Absolution River

by Aaron Mach

  “What’d he have to say?”

  “Said he would take care of everything. Wants me to stay put to give him a debrief.”

  “It’s been fun guys, but I need to find a way home. My wife is probably having an aneurism.”

  “Take the truck man, I can’t thank you enough for saving my ass back there.”

  “You won’t need it?”

  “Marie has people coming, I’ll just stick with her.” As he turned to her he smiled. She returned the gesture.

  “Just glad to see you’re okay, not just with this, but with everything, you know?”

  Jack nodded, each understanding what they meant. Anders walked over and wrote down his number on a pad next to the nightstand lamp. “Anytime,” as he handed the sheet to Jack.

  Jack smiled and nodded.

  “Nice to meet you Marie, stay safe out there. You’re quite the crime fighter now.”

  Marie laughed, “Yeah, never thought I would get into something like this in this job. Just counting trees and measuring survey stakes mostly, but guess I really expanded the job title. And thanks.”

  Anders waved behind his head as he walked out the motel room door. Walking down the stairs to the truck, he smiled and pulled the keys out of his pants pocket. The driver side door creaked when he opened it and he glanced at all of the bullet holes covering the truck. Shaking his head, he heard a strange noise, almost like something buzzing, and he collapsed on the ground. His leg was bleeding profusely and he could see he had just been shot. Scrambling onto his stomach he began to low crawl as fast as he could to get behind the hotel building. His elbows were scraped and bloody from grinding them on the gravel parking lot. The pain in his leg felt like a hot poker straight out of a campfire was thrust straight through. Bringing that leg up to propel himself forward made him tear up in pain and his face strained with every movement. He heard the buzzing and then an impact every few seconds. Silencer. Damn. He continued to move as fast as he could and he made it behind the motel building’s northwest corner just as a round struck the siding. Grabbing the vertical gutter he got himself onto his one good leg and began to hop to the rear entrance. Locked. He jiggled the knob with frustration and noticed a window. With his already shredded elbow he cracked the glass. Carefully putting his hand through the window trying to avoid the jagged glass he was able to unlock the door. When he opened it the fire alarm sounded. He ran up the stairs and down the hallway, leaving a blood trail and hopping frantically on his one good leg.

  “Let me in! Hurry!”

  Jack opened the door holding his injured side. With a look of shock, “What happened?”

  “Someone, someone out there shot me. A professional, my leg.” They both looked down and Marie ripped off a pillowcase and tied it real tight around the wound. The knot cinched down hard over the entry point, Anders pounded the wall in pain. Jack scrambled to put on some of the new clothes he got from Anders and he dropped the robe right there. Pants, then shirt, then a bullet struck the TV. They all hit the ground. The sky was dark with thunderclouds and what was remaining of the sun no longer had the strength to punch through the clouds. Darkness had enveloped the room almost instantaneously. Lighting struck the lake just outside the cabin and rain began to come down in sheets.

  “Stay low! He can only get in here through the front door. We just need to stay down!” yelled Jack.

  “What if he comes in through the front door? I’m out of bullets.”

  “I’ve got two left.”

  “Damn.”

  “I’m calling the cops,” cried Marie as she lay on her stomach with her hands over her head. She began to crawl between the twin beds and put her hand up to grab the receiver. She began to dial 9-1-, the phone exploded, throwing pieces all over the room. “Shit!”

  “Where the hell is this guy!?” exclaimed Anders.

  “He must have a good position somewhere along the shore. He can probably see right in here.”

  “We have to get out, now!”

  “Stay where you are, dammit!” Jack yelled. The stitches holding his stomach together began to stretch and break. Small amounts of blood were leaking onto the dirty motel floor adding to the multitude of stains from bodily fluids already present, as was common in motels like this. Jack was on the floor near the wall opposite the twin beds and he began to move over to the large window facing the lake. His crawl was so low his head was pushing along the floor and he propelled himself with only his arms outstretched and a rocking motion with his feet.

  “What are you doing, Jack?” Marie asked.

