Hope (23 page)

“Damn, you look fine,” Daniel said as he stepped towards her.

Christy wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled, revealing her beautifully perfect white teeth; then she pushed herself up on her toes and leaned in and kissed him. “You don’t look so bad yourself,” she said with a smile, stepping back to check him out, “and all by yourself, I’m so proud.”

Daniel did a little pirouette. “Not bad, huh?”

Christy reached out and grabbed his ass. “Not bad at all, so where we going?”

He had planned what he would say to this question. “ I thought we would start at Churchill’s.” Before he even finished saying it, he started to smile, knowing how she felt about the British-style pub.

Christy spun and started to walk towards the stairs, tossing her little black purse over her shoulder. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

They started the night at Aria Restaurant off East Paces Ferry Road, a trendy, upscale little place with great food and prices that reflected it. Daniel knew this night was going to cost him, but since he wasn’t going to the woods this weekend, he was going to make it as enjoyable as possible, and keeping Christy in bed all weekend would certainly be enjoyable.

They enjoyed their dinner; he had salmon, and Christy a chicken something or other. Because of the difference in dishes, they had two different bottles of wine at the table as well. Neither of them wanted dessert, and Daniel quickly paid the bill and they were off to find some music and people.

Daniel was pulling out of the parking lot when he asked Christy where she wanted to go. Her reply was no help. “Surprise me.” All he could do was roll his eyes as he pulled out onto the road. This scenario had entered his mind, and having been a Boy Scout, he was ready and headed down Paces Ferry to Piedmont and made a right. The stars were lining up tonight, and a car was pulling out of a spot in front of the Havana Club as he pulled in.

Looking over at Christy, he asked, “Feel like dancing tonight?” His eyebrows jumped up and down as he did.

Christy was obviously surprised. Being a typical guy, he tried to avoid dancing at all costs, and for him to suggest it was certainly a surprise. “You mean you’re actually going to dance with me tonight?”

Daniel looked over at her as he put the Jeep in park. The small silver chain she wore around her neck caught his eye; the little pendant rested in the top of her ample cleavage. He looked a little lower until the little black dress covered his desires. He reached across to her seat and laid his hand on her thigh, running it slightly up her leg under the dress. “You look amazing tonight. Wanna dance?”

Christy took a deep breath, her mouth slightly open, and began to vigorously nod her head. “Yeah, oh yeah, let’s go.”

Inside, the bar was packed with all the young and beautiful of Atlanta. Techno dance music filled the place, and bodies on the floor writhed to the rhythm. As soon as Christy broke the plane of the door, her arms went up and she began to shake her ass to the music. They spent the next several hours dancing and drinking. Christy was having a great time, and he knew he would later. It was the only thing that kept him going.

Daniel needed a break from the dance floor and told Christy he was going to get them a drink. She nodded and turned back to the writhing crowd. Daniel went to the bathroom to take a leak. Of course, there was an “attendant” in there, an older black man sitting on a stool. Daniel saw him when he came in and rolled his eyes. After finishing his business at the urinal, he went to the sink. The soap dispenser was gone, and the old man held out a bottle of liquid soap. Daniel stuck his hands out, and the old guy pumped a few squirts in his hand.

As he washed his hands, he looked over to the paper towel dispenser, and just as he suspected, it was empty. A smirk ran across his face. When he finished, the old man tossed him a hand towel and he dried his hands. Sitting on the counter was a small basket full of bills, he handed the towel back to the old guy and he tossed it into a basket on the floor. Now he was expected to tip this guy for some soap and a towel.

The old man was smiling at him. Daniel looked at him, patting his pockets. “Sorry, man, don’t have any cash. I’m going to the bar for some drinks and I’ll take care of you next time.”

“Jus’ don’t forget about me,” the old guy said with a wink.

Daniel left the restroom, shaking his head at the thought of having to pay to take a piss, and fought his way to the bar. He was trying to get the attention of one of the hot bartenders, which appeared impossible, and occupied his time with one of the huge TVs behind the bar. A local news anchor was on the screen; behind her was a line of riot police forming a skirmish line. Daniel was absentmindedly watching when the scroll at the bottom of the screen said, “Riot at Centennial Place.”

