by Jeff Olah
His left hand open in the direction of the tightly wrapped pallet three feet in front of them, William said, “Right in front of you… I had the same reaction the first time I witnessed it.”
Turning away from the plastic wrapped behemoth and craning his neck to again look at the image on the handheld device, Mason shook his head. “Call me ignorant, but I still don’t get it. What did you witness?”
Stepping back a few paces and asking Mason to do the same, William taped furiously at the tablet as a triumphant grin slid across his face. “Check it out!”
The grinding of metal on metal preceded the shaking of the pallet. It began its slow journey, sliding inch by inch into the left corner of the building. He tapped a few additional commands and the massive opening in the wall began to reveal itself; William then activated the lights.
The eight foot square walkway tunneled away from Blackmore and appeared to follow the slope of the hillside down into the lower elevations of the mountainous terrain. Various shades of grey concrete were lit by the intermittent overhead lighting for as far as either could see. Mason turned to his friend and without uttering a syllable, walked into the corridor.
Twenty feet into the mountain, the pair stopped at the control panel along the right-hand wall. William opened the rusted out metal door to expose the switch that would be used to open the door from this other side.
His hand over his eyes, attempting to cut the glare, Mason looked down into the void. “What is this? And maybe a better question, where does it go?”
“This is as far as I got before coming to you. I was planning on taking a trek tomorrow morning to see if I could find out where this thing ends.”
Pausing a moment, Mason looked back at his friend. “OK… but I’m coming with you.”
135
With the saturated linen hung over the opening, Megan moved the folding chair to the right side of the window and used the hammer to continuously strike the metal security bars until their captor rushed out the front door and onto the porch. Shirtless and with sweat reflecting the brilliance of the late afternoon sun, he looked directly into Megan’s eyes. Pulling her head back, she steadied herself and spoke quietly to her brother. “Sean, you know what you have to do. This is not going to work if you don’t help and we only have one chance at this. Are you ready?”
He kept his gaze on the dripping sheet less than twelve inches away, not once looking over at Megan. “Yes, I’m ready.”
To the right of the opening Megan silently pushed the fear away and only thought of the action she’d need to take in less than thirty seconds. She was confident in her abilities, although the man heading in her direction at least doubled her body weight, to say nothing of his dominant strength. His mental state added another layer to the already stacked odds and it was abundantly clear that they were not leaning in her direction. She wasn’t really ready to die, although she also didn’t have it in her to keep surviving this way.
As the sun’s brilliance was momentarily blotted, she knew he was close and the heavy breathing only feet away assured her it was happening. It was happening right now. She calmed herself as the man, on just the other side of the busted out window, pushed his hand through the opening, reaching for the sheet they’d placed so strategically. Megan used one hand to grasp the man’s wrist and the other to come down swiftly with the blunt end of the hammer onto his forearm. The crackling sound and rise in the skin just below the elbow that closely followed told her that she’d at least crushed one of the bones in his lower arm.
The roar of pain coming from only inches away threatened the delicate intricacies of her inner ear as much as her resolve. Dropping the hammer, she now clutched the man’s arm with both hands as Sean moved in and also took hold. Using every ounce of leverage, the siblings braced themselves against the interior wall and forced the man’s body into the steel security bars. Biting through the excruciating pain, he looked directly into their faces, neither begging for mercy nor asking for forgiveness. He spoke quickly and deliberately. “I’m going to kill both of you. I’m going to take my time and it will be unlike anything your tiny little minds could ever imagine.”
Megan turned to her brother. “Do not listen to him, do not look at him.”
Their merciless struggle continued and as the seconds ticked away, Sean’s grip began to break down. “Megan I’m starting to lose…”
Growling from just beyond the bars, the man threatened, “That’s right little boy, let go now and I won’t make you watch me torture your sister. I’ll kill you first.”
“SEAN!” Megan screamed. “Look at me… pull back as hard as you can, right now.”
“YOU ARE BOTH ALREADY DEAD…”
Brother and sister pushed off the block wall and before losing their grip on his arm, pulled their victim head first into the metal security bars. He instantly went limp and slipped from consciousness as Megan careened backward into her brother and both fell hard to the damp concrete floor. They scrambled to their feet as Sean, hands on his knees, began to hyperventilate. “I can’t do this Megan, I can’t… I… can’t.”
She turned her brother to the stairs and asked him to get to the top and wait for her. Sean turned, but didn’t appear to comprehend anything beyond not watching what she was doing. He focused on breathing slowly as Megan turned her attention back to the window; she retrieved the hammer and slowly pulled down the sheet still attached by one corner.
The man’s arm draped over the edge and into the cellar, she moved to the wooden storage container, withdrew a length of rope and secured his badly injured arm to the chair below. Her brother still frozen at the foot of the steps, Megan guided him to the chair and convinced him to forget about everything in the room and just sit in the chair. “Don’t move… no matter what. Just stay in this chair.” Under her breath, Megan pled for at least one small bit of karma. “Please let her still be alive.”
