Victim's, Inc.

by A. R. Licht

  The four ambulances still sat at the tape, the paramedics watching in silence as the tarps flapped in the gentle wind.

  Kate crawled into the front of the ANB van and took a twenty-minute power nap.

  Waylon nudged her awake, said, "They’re getting ready to do the conference."

  "Oh, thanks."

  Groggy, she changed shoes back to the high heels she'd worn earlier and watched as Waylon switched batteries in the camera. He finished and smiled at her, "It’ll get easier. My first year was rough. I always heard that being behind the camera allowed you to be detached from what is going on around you, but that was never the case with me. I have always been hyper-aware. I can still smell the blood and smoke, can still hear the crying. But, after a while, you get used to being knee-deep in carnage and it becomes home."

  Kate shook her head, "I can’t imagine this sort of thing being home."

  "Just wait, you’ll see what I mean."

  "So, do you plan to always do this?"

  "What? Be a camera man?"

  Kate nodded, yawned.

  "Yeah. But, I want to go overseas. I want to film the stuff no one knows is going on. All of those wars, the civil unrest. Genocide. All of the injustice. I want to shine a light on the dark corners of the world."

  "Sounds noble."

  "It is. Well, maybe it's selfish too. I like living on the edge. I can’t seem to stay still, you know?"

  Kate nodded, yes, she knew that feeling. She didn’t like being stuck in a rut, staying in the same place for the rest of her life. But, she didn’t want to risk her life just to shed light on something. Not that that was a bad thing, it just wasn’t what she wanted.

  They returned to their designated spot on the lawn as the man with the clipboard walked up to a podium that had been placed there in their absence.

  Kate whispered to Waylon, "Who is he?"

  Waylon shrugged, "I don’t know. He seems like the coordinator."

  "Interesting. Is that a thing with hostage situations?"

  "Sometimes."

  The man with the clipboard spoke, the mic not working at first. Seconds later, the problem was solved and he introduced Alkin's chief of police.

  "Thank you, Nathan. Hello, I am Police Chief Jordis. I have served the town of Alkin for thirty years, I have to say I have never in my life seen anything like this. It is a sad day when two of our city’s teens who had a bright future ahead of them decided to murder twenty-seven women, children, babies, expecting fathers, family members, and medical staff. In a grisly discovery this morning, it has also been discovered that one of the teens murdered his mother before coming to this site to perpetuate more death.

  "After this conference, stop by the tent for a copy of the list of victims and a diagram of the hospital. You will be able to use the diagram on your networks to help show how the tragedy unfolded today.

  "This morning, two perpetrators pulled up out front of the hospital just out of sight of the receptionist. They brazenly walked through the sliding doors and opened fire, killing the kitchen staff preparing breakfast for the patients, the receptionist, and the gift shop employee.

  "As you may know, Terry Berkus had been in the men’s room when the shooting started, and was trapped in there for the duration. He courageously called in to give an alert, so many could respond quickly.

  "Suspect number one," Jordis held up a diagram, "stood here, at the bottom of the stairs. Suspect number two opened the door behind the reception desk and began lobbing grenades into patient rooms, killing one patient who was being treated with hormone therapy. He then threw grenades into the nursery, killing the staff and the three newborns. He finished with the daycare center, mowing down one staff member and four children.

  "Suspect number two then rejoined suspect number one at the bottom of the stairs. One called down the elevator, and destroyed it with a grenade so that no one upstairs could escape. Next, they walked up the stairs, and number two stayed near the top of the stairs, mowing down anyone trying to run away with his gun.

  "Suspect number one systematically went room by room, lobbing grenades into them, shooting any survivors. There were six women, and three family members, one nurse, a mid-wife, a doctor performing a cesarean section surgery in which the baby died by suffocation while the mother bled out.

  "The horrific events of this day have piled up, one after another, but the perpetrators were not finished. They then restocked at the car, went back upstairs where they barricaded themselves in by blocking the stairs with beds and mattresses.

  "They called the FBI, taunting them to take them down. As soon as the FBI arrived on the scene, the suspects shot down at them from the second story windows forcing first responders to back off. An off-duty police officer from the next county over was injured in his attempt to give assistance to our force. He will be given a hero’s welcome when he returns back to his work in two weeks and we thank him for his courageous service. His injuries were not critical, at this time, he is being treated in the North Woods hospital, next county over.

  "The FBI took lead from the very beginning." He looks down at his notes, then continues, "They called in the sniper who thankfully took down the shooters.

  "We strongly urge those in the community to fight for better gun laws. What happened today could have been prevented if only these perpetrators had not had access to the automatic weapons they used on unsuspecting mothers and their babies.

