“Are you sure?”
Sighing, she put her phone down and looked over at her younger sister. Fear showed on her sister’s face, creating lines on her forehead. She looked like she’d cry at any second. “Look, Dad is smart and tough. You know he does all of those obstacle races and lifts weights like everyday. He was also in the Navy for what, twenty years?”
“Twenty-two years.”
“Exactly. He knows how to take care of himself, and he’s smart. He’ll be okay.”
Brenna nodded, setting aside the pair of jeans and grabbing a t-shirt to roll up. “What about Mom?”
“She’s on a cruise, far away from all of this. I’m sure she’s fine. She’s probably shopping in Mexico, buying up all kinds of stuff.”
Brenna chuckled at that. Their mother was notorious for shopping.
Ashley picked up her phone again and checked it one more time. Nothing. She set it down and got to work, looking through her pile of jeans to find the ones that didn’t have holes. Of the seven pairs of jeans, three were whole. There was one pair, however, that had relatively small holes, only in the knees. “Be right back.” She went to the kitchen pantry and retrieved the metal tin that held all the sewing supplies. Once she had everything else packed, if she had time she would mend the jeans to give herself a fourth pair, in addition to the ones she was wearing.
Turning from the pantry door, she saw their cat Ursula sitting by the back door, clearly hoping to go out. Sensing that Ashley was watching, she gave out a long meow and reached up towards the handle of the door.
Ashley shook her head. “You must be kidding, Ursula. There’s no way you’re going outside with everything that’s going on.” She walked over to pet the cat, but the cat slipped away, hiding behind the TV. “Punk.” Ashley turned and headed back to the bedroom, where she saw a blinking light on her phone. She rushed over and picked it up. It was a message from Jenelle.
Sooo sick. Hate this. Hope you don’t get this flu.
Ashley burst into tears.
Brenna dropped the shirt she was rolling and rushed over to her sister, putting her arm around her. “What’s wrong?”
Between sobs, Ashley managed to spit out, “Jenelle is sick.”
“Oh no...I’m so sorry, Ash.” Brenna hugged her sister, hard, not knowing what else to say.
They stayed that way for a while, hugging each other as Ashley let all of her tears out.
Serafina checked her watch again. Three-thirty. Daniel had been gone for about an hour. Grabbing her phone, she checked for messages from him. Nothing, which was OK. She needed him to stay focused on what he was doing.
‘Speaking of focus,’ she said to herself, ‘get it together, Sera. You’ve got work to do.’ She’d downloaded maps for the entire route from their home to Big Bear, then looked upstairs and found old paper maps that they could use, should the phones run out. They were detailed, but they certainly would be more difficult to use while driving. Nevertheless, they were good to have as a backup. Phone service could go out at any time.
After that, she’d gotten all the cat necessities together, including the leashes and the bags of dry food, then did a thorough review of what Brenna had packed. The girl had done a great job, grabbing everything they could possibly use and packing it neatly.
She’d wracked her brain, trying to think of other things that would help, and settled on the picnic basket, which, as silly as it seemed, did have a set of four place settings all the way around. Sure, there were five of them now because of the addition of the young guy Daniel had rescued, but it was a start. She stashed a variety of kitchen knives in the basket as well, and, with a bit of finesse, she managed to fit in four steel insulated cups which she figured could be used for anything from coffee to plain old water. That, of course, made her think of coffee, and while it wouldn’t be easy to make, she was sure it would be necessary at some point. She sensed there would be long days and nights ahead of them. She grabbed the two single-pound bags of espresso and drip coffee that they had in the cupboard, along with the stove top percolator, and fit them into a reusable shopping bag.
Satisfied, Serafina had made her way to the bedroom, where she began grabbing clothes that she’d be able to use from her closet and setting it out on the bed. The vast majority of her closet held the professional attire she wore on a daily basis - dresses, suits, blouses, and slacks that would provide little protection and lacked in durability - but she did have a sufficient number of jeans, t-shirts, and sweatshirts to last about a week at a time.
