“Wait here, I’ll go and get the other two guys.”
“Don’t leave me on my own here, please.”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I replied. “Nobody can get through the door once you lock it from the inside, and the windows are not visible from street level. We’ll knock three times so you know it’s us.”
It was impossible to be completely reassuring in our current environment, but it was the best I could do. I closed the door and ran upstairs to where Bernie and Jack were waiting.
“Where’s the girl? What happened down there?” Bernie said when I arrived on the roof.
I explained what had happened and thanked Jack for the warning.
“I was going to take a shot at him if you two didn’t start paying attention,” he said. “I wouldn’t have hit him though, so it’s a good job you managed to convince her.”
“I don’t think we can let Lea know they walked into a set-up,” I said.
“Why not?” Bernie asked. “We were only trying to draw in killers. Our intentions were good.”
“We don’t know the relationship they had or what they have been through. We told them to come to Elmhurst and our trap has just killed one of them. How do you think she would feel about us if she knew?”
“If I was in her shoes and I found out,” Jack said, “I would be annoyed. I agree with Harry. We’ll just say we heard the music and came up to the roof to see what was happening.”
I went downstairs to collect Lea and bring her up to the roof to meet Jack and Bernie. There were still a couple of hours of daylight left to continue to watch the parking lot.
I knocked three times on the door and a voice came from behind it saying, “Hello, is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me, my name’s Harry. Come on up to the roof where the other two are. We thought we should keep an eye on what was happening in the parking lot. You’ll be safe.”
I led the way up to the roof and she silently followed. When we arrived at the top, Jack and Bernie both stood up. I introduced them and they each shook Lea’s hand.
“Sorry about your friend over there,” Jack said, and held his arm out in the direction of the parking lot.
Lea walked over to the edge of the roof and looked at the parking lot; she sat down with her back against the wall and put her head in her hands. Jack, Bernie, and I, looked at each other uncomfortably.
“How long were you watching?” Lea said.
“Watching what?” Bernie replied.
“Watching down there,” she shouted, “where do you think? Did you put that music on?”
I could see the tears welling up in her eyes again. This was going to be hard work.
“We heard the music and came up here to try and see what was happening,” Jack said. “By the time we saw you, it was too late.”
She was eyeing us all with suspicion.
“Lea, we’ll all go downstairs in an hour or so and we can talk about our experiences from the last few days then,” I said. “But for now, we want to keep watching the parking lot to see if anybody else gets drawn in.”
“Drawn in?” she replied.
“Somebody has created a lot of noise down there. It’s attracting attention. So we want to watch to see if we can learn anything else about the way the killers work, or if we could possibly try the same thing in the future to draw killers to each other,” I answered.
“We honestly would have warned you if we could,” Bernie piped up earnestly.
“You call them killers?” Lea asked.
“Yes, why? Do you have a better name?” I answered.
“We didn’t have a name for them,” Lea replied. “It’s just been awful since I landed at Newark; I never expected any of this.”
I shook my head in agreement with her and gave an empty, “Yeah, I know.”
I was thinking about how to tell our story to Lea when we got downstairs and wondered what she had gone through. Comparing notes was going to be interesting.
“Look! Down there by the trees again, in the same place we saw the first one,” Jack said.
Lea jumped up and stared at Jack, anger etched across her face.
“The first one? What you mean ‘the first one’?” she snapped.
“Err… I mean the first killer we saw from up here… the one with the pipe that came to attack you and Harry,” Jack stuttered.
“So where was the second one, if he was the first?”
“There wasn’t a second one; all we saw was one killer. So he was the first. This one is the second,” Bernie replied unconvincingly.
“Why was it too late when you saw us at the parking lot?” She pointed at Jack and shouted, “How did you know it was too late?”
Seeing us all stunned and unable to answer, she spun her accusing hand towards Bernie. “He said he couldn’t warn us. That means you knew there was something to warn us about.”
I was starting to feel ashamed, but stuck to our lie.
“We were speaking with the benefit of hindsight. We couldn’t warn you because we didn’t know anyone was there. The first time we knew a killer was there was when we saw the shooting. The first time any of us actually saw him was when I came down to the parking lot.”
“He’s approaching the parking lot,” Bernie said.
Strangely, having the distraction of a killer below, came as a welcome relief from our rooftop interrogation.
The killer was a woman who had made her way up to the car and was inspecting all of the bodies. She picked up the pistol that Lea’s friend had been carrying and disappeared behind the Honda, the CD was still playing.
“See, Lea, we couldn’t see the position of the killer that attacked your friend,” Jack said. “This is the view we had when we came onto the roof. You were just approaching the car.”
I wished that Jack hadn’t added the extra coating of sugar onto our bullshit. It was starting to sound as if we were trying too hard. Lea didn’t seem stupid, and I was sure she would see straight through us if this went any further.
“Can we just forget it now, please?” I replied.
“Easy for you to say, I’ve been to hell and back,” Lea hissed.
