As We Fall

by Jack Hunt

  “Well, I’m Sam.” He turned and Anna came back in. “That’s my daughter Anna. That’s Lisa and there are three other guys who are hopefully on the roof making sure trouble isn’t heading our way.”

  Amanda tried to get up. “I need to go and see.”

  Sam placed a hand on her shoulder. “You should rest. You were unconscious for a while.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “So you’re in no pain?”

  “Besides my head, and chest, no.”

  She wouldn’t take no for an answer and rose to her feet. She stumbled a little and Sam caught hold of her arm. “Listen, wait until morning. If he’s not here by then we’ll go and see. It’s not safe out there in the day, let alone the night.”

  Tears formed in her eyes and she reached for her head. Sam led her over to the tiered gym bleachers and sat her down. “When did you last eat?”

  “Yesterday morning.”

  Sam straddled one of the benches. “Lisa, you think you can get her something to eat?” She nodded and took out a can of beans they’d got from the country club. As she went about heating it up, Sam wanted to get a feel for what had been occurring in the town.

  “What did you do before this, Amanda?”

  “I… I was a teacher here at the school.”

  “And David?”

  “Worked in construction.” Anna handed her some water and she took a swig of it. “When the lights went out I was in school at the time, teaching. Everyone stayed there until the principal announced that he was sending everyone home. There were reports that Russia had attacked America with a cyber attack. I figured the power would come back on in a couple of hours but it didn’t. We stayed home by the radio waiting for an update but it never came. By the second evening our neighbor’s home was broken into. They showed up at our house but David fought off the attackers.”

  “Is that who you think came after you tonight?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. I didn’t see them. By this morning things had really got out of control in the town. There were fights breaking out over what was remaining in the stores. Large groups of families and friends took to the streets. The police were having trouble keeping everyone in line. People wanted answers. They demanded answers. That’s when the rioting and fires started. They were acting like animals. We were going to head for Syracuse tonight, to be with David’s parents when these men just came out of nowhere and attacked. They wanted whatever we had. They began beating on the back of the vehicle, and rocking it. We barely got away. David had to plow three of them down. That’s when they came after us, boxed us in and drove us off the road. David was furious and got out to confront them — that’s when they started beating on him. One of them tried to drag me out of the car but I fought back and managed to drive away.”

  “And that’s why you ended up here.”

  She nodded. “I thought he would be here by now.”

  Amanda looked nervous again.

  Wayne stopped his pacing, and tossed a bottle of beer into the bushes. “What the hell are we doing here, Jeremy?”

  “Waiting,” Jeremy said peering down at him. He had climbed up a tree to get a better look. They were nestled in a cluster of trees not far from the school. He’d seen the silhouettes of men on the roof and watched them go down and get that woman out of the vehicle. He’d considered moving in then but it was too risky, besides he had a better idea.

  “Waiting for what?” Wayne asked impatiently.

  Jeremy turned, a frown on his face. “For the right time.”

  “Now is the right time, Wayne said. “We go in now.” He stabbed the air with his finger.

  “Being hasty is what got Toby killed. It’s the reason Nick and Gabe are injured. Do you want to join them?”

  “No but—”

  “No buts! They’ll come out. Trust me. We’ve got all the time in the world.”

  “I don’t get you. A day ago you were talking about controlling our little neck of the woods and now we’re out here wasting our time. I’m tired. I want to go back.”

  Jeremy climbed down and dropped to the ground. He grabbed a hold of Wayne and threw him up against the tree. “You talk big but where were you when Toby walked into the line of fire?”

  Through gritted teeth Wayne replied, “Right there beside him. You didn’t have to see his brains spill, or the look in his eyes after he died. If you had, maybe we wouldn’t be messing around here and would just roll in and finish them.”

  “There are six of them, seven if you count the woman.” He paused. “There are three of us. No, we play this smart.” He released his grip on Wayne and Wayne cursed under his breath as he walked off into the woodland.

  Sean slipped off his car and came over. “I’m all for waiting, Jeremy, but Wayne has a point. If we don’t do something tonight, they’ll be on the road by morning and who knows if we’ll be able to keep up.”

  “They aren’t going anywhere.” He walked around to the back of the vehicle and popped open the trunk and pointed to two gasoline canisters. “We’re going to give them some of their own medicine.”

  Sean grinned and called out to Wayne.

  Back in Breckenridge, Richard Underwood slammed the door to his seven-bedroom home on the outskirts of town. He tossed his bag on the table and it let out a thud followed by an echo. In all the years he’d been coming back to his home, he never felt so alone as he did in that moment. After losing his wife he’d thought long and hard about taking his own life. He locked himself away in his home, didn’t answer phone calls, didn’t bother to change his clothes, refused to handle business matters until his daughter pulled him out of it.

  Richard walked into his living room and immediately headed over to the liquor cabinet to pour a drink. He unscrewed the top and was about to pour three fingers when he decided to just take the whole bottle. He sank into his leather recliner chair and rocked ever so slightly staring at the darkened room. Every now and again he would hear the sound of sirens. Things were going to get worse, much worse. This was just the beginning.