  “Just need to see where he is. He has us cornered and we need to figure a way to get out of here. He’s just toying with us. He could finish us at any time.”

  The window was similar to those in lake homes where it took up most of the wall. The bottom edge of the window was only a few feet from the floor and it went straight to the ceiling. The three of them were encased in a box, a perfect shooting gallery. Jack peeked his right eye over the edge for only a moment and a bullet came into the window, striking the bed closest to the window. Puffs of cotton and bedding punched into the air. The bullet went straight through the first bed, went over Marie’s head, through the next bed and into the shower in the bathroom. There was no hiding from this madman.

  “He’s about a hundred meters down the shore behind some rocks. He can see right in here.”

  “Shit,” replied Anders quietly.

  “The rain is picking up and it’s getting dark, unless he has some kind of night vision, we’ll have a chance to make a run for it.”

  “You still have the keys, Anders?” asked Marie.

  He scanned his pockets and looked around the floor. “No.”

  “What do you mean no, where are they?”

  “Still inside the door of the truck.”

  “Alright, even better, we have to try,” said Jack.

  Once they all made it to the hallway, Jack and Marie helped Anders to his feet. There was a window at the end of the hallway facing the lakeshore. A bullet ripped into the old flowery wallpaper aligning the walls of the hallway. They all crouched below the rim of the window but the bullets began to come through the walls, striking the floor around them. The shooter was firing blindly knowing he was bound to hit something.

  “Go!” yelled Jack. They stayed crouched and moved to the stairway. The few residents of the hotel were running down the hallway in both directions unsure of where to run, unaware that it was not a fire that was the danger, but a man with a high-powered sniper rifle. The sniper fire struck an old man as he was making his way down the stairs behind Marie. Blood splattered the walls and he laid there unmoving. Others tripped over him frantically trying to escape the motel unsure of what was happening.

  Jack and Marie had Anders’ arms around their necks and they saw the truck in the distance. It was around the northwest corner of the building. They were outside, guarded by an exterior wall designed to protect motel patrons from the weather, not bullets. There was fifty feet of open ground between them and safety. That is, if the truck would even start and the shooter didn’t get to them first. The wind was harsh and the darkness was thick. Visibility was almost at zero.

  “This is our chance.”

  “What if he has that night vision you were saying?” said Marie.

  “Only one way to find out.”

  Marie looked at him fearfully.

  “We’re gonna make it.” Jack put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring look. She nodded.

  “Together?” she asked.

  “Together.”

  “Let’s get this over with,” said Anders. Jack and Marie practically picked up Anders as he moved his one good leg with them. They covered ground quickly and were twenty feet from the truck. Marie screamed in pain and she dropped Anders. The added weight was too much for Jack and they all tumbled right in front of their only means of escape. Marie rolled around on the ground grasping her shoulder. She took her hand away and Jack could see it covered i
n blood.

  “Move! Get behind the truck! Now!”

  They all scrambled, broken and battered, bleeding all over the rain soaked mud. Once they were in place behind the truck, Jack look at Marie. “How bad is it?”

  “I think it just grazed me.” She tore the shirt and looked at the wound. The rain cleared the blood away and revealed the extent of the damage. “Yeah, just a deep cut, not too bad.” She was being brave and holding back the real pain. She wanted to be strong for Jack and Anders, be strong for them to make it through this nightmare.

  Jack rolled over a few feet and look up at the lock on the door. The keys hung there swinging in the wind.

  “Told ya,” said Anders.

  Jack hopped up just long enough to get leverage to pull the keys out of the lock and landed back into the mud hard. Crawling himself up into the driver’s side and staying as low as possible, he put the key in the ignition and closed his eyes for a moment, hoping, praying that it would start. There was nothing. It didn’t even turn over. Whatever luck they had in the past was now long gone, as gone as their hope in that moment.

