Isolation (Book 1): Shut In Page 22

  Ellie had no problems with that. Unfortunately they were going to have a bit of trouble with carrying out his suggestion, since the fleet of vehicles split up at the first gas station they'd visited, half roaring into that parking lot while the remaining truck and motorcycles filled the lot of the station where their green sedan was still parked at the pump.

  “You've got to be kidding me,” she moaned.

  Men poured out of the vehicles, giving the abandoned car a wide berth and gathering on the sidewalk by the street. One last man stood on the back of the truck, older and heavyset but with the solid mean streak look of someone who relished whipping young upstarts into line.

  “All right, boys, remember what we're looking for,” he called. “Vehicles with dirty windshields, meaning they haven't been used since at least the last rain, probably longer . . . take any worth taking and siphon the gas and strip any useful parts from the rest. Quarantine notices on doors and windows, and other signs the residents are serious about turning people away. That means they've held to the quarantine from the beginning and never been exposed to Zolos, so it's perfectly safe to bust in and manhandle them if they put up a fight.”

  “Or if they don't!” someone in the crowd called, drawing a storm of harsh, hungry laughter. The sound of it, and the implication, sent ice down Ellie's spine.

  “Right, right,” their leader said easily. “But try to save the fun until we're back safe at our headquarters, huh? Folks around here still have phones, and the law won't stay distracted corralling sick people forever. The faster we take whatever, and whoever, is worth taking, the less risk of some police force or Armed Forces unit on a relief mission interrupting the party.”

  The implication of that was even more sickening. Ellie sincerely hoped hers and Hal's feeble hiding place held out against these robbers and their search; she didn't want to contemplate what might happen if she was found.

  Who were these men? Where had they come from? Were they inmates escaped from some nearby prison, or a gang out to cause mayhem now that law and order had collapsed?

  Was it possible they were even just normal people, driven to this extreme by the disaster?

  Ellie wasn't naive enough to think that there weren't those who'd turn to lawlessness if they thought they could get away with it. The sort of people who only lived upright lives out of the fear of getting caught. Even in the business settings she worked in, she'd seen more than a few individuals and even spiteful little cabals who'd happily cause any trouble they could get away with. Usually out of a desire to get ahead, but some seemingly just because they could; maybe they got some sick thrill out of having the petty power to complicate or even destroy someone else's life, with a minimum of effort and personal risk.

  If there were people who would do so much damage within the organized framework of a corporate environment, she hated to think what they'd do if they had free rein out in the world.

  Although she supposed she didn't have to think it, since she was seeing it before her very eyes. It just shocked her beyond belief that it had happened so quickly. Did it really take less than a week for law and order to completely break down during a crisis? To the point where roving bands of robbers were running around straight up kidnapping people, presumably women they planned to do unspeakable things to?

  How was this happening in the United States of America?

  The robbers got ready to head out, some on foot and others on their choppers. “Remember, boys!” the leader called as they dispersed. “There's over fifty million dead or dying in this country, and that number's just going up! That's a lot of swag sitting there for the taking, waiting for some enterprising souls to make use of it.” He paused theatrically. “As for the “guests” we drag back to our headquarters, well, we're doing them a favor taking them somewhere they'll be safe from Zolos!”

  Ellie wondered if anyone could be so self-deluded that they actually believed that. Did these animals cling to such justifications so they could sleep at night?

  Hal's grip on her arm briefly tightened as a small group of men trooped towards the first house they'd visited, trying to pull her down to the ground and closer to the bush. Her first impulse was to freeze like a deer in the headlights, but she realized why he was doing that when she noticed that the bushes would offer them no cover once the robbers got into the front yards of any house on this side of the street; they'd be clearly visible through the chain-link fence.

  Sitting ducks.

  So she thought quiet thoughts, not even daring to breathe as she sunk flat to the ground and squirmed deeper into the bush's thick branches. Beside her Hal did the same, pressing close enough her face was practically in his armpit.

  Under normal circumstances she wouldn't have been thrilled about that, especially considering how long it had been since the young man had showered. Not that he smelled terrible in spite of the slight BO, she had to admit. As it was, though, she found his solid presence comforting.

  That didn't stop her from moving her head, of course, although that was motivated more by wanting to be able to see what was going on through the chain links.

  They lay frozen, breathing slowly and quietly, as they waited to find out if the robbers had noticed them moving. After a couple seconds Ellie judged they were safe, and she relaxed slightly and craned her head even more for a better look.

  While hers and Hal's attempts to contact the residents of that first house had resulted in silence, the robbers' tactic of simply busting down the door produced a woman's screams and a man's shouting, shrill with anger and fear. She couldn't help but flinch at the sound of crashing coming from inside as the minutes passed, not just as if furniture was being upended but as if walls were being smashed and cabinets cleaned out, looking for hidden valuables.

