Deconstruction- The Complete series Box Set

by Rashad Freeman

  I stared at him for a moment and when he didn’t continue I asked, “You found what?”

  “That lady Sandra…the one you said saved my life.”

  “Yeah, what about her?”

  “She’s not buried out back and she wasn’t stabbed.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “That crazy son of a bitch has her body wrapped in plastic in his room.”

  “What the fuck?! He’s still with Cindy now!”

  I spun and rushed out of the room. I sped around the corner, through the makeshift dining area and skid into the kitchen.

  It was empty. Carl’s dirty t-shirt was hanging from a hook on the wall, but there was no sign of Cindy.

  My heart started to quake and my hands trembled. I took a deep breath and grabbed the counter as my knees buckled. In a panic I wheeled around the empty kitchen like a mad man.

  I ran back into the hallway and stopped. From there I heard a muffled grunt. "Cindy?" I called.

  There was no answer. I waited, straining my ears, listening for the slightest of noises. I could feel the pressure of the quiet squeezing my eardrums. Like it was all around me, squashing me into a little ball.

  I called out to her again, this time screaming at the top of my lungs. I said her name over and over, my voice breaking in panic.

  "Max, I'm in here," Cindy finally called back.

  I turned my head to the left, following the sound of her voice. It sounded like it was coming from the walls and the idea of that sent me into a frenzy.

  I took a few steps backwards. My heart was exploding inside of my chest, my lungs burned as I swallowed air at a pace only meant for someone who’d just finished a marathon.

  "Max?" Cindy said again.

  That’s when I saw it. There was a short hall with a doorway at the end. It was dark and so narrow only one person could fit down it at a time.

  With a head of steam, I rushed down it and burst through the door at the end. A bright light swung toward my head and I ducked and stumbled back.

  “Max?” Cindy laughed.

  As my head cleared I started to soak in what was seeing. Cindy was balancing on top of the ladder while Carl held the base. She had a smile on her face and Carl was concentrating on keeping the ladder steady.

  "What’s wrong?" Cindy asked. “You look upset.”

  I cracked a half smile and looked up at her. “I couldn’t find you,” I said as calmly as I could.

  “Sorry, chief,” Carl started. “We finished in the kitchen and I figured I’d borrow your old lady to help get some of the extra dishes down from storage. I didn’t plan on having guests.”

  “We could leave,” I mumbled under my breath.

  Carl glared at me then looked back up to Cindy. “Well, that’s enough for today. Why don’t you come on down?”

  “Okay.”

  Cindy started to step down the ladder and Carl reached up, sliding his hands up her legs as he grabbed her hips.

  “Easy does it,” he said with a creepy grin.

  Biting my tongue, I reached out and grabbed Cindy’s hand. “I got it from here.”

  “Thanks for the help, Cindy,” Carl crooned.

  “Anytime,” she replied with a cheesy smile.

  I tugged at her hand and she followed me out of the room and into the hallway. Wrinkling her face, she gave me an odd look, but I didn’t say anything. She followed me back toward our room where Brent and Jake were waiting.

  “Thank God,” Jake gasped as we walked in.

  He was pacing the floor with a wild expression on his face. He looked like he wanted to give us a hug, but clapped his hands together instead then went back to the cot and sat down.

  “What? What is going on?” Cindy asked.

  “What the hell?” I started through clenched teeth. “You and this asshole are best friends now?”

  “What are you talking about? I was supposed to keep him entertained, wasn’t I? Jesus, don’t jump down my throat.”

  I swallowed and tightened my jaw. She was right and I was just overacting. I don’t know what I expected her to do to keep him occupied, but she’d done her job.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I just…I’m sorry. I got a little nervous…Brent found something.”

  “Found what?”

  “He found Sandra.”

  “Oh my God! Is she okay?”

  “She’s dead. Wrapped up in a plastic bag in this room,” Brent replied. “The bastard strangled her to death.”

