by Hunt, James
Lester’s nerves radiated to both Donny and Gray, neither of them saying a word as they silently waited for instructions.
Donny picked at the beer label on his empty bottle. He was calmer than his brother, but he could still have a temper. It was a Percy-family trait.
Gray Percy sat on the couch, staring at the tips of his shoes. He hadn’t drunk as much as the rest of his family. He was different in that regard. He was also kinder. Though Jane wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing just yet.
Jane stood at the front of the house, glancing out the window which faced the road. After all the fuss they had caused, she expected the police to drive up the road and haul Lester to jail.
But the dirt road remained dark. No lights and sirens. No police.
And then there was the pair of explosions Jane had heard while Lester and Donny were shooting in the backyard. They sounded far away, but they also sounded like significant blasts. She couldn’t prove it, but she thought maybe the power outage and the explosions were connected.
“What the fuck are we waiting here for,” Lester said, erupting in anger. “I need to head out of here now! Before the cops show up!”
Jane turned away from the window. “They came over themselves.”
Everyone turned their attention to Jane.
“What’s your point?” Lester asked.
“My point is, why the hell would they do that?” Jane asked. “Why not just call the cops? People like Harry Simmons don’t come over here unless they don’t have a choice.”
Jane reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone.
“Maybe we’re not the only ones with our phones turned off,” Jane said.
Jane walked to the kitchen table where Donny sat and tossed her useless phone on the table and then took a seat. She saw the wheels slowly turning in Lester’s mind. He had always listened to his wife. As angry as he was, and as much of a shit he might have been to the rest of the world, he was a devoted husband.
Jane uncrossed her arms and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table with an authoritative thud. “Why is all this happening? What are we missing?”
“Nancy told me her phone died when the power went out,” Gray answered.
Jane pointed a finger at her son. “Now, that’s interesting.” She tapped her finger onto the table, then drummed all of her fingers against the old wood. “Something’s off.”
Lester walked to his wife, pressing his knuckles against the table, and as he hunched over, the scowl on his face made him look more ape than man. “What are you saying, Jane? You saying that everything’s turned off? How the hell is that even possible?”
Jane chewed the inside of her cheek. “I don’t know.” She looked up at her husband, a hint of a wicked smile across her face. “But if shooting Harry Simmons in the belly doesn’t bring the cops knocking on our door, then I think we might be able to have some serious fun.”
Lester’s scowl transformed into a large grin, and he revealed all of his teeth. It was even more frightening than the grimace.
“We had a deal tomorrow,” Jane said. “But I think it’s safe to say that this changes things. I want us to be ready for it.”
The Percy clan had been running drugs for years. They grew weed in a spot out in the forest, but lately, they’d been trafficking harder stuff.
Years ago, Lester’s father, Buford, had tried to get the Percy family to start running guns to help make more money. But that fell through after Buford ruined it with a decision that changed the course of his family’s destiny and that of another. But they rarely spoke about it these days.
It had been Jane that suggested they give the gun-running another try. Not only was it lucrative, but it put them in contact with more influential parties. And for what Jane wanted to build, they would need all the influence they could find.
“We were supposed to contact them,” Lester said. “How the hell do we know they’ll still even show up for the drop?”
“We don’t,” Jane answered. “But I want us to be ready when they do.”
Lester nodded.
Jane walked around her husband. “Gray, you’re coming with me.”
Gray looked up from his shoes. “Where are we going?”
Jane stopped, turning around to give her son a hard glare. “Let’s go. Now.”
Gray blushed and then quickly stood from the couch, walking toward his mother with his head down. Jane turned back to her husband and brother-in-law.
“I want you two to get every gun we have and load them up,” Jane said.
“All of them?” Donny answered.
Jane’s patience snapped. “What the fuck did I just say?”
Lester shoved his brother, then turned to his wife. “We’ll get them ready.”
“Good,” Jane said. “I want you to be done by the time we get back.”
Jane and Gray stepped outside through the front door. Gray followed, keeping a half-step back from his mother.
“You pouting back there?” Jane asked.
“No,” Gray answered.
Jane scoffed, turning to look at her son. “Come here, boy.”
Gray obediently stepped next to her mother’s side, but he continued to look at the ground. Jane studied her son for a moment and then shook her head in disgust.
“You know she doesn’t really care about you, right?” Jane asked. “You’re just convenient to Nancy Simmons right now. But she’ll get tired of you.”
“You don’t know anything about her,” Gray said, his tone petulant.
Jane scoffed. “Boy, I’ve met more Nancy Simmons in my lifetime than I can stomach. You don’t need a girl like that. She’s soft, spoiled, and stupid.”
“She’s not stupid, Mom,” Gray said.
“Well, two out of three doesn’t stack the count in her favor.” Jane stopped and then spun around to face her son. “If what I think is happening really is happening, then we’re going to have a big fight on our hands. And you need to remember that family comes first.”
“She’s not a bad person, Mom,” Gray said.
