Early Release

by Jason Michelsen

  Lisa waited for another surge of confidence like she had experienced so recently. It didn't come. Raw, undiluted fear came in its place. Still, she had to keep trying. With shaking legs, she crept through the door into the eerily lit night.

  "Eve?" she whispered into the darkness.

  Please, God, please tell me where she is.

  The scared scream of a young girl pierced the night in a way that made Lisa wonder if she would ever pray again.

  61

  David was being guided back to the jail when the screech rang out. Lionel, as his lone escort, took on an excited look of tortured indecision. He obviously wanted to be where the action was, but guarding Saul was an assignment of great prestige. The rifle jammed into the prisoner's back, prompting him to pick up his pace down the street.

  Soldierly instincts kicked in and David's gait changed slightly. To a trained eye he would have appeared more dangerous, balanced steadily with each step landing softly on the balls of his feet.

  Lionel Jacobs did not possess a trained eye.

  Slowing down for a few steps, Saul successfully baited his anxious captor into another hurried jab with his unfamiliar weapon. At the first touch of pressure against his right shoulder, David spun with it, allowing the amateur's lack of coordination to make him stumble when his poke didn't meet the expected resistance. In one smooth motion the Soldier yanked the rifle out of a weak grip while slamming his elbow into the throat of a surprised Lionel, forestalling any cry for help. With the rifle in both hands now, he struck a merciless two-handed blow to the side of the head. His guard crumpled to the ground; David was left alone in the night.

  Still operating on instinct, he hefted the unconscious Lionel over his shoulder and hurried up the steps into the jail house. With the unorganized gang rushing off to whatever excitement provoked the childlike scream, David had some time to himself.

  As he searched, bound, and gagged the Prophet's right hand man, Saul thought back on his conversation with the leader. The claim that the escaped prisoners were basically the four horsemen of the apocalypse was pretty much the climax of the dialogue; after that both parties ate in silence. Throughout his meal, David felt the Prophet's eyes on him like a rapist stalking his prey. His virtue would stay intact, but his soul would be violated if he lingered too long in the dark.

  However predatory he was, though, David no longer believed him to be insane. No, his logic was cold and calculated, not at all the type of fiery rage or zeal that indicated a chemical imbalance in the brain. But worse than what he now knew about the goliath of a man was what he didn't know.

  After listening to his rationale, David didn't know if the Prophet was wrong.

  62

  Abandoning all thought, Lisa ran in the direction of Eve's cry for help. It seemed to come from the southeast, the farthest part of the trailer park from the shack where they had sheltered. It was also near the school and the downtown area, the two most dangerous areas based on what she had seen earlier.

  For the moment, her fear for Eve outweighed her concern for herself, and she recklessly raced through the park. Only the moon's glint off silver trailers lit her path. It was just enough to prevent her from tripping over the abandoned children's toys and collapsed awnings that littered her path. Around fences and through flowerbeds she ran, exhausted legs screaming for a rest, but she kept on. Past a broken swingset, over a short garden fence. Under an empty clothesline, between a pair of broken down Chevys.

  Only when she reached the end of the trailers did she stop. With heaving lungs she surveyed her surroundings. The high school sat just a block to her left, while an old-fashioned drive-in diner stood across the street in front of her. To her right was the small town jail with candlelight flickering eerily through the barred windows. Seeing shadows inside, her sense returned and she quickly slipped back into the darkness between trailers.

  From the relative concealment of her shadowy hiding place, Lisa willed her thunderous heartbeat to quiet as she strained to listen for signs of Eve. In the eerie stillness of a stone-age night, even the wildlife was silent, as if even the nocturnal creatures supported this rescue attempt.

  After a few seconds, faint voices filtered through the night from the north. Slowly she slipped from shadow to shadow, the nurse turned adventurer sneaking into position to view a dark man towering over a cowering little girl. Eve appeared to be too terrified to cry out anymore. Tears streamed down her cheeks and her shoulders shook with sobs she tried to stifle. Her antagonizer wasn't exceptionally large, and with the element of surprise--and the right weapon--Lisa thought she might be able to overtake him. She scanned the ground between trailers, eyes finally settling on a piece of aluminum support from a collapsed awning. She quietly crept over and armed herself, with the movement putting her more directly behind her unwitting opponent, but losing the benefit of the shadows at the same time. Exposed in the moonlight, Eve's eyes locked on her as she gripped the pole like a softball bat. Staying on her toes, Lisa began a slow motion charge toward her enemy before fear could paralyze her.

  She was halfway there when Eve screamed again, alerting the man to her presence. Her world spun as she tried to imagine why the little girl would foil her own rescue. Too late, she noticed that the wide eyes weren't looking at her now, but directly past her. In the next instant she remembered hearing two voices that drew her to this spot. Before she could act on any of this information, something barrelled into her backside, sending her sprawling to the lawn on her face. Still reeling from surprise, she didn't even attempt to resist the hairy arm that slipped around her neck. Darkness crept in from the corners of her vision as pressure increased and her bloodflow decreased.

  As everything faded, the frightened face of a helpless child chased her into unconsciousness.

