by Dennis Elder
Hector sensed something ugly was coming and moved in his seat. The chair creaked again.
“All right,” started Ivan as he pointed directly at Hector. “I want report every day on progress. You be in my office every day exactly 2 pm. Not 2:10 pm, not 2:03 pm. Exactly 2 pm. You understand?”
“Yea,” said Hector.
“If you late, even one minute, even by one second, then you’re fired,” barked Ivan.
“OK,” said Hector.
The hat kept spinning in Hector’s hands. Ivan sat back and started tapping his pencil again.
Hector moved in his seat slightly. You could tell he wanted to ask something but was a little scared. Ivan could see his frustration.
“OK, what is it?” asked Ivan.
“Well,” started Hector. “What do you want me to report on?”
Ivan’s eyes went wide with frustration and he bounced the pencil so hard it popped back up and the pencil lead struck Ivan right in the middle of his left eye.
“Aggh,” shouted Ivan. The pencil dropped to the floor. Ivan reached his fingers up to cover his bleeding eye and then stood up.
“Get out of my office you idiot!” shouted Ivan. “Get out and don’t come back until you bring me that girl!”
Hector jumped up and made for the door.
Ivan sat back down exasperated.
“You want me to get the medic?” asked Claudio.
Ivan didn’t respond but reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small mirror. He looked into the mirror to check the damage.
“That guy is unbelievable!” whispered Ivan. His eye was watering a lot which made it hard to see. But the mirror showed where the pencil lead had struck.
A few seconds went by. Then Hector’s timid voice was suddenly heard from the hallway.
“I just want to double check if you still want me to come back tomorrow at 2 pm?” asked Hector. Neither Claudio nor Ivan could see Hector; because the guy was hiding around the corner.
Chapter 69: Still a free country
It was noon and Mark and his team had not yet resumed their ride north. Mary, Lenny, Pam and the two kids remained on the far side of the freeway, near the onramp. They’d recovered their rifles and were now free to go their way.
Most of Mark’s team were resting, their bikes leaning against the concrete like so many Harley Davidson motorcycles. Doc, Sylvia, Mark, and Susan stood near Mary’s group. Mark had explained their plan and hopes of reaching the Great Salt Lake Valley. Hopefully before the snows began to collect. Mark told them they were welcome to come along, but under the same military rules of conduct that all of Mark’s team had already agreed to.
It seemed like Lenny and Pam wanted to come along, but they felt loyalty to Mary and didn’t want to break up their little group. But Mary was hesitant. She hadn’t had the best of experiences with men. Her ex-husband had been a bully and Chucky only reminded her of how easily men could turn into tyrants. Mark’s military command style stirred those old feelings. The group seemed at an impasse and Mark was becoming frustrated. They needed to get moving again and Mary was having a hard time making the decision to come with them or continue on their own.
“Look, it’s still a free country as far as we’re concerned,” offered Mark. “Nobody’s making you go with us.”
“And you couldn’t make us,” said Mary with renewed defiance.
“Fine,” replied Mark as he shouldered his rifle in a gesture that he was ready to get moving again. “You want to die in Los Angeles, be my guest.” As he gestured back toward the Cajon pass.
Sylvia saw Mark’s frustration and stepped forward, hoping to make a final appeal to Mary.
“Honey, we are not interesting in making slaves out of you or your new family,” said Sylvia. “We just hope you’d see the advantages of coming with us.”
“Look, if these guys don’t want to come with us, then let’s get moving,” interjected Susie.
Sylvia gave Susie her best shut up look.
“Your best chance for survival is to come with us,” continued Sylvia. “I don’t think you really know what’s out there.”
Doc shook his head in agreement and added, “Together we’re stronger, and with my training, your little girl’s got a much better chance of a full recovery.
Silence reigned again. Mary was scared and didn’t know these people. She didn’t want to make a mistake.
“I appreciate the invitation,” said Mary. “It’s just… we’ve kinda learned how to get by on our own. And we don’t need anyone telling us how it is 24/7, ya know.”
“I know, I know…” countered Sylvia. “I struggled to come with these guys at first too. But when I weighed the hope they provide against the cost of swallowing my pride, I signed up.”
“So, you and the teenagers are in the army now?” said Mary with a measure of cynicism.
Pam was a bit embarrassed by Mary’s comment and said, “Mary!”
Mary turned back to Pam. Pam gave her the settle down look. Slowly Mary turned back to Sylvia.
“We’re just suggesting it’s more about all of you, rather than just about you, Mary” offered Doc.
“I’m thinking about the kids,” said Mary, still weighing the possibilities.
“And one more thing,” offered Sylvia. “Along the way I found out they’re pretty good people”
“Last chance,” said Mark. “Decision time, you’re in our you’re out.”
The tension was thick. Finally, Sally broke the ice.
