by Adam Drake
Wyatt's mind reeled. This was all too familiar, but he couldn't remember where, or from when.
“Drop the knife! I won't say it again!” yelled the guard, a look of pleading was in his eyes. He didn't want to do it, but he would if that's what Wyatt wanted.
Is that what I want? he thought to himself. He looked to Ethan, again, for guidance.
Ethan's body lay still on the bed, eyes closed.
There is still work to do.
Wyatt dropped the knife, and it clattered to the floor. He placed his hands behind his head.
He had the sense he was being handcuffed, but it didn't fully register. Instead, he gazed at the bloody carnage at his feet. A realization dawning on him.
Oh, no, he thought. I've done it again.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Nate
Sitting amongst the corpses, Nate watched the city burn.
The night sky was flush with stars, bright and eager to be seen. Nate could not remember the last time he'd seen the stars like this. Childhood?
There was a time when his asshole father took him and his mother on a camping trip. Like everything else about his father, it was a joke. The man drunk himself into oblivion, pissing into the camp fire. When his mom complained his father started to beat her. Despite being only eight or nine, Nate tried to defend her and was beaten in turn.
The stars were beautiful back then, too.
Ah, memories.
But now that he thought about it, these stars were unusually bright. Like thousands of little spotlights trying to illuminate the chaos below.
Over the fence across the bar's back parking lot, fires burned in the distance. Nate couldn't see them directly, but their hot glow pushed against the night like little suns trying to break up out of the horizon.
Nate had his own fire, thanks to Morse the screw-up. The flames within the barrel flickered and crackled. When it started to die down Nate went into Unger's office and found more things to burn. Nate chose a bunch of Unger's photos and a mound of bills and papers from the desk.
He dumped them in and the fire blazed.
“Won't be needing those anymore, eh, boss?” Nate said to Unger's cooling corpse.
Not getting an answer, Nate went and sat back down in one of the comfy chairs, shotgun across his lap.
He listened to the sound of the fire. Somewhere, far off, popping indicated a rifle being used. He'd heard more throughout the night as he sat there and watched the city die. Old scores needed to be settled and what better time to do it?
Nate had many of his own to get to. The list was long with only a few names being of distinguishing merit. But they were all shit that needed to be shoveled.
He patted the shotgun. This was his shovel.
A squishy noise emanated from Morse, causing Nate to raise his rifle. When he recognized it as a body expelling gas, he laughed.
“Full of shit both in life and in death,” Nate said. “Not surprised.”
Morse responded with more death farts.
Nate fished a beer out of a small cooler next to the chair and examined the label in the fire light. God damned german import. Unger always had bad taste in drink. Nate shrugged, twisted off the cap and took a swig.
He grimaced. Bitter and heavy, just like Unger and his family.
Unger's family.
In a normal situation, Nate would be running for his life right now, having gunned downed the organization's up and comer. He didn't have permission to take Unger out, nor would he have ever sought it. That would have been a death sentence, being just a piddly gun-for-hire. A contract would be put on his head and the countdown would begin. Nate was certain he could have given any would-be bounty hunters a run for their money.
But this wasn't a normal situation. He doubted things would ever be normal again.
It made him smile.
A sudden scream from his left made him drop the beer bottle with a smash and stand up, shotgun at the ready. It had come from the little apartment building located next door to the Spectacular. There were a couple of windows which had small pulses of glowing candles. One of them was brighter than the rest and growing brighter. Frantic shadow puppets danced around inside trying to put out the errant flames.
Nate laughed and dragged the chair over so he could see better. He grabbed another bitter beer and sat down to enjoy the show. This little sun was closer than the rest, eager to be born.
For nearly twenty minutes he watched as the fire went out of control and consumed the little apartment. Soon its flames licked out from the open balcony window, the curtains coiling into hot ash.
As he watched, he thought about what his next move would be. Killing Unger was an automatic death sentence, but only if other's found out about it. Or if he got to them first.
And with this strange day drawing to an end, Nate felt certain Unger's death would rank fairly low on priorities to those who might care. The world was being reborn, like these little suns.
No alarms sounded from the apartment building. The little batteries in the smoke detectors had been nixed along with everything else.
Maybe it was what the aliens intended. Kill the batteries. Kill the electricity. Let humanity kill itself.
Nate took another swig and watched the apartment fire spread across the floors. Who was he to try and understand what this event was meant to accomplish? To the aliens, he was nothing more than another human they hoped would die in an apartment fire.
But Nate felt he was more than that and would prove it. If anything, he was an opportunist and had shown he could grab an opportunity by the hair and make it his bitch.
“Hello?” a voice called out.
Nate blinked out of his thoughts. It had come from inside the bar. Quietly, he placed the beer on the ground and went over to the open back door, shotgun in both hands. He peered inside.
Other than the orange flickering light from the barrel fire he couldn't make out anything past Unger's office at the end of the little hall.
“Hello?” the voice said, again. It was a man. Sounded like he was in the main room of the bar.
Nate entered and walked down the hall, shotgun pointed forward ready to spit out death. When he reached the office, he noticed another light through the office door, this one coming from within the bar itself. Someone with a light source?