  As he sat there drowning his sorrows, he remembered the days after he lost his wife like it was yesterday.

  “Dad, get up,” Helen said crossing the room and pulling back the blinds to let the warm summer light sting his eyes. “You can’t keep going like this. Mom wouldn’t want to see you wither away. And you know it’s true. So I don’t want any arguing out of you.”

  Helen gathered up the empty bottles of alcohol and he heard her in the kitchen puttering around, filling up the sink with water and preparing to do the dishes.

  “You know you have thirty-two messages on your voicemail. I’ve been trying to get hold of you for the last week. It’s time to get up and face the world because it’s moving on without you.”

  “Let it,” he said in his drunken state. “I don’t care.”

  “You might not. But I do.” She reappeared in the doorway, hands on her hips just like her mother. If he squinted hard enough he could almost picture her standing there now. He watched as she carried in a set of clothes from another room and dumped them on his lap. “You need a shower and to change out of those clothes. You smell like the backside of a horse.”

  He chuckled, thinking of how she was able to brighten his world.

  “Leave me alone. Please.”

  “Anna has been asking about you. She’s worried.”

  “Anna?”

  “Yeah, your granddaughter or have you forgotten her too?”

  She got him up, pushed him into a shower and made him get sober.

  Helen had been his light at the end of that dark tunnel. The one to bring him back from the edge — and now she was gone too. He had no one left. No family. No…

  As the thoughts churned over in his mind, his daughter’s words came back to him again. “… have you forgotten her too?”

  She was right. He still had Anna.

  TWENTY – INDEBTED

  Breckenridge

  The news of Helen’s death hit him hard.
Eric would have given the ring back to Richard but he must have ducked out of the hospital immediately after the doctors delivered the news. He’d remained at the hospital for another twenty minutes trying to get details from the staff on what had gone wrong but because he wasn’t family they weren’t at liberty to say. Frustrated and devastated by the news, Eric decided to leave and head home.

  Richard had lent him a truck to use because his recently bought Subaru had died along with many of the other vehicles in town. It seemed almost absurd that the advancement in technology had brought with it an overlooked security flaw that gave an inroad to hackers. He was now driving a 1948 Chevrolet 3100 pickup. Eric had been hesitant to accept it but now he was beginning to understand Richard’s ulterior motive — marriage.

  If it weren’t for the fact that there was a heavy police presence, and a curfew on the town, he wouldn’t have dared venture outside. He knew this wasn’t going to last. It was fine for those with money like Richard, those who could sway minds and make things happen with the snap of fingers, but that would only go so far. He’d heard the statistics read out at a private council meeting that Richard had invited him to. The overall crime rate was high in Breckenridge compared to elsewhere in Colorado. How long would it take before desperation took hold of the unfortunate few, those who didn’t have generators, those who didn’t have weight in the community, and those who already had a criminal record?

  He wasn’t so naïve as to think that what was spouted in the city hall meetings about ensuring everyone’s safety was going to prevent violence. It was only a matter of time before people took matters into their own hands. The Breckenridge Police Department wasn’t large and having the entire staff work around the clock wasn’t going to work. He gave it another two days at the most before things got out of control, if they hadn’t already.

  Eric pulled on to Highlands Drive. His home was located on the bend. Houses were spread out providing privacy and a great view of the mountains. Eric parked outside and hopped out using a flashlight to light his way. He’d had big hopes of one day marrying Helen. He hadn’t given up on her even though she’d told him on numerous occasions that they could only be friends. In some ways he’d been glad to have the support of her father as he knew how influential he’d been in her life in both a positive and negative way. Eric had already witnessed it in his own life with Richard stepping in and making sure his needs were taken care of. Within the first day of the event, Richard had swung by with cans of food, and dropped off a generator. “You’re family. We take care of each other,” he said. Eric wasn’t part of their family but had Helen come out of surgery fine, he would have proposed to her around Christmas time. He had it all planned out in his mind. He was going to take her away on a trip to Aspen. Wine and dine her and show her that he could take care of her just as well as Sam could. If not better.

  He shook his head as he made his way up to the door with a can of gasoline to fill up the generator. As Eric reached for the handle, he noticed it was slightly ajar, and the framework around the lock appeared to have been broken — someone had forced their way in.

  Eric placed the gasoline canister on the ground and switched off his flashlight. He peered through the glass and put his ear up to the door trying to see if he could hear anyone.

  There was nothing. No movement. No sound.

  Nervous, and concerned for his own safety, he backed up, and jogged back to the truck. In the glove compartment was a Glock gifted to him by Richard when he dropped off the truck. His words were, “It’s for your own safety.”

  To which Eric had replied, “You anticipating things getting out of control?”

  “No,” Richard had said. “But you can never be too careful.”

  Eric pulled it out and removed the magazine to check it was loaded before palming it back in and putting a round in the chamber. Holding the flashlight in his left hand, and resting his right on top of the other, he approached the house.

