"I love you."
He said it with such certainty that she couldn't help but feel the tears immediately swelling. It seemed so absurd, but she still felt herself nodding against his body.
"I love you too."
She had barely spoken when she started to feel his chest rising and falling more rapidly as his breath started to pick up. In a moment after that, she started to feel the rising pressure somewhere else. He grabbed her by the hips, rolled her over onto the ground and climbed atop, thrusting into her and pulling her tightly against him. She grabbed him and bit into his shoulder, trying to stifle her cries and keep herself under control. As he began to thrust deeper, she felt her head start to swoon as the room around them began to wobble. Ready for the possibility of this being the last moment she would have to cling to, she let her head fall back and surrendered as the wave swept her away.
-46-
"Where the hell have you two been?" Lot rushed down the corridor towards them and Sophie could only hope that the low light hid the color she felt rising in her cheeks.
"We stepped away for a few minutes," Rowen said. "What's going on?"
"We just started hearing it coming from outside, like someone's talking through a megaphone.
Rowen frowned and pressed his ear to the wall, listening to the sound for himself. "I think he's saying that they have one of our people out there, and he wants to negotiate."
"Who could they possibly have?" Sophie asked. Almost in answer, Lot's radio chirped and he pulled it from his pocket.
"What?" he asked as he depressed the button.
Clive's voice came through with a burst of static. "They've got Fiona."
The three of them exchanged a perplexed look.
"There's no way they came in here and left with only one person," Rowen said. "If they got in here, they'd be overrunning us. She must have been high-tailing it."
"But how did she get out in the first place?" Lot asked. The implication hung in the air until Sophie voiced it.
"She must know of some other way out of here that we didn't find."
"So what do we do?" Meredith asked.
"I don't see that we have much of a choice," Rowen said. "I'll go out there and try to talk to him. At least then she can see a somewhat friendly face and we can try to defuse this."
Sophie felt the objection rising up from her stomach, but Lot voiced it for her. "Don't try to be a fucking hero. You know as well as I do that they're just trying to draw us out of here."
"Besides if anyone should go, it should be me," Sophie said. "I'm the only one here who wasn't constantly at odds with her."
"There is absolutely no way that I am putting you in that situation," Rowen said. "Frankly, I don't think any of us should go, but regardless of how much of a pain in the ass Fiona has been, I don't think we can just leave her out there with those assholes. Besides..."
Sophie looked up at him as he trailed off, like he had stopped himself from saying something.
"What?"
"We might be able to come to some kind of an agreement with them."
She thought she hadn't heard him correctly. "You aren't thinking about actually giving in to them, are you? Opening up the doors and letting them in?"
He nodded. "I know. I'm just running short on ideas. I see a lot of scared people in here and if I need to swallow my pride and make some sacrifices in order to keep everyone safe, then maybe it's worth it."
She couldn't help but think that it would just prove to be the band-aid that they put over the wound that continued to fester, and grow infectious.
"I think you're rushing into this," Lot said. "We can't play by their rules."
"They aren't going to give us enough time for anything else," Rowen said.
Sophie reached out to grab his hand. "If you go out there, something bad is going to happen. Can't you sense that?"
There was the barest glint of a hard smile on his face as he answered. "A little. But I think we're pretty much out of trick cards to play. I think we need to meet him head on and see it out. At some point you stop controlling events and you have to accept that events are controlling you."
He stood up to head for the garage, clearly having made up his mind. She could resent him and let him walk away. But before she could steel herself against the memory, her mind raced back to the final image of her father, back turned and walking away from her. She jogged to catch up to Rowen, falling into stride next to him and grabbed his hand as they walked, feeling his gaze and sensing his gratitude for her presence.
They walked out through the garage, but before they walked up the ramp, he turned to face her.
"Look, I just want to say—"
"Shut the fuck up," she cut him off. "I'll hang back and stay out of the way, but I'm not letting you go out there completely alone."
He looked at her and nodded. She glanced over her shoulder at the sound of someone else and saw Clive coming out. It occurred to her how he somehow managed to be everywhere in this place. The three of them walked up the ramp, with Sophie and Clive stopping at the top while Rowen moved on, alone. The lot seemed strangely empty, and she wondered where everyone had gone. Jerry stood there by himself, Fiona on the ground next to him.
Sophie watched as Jerry greeted Rowen. The exchange seemed polite enough, but she couldn't hear what was being said. Rowen pointed at Jerry, and then down at Fiona. After several drawn out moments, Jerry started to gesture over Rowen's shoulder at the stadium and began to speak in a more animated fashion, but still not loud enough to be understood.
This was idiotic, insane to think that he should be out there by himself. Were they really putting all their hope in the morality of this man who had clearly demonstrated a willingness to hurt people to get whatever he wanted? Why would he hesitate to do the same to any one of them? She shouldn't have let Rowen convince her that this was a good idea. She took a step towards him, convinced that she was going to do some good, joining him out there in some form of support and protection.