With a glance behind him, Nate moved to the office door and peeked around its frame.
A man was standing in the middle of the bar, short and fat. A lantern sat on a table next to him, its inner flame bright and strong.
A quick look told Nate the man was not carrying any weapons in his hands, but he needed to be cautious.
Certain there was no one else present, Nate stepped through the door.
The fat man gave a quivering start when he noticed Nate. “Oh, damn,” he said. “You scared me. I didn't think anyone was around.”
“I'm scary,” Nate said as he approached. “And I'm around.” He kept two tables between them, the shotgun pointed at the other man. “Who are you?”
The man glanced at the shotgun with wide eyes and slowly raised his empty hands. “Hey, I'm just here to make a delivery. No need to get all worried about it.”
“I'm not worried. Who are you?”
“Martin,” the fat man said. Wide spots of sweat stained his shirt. Nate could see the man was shaking.
“Hello, Martin, I'm Nate.”
When Nate didn't say anymore, Martin said, “Hello, Nate.” He swallowed hard.
“What are you delivering today? Better not be anymore of that crappy german beer because that would put me in a really foul mood.”
Martin shook his head. “No, no crappy german beer.”
Fear kept the man from speaking. “Then what?” Nate said.
“Prawns.”
Nate burst into laughter. When he settled down he shook a finger at Martin, shotgun still held steady. “Ah, Marty, I did not expect you to say that. Beer, sure. But prawns?”
Martin shrugged. “Unger likes the
m, even though they don't sell very well here.”
“Yeah, who comes to a bar to eat prawns trucked in from an ocean which is miles and miles away.”
“They're from Japan,” Martin said, looking worried he might be speaking out of turn. “Unger likes those especially.”
Nate laughed, again, this time louder and longer. “Oh, that is funny, Marty.” He looked around. “Where are these Japanese prawns? I know you didn't bring them in a truck.”
Martin shook his head. “No, my truck died on the freeway this morning. Along with everyone else.”
Nodding, Nate said, “Yeah, that was one hell of a morning, wasn't it?”
“It's been one hell of a day,” Martin said, relaxing a little. He pointed a thumb toward the front doors. “Got 'em outside.”
Nate nodded for Martin to start walking. “Well, show me these imported Japanese prawns.”
When Martin picked up the lantern and turned, Nate nearly shot him right then and there. This man was dead weight. And if he sees the bodies out the back, he'd be a witness to Nate's crime.
But he didn't shoot the prawn man, not yet. Something about him made Nate curious.
Instead of blasting a hole in the fat man's back, he followed him out the front doors, which were still propped open by the stools vacated by Earl and Wilson.
“Here they are,” Martin said.
A wheel-barrel sat near the edge of the walkway stuffed with plastic bags marked with the stylised symbol of a big prawn.
Nate looked them over. “You hauled these here with that?”
“Yup,” Martin said, wiping sweat from his forehead for emphasis. “When the truck went tits up, I hoofed it back to the warehouse and grabbed the wheel-barrel. Then came back to the truck and filled up as much as I could.”
“There's more?”
“Yeah, but the refrigeration in the truck died with the rest of it, so I expect they've gone bad by now in this heat.”
“How far did you come?”
“Third avenue. Took me eight hours to get here.”
Nate was impressed, but frowned in confusion. “Then why bother bringing these all the way here if they were just going to go bad along the way?”
Martin shrugged. “I iced them up real good, but that melted away after the first two hours.” His voiced trailed off as if he didn't want to say anymore.
Then Nate understood. “You wanted Unger to know you tried.”
“Yeah,” Martin said, a little sheepishly. “If I didn't do anything, or didn't show I made an effort to get him some of his prawns here, there'd be hell to pay.”
Nate watched the fat man as he spoke. He recognized that look. Defeat. Fear. Here was an employee of Unger's who knew the boss was unforgiving, let alone even fair, when it came to mistakes. Even ones that were completely out of his control.
Nate lowered his shotgun. “Well, Unger won't be needing these prawns at all.”
Martin looked confused. “He won't?” He glanced into the bar. “Isn't he here? He's always here.”
“Oh, he's here. Maybe you can go explain to him what happened.”
“O-okay,” Martin said with some hesitation. He led them both through the bar, again, with his lantern.
Curious, Nate asked, “Where did you get that lantern?”
“Had it in the warehouse,” Martin said as they navigated around empty tables. The bar looked ghostly in the lantern's flickering light. “Always wanted to use it and now I got the chance.”
Nate smiled. “I think we'll be using it quite a bit from now on.” In all honesty, he liked what he saw in this Martin guy. A go-getter willing to do what it took to impress his boss.
A potential lackey.
They entered the office and Nate pointed the shotgun at the back hallway. “Out there,” he said.
Martin walked outside then stopped when he noticed all the bodies.
Nate kept his shotgun low, but held it so he could bring it up in a flash.
The fat man scanned over the carnage with wide eyes. His gaze settled on Unger's corpse. He blinked and walked over to it.
“He's dead,” Martin said.