  “Keep your voice down,” I warned him.

  “He…he killed her?” Cindy mumbled.

  “We’re leaving tonight,” I replied.

  “How?”

  I glanced back at Brent then looked to Jake. “We’re gonna have to kill him.”

  CHAPTER 17

  FREEDOM IS PAID IN BLOOD

  We waited…

  We waited until the talking stopped. We waited until he’d shut off the lights and slammed his door shut.

  We waited…

  We waited until the only sound we could hear was his heavy snoring. We waited until the perfect moment and then we made our move.

  We’d talked ourselves into a frenzy, but in the end, we weren’t the killing type. Even now, even in this fragmented society torn apart by fear, we couldn’t bring ourselves to murder someone. We only needed to incapacitate him long enough for us to escape. We just wanted our freedom, he’d get what he deserved another way.

  It was dark, so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. It was like I was staring into nothing and my ears were busy making up the difference. Every sound, every step we took was magnified like it was a surround sound movie.

  We moved slowly, dragging our hands across the wall as we made our way toward his room. It was a terrifying few minutes. Any moment he could open the door and catch us, any moment our half-assed plan could go up in smoke and we’d be scrambling to survive.

  “Do you still hear him snoring?” Cindy whispered.

  “Yes,” I replied. “He sounds like a fucking train.”

  Brent snickered and we all stopped momentarily.

  “What are we gonna do if he’s up?”

  “Doesn’t matter. We have to get out of here. Do you want to end up like Sandra?”

  Cindy didn’t reply. Suddenly, my hand felt a different texture and I knew we were at his door. I froze as the others bunched up behind me.

  “What if it’s locked?” Jake asked.

  “It’s not.”

  “How do you know?”

  “It can’t be, it’s our only way out.”

  In reality, I wasn’t sure why that question had never crossed our minds until now. The longer I sat there the more the stupidity of our plan became apparent. I was likely gonna get us killed, but we were here now so nothing else mattered.

  Fighting against the tiny voice in my head, I gripped the door knob and twisted. It moved freely and I felt the door start inward. We all took a collective breath, sucking the air from the room.

  I stepped in first. Something glowed in the corner, giving us a little better visibility. A tiny lamp on his nightstand, Carl was afraid of the dark, a fear that would be justified shortly.

  I took another step into the room to let everyone else in behind me. We huddled near the door, preparing to enact our hopeless plan.

  We’d pulled straws, well strands of hair really and Jake was the unlucky one. As Brent slipped the keys from Carl’s belt loop, Jake had the honors of clubbing Carl over the head with a board we’d pulled from the door frame. What could go wrong?

  “You ready?” I asked Brent as we moved a step closer.

  He nodded then I glanced at Jake. He gripped the board tightly, holding it next to his chest. He had a resolute look on his face, but I questioned his resolve. Among the many weak links in my plan, Jake’s part had to be the most likely to break.

  “She’s in the bed!” Cindy screamed in a whisper.

  “What?”

  “The fucking b
ed!” she hissed and jabbed her finger toward the mass that was Carl.

  Sandra was next to him. Wrapped in his arms inside of her plastic coffin. Her face was pained, frozen in the last moments of her life. The dim light accentuated her gaunt features, her sunken eyes glaring towards us, cloudy and empty.

  “We’ve gotta go now!” I said.

  Brent reached for the keys. He hooked his finger into the loop and tugged. Carl snorted and Jake swung the board down with all his might, but Carl rolled over just as it slammed into the pillow.

  “What the hell?” Carl snapped.

  Brent tugged harder and the keys came loose, sending him falling back onto his ass. Jake took another swipe with the board, but Carl was up and fighting. He threw up his arms and the board glanced him. With a grunt, he kicked his legs out and caught Jake in the stomach.

  “You ungrateful bastards!” Carl roared.

