Destination Ruin

by Norman Christof

  Javier resorted to other tactics to make sure he stayed on an equal power footing with Emily. If Emily noticed, she didn't make the same effort to compete with Javier. Her affection seemed genuinely sincere, but Javier didn't care. Their group was the strongest in town, and Javier both craved and was drawn to power.

  "How's he doing?" Javier asked Emily.

  Emily was clearly distraught and didn't want to spend time talking with somebody like Javier. Even at the best of times, it took a great deal of effort on her part, to keep a civil tongue in her mouth when they conversed.

  "I don't know, our young paramedic here has a lot to learn still. We need to get him better medical attention." She didn't seem to care that the girl heard her.

  Javier looked around Emily towards Jaden lying on the ground. His color hadn't changed much, except maybe got a little paler. "He really looks like shit. What the hell did they shoot him with?"

  "Just a flare gun. I can't believe how much damage it did. They must've been at point-blank range, those animals. I don't know what the hell is wrong with people these days."

  "Everyone's just doing their best to survive. We're all animals in this situation."

  Emily had no problem believing that, given who was making the comment. If anyone in their group was an animal, it was Javier. A hyena, if Emily was pressed to pick which animal.

  "There's got to be more supplies in this place. Maybe there's something else that we can get to help."

  Javier looked skeptical, as he drew Emily out of earshot of the paramedic girl. "Yeah, you go right ahead. I don't think the problem, is the supplies or the equipment. It's that kid. She's not a doctor, Hell, she's not even a nurse. For all we know, she was flunking out of paramedic school. I can't believe that out of all the people in our group, she's the closest thing we have to a doctor."

  Emily could hear what Javier was saying but felt he talked more like a politician than a concerned member of their group. He couldn't take his eyes off Jaden, or the girl. He looked more like a man, that was ready to seize an opportunity.

  "Aren't you even the least little bit upset? These people attacked us. All you seem to do is gawk like you're watching a twenty car pile up on the highway. We need to do something more, not just stand around and wait for things to happen."

  "Oh don't worry, I won't be standing around for much longer. When things need to be done, I'll make sure they get done. Regardless of whether Jaden gets better or not. You can count on that."

  "You're disgusting. You act like a vulture, ready to swoop in and take over at the first sniff of an opportunity. What the hell is wrong with you?"

  Javier looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language. "I don't know where you get your crazy ideas from, but I can assure you my interests are for the wellbeing of the group. That's it." Javier didn't actually smile, but Emily was sure, she could see him fighting back a smirk as he turned and walked away.

  "You know, none of us would be here if not for Jaden." Emily raised her voice to make sure Javier heard even though he had his back to her. "He saved all of us you know. You included. These renegade gangs roaming the town, would've eaten you up and spit you out a long time ago if not for Jaden. He sacrificed a lot to protect the rest of us. Don't you forget what happened to his wife, and daughter."

  Javier didn't respond, but he remembered quite well what had happened to Jaden's family before they met. It was another one of those secrets that Javier was in no hurry to share with the rest of them. At least, not until he got what he wanted.

  Chapter 29 ~ The Chase

  Garrett couldn't believe that she just left like that. He'd never seen her so upset. Not when Becky was little and so demanding, not when they had all the marital disputes, and certainly not in the middle of a crisis. He was always the one she leaned on when things got rough. He was her rock at one time, a role he relished for a period. But today, she just packed up and left. Barely even packed up, she just grabbed what she could, and took off leaving him behind. Garrett couldn't believe it.

  She'd be back, he was sure of that. She wouldn't go far. She was upset, and that was justifiable given the situation. Who in their wildest dreams, would ever imagine enduring the kind of hardships that they'd endured over the past number of days? Trauma and the isolation of any one of those days would've been enough to send any sane person over the edge. Just enduring the trauma of being trapped in a lifeboat, and surviving the storm would be enough adventure for anyone's lifetime. Throw in a man with a gun, and what felt like a global apocalypse, and people would be capable of all kinds of crazy.

  She'd be back, he told himself that was a given. A certainty, like the rising of the sun, and the waves crashing on the shore. He waited, and waited. It seemed a long time, but he told himself that it was just the intensity of the moment. Seconds turned into minutes, which turned into hours. It always seemed longer than a really was. It wasn't though. She'd be feeling the exact same things, and she'd have to come back.

  Unfortunately for Garrett, his body actions didn't agree with his head. The fact that there was a conflict between his mind and his heart opened a gap for self-doubt. Something more than would rationally make sense. He needed to deal with the fact that Holly had left and from all appearances wasn't in a rush to come back.

  How long would he argue with himself for? Enough is enough, where the hell was she?

  Then, finally, it dawned on him. An illuminating moment. Like one of those times where they do controlled demolitions of an old building, and everything looks good right up until the very last second. The gathered crowd watches as the charges start to go off. It commences at the bottom and works its way up. You see little puffs of smoke, as the foundation and a structural skeleton inside the building begin to collapse. It's an engineering marvel the crowd thinks. They can bring down an entire building in a matter of seconds in a neat package, with nothing but a wafting puff of dust hanging in the air. Thousands of tons of steel and iron and drywall collapsing into a neat pile of rubble. Then you realize something isn't right. It starts with the demolition crew scrambling in multiple directions. The onlooking crowd doesn't understand what's going on, but they pick up on the actions of those in the know.

