to the side of my head. It dropped me hard. I’m lucky because out of nowhere your neighbor came up and ran the guys off.”

  “What happened to the woman?” Carey asked.

  “She took off.”

  “Her car worked?” Lexi asked.

  “Yeah, in fact, I saw several other cars driving. They were all older cars.”

  “What was Frank doing there?” Lexi asked, curious as to why he’d be there.

  “He said he was walking back to his place from work,” Jeff replied; then his tone shifted. His voice lowered and he stammered for a second. “Frank confirmed what that guy Greg said earlier.”

  “That it’s the end of the world?” Lexi asked.

  “Pretty much.”

  Carey began to nervously chew on her fingers.

  “What do you think we should do?” Lexi asked.

  “Food, we need to get some food and water. After that we can make a plan,” Jeff said.

  “Where do you have in mind?”

  “That Vons down the street.”

  “If the power is out, how are we going to pay for groceries?” Lexi asked with a skeptical tone.

  “I have one hundred and twenty bucks, what do you have?” Jeff said.

  “Maybe twenty,” Lexi replied.

  Carey stopped chewing for a second and answered, “I don’t keep cash.”

  “Once again you prove to be the shining example of the millennial movement.”

  Carey raised her middle finger.

  “Enough talking, let’s get going before it gets too dark,” Lexi said.

  As the minutes passed, the reality of what had happened sank deeper into Lexi’s mind. There wasn’t a plausible explanation that beat what Greg claimed happened, and having Frank, a former Federal law enforcement officer, confirm it made her feel ill.

  The three left Lexi’s condo with Lexi in the lead. She raced down the stairs and marched towards the road with purpose in her stride.

  Carey was right behind her, hoodie in hand to keep her warm against the cool December afternoon. She was an inch taller than Lexi, almost five foot seven inches with shoulder-length brown hair, which was thick and typically pulled back. She kept her natural color as compared to Lexi, who dyed her hair blonde. While proclaiming she wasn’t a victim to style or fashion, Carey followed the tight-knit regime of the supposed revolt against it. Most of her clothes were purchased from consignment stores, makeup was kept at a minimum and her hair kept as natural as possible.

  Lexi didn’t care much for this look, but she was happy that Carey hadn’t gone over the edge like some women who went for the alternative look.

  “Lexi, Lexi, hold on a minute,” a woman called from the condo below hers.

  Hearing her name called, Lexi stopped and turned to see Jessie Vander, her neighbor and occasional party friend. “Hi, Jess, no time to chat,” Lexi hollered back.

  Jessie ran up to them, a bizarre look on her face. “Some strange shit going on, isn’t it?” Jessie was tall and lanky with overbleached blonde hair. Often black circles outlined her eyes, giving her a sickly look. Lexi knew she wasn’t sick but mostly strung out from heavy alcohol and drug use.

  “Yeah, real strange,” Lexi answered.

  “Where you off to?” she asked, her eyes wide and speech frenzied.

  Lexi knew that look. Jessie was high on something and it wasn’t life.

  “Hi, Jess! We’re off to the store to get food,” Carey blurted out. She knew Jessie too from her visits to see Lexi. Each trip they’d go out at least once.

  Lexi cringed when Carey offered the information because she knew what was coming next.

  “Oh, good, could you please get me a pack of Marlboro lights, some jerky, spicy if they have it, and a bag of Twizzlers?”

  “Sure,” Carey said.

  Again, Lexi physically cringed as her sister was saying everything she would not.

  “I don’t have any cash; can I pay you back later?” Jessie asked.

  “Um—” Lexi said but was interrupted.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Carey cheerfully offered.

>   Jeff looked on and was getting impatient, “We’ll get your stuff. Come on, we need to go.”

  “Thanks, guys,” Jessie chirped and ran off.

  “Way to go, Carey,” Lexi snapped and turned.

  “What? What did I do?” Carey asked, running up behind her.

  “We have finite cash and you’re offering it to Jonesing Jessie Vander.”

  “Jonesing Jessie?” Jeff asked, curious about the nickname.

  “Because she’s always jonesing for drugs,” Lexi replied.

  Jeff chuckled and said, “I get the feeling you don’t like her.”