  63

  David searched the tiny jail house thoroughly, and quickly came to the conclusion that it contained nothing useful. Bullet-ridden padlocks were proof enough that the Prophet's men had already ransacked the place, and in this case they had done a very detailed job. With Lionel locked in the back storage closet--the cells were too obvious if they looked for him--he went out into the warm night via the back door.

  Without supplies this would be a failed escape, so David needed a few things. His brief reconnaissance of the town had not revealed any obvious resupply points, which left two options. First, he could make his way back to the well and hope that Lisa had fled in a panic, leaving his gear behind. The second choice involved a long trek past the residential area to the south in search of another commercial district with a grocery and other necessary shops.

  Reasoning that he could always take on the longer trip later, David opted for Plan A. He moved to the northeast corner of the old brick firehouse and observed the trailer park. He knew the well was on the other side of the expansive park, but couldn't be sure of exactly where. A basic search pattern formed in his mind almost without thought, and he was up and moving again. Staying just one jagged row of mobile homes from the east edge of the park kept him oriented, and scattered fires farther out created swaying shadows to conceal his flight.

  After a dozen or so trailers, the firelights were more frequent and Saul stopped to examine the building they surrounded. Roving patrols of two to three men made a circuit around the building, just inside of a ring of semi-regular bonfires. It was not a strong defensive arrangement, but he doubted this gang anticipated any confrontations; nor were they likely to get any. The fact that the guards were posted at all was a bit strange.

  As he watched the compound--which appeared to be the school gymnasium--the reason for the protection presented itself. Two men approached the nearest patrol carrying what could only be captives over their shoulders. For the first time since he was seventeen, high school seemed to be a prison.

  Involuntarily, David took a crouched step toward the scene before him, then halted. At this distance he couldn't make out the details of the prisoners, but neither appeared to be large enough to assist in th
eir own rescue. Rushing the four guards by himself was much closer to suicide than the Soldier was willing to risk without a plan. Between his army training, years in a violent criminal underworld, and prison time; Saul knew how to take care of himself. That knowledge, however, did not extend to the Rambo method of taking on overwhelming concentrations of enemy forces alone.

  Sitting back farther into the shadows, David scanned the perimeter and scoured his memory for similar breaches of enemy camps--real or simulated. While he mentally reviewed every scenario he could recall, he idly wondered how it fell to him to save the day for these people.

  People who created the men who captured them.

  The thought should have been innocent; it should have been fleeting. Instead, it pricked his consciousness like a spider bite, a mild annoyance which began festering immediately. Was the Prophet right? he wondered. Is self-destruction really the goal of our society?

  Desperately, David tried to find a reason to risk his life for theirs. They weren't family, and they certainly weren't friends.

  He didn't owe them loyalty. Less than fifty miles from the hellhole he had lived in, these people lived in ignorance of the conditions he dealt with. No, not ignorance. The steady barrage of prison shows on cable television no longer allowed society to be ignorant of the abuses. They just didn't care.

  He didn't owe them compassion. Maybe this town was different. Maybe the inherent good he had heard about in people prevailed here and they were worth saving. But he had seen too much of human nature to believe that. Human nature was to live at the expense of all others; to preach a cause you would gladly send others to die for. To betray everything good in the world for thirty pieces of your own personal silver. Saul watched as the captives were carried inside, then he slipped back into the night.

  He didn't owe them anything.

  64

  Adam was on his way out of the school when the prison nurse was brought in along with the little girl. Brittsen was slung roughly over the shoulder of a convict appropriately known as Large, while the kid was squirming in the arms of a smaller man he didn't recognize. By the natural fit of his clothes, Adam guessed he was one of the new recruits, probably from Santa Maria. The Prophet's philosophy had attracted quite a few refugees along their path, but Webster converts would not be trusted with guard duties in their hometown; at least not until they proved themselves.

  The new guy flashed a brotherly grin and thumbs up sign at Adam as he passed, which turned out to be a pretty bad idea with a squirrely little runt in his arms. One arm around the waist proved not enough to maintain control as she slipped to the ground like a greased monkey on crack. With unbelievable speed that could only come from pure terror the girl flew back down the hall and out into the dark.

  Adam and Smiley recovered their shock at the same time, sprinting for the door just as the blond blur disappeared into the night. Smiley showed himself to be faster than he was sure-handed and crashed through the door two steps ahead of Adam. Outside was a scene from a football bloopers video with three comedically fat men playing the part of the clumsy security guards, while the kid acted as the crazy fan on the field.

  When her two largest pursuers were baited into a collision and took themselves out of the chase, the absurdly quick girl darted away to the south. Stifling an inappropriate laugh, Adam followed while the new guy helped his friends to their feet.

  For all of her fear-fueled speed, his quarry did seem to be tiring. She was smart, though, he had to give her that. Just as it seemed he would overtake her, she ducked into the cemetery-like confines of the trailer park to her right. The move required her to slow down considerably, but not nearly as much as Adam, who didn't know the layout at all.

