“Ahh! No!” Jessie wailed, her body slumped over Oscar’s.
“Just shut the hell up!” Lexi snapped, mocking her.
“You killed him, you did!” Jessie yelled and grabbed Oscar’s pistol. She pointed it at Frank and pulled the trigger.
Frank was too slow to react. The bullet from Oscar’s pistol struck him in the gut.
Jessie stood and marched towards Frank, pulling the trigger two more times, both striking Frank, once more in the gut and another in his thigh.
Lexi sprinted from around the corner but stopped when she saw Carey holding her pistol.
Carey didn’t say a word; she squeezed the trigger of Lexi’s Glock. The 9mm round hit Jessie in the center of her back.
Jessie’s march was stopped; she turned and faced Carey. Her arms hung low, she looked down at the exit wound in her chest. The bullet went clean through her. “I can’t die, no, not like this.”
Carey got to her feet. Something had gotten into her; she leveled the pistol at Jessie and squeezed it one more time. This round struck Jessie in the forehead.
Jesse’s head snapped back. Her body dropped to the floor, dead.
Lexi couldn’t believe it; she had never once in her life seen her sister act aggressively towards anyone or anything. But something had shifted in Carey, nothing sinister but something that was clearly lethal.
Frank was alive but barely.
Lexi and Carey had tried to take him back to the bed, but he refused.
He knew his outcome before, but this time it wasn’t the cancer that was going to kill him. “To the beach, take me to the beach,” he softly said.
“Are you sure?” Lexi asked.
He nodded.
“Grab his legs,” Lexi ordered Carey.
They lifted, but his weight was too much for them.
“You’re too damn heavy,” Lexi exclaimed.
Frank’s head hung low and he said something unintelligible.
“I’m not sure how long I can carry him,” Carey complained.
“Just keep moving,” Lexi barked.
They slowly moved through the great room, only stopping briefly to open a large sliding door. With the same snail’s pace, they crossed the deck and down onto the beach.
“Where…where do you want us to place you?” Lexi asked.
Using what little strength he had, he lifted his head and pointed directly out in front of him.
The night sky was slightly illuminated by a full moon that was rising in the east. This helped them navigate across the beach towards the surf.
“It’s so much harder now,” Carey whined as each footfall melted into the sand.
“Almost there,” Lexi said, looking at a spot that was halfway in between the house and the water. “How’s this?” Lexi asked Frank.
“Good,” he replied.
They slowly lowered him down onto the cool sand and took seats to either side of him.
He coughed loudly and spit out a mouthful of blood.
Lexi suddenly felt sentimental about a man she had only just met. It seemed odd when she thought about it, but she couldn’t shake the feeling. She listened to his wheezing breath.
A chilled breeze cut through her, forming goose bumps on her arms.
Carey remained quiet and reflective too. She looked at the moon’s reflection as it danced on the shifting ocean. Her mind was filled with regret as she questioned her actions that directly caused the confrontation with Jessie and Oscar. Her intentions were always pure, but that didn’t matter if good intentions led to tragic things. She looked down at her hands, they were still trembling, and the reality of killing Jessie hadn’t quite sunk in. Her mind covered the details of her shooting Jessie and she found justification to do so, but that wasn’t her. She wasn’t the fighter her sister was, or was she? She had much to deliberate internally.
“Are you cold too?” Lexi whispered.
“Yeah,” Carey replied.
Frank was semiconscious and shifted ever so slightly when he heard Lexi talk.
Lexi touched Frank’s arm and found it cold. She wondered if it was because of the cool air or from a loss of blood.
“I’m going to run inside and get a blanket,” Lexi said. She stood up and quickly walked back to the house.
Inside, she found it as they had left it. Jessie’s and Oscar’s bodies were lying on the floor. What looked like gallons of blood spread from the kitchen to the great room. She paused and took in the scene before grabbing a thick faux fur throw that draped the back of the sectional. When she exited the house, she could hear Carey whimpering. Lexi raced across the sand and stopped just above Carey and Frank, who was now lying down on his back.
Carey looked up, tears streaming down her face, and said, “He’s dead.”
“Are you sure?” Lexi asked, kneeling down next to Frank and checking his pulse. She found nothing. She leaned over his face to see if she could feel his breath, but there too she felt nothing. The slow breathing she had heard earlier was absent.
“I don’t know why I’m crying, it’s not like I knew him or anything,” Carey said, wiping warm tears from her cool face.
Lexi couldn’t stay angry at her sister anymore. She touched her arm and said, “You’re crying because he was a good guy, a dad-like kinda guy, and you saw that. You saw the good in him, the human being in him. You’re a good person, Carey, much better than I am.”
“That’s not true, you’re amazing. You’re so strong, tough. I’m just a stupid girl who is too trusting,” Carey cried.
“We make a good team.”
“Should we bury him?” Carey asked.
Lexi looked down on Frank’s body. The full moon cast enough light to see his face. She took the throw and covered him. “It doesn’t feel right to bury him.”
“We can’t just leave him here.”
