The Colony (Book 4): Escape

by Lanza, Marie

  * * *

  Emma felt groggy as she woke. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept so hard. With her eyes still closed, she could tell it was still dark out. She could still hear the buzz from outside. All the little haunting moans from beyond the windows was like living on a busy street and listening to the traffic from inside the comfort of your living room. Background noise you eventually grow used to and if you don’t pay attention, you don’t even hear it after a while.

  Then, there was a moan coming from somewhere besides the play yard. Emma opened her eyes to black. As she let her eyes adjust, she could feel its presence. Emma searched the room.

  Andy. Andy’s gone.

  Emma slowly pulled her knife from its sheath strapped to her leg. She looked around more not wanting to make any loud movements.

  Where’s Andy.

  Emma began to get anxious. Andy was gone.

  She listened.

  The familiar wheezing breath. The shuffle of its feet sliding against the ground. Then the smell. A cold shiver went down Emma’s spine. Her eyes were well adjusted now and she could see the classroom door was open. A Carrier was in the room.

  Emma stayed very still as its groaning grew closer. Emma caught sight of the shadowy figure limping along the barrier of desks. She brought her face lower to the ground. Small feet. Emma brought herself back up and positioned herself in a defensive crouch. She needed to organize her thoughts. She needed to process each thought individually, clearly, because her brain was an overwhelming mess with everything running full speed. Emma was about to kill a child. Deep down she understood that it was a Carrier, something no longer alive. It would kill her the second it had a chance to sink its teeth in her. But she couldn’t get over the thought of her knife plunging into the small body. She needed to think fast, as the little feet slowly made its way closer to her. Emma needed to think past killing this little Carrier. She needed to find Andy.

  Where the fuck is Andy?

  One thought at a time. One step at a time.

  The little feet shuffled around the barrier of desks. It was a little girl.

  Emma let out a soft cry.

  This little girl couldn’t be more than seven years old. She was covered in filth with part of her lower lip ripped off and a gaping wound in her neck. It stared for only a second before realizing it had run into a meal. It growled and snapped its teeth in the air, bursting forward towards Emma.

  It’s not a little girl. Gather your thoughts.

  Maybe I can just push it aside and run.

  No time.

  Emma stood up and raised her knife as the little Carrier lurched closer.

  “Dammit!” Emma screamed and plunged the blade in the little girl’s head. It was an easy kill, but a kill Emma would never forget.

  The little body collapsed to the ground.

  Emma couldn’t hold the vomit back, then the tears followed. She laid on the floor, waiting for the tears to stop before pulling herself together, gathering her bags and heading towards the open door. Emma approached in full caution mode. There were no other sounds besides the continuous moans from outside. “Andy?” She called out in a whisper. “Andy!”

  There was nothing.

  Emma peeked out the door. She was grateful for the open roof in the building, allowing the moonlight to stream in, letting her see for quite a distance around the court yard.

  Emma stepped out, staying close against the wall as she moved down towards the first corridor. She took a deep breath before looking around the wall.

  She saw movement from her left side and flinched. Emma was punched hard in the side of the face, causing her to tumble back and strike her head against the brick floor. Stars exploded across her vision and everything around her seemed slightly faded. Before she could gain her balance the fist met her face again, and then again. Emma tried to gain her balance. She tried to focus on something else. Anything else.

  * * *

  Emma’s head pounded. She knew immediately that her hands were tied behind her back. When she opened her eyes, a little face was staring at her. Emma didn’t know she could move so fast laying down, throwing her body backwards before the little face could take a bite out of her. The little girl jumped away.

  Emma quickly gained her composure and realized this was no Carrier. This little girl was very alive, maybe ten years old and looked as though she had been crying.

  “Where am I?’

  The little girl didn’t answer.

  “Honey, it’s ok. Can you tell me where I am?”

  “You’re at the elementary school.”

  “OK. OK. Can you untie me?”

  The little girl only shook her head, No.