  Light from the nearly full moon allowed for some speed still, but his prey had a knack for picking the most garbage filled alleys to run down, leaving him stumbling every few yards. When she finally led him down a relatively clear street, the pursuer put everything left in his tank into catching her on the straightaway. He had closed to within ten feet when his peripheral vision warned him of danger just a second too late.

  Another body streaked out of the narrow space between two trailers at breakneck speed, slamming into him squarely. This is why I never played football, he thought as he slid across the pavement. In a daze, he rolled over to get a look at the human missile that just leveled him so easily.

  Smiley. It was a small comfort that the smaller man took the worst of the hit. Groggily getting to his feet next to the dazed klutz, Adam searched the street in the direction he had been heading.

  The tiny blond was gone.

  Adam kicked the smile right off the new guy's face.

  65

  Lisa awoke to a splitting headache and the smell of acrid smoke. Opening her eyes slowly, she took in her surroundings while attempting to appear knocked out still. In the gloom above her she could make out the vague shape of banners flapping in a smoky breeze. She was in the gym, then, probably with all the other captives from the town. Lying on her back, she quickly discovered the pain that came with trying to look out of the corners of her eyes, so she closed them and concentrated on listening for a while.

  Sporadically she heard low murmurs from what she believed were the other prisoners. All the voices came from her right, which placed her along the edge of the large room. Footsteps sounded ominously in a measured rhythm; it seemed to be a guard making a lap every few minutes. The general impression Lisa had was of a defeated people being watched by a bored guard.

  With what she hoped was a natural looking movement, she let her head loll to the right. Keeping her eyes closed, Lisa listened for a sign that anyone noticed her deception. After a slow thirty count she decided her ruse had worked; either no one knew she was awake, or no one cared. Letting her eyelids drift up, she let out a surprised gasp--this gym was nearly full! From the relative silence and the minimal guards she was aware of, she had expected no more than fifty people. But there had to be several hundred sunken faces scattered on and under the bleachers, around the basketball court, and against the stage farthest from her. She spotted the mobile guard moving casually around the crowd, as well as one in each corner she could see. It was safe to assume there would be two more along the wall to her left for a total of five in the gym. Outnumbered fifty to one, the invaders lounged at their posts with rifles in hand, supremely confident in their control of the docile citizens.

  After several minutes of stillness, an older woman stood from her place by the stage and wandered over to a man sleeping fitfully in front of the bleachers. One guard lazily watched her move around, but said nothing. As long as they appeared beaten down, it looked like they were free to move about. Somehow that fact made the silence even more depressing.

  Finally gaining her nerve, Lisa got to her feet and moved gingerly toward an empty spot in the crowd; lying on the edge as she had been was far too conspicuous for her taste. Especially when she recognized all five guards as escaped convicts from her prison. With no bars between them, she was in no hurry to renew old acquaintances.

  Lisa scanned the crowd nonchalantly, hoping to catch a lucky sighting of David or Eve. As she feared, however, they were nowhere to be seen. The broken faces she did see were all that kept her from laughing at the prospect of David Saul sitting submissively on the stage, waiting for one of his captors to tell him what to do next.

  Eve was the one she was really worried about. The memory of her terrified face as Lisa failed to save her was blazed into her memory. Where would she be if not here? It was understandable that David be kept in segregation--he posed a legitimate threat. The girl, though, she wasn't a danger to anyone. Either she had escaped somehow, or....

  She must have escaped, she told herself to kill off the thought of any other options.

  Lisa turned slowly to assess the crowd she now found herself a part of. It definitely skewed to middle-aged and older, though there were a handful of younger women scattered about. Those most likely to rise up against th
e Prophet--men her age and younger--had been effectively weeded out. As a result, the occupants of the makeshift prison camp had more than their share of the ill and infirm. Those that must have tried to resist were bunched against the wall near where she started; most looked severely beaten.

  Before she knew what she was doing, Lisa found herself halfway across the gym in the direction of the battered townsfolk. She moved slowly under the suddenly alert eyes of the two nearest guards. Keeping her hands clearly visible at her sides, the nurse presented no threat as she neared the injured men.

  Reaching the first of them, she knelt down and examined her patient. He was young, probably still shy of twenty, and stocky if not fat. He would have stood just under six feet and been considered pretty, if not for the broken nose and swollen shut eye. The right eye, the good one, fluttered open to look at her. Lisa watched as the pupil tried to focus on her, finally managing just a little slower than it should have.

  "It's okay," she said--as much to herself as to the young man she treated. "I'm a nurse, I can help."

  Glancing back at the crowd, she noticed just a bit more stirring than she had seen. She also realized--with no small amount of discomfort--that most of the other captives were watching her now.

  Nothing has changed, Brittsen. Just do your job, and don't be a hero.

  66

  Moonlight provided David with a clear path as he moved confidently through the trailer park. His decision to abandon this town to its fate was fully justified in his mind, but his heart felt the pain of objection. As a soldier, he had learned to trust his mind; too often the heart contradicted the commands given from above. So with the silent stealth of a man who knew he was doing something he could convince himself was the right thing, Saul slinked through the shadows.