Alone No More (27 page)

The emotionally wounded man let out a small sob as he sat back on his feet and stared up at the sky again. Once more he drew a sleeve across his eyes to wipe moisture away. When he looked back in the yard he saw a tear in the hedges separating his yard from his neighbor’s. Whatever had killed Scotty barreled through his hedge fence and onto his neighbor’s property. Brian grunted and got up from the ground, stroking his dead pet’s head as he moved with ferocity towards the giant hole in his bushes. He turned sideways and slid his large frame through the hole, scraping his hands and face on the rough branches. He got most of his body into his neighbor’s yard when he saw a distant figure move at the edge of his field of vision. An adult figure had walked around the end of his hedge fence near the street, and back into his driveway. They were no more than 15 feet from his cruiser, and his two children.

Brian panicked. He threw his body back through the fence recklessly and into his yard again. At full speed he leapt over Scotty’s rigid carcass and hurtled past his pool to slip through the space next to his garage again. Dimly he could hear a thumping noise coming from the driveway as he got closer. Within seconds Brian burst around the corner of the garage and right into his own personal nightmare.

Standing next to his cruiser, slowly and methodically raining blows down on the back seat windows was his wife. Or what used to be his wife. Her tiny frame was bent funny in the middle of her torso, like her ribs or spine was shattered. He could see in her profile that her face had been devastated in the accident. Her lips hung off her face in tatters and her nose had been smashed almost flat. It was a morbid mockery of the mother of his two children. And it was trying to get in the cruiser at them. He noticed with sickness that one of her shoes was missing.

Brian had no emotion left to feel bad for her. He was still furious over his dog’s death, and as he watched his mother scream in fear at his dead wife he was empty. All he had left inside him was anger. 

“Stacey! Get away from the kids!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. His wife stopped her hammering on the glass and snapped sideways to face him. When he saw her full in the face he knew it wasn’t her any longer. Her eyes were yellowish and hazy. They had lost all their life, lurching to and fro in her eye sockets as she stumbled her way towards him. She lost her balance and sidestepped a few times before she balanced and continued forward. Brian looked over Stacey’s shoulder at his mother and made eye contact. His mom pulled the two kids into her and shielded them. Brian looked back at his wife and started to slowly back up, moving into the tight alley of the garage and hedges.

Together the living husband and dead wife moved into the backyard. Brian had his teeth clenched as he watched the lady he loved hungrily pursue him. She didn’t have enough strength or coordination to close the gap between the two of them, and for that he was thankful. Once he was fully into the yard and had ten feet of space he stopped backing up. She kept moving forward.

“I’m sorry baby.”

One squeeze of his trigger finger later Brian Moore was a widower.

*****

Brian got the patrol car into the garage and ushered his two children and mother into the house. He asked his mom to get them something to eat and drink while he poured himself a double of a really nice single malt Scotch. He sat in the living room and stared at the giant flat screen hanging above the fireplace mantle. He didn’t even turn it on. He already knew what he’d see, assuming the television was even still working. He sipped the warm Scotch and tried to assemble a plan.

He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed McGreevy’s number. It came back with the all circuits busy message. Not good at all. He tried two more of his officers and the result was the same. All lines busy. He sat the glass of Scotch down and tried to send a text message to another one of his guys, but it hung up on the sending screen. He tossed the phone on the couch next to him and laughed. Two hours. Two hours ago he had everything under control, and now everything had come undone.

The whole world unraveled in two hours in his town. He hung his head and thought some more. He reached up to his collar and thumbed his radio. “Any officers still have their radios on?” 

Silence for a few seconds, then a reply, “Chief is that you? This is Harper.”

Brian smiled, happy to hear that at least one of his officers was still nearby and alive. “Hey Al. You okay? You and Martha all set?” Brian sipped his Scotch again, savoring the smooth smoky finish.

“Shit yeah Chief. We just got ourselves set up at Martha’s work.” Al Harper sounded pretty confident to Brian, and that intrigued him. “How are you and Stacey? The kids okay? I heard about your dad sir, I’m real sorry.”

