‘Mommy?’ she said, as she focussed on Kristin and the dirty bearded man who was holding her from behind.
‘It’s OK, baby. Mom’s just fine. You stay put.’ Kristin fought back the tears so Emily wouldn’t see her crying.
Harley pressed his tongue against the back of her neck and she cried out in shock. Any assurance that Emily had felt disappeared and she started to hyperventilate. ‘Mommy?’
‘For God’s sake. Aren’t you going to stop him?’ Vincent growled, directing his anguish towards Fukes.
Fukes rolled his eyes and approached Kristin, moving his gaze over the curves of her body. He then looked at Harley, nodding his head towards the door. ‘You wanna take this outside? No need for the kid to see.’
‘No!’ Vincent sat Emily on the floor and started to get up again. He’d only got to his knees before Fukes turned his gun on him.
‘I know what you’re thinkin’, Vin: you wanna kill me, right?’
‘Yes,’ Vincent said, clenching his jaw tight.
‘Truth is I don’t take any pleasure from it. I just know what makes people tick. That’s why they follow me. And what makes Harley tick is ass. As long as he gets some, he continues to cover mine. It’s how my world keeps turnin’. So you’ll just have to suck it up.’
Vincent’s whole body shook. He was so overcome with emotion he couldn’t force another word out.
Fukes smiled. ‘It’s one of those things where you gotta swallow your pride and get over it. It’s gonna get a lot worse when our buddies arrive. You see, they both like ass too.’
Vincent had forgotten about his daughter in that moment. He stared down the barrel, ready to meet what came from it when he tried to rush their captors. He happened to glance at Kristin. Through her tears, he saw a calmness in her eyes. She lifted her hands above her waist and opened them, telling him to hold back, and somehow, he found the strength to do so.
Ethan watched it unfold. He also thought about making a run for them, but Harley had the drop on him. ‘You’re fucking psychopaths!’ he muttered.
‘Little melodramatic, don’t ya think?’ Fukes said. ‘Last time I checked, mental health was determined by a shrink. Don’t see many around these days.’
‘Let’s go.’ Harley shoved Kristin towards the steps.
‘Mommy will be back soon,’ Kristin said. She mouthed the words, ‘I love you’ to Vincent.
Vincent bowed his head, defeated. He put his arms around his daughter again and covered her face.
‘Nothin’s really changed in this world. You still gotta compromise. Some folks have to compromise more than others,’ Fukes said.
Outside, Harley dragged Kristin around to the side of the building by her arm and threw her against the wall. He licked his lips and moved his hand down to his inner thigh, damp with sweat. He rested his shotgun on the ground and stepped up to her. Pushing her hard to the wall, he began massaging her shoulders with his thumbs, leering over her cleavage.
Kristin raised her chin in defiance, never averting her gaze from his. ‘Just get on with it, and keep your filthy hands off my daughter.’
‘She’s safe. I don’t do kids, lady.’
‘You think that redeems you somehow?’
‘Yeah, it does. Little girls are innocent, but big girls always know their shit.’ He pushed one of his large thighs between her legs, forcing them open. She did her best to resist, but her shoes slid on the concrete base surrounding the Management Centre. ‘Bitches who’ve been married as long as you have, they get their second wind.’ He reached up and undid the top three buttons of her shirt to reveal the trim of her black bra. ‘They experiment to keep their relationship fresh. Keep their husband satisfied. Now you’re gonna show me the things you showed him.’
Harley used his other hand to unbutton the flies of his jeans while he ran his fingers down her neck and over her breasts. ‘I’ll decide whether you’ve shown me enough, but don’t worry, I won’t make you go all out. I want you to save some surprises for the other times. We’re gonna have a whole lot of time. Now take off that bra and show me them titties.’ He took one step away from her so he could get a better view.
Kristin almost gasped when she saw Raine looming up behind him. Somehow, she’d managed to get a few feet away before she’d even noticed. Raine’s expression was ice-cold. She didn’t acknowledge Kristin; her focus was on the back of the intruder’s head.