“I want to go with them,” innocently offered little Sally. “And I want to go with her,” pointing at Gracie. Gracie waived back to Sally and smiled.
Mary smiled and took a deep breath.
“As long as we understand that if you or any of your boys go all crazy on us, we have the right to take off on our own” said Mary.
“Understood,” said Mark. “However, as long as you choose to stay with us, you will follow my commands and the commands of the other officers. Is that understood?”
“Understood,” said Mary, finally.
“OK,” started Mark. “The first thing we need to do is get you and your guys outfitted. Doc, Susie and Boon, front and center.”
Chapter 70: Headfirst
Marylin let Kevin sleep. He asked her to wake him once it was completely dark. It was now 8:15 pm by Kevin’s watch and she gently whispered to him.
“Kevin…its dark now. You wanted me to wake you when it was dark.”
Marylin turned quietly and looked out through the trailer’s curtains. The two men were still up against the freeway concrete lane divider. Their small fire cast pale yellow reflections on their faces.
Kevin woke slowly. The heat inside the trailer had risen to at least 100 degrees during the past two days. They had opened the trailer’s back windows but it was still like a sauna inside. And they drank the last of the bottled water that morning. Mark decided that he’d sneak out tonight and search for water and food.
Neither of them had been out of their clothes for a long time and the heat intensified their discomfort. They were both weak and they’re lips were cracked. Mark stretched his joints and then instinctively yawned. When he did his upper lip split open. It was an old crack and when it reopened a little blood seeped to the surface.
Before Mark put his hand on the trailer’s door handle, they both rehearsed what might happen next. If the trailer door made enough noise to attract the attention of the two men on the freeway, then both Mark and Marylin would run from the trailer and hope to find a new hiding place. Mary would watch the men as Mark attempted to open the door. If the men didn’t move, Mark would slip out and return with whatever supplies he could find. Mark put two pillowcases in his pockets. He’d use them to carry back any food he found.
Once Marylin parted the curtains, Mark twisted the trailer door handle. There was a little noise, but the men didn’t move. So, Mark waved a hopeful goodbye, moved outside and quietly shut the door behind him.
He sat down f
or a few seconds to let his eyes adjust to the available light. There was a quarter moon or so of light, and his eyes quickly adapted. From outside the trailer Mark could see the glow of the two men’s fire but not the men themselves. He stood up, turned his back to the glow and carefully walked north.
Both Ralphy and Squeaky were feeling pretty good. Ralphy had found quite a few unspoiled goodies during his day searching for food. He brought back several cans of barbecue beans, a few boxes of macaroni and cheese and ten bottles of water. He brought back an aluminum pot too. They had eaten too much and followed up the feast by drinking too much bourbon.
“We need to find that woman,” said Squeaky.
“That’s why we’re here, Einstein,” responded Ralphy, as he took another swig of bourbon.
Squeaky had been thinking about that woman a lot. He had such wonderful plans for her. But he needed to figure out how to get rid of Ralphy and keep the woman for himself.
“You ever think about keepin the woman for just us?” suggested Squeaky.
“Not what Ivan wants,” replied Ralphy. “She goes to the pleasure house.”
“It’d be better for us if it was just us and her,” offered Squeaky.
“You mean like don’t return to Vegas and go somewhere else on our own?” asked Ralphy.
“Yea,” replied Squeaky. “Once we find her we just keep going down the road and find another city.”
Ralphy had considered it. He’d even thought about killing Squeaky and finding some place where he and the girl could play house on their own. But he knew Ivan pretty good and that guy was nobody to mess with. If they didn’t return to Vegas soon, Ivan would send a few guys after them. And if they found him with the girl, Ivan’s guys would waste him and take the girl back. Anyway, living in Vegas wasn’t so bad. Yea there weren’t enough girls, but Ivan was working on that and promised things would get better. At least he was out of prison now and living with a gang that looked out for each other. He couldn’t complain.
Kevin carefully checked through three other trailers. They were the only ones with their doors unlocked. He found a few canned goods, but all of them of were bulging and that was a sure sign of botulism. He did find a large box of fettuccini and some fruit roll ups. He placed them inside the pillowcase. Then he left the trailer court and quietly moved on toward the center of town. He was pretty sure there were a few homes directly to the west and that he’d have to walk across some open ground before he came to them. You could make out their boxy silhouettes in the distance. He just hoped he didn’t walk into any sleeping rattlesnakes. If he was bitten that would be it for him and Marylin.
“But what if we take her someplace real remote,” continued Squeaky, as he took a swig from the bourbon bottle.
“Yea,” said Ralphy. “Like where?”
“I dono,” said Squeaky. “Some town away from this road.”
Ralphy reached for the bourbon bottle and took it back. He took a swig before responding.
“They’d find us. Sooner or later they’d see our cooking fires or something and they’d find us, and they’d take the girl back to Ivan, and they’d kill us both,” finished Ralphy.
