The Serophim Breach (The Serophim Breach Series) (24 page)

Kai held his bat loosely in his right hand down at his side. Using the tension he felt now would not benefit them; it would only make him jumpy. So he did what he could to settle his nerves as he would have before a game, forcing relaxation on his muscles and feigning calm until his body began to believe him. He took a deep breath in through his nose; the air was warm and moist, as it always was, tinged with gasoline and trash, but also a hint of acrid smoke from the building fires that had broken out. His heartbeat slowed a little, and the edges of his vision widened just slightly. With the weight on the balls of his feet, he leaned forward until he could see inside of the mini-mart.

It had already been looted. Most of the shelves were bare or covered in chips and candy that had spilled from bags that burst as they were grabbed. The refrigerators had been emptied, their doors smashed or spray painted. One whole wall was covered with big, red, block letters that read, “APOCALEPS NOW” and “TAKE ALL YOU WANT EAT ALL YOU TAKE.” The cash registers had been pulled off the counter and smashed to the floor, the drawers emptied. He squinted into the dark room, looking for anyone who had stayed behind.

“It’s been cleared out,” he whispered to the others.

Jones moved forward to look in as well. After a second of stunned silence, he scoffed. “They didn’t even spell ‘apocalypse’ right. Idiots.”

“Follow me,” Kai said in a low voice.

He ducked down below the window’s edge and walked forward toward the front door. When he got close enough to grab the handle, he looked back at the others and signaled for them to stay quiet and low. Then he reached out and grabbed the bar, pulling the door open slowly. The owner of the shop had hung a cluster of bells on the top of the door, which jangled as it moved, making Kai wince. Not a second later, a low moan came from inside the mart.

The adrenaline hit his system instantly, and his grip on the bat tightened involuntarily.

“Oh shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,” Jones whimpered behind him.

Kai heard Paul rebuke his friend quietly.

The quiet returned so completely that Kai wondered if he had imagined the sound. But he knew he had a choice to make: he could turn back and head for the truck, try to find what they needed elsewhere, or confront whoever was inside the store. And suddenly, he was angry. He saw Brandon, shivering in a ball on the bloody street, Lani’s body in their house, imagined Sarah hiding in her closet, and the anger was an almost instant inferno inside his gut.

He leaned his weight against the wall and hefted the bat, shouting, “
Who’s in there?
”

There was no answer. Nothing moved inside or out. Then finally, a small voice called out weakly, “Please . . .”

He swung his head around to look at Paul, who looked like Kai felt. His eyes were wide, but his face was a grim mask of determination. He gave a tiny shake of his head, but the look in his eyes told Kai he knew what would happen next.

Without looking away from his brother, Kai repeated the question.

“Who’s in there?”

The voice coughed once and murmured, “Please, I need help.”

“How do I know it’s just you?”

“It’s not just me,” the voice responded. This time, Kai caught enough of the tone to know that it was a male. “My family is here . . . they’re locked in the back. The store’s already empty; there’s nothing left to take. If you’re here to loot, you should move on. But if you’re a decent person . . .” the voice coughed again, “I need help. I need to get my family out of here.”

“Where are you?” Kai said, keeping his tone tough.

“Behind the counter.”

After one brief second of consideration, Kai steeled his nerves and stood up, bat at the ready.

“All right. I’m coming in. It’s just me,” he said.

Kai motioned to Paul and Jones to stay put, then moved forward through the door slowly, scanning the room. The only places to hide were behind the counter and between the three rows of display shelves. He waited at the entrance.

“Say something again, so I know where you are.”

Another cough, and the voice said, “I’m here.” The sound came from behind the counter, and Kai felt some relief. “I don’t want you to be surprised, and if you’re just looking for trouble, you might as well know there’s a shotgun back here with me.”

From outside, Paul called, “Kai, get out of there. We can go somewhere else.”

But something in the man’s voice told him the distress he heard was real, not affected. And if his family was here, Kai understood the level of urgency involved. That the man had admitted to having the gun made him feel slightly less suspicious, but nevertheless he stepped quietly behind a display of sunglasses to better shield his body.