Kristin knew she still had a captive audience. Harley was already sliding a clumsy hand down the front of his pants. She took control and unbuttoned the rest of her shirt, opening it to show the flat of her tummy.
‘Oh yeah,’ Harley purred. ‘You work out, don’t you? You business types always look after your bodies. It’s how you get ahead. Sucking that cock all the way to the top. I can’t promise mine will smell as sweet as theirs, but it’ll definitely make an impression.’
Kristin slid one finger under the left strap of her bra and unhooked it from her shoulder. Harley’s greasy face gurned with approval. ‘That’s it. Just go with it. It’ll be a lot less painful.’
Raine’s shadow was now covering him, and her fists were clenched.
‘I can’t promise that,’ Kristin said.
Harley frowned. ‘Huh?’
Right before Raine pounced, Kristin looked into her eyes – the deadness she saw there scared her. She locked her right arm around Harley’s neck. Her tight, sculpted muscles popped and her bicep pressed into his throat. The big man tried to call out, but could only choke. She pulled upwards with all of her strength, pushing down on his shoulder with her free hand. Harley flailed hopelessly, forced onto tiptoes. He groaned and grabbed at Raine’s arm, but there was no leverage for him to exploit.
Raine gritted her teeth and twisted. The snap that came after was clean and final. As soon as his body went limp, the weight became too much for her and she dropped him. He landed awkwardly, one of his legs bent underneath him, the fractured vertebrae pushing out the skin on the side of his neck.
‘Fukes, stop this. You can stop this,’ Ethan said. ‘If you’re really considering letting us live here, how do you think it’s going to work if you let this happen?’
‘Save it, Ethan,’ Vincent said. He glared at an empty section of floor, still comforting his traumatised daughter.
‘Vin gets it: there’s got to be some give and take,’ Fukes said. ‘Later on, we’re gonna help you fix that fence. One of our buddies used to work in construction. We’ll have it up in no time and keep these bastards out of our patch. There’s enough food and power to go round.’
‘That sounds just like Disney World. We’re all going to be so happy together,’ Ethan said.
Fukes bent over to get closer to him. ‘I might make you my errand boy. You can shine my fuckin’ boots every time you open that smart ass-mouth.’
Ethan raised his eyebrows and sighed. ‘I’ve never seen a pair of jack-boots on a black guy before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.’
Fukes put his foot into Ethan’s chest and forced him flat on his back. ‘I can’t see how this arrangement will ever get boring.’ After he spoke, Fukes heard the light patter of feet on the platform. He looked up to see that Raine had already launched herself from the stairs. He raised his gun to get off a shot, only to be kneed in the chest and knocked to the ground. They both scrambled to get up and started grappling with Fukes’s six-shooter.
Raine caught hold of his wrist, trying to force the gun away from her. As its barrel moved towards the area where Vincent and Emily were sitting, Vincent turned his back on the struggle to cover his daughter. The gun went off and the bullet struck him.
Raine regained her balance and thrust her knee into Fukes’s stomach. Winded, he dropped his weapon, then countered her blow with a right hook. She took it full on the chin and stumbled into the digital map table. Before she could recover, he was onto her, his hands closing around her throat. Now face to face, they glared into each other’s eyes. Fukes grimaced, flashing his gold
tooth, as the pressure to her neck began to close her airways.
Kristin made her way down the steps, still shaken by Harley’s assault, wielding his shotgun. But however much she tried, she couldn’t get a clean shot at Fukes without running a serious risk of hitting Raine in the process.
Contorting herself, Raine managed to break his hold, twisting his arms at the elbows until they locked. The next thing he felt was Raine’s forehead connecting with his nose. The cartilage crunched on impact and they released each other. Incensed by the sting and sudden rush of blood from his nostrils, he kicked out and Raine walked into it. The toe of his boot thudded into her crotch. The vibration it sent through her pelvic bone turned her stomach and she doubled over.
Fukes was now standing over her, raising his fist. Kristin screamed. She ran at him, holding the shotgun over her head, her open shirt flapping at her sides. He welcomed her charge with a slap to the face that sent her skidding to the floor.
