by Hunt, James
They positioned the charges close enough to the buildings to cause a rumble but far enough away to not kill anyone. He wanted to make sure the blasts maintained their purpose as a distraction. And with the amount of C-4 they had in their bags, it would be quite the fireworks show.
Rodney and Thomas finished and slunk back into the darkness. Unlike the previous town they helped liberate, this one was not located in a valley that provided a useful high ground for an attack. But they did manage to find a hilltop with a limited view of the main drag. At the very least, they’d be able to see the building where Kate was taken. If they didn’t kill her on sight.
When Rodney and Thomas returned, Captain Harley and the rest were nothing but frozen shadows nestled in the snow.
With Kate near the west entrance, waiting until it was her time to turn herself in, there were thirteen of them to assault a group that probably numbered somewhere in the forties. Their only hope was that they could pick them off from the hill, getting as many as possible until they had to change position.
“What’s the time?” Captain Harley asked.
Rodney checked the pocket watch, his eyes taking a minute to adjust to reading in the darkness. “Just under fifteen minutes.” He snapped it shut and then placed it back in his pocket as he made sure to place the detonator in a secure position.
The wires extended from the silver metal box like veins eager to pump life into the frozen hearts buried in the snow.
“You think she’ll actually do it?” Thomas asked. “I mean, just walk in there like that and give herself up?”
“Without hesitation.” And while he had accepted her decision, Rodney didn’t like it any more than he had to. But it wasn’t his place to deny her request, nor anyone else’s. It was her life. It was her children. It was her choice.
But whether he would ever see Kate Hillman again was another matter. He was suddenly regretful for not saying goodbye. In the heat of things, they had gone their separate ways without even a good luck. But he suspected that she had other things on her mind, and the last thing he wanted to do was distract her from her concentration on getting her children out alive.
The time passed slowly in the cold snow. And the added anxiety about the fight to come only made it worse. No one spoke, the silence pulled over them like the blanket of snow. But Rodney could sense the humming of thoughts behind the mixture of expressions.
Each of them with their own worries, their own concerns, their own fears about what would happen when Kate walked into town and set things into motion. They all had something to lose, some more than others. But they were together. And they would fight together. A cluster of strangers who shared nothing in common but survival and the fight against evil.
If Rodney could pull one good thing from the events triggered by the EMP, it was that the haze of apathy was lifted. All of the little petty things that people clung to in their day-to-day life were gone. There were no more traffic jams filled with motorists brimming with road rage. Gone were the lines at coffee shops filled with people who were on their phones, huffing and puffing about their boss or office gossip, all the while ignoring one another and building a fake life on social media. The like buttons were gone, the emojis no longer mattered, and the plug had been pulled. And it had led to this.
A group of people fighting for life, uniting against a threat that was born from evil and greed. Of all the ways for his life to end, Rodney suspected it could be worse. He was no longer that guy hiding out in a city of millions, waiting for the world to end. And it had taken the memory of his late father and the righteous cause of a mother and her family, to show him the path of purpose, to see that without real human connections, a life wasn’t truly lived.
Rodney checked his watch again—less than three minutes remained. He looked at the faces glued to the riflescopes.
“Do you have family, Captain Harley?” Rodney asked.
The question turned the captain’s gaze, and everyone else’s, toward him. He nodded curtly. “Two boys out in California. One of them has a wife with my first grandchild on the way.”
A few smiles cracked along the worried expressions. Gena, one of the middle-aged women who had a sister that was taken, was one of them. “I have an aunt that lives in San Diego.”
“That’s where my oldest is,” Captain Harley replied.
A whisper of conversation helped cast out the dark and their fears.
“Remember them,” Rodney said. “Remember what we’re doing here, because I can promise you that this isn’t the only evil happening in the world. And remember that we’re not the only ones fighting it.”
The swell of confidence lifted the group, everyone sitting up straighter, hands and bodies steadier as they took up their aim on the town.