“I’m not talking about good or bad,” Jane said. “I’m talking about who she’s loyal to. Do you know what her family did to us? Stole the last of our land right beneath our feet so they could start putting up vacation homes for outsiders.” Jane spat onto the ground.
“Mom, you and Dad keep talking about how everyone stole from us,” Gray answered. “But the truth is our own family sold that land because we’re nothing but a bunch of goddamn drug addicts—”
Jane slapped Gray hard, the sound resonating in the silence of the woods. The force was enough to turn Gray’s head, but Jane was glad the boy didn’t bring his hand up to cover the wound. At least he could take the pain like a man.
“The Percys have been through more than you could imagine,” Jane said. “The history that runs through your blood is complicated. Have we had some weak branches on our tree? Yes. But our roots are strong. It’s the only reason our family has survived for this long.”
Gray kept his eyes tilted down to the ground. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell, Mamma.”
Jane sighed and gently placed her palm on the cheek she had struck. “You’re a good boy. Truly. But if you don’t learn to recognize strength when you see it, then this world will eat you alive. People will come and go, but your family is forever.” She pressed her other hand over Gray’s heart.
Gray nodded. “I know.”
Jane let the boy go and studied him for a moment. He was kinder than his daddy. She knew that much for sure. But she also knew that deep down, he was just as strong as Lester, maybe even stronger. She was sure Gray would see the world the way she did in time. But she needed to show him the way.
Jane and Gray continued their walk down the road, Jane keeping close to Gray’s side this time as she steered them from the road and back into the woods. She wanted to keep off the road to avoid any unnecessary contact with people.
Not that Jane P
ercy was afraid. It was rare she came across anything that frightened her, and what most people would mistake for cowardice she saw as someone who could think beyond the need of the moment. That was something her husband had always lacked. He was impulsive.
“You know our family fought in the Revolutionary War?” Jane asked.
Gray nodded. “I’ve heard Dad talk about it. Donny brings it up sometimes too.”
“We fought in these very hills against the British,” Jane said, sweeping her hand to the woods around them. “We dug in and pushed them out, and then we took hundreds of acres for ourselves.” She smiled, but it faded quickly. “You’re not wrong when you mention our family has had given up more than we’ve gained. I know it. Your daddy does too. But it’s hard for him to talk about it, and damn near impossible for him to admit. I think that’s where most of his anger comes from.”
Jane looked over at her boy, and she smiled as she saw the wheels turning behind those steady eyes. He was smart. Got his brains from her, thank God.
“I’ve always believed you were the one to bring us back to glory, Gray,” Jane said. “You’re smarter than your daddy. Probably even smarter than me. You have the brains and strength to do whatever you want.”
Jane stopped walking and then faced her son. She took both of his hands in hers and squeezed them with a firm grip.
“But you must remember where you came from,” Jane said. “Too many people go off and lose themselves. You can’t do that. Because if you decide to leave, if you choose someone else other than your family, then you will be the last of us. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
Jane studied her son’s expression. He was seventeen, and while he had the appearance of a man, there was still the glint of childhood in his eyes. Jane wasn’t sure it would ever leave him.
But for a moment, Jane saw the hardened stare of the man waiting to be born out of him. She saw the strength that was needed to forge a new life taking hold. He was on the cusp of becoming the man Jane believed he could be.
“I do,” Gray said.
Jane believed him. Of her many talents, being able to sniff out a lie was one of them. It was rare anyone managed to pull one over on her.
“Good,” Jane said.
The rest of the walk took place in silence. The two of them had spent so much time in the woods that they could travel over the uneven terrain with their eyes closed and still not make a sound.
Lester always used to joke that the reason why Percys could hunt so well was that they were part of the very land they walked. The earth didn’t make noise for one of its own. They were connected.
When they passed the Simmons house on the way down, Jane didn’t see any signs of anyone at home, so they continued down toward Main Street. Not that she would have stopped even if she saw someone.
The Simmons were annoying, but if things were going to shit, Jane knew they’d be the first to go. They were soft folks. They threw money at problems to make them go away. But there wasn’t any amount of money in this world that could buy the strength you needed to survive out here.
Jane wondered what might be happening. She had never been a religious woman, but she at least considered the possibility that what was happening was a kind of divine intervention. She couldn’t prove that God existed, but she also couldn’t prove that he didn’t exist. Perhaps the rapture was finally upon them. She knew her grandmother would be glad if the old crone were still alive. She used to say the rapture was coming every day. But even a broken clock was right twice a day.
Jane again took a moment to peer through the trees to the Riker household as they passed. There she saw the flicker of candlelight through the windows. She figured the Simmons women had dragged Harry back there to try to save him, though she doubted they would be able to do anything for the man.
Gunshot wounds to the gut were almost always fatal without any kind of proper medical attention. And if they couldn’t call the cops on them for shooting up the night, then Jane doubted they’d be able to get an ambulance up here. Harry Simmons would die. That was unavoidable.
