Stranded Box Set

by Theresa Shaver

  “Open the fucking gate NOW or the next one who asks me something gets a bullet!”

  Apparently, they didn’t believe him because the next voice rang out with an excited question. “Is that an automatic rifle?”

  The man behind her let out a roar of anger and shot the person who asked, causing him to fly backward and disappear off the back side of the bus roof. A split second later, all the guards scrambled down from the roofs and after a few moments, the barricade was slowly pushed to the side. Emily was pleased by the delay as it would give Josh, Dara, and Cooper more time to locate her and it also meant one less idiot she would have to kill on her way out.

  The man settled back down behind her and yelled for her to drive again so she eased through the barricade and down the block. As dawn lightened the sky, she had a better view of what she was up against and what she saw put a small dent in her confidence.

  There were people everywhere she looked. Some were standing around burn barrels, some were standing guard at intersections and some just trudged wearily down the sidewalks. Everywhere she looked she saw people and they either sent vicious, envious looks her way or looked at her with complete indifference in their empty eyes as she passed. This was a lot of people to evade when she made her move to escape.

  The man behind her pointed past her head in the direction he wanted her to go and she saw a multi-storied parking garage. She aimed for the opening ramp and winced at the potential damage to the sled when they crossed over from snow to bare concrete and the steel skis started to screech in protest.

  A working sled was a prize to anyone and the man must have realized it because he quickly jabbed to the side of the ramp and yelled for her to pull over. As soon as she had parked and shut the machine down, the man jumped off the sled and roughly pulled her off as well. He pointed the gun at her visor and ordered her to remove her helmet. When her blond hair and young features were revealed, his eyes widened in shock before he barked out a laugh at seeing a teenage girl in front of him.

  Emily widened her eyes in mock fear and used the frustration she was feeling at this stupid situation to push tears into them. She was so used to adults judging and dismissing her based on her looks and youth that she now used it as a tool to her advantage.

  The more these people underestimated her the better. She added a tremor to her voice as she simpered, “Please… mister… don’t hurt me!”

  He just shook his head in amusement. “I figured you were a woman but I can’t believe you’re just a kid. What the hell are you doing in this part of the city? You had to know coming down here would be next to suicide.”

  When Emily just lowered her head as if in submission, he threw up his hands.

  “Well, it’s too late now, girl. You’re in the belly of the beast. Let’s take a look at what you’re hauling in that trailer.” He lowered his gun slightly and took a step to go around her but then stopped and shot her a look of suspicion. He waved the gun up and down her body. “Why don’t you unzip that parka? I have a feeling you might be more than you seem. I want to see if you have anything else hidden under there!”

  Emily gritted her teeth in annoyance but did as he said. When he motioned for her to take the jacket off, the handgun was exposed causing him to whistle in amusement.

  “Yup, definitely more than you seem. Turn around, hands on your head,” he ordered in a hard tone.

  She turned away from him with a curse and tensed up as he relieved her of the handgun and frisked her top to bottom. She was mildly surprised that he didn’t take the opportunity to grope her in the process. When he was satisfied that she had no other weapons, not finding the knife in her boot, he told her to turn around. An involuntary shiver coursed through her as a gust of cool wind blew down the ramp.

  “Can I please put my jacket back on, mister?” she asked in a miserable voice.

  He studied her for a moment but then grabbed the jacket from where she had tossed it onto the seat of the sled. He patted the whole jacket down to make sure there was nothing in it before tossing it to her with a nod. She quickly slid back into the jacket, zipped it up, and pulled on her gloves to ward off the chill. Even with the chinook blowing, the temperatures were still slightly below zero this early in the morning. Before the man guarding her could investigate the trailer, two other men ran into the garage from the ramp to join them.

  They looked the same as the man who was guarding her. Just normal men, mid to late thirties, slightly greasy from lack of bathing but…normal. From what the zoo people and Leslie had said about the gang that operated here in the core, she expected stereotypical gang bangers that were all foul-mouthed and cocky. Except for the first guy shooting one of his people on the bus, they seemed just like normal survivors.

  “Evan, what do you got? Boss-man wants an update,” asked one of the men that had just run in, after looking her up and down in surprise.

  He shrugged. “I haven’t gotten there yet. Just finished disarming her. Take a look in the trailer and tell me what she was hauling.”

  Both of the new men did as Evan said, pulling boxes open and scanning labels of the big plastic jars. They tossed it all back into the trailer and looked at her in confusion before turning to Evan. One of them shook his head.

  “I don’t know what any of this shit is for. It’s just a bunch of inhalers and supplements as far as I can tell.”

  Evan looked at Emily and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “Inhalers? What, you got bad asthma or something?”

  Emily shook her head and decided to see if being straight with them would get her anywhere. “No, it’s not for me. It’s for a little girl that has cystic fibrosis. She needs the inhalers and the medications in the trailer to manage the disease. I’m sure it’s nothing any of your people want or need.”

