by John Quick
Jake waited for her to move past him in the hallway, and then followed her into the bedroom at the end. He sat down on the bed while she opened the closet and began rummaging around in the boxes stacked in the bottom of it. Finally she emerged with a pair of jeans and a Guns ‘N Roses shirt that he’d been looking for over the last month. She offered them to him, thoughtfully making sure the flashlight wasn’t shining directly into his eyes as she did.
“No underwear,” she said. “So unless you want to try and squeeze into a pair of mine, you’ll have to rock it commando-style.”
“It’s fine,” he said, taking the clothes and dropping them beside him. He pulled out the pair of jeans and started wriggling into them. “Anything’s better than nothing, cold as I am.”
“Yeah, guess we didn’t get that fire going,” she agreed. “We need to do that so we can dry out the clothes we were wearing, but it can wait. I think that beer I bought you is still in the living room, should I grab you one and meet you on the back porch? If I remember right, you always want a smoke right after you wake up.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, buttoning the jeans. “That sounds great.”
“And we should probably talk about… what happened earlier.”
“Believe it or not, that also sounds great.”
“Good,” she said. She moved to her nightstand and pulled another small flashlight from the drawer. She turned it on, making sure it still worked before offering it to him. “I’ll meet you out back.”
She left the room, and as he pulled on the t-shirt, he could hear her rustling around in a plastic bag, then the slight clink of two bottles knocking against one another lightly. He stood up, and sighed as the pants sagged a little before stopping at his hips. He’d apparently lost some weight since he’d last worn these; of course, a steady diet of beer and cigarettes and not much else the last couple of weeks tended to have that effect. He took a couple of experimental steps to make sure the pants weren’t about to slide the rest of the way off, then nodded to himself and grabbed the light before leaving the room as well.
Carrie was exactly where she said she’d be, sitting in one of the deck chairs on her back patio, a beer already opened in her hand with another one sitting on the little table between the chairs. He noticed that his cigarettes were sitting there as well, with a book of matches resting on top of them. He sat down in the other chair, picked them up, and started peeling the cellophane from the top of the pack.
“Good thing it got as cool as it did,” Carrie said. “The beer’s a little warm, but still drinkable.”
He nodded idly, fished a smoke out of the pack, lit it, and then settled back in his chair before grabbing the beer. She’d already opened it for him, a testament to the good mood she was apparently in, despite everything she had to be concerned over. From what he remembered, it was rare enough for her to not complain about his drinking habits, and rarer still for her to actually unwind enough to have a drink with him. If she was even going so far as to open his beer for him, she was obviously seeing him in a favorable light.
He chased a drag from the cigarette with a drink of the beer, and wondered which he’d needed more. Both hit the spot, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized the most satisfying thing to him right now was just being here, with her, both of them relatively content. They still had important things to discuss, but for now, things couldn’t be much better.
“Did you look out front?” she finally asked after a few moments of comfortable silence.
“I did,” he replied. “Looks pretty bad. I don’t know if you’re going to be able to get your car any time soon.”
She waved the comment away. “That’s not what I meant. The rain’s let up, so did you happen to see who’s parked in Leanne’s driveway next door?”
He shook his head, then took another long pull from his beer.
“Assistant police chief, looks like,” she said, a smile playing across her lips. “Wonder if the storm finally made them wake up like it did us?”
Jake felt a moment of brief irritation at the thought of Pinkston being so close to him, and then decided it didn’t matter. If he was over there finally getting his dick wet, maybe he would cut Jake some slack in the future. “Who knows?”
Another silence descended on them, but as with the previous one, Jake didn’t feel the least bit uncomfortable. Even when he and Carrie had been dating, they’d both made an almost conscious effort to fill any lulls in the conversation with something, be it babbling bullshit or even sex, but now he no longer felt like that was needed. From the way she was acting, neither did Carrie.
“So,” she said, after swallowing another drink of her beer. “What happened tonight? I know what I think, but I’m curious about what you think.”
He’d been about to take another drink himself, but instead set the beer back on the little table and took another hit off his cigarette instead as he collected his thoughts. He couldn’t think of anything to say, so he figured he’d just try the honest truth.
“I’d like to think it was the start of a second chance,” he said. “I’d like for us to move past all that bullshit we went through, and see if we’re as good together as I hope we are. I know you’re good for me, at least, and while I’m no prize, I’d like to think I’m good for you, too.”
She nodded, but said nothing for a long moment where he wondered if he’d climbed out too far on that branch and whether or not she was about to cut it down.
“Are you serious about being done with Brandon?”
The question caught him off-guard. “Yeah, I am. All he does is get me in trouble, then laugh about it.”
She nodded again. “Good. If you’re serious about that, then I’m willing to give us another go. A serious one this time.”