“Yes, it is easy for us to say,” Jack said with an irritated edge to his voice. “We’ve had a picnic since getting off the plane. It was especially fun when Bernie’s wife was killed right in front of us with a machete.”
Bernie stared down at his shoes, Lea looked surprised. It wasn’t the most subtle thing Jack could have said, but at least it shut everyone up again. We all went back watching the ground below us.
There wasn’t much conversation during the next hour. I didn’t want to get into any more question and answer sessions with Lea, and guessed Jack and Bernie thought the same.
The killer didn’t move from behind the car.
“Here’s another one. Do you think they’ll try to bluff each other or just go straight for it?” I said as I saw a man sneaking through the cars towards the parking lot.
“How do we know either of them are actually killers?” Bernie said.
“Do you want to go down and ask them politely?” Lea responded.
I let out a snigger. I looked at Jack and he was smiling as well. Bernie sighed.
The man walked towards the Honda, but stopped about 10 yards short of it. He had one hand behind his back, and it looked like he was carrying a knife. The woman behind the car suddenly stepped out and shot at him. The impact knocked the man sideways, but he was still on his feet. He rushed towards the woman who looked like she was struggling with her weapon. Before she managed to resolve whatever issue she had with the gun, the man plunged his knife into her midriff. She fell backwards; he crouched on her chest, repeatedly stabbing her for around thirty seconds. He picked up her weapon and started fiddling with it himself. He was clearly more competent, as in a matter of seconds; he shot himself in the head.
“She probably had a stoppage in the chamber,” Jack murmured.
“So what do you make of tha
t then?” Bernie said, looking at us all.
“What do we make of what?” Lea replied. “I knew what was going to happen, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but we-”
.
“Are you surprised by what you saw? Did you expect anything else?” Lea replied.
“No, not really, but we’ve learned a few things about the killers in the last couple of days. The more information we can get on them, the better. I’ll explain it all downstairs,” I said.
At least, we’d explain most things.
I turned to Bernie. “Come on, let’s get back to your apartment and get those candles out before its pitch black and we can’t see what we are lighting.”
Chapter 6 – Both sides
Now that there was no electricity, any building with bright lighting would be easy for killers to spot. The candles suited our needs.
“Would anybody like half a can of cold chili, a glass of vodka, and a cigarette?” Jack said.
A few days ago, Jack’s offer would have seemed laughable and a bit odd, considering he was a guest here too. Now it sounded welcoming and nobody refused.
I went to help Jack in the kitchen area and left Bernie and Lea sitting opposite each other on the two couches. They weren’t saying anything to each other but did exchange the odd, awkward glance and false smile. I had been hoping they’d strike up a conversation so I could talk to Jack about what had happened during the day.
We took the food and drinks over to the couches. Jack sat next to Lea, and I sat with Bernie as we tucked into our cold dinner. All that could be heard for the next two minutes was the noise of spoons clinking on porcelain bowls. After we finished, Jack passed around the cigarettes and I poured the vodka. It was time to share our stories, and learn a little bit more about Lea. She looked about 25 years old, brown haired, had a pretty but sensible face, and her body shape was hidden beneath combat trousers and a wool sweater.
“So, tell us about your experiences since landing… if it’s not too painful,” I said.
“You don’t have to tread on egg shells around me because I am a woman,” she replied. “I’m sure you’ve seen some pretty nasty things as well.”
“Okay, we won’t then,” Jack said.
It was hard to tell whether Lea’s smile was because she enjoyed the comeback, or because she thought we were a trio of clowns.
“You tell me what happened from JFK first,” she said.
We told Lea what had happened from our arrival on the tarmac to just before we set the trap in the parking lot, which of course we left out. She seemed unsurprised by what had happened with the steward and then with Maureen, but the man in the cell was different. Lea hadn’t had the chance to speak to a killer the way we had, and what we said probably helped her piece a few things together.
Bernie spoke with emotion about Linda’s death, and I could see genuine concern on Lea’s face. I then continued with what happened when we returned to the plane, how the captain had been shot at and how we managed to convince a killer to shoot himself. Then, reluctantly, we told of the girl and the recycling bin.
Jack talked coldly about our experience at the Queensboro Bridge and the shootout afterwards with the same girl. I knew he was probably hiding his real feelings, but then the other two probably noticed that as well. Nobody changes from a gardener or plumber to a cold-hearted killer in forty-eight hours, whatever the circumstances.
Jack had been attached to the Parachute Regiment and deployed to Afghanistan. He had never really discussed in public any experiences of active service, other than throwaway jokes about women and drinking. It was a defence mechanism I also used to avoid awkward conversations. We talked privately about incidents we had been involved in; some things were best kept behind closed doors. At least, the Jack and Harry doors anyway.
Finally, I told Lea about our shopping trip, and then poured us all another drink.
Lea had listened intently throughout and appeared much more relaxed, “Did you learn anything else from the killers besides their aims and that under certain circumstances, they can be fooled?”