  Evan shook his head slowly in disbelief. “Let me get this straight, you came into one of the most dangerous places in this city and risked death or capture just to get some medications for a girl who probably should be dead by now with that kind of a disease?”

  Emily sent him a sarcastic look. “I know, right? Isn’t it amazing that there’s still people out there that try and do the right thing for others?”

  Evan had the decency to look away briefly before looking back at her with a grim expression. “Well, in this case doing the right thing has landed you in a world of hurt. So, I’m sorry to tell you it wasn’t worth it.” He turned away from her to the two others. “I think there’s more to this than what she is saying and she was packing some pretty heavy firepower so it’s a good guess that the people she was with have more of the same. I think the boss is going to want to talk to her about where she’s come from and where we can find her friends.” He waved towards the sled in the trailer. “Just leave this crap here for now. She’s right that nobody here is going to need it or want it but one of you stay put and guard the machine. You never know if one of those idiots out there will try and steal it to go for a joyride.”

  At their nods, he grabbed Emily by the arm and dragged her with him deeper into the garage to a metal access door. He pounded on it three times until someone on the other side pushed it open to let them in. The hallway was dim as he pulled her along, before pushing through another door into what looked like a lobby, partially lit by the beginning of early morning light.

  Emily kept her eyes wide open as she scanned her surroundings, taking in every detail that might help her on her way out. He pulled her across the marble floor to another doorway that led to a set of stairs that they climbed to a second level. She estimated that they had walked at least a city block before he pushed through the final door that led to their destination.

  She knew exactly where they were from a field trip she had taken in elementary school. Massive photos of the Calgary skyline from the past and near present lined the walls with plaques describing the history of the construction of the historic tower. What caught most of her attention though was the pen made of chain link fencing, full of beaten down looking women, at
the back of the room.

  Most of them were in rags with thin blankets clutched over their shivering forms. She could see the abuse they had taken from the black eyes and swollen lips most of them sported. She knew if she didn’t find a way to escape, she would end up spending the rest of her days in that pen with them.

  Evan barely spared the captive women a glance as he pulled her past the pen towards a bank of elevator doors with an elderly man sitting on a stool beside them. The old man looked at her with blank eyes before moving his gaze to Evan. His voice was empty of any emotion when he spoke - as if seeing young girls dragged around was an everyday occurrence to him.

  “It’s going to be a few minutes. Just sent a group up.”

  Evan merely nodded and leaned against one of the walls to wait.

  Emily took the opportunity to try and mine for information. “How do you guys get your power to run the elevator?” she asked. When Evan didn’t answer her, she tried a different question. “Those women over there, those are your slaves? Is that what’s going to happen to me too?”

  His eyes cut toward the pen of women before returning to hers. “That’s up to the boss to decide but it’s pretty good bet that will be your fate. You might try earning a little goodwill from him by telling him everything he wants to know. Trust me when I tell you, you don’t want to end up spending the rest of your life as a sex slave. Some of the men he allows to use them have no humanity left.”

  Emily’s chin jutted up in defiance as she asked sarcastically, “Meaning you do have some humanity left?” She gave a mirthless laugh. “If that was true, you’d let me go right now.” When he didn’t respond and looked away instead, she shook her head. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  Emily didn’t waste any more breath on the guy. He was a lackey and the only real information she was going to get would be from the so-called boss of this group, so she saved her questions for when she was face-to-face with him. One thing she was sure of was that she wouldn’t be providing him with any information he could use against her friends or the people in the zoo.

  Chapter Eleven

  It was at least a twenty-minute wait before the elevator doors finally opened and Evan dragged her inside them. He hit the button for the top floor and then leaned against the wall again, ignoring her. These guys might have had enough power to raise the elevator but it wasn’t at full strength based on the slow ascent the car made to the top. It felt like it took an hour before the doors finally slid open again.

  Evan pulled her out into a foyer and down the short hallway before the room opened up to the viewing platform that used to be a major tourist attraction. Emily’s eyes never stopped moving as she took in every detail that she could to help plan for an escape. Her eyes zeroed in on a girl, roughly her own age, wearing ripped lingerie and secured to a post by a chain and metal collar around her neck. She forced her eyes away from the girl knowing that there was nothing she could do for her. Besides the girl, there was a group of men and a couple of women lounging around in armchairs watching what was happening at the far end of the platform.

  A huge and ornate antique desk sat on a raised platform and in the beautiful leather chair behind it sat a man who she assumed was the boss. It wasn’t exactly a throne meant for a king but it might as well have been based on the way everyone in the room was fixated on it.

  Kneeling in front of the desk was a man who was pleading for his life. The man in charge was distracted from whatever his victim was saying by Emily’s entrance and held up his hand for quiet. He looked at her across the room with curiosity before turning his gaze back to the kneeling man and uttered one word, “Guilty!”

