Apokalypsis | Book 5 | Apokalypsis 5

by Morris, Kate

  “We’ve had trouble with this before,” Elijah told him.

  “Throw down your guns and step out of the vehicles!” they ordered again.

  Elijah flashed his headlights at them and beeped the horn for a long, single honk. The police car let off a series of siren beep-beeps.

  “What do we do?” Roman questioned.

  The answer came a moment later when the police passenger door opened. Then the driver’s side did, too.

  “Oh, crap,” Elijah observed.

  The wounded man from the pickup truck charged toward the police officers.

  “Drop it!” one cop yelled as the man raised the shotgun. “I said drop it!”

  He didn’t, and the second cop shot the man in the other shoulder, sending him backward into the side of the truck. He fell to the ground, having dropped the shotgun.

  Wren observed the police officers carefully and with wary eyes as they approached the man on the ground. One stayed with him while the other came toward them.

  “Come on out of that vehicle,” he shouted as if luring them. “Don’t be afraid. Come out. Drop your weapons!”

  “No, to hell with that!” Roman shouted back. “We don’t trust you. Get away!”

  “We’re the police. State Troopers. We’re here to help.”

  “Just let us go then!” Roman returned. “We didn’t do anything wrong, and we don’t need your help.”

  “Son, lower that rifle,” the cop said, still holding his pistol in a two-handed grip but not necessarily pointing it at them. “We were chasing these two trucks, not you kids. Come out.”

  “Then you don’t need us. We’re going home,” Roman yelled, not backing down.

  The trooper was only about ten yards from them and looked just as leery of them as they were of him. She kept her rifle pointed at him.

  “Come out of the vehicle,” he repeated.

  “No way, sir!” Roman said. Then he whispered, “Elijah, man, you may have to ram their cop car to get us outta’ here. This doesn’t feel right.”

  “How the hell would I do that?” he whispered back angrily.

  “Just do it, Elijah,” she whispered.

  “What do you kids have on that trailer?” the cop shouted and was joined by the other. It looked like the man lying near his truck was dead.

  “Our stuff!” Roman shouted. “We’re leaving town. Going north.”

  “Ain’t safe up north,” the second cop shouted. They looked official in their uniforms and gray hats. “Haven’t you kids heard? You’re safer out this way. The cities are getting cleared out. Listen up. Anyone still hanging around in the bigger cities is going to be on their own soon. Won’t be much left, either. Military’s gonna pull out soon.”

  “We’re going to Michigan,” Roman lied. “To my grandpa’s farm.”

  “You got enough gas to get there? A lot of the gas stations are closed down right now. Shortages and such,” Trooper One said.

  “We’ve got some in the trunk,” he lied again.

  “Step on out and let me see what you’ve got in there,” the second one ordered in a more forceful, less patient tone. He was unshaven for days and looked strung out, either from fatigue or something else. Wren didn’t particularly care. She just wanted gone from this scene.

  “Move your car, sir,” Roman demanded.

  “If we don’t get going, our dad’s coming back for us,” Wren added. “He’s only a few minutes ahead of us. You aren’t going to like it if he shows up.”

  Trooper Two said, “Yeah?”

  “Yeah,” she returned angrily.

  “Come on outta’ there, girl,” he said in a condescending tone that pissed her off.

  “Back the hell off!” she shouted more forcefully and raised her rifle a smidgen. She whispered to the boys, “I’m gonna shoot the one on the right. You good for the first one?”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Roman said. “They’re cops, though. We could go to prison.”

  “No, we won’t. I can guarantee that,” she offered, knowing the government would not throw them in prison. She had diplomatic immunity, so to speak. She had the full authority of the government, hers and the United States to defend herself in any way she had to in order to stay alive.

  “What?” he whispered.

  “You got him or not?”

  “Yeah, fine. What’s it matter anyway? A court trial wouldn’t happen for years, right?”

  “Wait, guys,” Elijah said unsurely. “We shouldn’t shoot them.”

