Escape, Dead End

by David Antocci

  His face was trying to be kind, but she could see the vitriol in his eyes. He lowered his voice. “Can we please talk in the back?”

  Abby’s eyes quickly flitted around the room. She saw several phones out, with one particularly ballsy young man pointing his in her direction from across the bar, likely taking video of the exchange.

  Might as well give them a show.

  With startlingly fast hands, Abby snatched the oil candle off the table in front of her, spun, and hurled it across the room at Bryce with every ounce of strength she had. It missed him and smashed into the wall just behind him, exploding in a shower of glass and flames as she screamed across the room, “Tell me where she is!”

  Suddenly the restaurant was a burst of activity as diners screamed and jumped from their tables.

  Abby grabbed candle after candle from the tables, pitching them at Bryce, feeding the growing flames with each smashed lamp as she screamed at the top of her lungs.

  By this time, all the diners had leapt from their seats and charged toward the door as the flames quickly climbed the walls, spreading across the ceiling and scorching the floors in spots where the oil had pooled.

  Abby saw Bryce among those trying to escape. Jumping onto a table, she launched herself into the crowd, wrapping her arms around his head and using her momentum to fling him to the ground.

  None of the patrons seemed concerned for the fallen restaurateur as they continued to pour out the door.

  ***

  Ava was having a hard time processing what was happening in the restaurant above. She could hear the chaos but could not understand the cause. She had worked off at least an inch of the duct tape, but there was at least that much to go, and she was disoriented from exhaustion and dehydration. So disoriented, in fact, that she swore she heard her mother’s voice yelling overhead. There was so much noise it was hard to tell. A moment ago it was relatively quiet, but now it sounded as though there was a stampede happening.

  There it is again... Mommy?

  The young girl thrashed about in the chair. It wasn’t a question any longer—she was sure she heard her mother yelling overhead. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she rocked back and forth, trying to figure out a way to stand with her arms and legs tied down.

  Suddenly, the chair tipped, and unable to right herself, both Ava and the chair toppled and crashed to the floor. At this angle, she could no longer maneuver her cheek toward her shoulder. Her face simply rested on the floor. For a split second, she felt defeat, until she tried to pick up her head and felt the tacky side of the tape sticking to the floor ever so slightly.

  With renewed hope, she feverishly went to work dragging her face against the smooth concrete floor, slowly but surely peeling the tape back.

  ***

  Abby used her momentum and leverage to flip Bryce like a ragdoll, sending him crashing to the floor on his back less than three feet from the bar. He lay motionless for a second with the wind knocked from his lungs. Abby seized the moment and drove her boot into his ribs, feeling at least one crack upon impact.

  Bryce gasped and grabbed his side.

  Abby produced her .22 from the small of her back and pointed it at his head, “Where is she Bryce? Tell me, and I’ll make this quick.”

  He looked up, confused, until a smile spread across his face. “Fuck you, Abby.”

  Abby studied his features in the glowing light of the blaze. She had almost been oblivious to the room around her becoming engulfed in flames, the roar of the fire growing in her ears. Flames trickled down the wall from the ceiling behind the bar, like water. It was almost beautiful.

  She cocked the gun and took aim a little lower. “I can shoot a flea off a cat’s tail from a hundred yards, Bryce, and it’s pointed right at your dick. Last chance.”

  In a shockingly fast move, Bryce leaped from the floor and smacked the gun from Abby’s hand before she could get off a shot. She countered without hesitation, landing two hard jabs to his rib cage where she had just cracked a rib moments ago. The man collapsed to his knees under the pain.

  While he was helpless on his knees, Abby grabbed the back of his head and drove her knee into his face, sending him reeling onto his back. She jumped on top of him, again driving her knee into his rib cage.

  She could hear JJ’s voice in her head: Find your enemy’s weakness and exploit it.

