by J. Thorn
Dax thought about his sister and her kids. Gabby was gone, but was it possible his niece and nephew had also died? What about the prison? Where had all the convicts gone? He had escaped with some despicable men—rapists and murderers. Yes, he was a murderer, too, but a victim of circumstance. He hadn’t intended on hurting anyone.
A couple of blocks away from his destination, Dax stopped and squinted at a nearby one-story house. A woman sat on top of the roof, the first person he’d seen in hours. The white woman wore a loose dress which hung over her gaunt figure. Her tangled hair was managing to stay out of her face enough for Dax to see pale cheeks and bags under her eyes. She had her knees up to her chin.
He paused, waiting to see if she would notice him. The woman gazed out at the flooded street, appearing to look at him. No, through him.
“Are you okay?”
Her body spasmed and she turned her head to face him. Dax walked beneath.
“Are you stuck up there? Do you need me to help you down?”
The woman mumbled something under her breath.
“What?”
“I can hear them.” The woman spoke louder now, but her eyes continued to focus on something in the distance.
“Hear what?”
“It’s worse in the house. I close my eyes, and it’s like the walls have me trapped. I can hear them. They’re so loud.”
She hears voices?
“Is there anything I can do to help you?”
The woman finally looked down, making direct eye contact with Dax. He shivered. The woman gave him a long, cold stare. She turned her head sideways as if Dax had said something she didn’t quite understand. Then she snapped her head upright and spoke.
“You’ve seen them, too.” A statement and not a question.
“The Screamers?”
“Those screams. Those vicious screams. They’re in my head.”
“Have you heard any today?”
The woman shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. They’re all in here.” She used her index finger to poke at her temple. “And they’ll have it all. Eventually.”
He stepped back and put his hands on his hips. Dax turned around, almost expecting someone to yell, Gotcha, but he realized that the city was no longer in a joking mood. This woman was not a prank. She seemed to be mentally broken, and Dax wasn’t sure what more he could do for her.
“Look, I’m going to get a boat. I’ll come get you on my way back.”
The woman stared at him for another moment. She cracked a small smile and then looked out into the distance again without responding.
“I can hear them. They’re coming for me. And they’re coming for you.”
“I’ll come back for you,” he said again, trying to absolve himself of whatever guilt would come for leaving her now.
Dax walked past her house, turning around a few times to look back. The woman’s lips continued moving, her gaze drifting off into the distance.
He continued down the street, looking at the sheet of paper with the scribbled address and then looking up to check the house numbers as he moved. Dax finally stopped in front of the right house, looked both ways and then walked up to the front door.
He cupped his hands on the window, trying to look between the blinds, but it was too dark for him to see anything inside.
Dax knocked on the door. “Hello? I’m a friend of your brother-in-law, Neil Warren. Is anyone home?”
No one replied. As Neil had told Dax, his sister and brother-in-law must have fled before things became dangerous. Dax walked around the side of the house, slogging through the muddy yard, the water over his knees. A chain-link fence surrounded the backyard. Dax hopped it. When he walked along the side of the house and looked into the center of the yard, he saw the boat.
“Jackpot.”
A simple fishing boat sat on a rusty trailer. If for some reason Dax couldn’t get the motor to work, the group could row it to safety. But they would need oars for that, and it wasn’t like he could walk into the nearest sporting goods store and purchase them.
Fix the engine, and that’s not a problem we have to face.
He walked to the rear of the boat and ran his hands over the engine, checking all of the valves and connections. Dax pulled the starter cord. The engine belched a puff of blue smoke, and he heard a grinding noise, but the thing wouldn’t turn over. He tried two more times. The engine wouldn’t start, and he didn’t want to flood it with gasoline, so he dropped the starter cord and decided to see what, if any, tools were inside a steel shed in the back yard. Dax pulled on the door and managed to open it half a foot despite the rising waters. A snake slithered out on the surface of the water. Dax jumped back. The snake kept going, into the neighbor’s yard through the gaps in the chain-link fence.
“Fucking snakes.”
Dax aimed his flashlight into the shed.
It seemed empty except for a ten-gallon gasoline can that was three-quarters full and two red toolboxes against the side wall. He waded into the water-filled shed until he was close enough to flip the latches on both boxes.
Wrenches, socket drivers, screwdrivers, some rope, and a chain wrapped around a padlock with a key. He decided to take the lock and chain in case he had to moor the boat. Dax checked to make sure the tools weren’t rusted together or broken. They were not.
Yeah, I can work with this.
Back in the yard, Dax stuck his tongue out to the side of his mouth and started working on the engine as he felt the first trickle of rain rolling down his arm.
41
Chloe woke up sometime in mid-afternoon. The argument and the worsening situation had exhausted her. She hadn’t meant to doze when she had gone back to her room to lie down, but sleep had taken hold of her nonetheless.
She opened her eyes and saw Monica standing in the room. Chloe shot up.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mr. Warren and Isaac are fighting again.”
Chloe sighed. Monica already had the crutches in her hands and handed them to Chloe.