Rodney fished out his pocket watch again, and ran his thumb over the engraving, remembering the words his father told him just before the cancer wasted him away to nothing. A father’s final challenge to a son who hoped he could answer.
“People want to do the right thing, Rodney. It’s just that most of the time they’re scared to. It’s that fear that’s the hardest thing to get over. It’ll rot you from the inside out until there’s nothing left. Be the person who helps rid people of that fear. Be the person who shows them the way. You’ll get hurt, and you’ll get knocked down and burned, but those wounds will heal, and those failures will fade. But what sticks with you, what others will see in you, is that courage in the face of fear. Be better, Rodney. Always be better.”
The minute hand finally ticked toward the final sixty seconds until Kate walked into town, and Rodney peered through the scope of his rifle to watch Main Street. Rodney had never been sure about the afterlife, but in that moment, as the final seconds of their preparation came to end, Rodney hoped there was, and he hoped that his dad was up there watching.
Neither Stacy or Kate spoke to one another. Both mothers were lost in their own minds. Kate figured Stacy had her own fears to deal with. Kate knew she had her hands full with her own.
Standing motionless in the cold had only made the waiting worse. But for some reason, Kate couldn’t force herself to move. It was almost as if any movement before the time on her watch expired meant failure. And she couldn’t fail, not this mission.
A million thoughts raced through Kate’s mind as she waited for the hour to end. And of all those thoughts, of all the memories that could have resurfaced, one replayed like a broken record.
The memory was older than her past with Dennis, or Mark, or even her children. It was of her sixteenth birthday, which was also the day that she had chosen to become a pilot.
Before the incident with Dennis, and before she had gotten pregnant and her parents disowned her, Kate was the apple of her family’s eye. She had excelled in high school and already had a slew of promising prospects for college and scholarships. She was at the top of her class, and her parents had promised to reward all of her hard work with a very special birthday gift.
When she woke up that morning, praying that her wish for a car would come true, Kate rushed to the living room and saw her present sitting in the driveway. They had even put a bow on it.
She drove to school that day and bragged to her friends who were still bumming rides from their parents. By the time she’d gotten out of class that day, the high from her present still hadn’t worn off, and when she received a text from her father to come home quickly, another surge of excitement filled her on the drive home.
The next “surprise” turned out to be a three-hour road trip to the coast and a dinner at her favorite seafood restaurant, The Crab Shack. They had a great view of the sunset at the table, but her father quickly paid the check and then rushed her outside and back in the car, their mother staying behind, laughing at Kate’s confused face.
Another twenty-minute drive north led them to an airfield, and Kate shook her head in confusion. “Am I getting my own private plane too?”
“You wish,” her dad answered. “Now come on, w
e might miss it.”
“Miss what?” But her father was already running out to a man standing next to a small twin-prop Gulfstream that he had rented for the next hour.
Kate rode co-pilot, and from the moment she reclined in the seat of the cockpit and donned the headset, she was hooked. She’d never been in a plane before, and her father had arranged for them to fly along the coast so she could watch the sunset from the sky. And it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
“Remember this, sweetheart,” her dad said. “When things get tough at school and you feel like quitting, remember that you can fly above it all. And that when you get to the top, there won’t be anyone that can stop you. You can do whatever you want, Kate. Anything in the world.”
And while the lesson was meant to teach her to aspire to greatness, the only thing Kate wanted to do when they landed was go back up again. Everything else faded from her mind—college, the car, her friends. The only thing that mattered was flying. She wanted to learn everything she could about planes, and from that point on, she knew nothing would stop her from becoming a pilot, and it was an endeavor that her parents supported wholeheartedly.
And then, three years later, Kate remembered telling that same father, who told her that she could do anything, that she was pregnant. And she also remembered that same father telling her if she didn’t get an abortion to kill that thing “he” put inside her, then she shouldn’t bother coming home again. So she didn’t. Not even to their funerals.