  "We are still trying to determine how they were able to obtain as many grenades as they used. We have found a box in the trunk of the car containing an additional twenty more grenades that could have caused more deaths.

  "Terry Berkus is the only survivor from the massacre, and he is incredibly lucky. Someone was looking out for him today."

  After the conference, Kate has a lump in her throat as she assembles her thoughts. She delivers a strong broadcast, the footage from her interviews earlier really making her shine. But, she doesn’t feel happy. She just wants to go home, crawl into bed and forget the details of what those boys had done.

  Terry Berkus had given her a second stellar interview. He’d talked about how, when the boy threw the grenade into the elevator, they’d remarked how it was even better than a video game. He ended with, "I was going to name my baby Sarah."

  Kate finished her broadcast, "There will be a candle light vigil at the park tonight when the sun goes down. If you wish to help the families who are enduring the aftermath of this right now, please go to the website on the screen."

  Chapter 4

  Alkin, North Carolina, April 6th-7th

  After the vigil, Waylon drives them to a hotel. It is dark, she can’t see much of the town, most of the community turned out for the vigil and they are just starting to head home.

  Alkin had been rocked by the news of what had occurred in their sleepy town. During the vigil, Kate overheard people saying that this was the worst thing they’d ever heard of happening, they couldn’t believe it would happen here.

  Ann pays for three rooms, giving Kate and Waylon their own keys. "I’ll see you two at four a.m.."

  "Four?" Kate said, her hopes of more sleep dashed.

  "The world never sleeps, hon, there is always news to report. Don’t be late."

  Waylon’s room is right next to Kate’s. He lingers at her door, "If you don’t want to be alone tonight, just know that you can knock on my door any time."

  "Is that a come-on?"

  "Maybe," Waylon said.

  Kate notices the blush that has deepened under his dark complexion.

  "I’ll keep it in mind, but nothing against you, Waylon- because you are an attractive man- I’ve been known to mess up friendships in the past by confusing it with sex. I’d rather we just stayed professional."

  "Relationships, plural?" Waylon probed.

  "Technically just the one, but it really did a number on me."

  "You’re still in love with him, aren’t you?"

  "No."

  "You’re lying
," Waylon teased.

  "We’re just friends now."

  "So you guys were able to maintain your friendship?"

  "We try... It’s a little strained."

  "Well, that gives me hope. Goodnight, cutie. Sleep tight."

  "Don’t let the bed bugs bite." Said Kate.

  "Yuck, now you’re straight up, giving me chills."

  Kate laughed softly and closed the door. Waylon is an attractive man, she wasn’t lying. His full lips looked kissable, and she had caught him staring at her a few times today, appraising her.

  She took a hot shower, towel-drying her hair. Normally, she’d want to turn on the Tv and catch up on the news, but not tonight. Tonight, she wanted to forget what she’d heard and seen, maybe read a book and get lost in some fantasy world.

  But, when she pulled out her iPad and tried to read, she couldn’t focus on the words. She couldn’t stop picturing two teens driving up a long secluded road, getting out of the car, preparing to shooting up a lobby as they stood by the open trunk. It must have been like a war zone in there, grenades rolling into rooms, terrifying the occupants who were helpless to escape it.

  She pictured limbs being blown off, how they might have suffered greatly before they died.

  She shuddered, closed her eyes, forced herself to imagine a nice sandy beach. White sands, palm trees fluttering in the wind... the yellow police tape fluttering in the wind.

  Damn it. She crawled out of bed, opened her overnight bag. She pulled out a bottle of sleeping pills and downed two.

  She is groggy at breakfast, but at least her sleep had been dreamless. Her neck is sore, she must have slept on it wrong. She drinks a smoothie from the Coffee N Café house, then chases it with a double-shot latte.

  "Rough night, huh," Waylon said through a yawn.

  "Yeah."

  "Could have released some tension."

  "I’m fine."

  "Yow, and grouchy too. Remind me not to come around until the sun is up."

  "Are you two ready?" Ann said, joining them with a coffee in hand.

  "What do you have in mind for us today?" Kate asked.

  "Well, they’ve released the identities of the killers, Jack wants us to get some shots of their homes, their school, around the town, and of their car. Then, we need to find any victims that live nearby, interview their families. We want to add creep factor to it, so people will be bothered by their proximity."

  "Do we interview the killers parents, friends, family?" Kate said.

  "Not yet. We’ll save that for tomorrow. For now, we focus on the victims. We talk about their beauty, the light they shed in this dark world. Then, tomorrow we shed light on the darkness that lurked around these beacons. It really amps up the dramatics. People will be sympathetic and will be judgmental of the kids who committed the massacre."

