Cheap Thrills (6 Thrilling reads) (21 page)

Twenty Two

David, Ray and Donner are watching Tristan and Abigail play hopscotch in the sewage water. They have devised a new way to play the game with every second hop being over some muddy water. They seem to be enjoying themselves for the first time since they have been there. Donner is looking on with a smile on her face.

‘Isn’t it beautiful?’ she says, still grinning as the two little girls mess around in the distance.

Ray looks around the derelict industrial sewage pipe they call home and laughs.

‘Yeah, it’s got its perks’

Everyone laughs. Ray looks over at the makeshift prisoner camp they had built for the two prisoners they hold captive.

‘So when are we going to deal with Mitch?’ asks Ray

‘When the time is right,’ says David half annoyed at the question.

‘Well we can’t just leave him there. We need to do something,’ he says

‘What do you suggest we do?’ asks Donner

‘Kill the cunt,’ says Ray

Donner cringes at the sound of Ray’s voice.

‘Do you have to use that word?’

‘What word?’

‘You know, the C word,’ she says

‘Yeah, when there is a cunt in my presence, I will gladly call him one’

‘What about him?’ asks David pointing at Tyrell who is near the two little girls laughing and playing with them.

‘What about him? He seems okay,’ says Ray

‘He is black though….’ says David while smiling at Ray.

‘Fuck you man. That’s not funny,’ laughs Ray

‘What about the other guy, Tony. Do we kill him? Asks Donner

‘We are not killing anyone! Got that? Wow, who the hell do you guys think you are? Judge, jury and executioner?’ asks David

‘Ease off man. It’s just I don’t see the point in wasting food on two scumbags,’ says Ray.

Suddenly they hear some whistling accompanied by footsteps approaching the camp. They all get up quickly and race towards the girls. Tyrell is standing in shock as he sees a man enter the opening to
the underground camp, in which a few hours prior was a warzone of gunshots and uncertainty. They all stand in shock as a well-dressed man smiles at them. He stands idle in a puddle of sewage water; his clothes are looking elegant and expensive. His suit shines much like David’s did before spending the near part of a week in the sewers. The man’s straight and narrow smile near lights up the tunnel as David’s jaw nearly hits the ground in shock.

‘Holy shit! Is that?’ asks Donner

Ray nods his head.

‘Mayor Rodriguez? Says David

‘Hello everyone,’ says the Mayor as he continues to smile at the group of survivors.

Luis Samways

Beacon of Light

Episode Five

One

London, England

‘You shot that police officer! How could you do such a thing? Shouts Steven’s wife.

Steven continues to grip onto the leather steering wheel as he weaves through traffic at an unadulterated speed.

‘Just shut up, and let me think!’ he screams.

An array of car horns can be heard from behind them as Steven looks down at the speedometer and clocks his speed at one hundred and twenty six miles an hour.

‘You’ll get us pulled over again. Slow down and blend into the traffic Steven,’ says Sharron.

Steven cranes his head to the left to see what’s behind him. He sees no police cars or helicopters. Maybe his wife is right. Maybe the best thing to do is blend in.

‘Okay, I’ll slow down, I’ll slow down,’ he says, slamming his foot down onto the brakes.

The car comes to a screeching halt.

‘I didn’t mean stop,’ she says.

‘Maybe it’s best if we do stop. Let’s get into another car,’ says Steven.

His wife’s expression drops as she listens on in amazement at Steven’s gutsy plan.

‘How do you suggest we get another car Steven?’ she says, not quite believing what she is saying.

‘We take one,’ he says.

‘What? Hijack a car? Do you want to go to prison for the rest your life?’ she asks.

Steven shakes his head.

‘Of course not, why do you think I am suggesting this?’

‘Because you obviously have a death wish of some sorts that I am not aware of,’ she says.

‘I don’t have a death wish! Can’t you see what is happening? Don’t you understand how much trouble we are in Sharron?’

‘You shot a policeman! You killed him!’ she says starting to break down into tears.

‘We don’t know if he’s dead! I shot him in the chest, they have armour,’ he says, trying to justify his actions, feeling a tad nervous while tapping his fingers on the car’s dash.