“I think putting him below the surface isn’t what he would want. He loved the beach and the ocean. I think he should still enjoy it. Let the ocean air stay on him,” Lexi said, explaining her reasons for not burying Frank.
Carey rubbed her eyes and said, “That seems reasonable.”
“You know, I’m sad too and I can’t explain why. Like you said, we knew him for such a short period of time, but somehow I felt like he was one of us. So strange,” Lexi said.
“It’s this place, it’s what’s happening. It’s changing us, making us more sensitive, I guess.”
“I think you’re right,” Lexi agreed.
“What are we going to do?” Carey asked.
That was the million-dollar question and it pulled Lexi away from the somber moment. So much had happened over the past few days and it was only going to get worse. Staying in the city and suburbs was not a viable plan even though they had a huge house that had a small cache of food and water. They needed to get on the road and head towards the ranch.
“Lexi, are you listening to me?”
“Yeah.”
“What are we going to do?”
Lexi stood up and looked towards the house then back to Carey. She dug into her pocket and pulled out the key to the Impala. She held it out, the rabbit’s foot dangling. “I’m going to see if that car runs.”
They tiptoed around the pooled blood on their way to the garage, stopping only to get their weapons and vests. They were not going to be caught unprepared this time.
Carey lit the garage with a flashlight while Lexi made her way to the car. She got behind the wheel and paused.
Lexi’s hand began to nervously shake when she pulled the key out of her pocket. Her heart raced, thinking about how much this one thing working out for them mattered. It had been almost three days since her world ended, and in that small amount of time she had witnessed violence, murder and chaos. Nothing seemed to be going perfectly and she needed this one thing to work.
“I hope Frank was right,” Carey said, standing outside the car. She held the flashlight steady and directed the beam on the steering wheel.
Like before, Lexi p
ressed her eyes closed tightly and said a prayer. Without opening them, she put the key in the ignition and turned it quickly.
The car roared to life with a guttural exhaust sound.
“YES!” Carey screamed.
Not realizing she had been holding her breath, she exhaled heavily, opened her eyes and relaxed into the seat.
Carey jumped up and down.
Lexi pushed the accelerator.
The engine roared. The twin tailpipes thumped loudly.
A broad smile stretched across Lexi’s face. She looked at her sister dancing and bouncing around the car. For the first time it seemed like something worked for them, but the cost was high. She knew this small victory would be trumped by something horrible, but pushed that thought out of her mind. She gave herself permission to be happy.
Carey reached in the car and gave Lexi a hug. “I’m so excited.”
“I am too,” Lexi replied.
“So we leave now?” Carey asked.
A fatigue like nothing she had felt before was weighing Lexi down. She needed to rest. “Yeah, we can leave, but I think we need to get some sleep.”
“Sleep and then we go check on Mom?” Carey asked.
Too tired to argue, Lexi said, “Sleep and then we’ll check on Mom.”
Carey gave her a hug and kissed Lexi’s cheek.
With one victory under their belt, they huddled in a spare bedroom. Neither one had the energy to stay awake to watch out for intruders. They barricaded themselves in the bedroom by locking it and pushing a large dresser in front of the door, but not before Lexi ensured their vehicle wouldn’t be taken. She removed the battery and took it into the room with them.
Armed and barricaded, they lay down on the down-covered bed.
Carey fell asleep quickly, her head resting against Lexi’s shoulder.
Lexi liked this and it brought her back to her childhood when Carey would sneak into her bedroom and sleep with her. She’d nuzzle up to Lexi and fall instantly to sleep. Because their mother was absent most of the time, Lexi found herself being more a mother than a sister.
Lexi thought about what had happened over the past few days. It was hard to believe any of it was real. Just a week ago she and Carey were out partying and didn’t have a care in the world except where they’d find food at three in the morning. Now fast-forward a week and they were struggling to survive. It was amazing they were sane and coherent.
Carey’s breathing increased in tempo.
Lexi could tell she was having a dream and hoped it was a pleasant one but doubted it. How could anyone ever dream sweetly again? The world they knew was gone; there was no doubt of that. In fact, Lexi couldn’t think of any positive guarantees left available to them. Each second could bring something or someone horrible. Death seemed like it hid around every corner. How was she going to keep them alive? How would she make sure they got to the ranch in Nevada? So many questions and no answers.
Carey kicked her legs several times.
Lexi squeezed Carey, kissed her on the top of her head and whispered, “Sssh, it’ll be all right.” But that was a lie and Lexi knew it. It was not going to be okay, but those words instinctually came out of her mouth.
Carey moaned quietly and flexed her arms.
Lexi brought her in tighter, rubbed her back and hummed a lullaby until she fell asleep.
DECEMBER 8, 2014
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin Coolidge
La Jolla Shores, CA
Lexi woke suddenly. Her eyes opened and pupils adjusted to the bright light that engulfed the room. She sat up and first noticed that Carey wasn’t there. She looked to the door and saw the dresser shoved a foot away from the door. Alarmed, she jumped out of bed, grabbed her Glock and headed out the door, squeezing out the narrow gap into the hallway.