As they exited the room, Chloe could hear the two men shouting from a room down the hall.
“Go to your room,” Chloe told Monica.
“Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. Please go to your room, and I’ll come see you in a little bit, all right?”
The girl nodded and joined Kevin and Darius in their room.
Chloe went through the door without knocking. Neil was rubbing at his forehead while Isaac pointed his finger at the man. Isaac stopped shouting when Chloe entered the room.
“What’s going on? You guys are scaring the kids.”
“Tell her,” Isaac said to Neil.
“Tell me what? Where’s Dax?”
Isaac let out a small laugh. “Go on. Tell her.”
Chloe walked over and stood right in front of Neil. “Tell me.”
“He left.”
“What? Where did he go?”
“See?” Isaac said. “I told you he’d leave us again.”
“Tell me where he went.”
“He went to my sister’s house to get the boat. Like we talked about earlier.”
“By himself?”
“He didn’t want any of us to go.”
Isaac scoffed. “Yeah, because he isn’t gonna come back because he’s a selfish pr—”
“Isaac, shut up for a minute,” Chloe said. “Jesus Christ.” She rubbed her own forehead, trying to shake off a blossoming headache. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“He asked me not to. I don’t think he wanted to worry you guys.”
“Yeah, that’s what he wanted,” Isaac said.
Chloe looked at the teen. “Isaac, I swear to God, if you make one more sarcastic remark like that, I’m gonna beat you with these crutches until you can’t talk anymore.”
Isaac crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, lips pursed into a tight smirk.
Chloe turned her attention back to Neil.
“How long ago did he le
ave?”
“This morning, not long after we talked about all this. You were by yourself when he left.”
Chloe sat down on the nearby bed, her leg feeling weak.
“Why would he leave by himself?” she said to herself under her breath.
“Because he knows what needs to happen for us to survive,” Neil said. “He knew that getting to that boat was the only way we’re going to get out of this city and that we couldn’t make it there as a group.”
“Bullshit.” Isaac pushed off the wall and balled his hands into fists.
“Isaac, the children,” Neil said. “Keep your voice down.”
Isaac looked to Chloe, his voice getting louder and cracking. “Are you hearing this? Don’t tell me you believe he’s coming back.”
Chloe looked at Isaac and nodded her head. “He’ll be back.”
“I can’t believe this.” Isaac headed for the door.
“Isaac, wait.”
“Let him go,” Neil said.
Chloe sat down on the bed and Neil sat next to her.
“That boy worries me.”
“Who?” Chloe asked. “Dax?”
Neil shook his head. “Isaac.”
“He’s an emotional kid. And there’s a lot going on. Like the rest of us, he’s trying to process it all.”
“He’s an emotional kid who’s in love.”
Chloe looked at Neil and laughed. “What are you talking about?”
“Come on,” Neil said. “I’m not an idiot, and I know you’re not either. That boy is head over heels for you. You can see it in the way he looks at you. The way he talks about you—the way he looks at and talks to Dax. He’s an emotional wreck teetering on the edge. It’s not good.”
“He’ll calm down.”
“And what if he doesn’t?” Neil asked. “Love can lead boys to do some crazy things. Believe me.”
Chloe sighed. “I’ll wait for him to calm down and then I’ll talk to him.”
Neil stood up. “No need. I’m going to have a chat with him right now.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Neil nodded. “We all need to be on the same page when Dax comes back.”
“If he comes back.”
“Don’t believe what Isaac was saying. Dax is going to come back. Trust me.”
Chloe looked up at him as he walked away. “And if he doesn’t?”
Neil looked back from the door. “Then we head out of here on our own tomorrow afternoon. Do the best we can.”
42
Neil marched into Isaac’s room without knocking.
“What?” Isaac said.
Neil grabbed the boy by the collar and pulled him toward the door.
“Let me go, old man! What’s your problem?”
Neil stopped and let go, pointing at the door to the stairwell.
“We need to talk. Downstairs.”
Isaac followed him down the stairs and through the second-floor door, mumbling and cursing under his breath the entire time. When they were standing in the deserted hallway of the second floor, Neil slammed the door behind him.
“What is wrong with you?” Isaac asked.
“That’s what I want to ask you.”
“Huh?”
“You know what I’m talking about. Why did you say all that stuff to Chloe? Why were you being such a jerk to her and saying all those things about Dax?”
“Oh, you mean why was I telling the truth?”
A boom of thunder interrupted their conversation. They both looked out of the window and saw the sky turning from light gray to charcoal.
“Do you know what happens when that rain comes down? The water is going to rise. Fast. There’s nothing stopping it now. No pumps to get the water out. Do you know what that means?”
“I guess it means that the rest of the city is going to look like my ‘hood.”
Neil clenched his jaw. “Do you want that girl to like you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh, please. I’ve been married twice. You can’t fool me. Now, do you want her to like you or not?”
Isaac paused for a moment and then shrugged. “Well, yeah.”