Raine recovered and threw herself into the fight again, wrestling face-to-face with Fukes. He got underneath her and hoisted her onto his shoulder. He carried her around the table and tossed her, screaming, into the banks of computer desks. Her elbow shattered a monitor screen, before she rolled off one of the desks and smashed down on a computer rig.
Struggling to breathe through his broken nose, Fukes turned to search for his gun. Ethan jumped on his back, straddling his waist and clinging to him like a limpet. Fukes twirled round several times in an attempt to free himself, but Ethan sank his teeth into the man’s ear. Fukes cried out when he felt the bite cut into his connective tissue. He bent on one knee to shift his weight and Ethan toppled over his back, landing at his feet.
Fukes reached up to the bloody, chewed-up mess at the side of his head, feeling the uneven ridge where the top of his pinna used to be. His face tightened with rage and he stamped down on Ethan.
Ethan did his best to protect his head as the blows kept coming. One stamp connected with his ribs, knocking the wind out of him. Just as he realised he no longer had the strength to protect himself, Fukes stopped.
Ethan peered through his fingers and saw Raine had returned. She was holding a broken shard from the casing of a computer rig. She’d already shoved the jagged piece of carbon into Fukes’s neck, puncturing his larynx. He clawed at the offending object, but didn’t have the energy to remove it. Panic welled in his eyes, and his breaths turned to desperate gargles. Raine had twisted it deep, and as she yanked it from the wound she’d created, a jet of blood sprayed her face and chest.
Still gargling, Fukes dropped to his knees. Ethan scrambled backwards before the criminal could fall face down on top of him.
In the wake of so much violence, the Management Centre was suddenly plunged into silence – the only noise was the gentle hum of the computer servers.
Kristin shook herself from her daze and raced over to her family. Vincent gingerly turned his body so he was no longer shielding Emily. He winced as he tried to move his arm, and Kristin saw the bloodied hole in his shirt. ‘God, you’ve been shot.’
‘I think I’m OK,’ he said.
‘Mommy.’ Emily crawled over her father and put her arms around Kristin.
‘It’s OK, baby. Daddy’s fine; we’re all fine.’ She pushed her fingers through the hole in Vincent’s shirt and tore the material open. She was relieved to see that there was both an entry and an exit wound. The bullet had missed the bone and passed straight through the muscle. They both looked up when they heard the broken shard fall from Raine’s hand and hit the floor.
She walked towards them, stopping short of Salty’s unconscious body. She was panting like a wounded animal; she was drenched in sweat and blood, her body at breaking point.
Ethan, Vincent, Kristin and Emily all stared at her in awe and in fear, unable to process the burst of brutality they had been caught up in and how they had somehow all survived it. Raine was keenly aware that their eyes were on her, and responded by glaring back at them.
Their stare-off was interrupted by the stuttered hiss of a radio transmission.
Ethan checked his walkie, but it wasn’t coming from there. Bruised and stiff from his beating, he crawled over to Fukes’ fresh corpse and lifted his jacket. Fukes’ walkie was still clipped to his pants. The hiss from its speaker was soon replaced by a human voice.
‘Hey, Fukes. Come in, you asshole. We’re on our way.’
Episode Six
The Breach
1
The voice crackled through the speaker of the walkie again. ‘Just makin’ a stop first. We’ve found a nice haul nearby. Be a couple of hours.’
The group listened intently, delaying their next breath.
‘You fucks better roll out the red carpet, cause we’ve hit pay dirt.’ There was a pause, and the voice returned. ‘Hey, you found any pussy in there? Deer or coyote ‘ll do. I ain’t proud right now. Haha.’
The two women shared a look, Raine’s eyes wandering down to Kristin’s open shirt and the pink skin of her midriff.
The radio clipped to Fukes’ body fell silent. Raine recommenced her panting and bent over to pick up the assault rifle. The others were still mesmerised by the beast she’d unleashed from within. ‘The showers?’ she said.
‘Head east. The bathroom block is between the visitor centre and parking lot,’ Kristin said as she applied pressure to the wound on Vincent’s arm.