“Carey?” Lexi called out.
“Here,” Carey hollered from the back deck that overlooked the beach.
Lexi headed towards her, only stopping to see the bodies of Jessie and Oscar were now covered by blankets. She exited the cool house and walked into the warmth of the late morning sun. “What are you doing?”
Carey sat on the stairs facing towards the ocean. She didn’t turn to address Lexi. “Just thinking.”
Lexi looked left and right down the beach. Out in front of them, in the middle of the beach, she saw Frank’s body was still there. She took a seat next to Carey and asked, “What’s going on? You know it’s risky to be sitting out here by yourself.”
Carey wiped a few tears from her face.
Lexi noticed this and saw Carey’s eyes were swollen from crying. “You okay?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Is it about last night?” Lexi asked.
“No…” she cried.
Lexi rubbed her back and asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“How can you talk about this?” Carey said, holding out her arms in reference to the world around them.
“I know it’s hard,” Lexi said.
“Do you? Have you ever killed anyone?” Carey said and glared at her.
“Um, no, but I think I can understand.”
Carey wiped her tears again and said, “It’s not about last night, really. I want to know why.”
“Why what?”
“Why would anyone do this? What’s the purpose?”
“Like I said…”
Carey interrupted Lexi and said, “I get what you said before, people are evil and just want to destroy, but why?”
“I think we’ll never know why, and even if they said why, that wouldn’t be the real answer,” Lexi explained.
“Then what’s the real answer?”
“Some people are just sick and twisted and will do horrible things. They might find justification in religion or politics, but the reality is they just like to hurt.”
“What makes me different? Huh? I murdered Jessie last night.”
“Whoa, whoa, hold on there. You didn’t murder her, you killed her.”
Carey exclaimed, “What’s the difference? She’s dead!”
“There is a difference. Her intent was to kill and you stopped her. You saved lives.”
“It’s all so…” Carey paused and looked towards the ocean.
Lexi stopped from making another comment and decided to let Carey finish her thought.
Minutes passed before Carey continued, “I just need some time to digest what happened last night.”
“That makes sense,” Lexi interjected.
“Can you please stop talking over me?” Carey snapped.
Lexi nodded.
Carey wiped more tears and ran her fingers through her dark hair, which showed signs of neglect. “I’m confused. If someone were to ask me last week if I’d shoot someone, I’d tell them no, but something came over me. And the thing that hurts more than anything else is…” Again she paused to collect her thoughts. “Is that I want to regret it, my logical self says to regret what I did, but I don’t and that troubles me. Society tells us that anytime we kill someone we should be filled with self-loathing and to hate ourselves, but I don’t. Is something wrong with me? Am I not a good person? I thought I was a good person all my life. I’d give to the poor, I voted on every stupid ballot issue that helped anyone who needed it. I’m even against capital punishment, and now I find myself a killer, but deep down I don’t regret what I did.”
Lexi was shocked by her confession.
“You see, I think my programmed brain keeps telling me I’m a murderer, a killer, but this other part of me says what I did was right and that…”
Lexi waited but more time elapsed, so she asked, “And that?”
“I could do it again easily. I feel that I just didn’t kill Jessie last night, I kill
ed the old Carey. She died last night when I pulled that trigger, and I’m sitting here mourning her loss but also realizing that this new Carey will keep me and you alive.”
“Don’t change too much, I love the old Carey too,” Lexi mused.
“The best parts of me are still here. I’m just new and improved.”
“Try not to get too jaded, that’s my job, remember?” Lexi joked.
“I’m not jaded, I’m just able to see for the first time.”
“And what do you see?”
“No one is ever going to hurt you or me. No more wallflower Carey, no more clueless and stupid Carey. If we’re going to make it, I have to fight back.”
Lexi let everything Carey said sink in. In some ways she was happy to know Carey would be more diligent and careful in her actions, but she just hoped the tenderness that Carey had wouldn’t have to go away.
They sat in silence for a few moments watching the waves crash along the shore.
“Can I confess something?” Lexi asked.
“Sure.”
“I know you don’t think I can relate, but what you just said, I can for sure and I don’t mean exactly the same, but losing who you thought you were and becoming someone new. That happened to me when I beat Adam to a bloody pulp. I just snapped. I wasn’t going to be touched like that again…”
“Again? What does that mean?” Carey asked, picking up on that.
“No, no, wait, I didn’t mean—”
“Were you attacked before?”
Lexi turned red and her face became emotionless. She stared off towards the ocean beyond.
“Lexi, tell me. I won’t judge you. You’re all I have and I’m all you have, we’re it in this fucked-up world. So if something happened to you before, it’s okay to share that, I’m a safe place,” Carey said and put her arm around Lexi’s shoulder.
Conflicting voices tore at each other in Lexi’s head. She had held a secret so dark and horrible that telling it could bring back those emotions at a time she didn’t need them to be front and center.
As she rubbed Lexi’s tight shoulders, Carey softly said, “Listen, it’s fine if you don’t want to say anything.”
Nemesis: Inception Page 10