Brian thought about his answer before he thumbed the radio. He couldn’t think of a professional way to say it, so he just blurted it out, “Stacey’s dead. She killed a guy in a truck, and then killed my dog. She was trying to kill my kids Al. I shot her.” 

No response came back from Al. Brian laughed again at the whole situation and tipped the glass of Scotch up until it all slid down his throat. He let the burn in his throat and belly distract him from the day’s events. After a few seconds Al finally replied, “Shit Brian.”

“Yeah Al…. Shit.” Brian reached back and hurled the empty Scotch glass into his flat screen television. It embedded in the black screen like a hockey puck. Two thousand bucks down the drain.

“Chief what’re you gonna do? Stay at your house until this blows over? You know you should come here, stay with us. There’s a lot of us here already, and we could use you,” Al pleaded to his boss.

“Where are you guys? Martha’s work? Where does she work?” Brian couldn’t remember. Maybe the Scotch was hitting him a little hard.

“She works at STIG. The solar panel company downtown. They’re in the industrial complex off Tucker Drive. They’ve got a cafeteria here that’s all stocked, and they’ve got power from the panels they make. It’s a green company, they can last for months and months with no power. We’ve got probably 200 people here already.” Al sounded genuinely excited, and it started to persuade Brian.

“That’s what? Eight miles from Hill Street?” Brian stood up and inspected the shattered television screen. He was starting to feel like an idiot for smashing it.

“Yeah Chief, probably seven or eight miles. You know, Brian…” He paused, “We could use you. These people will listen to you here.” 

And with that, Brian was sold.

*****

After talking it over with his mother, they decided that moving to the solar panel plant was a safe plan. Even if all they did was stay there for a few days it would give them plenty of safety until the world settled down. Brian was betting that after a week or two, everyone would come to their senses and the federal government would figure out what the fuck was going on. Once that happened, they could go home, and start the process of starting anew.

Brian asked his mother to keep the kids entertained while he packed up the stuff they needed. The cruiser’s trunk was already filled with shit from earlier, so he moved everything into his truck. He had the bag of weapons from the arms locker, the two bags of medical supplies plus all the food Stacey had bought before she... Before she died.

Brian got it all moved into the truck and started on the house. The first things he grabbed were the mattresses off the bed. They’d need something to sleep on, and he didn’t want to deal with the floor. He grabbed suitcases and filled them with clothes for everyone. Brian snagged the kid’s backpacks and loaded them for bear with toys and kid oriented supplies. Diapers for Sarah, ass wipes, and anti-rash creams. He loaded all the food in the fridge and cupboards as well and took all the things he thought they might need. Stuff like batteries, toilet paper, bleach, and a few flashlights. Down in his basement he took his hunting guns and all his ammunition as well. No sense leaving it there. In the master bedroom upstairs he got the gun box out and took the .38 from it. In the garage he grabbed his coach’s little league baseball bag filled with bats, as well as his wood splitting axe.

After taking everything he could think they’d need it was just about getting to dusk. He didn’t look at his watch, but he thought it was maybe 7pm when they finally backed out of the garage, and into the street. It had been about two hours or so.

The Hill Street neighborhood he called home was still dead quiet. A couple of the houses had lights on inside but that meant nothing. Lots of people left lights on all day. The four people were packed into the front bench seat of the truck as Brian backed out of his driveway and closed the garage door with the remote. He gave the big truck some gas, and they were off.

Traffic was much more sedate. There were fewer vehicles moving, but they were still speeding and driving recklessly. Brian fought the urge to chase them down and jump down their throats. Those people were probably just as scared and desperate as he was. He could understand and identify.

He sped the truck down Main Street and onto the state route that he’d taken to get back to town earlier when he’d gotten Sarah and his mom. He didn’t go all the way to the Museum though, but about halfway. He saw the sign for the industrial park and turned off onto the road that led to the solar panel plant. The road had a solid half dozen large industrial buildings before reaching the park itself. The Auburn River Valley Industrial Complex had 25 tenants in various businesses. He headed to the first large parking lot, the home of STIG, Solar Technology Innovations Group. 

