by Hunt, Jack
“Good.”
“Any chance of swapping out with someone else?” Palmer asked.
“Maybe this afternoon. Murphy has another thirty people that will be helping so that should alleviate some of the stress.”
“That’s a relief as I was starting to think I couldn’t do this anymore.”
“What do you mean? This isn’t anything compared to what you used to do, Palmer.”
Palmer shifted his weight and ran a hand around the back of his neck. “Yeah, when we had vehicles. It’s freezing cold out here, we have no shelter and I have been standing on my feet for the past five hours. Have you done this yet?”
“You know that’s not my job.”
“It’s not mine either,” he shot back. The guy beside him grumbled.
Gary studied him searching for words. Elliot could tell this was a sign of the times. First society would unravel, and then what little infrastructure remained would go next. That’s why he’d told Gary that he was worrying about a bunch of nothing. At the end of the day they were dealing with people, and it didn’t matter what role they had stepped into before all of this. Everyone had their breaking point. These folks weren’t getting paid and New York winters were brutal at the best of times. A cold wind hit them and Elliot shivered.
Gary leveled up to him and for a second Elliot thought he was going to come down on the guy, instead he placed a hand on his arm. “Look, I understand your frustration and believe me, we are trying to improve the situation for everyone. Things will get better, Palmer, but we need to work through these initial growing pains as we try to establish some normality. Your mother Joanne, she’s at the Olympic Center, correct?”
He nodded.
“If you’re questioning why you’re doing it. Think about her. Right now you and the others are what stands between them living or dying. If we let our guard down for even a minute, it could have a devastating effect.” He then brought him up to speed on what had happened with Jackson and explained that his job was to ensure residents remained safe inside of the town. “We don’t have it any easier than you. Now look, I know you’re cold and you still have three hours left of your shift, so go and get in the Jeep. Warm yourselves up, have something to eat and we’ll take over here for a few minutes, okay?”
Palmer nodded and brushed past him with the volunteer. Elliot observed them hop into the Jeep and fire it up.
“That’s going to burn a lot of gas.”
“It’s worth it,” Gary replied. “If these people lose heart, we lose this town and that’s all we have right now. Each other.”
Elliot pulled a pack of smokes from his pocket and tapped one out. He lit it and stuck his hands in his pockets as the wind nipped at his ears.
“Is that so,” Elliot muttered.
Gary shot him a glance.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you put a lot of trust in people you barely know.”
“Well maybe those same people will save your ass one day.”
“And maybe they won’t. You saw the look in that guy’s eyes. I give him two more days out here before he throws the towel in. Mother or not. Everyone has their breaking point including friends.”
Gary pulled his jacket around and eyed Elliot.
“Including friends?”
“Yep,” Elliot replied.
“Why, you thinking of bailing? Cause look at how that worked out.”
Elliot took a hard pull on his cigarette and blew smoke out his nose.
“How did that work out?” Elliot tossed his words back at him.
He shot him a look waiting for a response.
Gary scoffed. “You know.”
“Actually no I didn’t until earlier today.”
“What?”
“You going to look me in the face and lie to me? C’mon, I thought you were better than that.”
“Perhaps you need to join them in the Jeep and have a rest,” Gary said.
“Oh I’m wide awake. Yep. The question is, are you?”
“I don’t have a clue what you’re on about, but I wish you would reach the punch line.”
There was silence for a minute, then without looking at him Elliot threw it out there. He knew unless he asked him directly he wasn’t going to get shit out of him.
“Why did you do it, Gary?”
“Do what?”
“Stop fucking lying. Jill deserves better than this. In fact if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have even known.”
His eyes locked on Elliot’s and he must have clued in at that moment.
“Look, I don’t know what Jill’s been telling you, but she’s been under a lot of stress lately with me working all these hours.”
“Jill didn’t tell me anything. It was Rayna.” He scrunched up his face. “You know when I left Lake Placid, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I admit that. I couldn’t be the father or husband that my family needed because of PTSD. The only thing that made sense was to get away, and to not have them see me like that. And you know what?” He paused. “When I was in New York, I got through it because I knew you were there to help them. Yeah. My good friend was there to help out and make sure they were safe.”
“Elliot.”
“No. You listen to me. I trusted you and you went behind my back.”
“You were gone for over a year.”
“Oh so that gives you the right to move in on another man’s wife? Tell me, Gary, how long did you wait? A week, a month, a year?”
“It just happened.”
“Don’t give me that shit. You fall over, that just happened, but you come on to my wife — that doesn’t just happen. You put her in that situation. You could have walked away. And what about Jill? Huh? Have you stopped for one second to ask how this has affected your wife?”
“Elliot… I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“No, you did.”
“I’m sorry.”
Elliot turned and jabbed his finger into his chest. “It’s not me you should be saying that to. It’s Jill. She’s the one that sat by and knew about this and didn’t say a damn thing to you. She’s the one that hasn’t kicked your ass to the curb. She’s the one that you should be having this conversation with. Me? I just want to put you on your ass.”