  Garrett was at that point now, except there was no one scrambling to trigger in his mind that something had gone wrong. That somehow things weren't what he thought they were. That's why it took them so long to figure it out. There was nobody in charge to give him clues. Only him, and now he was in a panic, hoping he wasn't too late.

  How could he have been so wrong? The building was falling and crumbling as planned, but it wasn't coming down in a neat little package. It was falling in the worst direction possible. It was falling towards that brand new spectacularly built multi-million-dollar skyscraper next door. It was like the old building resented the fact that its new neighbor was its replacement. It used every bit of its final breath to lash out and slap the face of its replacement.

  Garrett tore out of the van as quickly as possible, tripping on the first step. He'd momentarily forgotten, that only one of his legs was working a hundred percent. His bad leg gave out, as he missed the step and ended up face first in the concrete.

  Only five minutes ago he'd felt completely in control, but now he knew he wasn't. The sting of the scraped skin on the right side of his face pointed that out quite vividly. He got up slowly to his knees, bearing in mind that he had one leg in a splint.

  He tried thinking now, about what his next steps would be. It wasn't an entirely logical first choice, but he called out Holly's name as loud as he could into the empty parking garage. He hoped that the parking garage wasn't filled with those that had chased them. Holly never called back. She never came back, but luckily for Garrett neither did anyone else. It could've been worse.

  He pulled himself up to sit in the open door of the van and tried collecting his emotions. He ran through a list in his mind of all the places that Holly would go. There weren't that many choices. It wasn't like there was
an actual home she could go to or friends and relatives she could call. Not like during any of their past big blowups. This time she was in a strange town with few places or faces she could run to.

  He dismissed the first places that came to mind. The shopping mall, grocery store, and pharmacy inside hadn't been memorable situations. She'd have no reason to go back to any of them. The only other places she'd been to, were the YMCA and the beach. The YMCA would be the safest place if it wasn't inhabited by thugs.

  He had a feeling that she meant what she said what she was going to go looking for Sam. Who else did they know here? Who else could she turn to?

  The real question then, wasn't where Garrett thought Holly would go, but where Holly thought Sam would go. The man was a bit of a mystery to all of them, and at this point, Garrett didn't need more mystery to deal with. He needed some certainty.

  What would Sam do in a situation like this? He had to guess, and Garrett didn't like guessing. The only certainty worth betting on was that Holly meant what she said about getting to Becky. Given that, he knew where he had to go. Back to where they started, and that pissed them off more than anything.

  Chapter 30 ~ Saint Sam

  There were a few kids huddled around the area surrounding the boat. They were running and playing tag, just like kids normally do. Sam stifled back, a mild twinge of guilt. It wasn't the first time he had to do something like this. It never got easier.

  Sam walked by the kids, who barely noticed him. It was like they didn't even care who he was, or what he’d done. Sam told himself that he hadn't really done anything. It was more a sin of omission. All the things he didn't do, or the things that really would've mattered to them. Sam liked to believe there were no limits to what was possible. But sometimes, it was about mitigating the risks. Life in the dirty corporate trenches had taught him plenty about that. Just because you can save everyone, doesn't mean you should. It may not be in the best interest of your client to save the entire planet. Save the ones who can.

  The adults, still at the boat weren't quite so forgiving. He was approached first by one of the older women, who had to be at least in her sixties.

  "You came back, I told them you would. They thought you'd gone for good, and just left us here. I knew you'd be back."

  Sam tried to remember her name but was having difficulty. It wasn't that he was bad at remembering names, it was actually something he was quite good at. Something else that he was even better at though was eliminating baggage. People places and things that got left behind had no relevance, and he purged them like a computer would. Methodically and without guilt or regret. That's just the way things worked in his old corporate world. Sam was learning that those corporate skills served him well in real life. Even if real life today had no resemblance whatsoever to his real life of yesterday, or last month, or last year.

  "Is everyone still here?" Sam asked. The elderly lady, whose name Sam was sure he'd bring back if he worked a little bit at it, nodded affirmatively. He supposed he could ask her name, but that would send the wrong message. The message that he'd forgot her, which wouldn't be entirely true. He hadn't actually forgotten her so much, as discarded her. Probably worse, Sam thought to himself

  He forced a smile at the lady's answer. This is good, he thought. We're going to need as many people as we can get our hands on. The more, the better, no matter what they're capable of. Clearly, this had become a numbers game. There were times when a battle needed quality over quantity. Today was not that day. The rival gang in town was significantly larger and overwhelmed them back at the YMCA. He couldn't let that happen again. Whatever game they were playing with this rival gang, Sam was prepared to go all in. And like every game played in personal life, the business world, or our imaginations, there was a need for pawns.

  Sam's initial strategy of leaving some behind didn't work. A misstep on his part, but one that was about to be corrected.