He immediately left the bar, heading for the dance floor to find Christy. He found her dancing with some Latin guy with no shirt. He wedged in between them, and she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Pulling away from her, he shouted over the music, “We gotta go!”

She was still smiling and dancing to the music. “What!” she shouted back.

“We gotta go!” he shouted again.

She simply smiled back at him, grabbing his hands and pulling him towards her. Daniel gripped her right hand and pulled her from the dance floor. She tried to protest, pulling away.

“What the hell?” Christy asked.

“Look, there’s a riot starting over at Centennial Place. We need to get the hell outta here before they bring in the National Guard and start shooting people.”

“Why? That’s blocks from here. Come on, come back out and dance with me.”

“No, I’m leaving, I’m not getting caught in that shit. You coming?” Daniel asked.

The tone of his voice or maybe his posture drove the point home. “Fine.”

Daniel led her out of the club and to the Jeep. He was putting her in on the passenger side when she wrapped her arms around him again. Christy pulled him to her and started to kiss him, but the sounds of a police helicopter flying low overhead brought Daniel’s attention back to more pressing matters, even if they weren’t as enjoyable as what was happening.

Backing away from her, he said, “Hold that thought. Let’s get out of here first.”

She leaned back into her seat and smiled, closing her eyes. Daniel looked in the direction of Centennial Place at the glow rising above the buildings. Police sirens filled the air as well as police and news helicopters. All he wanted to do was get back to his apartment as fast as he could. By the time he got around the Jeep and into the driver’s seat, Christy was passed out, her head slumped over on the door.

He pulled out of the parking lot and headed back towards the apartment. Traffic was building, and police were beginning to shut down intersections. Daniel was forced to take several turns he didn’t want to, and as a result, he was getting farther and farther from his apartment.

What should have been a twenty-minute drive ended up taking over an hour and a half. Daniel never saw any trouble, he never got close enough to whatever was going on to see, and that was fine with him. Pulling into the parking garage, he managed to wake Christy up without too much trouble and helped her get to the elevator and into the apartment.

Once inside, Christy sat on the edge of his bed and he went into the bathroom. For a moment he leaned on the sink, looking into the mirror. He’d wanted to get out of town this weekend, out into the woods, and he’d let her talk him into staying here, and now there was a frickin’ riot. He quickly washed his face and kicked his shoes off, trying to relax.

Opening the door, he saw her lying naked on the bed, propped up on her elbows. The light from the bathroom lit her side facing him, and a smile spread across his face. Maybe staying here wasn’t such a bad idea.

Daniel woke up when light streamed through the blinds in the morning. Shielding his eyes with his hand, he sat up, then went and closed them. Christy was lying there, sound asleep; she looked so good. Running a hand over her ass, he covered her with the sheet and headed for the kitchen. He needed his hangover remedy, not that he’d drunk that much, but the combination of the alcohol, the music and the stress of the ride home made him feel like he’d drunk an entire liquor store.

After taking two Excedrin and drinking a huge glass of water, Daniel went to the fridge and dug out some cream cheese. From a paper bag on the counter, he pulled out a huge everything bagel then looked inside and found a plain one. With his bagel fixed, he headed for the living room and dropped onto the couch, flipping on the TV.

He changed the channel to Fox News to see what was going on in the world. What he saw shocked him. On the screen was a view of Centennial Place. Cars were on fire as well as some buildings in the distance. It looked as though there were hundreds of police, but unlike last night, these were not riot cops. The shields and clubs were gone, replaced with armored vehicles and rifles.

The reporter on the scene was saying something about “an unknown number killed in the fighting”. He sat up on the sofa, leaning forward. In the background of the shot, it appeared that a large section of the area was blocked off, and there were bodies visible in a couple of places. The reporter came back into view again, and he could see she was crouching behind the corner of a building as the cameraman leaned out to get shots of the action. Gunshots could be heard in the audio; the camera bounced and jerked with each report.