  He screamed as he bucked her off of him and grabbed a brass pole on the side of the bar to help him stand up. Seizing the opportunity Abby kneed him in the ribs again, and as he fell to his knees once more, she grabbed a damp, thin towel that had been sitting on the bar and secured it around his wrists, tying him to the brass pole.

  Smoke continued to fill the room as the crackling fire consumed the wooden bar. Her lungs began to burn as she pressed into his broken rib, “Tell me where she is Bryce!”

  He managed to stop groaning long enough to shout, “Stop it! Stop!”

  She did.

  The fire danced in his eyes as he turned to her. There was no kindness, no remorse, not the slightest hint of humanity in the way his gaze pierced her, though it was his smile that sent a chill from the base of her skull, down her spine, and into her toes.

  “She’s gonna die, Abby. Burning. You made sure of that.”

  Panic washed over Abby as her head spun on a swivel looking around the room. “What? She’s here?”

  Bryce let out a deep, evil, hearty laugh. “You dumb, fucking bitch!”

  With Abby distracted, he freed his hands, and as she looked around the room trying to figure a way out, he leapt up and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her off the ground, choking the life out of her.

  Abby had learned so much about hand-to-hand combat over the past few years, but none of her training came to mind at this very moment. Instead, schoolyard instincts took over, and she slammed the toe of her leather boot straight into his crotch.

  He dropped her as he yelped like a wounded dog. Abby sprung from the ground, grabbed a chair, and smashed it on the back of his head. She looked down at his motionless body as the flames crept closer. “Burn in hell, you piece of shit.”

  She scanned the room. The path to the front door was still clear though the dining room and hallway leading to the kitchen were almost wholly in flames.

  At that second, her ears picked out a distant sound only a mother could hear. Through the roar of the fire, from down the hallway, she heard the faintest of screams.

  Ava.

  21

  DONNY HAD BEEN CAUGHT completely by surprise. One moment he was getting ready to step out of the car and go into the restaurant, satisfied Bryce didn’t have any backup in the parking lot, and the next moment a flood of patrons began running out. He hadn’t heard a gunshot but assumed that someone must have opened fire. Why else would everyone run out?

  He jumped from the car and ran across the parking lot toward the restaurant, having to slow his pace as he navigated through the large crowd gathering in front of, and continuing to exit, the restaurant.

  A beefy older man in the crowd grabbed him as he neared the front door. “Where ya goin’, young fella? There’s a fire in there.”

  “A fire? My... um... my girlfriend is in there.”

  “Don’t worry. Everyone’s coming out. She’s probably out here somewhere.”

  “Thanks,” Donny brushed him off and started scanning the crowd. A fire?

  His eyes darted from face to face without seeing Abby. As the last of the patrons filed out and the doors closed behind them, he realized he didn’t see Bryce either. It’s probably a distraction. He’s taking her out the back!

  Donny pushed his way through the crowd and raced to the back of the restaurant where Bryce had gone in. As he ran down the side of the building, he saw smoke starting to filter through the windows and roof. Once around back, he found the kitchen staff, and a fair amount of the wait staff, milling around and on their phones.

  No Abby, no Bryce, and he didn’t know if he could trust any of Bryce’s
employees.

  Donny ran to the back door, but a couple of men in aprons stopped him.

  “Sir, you can’t go in there. The place is burning up.”

  He shoved one of the men aside and swung the door open. A ball of flame leapt from the doorway and knocked him off his feet. The intense heat singed his hair and left minor burns on his cheek.

  One of the other men rushed to help him up and drag him away from the door. “Are you crazy man?”

  “My girlfriend is in there!”

  “She’s probably out front.”

  “I didn’t see her out front.” Donny got to his feet and brushed himself off. He looked through the open door at the kitchen completely engulfed in flames, trying to figure if he could run through them.

  The cook held his arm. “You’re gonna kill yourself running in there. Don’t do it.”

  The sound of fire engines rang faintly in the distance.

  “They’ll be here in a few minutes. Let’s go out front. Come on.”

  Though the employees all started moving around the building toward the front, Donny didn’t walk with the group. He ran ahead to scan the crowd in front again.

