Badlands Trilogy (Novella): Redemption In the Badlands

by Jarrett, Brian J.

  With Lilly.

  Dan stepped inside the van. It smelled like sweaty socks and mildew. He rifled through the mess until he found what he’d been looking for.

  His guns.

  He found two of the pistols, but none of the additional ammunition. He removed the magazines and inspected them; they appeared full. It would have to be enough.

  He shoved one of the pistols into his back pocket, gripping the other one in his right hand. He left the bloody crowbar behind; it had served its purpose twice over, but would only weigh him down now.

  Dan stepped out of the van and back onto the weedy, cracked asphalt. The dead man stared back at him, his mouth open and his face expressionless. A massive pool of blood now surrounded his head like a macabre halo.

  Dan left the corpse behind and headed toward the front door of the small office building.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Dan found the front door left partially open. The space was wide enough for him to slip through without having the push the door open any further. For now, he still had the element of surprise working in his favor. Dan intended to keep it that way as long as he could and avoiding a squeaky door hinge was a good start.

  Once inside the building, he surveyed the front room. What had once been a CPA’s lobby was now a mess of animal droppings, dirt, leaves, and mold growing along the baseboards. Intermingled with withered old tabloids, People and Newsweek magazines lined the top of a table placed in the center of the room. A styrofoam coffee cup sat on the edge of the table, still untouched after all these years.

  Dan paused, listening hard. He thought he heard the sound of muffled voices from deeper within the building, but couldn’t be sure. The small space led only one direction: deeper into the building. He began to wonder if he’d chosen the wrong place; two other buildings sat on either side of the CPA’s office, and the gang could have just as easily taken Lilly in either of those structures.

  But the more he thought about it, the more he felt he was right. This was the right building. He just knew it.

  Leaving the lobby behind, Dan walked slowly toward the only door in the room. Debris crunched underfoot, despite his efforts to remain as quiet as possible. Nothing much he could do about that except hope no one heard.

  He stepped into the hallway. There the debris cleared a little more, allowing him to progress much more quietly. He moved slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust to the dimmer light further away from the sunlit lobby. The hallway stretched maybe forty feet, with four doors branching off in different directions. One of the doors was open, revealing an empty restroom, but the other three doors remained closed.

  Now he heard it again; the sound of voices. Quiet, but detectable.

  A muffled scream drifted through one of the doors.

  Lilly.

  Dan’s heart kicked into overdrive at the sound of her voice. God only knew what they were doing to her.

  He wanted to break down the first door he found and rush in, but he stopped himself. He’d only get himself and Lilly killed that way. He needed to draw them out, one by one if possible, capitalizing on stealth. Even though one of the thugs was dead, Dan was still outnumbered. The more he could even the odds the better.

  As wrong as it felt to turn back, he did it. He made his way back through the hall and into the lobby, formulating his plan as he walked. He would make noise in the lobby and wait. With any luck, only one of the men in the back would emerge from the hallway to investigate. Then Dan could eliminate him. It was by no means a foolproof plan—so many things could go horribly wrong—but he had very few options and even less time to act.

  Two steps into the lobby, Dan froze.

  Like the best-laid plans of mice and men, Dan’s plans quickly went awry.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  As Dan left the hallway and entered the lobby, he caught sight of the grizzled, bearded man who attacked him back at the school. The man was standing with his back to Dan, peering out the dirty plate glass window.

  Dan’s heart leaped up into his throat. He pulled back, slipping into the hallway again to stay out of sight. With his back pressed tightly against the wall, his chest rising and falling, he frantically considered what to do next.

  The sound of footsteps echoed from the lobby, getting louder as the man approached the hallway.

  Dan glanced around, found a doorknob, and opened it. He slipped inside the dark room, closing the door behind him. The room smelled dank and stale. Dim light filtered inside what had once been a CPA’s office, shining through tattered blinds still covering an intact window.