  Jake toppled into the nightstand then scampered to his feet. He leaned over to catch his breath like someone had called a timeout. Carl was already on the move, charging toward him with flailing his arms and ill intentions.

  “Brent, get the door!” I shouted.

  Grimacing, I rushed Carl at full speed. Reliving my days in middle school as a third string linebacker, I crashed into him like a train. We slammed into the wall and he brought his elbow thundering down into my back. My spine felt like it exploded into a million pieces and I collapsed to the floor.

  “Max!” Cindy cried out.

  I tried to stand back up, but Carl was scrappier than I thought. He kicked Jake another time for good measure then sent his foot into my face like I was a damn soccer ball.

  “Get out!” I yelled as I spit out a glob of blood.

  Brent grabbed my arm and started to pull me up. He slipped the keys into my hand then took a wild swing at Carl that caught him in the chest.

  The blow did nothing, but as he turned his attention to Brent, Jake whacked him over the head with the board and Carl dropped to the floor. He hit the ground hard and didn’t move.

  “Is he out?” Brent asked.

  “I don’t care! Let’s get the hell out of here,” Jake groaned.

  We rushed out of the room and down the short hall to the front door. My hands trembled as wrestled with the keys.

  “The magnetic lock!” Cindy yelled.

  “Shit!” I turned and ran back toward the room.

  “It’s on the wall behind the door,” Brent yelled after me.

  As soon as I made it through the door, Carl was standing there and drilled me in the face with his meaty knuckles.

  The punch was unexpected and knocked me off of my feet. Carl didn’t even break stride and leapt over me on his way down the hall.

  As I scuttled back to a stand I heard a yelp and a loud thud. I ran back to the door and tripped over Jake’s lifeless body. He was lying face down, breathing, but unconscious. I knelt down to check on him when a loud, angry voice caught my attention.

  “I’m gonna rip your head off!” Carl growled.

  He had Brent by the neck. His hands were coiled around him like a snake and were getting tighter and tighter. Cindy was screaming and punching at Carl until he shot out his leg and kicked her away.

  I rushed toward him and leapt onto his back. Grabbing him in a headlock, I pulled back, but he was much taller than me. He dropped Brent and heaved forward, slinging me over his head and onto the ground.

  Before I could react, a dirty bare foot came crashing down on my face. My eyes exploded into stars and blood gushed from my nose.

  “I’ll deal with you next,” Carl said as he grabbed me by the collar and slammed me into the floor.

  Straightening up, he turned back to Brent who was still trying to gather himself. He’d managed to stand up and was leaning back on the wall.

  “Where are they?” Carl shouted.

  “What?” Brent croaked in a harsh voice.

  “The keys, where are my damn keys?”

  Before Brent could reply Carl smacked him across the face then kneed him in the stomach. Brent gasped and doubled over.

  “Tell me now!”

  “I…I don’t have them. I don’t know where they are,” Brent groaned.

  Carl reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small silver knife. Without another word, he crammed it into Brent’s side and yanked it back out.

  Brent’s face froze and his eyes glowed in shock. Instinctively, he reached down and placed his hand over the wound. Blood oozed through his fingers and down his shirt.

  “I should’ve known better than to take you in,” Carl roared. “I should’ve known you were trouble.”

  The blade glimmered with crimson as he held it up in the faint light. The business end dangled over Brent’s head and Carl took a deep breath before he swung the final blow.

  “You’re all dead!” he shouted then violently stabbed the knife downward.

  Out of nowhere, a loud clap exploded and a flash lit up the room. A thin stream of smoke swirled into the air and Carl’s body dropped to the floor beside me.

  I looked at his empty face. His forehead was cracked in half, leaking his life onto the floor. His eye twitched as if it was trying to focus, but he was gone. A bullet had torn through his skull and taken a chunk of his head with it.

  I looked to the side and found Cindy. She was holding Carl’s gun. The barrel was still smoking, her fingers clenched the handle like it had become part of her arm.