“HEEEEEEEY, HELP US. IF YOU’RE IN THERE, WE NEED HELP!”
Rocking back and forth in the chair, Sean halted and looked at his sister. “What are you doing? We haven’t heard anything from that woman in days, probably more than a week.”
“She’s alive, I know it. He only killed those that pissed him off or were a threat. She’s in there.”
“HEEEEEEEY LADY, WE NEED HELP. IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, PLEASE COME OUTSIDE!”
Taking ahold of Megan’s arm he said, “You’re yelling right into his face. How do you know he won’t wake up? How’d you know this would happen?”
Sliding the wooden box next to the chair, Megan turned it sideways, dumping the remaining contents on the floor and stepped on top next to Sean. She rapped against the metal bars with the hammer, attempting to gain an audible advantage. Only inches from the semi-conscious man as he began to twitch, she continued her assault on the security bars. First his left hand, tied to the chair, pulled against the opposing force. Next his eyelids opened and closed numerous times as he muttered something incoherent and Megan felt her heart accelerate to twice its normal rate.
Adrenaline escaped through every vessel in her body, constricting her thoughts as the woman they hadn’t seen since their first night in this hole walked out onto the porch in nothing more than a deeply saturated t-shirt. The filth obscuring her facial features ran a close second to the deranged movements with which she stepped. One or both legs were severely damaged and as she moved down the steps toward the long dirt road, she only looked over once.
Megan continued her barrage of words as the man within striking distance slid his legs to his chest and opened his eyes. The woman began to move more quickly away from the house as Megan forced the hammer through the opening. She swung furiously at the man who began pulling away and upended the chair her brother was pinning to the floor.
Sean rolled to the concrete and slowly backed to the opposite wall as his sister used what little strength was left in her wrecked body to convince the woman to help. Megan watched in frustration as the woman disappeared into the fiel
d, twenty feet from where they remained captive. Stepping from the box to the floor, she realized what she’d missed. The man had initially come to end this game of cat and mouse. The evidence sat just outside her reach.
She hadn’t initially noticed the weapon he brought from the house, although she now realized her mistake. He didn’t come to throw a bucket of hot water on them. He came to kill them and rising to his feet, most likely would.
His first three shots, still not completely lucid, tore into the ground near the opening with one ricocheting off the security bars as Megan moved away from the opening. From one knee he blasted an additional four rounds into the opening, one grazing Megan’s left hip as the others lodged in the far wall. The handgun still warm to the touch and the trail of translucent smoke fading, he leaned into the broken window. “Say your goodbyes.”
Seconds after moving away from the window, he could be heard cursing at the task of reopening the locked cellar doors. Megan ran to her brother who’d since left this reality and sat against the rear wall, unable to acknowledge his sister’s orders. She was able to drag him only a few feet back into the cellar before it happened. The doors exploded open and bounced against the concrete footings on either side.
He stood atop the staircase with the weapon trained on the siblings. He didn’t speak as the first deliberate step didn’t come for a full ten seconds. Was he savoring the moment or was he still too light-headed to descend the steps? It didn’t matter; Megan knew they didn’t have a way out. This was it.
The second step came as he was pushed from behind. He came down hard, striking the staircase as his oversized frame buckled and the wood bellowed under the pressure. He took three hard blows as his body came to rest between the last step and the siblings. Megan forced her brother around the man and toward the foot of the stairs; although she was caught from behind as Sean found his way to the dropped nine millimeter.
As Megan struggled to free herself, the woman at the entrance to the cellar who’d come back to help drifted out of sight and her shadow lifted into the afternoon air. Megan called out only to be kicked from behind and thrown to the floor. He pulled her in close and she answered with an elbow to his larynx. His gasps for air labored, and as he released one hand to clutch his throat, Megan pushed away only to be met with a right hook so powerful that she left her feet for a brief moment. Collapsing to the ground, and losing sensation along the left side of her face, Megan pushed away from her attacker. He moved in and knelt over her torso, pinning both arms to the concrete.
The beast sitting atop his sister wrapped his meaty hands around her neck and turned with a grin to Sean. “Well,” he said. “I guess you’re gonna get to see her die after all.”
Barely able to force a whimper, Megan’s voice cracked as she began to slip from this world. “Sean shoot him… please.”
“Sorry, but your little brother doesn’t have it in him. Don’t worry though, he’s next.”
Sean raised the weapon and attempted to steady himself as he pushed back every emotion that restricted what he needed to do.
Megan struggled to draw another breath as she began to slip away. “Go ahead son, but you’re too late to help her.”
Ending a life, no matter the reason, wasn’t something he was ever willing to do. He wasn’t who he needed to be. Sean knew the necessary action wasn’t inside him, it never was. He’d have to allow this man to kill his sister and then himself. But that was before… before hell implanted itself squarely in the middle of his life.
Without saying a word, Sean took a step forward and emptied the weapon into the man three feet away.