  Emma looked around the room. The windows were all boarded. Her bags were laying on the desk at the front of the classroom.

  “He’s gonna come back.”

  “Who? Who’s coming back?”

  The door opened. It was daytime.

  The little girl sat in a desk and turned her back to Emma.

  Three men entered. The first was short, bald and had a gut that these days, surprised Emma. The other two looked ragged, skinny, ‘the muscle’, Emma thought, but ironically, not much of it.

  “Ah, there she is. Welcome!” The bald man said.

  Emma was more confused than she had ever been, “Welcome?”

  The bald man smiled, looked at his side kicks and back to Emma. “Yes, welcome! My name’s Roy, this is Johnny,” Roy pointed to his left. “And this is Jimmy,” Roy pointed to the man on his right. “Oh, sorry about the ties but you understand we just have to get to know our new friends before we let you just walk freely.”

  “And bash their faces in?”

  “That was just a misunderstanding. You see, one of our little ones escaped and Jimmy here thought you were her.”

  Emma was sure she was staring at a crazy man. His smile was obscenely big as he spoke and all Emma could think about was wiping it off his face. The man’s eyes were wild as he spoke, and he never made direct eye contact with her.

  “Alright, so Jimmy will be back in to get you so you can get cleaned up, and we’ll get you ready for dinner.” The bald man continued.

  The three men left and closed the door behind them, then the lock clicked.

  “Hey sweetie,” Emma called out to the little girl. “My name is, Emma. Can you tell me your name?”

  “Sarah.”

  “OK. Sarah, can you look at me?” Emma asked.

  Sarah turned around in her desk and looked at Emma.

  “Sarah, I need you to do me a favor and come help me get out of these ties.”

  Sarah stood up reluctantly. She looked back at the door then to Emma.

  “Honey, don’t worry about those men. OK? I can get us out of here if you come untie me.” Emma was stressed.

  Sarah made her way over to Emma and kneeled down behind her. Emma quickly positioned herself to make it easier for Sarah to get her hands around the ties.

  “Thank you, Sarah. Where are your parents, Honey?”

  Sarah struggled with the rope. “My, my momma is dead. They took my dad.”

  Emma tried in vain to look over her shoulder at the little girl’s progress. “Do you know where they took him?”

  “They separated us. They took my daddy and I saw them put him in a classroom with all the other men.”

  Sara loosened the ropes so that Emma was able to wiggle her wrists free. She didn’t realize how tight the bounds were until the blood began rushing through her hands, sending a painful tingle through her fingers. “There were more kids too. I’m the last kid I think.” Sarah continued with a slight whimper in her voice.

  “Sarah, can you tell me anything about this place? Like how many people you’ve seen, and I’m talking bad guys not good guys like your dad.”

  “We met a man who brought us here. He said they were helping people. Daddy trusted him and we came here. Everything seemed good and then Dad saw the kids. When we tried to sneak out
…,” Sarah began to cry.

  Emma hugged the little girl, “It’ll be OK.” Emma took Sarah’s hand and ran over to her bags; the weapons were gone. Emma looked down at her body, patting down all the way to her ankles. “It’s our lucky day.” Emma pulled out a small pocket knife from her boot.

  A key hit the lock. Emma put the knife in her pocket, picked up a chair and moved behind the door.

  When the door opened, the man known as Jimmy entered. Emma didn’t waste a second, swinging down the chair into the man’s head, knocking him to the ground. Emma quickly followed with a swift kick to his head, then another, and another. The man was out cold.

  “Sarah, toss me the ropes!”

  Sarah didn’t hesitate.

  Emma quickly tied the man’s hands, tight enough where his skin began to turn purple from the loss of circulation.

  He wasn’t out long, and began to groan in pain.

  “Get up you son of a bitch!” Emma kicked him in the back.

  The man struggled to his knees. Emma grabbed his arm and lifted, pulling him up to his feet and dumping him in a desk seat.