  No Abby, no Bryce. She had to be inside.

  The crowd was well away from the door now. With no one in his way, he made a break for it. No one was going to stop him.

  He heard a few people yell as he ripped open the front door and ran in, but it closed behind him. No one followed him.

  “Abby?” He did his best to quickly take in the surroundings. There was a small hallway straight in front of him behind the hostess station leading back to the kitchen. To his left, at a large dining room. To his right, there was a good-sized bar. Sections of ceiling had fallen in the hallway and dining room, and the smoke immediately burned his eyes.

  “Abby! Where are you?”

  Hunched over, he searched the floor, expecting her to have collapsed from smoke inhalation. It wasn’t long before he saw a foot in the bar area. He ran over and knelt down next to the body. He didn’t have to flip him over to know who it was, but he did anyway.

  He’s totally out.

  Donny leaned his ear to Bryce’s face and felt him exhale. Still breathing, but who gives a shit. Where’s Abby?

  He quickly looked around the rest of the bar and saw no one.

  Turning back to Bryce, he slapped him hard across the face. Come on!

  “Bryce! Wake up!” He slapped him again, sharp, right on the cheek. “Wake up!”

  His eyes fluttered open, only to reveal confusion.

  Donny leaned in, shouting, “Where’s Abby? Where is she, Bryce?”

  A section of ceiling behind Donny crashed to the ground, sending up a spectacular cloud of sparks and ash.

  Bryce smiled and closed his eyes again.

  Fuck it. Let him choke on it.

  Donny crawled along the floor to avoid the smoke. There was no one else in the bar, and he was guessing she wasn’t in the dining room either.

  He looked down the hallway, engulfed in flames. There was a wide opening on the left that clearly went to the kitchen. But straight ahead stood a wooden door, slightly ajar. That’s got to be his office.

  Donny saw a slim path through the flames toward the right, and quickly crawled along, though he barely made it a third of the way before half a wall and a large section of ceiling collapsed at the end of the hallway, sealing off the office door and sending a wave of smoke and ash toward him.

  “Abby! Abby!”

  The smoke stung his eyes and lungs as he coughed, gasping, unable to catch his breath through the thick smoke.

  “Abby!”

  As his eyes closed, his last thought was that he hoped she had somehow made it out.

  ***

  Abby stood in what she assumed was Bryce’s office.

  I swear I heard her. He said she was going to burn; she’s got to be here somewhere.

  “Ava! Ava! Can you hear me?”

  She heard the faint scream again but couldn’t tell where it was coming from. It sounded as though she was close, but not in this room. How is that possible?

  Abby looked around the room and saw another door, a closet. She ripped it open to find a few old coats and boxes of files piled on the floor.

  “Ava! Where are you? Keep yelling!”

  She heard it again, louder, right in front of her. The screaming seemed to be coming from behind the bookcase. It took her just a second to realize that Bryce had built a secret room and she grabbed onto the edge of the bookcase and started to pull with all her might. There was just the slightest bit of give, but it budged.

  Ava heard her try and intensified her yelling.

  “Mom! Mommy! I’m down here!”

  Abby flung the books from the shelf to reveal a handle and a deadbolt hidden behind them.

  She quickly looked around the office, eyes settling on the desk in the center. She ripped open the top drawer to find a key ring. As she ran back to the bookcase, she thought she heard a man’s voice yelling outside the office door.

  Is that Donny?

  She didn’t see him as she looked back toward the open door, but she did see flames licking their way up the doorjamb. She couldn’t waste any more time. She tried the keys one after the other. Finally, the fifth key turned the lock. As she swung the bookcase on its hinge, there was a crash in the hallway and the office door blew wide open to reveal a pile of collapsed wall and ceiling blocking the only way out.

  Flames shot through the open door and immediately climbed the walls and ceiling of the office. Abby ran down the cramped spiral staircase and burst into tears as she saw Ava lying on the floor, tied to a chair and screaming.

