Collapse (New America)

by Richard Stephenson

  "We only have one vehicle and we can't leave on foot. We’ll just have to watch for them from the hallway and kill them before they get in the door."

  "You sure they're coming? They might decide to move on.”

  "Trust me, they're coming. They know we're here. Not a lot of buildings left in town that we could be in; they don't have many places to look. Just a matter of time."

  Max and Deputy Collins crept down the hallway to the front entrance of the school. Max kicked in the door to one of the classrooms with windows overlooking the parking lot. The visibility was low due to the rain; however, they would still be able to see a vehicle coming from either direction.

  They didn't have to wait long.

  "Are they fucking serious? Are they really driving down the road flashing the red and blues?" asked Collins.

  "Well, we know they aren't too bright. Probably living out some childhood fantasy. I'm surprised they aren't running the sirens," answered Max.

  Max's SUV was leading the convoy with the other two police trucks following. They turned off the main road and headed toward the parking lot. From their vantage point, Max and Deputy Collins were less than ten feet away from the front entrance. The thugs would walk right into their trap.

  The three stolen police cars pulled up into the circle in front of the school. As Jack and his two henchmen exited the stolen vehicles, Max noticed that one of the thugs was bleeding from his right arm. He had tried to wrap it with a towel but had done a poor job of it.

  "Jack, this shit hurts! It won't stop bleeding!"

  "Relax, you pussy. Stop being a fucking baby! We find this command post and I'm sure they'll have medical supplies."

  "You think it's in here? I don't see any vehicles or anything."

  "This has to be it. That rundown shithole of a hospital was barely standing. This school looks to be in decent shape; the command post has to be in there."

  "What are we gonna do?" asked the injured henchman.

  "Well, let’s keep it simple. Maybe we can get them to come to us." Jack reached for the hand mike and shouted. “Attention! This is the police!"

  "I didn't hear anything," said the injured henchman.

  "Shit, this is the loudspeaker. What the hell? Oh, here it is; guess I should turn it on." Jack flipped a red switch and a light came on. "This is the police! Uhh, we're looking for the command post. We’re here to help you guys. Someone come out and meet us and take us inside."

  "You think it worked?"

  "I don't know, dummy. Let's wait a minute or two and see if anyone comes out."

  Max looked over at Deputy Collins and rolled his eyes.

  "You think we should go inside?" asked the injured henchman.

  "Might as well, come on! The two henchmen started up the walk to the front door, with Jack following close behind.

  Max quickly looked over and pointed at Collins and held up one finger, then he pointed to himself and held up two fingers. You take the first one; I'll take the second one. Collins nodded his head. The three thugs stepped onto the curb and walked under the awning to the front door. As they took a step towards the door, Collins opened fire on the first man. The first two rounds hit his vest; the third round hit him in the throat, lodging in his spine. Once he fell to the ground, Max opened fire on the second man with three quick shots. He only needed one. The first round hit the thug square in the nose and blew a hole out the back of his head. The second round went into the parking lot and dinged off the handicapped parking sign. The third round grazed Jack's left arm, sending him in a nosedive behind some bushes. Collins emptied his weapon into the bushes and quickly reloaded.

  "Get out there quick and finish him! I'll cover you! Go!" screamed Max. Collins bolted out the front door and rounded the corner to the sidewalk. As he paused for maybe a second trying to locate Jack, he was shot twice and fell to the ground. Max fired off four shots to keep Jack pinned down so he could get outside. He crouched low and moved over to Collins, relieved to see that he was alive. He studied him closely and was alarmed to see blood soaking his left thigh.

  "Collins! You still with me? Say something!"

  "Something," whispered Collins.

  Max peered over the bushes to the sidewalk. He could see a trail of blood drops leading down the sidewalk to the side of the building, but it was quickly washing away in the rain. Jack was nowhere in sight. Max had to get Collins inside to Dr. Stone. His leg was bleeding badly and chances were high that an artery had been severed. Max quickly made Collins sit up and from behind, wrapped his arms around his friend and hoisted him up.