Sighing, she went back to wrapping the clothes tightly with hair ties, wishing that Daniel would hurry and get back. Sensing her unease, Tommy got up from where he was lounging on Daniel’s side of the bed and came over to her, walking in between her and the clothes on the bed. The cat looked up at her, sleepily, waiting for attention.
“Hey, buddy.” Serafina stroked the cat’s fur, once again happy to have the cats in their lives. “I love you, too.” Tommy meowed in response as he closed his eyes before plopping down on the bed.
Serafina continued petting the cat, gazing off toward the window, deep in thought. After a while, she decided to check the news, hoping for a positive update for a change. Grabbing the remote from the nightstand, she turned on the TV before tossing the remote on the bed. It bounced away, falling to the floor on the opposite side of the bed. Sighing yet again, she grabbed a long sleeve shirt and began rolling it as she waited for the Smart TV to boot.
When the TV came to life, the image of a massive ship dominated the screen. A woman’s voice provided context.
“What you’re seeing are images of a Carnival Cruise ship, which has been quarantined off of the coast of Cabo San Lucas. Early reports have indicated the presence of the flu that has been spreading throughout the southern parts of California and into Nevada. The ship was due to dock this morning, but is being denied entry due to concerns over the epidemic.
This is a developing story. We will continue to provide updates as we receive them.”
“Auntie, do you have any more hair ties?” Brenna walked in the master bedroom, crossing to the bed to pet Tommy. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the ship on the screen before the image changed. “What was that?”
“It’s a ship. I guess they were having some kind of trouble, and now it’s anchored off of Cabo.”
Brenna tilted her head, considering the statement. “I think that’s where my Mom said she was going.”
Serafina nodded, looking at the TV. The news anchors were different than the ones she and Daniel had watched the day before. “Let’s stay positive for now. Quarantine is just a safety precaution. Those ships have a medical staff, too.”
Brenna nodded, reaching over to grab some of the hair ties that were on the edge of the bed.
Ashley’s voice came from the doorway. “What’s going on?”
Serafina decided to be straightforward with the teenager. “There’s a ship being quarantined off of the coast of Cabo. It might be the one your mom is on, but we’re not sure.”
Ashley looked at the floor, taking the news in.
Serafina looked at the shirt in her hands, not wanting to speculate. There wasn’t anything they could do about it, but she didn’t want them to assume the worst, either.
“Well, like I told your sister, let’s stay positive. She’s on a big ship with a medical staff, so they should be able to provide care if she needs it.”
Finding resolve, Ashley put her arm around her younger sister. “Let’s stay focused. Dad will be back soon and we’ll need to get ready quickly.” She looked at Serafina, her jaw set, determination in her eyes. Serafina found it remarkable that the young girl she’d met when she and Daniel had first started dating had turned into such a strong young woman.
By four thirty their efforts were complete, and everything had been neatly staged in the garage. Serafina had thought about trying to pack stuff in the Jeep to get a head start, but aside from the fact that Daniel was a pro
at packing stuff neatly in every available space (they’d made several camping trips using the Prius before he’d gotten the Jeep), she also didn’t know what he was bringing back from his excursion.
So that left them to wait.
They’d attempted to watch TV, but it was mostly depressing, hearing about the spread of the virus. There hadn’t been any updates regarding the cruise ship since they’d first learned about it, either. The only real update was that the virus had somehow found its way to Europe and Asia, which was distressing.
Deciding to take a break from the news, Serafina had started cooking dinner. If they were leaving in the morning, it could be a while before she had a chance to cook in her kitchen again.
Ashley and Brenna had offered to help, but Serafina had politely declined, suggesting they get some rest before their father returned and they had to get to work packing everything.
Realizing that they would very quickly get bored if the Internet went down in the upcoming days or weeks, she asked Brenna to grab all of the card games they had: standard playing cards, Uno, Exploding Kittens, and Cranium. The games would take minimal space and offer a welcome reprieve from the stress of what they were dealing with.