  “Well, guess this is it.” Marie said as a round struck the passenger side door. The ping of the bullet on the metal reverberated through the cab of the truck and they all shuddered at the noise. Every few moments there was another shot and they sat in the mud and rain, flinching at the sounds of a madman tapping on the door. Knocking to enter, relentless in the pursuit. Each ping a reminder of the impending doom. Their inability to act or move, stuck in this moment in time waiting for their judgment. Whatever they had done in their lives inevitably led to this moment. Where there was no exit, only an acceptance of their fate.

  “Not like this,” said Jack. “I didn’t come this far to have it end like this.”

  “The boat!” yelled Anders. “Yeah, the boat, there is a dock on the backside of the motel.”

  “Why don’t we just make a run for it, he is right by the lakeshore, he’ll just pick us off one by one.” Marie said exhausted, numb from the adrenaline.

  “We can’t run, Anders is busted up and we’d have to carry him, not to mention I’m stabbed and you’re shot,” Jack said as a matter of fact.

  “We can make it to the boat, the rain is so heavy. We’ll go along the east side of the motel and make a run for the water,” said Anders with enthusiasm.

  “What, then swim to the boat?” Marie replied.

  “Exactly, we stay real low in the water, under if we have to. It’s our only option.”

  “Where to then? The lake isn’t that big.”

  “There are a bunch of cabins across the lake, at least we can make a last stand there. If he can even find us in this weather.”

  “The boat, we’re taking the boat,” replied Jack solemnly. “It’s our only option of getting out of this mess alive.”

  Lightning struck close and was followed by a crash of thunder. The sound was deafening. The darkness absolute. The waves along the lake were crashing into the beach creating small storm swells throwing water over the rocks. The power from the neon motel sign went dark and the town all at once lost power. The cabins across the lake went dark. Jack, Marie, and Anders looked at each other, holding on to the few moments they had before they were thrust into the nightmare’s conclusion. Each understood that this was their last chance. A chance to be free of this madman, a chance to once again see the light and experience the life they had always dreamed. With eyes opened to new possibilities, with a knowledge that it could all end in any moment. Their newfound respect for the lives they had and the lives they wanted. Energized in this realization, the three sat up and picked up Anders, unafraid of the man behind the gun. Accepting the fate they were destined to live out.

  “We’re going to do this, we are going to survive!” Jack yelled over the wind and rain. Thunder struck in that moment. The water came down as from a bucket over their heads. Marie and Anders saw the conviction in his eyes, accepted that this man had been through hell and back. He made it to the other side. Abandonment, combat, prison, and each time a man trying to do the right thing. Beaten down and broken time and time again. Jack was relentless in his pursuit because he was alive with the prospect of a life unlived. Unfinished. His thirst for the living was never more unquenched than in this moment. Faced with death and the uncertainty of their fate, his confidence in knowing who he was for the first time shined upon their faces. Marie and Anders stood and looked into his face and saw that they too could survive. Thrive against the coming darkness. Their odds were impossible. The outlook bleak, but the coming light was within their grasp if they would only reach out and grab it. They did. Stretching their hands out to Jack, he lifted them up with strength only a man with a purity of purpose could accomplish. His strength was theirs and they began to move. The sound of their heavy breathing was the only sound they could hear as the intensity of their drive was honed for one resolution, survival. Their feet moved quickly along the water soaked parking lot, making pattering sounds with every step. The air out of their lungs produced steam as the temperature dropped with the coming storm. There were no shots fired and they had no way of knowing where the shooter was. Jack had his revolver in his left hand while holding up Anders and Marie with his right. Two shots left, better than none. They collapsed on the ground along the east wall of the motel. Jack could see dark silhouettes of two boats floating in the lake along the small floating dock. They were five hundred feet from the dock with only open beach between them and their last hope.

  They began to move. Struggling every step to remain upright. The wind pounded in their faces and each donated blood to the beach as they pushed through the wet sand. Four hundred feet. They could hear the boat beat against the dock in the waves. No way of knowing if it needed a key, if it had fuel, or if it would start. They pushed into the water. As they became fully submerged into the icy waters, only the pain of their wounds dominated the shock of the cold. There were splashes around them as the bullets once again were shot in their direction.