  "Come on, Collins, work with me here. You got one good leg - use it! We have to get inside! You need to cover us both!" Max yelled, dragging Collins to the front door

  Max felt like his hip was melting out of his body it hurt so badly. He was preparing himself for the likelihood that his knee would shatter and hoped adrenaline would give him the strength to make it to the locker room. Every step was agonizingly painful for both men. As they headed for the locker room, Kathy and Dr. Stone sprinted to meet them. The group made it safely inside, with Elizabeth remaining in the doorway to provide cover.

  Once inside the locker room, Max collapsed. The pain in his hip and knee completely consumed him; the entire world faded away, and the only reality he knew was agonizing torture. He forgot about the hurricane and all the dead officers he once commanded. He desperately wanted to be free of the pain; death would be sweet relief. All he had to do was take the gun in his hand, raise it to his temple and pull the trigger. He longed for the end, to be taken away from all of this. Somewhere in the midst of his stupor, another sensation tried to compete for his attention. Someone was yelling at him. Someone was shaking him and slapping his face.

  "Chief Harris! Say something! Please, sir! Are you okay? C'mon now!" Trudy had taken hold of Max's hand and was slapping him back to reality.

  "Has he been shot?" questioned Elizabeth from the doorway.

  "I don't think so. He's not bleeding."

  Dr. Stone and Kathy had placed Deputy Collins on a cot and pulled off his shirt and vest. As Dr. Stone cut away his pants, blood sprayed from the bullet hole like water spewing from a garden hose, covering Dr. Stone and Kathy in the sticky, warm fluid. Dr. Stone quickly placed her hands on the wound and pressed down with all her weight.

  "Kathy, dig in that bag and pull out all the gauze. Get over here and apply pressure to this wound. I have to tie off that artery before he bleeds to death."

  Kathy did as she was told and pressed down on the wound as hard as she could. "Are you a surgeon? Can you do this?"

  “No, I’m not a surgeon and no, I haven’t done this before. Looks like I'm the only one qualified to try, unless someone else here is a doctor?" Dr. Stone looked up in time to see the top of Kathy's head explode, followed by the deafening roar of gunfire. Bullets flew around the room as chaos ensued. In the span of a few seconds, the looky loo who had admired Elizabeth in her bra and the young couple with the small children were all dead. Dr. Stone sank down to the floor and crawled in front of a foot locker. Elizabeth inched along the wall and using a sink for cover, returned fire.

  "Stay down, doc!" Elizabeth screamed.

  "Where is he?" screamed Dr. Stone.

  "He must have climbed over the rubble in the gym and found a hole in the wall!"

  "I have to get to Deputy Collins! He's going to bleed out!"

  "Doc, don't you dare move an inch! I mean it!"

  Elizabeth stayed behind the sink and scanned the damaged wall for a breach, hoping to find the shooter. As the noise subsided, the only sound that could be heard was the drip of sprayed blood hitting the floor around Deputy Collins. They waited for what seemed like an eternity. Dr. Stone watched as the spurts of blood from Deputy Collins’ leg became less violent, until finally they stopped completely. Deputy Collins was dead.

  Trudy screamed.

  Elizabeth turned in time to see two shots pierc
e Trudy’s chest. She fell to the floor not knowing that her dead husband was waiting for her on the other side. Elizabeth aimed her weapon at the door and walked in an arc so she could aim out into the hallway. The shooter hadn't fired on Max because he couldn't see him on the floor. He had fired at Trudy's silhouette. Elizabeth aimed out into the hallway. She fired three rounds and dropped the man to the floor. She held her aim as she closed the distance to the fallen man. She knew from very recent experience that getting shot with a bulletproof vest on was like getting knocked over by a sledgehammer. The man on the ground was down for the count, but he wasn’t dead. Elizabeth didn't hesitate to remedy that problem and shot him in the head three times.