  “You’re gonna tell me everything I want to know, Asshole.” Emma paced back and forth. “Where’s my friend.”

  Jimmy didn’t speak.

  “I’m not gonna ask you again. I’m just gonna kill you, then go look for him myself.”

  “He’s fine, alright?”

  “That’s not good enough. What the hell is this place and where is my friend?” Emma pulled her knife. It was the smaller of her knives but it would get the job done if she needed to use it. She began patting down Jimmy. She pulled a knife from his pocket, then slid her hands down his legs to his ankles. There were no other weapons.

  “He’s in the corridor down the hall. They’re prepping him for dinner.” Jimmy smirked.

  Emma was sick to her stomach. It hit her instantly. They were dinner. Dinner for all the children in the play yard was the only thing that made sense.

  “Why are you feeding those things?” Emma placed the blade to Jimmy’s throat.

  “I don’t know, lady! I work for a crazy man. Guy thinks he can build an army or something!”

  Emma walked over to the desk at the front of the room and began digging in drawers. She pulled a roll of duct tape out and walked back over to Jimmy. Emma tore a strip from the roll and placed it over his mouth.

  “I’m not going to kill you. I think I’ll just let those little monsters you created do it.”

  Emma turned to Sarah, “Sarah, turn around honey, look at the door.” As the little girl turned her back, Emma reached down and sliced at the back of Jimmy’s ankles, cutting through his Achilles tendon. Blood rushed out, staining his pants and pooling on the floor around his feet.

  Jimmy screamed in muffled agony. His face was bright red with the look of horror in his eyes.

  Emma moved to Sarah and, gently putting her hand on the little girl’s back, whispered, “lets get out of here.”

  Emma opened the door slowly and looked before stepping out. Sarah followed, leaving the door slightly ajar behind her, muffling the suppressed screams of Jimmy.

  The open area was still empty. Emma, with Sarah holding her hand and trailing slightly behind her, made their way to the other side to the entrance of the first corridor.

  “Do you know what’s down here Sarah?” Emma asked.

  “I just remember it being empty. At the end there’s a door to where they took my dad and another door, where we came in. It goes outside and there are little buildings where people live behind the school. The bad people,” Sarah explained.

  “And you’re sure it’s this hall?”

  Sarah stared blankly in the darkness.

  Emma didn’t need Sarah to say anything as her face gave her the answers she needed. Sarah had no idea which hall her father, and hopefully Andy, was being held captive. She was a scared little girl, and Emma couldn’t blame her.

  Emma took a moment, looking into the darkness of the hallway. It was as silent as it was the night before when she and Andy arrived. Emma knew there was another corridor but no matter what, she had a fifty-fifty shot of walking down the right one.

  “Alright,” she whispered. “You stay close.” Emma moved slowly down the hallway. Her eyes struggled to adjust, letting her vision catch only a few feet in front of her at once.

  Emma tried to slow down her breathing, but her heart still raced with adrenaline, causing her head to feel light and mildly dizzy. Sarah was so quiet, Emma looked back several times to make sure she was still behind her.

  Emma glided one hand along the wall until it ended in a corner that turned to the right. She listened for a moment before blindly turning the corner. As she turned, she saw a beam of light leaking from under a door. Emma stayed still and listened. She could hear voices in the room, but nothing was clear.

  Emma wished for her gun. She knew she had been lucky to catch Jimmy off guard. Emma wasn’t interested in pressing that luck to see if she could fight against every man that came her way. But, she had to find Andy. She owed it to Andy to fight for him. Andy was her family now. He was all she had, and all she could trust.