“That would be his current state, yes,” Nate said. The apartment next door was in full bloom, its fire out of control. But neither he nor Martin bothered to look.
Martin said, “Did you kill him?”
Nate pondered his answer, then simply said, “Yup.”
Anger rippled across the little man's face. “Bastard!” Martin reached for the front of his pants.
Surprised at this sudden change in demeanor, Nate raised his shotgun ready to add another body to the back lot's inventory.
But instead of pulling out a gun, Martin fumbled open his fly and pulled out his dick.
Stunned, Nate watched as Martin pissed on Unger's corpse.
“I was supposed to be the one that killed him,” Martin said through gritted teeth.
Nate laughed loudly in genuine delight. What a sight to see as this little fat man emptied his bladder on the body of his old boss. “He pissed you off, too, huh?”
“Yeah,” Martin said, angling the stream to spatter Unger's ruined face. “And now I get to piss off him.”
Nate laughed some more. He liked this Martin guy and decided he wouldn't kill him after all.
No, he thought. I'll keep him for myself.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Wyatt
“Murderer!”
The woman's scream snapped Wyatt out of his trance. He'd been staring down at his sneakers, watching the pool of blood flow around them.
The other people in the clinic were running for the door, pushing to get out.
To get away from him.
“Don't move,” the security guard said from behind him. Wyatt felt his wrists being cinched together. Not handcuffs, he knew what those felt like. Plastic ties. Good.
“You've made a hell of a mess,” the guard said as he grasped Wyatt's arm. His grip was like a vice, strong and unbreakable. “People come here to keep from dying, not the other way around.”
Wyatt was struck by the odd comment. He'd just murdered two of the Feral Kids right here in the middle of the clinic's lobby in front of dozens of witnesses and this guy was making jokes?
The bodies of Scarface and Casket lay contorted on the floor. Casket with a knife jammed through his face, and Scarface with his throat slashed wide open like a crimson grin.
“They were laughing at Ethan,” Wyatt mumbled.
“Shut up,” said the guard.
After Wyatt killed the Feral Kids the doctor of the clinic had leapt into action, trying to save both of the them. But a quick assessment told the story. Neither Casket, nor Scarface, would be tormenting any more homeless again.
The doctor leaned over Casket's face, looking at the fatal wound. “God damnit,” he said. He looked up at Wyatt with an expression of confusion. “Why did you do this?”
“It was their time,” Wyatt said with a dismissive shrug. “The world is a better place now.” His tone was casual, but he meant what he said. Killing them felt right, now that it was over and done with. The impulse had rushed through him, carrying him along like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty river. There was nothing he could have done to stop himself. It had to be.
The doctor shook his head then said to the guard, “Get him out of here!” He rubbed at his glasses and smeared blood along his nose.
“Where?” the guard asked. “Outside?”
The waiting area was now clear of people, most of whom stood clustered outside the front windows in the growing dark. Wyatt could hear their chattering, terrified and excited. Some stared at him with shock and horror.
A nurse stood cowering behind the reception desk, eyes locked on the two bodies.
The doctor waved at her. “Peggy! Go grab my keys in my office, quickly.”
The nurse blinked in confusion and after casting a glance at Wyatt, hurried off down the dark hallway.
“You'll put him in my truck for now until th
e police come,” the doctor said, moving over to look at the crimson smile across Scarface's throat.
“Maybe we should lock him in a room,” the guard said. “It would make more sense.” Despite the chaos Wyatt had just caused, the guard wasn't rattled. Like a double homicide was something he dealt with on a regular basis. Wyatt couldn't decide if that was a character trait he liked or should be suspicious of.
The doctor stood. “All the rooms are occupied.” He pointed at Wyatt with a trembling finger. “And besides, I don't want him anywhere near our patients.”
Wyatt felt disappointed. He would have thought the doctor could have been more calm in such a situation. Obviously he'd never been a combat medic which, considering how things were shaping up outside, would be a good skill to have.
The nurse returned and handed the keys to the doctor.
“Do we have any candles?” the doctor asked her. He dropped the keys into the guard's huge hand.
“Candles? Uh, no. Not at all,” she said, casting furtive glances in Wyatt's direction. She was pretty. Older, maybe in her mid-forties, but that didn't bother Wyatt. He liked women in uniform.
The doctor waved at the guard. “What is this maniac still doing here? Get him out and watch him!”
The guard pulled Wyatt around the bodies, their shoes leaving bloody impressions on the linoleum tiles. “Watch your step,” the guard said as they passed Ethan's body on the gurney.
He let himself be guided to the front doors which were still propped open. As Wyatt and the guard moved outside the crowd of people backed away, some gasping.
“Excuse us,” the guard said, and escorted Wyatt over to a giant hatchback parked nearest the door.
Figures the doctor would have the best spot, Wyatt thought as the guard took him to the passenger side door and fumbled with the keys in his hand.
Wyatt looked over the darkening parking lot and out at the main street. Cars, trucks and buses were lined up in both direction, bumper to bumper and stock still. No one moved. Things had not changed much since Wyatt took Ethan into the clinic.
Now he knew it was all for the better.