“We’re not here to loot,” he said in a low voice. “We needed gas.”

He decided not to offer more information than that, and let the man behind the counter make the next move. There had been no sound of shifting bodies, and he hoped that meant the store was really empty except for the man and his family.

“Are you armed?” the voice finally asked.

“I have a bat.” He decided that was enough information to offer.

Another brief silence, and then the voice said, “I guess we’re in a bit of a standoff. You understandably don’t want to come into the shop without proof you’re safe, and I don’t want to give up what defense I have left. So . . .”

Both men were quiet, considering their options.

“Paul?” Kai said quietly.

“Yeah?”

“Send Jones in here. With the tire iron.”

Sounds of protests came from outside and behind the counter at the same time.

“I want him to check the aisles, and make sure there’s no one in here hiding. Then I’ll be ready to trust you a little more,” he said for both of them. His brother and Jones continued to argue quietly outside, but the man behind the counter was quiet.

Kai waited for a few seconds, and then said in a slightly louder voice, “Is that a problem?”

The man coughed again, then sighed. Finally, he said, “You let me know when he’s done. And I want him to be loud about it, so I know where he is.”

Kai agreed, and Jones lurched into view from behind the wall, clearly forced out. He gripped the tire iron like a kid just learning to swing a bat, his hands choked up high on the weapon. After an angry glance at Kai, he sighed and walked into the store.

“I haven’t heard anyone move,” Kai said once Jones was next to him. “And I think if there was someone else in here, they would have made a move by now. Just go slow and let the guy know where you’re at every few seconds, okay?” He patted the younger man on the back, pushing him forward in the process.

“You sure you don’t want to check and I’ll wait at the door?” Jones asked in halfhearted jest as he headed down the first visible aisle. At the end of the row, he slid into a crouch and lifted the weapon over his head. If he hadn’t been on high alert, Kai would have laughed. Jones peeked around the edge of the row and yanked his head back immediately; nothing happened. He put his head out again, looking around the edge, and let out a whoosh of air.

“No one,” he said, relieved.

“Where you guys at?” the man behind the counter spoke up. Kai could hear the anxiety in his voice as well. Whether they were walking into a trap or the man truly needed help, he was clearly frightened.

“I’m here,” Kai answered simply. “My friend is at the back of the store, checking the next aisle.”

Jones repeated the process for both the second and third aisle, and by the last time, Kai was almost relieved enough to let out a chuckle at his posturing.

“No one,” Jones said for the last time, and straightened up. He looked at Kai with a question on his face, and Kai gestured for him to wait where he was.

“Now what?” asked the man behind the counter.

“Now I’m going to ask you to stand up.”

There was a longer silence this time.

“I’m not sure about that,” he answered after a moment. “You’ve checked my store, and it’s all as I’ve said. So I need a good faith gesture from you, so I know
you
are who you say you are.”

Kai hadn’t realized his brother had come into the store until he spoke up from directly behind him.

“No way. You already said you have a gun, and we don’t,” Paul argued.

“Yeah, but I don’t
know
that,” the man returned.

“He’s right,” Kai said, turning to look at his brother. The naked fear in Paul’s eyes was almost enough to make him reconsider; but they needed gas, and he wanted very much to believe that the world hadn’t gone to hell so completely, so quickly. So he reached out and squeezed Paul’s shoulder, and said, “It’s okay.”

“How do you want me to do this?” he said to the man behind the counter.

“Just walk around to the left. There’s a gap in the counter where I’ll be able to see you. Hold out your hands so I can see you don’t have a gun first, and then step out. I won’t point the shotgun at you. I’ll just have it nearby. Sound fair?”

Kai exhaled slowly, considering.

“I guess,” he answered, and headed into the store. He was careful to keep enough distance between himself and the counter to keep his head from being a target. When he rounded the left side, he saw the gap the man had described, and his stomach suddenly seized up. Doggedly, he set his bat down and narrated his movements as he put his hands out into the open space. A sound of relief came from behind the counter.