  “Get the hell out of the vehicle!” Trooper Two shouted with less patience as if he realized they were scheming.

  “Guys, I don’t think I’ve got room on the berm to get past them without going down in that ravine. That’s steep.”

  “Just put it in low 4x4 and ram the tail end of it,” Roman said.

  Elijah carefully switched the 4x4 unit so that the troopers wouldn’t see. “Ready.”

  “I’m going to lay down some suppressive fire at their feet to push them back,” she said. “Ready?”

  “Yep,” Roman said behind her.

  “Get the fuck out!” Trooper Two shouted, this time as he charged forward.

  “Now!” she shouted and fired off about a dozen quick rounds near their feet. They did what she knew they’d do. They both jumped back and dove behind the truck as Elijah hit the gas, and the vehicle lurched forward. She was concerned that the airbags would go off when they collided, so she hit the disable button quickly. “Go, go, go.”

  “I’m trying,” he said.

  He got up a little speed by the time they connected with the back right corner of the cop car, but it still made a loud racket of metal on metal. Then it squealed and budged a foot. Then another.

  “Go, Elijah!” Roman cheered.

  “Roman!” she cried.

  The cops popped up from behind the dead man’s truck and fired off one round before she laid down more suppressive rounds of her own. Some skidded off the truck’s roof. Roman helped and fired off a few shots, too, which caused them to duck back down as Elijah shoved at their car. It was moving well now on the slick snow.

  “Oh, shit!” Elijah said an octave higher.

  “What?”

  “We’re close to the edge.”

  “Keep going!” Roman yelled and shot a few more times at the truck, peppering it with holes.

  Another five feet and they were parallel to the side of the cop car since he’d pushed it that way.

  “Go!” she screamed as they took on some gunfire from the cops who finally got off a few rounds of their own. She heard two hit the SUV. She swung slightly and fired two rounds through their windshield of the cop car, which immediately splintered the cold glass. If they pursued them, the broken windshield would make it difficult to see.

  Elijah sped up, switched the 4x4 back to “high” and tried to power up the hill. The SUV must’ve had a big engine because it ate up the ground once they got away from the other car.

  “Go, Elijah,” she encouraged again. “Don’t slow down.”

  “Oh, shit,” Roman said. “They’re running for their car.”

  “Try to shoot out their tires!” Elijah yelled and checked the rearview mirror.

  They both tried, but she was pretty sure they were out of range. It did cause them to dive for cover again, though.

  “Get us outta’ here, man,” Roman yelled.

  The SUV whipped out to the right at the top of the hill, where it turned sharply that way as he went too fast.

  “Careful!” she yelped.

  “Damnit!” he yelled. “Let me drive! I’ve driven in Ohio snow for three years. Just let me do it.”

  “Fine, fine. Sorry, man,” Roman apologized, although they’d both been instructing him. “You’re doing good.”

  The cold wind smacked her in the face when they began picking up pace at a steadier rate. She wasn’t going to relax until they were home.

  “I think you lost them,” Roman announced a few minutes later as Elijah kept
going.

  Unfortunately, this road led them home all the way to where they needed to turn off down their roads. She didn’t think any of them knew another route to take. They definitely needed to study some maps of the area because when things like this happened, it wasn’t a good idea to leave such a visible trail home through the snow-covered roads. She rolled her window back up and held her frozen fingers near the heater vent.

  “Shit, no we didn’t,” Roman said. “Here they come. Damnit. I don’t want to kill these two cops, man.”

  “Why are they chasing us?” Elijah asked with frustration.

  “Yeah, why are they,” she said flatly as if to point out his question as having an obvious answer. “They want what we’ve got. Cops shouldn’t be chasing down people who were just almost hijacked by assholes.”

  “We don’t know that for sure,” Roman argued.

  “How far are we from home?” she asked.

  Elijah thought a moment, “I’m not sure. Five miles? Maybe less? I don’t know my way around that great yet, but I remember coming to town with my uncle. I think ten minutes by car.”