  Then the woman's screams became even more frantic before abruptly silencing, while the man's protesting bellows cut off in strangled grunts as if he was being beaten senseless. A minute or so later two robbers emerged dragging a woman in her early twenties between them. She stumbled along, hands duct taped behind her back and eyes wide with terror above a strip of duct tape covering her mouth, muffling her continued streams.

  Was what Ellie thought was happening here actually happening? She felt like she was going to be sick, not just with sympathy and horror for the fate the woman faced but with fear for herself. At her side Hal shifted with glacial slowness, hand finding hers and gripping it tight in reassurance.

  The woman struggled every step of the way as she was shoved to the truck in the gas station lot, her legs taped at the ankles and knees before being casually tossed inside. The men who'd taken her tromped back to the house to continue looting, passing a few of their friends who were carrying food, useful items, and valuables to pile in the front yard, presumably to be sorted.

  “What are we going to do?” Ellie hissed, so frightened she barely dared to breathe the words, and wasn't sure Hal even heard.

  He squeezed her hand, reply equally quiet. “We wait until they leave, then we make a dash for our car and get out of here.”

  “What if they stick around all day? What if they see us?” She tried to quell her rising panic as she imagined herself being taped up and tossed into the back of the truck on top of a pile of other women, facing who knew what nightmare in the clutches of these animals. “I say as soon as these guys get far enough away from the gas station, we sneak to the car and get out of here. Maybe we can free that girl and any others they kidnap and take them with us.”

  “You think they'll leave their bikes unguarded?” her friend whispered incredulously.

  “You think we have a good hiding place here?” she shot back with equal heat.

  He hesitated. “Let's see what happens,” he finally said.

  That was probably their best bet at the moment. Ellie fell still and silent again as the robbers finished looting the house, picked through the pile of stuff on the lawn, then began hauling a surprisingly small amount of it, mostly food and useful items, to p
ile in the gas station lot near the sidewalk.

  Ellie wondered if they were going through all this trouble just to take enough stuff to fill up a couple trucks and whatever those motorcycles could carry. She could only assume the robbers had more trucks waiting elsewhere, maybe even some semis with empty trailers, ready to swoop in and be loaded up once the looting was done.

  Other teams of robbers were returning to the station with their own armfuls of loot, along with a few girls who couldn't have been much older than their late teens who were dragged kicking and screaming to the truck to be tossed in with the first.

  She and Hal both froze again as the nearby group of looters moved on to the second house, much more clearly visible now through the chain-link fence. To the point where Ellie felt like they were going to be spotted at any moment.

  Although to her relief, at least there were no screams when this house was broken into; from the way the robbers cursed a blue streak as they poured into the house, she could only assume the residents had fled out the back door and hopefully to safety while these animals were occupied in the first house.

  She couldn't help but think those people had the right idea. She just hoped wherever they'd gone, they managed to stay hidden.

  “That took over fifteen minutes,” Hal abruptly whispered. “At this rate they could be here for hours.”

  “Then you agree that we should try to get to the car?” Ellie hissed back. “One of the groups that came back was carrying cans of gas . . . we can grab them and go.”

  He paused, thinking it over. “If it looks like they're leaving the gas station unguarded then yeah, let's get out of here.”

  She couldn't help but feel a surge of relief at that; the sooner she escaped this nightmare, the better.

  The robbers made a surprising racket ransacking the town. Along with the screams and crashing of breaking things, elsewhere in the town she heard whoops, the noise of engines revving, and even gunshots. She just hoped those last were men with their blood up shooting into the air, and those surprisingly loud cracks echoing through the streets weren't each some innocent person being murdered.

  Although a distant part of her hoped they came from residents fighting back against the robbers, or even law enforcement arriving to stop this madness. After all, the US was one of the most well armed countries in the world, specifically for this reason. And if there was ever a time when she could cheer citizens standing up and raising weapons in defense of their homes, it was when a gang of animals were beating down their doors kidnapping their wives and daughters while the police were busy managing a crisis.

  The group of robbers finished with the second house and poured towards the third, coming within a few feet of where Ellie and Hal huddled against the bushes. Ellie didn't even breathe as they flooded up the front walk, smashed through the front door, and began their search, thankfully without discovering her and her friend's hiding place in the bushes.

  Although there were plenty of opportunities for that any of the dozens of times these men came tromping out to dump loot on the pile; she and Hal would practically be in their line of sight at that point. In fact, she almost wondered if they shouldn't try to find another hiding place now, while the robbers were still searching the house and before they carted anything out.

  Ellie lost the nerve to even consider that idea moments later, when someone else's hiding place was apparently discovered.

  From the lack of screaming coming from the third house, she'd assumed the residents had also fled out the back door. But after a few minutes of listening to the crashing sounds coming from inside, she suddenly heard a woman's shrill shriek split the air, as much surprise as fear. It was quickly joined by eager shouting from the searchers as they realized they'd found another victim.

  Ellie's stomach churned in horror as the shrieks continued, becoming more and more frantic, before turning to something tortured that suggested something truly awful was being done to the poor woman.