But while the adoration of her family disappeared, the passion for flying only intensified. Every penny that she saved went toward flight lessons, and her college aspirations transformed from Stanford to Embry-Riddle. Every night, she dreamed of being up in the sky again, and every waking hour was spent trying to make those dreams a reality.
The passion didn’t leave much time for anything else, and slowly, one by one, her friends stopped calling, and Kate stopped caring. She didn’t date, didn’t go out, and didn’t socialize. And then after Luke was born, she grew even more into herself and providing a good life for her son.
But over the course of the years, Kate became so focused on and busy with providing a better life for her family that she began to leave her family behind. She had lost touch with her daughter and put a strain on everyone by moving them from city to city until Mark had to issue her an ultimatum of either settling down or having the family split up for good.
Kate thought those memories of her parent’s scorn resurfaced because it was such a stark contrast to how she had approached her parenting. After giving birth to Luke and Holly, she couldn’t imagine disowning them, no matter what path they chose to walk. A parent doesn’t give up. No matter the odd or circumstances.
Kate checked the time, and the minute hand ticked past the hour mark. She turned to Stacy. “It’s time.”
Stacy nodded, and started to walk. Kate stared down at her feet, unsure if her body would even move after staying motionless in the cold for so long. But her right foot moved, and then her left, and then she was halfway down to the road that would lead her into town.
She kept a slow pace, taking her time but moving forward. She fought the urge to look to the north where Rodney and the rest were watching, because she knew that if she let herself turn once, she’d lose her focus.
As she approached the guarded front entrance, Kate made sure that the pair could see her coming from a long way off.
“Hey!” The first man who spotted her immediately lifted his rifle, aiming at her chest in the darkness. “What are you doing out there?”
Kate slowed, raising both hands in the air, and the second sentry raised his rifle as well. Smiles spread on their faces when they realized they were both women.
“Sweethearts, are you two alright?” The guard on the left was big and muscular, his beard thick and wild around his face and stretched down to his chest. A few silver teeth glinted in the darkness, and even with a bulky coat clasped tight around his neck, the top of a few tattoos still crawled out from beneath.
“Yeah, baby.” The guard on the right lowered his rifle. He was short, shorter than Kate, and bald, without a beard, and missing a few teeth. “You looking to get warm?” He grabbed himself and laughed.
Kate retained her stoic expression, while Stacy remained quiet, both fighting the urge to shake from the cold.
“My name is Kate Hillman,” she said. “I am here to speak with Dennis Smith. He knows who I am.” She stared at each of the guards in turn. “And he will want to meet me as I am right now. I suggest you take me to him immediately.”
“And what about her?” The shorter bald one gestured to Stacy.
“I’m here for my son.”
The playfulness of both the big man and the shorter one ended, and the short man raised his rifle at her once again as the pair exchanged a glance.
“Ladies,” the bearded inmate said, his voice with a glint of warning, “you are the dumbest pair of bitches I have ever met.”
The shorter one circled behind Kate and then prodded her forward with the tip of his rifle. “Move!”
The little man trailed Kate all the way down Main Street, while the big man walked behind Stacy. Kate’s eyes searched for the source of a monotonous hum, and she found it in what looked like a large generator, feeding power into three separate buildings.
The big guard knocked on one of the door’s attached to the building powered by the generator and then stepped back. Kate’s stomach twisted and flipped, her nerves threatening to shatter what remained of her resolve as she waited for Dennis to come out.
The sound of footsteps triggered her heart into a hastened rhythm. She tightened her hands into fists, squeezing until it hurt, and when the door opened and she saw Dennis’s expression morph from anger to surprise, her heart stopped dead.
The big man turned, pointing toward Kate, his tone nervous. “She came into town, said she knew you and that you’d want to see her.”
Dennis walked past the guard without a word, his eyes focused only on Kate, and he moved within a breath’s distance. He then grabbed her roughly by the arms, forcing her body flush against his, and kissed her.