Raine pointed down to her feet, where Salty was lying motionless. ‘Somebody better see to him.’ She then stormed out, leaving the rest of them to deal with the aftermath of their violent struggle.
‘Come on, baby. Get up.’ Kristin put her arms around Vincent’s waist and helped him to his feet.
He grimaced, trying to keep his arm still.
She guided his hand to the bullet hole and pressed against it. ‘Keep pressure on it.’
Clinging to her father’s shirttails, Emily followed them to the nearest chair. She hugged him as soon as he sat down.
Kristin went to work, tearing the sleeve off her own shirt to fashion it into a tourniquet. Ethan gazed at the dead body and the blood pooling in front of him. He felt something rolling around in his mouth – a bitter-tasting gristle. He realised what it was and spat it out immediately. He wiped a hand across his mouth and noticed Kristin struggling to tend to her husband.
‘Can I do anything to help?’ he asked.
‘I think I saw a first-aid kit fixed to the wall back there,’ she replied.
Ethan stepped over Fukes, careful not to touch him, and headed further into the building.
Kristin pulled the torn piece of fabric tight above Vincent’s wound. He gritted his teeth and sucked in. Her open shirt caught his attention, and so did the bruise forming around her left eye where Fukes had struck her.
‘Are you OK?’ he asked. He reached up to her cheek.
‘Fine. There was nothing you could have done but what you did,’ she said.
Emily forced her way in between them and buried her face into Vincent’s lap, smearing the dried blood still in her hairline onto his jeans.
‘She was attacked. She became non-responsive for a while due to the shock. We need to keep a close eye on her,’ he said.
Kristin frowned at the knowledge of her daughter’s experience. Then she paused for thought, looking around at the centre’s open-plan layout. ‘Where’s Adam?’
Vincent felt Emily’s arms tighten around him at the mention of the boy’s name. ‘He had to… go,’ he said.
Before she could respond, Ethan got back, holding a plastic first-aid box. He passed it to Kristin, who opened it up and picked out saline solution, antiseptic, sterile gauze pads, and bandages. She also removed a small glass container full of an off-white liquid and handed it to Ethan.
‘It’s ammonia – for him.’ She looked over to where Salty lay.
‘Right.’ Ethan took the bottle and moved to the man’s side.
Kristin soaked some cotton wool in saline so she could start to clean
the entry and exit wounds.
‘As soon as this is dressed and Jake’s back on his feet, we should grab what we can and get out of here.’
‘I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,’ Vincent said, straining to speak through his discomfort.
‘What?’
‘Things are bad, but do you really think it will be any better out there?’
Kristin’s eyes widened in disbelief. ‘Vincent, you were just shot. I presume Adam’s dead, and Emily could have been too.’
‘I know. I was there.’
‘So why are we even discussing this?’
‘OK, say we go. Say we just pack up and leave before those other men get here. Where do we go? Do you know of a place? If you do, please tell me and I’ll be right behind you.’
She shook her head. ‘This is insane.’
‘Twenty minutes ago our daughter was catatonic. Look at us – we’re in no shape to go anywhere right now.’
‘So what do you suggest we do? Do you think we can stand another fight like that one?’
‘They won’t be able to get past the main gate unless we open it for them, but Ethan and I found a hole on the west side of the fence. We have to see to that right away.’
Ethan flipped Salty onto his back. It didn’t seem as though the fall had caused him any serious facial injuries. When he waved the smelling salts under Salty’s nose, his nostrils twitched and he began to stir. His eyes opened and focussed on the ceiling, and he immediately sat up with a jolt, then relaxed a little when he saw Ethan leaning over him. To his right, he noticed Fukes, lying in his own blood.
‘What happened?’
‘Miller. Miller happened,’ Ethan said.
‘Miller?’ Salty groaned.
‘Yeah. She… she changed.’
Salty reached up to feel the sore bump on his head. ‘Any ideas who they were?’
‘Bad news. They got in through that hole I told you about.’
‘There really was a breach?’
‘An electrical fire must have brought a tree down on the cables. It’s a mess.’
Everything Dies [Season One] Page 17