  “Under, we have to go under!” Jack yelled as he was trying to swim with half of his body in near collapse from the pain.

  They all submerged but could only stay so for a few seconds at a time, as their bodies were nearing the limit of their exhaustion. Every stroke a reminder that they were still alive and that it may be their last. Jack looked out the corner of his eye every time he emerged from the depths and he could see the muzzle flashes and the outline of a dark figure standing on a rock at the shore. The waves coming over his face and each time choking on the water that found its way into his lungs. The wind on the lake was brutal and they were less than a hundred feet from the boat. Anders began to flail his arms wildly as the lack of blood in his leg made him cramp to the point of being unable to hold his head above the water.

  “Keep going Marie! Have to get Anders!”

  Marie looked back and saw a splash of water land between them. She immediately ducked under the water once again. She remained under for nearly a minute. Her lungs burst with the need for oxygen. Denying this need was her only chance at survival, her only chance to get to the boat and save her friends. As she continued to pump her arms for every inch of ground she could cover, struggling against the darkness coming in around her eyes as the oxygen deprivation was overtaking her consciousness. She thought of Jack, of their moment next to the river. How he looked when he smiled at her. The mystery surrounding him in that moment and the undeniable feeling she had for him. This idea kept her focused and unwilling to give in, to give up. She struck her head on something hard, and pushing her arms out, she realized she had made it to the boat. The cold aluminum on her hands and a sense of utter relief filled her body in the realization that she had finally made it. She jumped up into the boat and heard a ping as a bullet struck the thin metal exterior. There was at least a foot of water at the bottom of the boat as it was taking on water from the torrential downpour. It was a standard fishing boat, twelve feet long with a Mercury 85 single engine. Pull star
t. She would have to stand to get the leverage to get it started. Taking stock of the situation as well as a deep breath, she stood. She grabbed the pull start handle and began to wrench. Nothing. The icy waters and wind froze the cable within the engine. Damn. She began to kick and punch and scream at the engine and another bullet whizzed by her head. Inches this time. She tried again and the pull seemed to give way easier. The ice broke by her rage. Pulling again and again. Each attempt was easier than the last. Finally the engine turned a little. It tried to start, but it was stubborn to the end. Five more pulls. The boat was struck two more times, and the water was rushing in through where the bullets ripped into the hull. The engine finally came alive. She ducked down and grabbed the hand throttle, turning it as hard as she could. The boat’s engine screamed alive but wouldn’t budge. The force of the engine on the small boat nearly flipped it entirely over. The rope. Marie screamed out in frustration as she could sense Jack and Anders alone out in the water. Struggling to stay alive. Struggling to keep the water from entering their lungs and darkness of the water grabbing at their feet, inviting, pulling them to the bottom. She put her hand up over the crest of the boat’s hull and searched around for the rope. Found it. The rope was tight from her attempt to race off and there was no way she was going to be able to untie it. She scrambled around in the now two feet of water at the bottom of the boat for something she could cut the rope with. All she could find was the large and impossibly heavy anchor. The type of anchor with two triangular teeth designed to catch the bottom of the lake. She stood up and knelt down and grabbed it with two hands. Turning towards the rope she came down with all of her strength frantically trying to cut the only obstacle left before she could finally be free. The lighting burst through the clouds, striking the lake, and the loud thunder that followed was deafening. The rain beat down on her face and her hair was matted down in front of her eyes. Strike. Strike. Strike. Nothing. Harder and faster, and eventually she could feel the boat released from the grip of the dock. A pain shot up her arm and she collapsed into the water within the boat. Her face momentarily submerged in the boat and the water stained with her own blood. She held up her right arms and saw a small hole straight through her forearm. The pain was blinding but there was no time to give in to it. Pushing it in the back of her mind, she turned her body over to the hand throttle and the boat launched in the air under the power of the massive engine. She could see Jack and Anders treading water with their heads barely above the surface, struggling to hold on to whatever air they could grab. Marie brought the boat around to the front of them to block the shooter from targeting them. She could see Jack’s hand grip the outside of the boat and it leaned hard in their direction.