  The SUV choked once, twice, then sputtered.

  “What the hell, Elijah?” she asked.

  He got defensive, “What? I don’t know what’s….oh crap! We’re on empty.”

  “No way,” Roman said. “I checked. It was on full or almost full. We’ve only gone…”

  “They must’ve hit the gas tank with a stray round,” Wren said and watched helplessly as the cop car rounded a corner on the last hill and started down it toward them at the top. “Ease it over and let us out. We’re gonna have to shoot it out.”

  “What?” Elijah asked in another high-pitched tone, which caused his voice to crack.

  “Elijah!” she shouted. “Stop the car. Let me out! They’re going to kill us. You think they want to arrest us? You’re nuts. They’re going to kill us and take our shit.”

  “Y-yeah, she’s right. I think,” Roman added.

  Elijah eased the car to the side of the road as it choked itself off anyway. She jumped out and stepped down into the ditch there, sliding most of the way on the slushy ground.

  “Over here, Elijah!” she called and watched him climb over the console to land beside her in the snow. Roman also joined them.

  “This is a good position,” she said.

  “I shoved open the other back door so it looks like we went that way,” Roman told them.

  She reached up and shut her door and got ready, lying in the wet, cold snow. Elijah had his rifle, as well as a shotgun.

  “Elijah, use the shotgun,” she said. “It’ll make a bigger impact close range.”

  “Okay,” he said, trusting her.

  The cop car slowed down, probably because they spotted the SUV with the open door. It likely did look abandoned the way it was sitting alongside the road with the door that way. She noticed Elijah had even hit the hazard lights.

  “Maybe we should let them go by,” Roman suggested.

  “They’re going to take our stuff,” she said.

  Elijah shrugged, “Maybe not.”

  “They don’t have a vehicle to haul the trailer,” Roman added.

  “Doesn’t mean they don’t think they’re taking the vehicle, too. They don’t know it’s broke down.”

  Their car drew near and came to a stop on the other side of the SUV. It almost pulled past but then backed up. Wren steadied her breathing. Then, their worst-case scenario occurred. They stopped and got out, leaving the lights on the roof swirling silently.

  “Check it out, brother,” Trooper Two said.

  She could tell he was on the other side of the cop car. Trooper One was nearer to them.

  “Think they’re gone,” he called to his partner.

  “Don’t see tracks, though,” the other observed as he came around to the rear of his car. She could see his cowboy boots. “Must’ve taken off through that field. Can’t have gotten far. Think we should go after them?”

  The first one paused for a long moment. He was looking around. She could tell by the way his feet shifted from north to south.

  “Might’ve gone into those woods,” he finally said. “I wouldn’t mind a go at that girl. She was sexy.”

  “She was pointing a rifle at you, retard,” Trooper Two stated.

  Beside her, Elijah stood straight up, aimed through Roman’s open window, and shot Trooper One in the face with the shotgun. It was so fast she didn’t even have time to stop him.

  Left with no choice, she and Roman began shooting. She stayed low, though. Exposing oneself the way Elijah just did was a bad idea. Roman yanked at the back of Elijah’s jeans, and he slid back down into the ditch with them. She shot under the SUV and hit the side of the cop car as the second man ran, slipped on the snow, and almost fell. She fired again and missed due to the weird angle, and the weasel cop managed to jump into his vehicle. He fired it up and peeled out, spinning and losing grip on the wetness of the icy pavement. Wren finally stood and peppered his car with six more rounds, exploding the rear window.

  “Elijah!” she scolded after the man and his cop car were gone from view. “What were you thinking?”

  “Did you hear him? He was…I don’t know…it sounded like he was talking about you.”

  “So? You could’ve blown that for us.”

  “Sorry, I guess I lost my cool.”

  “I guess,” she agreed and felt guilty because he’d done it out of protectiveness. It wasn’t a good idea to get that emotionally involved with each other that they made those kinds of mistakes.

  “Jesus, you killed a cop,” Roman said and approached the dead man.