“Okay, I’m going to stand up here,” Kai said. He had decided it was a better compromise to show himself with the counter still between them, offering them both some protection. With his hands up, he raised his head slowly until he could see the man sitting on the ground behind the counter.

There was a shotgun on the floor, but it was not within the man’s reach. He was older, probably in his midfifties, with a slight build and a shock of gray hair that was almost white in the front. The right side of his face was bloodied and swollen so that his eye was nearly shut. He had a gash on the same side of his head and a bald spot where he had been struck with a weapon. The cigarette display behind him had been smashed in and emptied, and his hands were tied with cord to a metal shelf. He tried to smile, but the swelling turned the expression into an ugly grimace. His chuckle turned quickly into a cough, and he mumbled an apology.

“I’m Ben,” he offered, and Kai thought he looked like he might cry. Instead, he continued in a shaky voice, “You must be Kai.”

They cut the cord loose, but when Ben went to stand, they found that his leg was also badly injured.

“I’m not sure it’s broken, but it sure hurts like hell,” he said with another ugly smile, lowering himself back to the floor.

He explained that he lived a few blocks away and had walked over to the station when the power went out.

“The girl who works here in the evenings isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. So I didn’t want her dealing with irritated people . . . anyways, I let her go home, and I was just going to wait for the power to come back. But pretty soon that emergency broadcast started and everyone was evacuating. I called my wife to tell her to wait at home for me, but she pulled up here before I got done leaving the message. She didn’t want to be home alone with just our daughter. We were getting ready to leave when I saw a pack of kids . . . I locked the girls in the back and tried to keep them out, but . . .” he gestured at his face, “obviously I didn’t do a good job. I came back here with my hands tied.” He patted his pockets and dropped his chin to his chest. “It seems they took my wallet and keys too.”

“How come they didn’t take the shotgun?” Jones asked.

Ben shrugged and said, “I don’t keep it in plain sight. It’s under the counter here, and I didn’t have time to get to it before they were in the shop and on me. I worked it loose with my foot when I woke up here. Not sure what I planned to do with it.”

Kai sat back on his heels and asked, “Where’s your family?”

“In the storeroom. It locks from the outside.”

“You’re sure they’re still there?”

Ben nodded. “The lock inside is broken. And I called for them when I woke up. I could hear Bonnie shouting, but I told them to be quiet when you pulled up.”

Holding his hand out, Kai said, “I can let them out.”

Instantly, Ben was on guard again. The ugly smile faded from his face, and he watched Kai’s face closely.

“Try to understand,” he said. “It’s my wife and girl. I don’t . . . I don’t trust anyone with them.”

They held each other’s gaze for a while until Kai extended his hand again.

“How about if I take you back there?” he said. “And you can bring the shotgun.”

It took all three of them to hoist Ben up onto his feet, and then Kai and Brandon slung his arms over their shoulders so he could keep the weight off his injured leg. When he moved his right arm, he hissed and gasped in pain; once the wince melted off his face, he replaced it with an embarrassed smile.

“One of the bigger kids kicked me in the ribs. My wife is going to have a cow,” Ben murmured as they headed for the back of the store with Jones in tow. When they got to the storeroom, the older man called out as loud as he could, “Bonnie?”

A small female voice answered from inside, but they couldn’t make out what she said.

“Bonnie, some boys came into the store, and they’re here with me. They have a truck, and I think they might help us”—Paul glanced at Kai over the older man’s shoulders—“so I’m going to let you out. I’m a little worse for wear, but nothing serious.”

He took out his keys, saying, “Here we go.”

Bonnie was a short, round woman with wiry gray hair and thick glasses. Her eyes were puffy, and she rushed forward to wrap her arms around her husband the moment the door was open. He let out an “oof” as her weight hit him, and both Kai and Paul grunted under the added pressure. A mousy teenager followed her mother out of the room, her eyes darting around the room as she scurried forward to join her parents. Kai gently moved Ben’s arm off his shoulder so that he could hold his wife and daughter.

“Thank you, boys,” Bonnie said, her voice thick with tears. She had taken Paul’s place under Ben’s left arm, and their daughter stood behind them both, her body blocked by the width of her mother’s.