‘It’s stab proof, not bullet proof! And if I recall, you shot him in the face,’ she says.

Suddenly Steven realises something. They have been stopped in the middle of the motorway for a couple of minutes and not one single person has driven past them. The motorway they are on is a three lane motorway. Surly someone should have passed them. Steven quickly looks into his rear view
mirror to assess the situation and spots something out of the ordinary. Directly behind his stationary car lies around a hundred cars all stopped as well. A lot of the car doors are open and some of the drivers are outside of their vehicles looking up at the sky.  Steven opens his side door and decides to investigate what they are all looking at. The breeze hits him as he steps out of the car. A weird sound can be heard in the atmosphere. It sounds as if an aeroplane is about to fall out of the sky.

‘What are you doing? Get back into the car, you’ll get ran over!’ his wife says as she looks on at her husband exiting the car.

‘What the fuck?’ says Steven, gobsmacked at what he sees.

Three missile like lights can be seen in the early evening sky dancing around randomly. The lights look pretty and inviting.

‘Wow, what’s that?’ says his wife who’s still seated in the car.

‘I don’t know,’ he says

After a few seconds, one of the lights breaks from the others and comes rushing down towards the motorway. Before anyone can react, it has hit the road and split it into to two. Cars go flying up in the air and land on their roofs. Steven is knocked down on the ground, and gets covered in dirt and dust as the other lights in the sky zoom off into the horizon.

Two

Mr Conway is pacing the length of his desk once again while smoking a cigar and sipping on some whisky. He isn’t in a party mood and that much is evident by the look of despair on his face. His facial expressions seem to dampen with every step he takes. A knock on his office door reboots his senses.

‘Come in,’ he says

His new advisor enters the room holding a PDA.

‘Hello Mr Conway,’ says the advisor.

‘Hey, what’s the news then? Are we set yet?’ asks Mr Conway.

‘Yes sir, we should have the A12 and A19’s up in the air in a couple of hours’ time,’ says the advisor.

The look of glee on Mr Conway’s face is evident as he bites down hard on the rim of his whisky glass and takes a large swig.

‘Good,’ he says, as he catches his breath after the long gulp.

‘Is there anything else I can do sir?’ asks the advisor.

‘Yeah there is actually. Could you please go down to the basement and put a bullet in Miss Harriet’s skull,’ says Mr Conway.

His advisor swallows hard as his Addams apple bobs up and down in his throat.

‘Me?’ asks the advisor, nearly cracking his voice into a high pitched tone.

‘Yes, you.’

‘But why me?’ He asks.

‘Because you need to prove yourself as my new advisor. You can’t be my right hand man without getting those hands bloody,’ he says.

‘I didn’t know getting my hands bloody was in my job description sir’

Mr Conway gets up from his seat and leans over the desk. His weight creaks on the unsteady wooden desk, making it crack under his bulk.

‘Dying isn’t in your job description either, but I can assure you it’s a possible outcome’

Three

Jesse Manteo and Ricky Pastori are walking down the streets of New York with their new found companion Gianna. They are making their way to the police precinct which Jesse feels is the best place to hunker down for safety.

‘Tell me again why we are risking our lives and going to the precinct?’ asks Gianna who seems to be a little annoyed.

Jesse looks sideways at her, trying to refrain himself from lashing out verbally. He clenches his fist in anger and breathes in deeply and then exhales.

‘Look, I’ve already said, we need to bring it to those bastards! We need to do our duty,’ says Jesse.

‘Our duty? I’m sorry Jesse, but it’s not my duty to protect these streets. We need to take into account the blinking lights that are destroying people, left, right and center. Surly that’s what we should be worried about,’ says Gianna.

‘Didn’t you hear what that guy with the megaphone said when he was marching with the other army types?’

‘Yeah, but I don’t see a link,’ says Gianna.

‘You don’t see a link? He practically mentioned the beacons!’

‘Oh, so that’s what we are calling them now? “Beacons”’

Ricky smiles.

‘Jesse has a point Gianna. We didn’t ask you to hop along with us. You chose to come with us under your own free will. We didn’t force you to do anything,’ says Ricky.