  The door opened, and Emma pressed against the wall, holding Sarah firm at her side. The short bald man held the door while Johnny walked out. They spoke a few more seconds in the doorway but Emma couldn’t hear them. She stood there, silent in the darkness of the hallway, practically holding her breath. Her heart beat was so loud in her ears that she was sure they would be able to hear the pumping in her chest. Emma pushed on Sarah giving her the signal to back up. They stayed planted against the wall, sliding down till they reached the end. Sarah made it around the corner, then Emma. Emma never took her eyes off the men. They stood and watched as Johnny finished up his conversation with Roy. Johnny stepped out of the lit doorway and moved down the corridor in the opposite direction. Roy turned and went back into the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

  “Sarah, I need to get into that room. When I go in I want you to stay by the door. If anyone comes down the hall, you scream as loud as you can and run.” Emma whispered as softly as she could.

  Sarah nodded.

  Emma didn’t know how much time she had, so she moved quickly down the hall. Her movements were swift and as stealthy as her speed would allow. Her mind was focused on what she might be getting herself into. At the door, Emma stopped, and carefully peeked in.

  It was another classroom, a large teacher’s desk sat at the head of the room, with small desks still lined up in rows, as the students had probably left them. Roy and his fat belly stood on the other side of the room with his back turned, staring out a window to the same play yard Emma and Andy had seen the night before. He just stood there, watching all the children stumble around in their doomed state.

  Emma’s eyes darted around the room searching for anything she could use to subdue Roy. Her eyes caught the barrel of a rifle leaning against one of the small desks. It was closer to Roy, so Emma made a plan.

  Knock him back with a chair, grab the rifle, hold him hostage… or kill him.

  This had to work.

  Emma waited another moment, a small doubt nagged her, but she didn’t see another option. Her heart continued to hammer in her chest. She had one chance, one opportunity to get this man down and question him. If Johnny ended up returning, she’d have Roy as leverage. This plan had to work.

  Not wanting to waste another minute, Emma entered, grabbing the desk chair closest to her. Roy turned around startled by the noise at the door, but didn’t have time to understand what was happening before being hit by the flying chair. He stumbled back into the window, catching the attention of the little Carriers just outside. They were just barely able to look over the wall and into the room.

  Emma was fast to grab the rifle and aim, “Don’t fucking move!”

  Roy put his hands up looking shocked but was quick to put on the smile Emma hated. “Now, now let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m sure there’s a
misunderstanding somewhere…”

  He must have been a used car salesman, Emma thought.

  “No misunderstanding here. You have my friend, you have others. And you’re feeding those things out there.”

  “No you’ve got this all wrong. We just needed to make sure you were friends. I mean you did sneak in to our property in the middle of the night. Gave us a scare, is all. Matter of fact, I was just coming to get you to show you around. Let’s talk this over.” Roy began to slowly move along the wall away from Emma and towards a shelf, that Emma saw held a radio.

  “Did you not hear me, I said don’t move or I’ll put a bullet in you!”

  Roy stopped.

  “Now, you listen to me carefully. I want my friend and I want him like yesterday.” Emma placed one foot in front of the other, slowly stepping towards Roy as she spoke.

  Roy’s facial expression changed from his fake car salesman smile to angry and almost sinister. “Go ahead you bitch. The second that gun fires your friends are dead. My men will unleash hell on you. You’re very wrong if you think for a second that you’ll make it out of here alive. You see, you’re in my house. Those things out there are my guard dogs, my alligators in a moat.”

  “Tell, me, why children?” Emma had to ask.

  “Easier to control.” The words came easily to Roy. In an instant move, Roy jumped towards the desk, grabbed the radio and shouted, “Release the children!”

  A deafening thunder erupted through the room, bringing ringing to Emma’s ears.

  Then, it was silent. Neither Emma, nor Roy moved.

  It was just a moment later, Emma realized what she had done. Roy dropped to his knees, looked down at his belly, to the bullet hole that Emma blew in him. Blood seeped through, drenching his clothes.

  “My children will come for you.” Roy dropped, face down.

  He was dead.

  * * *

  Emma held the rifle in one hand and Sarah’s hand in the other. They ran blindly through the dark corridors. Emma checked every door, and shouted out for Andy. Emma and Sarah reached the last door and opened it.