The specifics of the conversation rapidly became less important as it became clear that negotiating wasn't high on Jerry's list of priorities. The next few seconds seemed to stretch out in front of her forever and would, from that point forward, be seared into her memory. She watched as Jerry first shoved Rowen, and then brought his other hand around to club him on the side of the head with his gun. Rowen toppled to the ground, his cry of pain and surprise just barely reaching her on the wind.
He was still struggling to get back to his feet when one of Jerry's men came up behind Rowen, a knife flashing out in his hand. Rowen turned in time to see it and as his arm came up to deflect the thrust, Sophie felt a thrill of excitement that somehow this man was going to perform another miracle and turn an impossible situation in his favor. These jack-asses with their broken down motorcycles would get what they had coming at the hands of this highly trained soldier.
The hope lasted for as long as it took for Jerry to step forward and grab Rowen's arm, pinning it to his chest. The other one came up behind and from that point forward, all Sophie saw was the blade of the knife, drawing across Rowen's throat, and the spray of blood against the glint of the setting sun.
-47-
She didn't know what she heard first, the sound of her own screams, or that of gunfire coming from behind them, from inside the stadium. Someone was dragging her back down the ramp but she fought it, until she was physically picked up off the ground and carried down into the darkness of the garage.
It only could have been a few minutes, but it felt like it had been hours. People ran around while Clive screamed orders at everyone to take up defensive positions.
"What is happening?" Sophie asked, somehow articulating the words through her own screaming.
"They got inside somehow, that's all I know!" Clive said as he lifted his gun. "I can't raise anyone on the radio to find out what's going on up there."
She heard the words, but all she could see in her mind's eye was Rowen on the grou
nd. A part of her still wanted to rush out there to try and help him even though she knew it was pointless. She should have gone out there, instead of him.
"Sophie!" Someone shook her. She blinked and looked around the garage, seeing it and hearing the shots for the first time.
"What's...what's going..."
Clive shook his head and pulled her to her feet. She hadn't even been conscious of dropping to her knees. She looked back at the garage door and started to pull away from him, yelling at anyone who might be listening.
"We have to help him! He's out there all alone, we have to help!"
She twisted around in Clive's arms but just as she managed to pull free, he would regain his grip a moment later. She swung back at him and kicked, even spit as she tried to get loose. She had to help Rowen. He had to be all right, he had to be—
Clive spun her around and punched her across the jaw.
Sophie staggered back, clutching at her face. She stumbled to a stop, wobbled from side to side for a moment before falling flat on her backside. She looked up at him, shocked at what he had just done, tearing up from the pain she felt.
"What—"
Clive pulled a bottle of water out of someone's hand as they passed, stepped forward and dumped it over her head.
Sophie sputtered as she crab-walked back away from him, spitting out water and reaching up with one hand to wipe her eyes. Water flowed down her back, making her shiver and arch from the cold as she shook her head and tried to center herself.
"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed at him.
"I need you to focus! Are you with me?" The others around him looked like they were bracing themselves for Sophie to jump up and gouge his eyes out. She was surprised though, to find that her mind was slowing and clarifying. The rovers had gotten into the building. Gunshots. She could hear screams and heavy footfalls as people ran around above them. People that needed her help.
"We need to get into this," Clive said. She realized that he held out another pistol for her. She shook her head as her mind started to drift again and took it. "The safety's off and you've got a round chambered," he said as he turned and headed for the door.
Sophie followed, along with three others into the hallway. Seeing no one, they headed for the stairs to the main level. She had no idea what she should have been expecting to happen, but whatever this was, it had begun.
-48-
Lot and Meredith leaned up against the food cart. It looked like there were twenty rovers making their way towards them, but there had to be more than what he saw. The last few minutes still replayed in his head like some kind of black and white footage. He had heard a strange noise coming from gate 29, out on the field near the press boxes. Before he could investigate, a huge group of rovers flooded through, from the inside of the building. Once they got onto the concrete walkway that circled the entire field, they did exactly what Lot would have done if he had been in charge. They split up and charged off in both directions. Everyone in the stadium was now going to be waging a war on two separate fronts.
Lot was proud of how well their people had responded, but he counted at least eight dead on the ground from the fifteen they originally had. He was pinned down with Meredith and could see four others huddled in a small alcove against the wall. They were stuck in the worst possible situation, and blind to how many of the rovers were left or how close they were.
The shots bounced off the cart and the walls around them, but despite having them all trapped, the rovers seemed to be taking their sweet time conducting their advance. Meredith looked at Lot with an expression communicating that she clearly had no idea what to do. He looked around for anything that they might be able to use to slow them down, if not stop them completely.
He grabbed Meredith's arm to get her attention and began thinking out loud. "Look, we need to try and use the building to our advantage, do the same thing they're doing. This corridor wraps all around the stadium but we can duck through any of these gates and get out onto the field. If we can do it without them noticing, maybe we can keep out of sight and when they run past—"
"We can get in behind them," Meredith finished his thought, wincing and leaning forward as a bullet winged close to her. "So how the Christ do we do that?"