“Then you gotta cut out all this passive-aggressive crap. None of it is helping our situation. I know you’re trying to do the right thing, and you want the best for the group, but all you’re managing to do is show us that you’re not mature enough to be involved in the decisions we make.”
Isaac bit his lip, and his jaw clenched as if he had been eating lemons. The boy leaned in closer to Neil.
“I don’t know who you think you are, but fuck you and your advice. With all the shit you’ve done, you have no right to talk to me like that.”
Neil took a step back. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, Isaac. You think you do, but you don’t. You know nothing about me, or the things I was forced to do. So don’t stand here and pretend like you do.”
Isaac moved even closer, now nearly nose to nose with the man. Neil pushed up his glasses, and the boy’s breath fogged them.
“I know one thing. I know that you can barely stand to live with yourself because of what you did. Knowing that you’re responsible for destroying people’s homes. That you killed people. You’re no different than Dax. I’m sure you’ve even thought about killing yourself. Maybe you should consider taking a swan dive from your window tonight. If the fall doesn’t kill you, you’ll drown with the rest of the rats.”
Neil licked his lips, and his words quickened. “Look, Isaac. I need you to—”
A scream cut off Neil’s sentence.
“The kids,” said Isaac as he rushed through the door with Neil on his heels.
43
Isaac rushed up the stairs as the screams sounded again. His heart lurched in his chest and leaped up the steps, two at a time, leaving Neil behind.
He burst through the door at the stairwell and raced down the hall to the boys’ open room.
Two men had Chloe and the kids trapped in the corner. They each stood six feet tall and were wearing blue jeans darkened by water above the knee. T-shirts hung from their frames like filthy rags, and he could see debris and garbage tangled in their hair. They faced Chloe. It was at that moment that Isaac realized he’d been in such a hurry that he hadn’t stopped by his room to grab the assault rifle. Chloe had pushed the kids behind her and was holding her hands out to the men, screaming and repeating to them, “No!”
Isaac charged toward the intruders, barreling into the back of the first man and sending him to the ground. Isaac jumped on the man’s back and punched him twice in the ribs before someone lifted the teenager into the air.
“Let me go!”
Isaac kicked at the man on the ground as he was pulled away. When he rolled over and got to his feet, Isaac stopped yelling. His mouth went dry, and he felt his stomach lurch. A third man had emerged from a dark corner. His black jeans and black hoodie looked clean, unlike the clothes of the other three Screamers in the room. His hood was covering his face except for a wide grin.
The man smiled at Isaac as he pulled the hood back. Isaac looked at the man’s face, his skin gray and tight on his skull.
Isaac looked at the other two next, each one holding him by an arm. The Screamer standing before him nodded his head toward the wall, and the other two threw Isaac into the corner with Chloe and the children.
“What do you want?” he asked.
The Screamer in the black hoodie walked up to the boy, sneering in his face. His eyes pulsed like a flickering lightbulb in a basement full of cobwebs.
“Where is he?” The Screamer’s voice felt greasy, and Isaac turned his head to avoid a stench like hot garbage.
Isaac cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “You can talk?”
The Screamer opened his jaws and let loose with a thunderous howl that forced Isaac’s hands to his ears. He fell to the floor, as did Chloe and the kids, all of them trying to keep the sound from splitting their skulls.
>
When the scream ended, the two men lifted Isaac to his feet while Chloe and the children cried and cowered together in the corner.
“Where is he?”
“W-who? Where is who?”
The Screamer grabbed Isaac by the throat and began to squeeze. He gasped and felt his airway constricting, but he managed to speak, although he thought his voice box was about to burst.
“Wait... I think I know who you’re talking about.”
Isaac felt the man’s grip on his throat let up—slightly.
“Tell me,” the Screamer said. “Where is the police officer?”
“Don’t, Isaac. Don’t tell them anything,” Chloe said.
The creature looked over to her, then back at Isaac. “You know where he is.”
“Don’t tell him,” Chloe said.
Isaac looked at Chloe and then back at the Screamer holding him by the throat. His vision swam, and Isaac thought for a second that he might pass out. But it wasn’t the Screamer’s hand that was constricting his airways—it was the man’s eyes. When Isaac looked into them, he felt a pain in his head like a migraine, and his muscles ached.
Isaac licked his dry lips, nodding at the Screamer dressed in black. “He’s gone to—”
A guttural bark interrupted Isaac as Neil ran through the doorway, the assault rifle firm in his hands. The Screamers turned around.
“Duck!” he shouted at Isaac, Chloe and the children.
Isaac broke the Screamer’s grip and threw his body on top of Chloe and the kids, doing his best to protect them from what was about to happen.
The rifle jumped in Neil’s hands as he sprayed the wall with gunfire. Blue smoke filled the room, and his ears rang so loudly that Isaac wasn’t sure when Neil had stopped firing.
“Neil?” Isaac couldn’t hear his own question.
He lifted his head and waited for the smoke to clear.
The assault rifle lay on the ground, and the three Screamers remained standing with their backs to Isaac. The Screamer in the black hoodie had Neil pinned to the wall by the neck, the man’s feet dangling a foot off the ground.