by Hunter Shea
The Nine Judges laughed, a thin veil cloaking their sick desire.
“Now, take off your clothes.”
“Give me my son,” Elizabeth said.
“Clothes first. Your son can wash you up all nice for your reunion, get in all those places we’re gonna explore.”
She trembled with burning rage.
“You touch my wife and I’ll fucking kill you,” Daniel said, lunging for the man.
Two of the Nine Judges tackled him from behind, delivering savage blows to the side of his head. Daniel remained facedown on the dirty floor. Another man grabbed Buck, wrestling his arms behind his back. He struggled as much as he could, but he was no match for the larger, younger, unhurt gang member.
“Don’t worry, old man, your time will come. Seems your little group has done more damage to my crew than all that shit the terrorists dropped on us. You gonna have to pay for that. Well, after we have a little fun with your girl. How an old sack of shit like you got such a fine piece of ass is beyond me.”
He strode to Alexiana, jamming the barrel of his gun to her forehead. “Now, I said to get naked.”
“She can’t hear you,” Elizabeth said, the words bobbing in her throat. “She’s deaf.”
The gun swiveled in her direction. “Then you’re just going to have to show her what to do. Let’s see what that MILF body looks like.”
As she pulled up her shirt, she heard Buck sob, “I’m so sorry, Lizzy.”
Her fingers fumbled with her bra. She unhooked it, covering her breasts with an arm.
“You’re gonna need both hands to take off them pants,” the man with one ear said.
“Mommy,” Miguel sobbed.
“Shut up, Little Man!”
“Look away, baby,” she said, undoing the button of her jeans. Miguel looked at his feet, teardrops splashing on his sneakers.
Alexiana stepped out of her panties just as Elizabeth kicked off her jeans. She was a few years younger than her and had never had any children. She was a runner and had a lean, fit body. That body would work against her, as Elizabeth could already hear the gang talking about taking her first.
Elizabeth reached out to take her friend’s hand.
The sound of a belt being undone behind them made Elizabeth clench. She was smacked in the back by a hard, calloused palm. Bent over, the crotch of a man’s jeans pressed against her while hands grabbed her breasts hard, pinching her nipples. When she looked to her side, she saw the same thing was happening to Alexiana.
Don’t give them the satisfaction of hearing you beg or cry. As long as we’re alive, there’s still a chance.
“Those are some sweet asses,” one of them said. That comment was met with husky grunts of agreement.
“Forget cleaning them up,” the one-eared one said. “I’m taking the first turn.”
Elizabeth cried out when she saw Miguel thrown to the ground. He hurt his knee, wrapping both hands around it and crying.
“No!” she said, struggling to stand. The man behind her clasped the back of her neck, forcing her down. Alexiana tried the same.
The man with one ear unzipped his pants in front of her face, dangling his hardness an inch away from her lips. “You never know, you might even like it.” To the one holding her, he said, “Keep her just like that. I want to try some white meat first.”
Elizabeth was about to call out for Daniel when the earsplitting blast of a gun brought everyone to a standstill.
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Alexiana shouted an incomprehensible cry when she looked to the doorway, something hot and wet splashing across her naked back. When the men lost their grip on her, she fell forward, her chin scraping along the filthy concrete floor.
The gang members, all in various forms of undress, couldn’t find their pants, much less their guns.
Gabby’s mouth moved as she shot one after the other. At one point Alexiana thought she saw her say the word Mommy. Max came running up behind her, his sweaty hair covering his uncomprehending eyes.
When one of the Nine Judges lunged for Gabby, Max hit him across the jaw with the bat, shattering the bone. Alexiana was grateful she couldn’t hear it.
Buck had gotten free, shooting the one who had held Elizabeth.
It was utter carnage.
And it had all been started by the same sweet girl who had sold her Girl Scout cookies every year and used to have her over for teatime with her stuffed animals.
Alexiana’s heart broke for the little girl.
This could never be undone. She’d be a different person from here on. Maybe there just wasn’t room for purity anymore—at least not if one wanted to survive.
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Daniel came to at the sound of gunfire and initially thought he’d been plunged into Hell.
Gabriela had followed them to the apartment building and done the unthinkable.
“Gabby, stop!” he shouted above the din.
His voice gave her pause, and she looked to him as if she’d just awakened from a dream.
“Daddy,” she said.
He staggered over to her and took the pistol from her steady hand, pulling her to his chest.
“We told you to stay at the restaurant.”
All of the gang members were dead or dying. He saw Max and Buck take down the two she hadn’t shot. The man with one ear who had been poised to rape Alexiana lay on his back, the bullet having taken out his left eye and cheek.
“I was scared,” Gabby said. “So I took the gun that Buck had given Max off the table and went out the back steps that were in the kitchen.”
“She was gone so fast, I had to run to keep up with her,” Max said.
Elizabeth had quickly thrown on her clothes and scooped Miguel into her arms. She wept uncontrollably. Buck positioned himself in front of Alexiana so she could dress.
“We have to get out of here,” Daniel said. Blood was everywhere, a rippling pool soaking their feet.