  As she turned to me I could see her eyes and felt my heart sank. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she trembled and struggled to catch her breath. Holding my head, I stood up and started toward her.

  She swallowed then looked down at her hands and gasped. “I…I killed him.”

  CHAPTER 18

  THIS ISN’T OUR LAST GOODBYE

  The door creaked as it slowly swung open. The sound echoed in the twilight, carrying across the wind like a plastic bag. I laughed to myself, even Carl’s house wanted us dead.

  Stepping into the alley, I could see the moon shinning high above. It illuminated our path and I felt a tiny bit of optimism. We’d been in the dark for too long.

  With my arm around Cindy, I took a few steps down the alley. She shook uncontrollably with every step, but followed my lead. We maneuvered around the back and through a tall wooden fence to the other side of the building.

  “Jake,” I started. “I’m gonna see if this asshole has a car.”

  I held up Carl’s key ring. In addition to the keys for the door he had several car keys. He never mentioned anything about a car, but all we had left was hope.

  “Okay,” Jake replied and cracked a weak smile.

  His lip was puffy and his left eye was swollen shut, but we were all in bad shape. Brent was leaning on his shoulder. His hand pressed a ripped t-shirt against his wound and sweat dripped from his pale face.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said then gave Cindy a kiss on the forehead.

  I moved down the wall toward the edge of the building. I leaned my head out and peeked around the corner. There was no one there, but I did find a dusty, red Honda parked near the trash cans.

  I felt my heart jump. With a deep breath, I rushed to the door and yanked on the handle. It was locked, so I pulled out the keys and one after the other I jabbed them into the lock. The third key clicked and I opened the door and jumped inside.

  I swallowed and put the key into the ignition. I started to turn it, but stopped. If the car worked, we might have only one shot of getting out undetected. Starting it now was almost certain to bring unwanted attention.

  I pulled the key out and rushed back to where I’d left Cindy. She had dropped to the ground and tucked her feet underneath her in a ball. She was mumbling under her breath and rocking back and forth.

  “What the hell happened?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. She just…she just started,” Jake replied.

  I grabbed Cindy by the arm and pulled her back to her feet. She stared at me in the eyes then lo
oked away. I could only imagine how she was feeling. She’d taken a life and even now that was unbelievable.

  “I found a car,” I said. “Follow me.”

  Jake sighed in relief then tightened his grip on Brent. I started back toward the car and Cindy began to mumble under her breath. As we came to the edge of the wall I stopped and turned to face her.

  “Cindy? Cindy, look at me,” I said lowly.

  “I killed him. I killed him, Max,” she mumbled.

  “There’s a car around the corner. I need you to get into it so we can get out of here. Do you understand me?”

  “I killed him. I killed him,” she chanted.

  I wanted to hold her, to squeeze her and tell her everything was alright. She had saved Brent, hell she’d saved everyone, but my words weren’t getting through to her.

  “Cindy, I love you,” I said.

  She jumped as the sound of a bottle breaking pierced the silence. Agitated voices floated our way and I knew our time was short.

  “Come on,” I said.

  I ran around the corner, pulling Cindy by the arm. She wasn’t resisting me, but she wasn’t making my life easy either. Once I reached the car I helped her into the back with Brent then I jumped into the front seat with Jake riding shotgun.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here,” Jake said.

  I nodded then twisted the key in the ignition. Nothing.

  “Shit!” I growled.

  “Try it again!” Jake screamed.

  I turned the key again and was greeted with the same result. Panic started to take over my body and my hands started to tremble.

  “Some…somebody is coming,” Brent stuttered.

  Back down the alley there was a man standing near the corner. He was smoking a cigarette, watching us like it was a normal night in the city.

  “Fuck! Fuck…fuck…fuck!” Jake groaned over and over then opened the door and swung his legs out.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I asked.

  “Pop the hood! Hurry up!” he shouted back at me.