not to lose this next time.”
“Can’t make any promises.”
Nal walks over to the wall and looks for the latch, leaving his bloody hand prints all over it. I search the thugs and find a pair of pistols on the two smaller guys. By the time I search Rollie and grab his phone, Nal has found the latch.
“You better take one of these,” I say, handing him a gun.
“Ready?” He releases the safety to his weapon. He notices my nod and pushes the passage open. Within seconds we are in the hallway, he is training his gun downstairs. I have mine upstairs. “Let’s get the hell out of here,” he says as he heads downstairs.
We make the trek down, all five stories, back to back. He stops at the bottom and plays with the wall again.
“Another one here?” I ask.
“Like I said, I wanted an easy escape if things went wrong.”
I don’t question him any more. The mere fact that he had these installed for just this situation has me speechless for the first time in weeks. The only thing I want to do is get back to a safe place and take a nice long shower.
I hear the click of success a moment before the light from outside hits my eyes. It feels amazing to feel the sunlight on my skin after the last few days. Having always been an indoor person, I never thought I would be so glad to be outside.
We walk across the parking lot slowly. It’s either our last act of defiance, or our battered legs just not being up to running, but there is no sign that anyone notices. That may have something to do with us leaving out an unknown exit on the side of the building.
After a few minutes I can see my Expedition sitting on the road ahead. Nal puts his hand on my shoulder to celebrate our victory, as small as it is. We get in the car before I realize that I’m missing a small detail.
Nal reaches under the front console and pulls out a small black box. He slides it open to reveal a spare key to the car. “I always lose them,” he says handing it over. We share a laugh when I start up the ride.
“You picked up the big bastard’s phone, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Call 555-783-4425. I left those fuckers another surprise.”
I pull out the phone and dial the number. Before I can ask him what the surprise is, a loud boom rattles the windows of the car. I watch, in amazement, as flaming debris floats down from above coating the roadway. Next to me, Nal’s face is red from laughing so damn hard, I’m waiting for him to pass out.
“Never thought I’d actually get use that one.”
- 9 -
I make the long trip back to Uriel’s compound. Could have been here much faster, but I’ve been driving around the city trying to figure out how to break the news.
I have never been good with death in general. There is no way that I could bring myself to tell Uriel about Zeke unless I took some time to think about how to tell her.
It had all happened so fast. One minute they were fine, even if they were captured, and the next Zeke was gone. I can still see the tears falling from his eyes in his final moments. I had never been so glad to be knocked out until that moment.
The soldiers open the gates when they see the car. I’m glad they are working on instinct because I’m sure they would have stopped us if they had seen someone else in the car.
I pull into her driveway and put the car in park. Nal puts his hand on my leg before he gets out to stretch.
As much as I want to get out of the car, something is keeping me from moving. I feel the guilt pushing through the pit of my stomach. Before long, I can’t stop the tears. I was a teen the last time I cried like this.
It was a Friday night in the middle of August. My parents had left me at home to have a date night, a weekly tradition they got into once I was old enough to be left alone. It didn’t bother me any, it was an excuse to stay up late and play some video games.
Around nine o’clock I was starving, so I called and ordered a
“Can’t make any promises.”
Nal walks over to the wall and looks for the latch, leaving his bloody hand prints all over it. I search the thugs and find a pair of pistols on the two smaller guys. By the time I search Rollie and grab his phone, Nal has found the latch.
“You better take one of these,” I say, handing him a gun.
“Ready?” He releases the safety to his weapon. He notices my nod and pushes the passage open. Within seconds we are in the hallway, he is training his gun downstairs. I have mine upstairs. “Let’s get the hell out of here,” he says as he heads downstairs.
We make the trek down, all five stories, back to back. He stops at the bottom and plays with the wall again.
“Another one here?” I ask.
“Like I said, I wanted an easy escape if things went wrong.”
I don’t question him any more. The mere fact that he had these installed for just this situation has me speechless for the first time in weeks. The only thing I want to do is get back to a safe place and take a nice long shower.
I hear the click of success a moment before the light from outside hits my eyes. It feels amazing to feel the sunlight on my skin after the last few days. Having always been an indoor person, I never thought I would be so glad to be outside.
We walk across the parking lot slowly. It’s either our last act of defiance, or our battered legs just not being up to running, but there is no sign that anyone notices. That may have something to do with us leaving out an unknown exit on the side of the building.
After a few minutes I can see my Expedition sitting on the road ahead. Nal puts his hand on my shoulder to celebrate our victory, as small as it is. We get in the car before I realize that I’m missing a small detail.
Nal reaches under the front console and pulls out a small black box. He slides it open to reveal a spare key to the car. “I always lose them,” he says handing it over. We share a laugh when I start up the ride.
“You picked up the big bastard’s phone, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Call 555-783-4425. I left those fuckers another surprise.”
I pull out the phone and dial the number. Before I can ask him what the surprise is, a loud boom rattles the windows of the car. I watch, in amazement, as flaming debris floats down from above coating the roadway. Next to me, Nal’s face is red from laughing so damn hard, I’m waiting for him to pass out.
“Never thought I’d actually get use that one.”
- 9 -
I make the long trip back to Uriel’s compound. Could have been here much faster, but I’ve been driving around the city trying to figure out how to break the news.
I have never been good with death in general. There is no way that I could bring myself to tell Uriel about Zeke unless I took some time to think about how to tell her.
It had all happened so fast. One minute they were fine, even if they were captured, and the next Zeke was gone. I can still see the tears falling from his eyes in his final moments. I had never been so glad to be knocked out until that moment.
The soldiers open the gates when they see the car. I’m glad they are working on instinct because I’m sure they would have stopped us if they had seen someone else in the car.
I pull into her driveway and put the car in park. Nal puts his hand on my leg before he gets out to stretch.
As much as I want to get out of the car, something is keeping me from moving. I feel the guilt pushing through the pit of my stomach. Before long, I can’t stop the tears. I was a teen the last time I cried like this.
It was a Friday night in the middle of August. My parents had left me at home to have a date night, a weekly tradition they got into once I was old enough to be left alone. It didn’t bother me any, it was an excuse to stay up late and play some video games.
Around nine o’clock I was starving, so I called and ordered a
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