  “I like her,” Carey chimed.

  “Not you, Lexi.”

  “Screw her.”

  “What happened, does she come over asking for sugar all the time?” Jeff joked.

  “Can we stop talking about her?” Lexi asked as she shuffled along.

  Carey’s grin turned to a frown. “Her boyfriend killed Lexi’s dog.”

  “What, how?”

  “Enough, I don’t want to talk about it,” Lexi snapped.

  Carey fell back a few feet behind Lexi and tugged on Jeff’s sleeve.

  He leaned closer.

  “Some guy named Oscar, a badass drug dealer, kicked the poor dog to death. It still saddens me to think about it.”

  Lexi stopped and turned, “It not only saddens me, it pisses me off. Now can we stop talking about it? The girl is a strung-out druggie who runs with dog-murdering scumbags.”

  Jeff nodded and said, “Sorry about your dog.”

  Lexi spun around and replied, “I’m sorry too.”

  When they hit the street, Lexi finally saw more evidence that the outage was widespread. Cars sat abandoned, left by their owners hours before. Most had their hoods up and trunks open. People were milling around outdoors and the sounds of talking, yelling, and laughter echoed from the small apartment complexes that dotted the street frontage.

  They talked about the outage and what was to come.

  “In some ways we had this coming,” Carey said.

  “Who had it coming?” Lexi asked.

  “Us, the United States, we deserved this in some ways,” Carey said.

  “When did you become such a hippie? Is this what Mom’s good money is being wasted on?” Lexi asked.

  “What?” Carey asked.

  “You’re the perfect example of the pampered and clueless generation. You complain about silly stuff but bask in the wealth the country had. So naïve.”

  “Naive? This coming from the princess who cares about her looks and her perfect blonde hair.”

  “I care about how I look, but I don’t go out of my way to make a statement about looks then make sure I have a specific look. So much talk about judgment from your type and all you do is judge,” Lexi shot back.

  “You know, if this is what I have to deal with, I’ll just go to Mom’s right now.”

  Lexi stopped and grabbed Carey.

  Jeff kept his mouth shut and observed the sibling fight in fascination.

  “I love you, but I need you to wake the fuck up,” Lexi chastised.

  “Now you’re suddenly worried? You didn’t seem that way an hour ago.”

  “I have a healthy skepticism, sorry, but at least I don’t stress over it then shift into ‘we deserved it’ mode.”

  “You’re such a stress monster, always have been,” Carey responded as she jerked her arm away and continued to walk.

  Lexi jogged up to her and again stopped her. “Let’s agree to this. I’ll stop talking, you stop talking, and let’s get some groceries and go home.”

  Carey looked at her and nodded in agreement.

  Jeff came jogging up and said, “Hey, guys, this doesn’t look good.”

  They turned and saw the chaos at the Vons.

  Lexi and Carey had been so engaged with their petty fight they didn’t notice what was going on around them.

  “Not good,” Lexi said.

  “Looks like everyone else had the same idea we had,” Jeff said.

  “What should we do?” Carey asked, a tinge of fear in her voice as she was watching people running around in a panic. Their screams of hate, fear and desperation echoed off the surrounding buildings.

  “We have to eat. Let’s go,” Lexi said and began to march towards the mob.

  The closer they got to the parking lot, the greater the chaos came into sharp relief. People were dashing in and out of the smashed front doors. The yelling, screaming and cries of panic grew louder and louder as they drew closer.

  An elderly man came rushing out of the store with a full cart but made it only ten feet before two teenage boys ran over to him. One punched him in the face while the other grabbed the cart. The teen thugs had been waiting for the opportunity to prey upon someone and knew the man was an easy target. The man cried out after being struck; he stumbled and fell to the hard pavement. With a look of terror on his face, he reached out in vain to stop the attackers, but his meager attempt was no match for the young men. Both teens were laughing as they charged ahead in Lexi’s direction with the cart of food.

  Seeing this enraged Lexi. As if on autopilot, she ran up to them and said, “Hey!”

  The two boys stopped and laughed at Lexi.

  One stepped around and put his arm out. “Get out of the way, bitch!”