Five minutes later Kevin came to a house out on Silver lane. It felt like the house farthest away from I-15. He came around the back of the home and tried the door. It was locked. So, he grabbed a rock off the ground and punched out the windowpane. Once the glass was safely cleared he reached in and opened the deadbolt lock. The door opened and closed without a squeak. The home had a large pantry and Kevin began to go through shelves. He found a big jar of peanut butter and some saltine crackers and put them into the pillowcase. But again, all the canned goods were bulging. Then, just before he decided to leave the house, he swore he heard a faint whining.
“Maybe the wind,” he thought to himself.
But there was absolutely no wind tonight. Kevin stood still and listened again. He hoped the two men hadn’t seen him come into the house. He’d left the gun with Marylin for her protection. When he moved toward the back door he heard the whining again. It sounded a lot like an animal. He turned back toward the center of the house and paused.
“There it is again,” thought Kevin, and this time it was a little louder.
He tried a back-bedroom door. When he opened it the dead body smell hit him like a sack of bricks. He gagged and nearly threw up the small about of fluids left in his stomach. He shut the door quickly and stumbled back toward the kitchen. While he leaned against a smaller door, he distinctly heard the whining again.
It was a basement door. When he opened it, he could make out a few shapes below. He stood there for a moment to let his eyes adjust. Thankfully a little moonlight streamed in through a basement window. Suddenly a dark shadow moved below. It scared him enough that he slipped and fell. He bounced on the stairs and fell forward headfirst. Then the world went black.
Chapter 71: Achilles
By 3:30 pm in the afternoon Mark and his team of now 24 survivors were making good time on their way north on the I-15 freeway. Fortunately, they found four good road bikes and bike trailers quickly, three for the women and one for Cedric. Sally said they were very lucky to find a small road bike in Cedric’s size. The others found them winter clothing, food, equipment and additional ammo for the women’s AR-15 rifles. Mary convinced Mark they could shoot their rifles just fine and would not need practice. She showed him by hitting the letter O dead center in a red stop sign that was at least 150 yards from the freeway.
But before they got moving again, Mark needed to decide what to do with Chucky, the only remaining survivor from the group of men that had tried to kidnap Mary, Pam and Lenny, and who knows what they would have done to the little kids.
He didn’t want the guy coming after him. Chuck was sitting on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back. Jake had his Bushmaster trained on him.
Mark motioned Doc, Frank, Sylvia and Mary to the side. He wanted their opinions on what to do with Chuck.
“This guy Chuck,” began Mark, as he motioned to him. “I need to figure out what to do with him. He seems like the kind of guy that will hold a grudge, find a few friends and maybe decide to come after us for a little payback. What do you guys think?
Frank was the first to say something.
“Shoot him. He’s a liability.”
“Wait, you can’t just execute the man,” said Sylvia.
“Men don’t murder children. He’s an animal,” said Mary. “I vote we shoot him too.
“There’s no vote,” said Mark in his command voice. “I’m looking for alternatives.
“OK, my alternative is to shoot him,” said Mary.
“I agree that the man is despicable, and I think he would have killed the kids eventually,” said Doc. “But we can’t execute him for something he might have done.”
“You know Doc’s got a point,” said Frank. He didn’t actually commit a crime.”
“But you know he would have,” insisted Mary. “He would have killed those kids and then taken us back to his crib and raped us every day for the rest of our lives. I say we kill the bastard and let the walking people feed on his dead flesh.”
“Any other alternatives, ideas?” asked Mark.
Silence. Nobody had any ideas.
“You can’t execute him, Mark,” said Sylvia.
Mark took a deep breath. “OK, if there are no other ideas then.” Mark moved away from the group and toward Chuck. He stopped near Jake and whispered something to him.
Sylvia turned to Doc and said, “Doc you’ve got to stop him. We can’t just kill the guy. It’s not… not right!”
“It’s Mark’s call,” said Doc as he lightly held Sylvia back. “You agreed to the rules when you signed on. When we can’t agree as a team, then Mark makes the decision and we all live with it.”
Mark and Jake deftly slung their Bushmasters onto their backs. Then they both grabbed one of Chuck’s arms and lifted him clean off his feet.
“Hey, careful with t
he material, man” said Chuck.
“Keep your trap shut you piece of dog shit,” said Mark, as the dragged Chuck past Sylvia and toward the other side of the freeway - near the onramp. Cedric’s old bike lay nearby.
“You’re lucky I don’t shoot you in the head,” continued Mark.
Chucky was always amazed by the civility of others. People were just too soft.
“Too civilized to get your hands dirty,” said Chucky as he laughed. “You guys will never make it out there. You’re too soft.”
“Soft huh,” said Mark just as Jake and Mark dropped him to the concrete.