  Inside the room, Dan saw a dark oak desk, still covered in withered paper and manila folders. A plush, leather chair sat behind the desk, white streaks of dried bird shit running down the black material.

  On the floor, Dan found two bodies.

  A man and a woman lay dead, tossed haphazardly onto the dirty carpet. Fresh blood darkened the area around them, soaked into the carpet. Their open eyes stared up at the water-stained ceiling. Vicious slashes crossed their throats.

  An eye for an eye, Dan thought as he looked upon the bodies of these two unfortunate souls. A pair of survivors who’d been doing a pretty good job of it until these monsters came along.

  An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.

  A life for a life.

  Tearing himself away from the bodies, Dan shoved the pistol into his pocket, retrieving the knife. He gripped the handle hard, watching with interest the narrow strip of light filtering in from beneath the door.

  The seconds ticked by.

  One

  Two.

  Three.

  Footsteps sounded from the hallway as the man stepped past the door. The sliver of light streaming in beneath the door dimmed, then brightened.

  Dan gripped the doorknob and gave it a twist. It turned easily.

  He took a deep breath, before pushing the door open slowly. By the grace of God, it didn’t make a sound.

  Dan stepped out into the hallway, moving quickly and quietly. The man’s back was still toward him. He’d made it halfway down the hall now, headed toward the last door at the end.

  Crossing the distance like a lion stalking a gazelle, Dan approached the man from behind.

  Three more steps and he found himself a foot away.

  Dan cupped his left hand over the man’s mouth, yanking him back on his heels and taking him off balance.

  Before the man could make a sound, Dan opened his throat with the razor sharp knife blade.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Blood poured from the gash in the man’s throat. With his vocal cords severed, he could only make wet sucking sounds as Dan held him, sinking to the floor along with him. Blood ran onto the dirty carpet, pooling up before soaking into the fibers and the pad beneath. More blood saturated Dan’s clothes, quickly turning cold against his skin.

  So much blood.

  Crouched on the ground, Dan held the dying man until the blood stopped flowing and he no longer moved.

  He carefully lowered the body to the floor. He stood and looked down at the dead man at his feet.

  Eye for an eye.

  Two more to go now.

  Before Dan stopped him, the man now lying on the floor had been headed for the last door on the right.

  Dan had no doubt now that’s where Lilly was.

  Dan sheathed the knife and retrieved both pistols from his pockets, gripping them tightly.

  A sign mounted to the wall beside the door read Meeting Room #1. Dan closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He glanced upward; a final check in with the Big Guy in the Sky before everything came to a head.

  Any fears he’d had going into this vanished like morning dew at noon.

  Only righteous vengeance remained.

  Drawing back a leg, Dan gave the door a solid kick just beside the doorknob. The wooden jam shattered as the door exploded inward.

  Powered by righteous vengeance, and with a pistol in each hand, Dan charged into Meeting Ro
om #1.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Boyd didn’t like being in the same room with Tony when the little bastard was about to stick it to a chick, but it seemed today that the kid wanted an audience. It wasn’t that Boyd minded sharing—she wasn’t his girlfriend or anything like that—but watching a twelve-year-old kid put it to a grown woman was even a little extreme for him.

  But the world had changed, and Boyd Cunningham was the kind of guy that changed with it.

  Moose stood in the corner, disinterested in the events. The oaf never took his share of the pussy; rather he was content to eat his fill of any sugary treats they ran across as they traveled the ruined countryside.

  Different strokes, for different folks. The way Boyd looked at it, all the more for himself.

  This girl was pretty. Nice and skinny, too. He’d gotten an eyeful of the goods when they’d found her in the makeshift tub after they kicked the shit out of her man. Moose had taken care of that asshole without breaking a sweat. He had to admit that sometimes it was good to have that big dummy around. Hell, if he weren’t so attached to Tony, Boyd would have let him stick around after Tony was gone.