But Harry’s death pricked another thought in the back of Jane’s mind. Why had Liz Riker come up the first time and not Ben Riker?
Jane doubted the man would let his wife come up to the Percy household on her own, which meant that good ’ole Benny boy wasn’t home. Right now, the Riker’s were vulnerable. Though that bitch wolf of a woman was tougher than most people gave her credit for.
Unlike the Simmons, the Riker family was strong. They hadn’t lived here for as long as the Percys, but the few generations that grew up in the area were formidable folk, and their family had intertwined with the Percys through fate.
Ben, Lester, and Jane had gone to the same high school. They grew up together. Though they didn’t share the same social circles.
Jane knew that deep down, Lester was afraid of Ben. It stemmed from a fight a long time ago. She knew Lester was still bitter about it, but that was only because Lester had lost.
Ben Riker had fought his way out of the shit hole he had been unlucky enough to be thrown into. And while Ben might be the model of an upstanding citizen and a symbol of local pride for many people over what an individual can overcome, Jane was one of the few who had seen the restless beast inside of Ben. It fueled him. And it was the source of Ben’s anger.
Jane had seen Ben’s anger first hand, and it had scared her half to death.
The Rikers would be a formidable enemy, especially whenever Ben returned. But until then, Jane knew they could wait. She had bigger fish to fry.
As they neared Main Street down the hill, Jane slowed as she heard voices of dissent travel through the trees. And as Jane and Gray crouched at the edge of the forest line, Jane saw the source of everyone’s worry.
Like their home and the homes on their street, the power was out on Main Street. If Jane’s eyes hadn’t been adjusted to the darkness already, she wouldn’t have been able to see. But even though she saw, Jane wasn’t sure if she believed what she was seeing.
Cars had stalled in the road. The crowds had emptied the shops and stores and were wondering around, whispering to one another.
“There phones aren’t working,” Gray said.
Jane frowned. “How do you know?”
“There isn’t any glow from any screens,” Gray said, gesturing to the crowds below. “With this kind of darkness, you’d be able to see the phones from up here, no problem. But it’s just a bunch of shadows down there.”
Jane nodded. She stood and then leaned her back against one of the trees as she processed what she saw down below. “No power. No phones. No cars. Everything’s shut down.” She tried to follow a logical connection that connected all of them, but it was eluding her. “How the hell does something like that happen?”
Gray was silent for a moment, and then he turned to his mother. “Computers.”
Jane frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Most everything now is run off of computers,” Gray answered. “Phones, cars, even our utilities. Maybe something happened with the systems controlling everything. Like a virus or something.”
It was as reasonable an explanation that Jane could think of. She turned back toward Main Street, watching all of the sheep down in Bear Ridge, unsure of what to do, waiting for some kind of direction from authorities.
But Jane knew there was no help coming. People were on their own. And Jane wasn’t about to let an opportunity like this slip past. It was time for the Percys to start taking back what had always belonged to them.
“What are they looking at?” Gray asked.
Jane frowned, finally noticing all of them had turned south, pointing at something. Whatever they saw was blocked by the forest, and Jane stepped out from the tree line to get a better look.
She noticed the orange haze before she saw the flames. The entire south side of the mountain range was ablaze along with most of Asheville. And from the looks of it, that fire was heading their way.
&n
bsp; 9
T he heat from the fires was unbearable. The world ahead blurred into nothing but smoke and flames. Ben’s grip on both of his sons had tightened, though his entire body had gone numb from the adrenaline and pain.
Every breath burned Ben’s lungs, and he wasn’t sure how much farther he would be able to run. But each time Ben’s will started to wane, he remembered the two boys in his arms, and he became reinvigorated.
Ben had tucked the boys beneath his fire jacket as much as he could, but Connor was too big to fit all the way underneath.
The streets were still crowded, but Ben now saw more dead than living. The bodies that covered the streets were burned and charred, most of them still smoking. Others were full of bullet holes from the terrorists hunting within the city.
Ben kept his eyes up and focused on the goal ahead, weaving through the streets on his path out of the city, but exhaustion was digging hard into his back. He knew the fires would stall in the city, and it would buy him some time to return home as he headed north. But he needed to escape the city first.
A sudden cracking noise sounded to the left, and Ben watched one of the three-story buildings crumble from the heat.
A plume of dust, smoke, embers, and flames erupted against the night sky like a volcano, but the structural collapse triggered the building next to it to crumble, creating a domino effect down the street.
Ben double-timed it, hoping to make it out before the dust and flames and smoke consumed them. But he was too slow.
The five-story building collapsed forward, tumbling its brick and concrete onto the road, cutting off Ben’s escape route.
Ben skidded to a stop and turned away from the blast of smoke and dust to protect his boys. But the motion had cost him his footing, and he stumbled into the side of the truck where a piece of metal stuck out and tore his pant leg, exposing his flesh to the searing hot metal that burned his skin.