  Walking into the locker room, Elizabeth knelt down next to Max and took his hand.

  "Sweetheart, I just killed one of them. How many are left?"

  "Last one. We're safe."

  "What's wrong with you? Tell me."

  "It's bad. I'm ready to cut off my leg. I did something to it."

  "Just stay right were you are." Then Elizabeth helped Dr. Stone off the floor. "It's okay, doc. It's over."

  Dr. Stone immediately sprang into action. She checked on the gunshot victims, only to find them all dead. She quickly scanned the room for the young couple's children and couldn’t find them. "Elizabeth! Help me find the children! I don't see them!"

  Elizabeth and Dr. Stone desperately searched every corner of the locker room, unable to find the infant or the toddler. Elizabeth walked over to the young couple and rolled the woman onto her side. She gasped in horror to discover that the woman had fallen on top of her baby.

  "Doc! I found the baby! Quick!" Elizabeth pried the infant from her mother's arms and handed her to Dr. Stone. Dr. Stone checked the baby for any signs of life. Tears streamed down her face as she shook her head. Elizabeth raised her hand to her mouth and stifled a sob. In an instant she regained her composure and resumed her search for the toddler.

  "Did he run off?" asked Dr. Stone.

  "No, he's in here. I've been watching the door since this started. Start opening lockers! I bet he's hiding."

  They quickly found the little two-year-old boy inside a locker with his hands over his ears. Elizabeth scooped him up and took a few quick steps away from the child's dead parents. She didn't know what to do with him so she started kissing his cheeks over and over. The little boy giggled. Elizabeth looked over to see Dr. Stone tending to Max.

  "Max, tell me what's wrong," she demanded.

  "It's my leg, doc. I can't move it."

  "But you can feel it?"

  "That I don't have a problem with. I feel so much pain I'm ready to put a bullet in my head."

  "Stop talking like that!" implored Elizabeth.

  "I'm sorry, I'm not going to, but it hurts worse than it ever has.

  Dr. Stone put her hands on Max's neck to check his pulse. "Tell me about the surgeries you’ve had."

  "I had a hip replacement."

  "Any pins in your leg?"

  "Yes."

  "How many?"

  "One very long rod with about a dozen pins drilled into my femur."

  "How many fractures did you suffer?"

  "My femur had two clean breaks."

  "Your hip is probably dislocated."

  "Well, it was worth it. We got Collins in here and saved his life. How is he?"

  Dr. Stone had practiced medicine for twenty-eight years. She was no stranger to delivering bad news and knew that sugar coating or dancing around it only made it worse.

  "He didn't make it."

  "Son of a bitch. What happened? I come to, only to find Trudy on the floor next to me and Elizabeth shooting the bastard that killed her."

  Elizabeth explained, "Asshole climbed up onto the rubble and found a hole, shot down into the locker room."

  "How many?" Max was afraid to ask.

  "Me, the doc, and this little guy are the only ones left." Elizabeth kissed the little boy, eager to hear that innocent giggle again.

  Max closed his eyes, and the thought of losing two more of his officers overwhelmed him. He hadn't pulled the trigger, but he felt responsible for their deaths all the same. He thought of the civilians lying dead around him, civilians whom he was responsible for protecting. Max thought back to the hurricanes that had wrecked his life before this one. The other ones were walks in the park compared to this one. Max wondered if he would be able to walk again.

  "OK, we need to give you something for the pain." Dr. Stone produced a pill bottle."

  "Tramadol?"

  "Yes, it should help."

  "I hope so. Wish you had something stronger."

  "It’ll have to do. It’s better than Tylenol."

  "No doubt about that. Elizabeth, take one of the vehicles and go get Charlie and his family."

  Elizabeth had already taken the keys to the SUV from Jack. "What about Rudy?"

  "He's dead."

  Neither woman questioned the lie Max had told Trudy. They understood why he had done it. "Anything else, boss?"