  Listening to that, along with the harsh laughter and taunts coming from the robbers inside, broke something inside Ellie. Before she could rethink the decision she scrambled to her feet and vaulted over the low fence, dashing along the cover of the bushes across the front yard and vaulting the fence leading to the second house.

  Behind her she heard Hal curse and rush to follow her, catching up as Ellie reached the back of the second house and ducked behind it, out of view of the third house and the street. Even then she didn't allow herself to stop, although she kept her ears pricked for any shouts that suggested she or her friend had been spotted and pursuit was on the way.

  There was nothing; the nightmarish noises coming from the third house continued uninterrupted, and the background of bedlam in the rest of the town remained the same.

  “Are you crazy?” Hal hissed at her as she reached the far side of the second house and paused to search for a route to the first house that offered cover. “It's too early to move!”

  Ellie didn't even glance at him, eyes roving the backyards in front of her as she replied. “We were right in view of anyone coming out that door, and I didn't want to sit there listening to a poor girl get gang raped until they came out and found me for my turn.”

  Her friend flinched, looking like he was going to throw up. “Okay yeah, maybe you had the right idea going now.” He joined her searching the yards for a safe route. “Let's just take it carefully from here, okay? Rushing in a panic could get us into more trouble than it gets us out of.”

  She nodded grimly, wishing she had her little .22 pistol with her. When her dad had given her the gun she'd wondered if she'd actually be able to shoot someone, even to defend herself. But after what she'd just heard from inside that house, she doubted she'd even hesitate to put a hollow point bullet in any of those monsters if they came for her.

  But she didn't have her gun, and even if she had she probably wouldn't have been able to hit anything farther than five feet away. Two situations she resolved to rectify if she made it out of this nightmare and ever got home; she'd learn to shoot like a pro, and she'd never let her pistol out of her sight again.

  Heck, she'd even take the thing into the shower with her.

  Hal abruptly motioned, then ducked low and made a dash for a nearby playhouse. Ellie bit back a curse and followed, piling behind him into the limited space between it and the trunk of a tall tree. Her friend waited only moments in its cover before continuing on, circling around the tree then dashing for a gap in a bank of rosebushes growing along the chain-link fence at the boundary of the first house.

  There was barely room for one person in that small space, so Ellie waited behind the playhouse as Hal gingerly climbed the fence while trying not to get caught on any thorns. He proved unexpectedly agile, dropping into the other yard and bolting for a row of garbage cans against the back of the house. Once he safely reached them he wedged himself between two and paused, turning to look expectantly back at her.

  Ellie sucked in a breath and darted for the gap, worming through the rosebushes and scrambling up the fence. She bit back a curse as thorns bit into her jeans, tugging the tough material out of their grip before any could pierce through and prick her. For a precarious moment she half crouched, half hung on the top of the fence, feeling like she was doing some bizarre yoga pose, before she caught her balance and swung her legs over to land in a crouch.

  Following her friend's example, she bolted for the garbage cans and wedged herself behind one. Hal patted her shoulder in approval, then gestured for the high cinder block wall between this house and the gas station. There was a tree growing near it, carefully pruned back so it didn't overhang the gas station lot but otherwise growing strong.

  The coast still looked clear, so they rushed to the dubious cover between the trunk and the wall. Once there her friend offered her his back to step up on so she could peek over the top row of cinder blocks, supporting her weight with no apparent strain. She cautiously raised her eyes among a few branches sporting new buds until
she could see.

  The lot looked deserted aside from the men bringing stuff to add to the pile near the street. Ellie took a last long look then hopped back down, leaning close to whisper in Hal's ear. “If we can try to time it between robbers hauling loot, and approach from around the back of the gas station and make a beeline right for the car, we can hide behind the front of it and sneak the last distance to the doors. Then we should be free to drive off.”

  “In that case, given your stunt driving in LA you should be behind the wheel in case they give chase,” he whispered back.

  She shuddered at the mental image of speeding down I-70 with a dozen motorcycles moving to cut her off, or simply filling their sedan full of bullets until they crashed. “If we get out fast enough, hopefully they won't have time to give chase and will decide it's not worth it.”

  “Fingers crossed.”

  They made their way to the back of the first house's backyard, climbing over the wooden fence there to the yard of the house behind it. From there Ellie once again peered over the gas station's cinder block wall on Hal's back, for longer this time as she timed their next move.

  First she let a few groups come with loot, trying to get a feel for how frequent they were. Then, as one finished up and started to leave, she hopped down and slapped her friend's shoulder to indicate it was time to move.

  They both hopped up to grab the wall's flat top, pulling themselves over and dropping down onto the pavement of the gas station's back lot. Then they rushed behind the station, going around to the far side where robbers coming to and from the pile had a poor angle to see them, and inched along the wall until the car came into view.

  Hal, leading the way, peered around enough to see the loot pile. He eased back again and held up a hand to wait, and for a few breathless minutes they clung to the brick like spiders in the middle of a white wall, hoping nobody glanced their way. Then her friend risked another look, glanced back at her and nodded, and they were off.