  It only took a few minutes, to gather the rest of the survivors for a meeting. Not every face with a happy face. Some looked genuinely hurt, while others were genuinely pissed off. That was fine, he could work with that. The very fact that they were still there, and had gathered to listen told Sam everything he needed to know. They didn't have many options, and without options, they had little to bargain with.

  "I'm so sorry, that I haven't been here for a while," Sam said addressing the crowd. "I want you to know, that I haven't forgotten any of you."

  "It certainly seemed that way," one of the thirty or so people from the crowd sounded out. Sam tried, but couldn't see who had spoken up. It was relatively calm on the beach, but what little waves there were made it difficult to hear.

  Sam wasn't worried so much, about what they had to say to him, as he was about what he was going to say to the crowd.

  "Yes, I'm sure it does feel that way, and I'm genuinely sorry for that. It would seem the lack of facts have been the root of some rumors floating around. That wouldn't serve any of us going forward. The important thing is that I have come back." Sam straightened himself up, feeling that he was slouching a bit. That's never a good image to present to a skeptical crowd, Sam thought. Confidence and enthusiasm. He took a step forward, closing the gap between him and the front row. He shared a smile with some, and a few smiled back. "I went out on the lookout, for help. I know, there's been plenty of discussions here about being rescued and how long we'll have to be here? Nobody really knew the answer, before I headed out with the others, and ..."

  "Where are the others?" A young girl from the front asked him. "That girl that went with you was a nurse, wasn't she? I haven't been feeling well." The girl looked back in the crowd, searching for someone. "here are a few others that should be looked at as well. Is she coming back?"

  Sam nodded reassuringly and held up his hands to calm the murmurs rising from the group.

  "Yes, she's a nurse, and I'm sure she'd be able to help you and your friends. Shortly, I promise. But for now, I need to talk to you about something else. I need to tell you what I found." He smiled, and a few more members of the crowd smiled back. They leaned forward optimistically, hoping for good news. "There's good news and bad news. You folks have had plenty enough bad news to last you a lifetime, so for right now I'm going to start with the good news. I found a safer shelter, that's incredibly well stocked with all the supplies that we'll need. We can settle down there and wait and wait for family and friends to find us." There was a mild smattering of applause albeit short-lived from a few in the crowd. It was cut off, by a skeptical voice.

  "But there's a catch, right? There's always a catch for something like this. It can't be that easy finding something that hasn't already been taken by others. We suspect how bad things are out there. How long till someone else finds this place?"

  Sam's head dropped, as he gazed at the sand beneath his feet. "You're not entirely wrong, but it doesn't have to be as difficult as you think. I wouldn't have told you about the place if I didn't think it would work. That's not to say, that it's going to be easy and that you just have to walk in and take what you see. This isn't like going shopping at the grocery store. You're correct in saying how rough things are out there. It's true also to say that there are lots of others out there who want the same things. The thing to keep in mind though is that there's just as much to go around as there was before." Sam could see some of the crowd coming on board with what he was saying, nodding their heads. They were hopeful and optimistic. Some didn't look so convinced. "This is going to take a lot of work. A lot of the modern conveniences and services were used to just aren't functioning right now. The important thing though is to remember that as a group we can accomplish anything. As a group we have power, and can be very persuasive. This is a big group, bigger than any of the groups of people I've seen so far in the city."

  "Are you suggesting, that we're going to have to hurt people and take what we want through the use of force?" The elderly lady who had first greeted him asked.

  "It's my deepest wish in my hea
rt of hearts, that it doesn't come to that." Sam smiled back at the lady, reaching out to take her by the hand. He enclosed both her hands between his. "That's not my intention, and it's not my first choice of action, but I also need you to know ..." Sam changed his gaze from the lady to the entire crowd and backed up a step so they could all hear him. "I need you all to know that I will do whatever it takes to make sure, that you're all safe and protected. I'm going to do everything in my power, but I need you all to make the same promise to me."

  Sam felt that something shifted in the crowd. Their attention, the focus was now suddenly no longer on him. Had he said something wrong? He then realized he didn't have their full attention. He looked behind and realized there were others coming towards him.

  It was Garrett and Holly approaching hand in hand.

  Sam moved to greet them, out of earshot of the crowd. "Thank goodness you two are okay. What happened, where did you guys end up?"

  "Doesn't matter," Garrett and Holly both said almost in unison. Then, Garrett continued. "We caught the last few minutes seconds of what you are saying there. It sounds great to us."

  Holly nodded. "Definitely. I'm tired of being the little fish in a big pond. We're ready to act as a group." Holly turned to Garrett. "Right?"

  "Best idea I've heard in a while."

  Chapter 31 ~ Stakeout

  "I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I'm ever going to get used to sneaking into buildings and breaking into places that I have no business being in," Holly said to Garrett and Sam, as they made their way to the rooftop of the building across from the YMCA.

  "Yeah I'm not sure I ever will either, but I can't say that I feel guilty about it," Garrett responded. "I mean, it's not like we're doing something wrong right? The way things are, we're just trying to survive and take help out some others. Nothing wrong with that."