Gianna stops dead in the middle of the footpath, forcing Ricky and Jesse to stop as well.

‘You didn’t force me, I know that. But what do you expect me to do, walk by myself?’

‘You could have if you wanted to,’ says Jesse

‘With no car? Remember those two teenagers you beat up?’

‘Yeah’

‘Well they exploded into a fireball and took my car with them, along with the rest of the cars in the parking lot next to the diner. Or don’t you remember?’

Jesse screws his face a little, still feeling rather ticked off.

‘Of course I remember, I mean how could I not?’

‘So don’t tell me that I could have gone on without you guys. You said you were the police and that I would be safe with you,’ says Gianna.

‘We are the police and you will be safe with us,’ says Ricky

‘I don’t think the police can protect me from them. I have my doubts that anyone can protect us from the lights,’ says Gianna.

‘Well that’s your right as a United States citizen to voice your opinion,’ says Jesse

‘New United States of America, remember what that guy said?’

‘Whatever, it’s still the same old US of A to me, even if it is being taken over by some wacky far right stealth army,’ says Jesse.

Four

Mrs Novik is hiding behind the wall in front of the Albany Mall. She and Clare have been stationed outside of the Mall since sunrise. They are hatching a plan to scavenge some food and water from inside the building. They fear the place is teaming with bandits after finding a note in the dead man’s cloak who Clare had managed to dispatch off outside of their van.

‘You reckon it’s safe to go inside?’ asks Angelina as she checks the magazine to her pistol that Clare had just given her.

‘Safe wouldn’t be the word I would use, but whatever happens, at least we know we are armed,’ says Clare as she too checks the magazine to her pistol.

‘Won’t they also be armed?’

‘It’s possible…But so is us being confronted by a bunch of hot men who only want to party and enjoy the apocalypse. Who knows, baby oil could be in abundance in the mall!’

Mrs Novik smiles.

‘It’s weird isn’t it?’

Clare looks at Mrs Novik in confusion.

‘What’s weird?’ she asks

‘That normal is
this
. This is what the definition of normal is now. No more soccer mums. No more partying. No more Days of Our Lives. No more nothing. Just killing and surviving. I can’t open up a fridge to get something to eat any more. I can’t open a tap to get some water. It’s all down to whatever I find to survive. Doesn’t that scare you Clare?’

‘No, it doesn’t scare me. I know that the times have changed, but we can still make a difference. We can still survive, and we will survive Angelina. I can guarantee you that hun!’

‘Is that why we have the guns? To survive? Or is it to make sure that other people don’t?’

Clare looks into Mrs Novik’s eyes and gives her a sympathetic look.

‘We only kill the people who want to kill us, those are the rules. It’s either them or us Angelina,
them or us
’ 

Five

Miss Harriet is sitting on a stool in the middle of the dark room. Her head is tilted slightly to the left as she tries to stay awake. She has been tied up now for what she estimates to be twelve hours. Not one single person has come by to check on her. She knows that it may be the last couple of hours of her life. She can feel it under her skin. It’s making her hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She knows she is going to die. She has come to terms with it. She embraces the fact that this maybe it. She doesn’t want to be on planet earth anymore. She wants to be anywhere but there, even if that means being six feet under.

She hears footsteps approach the room she is in. She braces herself for whatever lies ahead of her. The lock on the door grinds open as the pins in the lock unbolt and echo off the walls. The sound sends chills down Miss Harriet’s spine. The door opens slightly and a small ray of light hits her face. She can see the small specks of dust dance around the room as they fly across the rays of light. The door opens some more and a figure steps through the door frame. It’s a tall and slightly slender shadow of a man. He is breathing deep and shallow breaths as if he is just as nervous as Miss Harriet. Finally the light cascades off his face and she can see who it is. Her eyes light up and a small crevice of joy is seen on her face as the dimples on her cheeks press inwards and the remnants of a smile speckle across her face.

The man puts his finger up to his lips.

‘Shhh, don’t worry I’ll get you out of here,’ he says.

He gently takes the strap of duct tape off her face.

‘Wayne?’ she says quietly, not quite realising what is happening.

‘Hey Diane, your big brother is here to rescue you!’ he says, picking the lock to her restraints.