Daniel sat there shaking his head.
People are fucking nuts,
he thought to himself. Watching what was unfolding before him, he started to get a little nervous and got up, returning to the kitchen. He felt like he should be doing something, but what? The riot was still pretty far from his place and shouldn’t be a problem, but better safe than sorry. Daniel went through the cabinets really quick to get an idea of what he had on hand. Being a bachelor, naturally they were quite bare. Deciding it would be a good idea to have a little more on hand, he figured a trip to the store wouldn’t hurt.

Look for CRY HAVOC to be released in June 2016

READ AN EXCERPT FROM
NEMESIS: INCEPTION
BOOK ONE: THE NEMESIS TRILOGY
BY G. MICHAEL HOPF

February 22, 2015

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
– Mark Twain

Crescent, Oregon

“Lexi…Lexi…WAKE UP!”
the reoccurring voice from her dreams shouted.

She sat up quickly, her heart racing as a cold sweat clung to her skin. She wiped the sweat with her shaking hands and blinked in an effort to clear her eyes, but it did no good in the pitch-black space. Fumbling, she found a glow stick, cracked it and shook vigorously. Soon a yellow glow lit the dark crevasses of the room. Her vision adjusted, but the room offered nothing for her champagne-colored eyes to feast upon. The walls were lined with boxes, and at her feet, a large metal shelf held cans and bottles. The smell of the room at first was off-putting, but she soon didn’t notice the mix of dust, cardboard and stale beer. The damp back storeroom of The Mohawk Bar and Grill wasn’t luxury accommodations, but having a relatively safe place to rest your head from the winter cold and dangers of the road came pretty close. At first she had refused the offer for shelter, only accepting it when she realized the place was full of provisions and an older single man who she sized up as beatable in a fight. After surviving for two months in the new world, her situational awareness was always on. She chalked it up as one of the primary reasons she was still alive.

Lexi rubbed her eyes and grunted in frustration when the nightly dream that prevented her from getting the rest she needed popped in her mind. She had grown weary from her inability to sleep soundly. Before the collapse, sleeping had been one of her best friends. Not a weekend morning went by where she’d be awake by eleven, and her weekday mornings were a struggle to rise, each morning a repeat of the last as she hit the snooze button a dozen times. Now her sleep, if one could call it that, was punctuated with night terrors and restlessness.

A knock at the door startled her. She reached under the pillow and grabbed her pistol, a Glock 17 9mm semiautomatic.

“Lexi? Are you all right? I heard you scream,” the voice said from behind the door.

She looked and saw a dark shadow blocking the dim light from underneath the door. She didn’t know John, much less completely trust him. She had only met him a week before.

After her narrow escape from a small band of marauders, she had crashed the motorcycle she had stolen along the highway south of town. A small detachment of Marines had found her and offered assistance.

Not having a place to call home, the Marines took her to the Mohawk. The Marines had created a relationship with John not long after arriving in town. Crescent was a small town, and with no other business operating besides the Mohawk, it provided a place for what remained of the community to gather. John had no family and nothing else, so keeping his only love, the Mohawk, open was a natural decision for him. He quickly ran out of perishable foods, but his supply of alcohol was abundant and part of his plan was to use it as currency. John was a large burly man, his black hair now streaked with silver. His wife had left him years ago and, with no children, the townspeople were family.

During her stay, she had spent her time working out and training out back with her long sheath knives. Then she would find an excuse, any would do, to find adequate time to drink.

John found himself watching her and was impressed with her skills. In fact, he was curious who he had staying in his back room. Today he made it a point to find out.

“Lexi, you in there?” he asked again, this time trying the knob. The door was locked.

Lexi looked at the door; her instincts born out of the chaos of the new world told her not to open it. Not truly knowing John and with her numerous negative experiences, she remained hesitant to trust anyone. Then her reasonable and pragmatic side won out. She didn’t have a place to go and he had supplies she could use on her hunt for Rahab.