Bernie answered before I could speak. “They don’t seem to acknowledge that the world around them is in chaos and slowly being destroyed. We-”
“Did you get any strange messages on Twitter?” I interrupted. “Jack had invites to parties and an offer of free football tickets. We worked out that these must have been killers trying to lure their prey. I mean, who could realistically believe that the Giants would still be playing on Sunday after seeing any of the stuff we have seen?”
“I received some weird messages along similar lines. Have you seen anything else online?”
Jack, Bernie, and I, all looked at each other but said nothing. I shook my head.
“So, what’s your story then?” Bernie said.
“I’m from Michigan. I boarded a flight from Detroit to JFK to meet up with an old college friend in Manhattan on Friday. I hadn’t seen him for years, but really needed his advice, as I had fallen out with my partner.”
Lea paused and raised her eyebrows. I wasn’t sure what she was expecting us to say.
“Did you notice anything on the plane?” I asked.
“No, we had a relatively short flight. There was a bit of turbulence, but nothing unusual until the Captain told us that the plane was diverting to Newark. As you can imagine, we all started to get worried. There was no more information and the plane landed, but stopped short of the terminal. We waited for help but the whole place was deserted and loads of passengers started to panic…”
“So the captain didn’t say what was happening? How did you get off the plane?” Bernie asked.
“We were told that there was a temporary lock-down due to a terrorist attack and we needed to sit tight until it was safe to disembark. We all believed it at first, why would you doubt it? Could there be any other explanation?”
The last comment hung in the air as Lea seemed to search our face for answers.
“Your story sounds similar to ours so far. What happened next?” Jack replied.
“We all spent the first night on the plane in total darkness. I was sat in a window seat with a couple of teachers called Chris and Mike next to me, they were from Detroit. Chris grabbed a bottle of wine from their bag and they debated the quality of local schools, mixed with stupid stories about kids they taught. I kept quiet and only spoke when they asked me a couple of questions about my own life. Their constant droning almost made me scream.”
I was starting to wonder about the relevance, but kept quiet. Bernie was less obliging.
“You wanted to scream because people were talking? Come on, Lea.”
“You know some people are so concerned by their own little nests, they are oblivious to what’s going on around them. Listening to Chris and Mike, I knew they were so secure and in their own little world. I wished I could feel the same, but somehow, I knew that it was all much more serious than a lock-down.”
“Fair enough, carry on,” I quickly said, before Bernie could reply.
“I managed to sleep for a couple of hours once the teachers had exhausted their conversation. At first light, there was still no news. With the passengers now thoroughly pissed, the captain made an announcement. He told us there was no contact with anyone on the ground with the exception of a few others planes that had landed around the same time as us. Well, the whole plane erupted in shouts and screams, people started to get up and bump into each other, some started fighting and other crazy shit. It all settled down with repeated pleas from the loudspeaker and the appearance of an Air Marshal.”
“We never had one of those on our plane, but I was asked if I was one,” Jack replied.
I topped up all of our glasses apart from Lea’s. She picked up her glass, swallowed the vodka with a single gulp and held her glass towards me. I smiled, poured her a drink, and she continued with her story.
“The Air Marshal spoke with authority and told us that he would go to the terminal building and use t
heir long-range radio. He jumped down from the front entrance and I saw him walking towards the building, he never came back.”
“Sounds like we had more luck than the Air Marshal,” I said.
“You think?” Bernie replied.
I thought for a moment and shook my head.
Lea looked at us both, probably waiting to see if I was going to answer Bernie with a verbal reply. I didn’t.
She continued, “Chaos broke out again, this time a group forced their way out of the plane after deploying a slide. They ran away from the terminal towards the perimeter fence. The captain repeated his pleas to stay in the plane but all control had been lost, and some groups started to make a break for it. Chris and Mike were annoyed at the behaviour of other passengers, but agreed to form a small group with some of the surrounding people and head towards Manhattan. I joined them thinking it was better than sitting on the plane, and we headed out. I reckon at least half of the passengers remained on the plane when we left, a few I spoke to, thought an extended cordon was in place.”
“I wonder who gave them that idea,” Jack said.
Lea paused again and looked at the three of us.
“Go on,” I nodded.
“There were twelve of us in a pretty mixed group. Most started to panic once we left the airport, bodies were everywhere. Chris thought it must have been a dirty bomb, it seemed to make sense. We walked along an overpass when a good-looking man in a flashy suit appeared from behind a vehicle. He was friendly at first, and offered to lead us to safety…”
“I think I know what’s coming,” Bernie said.
“When an old lady from our group approached him, he pulled half a brick from inside his jacket and smashed her skull open. He was like a fucking wild animal. Before anyone could blink, he hurled himself off the bridge head first onto the highway below.”
“That figures,” Jack said.
“Yeah, it does now, but back then, I stood in shock. The lady’s husband fell to the ground before reaching the body, we couldn’t bring him around. He might have had a heart attack or something. Mike was sick all over my shoes; Chris ran over to the old lady and confirmed she was dead. We were stuck in the open and scared, two couples ran back towards the airport.”
First Activation: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller Page 10