A knock came from the front door, loud and demanding.
Using the app on her phone, she was able to see who was at the front door. It was a tall, heavyset white man, wearing a dark blue polo shirt and khaki slacks. Appearance-wise, he looked normal enough, but the fact that he, a complete stranger, was knocking on their door was enough to cause Serafina concern, especially under the circumstances.
She turned off the heat on the stove, contemplating whether or not she should see what the man wanted.
‘This is not the time to be timid, Sera,’ she told herself, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel.
Resolute, she grabbed a meat cleaver before heading to the front door. The door’s wooden panels blocked out most of the light, but she could see the man’s shadow shifting back and forth in front of the door.
“What do you want?” She asked, standing back from the door.
“Can you open the door? I need some help.”
“Sorry, I can’t do that. Why don’t you try somewhere else? There’s plenty of other houses.”
“I have. I tried several. No one else answered the door. Maybe I can speak to your husband?”
‘Nice try.’ She thought, shaking her head. “He’s in the middle of working on something right now. Besides, he’ll tell you the same thing: Move along.”
“Look, I’m hungry and tired. Can’t you help a guy out?”
“No. We don’t have any food to spare here, sorry.”
Reminding herself that she could watch the man through the app on her phone, she unlocked the device. The man was pacing, fists clenched, clearly angry. Seeing him acting in such a manner made her sure that she’d made the right decision.
The door shook with a bang as the man struck it with his fist. “Why you gotta be a bitch?”
Serafina stepped back, frightened. “I’m sorry. Please just go away.”
“Fuck you.”
Through the app, she watched the man walk away, heading to right, across the driveway. Relieved, she slumped against the wall, exhaling loudly.
Ashely’s voice interrupted her moment of silence. “What was that?”
Serafina looked over at her, shaken. “Some guy wanted to come in. I told him that I was sorry and that we couldn’t let him in. He didn’t like it.”
“Did he leave?”
Serafina looked at the app screen on her phone again. No sign of the man. “I think so.” Looking towards the rear of the house, she could see the sliding glass door. It was locked. “We need to check the - ”
A crash of breaking glass echoed through the house, followed by a high, piercing scream.
Brenna.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Who the fuck are you?” A large black man sat on the back of the Prius, his legs dangling off of it. He wore sunglasses, a L.A. Kings ball cap, a short sleeved t-shirt that looked like it would lose the battle against the man’s thick muscles at any second, and baggy black pants. He shifted on the vehicle,making the whole car move in response. Even though he remained seated, Daniel could tell the man was clearly tall, and looked to be in the 260 pound range. The man’s right hand held a chrome-plated gun, but it was across his lap. Daniel knew there was no way the man could get a shot off before he pulled the trigger of the shotgun, which was currently aimed at the man’s chest.
“No one you need to know.” Daniel replied, remaining focused on the alignment between the gun’s barrel and the potential target in front of him.
“Come on, man, I’m just asking who you are.”
“Paul, close the door and lock it.” Daniel heard the kid do so.
“And we just want to be on our way. Once we’re gone, you can do whatever you want. There’s plenty of stuff inside.”
The man nodded, contemplating Daniel’s offer. He grinned, showing a mouth half full of gold teeth. “But what if you have what I want?”
Sensing the change in the man’s demeanor, Daniel knew he had to improve his positioning. His left side was blocked by a wall, which was great for defense, but lousy for observation. If someone came around the corner, they’d be too close for him to bring the shotgun around.
Daniel slid to the right, keeping the man in the center of his vision, but opening up the area to the left to his peripheral vision. Two other men, one black and one white, stopped in their tracks, having been exposed. It was a good move, one that clearly frustrated the man on the car. His mouth closed in a tight grimace.
“Alright, how about you and your friend inside just leave? We’ll let you go. You can find another place to take from.”