As they stepped into the hall, they heard the steady rumble of footsteps.
Miguel said, “There are more of them. They stay in two of the second-floor apartments.” His voice was on the edge of panic.
Daniel asked Gabby, “How did you get inside?”
“Through the front door. It wasn’t locked. Then I came down the steps over there.” She pointed to an exit sign down the hall. It appeared that there were three sets of stairs that led to the basement. One was blocked by the rusted-shut door. The other was currently filled with Nine Judges on high alert.
Daniel urged everyone forward to the stairwell Gabby had used. “Everyone, run as fast as you can up those stairs and head straight for the restaurant.”
Elizabeth latched on to his shirt. “You’re coming with us.”
“I will. Just give me thirty seconds. Don’t ask questions, just go!”
Buck pulled her along. Miguel had his arms wrapped tight around her neck.
Daniel ran to the back door leading to the courtyard. If his timing was off by even a few seconds, he wasn’t going to make it to the restaurant. But it had to be done. They didn’t have a chance of not being seen and followed to the restaurant. The only way to prevent that was to create a diversion.
Squaring his shoulders like he was back on the high school football team, he body-slammed the door leading to the back courtyard. The smell of the sewer and wet animal smacked him in the face.
Rats had been piling up against the door, eager to get their sharp teeth into fresh meat.
He turned and ran back into the basement’s hallway, thousands of squealing rats tumbling over each other’s bodies to get at him.
The rest of the gang was at the bottom of the stairwell. Daniel opened the door to the one his family had used just as the gang spilled into the hallway on high alert. All of them were brandishing guns and looked anxious to use them. He slammed the door shut just as they spotted him, leaning against it with all his body weight.
“Oh shit!” one of them screamed.
Through the head-high windo
w in the stairwell door, Daniel watched the rats make a beeline for the gang. They started shooting, ear-numbing blasts that couldn’t drown out the hungry cry of the rat horde. The gang sang a chorus of profanities as the rats swarmed over them.
A chunk of the bottom half of the door Daniel stood behind was missing. Rats came pouring into the opening.
Taking the steps two at a time, he hit the lobby at full speed. It wouldn’t be enough to simply outrun the rats and the gang. He needed to do one more thing.
He almost lost his footing, running over the uneven tile in the lobby. He undid his belt as he ran, the unceasing screeching of the rats setting his nerves on edge.
The double doors of the front entrance swung wide open when he hit them. A quick glance down the street gave him a brief respite. His family, Buck, and Alexiana were nowhere in sight. They must have really been running hard.
A few rats made it through the doors before he could close them. They clung to his pants, eagerly burrowing their teeth into the denim. Ignoring them, he unlooped the belt from his jeans and strung it between the handles of the double doors. Notching the belt as tight as he could, he pulled on the doors. They barely budged.
Kicking off the rats, he sprinted to the darkened street, his heart banging hard enough to dim the edges of his vision.
He smiled when he heard the first gang member hit the fastened door, followed by a scream.
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Gabby ran from her mother’s arms the moment her father walked into the restaurant. She tackled him with such force, they both fell into one of the love seats.
“I’m so sorry, Daddy, for not listening to you,” she said into his neck. “And I’m sorry I . . . I . . . I . . .”
“Shhh-shhh-shh,” he said, running his hands through her hair. “Tonight, you were braver than all of us combined. You saved our whole family.”
“But I shot people.”
“You did what you felt had to be done. We’re all here now because of you.”
She pulled back, staring into his eyes. He looked so tired. But his love for her never looked brighter. “Do you think God will be mad at me?”
He pressed his lips to her forehead.
“God is who sent you to us, baby. You’re one of his most special creations.”
Her mother, Miguel, and Max joined them on the love seat. They were never a group hug type of family, but at this moment, they needed to be with each other, to bond in every and any way possible.
Max whispered in her ear, “Rey would have been proud of you.”
They all had looked up to Rey. Through everything that had happened, she had forgotten about her older brother, and it made her feel guilty and sad.
She looked to Buck and Alexiana, who sat on chairs holding hands, watching them.
“You’re part of the family, too,” Gabby said, motioning them to join her. Buck and Alexiana stood over her, a hand on each of her shoulders.
“I think we all need to get some sleep,” her father said when they broke up, everyone wiping tears from their faces. “Anyone have anyplace they need to be tomorrow?”
Six faces looked back at him, puzzled.
“Exactly. It’s going to be a sleep-in day. Let’s organize these love seats and use tablecloths as sheets and fold them up for pillows.”
They set about making beds for everyone. Despite his protests, it was agreed that Buck take the biggest love seat. They didn’t say it, but they all knew he was hurt pretty bad inside. Sleeping on the floor was not an option.
When Miguel asked, “Where’s Rey?” her mother and father took him to the other end of the restaurant and sat him on her mother’s lap. They talked quietly for a couple of minutes, then Miguel broke down crying. So did Gabby. She even saw a tear in Buck and Alexiana’s eyes. It took her brother almost a half an hour to settle down. When he walked over to her, his eyes were swollen and pink. He looked like the most tired kid who had ever lived. He plopped onto the carpet, rubbing his eyes.