  “Say hello to my friend,” Lexi said then leveled a small canister of pepper spray at the one who called her a bitch and pressed the button. A long stream sprayed the boy in the face. She then turned to the other boy and sprayed him. Both of them cried out in pain.

  Jeff came over to help and pushed the boys down.

  “That will teach you to pick on old people!” Lexi screamed.

  They howled in pain as they ran away.

  “Oh my God, that was awesome!” Carey bellowed with pride.

  Lexi ignored her and jogged over to the elderly man and helped him up. “You all right?”

  “Yes, yes, thank you.”

  Jeff smiled as he watched Lexi provide charity and comfort to the elderly man. He was proud of her; she didn’t have to help, she chose to. There was a big difference and it spoke volumes about who she was.

  Lexi grabbed the cart and wheeled it over to the man. “You going to be okay?”

  “Yes, thank you again, you were a Godsend.”

  “Take care,” she replied.

  The man briskly walked away.

  Lexi cracked a slight smile, turned to her comrades and said, “Let’s go shopping.”

  The scene inside the store was even more chaotic than what they witnessed outside. The first problem they encountered was they couldn’t see. With the power out and no windows, the entire store was bathed in utter darkness.

  The howls, screams and cries seemed amplified inside the four walls. Beams from flashlights bounced and darted around the massive store.

  “What’s the game plan?” Jeff asked.

  Lexi was frozen. She knew they needed food, but this chaotic scene was surreal. How could people fall apart so quickly? she asked herself.

  “Lexi?” Jeff asked.

  “Let’s get in and out, fast,” she replied.

  “I don’t think this is a good idea,” Carey said, her eyes as wide as saucers.

  “No time to chat, let’s grab what we can and get back outside as fast as possible,” Lexi ordered.

  Jeff darted off and disappeared into the darkness.

  Lexi grabbed Carey’s hand and followed. Within ten steps they were immersed in the intense darkness. Each time someone bumped into them, Carey jumped.

  Lexi let her memory guide her to the canned food aisle. The floor was covered with dropped food, making their steps awkward.

  Once in the aisle, the chaos intensified. People bounced off them every other step.

  Carey grasped onto Lexi’s hand tightly, but that wasn’t enough to keep them together after a surge of people pushed past them.

  “Lexi, where are you?” Carey cried out.

  “
Right here,” Lexi replied. She spun around and looked, but all she could see were faint glimpses of people as random beams of light reflected off them.

  “Carey, just stay put,” Lexi called out.

  No reply.

  “Carey!” Lexi yelled.

  Still no reply.

  Frantically, Lexi headed out of the aisle and stopped. “Carey!”

  “Lexi, help, help me!” Carey screamed.

  Lexi knew she was in trouble. She turned and headed in the direction of Carey’s voice but tripped after two steps. She hit the floor hard, and as she tried to get up, a small herd of people came and toppled over her, pushing her back into the floor.

  “Lexi, help!” Carey screamed in fear.

  “I’m coming!” Lexi responded, trying to get off the floor. Arms, legs and hands were hitting her as she struggled to rise. “Get fucking off me!” Lexi screamed.

  “HELP!” Carey screamed, her voice now further away.

  Lexi got to her knees but again fell when several people ran into her. “Argh!” she hollered in frustration.

  “Help me!” Carey again screamed, her voice moving away from Lexi.

  Panic began to set in for Lexi as she began to contemplate never seeing Carey again.

  Angry, scared but determined, Lexi thrashed and punched her way out of the mass of people on the floor. She got to her feet and sprinted in the direction of Carey’s pleas, which were near the entrance.

  “Carey, where are you?” Lexi called out.

  No reply.

  “Carey!”

  A muffled whimper came from the checkout counters.

  “Carey, is that you?” Lexi asked.

  “Lexi!” Carey cried.

  A man’s voice barked, “Grab her arms while I spread her legs.” This was followed by another man: “The bitch won’t stop squirming!”

  The pit of Lexi’s stomach tightened and her rage intensified. She pulled the pepper spray from her pocket but fumbled and dropped it. She bent over to find it, but she couldn’t, her hand instead found a heavy can. She grasped it and headed directly towards the voices.

  A faint light came in from the entrance, allowing her to make out silhouettes near the checkout lanes. She raced towards them and again hollered for her sister, “Carey!”