136
The weathered eucalyptus folding chair and hand woven blanket Eleanor brought from home afforded her a small slice of comfort and Savannah was more than happy to spend the afternoon in her company. The memories too raw, the pain still too new, although the silence they shared was special if not absolutely necessary. The two, although generations apart and holding vastly different life experiences, began to bond in their newfound alliance. Eleanor was aware, if only for a short time, that this day would almost certainly come and having Savannah at her side lessened the impact.
The pair sat at the family gravesite, Eleanor in the chair and Savannah at her side, both content in the moment. Eyes closed and allowing the sun to wash over them, they faced the Western skyline, Savannah holding tight to Eleanor’s trembling hand. Savannah wanted to say something… anything to comfort the woman who’d lost her entire family, although she realized it wasn’t about what she needed or wanted.
Her calm focus interrupted by the momentary fade of the warm sunlight, Savannah shielded her eyes and squinted across the courtyard as Randy continued his afternoon rounds. He gave a quick nod, acknowledging the moment and held up an index finger indicating he’d be back shortly. She sighed and leaned into Eleanor as a single tear ran down her new friend’s face.
For the first time in days, Eleanor broke her silence and spoke, if only to let go of the plagued memories of her family’s final hours. She released a labored breath, eased back in her chair and blotted the moisture from her eyes. Her recollection began the night prior to the infection being released into the population. She remembered the exact moment she’d seen the change in her husband.
“April sat across the room only half listening to the reasons I gave for her and Mason to put their differences aside and give their marriage a chance. When she wasn’t checking her phone or using the laundry as an excuse, her attempt to pacify my requests became comical. At one point I asked her what she thought of my new handbag and her response nearly had me in tears.”
“What did she say?”
“She said it was nice, while tapping away at her phone. Only problem was… I’d left my purse in the car and it was at least a year old. Her attention was obviously elsewhere and as I began to laugh, Richard walked back through the front door, the look on his face like nothing I’d ever seen. It wasn’t frustration or anger; this was something I couldn’t initially place. He looked into the room and asked that I be ready to go and disappeared upstairs to talk with Justin privately before we left. I asked what was troubling him and all he would tell me at the time was that he needed to get to Blackmore first thing in the morning.”
“So he knew what was happening before you left?” Savannah asked.
“No, not initially. I later found out he knew that these types of attacks were taking place in other parts of the world and that while he had been notified, it wasn’t until later that night and into the next morning that he saw the whole picture. By midnight as we were packing up, his phone began to ring with one call after another. He explained that one of the high level projects he’d been in charge of had taken a dramatic turn and that we may not be able to return home for quite some time. His mood quickly changed and he almost looked panicked as we finally backed out of the driveway. He spray-painted the word Blackmore across the garage door and as we left the city he drove more erratic than I’d ever seen.”
“Blackmore… he was the one that left the trail for us?”
“Richard said that if things went the way he’d hoped, Mason would bring the family directly here with the help of Randy. Otherwise they’d show up at our home. Either way, he wanted them out of the city and on the road to Blackmore as soon as possible. He wasn’t aware of how fast this thing would spread. He was beside himself for not demanding that April and Justin come with us the night before.”
“I thought he warned April and Mason?”
“When we hit the main highway out of the city, he called Mason and it went straight to voicemail three times. He was able to get April on the phone and told her to get to Mason and then out of the city, figuring Mason would most certainly bring Randy. This call didn’t go as planned. The cell reception was poor and the call kept going in and out. Richard didn’t have the time to explain all the details and the call died before he could tell her that they needed to get to Blackmore.”
“Eleanor, I can’t
imagine what the two of you had to go through just to get here. This place still gives me the creeps.”
“The ride here was uneventful other than losing the call with our daughter. I hadn’t seen any of those abominations before we arrived here. Richard made me get into the back seat when we pulled up to the gate and I stayed there until he and a few others made sure the building was safe. The first one I saw was behind a one-inch thick wall of glass and although my heart nearly exploded with fear, I was safe. Richard kept me safe. He always kept me safe.”
Pausing, the tears returned and she again blotted them away with the tissue she’d kept in her pocket. Eleanor needed sleep; she needed a reprieve, although more than anything she needed time.
“Eleanor, I’m sure this is incredibly hard for you, I’ll stay here with you even if you’d rather just sit.”
Turning her attention to the area where her family found their final resting place, Eleanor waited for the flood of emotions to subside. “Sweetheart, you’ve done more for me than you can imagine, although you need some time to yourself as well. We are all hurting and we all need time to heal. I’m going to stay a while and just relax. It looks like your attention is in high demand anyway.” She said pointing to Randy who’d already made three passes through the area.
“Thank you Eleanor… I’ll be back to get you before dinner.”
Randy continued to pace as she approached. Savannah smiled and tossed both arms around her cousin, who neither shared her exuberance nor fought the show of affection. His indifference wasn’t necessarily unexpected as he’d never been one to wear his heart on his sleeve, although she had hoped the connection they’d found over the past few weeks would have softened his resolve a bit. It hadn’t and the longer she thought about it, the more she realized this group needed him to not change.
Pulling away, Randy spoke first. “How are you?”