  “Ava, honey, it’s OK. I’m here! Mommy’s here!”

  She righted the chair and held her daughter’s face in her hands, taking her in.

  “Are you OK, honey?”

  Ava couldn’t speak through the sobs, and the glow at the top of the staircase told Abby she didn’t have a moment to waste.

  She ripped her knife from its sheath and quickly cut Ava’s hands and feet free.

  The little girl fell forward and collapsed into her mother’s arms, sobbing.

  Abby’s heart raced as she stroked her daughter’s long brown hair. “It’s OK sweetie, it’s OK.” She pulled away and looked her in the eyes. “We’ve got to get out of here, honey. Can you pull it together?”

  Ava nodded, holding back the tears.

  Abby looked around, panicked. “How do we get out of here?”

  Ava pointed to the spiral staircase as flames licked the edges of the doorway, having completely engulfed the bookcase. “That’s the only way. Oh, my God, Mom, I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die!”

  Abby grabbed her daughter by the shoulders. “I’m not going to let that happen. We’ll find another way.”

  She scanned the room—no other doors, but there were two boarded up basement windows at the ceiling of the room.

  “Look around. Find something we can use to bust those open. Come on!”

  Mother and daughter started going through the desk drawers and stacked boxes. It wasn’t long before Ava held up a hammer and yelled, “Here, here!”

  Abby grabbed it and began pounding on the boards. They dented but didn’t break.

  She pounded harder and harder until her hand was numb from repeated blows, but all she managed to do was put a bunch of dents in the thick old boards.

  Ava screamed as pieces of the floor above began to drop from the ceiling. One flaming piece of debris hit her on the shoulder.

  Abby quickly patted her down to make sure she wasn’t going to catch fire, then took off her leather jacket and slung it over her daughter’s shoulders and held her tight. Abby couldn’t believe it had come to this. All the years of protecting her little girl—all the years of running, all the training—and for what? To die in a basement in a fire that she caused?

  They closed their eyes as the smoke began building up and stinging them.

  �
�I love you, Ava. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry... for everything.” Her mother squeezed her tightly.

  “It’s OK, Mommy, I love you, too. We’ll be OK,” she said, trying to be brave.

  Abby shook her head. She knew they wouldn’t be. Ava was still of the age that if she said it, she believed it to be true, but Abby knew better. The only two exits were blocked, and the fire was growing.

  It won’t be long now.

  She hoped that Ava would at least pass out from the smoke before she felt the sting of the flames on her skin.

  Tears streamed down Abby’s face, flowing like a river.

  Ava felt her cheek becoming wet from her mother’s tears and found the strength to comfort her.

  “We’ll be OK, Mommy, we’ll be OK.” Ava squeezed Abby as hard as she could. Abby gasped just a bit as the handle of her .45 pressed into her ribs.

  A split second later her eyes shot open, and she pushed Ava away.

  Abby ripped the gun from its holster and checked the magazine. It was full, and she had two more full magazines on her belt. She looked around the room and pointed to the far corner. “Ava, go over there, quick!”

  The little girl did as she was told without hesitation.

  Abby raised the gun, and from just a few feet away, fired eight successive shots, emptying the magazine into the boards of the window. Slamming a fresh magazine into the gun she repeated the exercise. Shards of wood flew around the room as the thick slugs tore into the boards, sending shrapnel flying into the smoke-filled room.

  She grabbed the old metal chair Ava had been tied to and slammed it repeatedly into the shattered boards. With the third strike, they gave way and Abby felt a rush of air from the outside, which also fed the flames, giving the fire a renewed vigor.

  “Come on, come on!” she shouted as Ava ran toward her.

  She shoved the child through the window, and then jumped onto the chair to climb out herself. Looking around, they found themselves in the back of the restaurant, the blaring fire engines right on top of them. They were pulling into the parking lot right out front.

  “Are you OK?” she asked Ava.

  The little girl nodded. “Yes, I think so.”