by Jeff Olah
8
She said nothing and made quiet observations as to their whereabouts as they proceeded another half mile along the road, hoping but never seeing another vehicle before the truck turned right into the private drive. Overgrown shrubbery and sparsely placed trees lined the quarter mile stretch from the main road leading to the single story ranch style home fifty feet from where he pulled the truck to a stop. Three additional vehicles stood silently between the house and where their attacker exited the truck.
Leaning in the truck bed, he reached over and grabbed Megan's throat, pulling her toward him. "I'm taking your friend somewhere safe. If you leave the back of this truck, if you move one inch, I'll go back and kill him. There is no one for twenty miles in any direction. Stay put... OK?"
At this point it didn't really matter what he knew about the two of them and from what she knew about kidnappings, the more familiar they were the better. "He's my brother, his name is Sean. I'm Megan. Please don't hurt him anymore... Please."
"You think that's gonna work? You are dumber than you look. I don't care what either of your names are. In just a few days you won't care either." He moved back to the cab, pulled Sean's limp body out through the driver’s door, leaned forward and hoisted the boy onto his left shoulder. Retrieving the shotgun with his free hand, he turned from Megan and began walking toward the house. "If you’re not here when I return, the things I'll do to your brother will be nothing compared to what happens when I catch up to you."
Megan stood in the bed of the truck as the man who moments ago posed no threat to them and who she contemplated passing on the dirt road marched around the side of the home. Regret wouldn't help now, especially with him having the upper hand. She reminded herself to stay calm and wait for him to slip up. Megan had never seriously hurt anyone in anger before today; although she feared she’d have to if she wanted to see the sun rise again tomorrow morning.
On his return, she could charge him and if the proximity were close enough, he may not get a shot off. Megan was more than comfortable in her abilities and if given the chance she’d relish the opportunity to make this man little more than a memory in their rearview mirror. With her brother taken away unconscious and the extent of his injuries unknown, she scanned the expansive grounds for any signs of who this man might be.
Another vehicle, a late model pickup most likely used for the daily grind of the farm, sat nearest the home. Swatches of burnt orange rust and thick layers of bondo dotted the dilapidated body as it sat firmly entrenched in the soil. The underbrush riding up between the wheels and the frame, along with two flat tires, told her it hadn’t been driven in quite some time. Days or more likely weeks or months.
The two remaining cars sitting to the right of the pickup, a newer model SUV and a sedan that looked much more out of place. On her tiptoes and craning her neck to look past the much larger SUV, Megan was able make out the details of the sedan. She quickly lowered herself back into the bed of the truck not only in anticipation of their adversary returning, but also for fear of what might have taken place on this farm in the hours before they arrived. The black and white patrol car sat in the shadow provided by the much larger SUV. Megan noticed the tire tracks running from where it stood now and down the main drive. The trail was fresh, made today and most likely within the last few hours. Law enforcement had arrived ahead of them. Were they still here? If so, why hadn’t they come to help?
Slowly beginning to stand once again, she was startled to see that he had returned. “Well, I must say that you’ve actually surprised me. I thought for sure you’d have run off before I made it back. Maybe I had you pegged all wrong. Maybe you won’t be a problem.”
Pointing over the man’s left shoulder, Megan took him to task. “Sir, why are the police here?”
“OK, I guess I was right about you.” Stepping back a few paces he motioned to her with the shotgun. “Get out and stand right there.”
The man who’d brought them here was dressed the part, although his face, other than the wiry beard offered nothing to indicate that he was a farmer. The overalls and flannel were a bit too snug for someone who’d been working for the better part of each day. The boots that protruded from the high rise denim he wore also feigned a lack of authenticity. No more than a few bumps and bruises, they appeared to have seen less action than the dubious grin splashed across his face.
Megan strode to the left side of the truck and hopped over the side, landing hard on the densely packed gravel drive below. “Where’s my brother?”
“He’s safe, you’ll be joining him soon enough.”
“What’s your name? Who are you? What do you want?”
“Knowing my name would mean nothing to you.”
Moving in toward him as he walked backward one deliberate step at a time, attempting to maintain the ten foot buffer, she peered into his eyes. He stared back now, noticing the gradual quickening of her pace. Before they reached the black and white cruiser, he stopped. "You want to come closer? Well then, come here!" He lunged forward grasping a handful of her tussled blond hair and pulled her into him. "Is this what you wanted?"
It was.
He was wearing cologne, expensive cologne. He wasn't a farmer. He didn't belong here... not on this property, not anywhere near this part of town. Megan wasn't any less afraid of him with this new discovery, although she was now just as curious.
Who was he?
Why was he here?
What did he want?
Pushing away in a halfhearted attempt to feign a struggle, Megan watched for a reaction. "HEEEEEEEEEELLLPPP… PLEASE HEEELLPP!!" she shouted.