  Eric pushed open the door with the tip of his boot and swept the flashlight from side to side. “If anyone is in there you better leave now. I have a gun and I will use it,” he said in a voice of authority. His hands were shaking. He’d only once been in a confrontation with someone in the town and that was after a guy backed into his car. Things got out of control and fists were thrown. Thankfully several passersby came to his aid and they were able to subdue the madman.

  But this?

  He was out of his comfort zone and a good distance from his neighbors.

  Hesitant to enter, he lingered in the doorway, yelling for whoever was in the house to make themselves known. He continued to scan the corridor that led into the open kitchen.

  His heart was pounding against his chest as he contemplated entering or leaving. He didn’t want to leave and have someone rob him blind of what little he had, but he also didn’t want to die.

  “Come out! I’ve called the police. They’re on their way.”

  Suddenly, he heard movement. At first it was subtle then he saw a figure come into view in the kitchen. They were wearing a hood and had their head down. He couldn’t see their face and was too panic-stricken and spooked to think the way a cop might. Instead, he just told them to stay where they were. “Don’t come any closer.”

  But they didn’t listen.

  They moved forward saying something but he couldn’t quite hear them. They were mumbling. His first thought was they were a drug user, his second was there could be two of them and they were communicating. This could be some form of distraction. He turned his head from left to right, the hairs on his arms rising, his throat becoming dry.

  “I said don’t move!”

  That’s when his flashlight caught the glint of something in their hand.

  Instantly, he thought it was a gun or a knife.

  “Put it down!”

  He took several steps back yelling for them to listen but they wouldn’t. They just continued to press forward and then they slowly lifted their hand as if they were about to attack. It all happened in a split second. The arm rising, a sudden shift forward and he squeezed the trigger. Two, three loud cracks and the stranger dropped.

  His breath caught in his throat as he stared at the body on the floor in his hallway.

  Eric backed up until he was near his truck. He scanned the windows, and sides of his home looking for others but there was no one else. He waited there several minutes before entering the home and approaching the intruder. Washing the light over them he noticed that what was in their hand wasn’t a gun or a knife but a crowbar. He kicked the person to see if they were alive and stepped back. When they didn’t move he pushed the crowbar out of their hand with his foot then bent down and rolled them over.

  His nostrils flared and his eyes widened.

  It was Ricky, his neighbor’s son. The kid was only sixteen.

  “Oh my God…” he muttered, dropping to his knees and checking his pulse.

  He was gone. There was no bringing him back.

  Shock took over the panic and he shuffled back against a wall and buried his head in his hands. What have you done? What have you done? His thoughts circled through what he was going to say to Ricky’s father then what the police would do. His life was over. They’d throw him in jail and with all that was going on he’d be lucky to see the light of day.

  Eric stood up and hurried back to the truck, his hands gloved in blood.

  He hopped into the truck and reversed out of there at breakneck speed.

  It took him all of ten minutes to get over to Richard’s home. The headlights washed over the front of his house as he pulled onto the driveway and made his way up. The lights were out in the house as though he’d turned in for the night. In a state of panic, Eric didn’t turn off the engine. He threw the gear into park and got out and began pounding on the door while looking over his shoulder as if expecting the police.

  “Richard! Open up. It’s Eric.”

  He heard movement inside. “Hold on. I’m coming.”


  The door opened and he burst inside brushing past him and collapsed on the floor. Richard held up a hand-cranked light and loomed over him.

  “What on earth is going on?”

  Eric rolled over and the light illuminated his blood-stained hands.

  “I didn’t know it was him. I didn’t. He broke into my house. I told him to stop moving forward. He didn’t identify himself. There was something in his hands.” The words just spilled out, disjointed and probably making no sense.

  Richard crouched down and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down. Take a few deep breaths.” He walked away and Eric heard glasses clinking then he returned with bourbon. “Here, take this.”

  Eric downed it like water. It felt like fire going down his throat.

  Once he managed to compose himself, he told him everything.

  Richard stood up and walked over to the front door and peered out.

  “Did anyone see you?”

  Eric shook his head as Richard closed the door.

  He walked back over and stooped down. “Listen to me. We’re going to take care of this. Okay?”

  Eric nodded.

  “It wasn’t your fault, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Kid shouldn’t have been there. I probably would have done the same thing myself.” Richard took hold of him by the shoulders. “You and I need to stick together now. Okay? I’ll watch your back, you’ll watch mine.”

  He nodded. All that mattered to him was making this all go away. He could barely process what had happened. It seemed like a bad dream. “Where is the kid?”

  “In my hallway.”

  “And you’re sure no one heard or saw you?”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t see anyone out on the road but someone might have heard the gunshots.”

  Richard rose and paced up and down.

  “Then we need to move fast. We’ve got to get that body out of the house, dump it far away from where you live and tonight. I’ll grab a tarp and some gloves, and uh...”

  “I can’t go back there.”