Gabby sat cross-legged on the floor next to him. “You want to sleep next to me?”
His eyes lit up. Back home, when things had been normal, he’d always asked to sleep in her room, though most times she told him to go back to his own.
“Do you think Mom and Dad will let us sleep between them?” he said.
“There’s no way you’re not,” their mother said, snapping a tablecloth.
They ate a little and drank cans of orange and tomato juice. No one spoke much. Buck was the first to close his eyes, and his snoring was quick to follow. It gave a strange kind of comfort to all of them, and pretty soon everyone was asleep.
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Max couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept so long. Before, when everything was normal, there was always a reason to wake up earlier than he wanted to—school, baseball practice, baseball games, chores, family outings, tutoring (he hated math and science and it showed in his grades).
When his eyelids finally pried themselves apart the day after they’d rescued Miguel, he was surprised to find Gabby was the only one awake. She sat in a chair looking at the Hudson River.
“You missed the seagulls,” she said.
“Oh yeah?” Max rubbed the sleep from his eyes, stretched his damaged shoulder.
“They found a bunch of cats down by the park. Took a few of them and flew too far for me to follow.”
He wanted to ask her about last night, but couldn’t find the right words. How did a big brother go about asking his little sister how she felt about blowing away a roomful of gangbangers? Would she cry? Or scream? Or retreat so far into herself, she might never come back?
It was better to leave it alone . . . for now.
“You eat anything yet?” he asked instead.
“I found a box of croutons. There’s some left,” she said, pointing to the open box on the table. He sniffed the contents.
“Whoa, that’s a lot of garlic. I’ll pass.”
Miguel was the next to rise, and he had no problem crunching on garlic croutons. The kid was starving. Max wanted to hug him. He’d never realized how much he loved his pest of a little brother until he’d been taken from them.
When their mother and father woke, Max could tell by the color of the sun against the Palisades that it was getting late.
“We’re going to stay here awhile,” his father said. “There’s no need to rush back out there. Plus, we all need the rest.”
It was funny, after weeks in Buck’s shelter, Max didn’t think he’d ever want to be confined in one place again. The restaurant was comfortable, though a little on the hot side by the afternoon, but most of all, safe.
“We need more food,” Max said.
“You’re right. And more to drink than water and liquor. You want to come with me on a supply run? There’s a deli just down the street. We can see if there’s anything left,” his father said.
Buck and Alexiana were starting to wake up when they left. It was a fast run but plentiful. They’d have actual cereal for breakfast tomorrow.
And so it went for close to a week. It was Gabby’s idea to watch for the daily routines of the animals that now owned the city. They used waiters’ order pads to log which type of animal, the size of the pack, the estimated time they were spotted, and where. The horses were the most breathtaking to watch, even though they knew they’d been altered somehow into barreling killing machines. A group of ten former racehorses galloped across South Broadway once a day in the morning. Buck explained to them that a group of horses was called a team or harras.
Then there were the feral dogs and cats. They kept to the shadows during the heat of the day, the dogs sniffing around about dusk and the cats shortly thereafter. The rats, contrary to their nature, were a constant, especially down by the water.
In all that time, they’d spotted three human survivors, all of them the worse for wear. It had been easy to see that they were sick, very sick, by the blood on their faces, their shambling walk, and their vacant eyes. One collapsed on the str
eet, a wiry man of indeterminate age. He was dead by the time Max and his father got to him. Another man was overcome by a pack of dogs, right on the boardwalk. Within an hour, a smear of blood was the only evidence he’d been there. The last, an older woman with wild gray hair, shuffled to the park, sat on a bench, and while looking at the sunset, pulled a gun out of her purse and shot herself.
That was it. As far as they knew, they were the only people alive who hadn’t succumbed to the illness.
Max and his father went out during the times when they were sure the animals were at rest or in other parts of the city. They found a pair of discarded bikes in the park, not far from where the woman had killed herself—her body had been removed overnight by the animals.
They gathered more food and drinks, clothes from a local department store, and they even went to St. Joseph’s Hospital. The stench of the dead prevented them from going inside. It was no longer a place of healing. Like the church they had stayed in, it had become an enormous mausoleum. They did find a sign taped to the glass doors leading to the emergency room.
THERE IS NO CURE FOR THE CONTAGION. PLEASE STAY IN YOUR HOMES. IT IS NOT SAFE IN THE HOSPITAL. WE WILL NOT OPEN THE DOORS FOR ANYONE.
They broke into a small gun shop tucked between a barbershop and a Dominican deli, loading up several bags with handguns and bullets. It was a sad fact of this new life that they couldn’t be caught without firearms.
Back in the restaurant, they rested, ate, and healed. By divine Providence, the building had been built with windows that could be opened so the summer heat didn’t melt them. They kept all of the windows open slightly, but not with a large enough gap for the birds to get through.
Buck’s warbling wheeze got better when he breathed. They were sitting at the largest round table in the dining room, eating out of cans, when he said, “Alex and I met a family in City Hall before we reconnected with you.”
“Were they healthy, like us?” Max’s mother asked.