Daniel didn’t like the offer. Finding another store would be starting over again, and it was already getting late. “No thanks. We’ll take what we have.”
The man leaned back, looking to his right, seemingly checking on his men.
His move was too predictable.
The man brought up his pistol quickly, intent on killing.
The Mossberg 930 shotgun boomed, incredibly loud in the space behind the store. The two barrels sent a combined excess of 600 steel pellets into the man’s torso from roughly ten feet away.
His chest and stomach area exploded open in a bloody mess as flesh, blood, and bone flew outward from his body. The force knocked the man backwards and partially up onto the car’s roof before gravity took over, causing his dead body to slide off of the car and to the ground with a thump.
Daniel had already moved, pumping the shotgun again as he pivoted to his right and advanced, putting the two men squarely in front of him. When the two men looked up from where their leader fell to the ground, Daniel was twelve feet away, the gun at his shoulder, it’s aim locked onto them.
The men put their hands up instinctively. As they faced him, the black man, who stood on Daniel’s right, said. “Hey man. It’s all good. We don’t want trouble.” The man wore a white tank top and white pants and looked as if he’d trained with the man Daniel had shot.
“You don’t want trouble?” Daniel slid the gun to his right, centering on the man. “You sure you want to go with that? Seems to me like if your friend back there didn’t want trouble, he’d probably still be alive.”
“Hey man, Charlie was kinda crazy, you know? We told him to wait for y’all to leave, but he’s crazy.”
The white man, who’d gotten a buzz cut and dyed his hair blonde in some kind of attempt to look like Eminem and wore a big puffy jacket, regardless of the fact that it was 80 degrees, nodded furiously. “Yeah, man. Charlie’s crazy. We don’t want no trouble. We just - ”
Daniel cut him off. “That’s enough talking.” He made a slight nod of his head to the right, keeping his focus as he did so. “Tank top. You’ve got a gun behind your back.” It was a guess, but Daniel figured it was a safe bet. “Slowly take it out with your left hand, using two fing
ers, bring it in front of you, keep your eyes on me, and set it on the ground.” Having the man use his left hand was playing the odds, but Daniel still felt confident he could get off another shot before the man could, should he try anything stupid. To remind the men of such, he added, “Remember, your buddy there thought he was faster than my trigger finger. That didn’t work out for him. I have no intention of killing you, if you do what I say. Now, tank top, let’s see if you can follow directions.”
The man did as Daniel ordered, awkwardly reaching behind his back with his left hand to retrieve the gun. Like his friend’s the gun was chrome-plated, it’s surface reflecting light as he pulled it forward. Daniel had guessed right on both. The man gently lowered it to the ground, keeping his eyes on Daniel throughout the motion.
“Good. Now step back.” The man did so. “Turn around and lie on your stomach.” Again, the man followed instructions.
Daniel shifted his focus to the other man. “Now you. Let that jacket slide off of your shoulders and onto the ground.” The man did as instructed, and as the jacket hit the ground, Daniel heard a heavy thump. “Keep your eyes on me and move - don’t kick - the jacket around in front of you.” Daniel stepped forward, closing the gap slightly. “Don’t try any bullshit.”
“Okay, man, okay.” The man used his right leg to hook the jacket and pull it around in front of him, slowly nudging it forward.
“Good. Now, slowly turn all the way around in a circle.” As the man turned, Daniel saw a gun in the man’s waistband as well. He repeated the same instructions he’d given the man’s partner, then had him lay face down on the asphalt of the parking lot as well.
Daniel stepped forward and slid the jacket further away, then used his foot to move the pistol as well. Sliding back to his left, keeping the shotgun aimed at the men, he reached the backdoor to the store. He was nearly twenty feet from the men, which made it a bit harder to focus a blast on just one of them, but it also made it more likely that if he did shoot, both of them would take damage. He used the edge of his boot to kick against the door, knocking three times, pausing, and then knocking two more times.
Surviving Rage | Book 1 Page 16