Elliot stepped forward pressing up against him. It was taking everything he had to hold back.
Gary threw his hands up. “Go ahead. Go on. I deserve it.”
“No.” Elliot shook his head. “You’re not worth it.”
He turned his back to him. In his time away in New York, it had taught him many things, most of which was about what really mattered and not to waste his energy on anything that didn’t help him get through another day. Beating the shit out of Gary might have given him personal satisfaction but it wouldn’t change things. The truth was if he hadn’t left, none of this would have happened. He only had himself to blame.
Right then Gary’s radio started to crackle.
“Sarge. Sarge. Come in, it’s Jackson.”
Gary glanced at Elliot. “Go ahead.”
“We’ve got a problem at the checkpoint on 86. Where are you now?”
“On the west side. What is it?”
“I think it’s best you see for yourself.”
“Roger that, we’ll be there in ten.”
He looked at Elliot and before he could say anything he headed for the Jeep.
* * *
On the short journey over to the east checkpoint, Gary said nothing. It felt good to get it out in the open if only to make it clear that whatever had happened was over. A small part of him wondered if Rayna was telling the truth. Had she slept with him? He pushed the thought of it from his mind and tried to focus on what was before them. As they got closer, it became clearer what the problem was. Officer Jackson and a volunteer were standing by a truck, their guns drawn and on the ready as if expecting trouble. Gary eased off the gas and hopped out. As they came around the truck, they saw the bodies of the
two individuals who’d been manning that checkpoint.
“What happened?” Elliot was first to ask.
“They were dead when we arrived. Weapons are gone. I’m guessing they were ambushed.”
“Shit!” Gary said eyeing the tree line and the road that fed down into a residential area. Cobble Hill Road connected to Northwood and then fed into Mirror Lake Drive.
“Sarge, we need more people. Two people to a checkpoint is not enough,” Jackson said as he followed Gary back to the vehicle.
“Gary, give me your radio,” Elliot asked.
He handed it to him while they continued to talk. Elliot wanted to check on Rayna and the kids. He walked back to the Jeep, so he was out of earshot. He didn’t want Rayna to worry, but he had to be sure his family was safe.
Chapter 20
When Foster Goodman entered the town hall that afternoon he had no doubt in his mind of what needed to be done. He covered the Glock in his waistband and adjusted the rifle slung over his shoulder. If there was a line in the sand, he’d stepped over it and there was no going back. In his mind the only way forward was to finish what he’d started.
He took in his surroundings, having been in the town hall countless times. As he walked the corridor that led into the command center, Foster wasn’t surprised by the lack of police presence, or volunteers. Everything they had in the way of resources was now being thrown at the town. They were already overwhelmed and the real chaos hadn’t even begun.
As he passed one single armed officer, he gave a nod before entering an empty office full of tables, computers, and plans of the city on the wall. For all their planning they couldn’t plan for chaos. It was unpredictable.
His mind flashed back to earlier that morning, and the three individuals — a hunter by the name of James Bolton whose son had been beaten within an inch of his life, Timothy Garret whose daughter had been raped, and Wes Francis whose wife had been murdered a week ago by home invaders.
“So? Why are we here?” James Bolton shrugged as he leaned against a decaying wall. He’d arranged to have them meet at a home on the north side that had been partly destroyed.
Foster shifted his weight from one foot to the next. “We all have something in common. Pain. Loss. Suffering. We all agree that the police and mayor are doing nothing to deal with the situation before us. They are biding their time and trying to give the illusion of control. We’ve heard their empty promises. We’ve seen the lack of support and felt abandoned. Now we can continue to place our faith in them or we can do something about it. I say we stand up to them, be the ones to decide how we’ll live. James, hunting is a long and arduous game. Shouldn’t you receive the lion’s share if you’re the one whose blood, sweat and tears have been shed?” He nodded. “Timothy. Let me guess, the police aren’t even searching for your daughter’s rapist?” Timothy dropped his head. “And yet you are the one that is reminded of it every day.” He turned his attention to Wes. “And Wes, where were the police when raiders broke into your home and bludgeoned your wife to death?” He gritted his teeth.
“Nowhere,” Wes replied.
“Exactly. And yet this was after they had made their promises. This is just the beginning. Our situations are going to get a lot worse. You’ve seen the dwindling supplies in the Olympic Center. You’ve seen the inability of the police to control and protect. And yet you still see the way they are trying to control us. Everything you heard at that town hall meeting beyond the problems they are facing is a lie. They don’t have a solution for food, they don’t have a solution for protecting us, and they certainly have no idea of how to govern. Meanwhile, raiders continue to kill, rape and take whatever they want.”
“What are you suggesting?” James asked.
“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m here to listen to you all.”
Foster knew that the biggest problem facing the town was not a lack of ideas to improve the situation, it was that no one was listening. At first he thought it would be easy to pay off tweakers to raise a little hell, but they had screwed up and kidnapped a police officer. No, the way forward was to use those who had a need for justice and being as the cops weren’t able to give them that, perhaps he could.