  The kneeling man began to sob and beg as two guards dragged him to the side and the boss waved her and Evan forward. Once she was in front of him, Evan shoved her to her knees. She batted away the hand he had on her shoulder and she shoved back up to her feet. They’d have to beat her bloody to get her on her knees again in front of this man.

  Her actions seemed to amuse the boss so he waved Evan off and addressed her.

  “Welcome to the core young lady! My name is Mayor Adam Marano. I most definitely have some questions for you - but first, your arrival interrupted a case I was hearing. Let me just wrap that up and then we can focus on you. Please step to the side for a moment while I pronounce sentencing.”

  Emily was fine with the brief delay as it would give her more time to study the layout of the viewing platform. The more details she had on the setup here, the better she would be in formulating her plan of escape. She stepped to the side to allow the two guards to drag the sobbing man back into place.

  “You’ve been found guilty of attempting to steal property from our community. As you know, the punishment for that is death. Do you have any final words that might sway my decision?”

  The sobbing man seemed to accept his fate as he sucked back his sobs and raised his furious eyes to the mayor.

  “She’s my daughter, you sick son-of-a-bitch, not your property!”

  The mayor looked down at the man dispassionately and shrugged one shoulder.

  “Insufficient merit to excuse your crimes. Sentencing to be carried out immediately.” He banged a gavel onto his desk and waved the guards to take the victim him away before turning towards Emily with a look of regret on his face.

  “Now you see my dear, we are forced to make the hard decisions every day in our community in order to make it run smoothly. Please bring your attention to the method we used to carry out sentencing so that you will better understand what your fate will be should I judge you’ve broken our laws.”

  Emily followed his pointed finger to where the guards were dragging the sobbing man and let out a gasp when she realized that a panel of the reinforced glass that made up the floor of the viewing platform had been removed. The guards didn’t even pause before shoving the man through the opening. Emily couldn’t help herself as she tracked the man through the glass floor all the way down until his impact with the ground. She was grateful that the distance down to the ground was far enough that she was spared the gory image of what remained of the man. The mayor’s voice addressing her had her pulling her attention away from the ground and back to him.

  “As you can see, we have streamlined the justice system in our community. No more unnecessary delays or appeals or criminals getting off on a technicality,” he said, waving his hand in the air with disdain. “Now we just judge, sentence and execute. It’s a much more efficient system than the old ways. Now, tell me about you. Which community are you from in the city, what were you doing in my territory, and where did you and your friends find those working snowmobiles?”

  She saw no problem answering his questions with some half-truths. “We don’t live in the city, we came from out of town. We didn’t know we had crossed into your territory we just knew where we had to go to find the medications we were looking for. As for the sleds, we found them at a dealership outside of Red Deer and used them to get here yesterday.”

  He smiled at her indulgently and shook his head.” Come now, my dear. My scouts report you and your friends have been driving back and forth on the river. I don’t believe for a second that you just decided to come to the city for the day. How would you know where to find anything if you did not already live in the city?”

  She tried hard not to roll her eyes at the man. “Well, we found a map. The map told us where the hospitals were so that’s why we were driving around yesterday. We didn’t find what we were looking for at the hospitals but we did find an address to a medical distribution center which is where we went this morning. If your men hadn’t stopped and kidnapped me, my friends and I would have left the city straight away.”

  His indulgent expression turned hard. “Fine, you’re not from Calgary. What I want to know is where are your friends right now? As long as they corroborate what you’ve said I see no problem letting you all head on out back to wherever you all live.” A slimy smile slid across his face. “Of course, that would
be after you pay restitution for trespassing and stealing from my territory.”

  Emily narrowed her eyes at him before responding. “What kind of restitution? You just sentenced that man to death for trying to take back his own daughter. Why would I believe that you would let us leave when you just accused me of stealing from your territory?”

  The small insincere smile played around his lips. “This would prove to be an exception of course. If it’s true that you don’t live in the city, then you would have no way of knowing that you were breaking the rules and laws of my territory and as I said, the restitution - or fine if you will - would be enough compensation that I would see to it there was an exception to your sentencing.” He leaned across his desk and jammed his finger into the polished wood. “I want those sleds!” He leaned back into his leather chair and in a softer tone told her, “Once I have them, you’re all free to go.”

  Emily didn’t believe for one second that this megalomaniac would let her, or her friends if he caught them, go. He would just take everything that they had and either execute the boys or turn them into slaves. As for her and Dara, they would end up in the pen of sex slaves at the bottom of the tower. When she didn’t reply to his offer, he turned his gaze to Evan.

  “Evan, you were on site and you apprehended her. What can you tell me about what you saw or heard?”

  Evan stepped in front of the desk beside Emily and faced the mayor.

  “Sir, I searched the trailer attached to her sled and found cases of medical inhalers and supplements. If the other sleds were carrying the same thing then most likely she’s telling the truth and they just came to find medicine. There were two other sleds that managed to get through the ambush. One of them was carrying two people and the other had a single rider. The scouts that followed them should be back any moment to tell us where they went.”