He stepped back, still clutching her hair and dragged her around to the front of the patrol car, slamming Megan face first onto the hood.
The wrecked windshield offered no protection, as the two officers were ambushed while attempting to exit their vehicle. The severely damaged bodies were riddled with fresh buckshot as they succumbed to their massive injuries and found their final resting place. The younger patrolman positioned in the passenger seat managed to kick his door open and had the heel of his right boot squarely placed on the ground below. His partner didn’t make it quite as far and was still buckled to the seat with the radio in his right hand.
“There they are,” he said. “Go on… ask them to help.”
Megan fought against his one hundred pound advantage, only to be yanked backward by the collar and pulled to the rear of the house. Shoving her to her knees, he unlocked the cellar doors and pushed her down the flight of wooded stairs. Megan felt every inch of the thirteen steps as her body twisted and turned with each drop in elevation, finally coming to rest in the darkened cellar five feet from her unconscious brother.
The reinforced security doors thundered shut from above, and what little sunlight managed its way through the gap, was instantly suppressed.
9
He woke as the final slivers of sunlight moving through the locked cellar doors faded and darkness enveloped the makeshift basement. Sean had trouble recalling any of the details since leaving the train station. Vague images swimming in the back of his head told him they’d been attacked, although the details were much more grim than he’d been able to recall. His sister ran through their ordeal to leave the city and the massive horde that they encountered as she attempted to follow her father’s instructions step by step. Trapped in the truck on multiple occasions, Megan reminded him of the alternate route they’d taken to get to the dirt road and what they’d seen before stopping to check out the stranded motorist.
The only memory Sean’s mind completely blocked and one that his sister wished could also be removed from her brain was of the family they’d driven past, unable to help as a massive horde descended out of an office building and the family of four ran from their aggressors attempting to flag down Megan as she also fought to stay ahead of the closing Feeders. She stopped the truck multiple times, although the crowd reached the family before she could and the only action that would keep the two of them alive
was to move out of the area. The petrified look on the family’s faces as they were overcome had already begun to haunt her every thought.
The cellar now silent as night fell over the area, Megan and Sean huddled near the bottom of the staircase. Their captor hadn’t returned since tossing the two of them down into this hole hours earlier and Megan was intent on finding a way out. She used what light was spared them during the day to get a general layout of their surroundings. With no obvious way out and the only window to the outside world barred, she became content for the time being to tend to her brother. He fought her the entire time, although Megan was able to get him to allow her to lay him on the floor below, the only source of water available and clean his wound.
“How’s your head?” she asked.
“Worst headache ever, what are we going to do?”
“Don’t know yet. Maybe he’s gone, maybe he ran into a group of those things and they got the better of him.”
“A group of Feeders?” Sean asked.
“Yeah,” Megan said. “It doesn’t really matter though, he’s not here now.”
“So what ARE we going to do?”
“I’ll figure something out. Let’s get you cleaned up first.”
“Really? We can barely see each other. How do you know I even need cleaning up and anyways, shouldn’t we be a little more concerned with getting out of here before he gets back?”
“Let’s get some fluids in you and then I’ll find a way to get us out of here.”
She couldn’t tell if the water running from the lone faucet along the back wall of the cellar was clean enough to consume and after running it over Sean’s hair she cupped her hands and decided to give it a shot. The cool liquid ran down her parched throat easily and with no metallic taste or grit to speak of, she forced her brother to drink a few handfuls.
“You’re not bleeding, but that lump on the side of your head is pretty bad. Do you feel nauseous at all?”
“Megan, you said this guy killed at least two police officers today and possibly more. Wake up… my head is fine, we need to get out of here now. Like right now. Is there anything we can stand on to get to that window?”
“Don’t you think I tried that?” Megan said. “I’ve was down here for a few hours before you even woke up. As dark as it’s been, I’ve been trying to find a way out of here since he threw me down those stairs. Yes, I know what the situation is and I’m absolutely terrified… I’ve just been trying not to let you know how lost I am.”
“What about that room in the back?”
“I checked it out already. Nothing in there but a couple of old beds and some empty boxes. The cellar doors at the top of the stairs are locked from the outside and the only window in this place is just behind you. If we can find a way to get past the security bars, there might be a chance.”
Sean moved to the window as tendrils of soft moonlight finally found its way into their subterranean space. The folding chair left near the rear wall by Megan was the perfect height for him to get a clear vantage of the wrap-around porch and left side of the single story home. “Megan the lights are on in the house. He must still be here.”
“OK?” she said.
“Why would he just take us and throw us down here? He must have had a reason.”