“Yeah thanks, but I’m not into therapy sessions,” Wes said getting up to leave.
“Wes, do you want to punish those who killed your wife?”
He turned, his face a mask of pain. “Of course I do but I’d need to find them and even if I did, I would be outnumbered.”
“Not if you have us beside you.”
“And what about the police?”
“Minor details.”
James Bolton laughed. “Minor. Please. They’re the ones running the show.”
“It’s all smoke and mirrors, James. You’ve heard what they want you to hear. I’ve heard what they don’t want you to hear. The department is barely hanging on by a thread. There is internal bickering. The few officers that are still operating are growing tired. Give it another week, two at the most and even they will abandon their post. What then? Huh? Chief Wayland is already dead, and Murphy, he’s on the way out.”
“Well until he is, I don’t see things changing,” Timothy said shaking his head and folding his arms.
Foster jabbed his finger at the ground. “So then we have to change it.”
“And how do you suggest we do that?”
“Like I told you, I’m not suggesting anything. I’m here to listen to you all. How do you think it should change?”
Foster had realized that asking them how they would want to move forward was what the police and mayor weren’t doing. They were telling them how things were going to be, they were deciding where food would go, and they were the ones trying to infringe on their God-given rights.
“Rumor has it, they are considering confiscating guns as a first step to control the violence. You know what happens if we let them do that? Anarchy. How will you protect yourself? How will you hunt for food? How will you prevent them from telling you what you must do?”
Foster hadn’t heard them say it yet, but he assumed it was on the horizon.
“The second amendment says it’s our right to keep and bear arms, and it shall not be infringed.”
“Who told you the cops were going to confiscate?” James asked.
“A volunteer down at the department. Plans are being drawn up as we speak.”
James scoffed. “No one is stripping me of my gun.”
“And so they shouldn’t,” he replied.
There was silence for a minute or two. Foster wanted them to chew it over. He could see the look of anger in their expressions. This was exactly what he wanted. The fact was when their world was teetering on the edge of an abyss it didn’t take much to push someone over.
“You must have some idea of what you want?” James asked.
“I do but you might not like it,” Foster replied.
They looked at one another feeding off each other’s negative energy. Foster smiled.
“Tell us.”
Suffering had a way of causing even the most level-headed people to lose sight of their morals.
Foster snapped back into the moment as he approached the office of Assistant Chief Ted Murphy. He gave the door a knock and looked behind him to see if the officer he’d passed was going to be a problem.
“Come in.”
Foster entered.
“Ah Foster, what can I do for you?”
He closed the door behind him.
Rayna sat in Jill’s kitchen with a hot cup of coffee in her lap while Kong and the kids dashed around in the backyard. Though it was cold, it didn’t seem to bother them. Jill took a seat across from her. Her lips pursed, and she held her head high as if knowing what she was about to say.
“I understand what you did. I mean, contacting Elliot.”
“He needed to know.”
“I agree.”
“So?”
“I told him. Everything.” She breathed in deeply and took a sip of h
er drink. “I don’t know how he’s dealing with it but he knows.”
“Good,” she said without hesitation.
“And have you spoken with Gary?”
“Not yet.”
Her answers were short and to the point as if she wanted to avoid small talk. Rayna gazed around the kitchen and thought about all the times she’d had dinner there. The nights of wine and laughter, the tears they’d shared and the comfort they’d found in each other as wives of ex-military personnel.
“Are you planning on leaving him?” Rayna asked.
“Why would I?” Her eyebrows rose. “It wasn’t his fault.”
Rayna’s brow furrowed. “You still believe I seduced him, don’t you?”
“I know you did.”
“After all this time you think I would deliberately do something to hurt you?”
She took a sip of her drink and looked away uninterested in replying. Rayna shook her head. She understood the world was falling apart, but she didn’t think her relationships would. Jill didn’t want to admit that her husband who she adored would show any affection toward anyone else but her. Who would admit that? If she could have blamed it on the alcohol that might have been easier to swallow but Gary had made advances even when he wasn’t drinking.
“I’m sorry you feel that way. You must think very little of me if you think I would do that. I expected more from you.”
“More from me?” Jill said turning toward her, her tone full of venom.
“You’re my best friend, Jill.”
“I was until this.”
She shook her head unsure of what else would convince her. It wasn’t even worth having the conversation. She’d already made up her mind and wasn’t budging. Rayna looked toward her children and finished up her drink. Just being around her was uncomfortable. She thought she could resolve it by coming over and letting her know that she’d spoken with Elliot and by telling her the truth but what was the point? She had blinders on. Rayna got up and called to the kids. “Let’s go.”
Getting no answer on the radio, Elliot handed it back to Gary who was in the process of checking out the tree line just in case whoever had done this had retreated into the surrounding forest. Nearby, Jackson had a radio up to one ear and a finger in the other.