by Magus Tor
“Were any charges brought against him?” This time it was Max that asked the question.
“No. There wasn’t enough to charge him with, so it was dropped, but it was really ugly.”
“You must have information on another Adam. Our Adam is way too simple minded for that type of work.” Drew found it hard to believe that Adam would have anything to do with that type of scandal.
“That’s all the information I have for you. If I hear anything else I’ll let you know.” As soon as he finished his sentence, Drew’s contact stood and walked away.
“You don’t think he was actually talking about Adam, do you?” The question came out of Max’s mouth with a hint of a chuckle.
“Nah. It makes no sense.” Drew replied. The two walked back to Drew’s house. Once they got to the steps, it was Max that spoke.
“I really should go home. I have to work tomorrow and all of my stuff is there.”
“Well, if you come up for a few minutes, I can grab a few things and we can go to your place. I still don’t feel comfortable leaving you alone.”
“Drew, it’s okay, really,” she started to speak, but then realized how sweet Drew was being and continued, “Aw, heck, that sounds great. Why not?”
In Drew’s apartment, Max gathered up her shirt from yesterday and her purse. She sat on the couch and saw a story on the news pop up on the TV. She grabbed the remote control and turned it up. According to the news report, another five people had died of a brain hemorrhage in the past 24 hours, and all at the same hospital. It was the hospital only a mile from Drew’s house.
“This makes no sense,” Max said almost to herself.
“No, it doesn’t, but until they figure out what is going on, I think it best that we stick together.”
“Yeah,” she said, “I think you’re right.”
After gathering up a few more things, Drew and Max drove to her house. It was surprising to Drew just how close she lived to Drew. She was just about a mile north of him. What wasn’t surprising to Drew was the way her house was decorated. Each room was painted a different color, one blue, one red, one yellow and one green. The artwork and pictures on the walls were all brightly colored as were the rugs on the floors; just what he would’ve expected from a kindergarten teacher.
“This place is great!”
“I know, it’s a bit loud. I love color. It makes me happy.” She again sounded just like a little girl. That made Drew’s smile even bigger. She then said, “Why don’t you make yourself comfortable. I’m just going to throw on some shorts and get comfortable. You hungry?”
“Yeah, I could eat.”
After she changed, they made themselves a late lunch and decided that they had had enough news for the day. They put on a movie and sat in silence, Drew with his feet on the coffee table and Max with her feet on his lap. Drew started to massage her feet without even realizing he was doing it. Everything seemed so natural. After a second movie, they both realized just how exhausted they were.
“If you would be more comfortable on the couch I would understand, but you are more than welcome to stay in my room with me tonight.” The shy little grin on her face told Drew that he would probably be happier in the bedroom. They walked to the back of the house and got ready for bed.
While they both considered giving themselves completely, the thought that they had only met days ago kept creeping into their minds. They kissed for a while and fell asleep holding each other tightly.
*****
CHAPTER TEN
The alarm went off at 6:30 and Drew awoke feeling refreshed. Max, on the other hand, slept quite restlessly despite being in the arms of Drew. He found himself wondering if she had played the game last night. It was odd that he had spent another night dreamless.
“That was brutal,” Max said before even opening her eyes.
“The game?” Drew’s question was more of a statement as he stretched and stood up.
“Yeah. Where were you?”
“I didn’t play. I was really expecting to come up against the robot, but instead I didn’t even dream.”
“Weird. Oh, well. I got my shot in at the robot. The damn thing never goes down though. He just walks around shooting everything in its sights. Except for the few people who seem to hover at his side. I got a couple of them last night. It was exhilarating. I almost made it back to the library looking for you.” Max’s voice was a mix of excitement and sleep; Drew found it quite appealing.
“You almost made it? What happened?”
“The robot got me in the back as I was going through the doors.”
“How many lives do you have left?” Drew asked, not really sure he wanted to know the answer.
“I have 7 lives left. I really need to step up my game a bit.”
The two got out of bed and began to get ready for work. They really didn’t want to split up for the day, but there are only so many days they can call in. Max gave Drew a ride to the “L” platform closest to her place and parked in front of a news stand.
“Do you want me to pick you up from work?” Max asked as he was about to step out of the car.
“No, you don’t have to. I need to go back to my apartment. My neighbor is out of town and I told him I would look after the place. I can check in at home, See if I have any mail and make sure everything is okay there. Do you want me to come by when I’m done?”
“That would be nice. What time should I be watching for you?”
“I’d say 6:30-ish.” Drew figured that would be plenty of time.
“Okay. That will give me plenty of time to get dinner ready. See ya then.” Max leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek and with that Drew was gone.
Once on the train, headed for the dreaded day of boring phone calls, Drew wondered why he hadn’t played the game last night. He then realized that he hadn’t had his usual coffee. I guess a little sludge from the pot at work won’t kill me. At least I hope it won’t.