Kate tried to turn away, but he kept his mouth pressed against hers until her lip bled. He pulled away and then slapped her across the face so hard it sent her to her knees.
The contact between bare hand and cheek made her face throb, and it was made worse by the cold and Dennis’s hysterical laughter.
“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to do that!” Dennis circled her, rubbing his hands together with enough vigor to start a fire. “Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate!” He tilted his head from side to side every time he spoke her name, and then he stopped his pacing when he faced her again. “Of all the little towns in all the little corners of the world, here you are.”
Kate lifted her face to meet his gaze, and she stood. A red handprint had formed on her cheek. “Where are they?”
The smile dissolved. Dennis again closed the gap between them to a breath’s distance. He shook his head and slowly lifted his hand, curling his fingers around her throat. The touch was soft at first and then slowly tightened as Dennis bared his teeth. “I know a lot about you, Kate. I know that it was you who fucked me over with the parole committee. I know it was you that called the cops on me and got me put in jail in the first place.” The grip around Kate’s throat closed her airway, and he dropped his voice to a whisper. “And I know that I have your children tied up inside my house.”
Kate clawed at Dennis’s arm, her muscles giving way and her vision fading as she choked. Black spots covered Dennis’s snarling face, and just before everything faded to black, Dennis let go.
Kate clawed her fingers into the snow, her face red and purple, and drew in deep, raspy breaths. She swayed from side to side, coughing. And just when she felt the effects of the asphyxiation fading, a bright flash of pain erupted in her left side as Dennis kicked her.
The force rolled her to her back, and Kat
e shrieked as her hands immediately rushed to guard the wounded ribs. She lay still, her back cold against the snow, Dennis towering over her.
“Do you know what I went through in prison?” Dennis’s cheeks grew red with rage. “Do you know what it was like?” He spit in her face and then kicked her again, harder, this time cracking ribs.
“Ahh!” Kate cried out, whatever resolve she had carried with her crumbling beneath her feet as she rolled to protect her injured side, only exacerbating the pain radiating from her ribs and spreading to the rest of her body.
“And do you know the one thing that kept me going?” Dennis squatted low, shoving his face near Kate’s. “The one thing that I held onto that got me through the rapes and the insanity that being stuck in an eight- by four-foot cell does to you?” He grabbed her face, forcing her gaze onto his. “This moment. Right here. The hope that I would one day get to hurt you so bad that you wouldn’t be whole again. So bad that you couldn’t bear the thought of trying to live one more day. Because that’s what it was like on the inside for me.” He smiled, but the expression looked forced amidst the anger. “So thank you.” He slammed her head back hard into the snow and stood. “Drag her inside, and take her friend and put her with the others. And get some men to search the area. I doubt they came here alone.”
Rodney’s stomach tightened, and it took every ounce of control in him to not flick the switches on the detonator box as he watched Kate take a beating. They all felt the urge to pull the trigger, but they had known that it could be like this, and they had to wait.
They still didn’t know where the kids were being held, and when the beating was over and Kate was finally taken into Dennis’s house, Rodney started the clock again. Five minutes. That was all the time she said she’d need.
“We’ve got something,” Captain Harley said, peering through the scope of his rifle and catching the attention of group. “We’ve got six armed men heading into the woods.”
“Shit.” Rodney adjusted his rifle’s scope from Dennis’s house to the men heading into the woods. No doubt the bastards thought Kate had people waiting for her. He removed his eye from the rifle. “All right, everyone, listen up.” Heads turned, including the captain’s, and he didn’t look too accustomed to receiving orders. “We split up. Make it harder for them find us. But we stay in pairs.” He looked at Captain Harley. “Captain, you assign one of your men to each pair of civilians, and you can stay with me.” He turned back to the group. “Find a good position where you can still see the street, and be mindful to stay back far enough from the explosives. The distance we are at right now is good.”