  Wren averted her eyes. It wasn’t the killing that bothered her. It was this newly-acquired repulsion at the sight of blood. If Jamie were here, he’d laugh at and tease her for it.

  “You guys drag his body over into the ditch,” she told them. “We need to get him outta’ sight in case other cops come. And we need to get out of here.”

  “We can’t just leave all this,” Roman said. “We need this stuff.”

  “Yeah, well, we don’t have a working vehicle now.”

  “We could jog back to Tristan’s and use his truck,” he suggested.”

  “We’re not as far now,” Elijah said. “Maybe two miles?”

  “I think so, too,” Roman agreed. “I’ll go. You guys stay here and guard the stuff.”

  “Are you sure?” Elijah asked.

  “I could go,” Wren said. “I’m fast. I run every day.”

  “You hurt your leg yesterday. I don’t mind. I’ll be back really quick,” Roman promised as he pulled on his backpack and fitted his rifle sling over his shoulder.

  “Be careful,” Elijah said.

  “You guys, too,” he returned. “Anyone comes by, figure they want our stuff.”

  “Got it,” Wren replied.

  He left a moment later, jogging at a pretty good pace for the amount of snow. She sighed.

  “Elijah, see if he has a wallet,” she said.

  “Are we robbing him?”

  “No, look at the tag on his shirt. His name should be on there. See if it matches his identification.”

  “Right,” he said and crawled down into the ditch with the dead man. Wren kept watch while he went about it. Then he said, “You were right. Not the same. This wallet says Donnie Jackson. His shirt says Officer Michaels.”

  “I think they robbed the cops or something,” she said as she extended her hand to help him up out of the ditch.

  “Let’s sit in the car,” Elijah suggested. “At least it’s warmer in there.”

  They got in, and she was thankful now that she didn’t have to make that run.

  “Damn,” he said.

  “Cold?”

  He shook his head, “No, I’m just…I shot a cop.”

  “Probably not,” she assured him. “Let it go, Elijah.”

  “What if they weren’t after our stuff? What if they were just doing their job
s? That means I shot a cop in cold blood. That’s a life sentence in prison.”

  “Yeah?” Wren said with sarcasm. “Then why don’t they do their jobs and start going after the night crawlers? Or deal with those creeps at the laundromat? Or the mass crime we saw in the city? I’m sure it was like that down here a few weeks ago. Why chase after us? They were chasing the other ones down when those dudes ran into us. I think we were just in on the tail end of that story. Something was going down. And why chase us? We didn’t do anything. Why try to make us get out?”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Plus, what he said about you,” he said with a shiver. “Gross.”

  They fell silent for a while and stared out their windows. This incident reminded her of their principal at school. He’d been like that cop, a real perv. She shivered and pulled on her gloves again.

  “Cold?” he asked.

  Wren shook her head and resumed staring out her window. She was concerned about the field beside her and the woods beyond. She was also concerned that Elijah put his own life at risk defending her. That was unnecessary and unwarranted. She feared his feelings were getting too intense, especially if he was willing to do something so rash.

  “Oh, hey, look alive,” he said. “We’ve got company.”

  Wren jerked from her daze staring out at the field to search for what he was seeing. Down the road sat a truck and two cars parked in the middle of the state route. They were idling because she saw steam in the early, cold morning air coming out of their tailpipes. She hoped Roman came back soon and came back with reinforcements. On top of one of the cars was a set of police lights. Trooper Two was back, and he brought help.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Avery

  “Ave!” Kaia yelled from the kitchen, which angered Avery because she’d told the kids to be quiet while Tristan slept.

  She darted down the hall from the laundry room, having been in there taking advantage of the working electricity to catch up on the piles of dirty clothes. She nearly collided with her little sister in the hall.

  “Hey, what’d I say about keeping it down?”

  “I know, but Roman’s on his way down the drive,” she explained and sped away, leaving Avery to follow at the same clip. “Something went wrong. He buzzed the gate, and I let him in.”