STIG was the town’s largest employer. Between their three shifts at least a thousand people got their paychecks there. The building was a glossy black three story edifice of solar panels, concrete, and steel. It was artistic, if not a bit sterile. Standing in front of the main glass doors he could see two of his Officers, Al Harper and Jason Chambers. Al was a veteran of nearly ten years, and Jason had just finished his second year review with Brian. He was young, but a good cop. They were good people, and he was glad to see them. They both stood watching Brian weave his truck through the packed parking lot to the front walkway closest to the main door.

The two cops walked down to meet him as he pulled up. They rested their weapons on their hips as he powered down his windows. For the first time all day he felt a genuine grin come up on his face. He squashed it down when a flash of his wife’s torn face hit his mind’s eye. Al kept his grin as Brian stopped the truck.

“Glad you could make it Chief.” Al rested his forearm on the mirror of the truck. Jason kept an eye out for danger.

“Wish I had one more with me, if you know what I mean.” Brian’s words were pained. 

Al reached a hairy arm into the truck window and gripped Brian’s wrist in a reassuring grasp. “Pull around back to the loading docks. We’ll get your shit inside.” He patted Brian’s arm and backed away, motioning for him to “move along” as cops often do when there’s nothing to be seen there. Brian got a laugh out of it.

He nodded, “Yes sir officer.” Al grinned again and turned to head back into the main glass doors of the STIG corporate HQ.

Brian spun the truck around to the back end of the building and saw the three loading docks. He backed the truck up as he saw the doors lift up. There were a few dozen men and women there ready to help. He parked the truck and his mother got out leading Tommy along. Someone opened the heavy duty rear door to the plant floor and they started up the steps to go inside. Brian gathered his things out of the truck as his little girl watched on. Once he had everything he thought he wanted, he grabbed the one thing out of the truck he actually needed, his girl Sarah. She knew something was wrong, but she let slip a little squeal of delight when he tossed her into his arms. He made a wide circle of the parking lot, taking in the dusk air and assessing the area. Far off in the distance, in another parking lot in the complex he watched a rigid form move their way. In the fading light he could just make out a man wearing coveralls that were drenched in blood. 

Brian watched the man stagger at a snail’s pace towards them. Finally he heard someone coming up from the plant behind him, and he turned to see who it was. Jason, his young officer had walked up next to him and was watching the injured or dead man approach.

“Think he’s a… you know, a goner Chief?” Jason narrowed his eyes to try and get a better look at the man.

Brian did the same, but finally decided it didn’t matter. He took a sideways glance at the AR-15 carbine Jason was holding. “Jason, if he keeps coming, dead or alive, you shoot him in the head. He’ll be nothing but trouble for us either way we look at it.”

Jason’s only response was to swallow hard. Jason hadn’t fired his weapon in the line of duty yet, and hopefully would never. If the world really had come undone like Brian thought, technically his career was over anyway. No worries about job related accidents anymore he thought. Brian patted him on the shoulder and turned toward the building and walked inside. Brian gave his beautiful little girl a kiss on the temple. 

 Just as one of the plant workers was pulling the door shut behind him Brian heard a single sharp crack from Jason’s rifle.

One less dead body to worry about.

The heavy metal door slammed shut behind the father and daughter.

December 20
^th

Things have become… A little more interesting here at Auburn Lake. I tracked down the source of the gunfire the other day, and you’re gonna shit a brick when you hear what it was.

I sincerely apologize to you Mr. Journal for not putting in an entry last night. I didn’t really get back here until late, and I was exhausted so I crashed. Yesterday I decided that I’d do some long(ish) distance recon with the Savage’s scope. I got my leg dressing on good and proper and geared up for a gun battle. I took the Tundra out at about 10am and headed to the crossing of Auburn Lake Road and Prospect Circle. I parked the truck out of the sight of the houses on the road, and walked the 15 yards or so into the tree line where I could set up a good spot to observe Prospect with the rifle.