  The bitch had one hell of an attitude, though. After they’d dragged her out of the kiddie pool kicking and screaming, she punched Dogpile in the face. Tony had laughed about that. Boyd thought for sure that Dogpile would try to take the little creep out right then and there, Moose factored in or not.

  But in the end, Dogpile held his tongue. He did give the bitch a good slap across the face, and that shut her up real quick-like.

  Boyd didn’t like them mouthy.

  It had been Tony’s idea to lock up the boyfriend in the closet, in spite of Boyd’s recommendation that they just put a bullet in the motherfucker’s head and be done with it. But Tony had apparently seen too many James Bond films, becoming smitten with the idea of leaving the guy to waste away for weeks. Shitting in the coolers had been Tony’s idea too, although Dogpile quickly volunteered to donate a couple of turds toward the effort. His feelings must not have been hurt all that bad after all.

  Boyd didn’t like games, but he did want that pussy. It’d been a few days now since he’d dipped his wick, so he went along with Tony’s psychotic escapades.

  And now Tony had the bitch on the table, right where she belonged. Most of the fight had been knocked out of her, once again courtesy of Moose. Once Tony had his fill, Boyd was next in line. Dogpile and Patel could fucking wait their turns.

  Boyd looked away as Tony approached the woman and began unbuckling his belt.

  Then the door caved in, and everything went off the rails.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  After the door opened, everything happened so fast Dan hardly had time to think. He caught sight of the two men who’d attacked him back at the school; the giant and the stocky, Italian-looking guy.

  What he didn’t expect to find inside the room was a pre-teen boy.

  He found Lilly lying on the table naked and motionless, her eyes closed.

  Dan pointed the pistol at the Italian and pulled the trigger. The man’s body jerked as he fell to the floor.

  A flash of movement appeared out of Dan’s peripheral vision. He turned and raised the pistol, but the giant was already on him. The bigger man slammed into Dan like a Mack truck, sending him flying backward. Dan lost his balance and tumbled backward, landing hard on the thinly carpeted floor. The pistol flew from his hand and skittered a few feet away before coming to a stop.

  Dan sat up and reached for the pistol in his pocket.

  The giant was faster.

  Moving quickly for a man his size, the giant gripped Dan with two meaty hands, picking him up the way an adult might lift a child. He brought Dan in close, slamming his enormous forehead into Dan’s nose, breaking it with a sickening crunch. Blood ran like a river, dripping off Dan’s mouth and chin and onto the floor below.

  The giant growled and with a mighty toss, sent Dan flying halfway across the room. He landed on his shoulder on top of a swivel chair, tumbling to the floor and landing in a heap.

  Dan moaned, barely hearing himself make the sound. His face was on fire; his body ached. Dan was no match for this beast of a man, and he knew it. The gun still tucked in his back pocket was his only hope.

  Forcing his arm to move, Dan reached in his pocket.

  It was empty.

  The giant crossed the short distance quickly. Dan attempted to rise, but the big man drew back a leg and sent a heavy boot into Dan’s already battered ribs. Dan collapsed, groaning as agony took over his world.

  The giant delivered another massive boot to Dan’s midsection. A rib snapped with a brittle, sickening crack. Blood ran from Dan’s nose like a faucet, trickling down his throat. He felt like vomiting and shitting himself all at the same time.

  Dan looked up at the man towering above him, stars clouding his spotty vision. The giant took two steps back to get a running start. He looked like a football player rushing in to kick a field goal to win the big game.

  Dan braced himself as the giant delivered the hardest kick yet.

  Fresh agony tore through Dan’s body, but he gripped the man’s leg tightly and held on.

  Not expecting his leg to be trapped, the big man’s center of gravity tilted just enough for Dan to make his move. Fighting the terrible pain in his ribs, Dan reached out and gripped the giant’s other leg. He yanked them both as hard as he could.