Drew stepped off the train onto the platform. From there you could see the windows on the second floor of the building he worked in. He stood there for a while, imagining that on the other side of those windows was his desk at the agency. Granted, he never wanted to be responsible for people’s lives again, but he could really go for being back at a job that gave him more excitement. He shook himself free of that thought and walked to the end of the platform and down the crowded stairs.
Once inside, Drew made his way through the maze of cubicles, passing his on his way to the coffee pot. After making himself a cup, he made his way back to his desk and sat down. Once again, the day greeted him with a pink piece of paper. This time the message read: She sure made it easy. Sorry I missed you again. Will keep trying.
Who the hell is this from? What are they talking about? Drew couldn’t understand why people leave such cryptic messages. He decided that he would think about it later and got to work.
***
At around noon Max called Drew to see how his day was going. It was nice to have somebody that cared. He told her about the messages he got from the mystery caller, but other than that, there wasn’t much about his day to tell her. After getting off the phone he grabbed a sandwich from the cafeteria on the first floor and went back up to his desk.
While he ate his lunch, he wondered what the message meant. Who had made it easy, and for whom? It always seemed that Drew was met with more questions than answers. He found himself getting frustrated and decided to just get back to work, hoping that the second half of the day would move faster than the first.
There was a commotion in the hallway about five minutes from quitting time, so Drew decided that leaving a few minutes early wouldn’t hurt anything. He walked out into the hall and saw paramedics lifting one of the cleaning crew onto a gurney.
“What happened?” Drew asked one of the other cleaning people who looked distraught.
“She said she had a headache and then just went down. She isn’t breathing and they can’t get a heartbeat.”
Drew was beginning to wonder just what was going on all of a sudden. There were so many people dying and nobody seemed to know why. He was beginning to worry. Could there be an epidemic even the CDC didn’t know about? Would it eventually kill everyone around? Again, more questions and no answers.
Drew rushed to the train and then rushed home. He checked the doors of his neighbors apartment and all seemed well. Drew let himself into his place and looked around there as well. He then called Max to let her know that he was just going to change and grab a few things and that he would be on his way soon.
“Do you want me to stop and pick anything up on my way over?” Drew hoped she would say no so he could just go right there.
“Well, if you wouldn’t mind, a couple of croissants from The Bean would go nicely with dinner. Oh, and could you grab some of those yummy muffins?” Max sounded so happy and almost excited.
“Sure. What flavor muffins would you like?”
“The cinnamon apple ones are great. Help me grab a couple of those?”
“Sounds great. Be there soon.”
After changing out of his work clothes, Drew grabbed another change of clothes for tomorrow, his laptop and a bottle of wine. He made sure to lock all windows and doors before heading over to Max’s house.
He rounded the corner and walked over to The Bean. Drew had never seen the coffee shop as crowded as it was when he walked in. After waiting for what seemed like forever, but was probably closer to ten minutes, Drew was next in line.
“Hey, Adam. What’s going on?”
“I’m the only one here. We were supposed to close because of what happened, but people just kept coming in.”
“What happened?”
“Lisa, our evening girl passed away today.” Adam said the words, but didn’t really sound too affected by them.
“Oh, my gosh, really?”
“Yeah. They think it was a brain hemorrhage.” Again, Adam spoke about her death as if he were talking about the newspaper not being delivered.
“Wow. There are so many people dying that way. Listen, I just need a couple croissants and a couple muffins. Here, throw me a bag and I’ll get them myself. You are busy.” Drew tossed him a ten dollar bill and told him to keep the change. Adam slid a bag across the counter and mouthed the word “thanks”.
After Drew grabbed what he came for, he weaved his way through the customers and headed towards the door. As he went through, he flipped the open sign over so that people on the street would see it was closed and motioned to Adam that he had done so.
Now Drew had his duffel bag, the laptop backpack over his shoulder and the bag from The Bean. Any other time he would probably just walk to Max’s house, but he was tired and flustered and wanted to get there quickly, so he hailed a cab and headed over. This time of day in the city is hectic, but the cab made it there quickly and after paying his fare, Drew climbed out and up the steps of the cute little bungalow.
“Hi!” Drew didn’t even get a chance to ring the bell. Max was standing in the open door smiling and waving. She grabbed the duffel bag from Drew and led him inside.
Drew stood inside the door and breathed in deeply through his nose. The house smelled absolutely delicious. Max let him settle in while she put the finishing touches on the dinner she obviously worked so hard to prepare. After hooking up his laptop and letting it load, he made his way into the kitchen.
“Wow! That smells fantastic!”
“I hope you like lasagna. I was going to make garlic bread, but I thought maybe the croissants would be nicer.” Max looked so proud of her meal.
“Lasagna is one of my favorites. I’m glad I grabbed the red wine!”
“Ooooh, great! I also have a salad made. Wanna help me set the table?”
“Sure.” Together they brought the dishes to the table and got everything ready. Drew poured the wine and they sat down to eat.