  "Sly tricks," Kate said, drinking more of the latte that had already burned her tongue.

  "Tricks of the trade, honey. It’s how this thing works."

  "So you want some B-roll," Waylon said.

  "Yes, and lots of it."

  "You got it, boss."

  Waylon took the van, Kate and Ann rented a car to drive around town. Ann stopped in at the local news station which is an affiliate of ANB and asked for a room with internet access.

  Ann began to look through public records against the list of victims she had been given at the press conference the day before. Kate watched her take notes, writing down addresses and any affiliations they had.

  Ann pulled out a large map of the town, placing it across the second desk in the room and told Kate to cross reference houses and the locations in relation to each other.

  In the end, only two of the victims lived close to one of the killers, Cody Allen Cooper. The nursery worker, James Rondstat, and the girl who ran the gift shop, Patty O’Neil.

  "That’s great. James is only sixteen and Patty just celebrated her 23rd birthday. We can really work with this. Let’s see if we can find out if they had partners, or if they have a best friend we can interview. I wonder if Patty’s parents are in town."

  Ann’s fingers moved across the keyboard in a blur, her keystrokes pulling up information from servers far away.

  James had an Instagram account, as well as a blog where he talked about celebrating his Bar Mitzvah. There was a photo of him smiling and holding up a slice of cake on a paper plate. Ann also found a newspaper article where he’d won the spelling bee in junior high.

  "Write this down," Ann said. "Studious, spelling bee winner. Comes from a rich background. Nice kid. We need to go to the school and talk to the kids, see what sort of group he ran in. Maybe even get his class photo from the year book. Something tells me this kid is a winner."

  Ann found a Facebook page for Patty O’Neil and went through her profile photos. It bothered Kate to see her do this, it felt like they were violating the poor woman’s privacy with the intent of exposing her to the world.

  Surely the whole world was watching now.

  It was the post that was the clincher, "We just found out that we’re going to have a baby!"

  The post was dated two days ago.

  Kate felt sick again. "She was pregnant, too? This just keeps getting worse."

  "Yes it does. Grab your coat, we’re going to Patty’s house."

  Ann called Waylon on the way over and told him to meet them there.

  Patty's boyfriend answered the door. Kate recognized him from one of Patty's facebook pictures.

  "Hi, Adam? I’m Kate. I’m a correspondent with American News Broadcasting and I was hoping we could interview you about your girlfriend?"

  The man blinked at them.

  "I’m sorry for the insensitivity of our visit, but we really wanted to give the victims a chance to shine."

  Adam nodded slightly, opening the door wider for them to enter.

  The three of them crowded into Adam’s living room. Right away, Kate could see Patty’s influence in the decor of the home. The flowery wallpaper down to the floral printed fabric on the sofa. The green plants scattered around the living room. The green paintings on the wall with her initials on them. There were a few photographs in frames throughout the room, and Patty was in two of them, her bright blue eyes electric, her red hair pulled tightly into a bun at the nape of her neck.

  "She could have been a model," Adam said, following Kate’s eyes.

  "Yes," Kate agreed.

  "She loved green things, she thought it was peaceful. Did you know she just celebrated her birthday last week? Her parents gave her a car. A freaking car. Its still up there in the parking lot of the hospital, all shot up."

  "I’m so sorry," Kate said.

  "Yeah, well. What are you going to do?"

  They sat across from each other, Ann and Waylon standing off to the side. Waylon had started filming the moment they walked up to the house.

  Adam revealed a few more gems about Patty, talking about how she was studying to become a nurse, how she told jokes and was always smiling.

  "Did you guys plan to start a family?" Kate said.

  "Yeah. We just found out she was pregnant, the day before she was killed."

  Adam lost it, kept apologizing. Kate tried to comfort him, then they excused themselves.

  "That, my dear was pure gold. Nice job," Ann said.

  "Thanks."

  Kate, though, felt terrible about uncovering the source of his greatest pain and leaving him hanging there, dangling in the harsh winds of the public eye. This is her career. This is her life. This is what she would learn to master.

  They stopped by James’ house but no one was home. Ann had her stand in front of his house and narrate what they’d learned about him. They decided to check out the school later, but for now, Ann thought they should get back to the scene of the crime.

  In their absence, a third tent had been erected, there were volunteers handing out sandwiches for lunch. A small booth selling t-shirts had set up shop not ten feet away, a large red, white, and blue sig
n read: Support our Survivors. On the table sat a large plastic tip jar full of bills of all denominations. Kate tucked a twenty in and the lady told her that God would bless her for her generosity.

  Ann peeled away from them, to get her finger back on the pulse. Waylon saw free food and made a bee-line.