  It wasn’t much, but it was enough. The giant teetered precariously on his heels before gravity had its way with him. His arms pinwheeled like a cartoon character desperately searching for balance, before he went crashing to the floor. He landed on his back with a mighty thud, grunting as his massive body slammed down upon the hard floor.

  Dan forced himself to his knees. His broken rib scraped against itself, and he collapsed again. Blood from his shattered nose covered his face like a crimson mask.

  The giant raised his mighty head and looked around, stunned.

  Fighting through the agony, Dan stood. He scrambled as quickly as he could to where the giant lay, reaching into his pocket as he ran. He produced the knife and pounced on the giant’s chest.

  He raised the knife and brought it down hard.

  A meaty hand gripped Dan’s wrist, arresting the knife blade’s descent two inches from piercing the giant’s chest. He squeezed hard, and Dan nearly dropped the knife. Dan balled up a fist and, with his left hand, drove the mass of knuckles directly into the giant’s Adam’s apple.

  The giant’s eyes went wide. He struggled to breathe, but it hitched in his throat. The meaty paw on Dan’s wrist relaxed. Dan yanked his hand away and lifted the knife again. His ribs screamed at him as he brought the blade down again.

  The razor-sharp blade pierced slipped between two rib bones before stopping hard at the hilt, the blade buried inside the giant’s chest.

  Dan pulled the knife back out.

  He plunged it back in again.

  And again.

  And again.

  Movement flashed in Dan’s peripheral vision. He looked up to find the Italian back on his feet again, headed toward him.

  With adrenaline and opioids flooding his system, Dan rolled off the big man and scrambled toward one of his pistols on the floor. He picked it up with a bloody hand and pointed it at the approaching man.

  The Italian froze. “Don’t shoot,” he said, holding up his right hand in surrender. Blood ran from the wound in his left shoulder where Dan’s bullet had penetrated, leaving the arm useless. “You can still walk out of here alive.”

  “Please help me,” the kid said. “They kidnapped me.”

  The Italian’s face screwed up as he looked over at the kid. “What the hell, Tony?”

  “You kidnapped this boy?” Dan said.

  The Italian vigorously shook his head. “No, it ain’t like that! It ain’t like that at all!”

  “You have to shoot him,” Tony said, fear on his young face. “Boyd is a killer. They all are
!”

  Dan frowned. He pointed the pistol at Boyd.

  Boyd held up his hands. “You got it all wrong. You gotta believe me.”

  Dan glanced at Lilly. “Did you kill her?”

  “She’s alive, man.”

  The boy spoke up again. “They made me do things.” A tear formed in his eye before running down his cheek. “Things I never wanted to do.”

  Boyd scowled. “You little shit. I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

  Dan raised the pistol. “You’re not killing anybody.”

  “You don’t understand,” Boyd said. “This is all a put on. This kid, he ain’t a normal kid. He’s been running this little group of ours, him and that retard you just killed.”

  “He’s a liar,” Tony said. “You have to shoot him or else he’ll kill both of us.”

  “Shut the fuck up, Tony,” Boyd said. He turned to Dan. “You shoot me, and this little bastard will cut your throat the first chance he gets. Trust me on that.”

  Dan watched the pair closely, eyes darting from one to the other. “That’s a cockamamie story if I ever heard one,” he croaked. It hurt just to talk.

  “Let’s all just walk away from this,” Boyd said. “You let me go, and you’ll never see me again. Then you can do whatever you want with the girl and this little prick over here.”

  Dan chuckled. The audacity of men like this never ceased to astound him. “You think you can just walk away from this?”

  “Sure. We can all just walk away,” Boyd said. “It’s the easiest thing to do.”

  Dan adjusted his grip on the pistol. He swallowed hard. He couldn’t let this monster back out into the world.

  An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

  Dan tightened his finger on the trigger.

  The next moment a meaty fist slammed into the back of his head, sending him tumbling to the floor.

  Chapter Forty-Six