She shifted slightly in her chair so she was facing him. “The way I see it, if you’re willing to cut him out of your life, then that means you’re serious about trying to grow up. As long as that’s the case, I’m willing to help you along, and stand by your side through it all, no matter how hard it gets. I’ll make a concerted effort to trust you at your word more, and I’ll try to keep a grip on the jealousy I apparently have. But if you do anything to make me think you’re just playing me, then that’s it. We’ll be done, and there’ll be no more chances. Can you live with that?”
Hearing his own thoughts from earlier in the day coming from her mouth actually caused his heartbeat to speed up a bit, even more than the sight of her naked and glistening from the dampness of her skin in the candlelight earlier. “I absolutely can live with that.”
“Good,” she said, straightening in her chair again. “Then should I consider myself back off the market?”
“Only if you want to,” he said, unsure how else to respond. “I’d like that, but I’m not going to force you into anything.”
Her face lit up at that. “You don’t have to say that, but I’d be lying if it wasn’t nice to hear. Need another one?”
She tipped her bottle his direction, and for the first time he noticed that his was nearly empty as well. “Yeah, if you’re offering, I’m accepting.”
“Good,” she said, getting to her feet. “We’ll finish those, then see if we can’t have a repeat performance, in an actual bed this time.”
She paused on her way to the door, and looked out over the back yard. “Damn.”
He turned and looked that way as well, noticing for the first time how high the water level from the lake had grown. At this rate, it was going to be as high as the door to the house itself before too much longer. He looked over and saw Carrie looking at him questioningly.
“What?” he asked.
“If that ends up flooding the house,” she said. “I’m not on the hook for it, right? That would count as an ‘act of God’ when it comes to my security deposit, wouldn’t it?”
He shrugged, having no real idea of how property laws went when it came to rentals. Come to think of it, he didn’t remember even reading his own lease, so
there was no reason he could think of why he’d have any idea how hers was worded. “I’d think so, yeah.”
“Then I’m not going to worry about it,” she said, smiling over at him. “All I’m going to worry about tonight is the two of us reconnecting again. Maybe even again after this next go-around.”
She turned and headed back into the house, leaving him sitting there with his jaw hanging open and the cigarette starting to burn his fingers. In his shock, he hardly even noticed.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
She knew it would be a mistake to come this far out toward the boat ramp, but Steph went ahead and did it anyway. She only meant to confirm her suspicions that the area was flooded out and then head home for the night, or maybe over to help out with one of the bridges. Then she’d seen the truck sitting out here and wondered if anyone might be stranded and in need of help. She’d waffled on what to do, then the good-hearted part of her nature won out and she’d made the attempt.
Now she’d discovered that the truck was empty, and she was the one in need of assistance.
The patrol car dipped a little too far as she came down the incline, and water splashed up over the hood, drenching the engine and killing it deader than a doornail. She didn’t even have any interior lights to help her out, and the police radio inside the vehicle wouldn’t come on either. She’d tried her personal radio a couple of times, and was rewarded with a burst of static in every attempt. She’d told Chief Williams that she thought it was going on the fritz a month ago, but he’d told her to hold out for a little longer so there’d be enough money in the budget to replace it.
Now it was completely shot when she needed it the most.
Her cell phone still worked, but it showed the little “no service” alert at the top of the screen, so it might as well be worthless. Service was spotty in this part of town during the best of times, and the storm had only made matters worse. The only thing her phone was good for right now was the games that could help her to pass the time until someone came along to help get her out of this mess. Then again, since the games tended to drain the battery even faster than normal, it wasn’t really all that good as a time-waster, either.
She sighed and adjusted her position in the seat, thinking that maybe she could get comfortable enough to take a nap while she waited instead. She froze at the splashing sound coming from her feet. She groaned, pulled out her flashlight, and shined it into the floorboard.
Water had pooled beneath her boots, not deep yet, but still more than should be inside the car. She traced the beam along its surface, wincing when she saw it was already just above the bottom of the door itself. She was in deeper than she’d expected, and now the damn car was flooding, too.
At least she wasn’t deep enough that she had to worry about drowning. Even if the rain kept up, she doubted it would get that bad. Still, she’d better keep her eyes open for Noah to drift by in the ark; maybe he could give her a helping hand.
Steph switched the light back off and waited for her eyes to readjust to the darkness. She recognized the truck out there as belonging to Chet from the diner. It was the little trailer that gave it away. He was always driving around with that john boat stuck on there, just looking for any excuse to take it out onto the lake for what he called fishing but everyone else knew was a reason to drink beer and goof off.
It was a little surprising to see he’d done it today of all days, but she’d never thought him to have an overabundance of common sense, so it shouldn’t be. When she’d stopped by the diner earlier for a cup of coffee, Leanne had said that he’d dragged Mitch out here to catch something for a special in a day or so. That was hours ago, though, so while maybe there had been a valid reason for him to come out here today, it was shocking that he was still there.
Unless he’d realized there was no way he could get the truck out of the parking lot. She chuckled to herself at the mental image of him cruising down the town’s streets in that shitty little boat, trying to get back home again while mostly three sheets to the wind. Funnier was the idea that he was apt to get pulled over for it, and slapped with a DUI. She would give almost anything to be a fly on the wall in the courtroom when that case was heard.