While the two ate, Drew told Max about what happened in the hallway at work and then what he found out at the coffee shop about the evening barista. Not wanting to monopolize the entire conversation with negativity drew asked Max about her day and she beamed as she told him about her students.
When they finished dinner, they stood together at the sink and did the dishes while finishing the bottle of wine. Out of nowhere, Max said, “Do you watch Survivor?”
“Do you?”
“Yes. It’s starting in a few minutes.”
“I never thought I’d admit it, but yes, I do watch it. I like to DVR it so I can fast forward through the commercials, though. I hate commercials.” Drew couldn’t believe he just admitted to being a fan of Survivor.
“Cool. The DVR is set. Let’s go for a walk? We can watch the show when we get back.”
“That would be nice.” Drew thought back and realized that the last time he went for a walk with a female was back in college.
Spring nights in the city are still a little cool, so they both threw on hoodies and locked up the house. Not being completely familiar with Max’s neighborhood, Drew let her lead the way. They headed around the corner and walked a few blocks north. When they got to the next corner, they turned left and saw the flashing lights of an ambulance.
“Oh, no!” Max let out a gasp that startled Drew. “It looks like the ambulance is at Martha’s house.”
“Who’s Martha?”
“She’s another kindergarten teacher where I work. Hurry.”
The two jogged up to the ambulance just as the gurney was being wheeled inside. Max could see that it was indeed Martha. She asked the paramedic what happened but was told to talk to the people outside Martha’s house. They walked over and were told by a neighbor that Martha was outside walking her dog and just fell to the ground. Apparently, Martha had suffered a headache immediately before the incident.
“Will she be okay?” Max’s question was softly asked, as if it came from a child.
“She wasn’t breathing and her heart had stopped. They were doing CPR and tried shocking her heart, but it wasn’t working. They decided to get her in the ambulance and keep trying on the way to the hospital. It doesn’t look good.”
Max fell into Drew’s arms. Drew sensed just how upset she was and insisted that they go back to her house.
“There’s nothing we can do for her here. When we get back to the house, we can call the hospital and find out if she made it.” Drew tried to sound caring, but deep inside he was really worried.
“I barely knew her. She had just started at the school last week to take over for the teacher who left to have a baby. It’s just getting to be too much. People are dying all over the place. When will it stop?” There was a desperation in Max’s voice that made Drew’s heart sink.
He got Max back home and they called the hospital. Martha was another in a growing number of mysterious deaths. Drew suggested that they turn the lights down and call it a night.
“No. I won’t be able to sleep. Let’s just go ahead and watch our show. It will do us some good to take our minds off of this craziness for a little while.” Max went from being distraught to being strong.
“Okay. Maybe you’re right. Tomorrow I am going to take time off of work. Are you able to get some time off?”
“I never take time off, so I don’t think it will be a problem. Why?”
“Well, until we know what is going on with all of these deaths, I think we should stick close together.” The truth was, Drew was terrified that something bad would happen to Max, so he wanted to make sure he was with her at all times.
They grabbed the muffins and a couple of glasses of milk and sat in front of the TV. Somehow, they were able to shut out everything and enjoy their show. When it was over, they went in the bedroom. Max set her alarm and to make sure they didn’t sleep too late, Drew plugged his alarm clock in and set his alarm for thirty minutes later. They both chuckled about the matching alarm clocks. They climbed into bed and both pretended to sleep. Really, they both lay awake, trying to make sense of things.
> *****
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Eventually, both Drew and Max drifted off to a fitful sleep. Drew was the first to enter the game. As he looked around, he struggled to get up. Something huge was over him and he had no idea where he was. He was able to roll onto his stomach and lift his head slightly. It was then that he realized he was in a drainage pipe. He slowly made his way to the opening and looked around.
At first he thought he was in the zoo again, but saw a playground in the distance. There were kids on the swings. What the hell are children doing here? I have to save them! Drew was frantic. He knew he had to do something to keep them safe, but he was also cautious about getting to them undetected.
Drew slithered out of the pipe, careful not to make splashing noises in the small stream below. Crawling up the slight bank, he found a small group of bushes and crouched low behind them. As he readied his firearm, he heard a noise and looked toward the swings. In front of the children he saw a man running. Once of the boys lifted his arm and that’s when Drew realized that he had a gun. The child fired the gun and perhaps it was because he was a kid, but the sound was so much louder than normal to Drew.
Drew took cover, once again, behind the bushes. There are children in this game. What kind of a monster does this to kids? Drew moved away from the playground. He no longer wanted to be a part of this game. He knew the only way out was to win or lose. He had to win…and fast.
As he made his way through the park, he found himself wondering where Max was. He also wondered if she had ever encountered children in the game. She never mentioned it to Drew, so he was hoping she hadn’t had the misfortune. All of a sudden, out of the shadows he heard a bird call. It was the first sound of nature Drew had heard in the game and he quickly realized that it was made not by a bird, but by a person. He looked toward the area the sound came from and saw Max, peeking her head out from behind a water fountain.