  "Just double check the armory for anything they might have left behind. And one more thing - I don't want you to put yourself in any danger, but if you happen to see my desk in the rubble, check the top drawer for my Vicodin. I need the good stuff if you expect me to leave this locker room."

  Elizabeth left the little boy with Dr. Stone and headed off to the police station. Dr. Stone was a grandmother of three and had no trouble with the little one. Max laid on the floor trying his best to remain perfectly still. Dr. Stone very delicately ran her hands up and down his leg trying to feel anything abnormal.

  "Your hip is definitely dislocated. The only good news is your femoral artery hasn't been compromised."

  "Can you pop it back in?"

  "Yes, I can do it with Elizabeth's help. I'd rather you were heavily sedated. We don't really have a choice. If we try to move you with your hip out of the socket, you could damage your leg and lose feeling in your foot. There's a good chance that you've done that already but we have to proceed on the assumption that you didn't. I sincerely hope Elizabeth finds your Vicodin."

  "Will popping it back in be that painful?"

  "Excruciating. If she finds the Vicodin, I'm planning on giving you so much that it would cause a normal person to overdose."

  Ten minutes later Elizabeth came back into the locker room. "Charlie and his family aren't at the station anymore. I have no idea what happened to them." She dug in her pocket and tossed Max a pill bottle. "Your desk was across the street from the station."

  "Well, it's about time something went our way," said Max.

  "How many do you normally take?" asked Dr. Stone.

  "Depends. Usually two every three hours."

  "Double it. After that we'll wait an hour and give you two more."

  "Sounds like a party!" Max took four pills.

  "What's going on?" Elizabeth looked at Dr. Stone.

  "Doctor's orders." Max winked at Elizabeth.

  "His hip is dislocated. You and I are going to pop it back in. The only way we can do hope to do that is with him heavily sedated."

  "Oh, fun. I can't wait!" Elizabeth said with much sarcasm.

  An hour after Max took the first four pills, they gave him two more and waited about thirty minutes. He was high as a kite and in a giddy mood. When the second dose kicked in, he slipped into a peaceful sleep. Dr. Stone checked his pulse and monitored his breathing for a minute.

  "Let's get started. I need you to keep him perfectly still. Lay down across his chest and hold his arms. I'll do the rest. If he wakes up, do your best to hold him still."

  Dr. Stone lifted Max's leg straight up in the air and bent his knee ninety degrees. She put the inside of his knee on her shoulder and hugged his thigh. In a very rapid motion, she threw her body forward and then leaned to the side. She heard a click and felt the ball of his artificial hip slide back into place. Max groaned and stirred, but didn’t w
ake up.

  "Did you do it? Is it over?" Elizabeth was still holding Max down.

  "Yes, it's done."

  "What do we do now?"

  "Wait for him to sleep off the Vicodin. We should get some rest while he's out. Elizabeth, what happens when he wakes up?"

  "We get the hell out of Texas and don't look back."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Captain Jackson Butler was standing three hundred yards behind Beck Estates. Next to him stood his top NCO, First Sergeant Matt Bankhead. Beck Estates was on full lockdown mode, and Captain Butler was determined to take it by whatever means necessary. Howard's Artificial Intelligence, Hal, had deployed some very effective counter-measures to keep his soldiers at bay. Butler had sent the first wave of soldiers to the two entrances on the backside of the mansion. They were promptly attacked by sentries on the roof. Howard had programmed the sentries to fire rubber bullets - not at the soldiers' torsos, but their heads. The move proved effective as the overwhelming majority of his soldiers fell to the ground, either unconscious or missing an eye. The soldiers that did make it to the outer wall of the mansion were powerless to enter the residence. All of the doors and windows had the same force fields covering them that Jackson had encountered in the grand library of the world's richest man. He ordered them to retreat, and Howard was kind enough to let them collect their fallen comrades and leave without being shot at. Butler figured Howard let them survive to illustrate to him that he only wanted them to leave his house alone and just go away. Jackson Butler had no intention of leaving.