His eyes fell on the cart and a thought raced through his head. He reached behind them and slid open the back panel, revealing the propane tank within. Meredith watched as he reached in, unscrewed the connecting hose and hefted it, judging what was left inside. It had been sitting dormant for so long, he had no idea if it would even be reactive anymore but it wasn't like they had many options left. He handed the canister to Meredith but she recoiled as if it was already on fire.
"I don't want it!"
"Meri, are you a good enough shot? Because if you are, I'll throw it."
She shook her head, still reluctant as she reached out to take the tank.
"You don't have to get it airborne," Lot said. "It's a straight shot, just roll it. And make sure you put enough juice on it. Wait until I say so."
She nodded and he rocked back on his heels, clenching and un-clenching his muscles as he tried to work some blood flow back into his legs. He waited for a pause in the shooting and stood up, opening fire as he did so.
"Now!" he yelled and noticed with some satisfaction that a few of his shots were actually hitting their marks, taking down more of their numbers. As the firing recommenced, he ducked back down behind the cart. He dropped down onto his belly, taking aim and when he thought the canister was close enough, he squeezed the trigger.
The sound of the explosion made his ears bulge, the heat wave strong enough to roll over them, even at that distance. Lot ejected the magazine from his gun and inserted another. Waving to get the attention of the other four, he pointed at the nearest archway.
"Get through there now, out through the gate!" he yelled at them as they passed, keeping low.
The rovers hadn't resumed firing, and he could hear their screams after being struck by the brunt of the explosion. He stood and took aim, waiting for the smoke to clear and for targets to clarify in his field. There were seven people that he could now see, staggering around and waving their hands through the thickening smoke. He let his breath out, moving from left to right, always shooting for center mass. His instructor's voice still rung in his ears whenever he fired a weapon. Bigger targets ladies. That's what you want. Behind the chest is the lungs, the heart, the spine. Hit any of those and your target is down for good. He managed to hit three before the other four realized where the shots were coming from. He dropped all of them before they could get more than a shot off.
Just as he turned away, a stray shot slammed into his shoulder. Lot grunted, felt himself spinning away from the rovers and fell to one knee. The firing from their automatic weapons resumed and he grabbed Meredith, pulling her towards the archway. He had taken out a large amount of their group, but even if there was only a handful of them left, their automatic weapons would make them too much to handle.
"That was great," Meredith said as they crouched down with the wall behind them. "You got any more ideas?"
Lot hefted the Ruger in his hand, feeling pain sear down his arm from his shoulder as he did so. "No idea," he said. "Just stay low and out of sight. Hopefully, they think we're just running away."
He crouched down and leaned back against the wall, trying to ignore the pain from his shoulder. If they were lucky, the rovers would advance without knowing that they had ducked in here. There wasn't much chance of this actually working, but they had reached the point where even shitty odds were the only ones left.
-49-
Sophie gripped the gun and eased out into the main corridor, down from the food court. The sound of gunfire echoed all around them and just around the bend, she could make out their people, running and trying to find whatever cover they could. She grabbed the arm of one of the men as they passed.
"David," she said. "Those stairs lead up to the luxury suite level. Go up
there and bring back as many people as you can, get them anything they can use as a weapon and get back down here."
He nodded and ran off. Clive looked over his shoulder at her and she shrugged.
"At this point, we need anything we can get. We outnumber them, we need to be taking advantage of that." She ran with Clive, keeping low and ducked down behind several vending machines that had been tipped down to use as barriers. The kid who was there looked maybe twenty, and from the expression on his face, he looked like he was about to lose it.
"What's going on?" Sophie asked. It was a stupid question but she needed to offer something to distract him.
"They got in somehow, I don't—" The kid's voice started to rise to the level of a shriek and Sophie put out her hand to stop him.
"Calm down. How many of them are there?"
He nodded and blinked several times, wiping the sweat out of his eyes and sweeping his hair back from his face before answering. "I have no idea. There were too many for us to count. At least twenty, and they've got automatic rifles. But so far they've just been shooting up the corridor, like they aren't even trying to hit us."
Sophie nodded as the bullets whizzed over their heads. Even though they had more people, with only a handful of guns and a lot of clubs, they would likely just end up getting cut down by the advancing force.
"What about over that way?" Sophie nodded behind them.
"We don't know. We figure they must have split up, so they're coming at us from both directions."
"Our people?"
"Five or six killed. A few more hurt."
"Do you think they're just trying to—" Sophie was interrupted by the sound of an explosion from the other side of the stadium where Lot and Meredith had been stationed. If there was another group of rovers trying to break through, they could be in a lot of trouble.
"They're trying to stall us!" Clive yelled out, evidently having the same thought. "They're trying to pin us down until the rest of them can get around from the other side and get us in a crossfire."
Behind Our Walls Page 15