“Sean, one thing your big brain will learn some day is that crazy doesn’t always have a reason. This guy is a psychopath and may not even think he’s done anything wrong. He’s smart though. I tried to get him to see us as people. I told him our names and he seemed to see through what I was trying to do, although maybe it worked and that’s why he hasn’t come back.”
Sean didn’t respond. He stood on his toes and instead of peering through the window and the metal bars beyond; he used the sleeve of his shirt to clean the layer of grime from the inside of the window. “Megan, did you say you found some tools?”
“No I didn’t say that, although there are a few wooden crates under the stairwell.”
“Was there a hammer and possibly a flat head screwdriver?”
“I don’t know,” Megan said.
Sean stepped carefully off the chair and followed the path of moonlight to the stairs. On all fours he slipped into the darkness, arms outstretched and feeling his way toward the wooden boxes his sister had seen hours earlier. Many of the items left behind appeared to be useless in his attempt to get through the window. Just before giving up, he slammed his head into the large metal pipe running the length of the cellar along the wall. “COME ON!” The impact threatened to again relieve him of consciousness, although gritting through the blinding pain, he was able to keep himself calm and focused on what he came to do.
Sean backed out of the darkness and turned to Megan, who’d taken his spot on the chair. He said, “I’m getting us out of here.”
The last crate he pulled from under the stairwell contained everything he’d need to free them from this prison. Sean moved quickly to the window, set the box next to the wall and helped Megan down.
“How are you gonna get through those bars?” Megan asked.
“With these,” Sean said holding up a small hammer and a Phillips head screwdriver.
“You’re planning to chisel you way out of here?”
“Yep. The cement blocks that the bars are bolted to will be tough to get through, but I’m sure I can do it before morning. If he doesn’t come back before then, we are good to go.”
“That is never going to work,” Megan said. “If he’s anywhere on this property he’ll hear you… no way, think of something else.”
Turning from his sister, Sean stepped onto the chair. “It’s our only chance.” He carefully used the hammer to plunge the screwdriver through the corner of the window near the weather-stripping and then used the red shop towels to move the shattered glass away. He was impressed with his ability to keep the noise level to a minimum and turned to Megan for her concurrence.
“Sean, I still don’t think that was a good idea…”
“Your sister is smart… you shouldn’t have done that.”
The woman, who’d yet to make her presence known, stood in the doorway between the two rooms, the moonlight casting enough of a glow on her battered face for the siblings to realize she was probably right. Tears ran down her face as she began to turn away. “He killed all of them… every single one, and we’re next. We are all that’s left.”
10
The cool night air flowed through the opening as Sean moved his attention back to the window. He scanned the yard and although focused on the front door, he’d wished his vantage allowed for a wider viewing angle. The memories of stopping on the roadside and his sister being thrown into the back of the pickup came rushing back as the man holding them captive emerged through the front door. He stood at the foot of the porch peering out into the night, before taking a long pull off the bottle he held in his left hand. Tossing it to the ground he stepped off the porch and strode quickly toward the rear of the house and disappeared.
“He’s coming,” Sean said.
The woman standing in between the two rooms hurried off into the darkness and away from the siblings. Sean followed her into the room as she moved to her stomach and pulled herself back under the bed, into the spot where she’d been hiding since before Sean and Megan arrived. “He’s going to kill us… all of us,” She said. Sliding further into the corner like a scared animal, the woman pulled her knees to her chest and covered her head. “Go… hide… PLEASE!”
The metal security doors at the entrance to the cellar shook as the man outside unlocked and threw them open. With the moonlight flooding in, he rushed down the staircase without saying a word and stepped to the side as Megan planted her right foot and took a swing in his direction. He grabbed her by the neck and shoved her backward into the staircase. Turning, he moved quickly past Sean and into the back room. With one hand he tossed the bed to the side and with the other he pulled the woman feet first out of the room. Grasping her by the waist, he tossed her, kicking and sc
reaming onto his shoulder.
Scrambling to her feet, Megan pushed away from the stairwell and in an attempt to right herself, tripped over the wooden box left in the middle of the room. She again stood and began climbing the stairs in pursuit of their attacker as he reached the threshold and slammed the woman to the ground outside.
Megan flinched and backed away as the monstrous doors were slammed shut and locked once again, before she had a chance to retaliate. Turning to her brother she said, “Sean what are you doing? She needed our help. He’s going to…”
Standing in the cover of darkness, against the block wall Sean was frozen. He wanted to help, although he was terrified of what would have happened if he had tried to intervene.
As she stepped into the light provided by the shattered window, she began to scream. Not only could he hear the distress in her voice, Sean could also see it in Megan’s face. Bright red with veins coursing through her forehead, she stood just inches from him. “SEAN, WAKE UP. THAT MAN IS GOING TO KILL HER. AND THEN HE IS GOING TO COME BACK AND KILL US.”