The car rocked suddenly, snapping her out of her daydream. She strained her eyes and looked around outside, wondering what could have hit her that hard, but didn’t see anything other than the flooded parking lot and the truck still sitting a ways off down it. There were trees not far from her, but there was no way any branch that had fallen into the water could have hit her with that kind of force. If it fell onto the car, maybe, but she would’ve seen it still lying there, or even as it fell off the hood or roof or trunk and into the water.
Whatever it was hit her again, this time from behind, and managed to move the car a few more inches into the parking lot. Water sloshed over the front end before disappearing beneath the level of the hood. She switched her flashlight back on and turned around, but all she could see was her own dual reflections in both the back windshield and the Plexiglas pane that was meant to keep her separated from any criminals she had to transport. She grunted in frustration and turned back around in her seat.
The car was struck again, this time moving even further into the water, far enough that the water actually stayed just above the front end. Impossible as it seemed, something was pushing her further into the water. She couldn’t begin to imagine why, but she doubted it was good.
Just as she was trying to get her mind wrapped around this concept, the thing struck again, this time shoving her far enough that water began slapping against the windshield. Chet’s truck was now more beside her than in front of her, meaning not only had she moved further than she thought, but the water was considerably deeper as well.
The sound of it running through the cracks where the doors closed was suddenly loud enough to hear. She switched on the light again, and looked to see water streaming in along the sides of the door, filling the pool at her feet enough that it had risen to halfway up her ankles. Her hand trembled as she reached for the door handle, fully intending to get out of this car before it got knocked much further toward the swollen lake.
Before she could even get her fingers wrapped around it, she was struck yet again. This time, she felt the car pick up momentum briefly as the air inside the passenger compartment and the trunk gave it buoyancy and allowed it to float toward the back of Chet’s truck. For one wild moment, she thought she would hit it and stick there, at least putting a stop to this insanity, but the hits must have been coming from off to one side rather than directly in the middle, since she missed his trailer by bare inches.
The thing slammed into her one last time, and actually managed to send her speeding past the truck, closer and closer to the lake itself. Finally the surface tension of the water slowed her, but she wasn’t out of the woods it seemed. As soon as she slowed enough, the water began pouring into the car, now emerging from the vents underneath the dash as well.
It was beyond time to get out of here. She grabbed the door handle and tried to throw it open, but it wouldn’t budge. Enough of it was submerged now that the added pressure managed to keep it closed despite her best efforts to open it.
Steph was barely five foot one, and only weighed about a hundred pounds even with all her gear on. Many people who saw her refused to believe she was actually a cop; those who were criminals discovered all too quickly that she’d earned her position on the force. But the simple fact of the matter was that she didn’t have the weight or the leverage to get the door to open.
She pulled out her night stick and tried to slam it into the window, hoping to shatter it so she could just climb out to safety, but she couldn’t get the proper angle to hit it with enough force. Beyond that, the windows were reinforced to keep idiots from kicking them out when they were locked in the back. The only thing that happened when she hit it with her nightstick was that she nearly smacked herself in the face with it as it rebounded off the glass.
The sound of a
massive splash at the front of the car caught her attention just in time for her to see a dark shape come out of the water and slam down on the hood. She screamed, hating herself for it, but unable to stop it. The thing looked like a giant fish of some sort, but it was wriggling around so much trying to stay on top of the wet, slippery hood that she couldn’t tell anything for sure. It slid down despite its attempts not to, and splashed back into the water in front of the car.
Despite her fear, she found herself leaning toward the windshield, morbidly curious about what the hell it could be. She was just about to shine the flashlight out there in the hopes of catching some glimpse of it, when it leapt from the water again, higher this time, an immense, shadowed form that was hurtling toward her. She jerked back in her seat just as it slammed into the windshield full-force, shattering the glass and sending razor-sharp shards of it hurtling toward her face.
At first she felt nothing and was sure that somehow it had missed her, then she felt searing lines of pain across her cheeks and forehead. Warmth began trickling down her face, but she couldn’t take her eyes from the gaping maw of the beast that had done this. Its mouth slammed closed over and over, as if it was trying to bite her but just couldn’t seem to get close enough to pull it off. It was a catfish, but she’d never seen one even close to this size, nor had she ever seen one with teeth that looked so sharp. It was like staring into the mouth of an alligator that was starving to death and had managed to catch the scent of some tasty prey.
Even worse, it seemed to realize its predicament. Shockingly, it extended the barbs on either side of its mouth that gave it such a distinctive look and pressed them against the remnants of the windshield. Steph felt her jaw drop as it pushed itself back out of the hole it had made and reared back on its tail. She’d heard of catfish that could sort of shuffle along on their tails, making it look like they were walking, but she’d never seen one actually do that, much less use any other part of its body in such an intelligent way. She was so distracted by the display that she realized too late that it was gearing up for another strike.