Braving The Risk Read online

Carl’s skin burned. Even though he was battered, this atrocity before him made him want to turn around and beat the life out of Cyrus and his surviving murderers. Even so, he fought the temptation. He was lucky enough to escape the mall with his life and the lives of his friends. He simply had no more energy to fight any longer.

  “C’mon,” he said tersely, “Let’s go.”

  The party turned and dashed toward the parking lot. Tara, taking the lead, led them between two aisles of parked vehicles. Carl silently praised her. The vehicles would provide cover from any more killers who were out there, or at least Carl hoped so.

  It was only when they reached the grassy field beyond the mall that their energy gave out and they collapsed onto the ground. Each of them laid down on the grass and panted for a long while.

  “Mister Carl…” Shyanne struggled to talk. “I can’t…I can’t go any more.”

  “Don’t worry.” Carl sighed. “I think we’re okay for now.”

  Preston spoke up. “Anyone know what time it is?”

  “I wish I did. My watch is kaput. Sorry,” Tara said.

  “No, I’m sorry. I keep forgetting nothing works now,” Preston said.

  Carl sat up. “It’s got to be almost dusk. Think about how much time we spent before we got here, with the chase down the overpass, hiking until we got over the river, all the way over here. So, we were in there for a good while, maybe three to four hours.”

  The blue sky above was starting to look dim. Night would fall before long.

  “Great,” Preston said. “Where are we going to sleep?”

  Carl looked around. The field on this side of the mall was vast. A few houses were visible, but it would take a couple of hours on foot to reach them. And going back toward the city was a no-go. Cyrus and those monsters came from the city. God only knew how many more were lurking in that direction.

  “Guess we’re sleeping under the stars,” Carl said.

  Preston then turned back to the lot. “Hey.” He smiled. “I got an idea.”

  “See?” Preston asked with pride as he patted the side of the SUV. “It’s like having a ton of mini-hotels to choose from. We all can bunk out in here for the night. It’s not as if these babies are going anywhere. We might as well use them.”

  “Great.” Tara looked at him while narrowing her eyes. “Do you have the keys?”

  Preston shrugged. “I figured you guys could just…bust in. You know, smash a window or something.”

  “In other words, the opposite of what liberals would do,” Tara said with a smile.

  “I think of it as communal sharing,” Preston retorted. “I’m sure the owners would be happy to know their vehicle is being used to shelter other human beings.”

  Tara raised her rifle. “Well, like the man said, let’s bust this thing open.” She smashed the window of the SUV’s rear door. “I just hope this baby doesn’t just have electronic locks or we’re screwed.” She reached inside and fiddled with the door lock. “Great! It’s got a manual lock.” Tara pulled it up, then withdrew her hand and opened the door.

  “Yay!” Shyanne quickly ran into the vehicle. Preston followed. Tara swung the rifle back over her shoulder. “Home sweet home.” She sighed. “Too bad everyone else in the mall can’t say the same.”

  Carl barely was listening. He was too busy staring at the mall entrance from which they had fled, where those three dead bodies were.

  “Hey,” Tara approached him. “What is it?”

  “Just thinking.” Carl bit his bottom lip. “We had seven intruders, six men, one woman. They all were in the mall hunting us. Those bodies looked pretty fresh. I wonder if anyone else showed up.”

  “You mean more degenerates?” Tara sighed. “Good Lord. Well, we didn’t see anybody when we fled, right?”

  “No, we didn’t.” Carl shook his head. “Tara, can I borrow your binoculars? I want to keep an eye on the mall for a while.”

  Seated in one of the SUV’s back seats, Preston shook out the contents of the small black zippered bag onto the carpeted floor. “Okay, we have a small tube of toothpaste, mostly used. We have two peppermints, a couple of nickels and pennies, and a pair of tweezers.” He shook the bag out two more times to make sure. “No food.” He tossed the bag over his head into the storage area.

  Tara looked at him from the passenger side seat. “Guess it was too much to hope that these guys had a TV dinner or two, huh?”

  Preston shook his head. “By this point, a lot of food is going to be rotten,” he said. Beside him, Shyanne chomped happily on the graham crackers Tara had given her from the stash she had picked up in the restaurant earlier, before they made it to the mall. “I tell you, there was a lot of food with those people. I wish I would have thought to ask them for some.”

  “Don’t say that. They need it more than we do,” Tara said with a sigh. “Some of those people really didn’t look well enough to travel far.”

  “Damn,” Carl muttered. He was leaning close to the windshield, having kept watch over the mall for the past hour. He was using Tara’s binoculars, but as the sun set, his vision through the eyepieces continued to deteriorate. “It’s getting too dark. Tara, can I use your rifle? I want to use the night vision on it.”

  Tara reached behind her and handed Carl the rifle. “Go for it. You still haven’t seen anyone?”

  “Only a couple of cats and a few squirrels.” Carl pulled his chair back, then positioned the rifle so the barrel propped right up against the windshield. The view was a bit awkward, but at least Carl still could study the mall without having to get out of the vehicle.

  “Hey, did you ever see those people who were sleeping in the food court?” Tara asked, “Did any of them show up out here?”

  Carl shook his head. “No, never saw them. I hoped they could escape when I used the extinguisher on Cyrus and his men. But if they didn’t flee out here, they must have taken refuge inside the mall. They may have ducked in with the folks Preston and Shyanne found.” He cleared his throat. “It’s probably a good idea they didn’t try leaving, what with those three women we found.”

  “Mister Carl?” Shyanne asked, “What’s going to happen to the people in the mall?”

  Carl hesitated. Shyanne’s question was one he loathed to think about. “Well, what do you mean?” he finally asked.

  “Are they going to be okay?” she asked.

  Carl drew in a deep breath. Shyanne’s question would not be easy to answer. Those people had plenty of food for a few days, but inevitably they would run out. While the mall provided good shelter, especially from the elements, inevitably they would have to leave to find food. The more pressing issue, however, was Cyrus and his goons. A few of the survivors in that building were able-bodied men, but Carl hadn’t asked Preston if they possessed any special training. Carl also feared what might happen to those people in close quarters. What if Cyrus decided it would be more fun to incinerate them? With no running water, the whole mall could burn down.

  I hate thinking like those bastards, Carl thought. Yet, it was necessary. The military often had to think one step ahead of terrorist groups and militias. That meant getting into their perverted heads to come up with whatever sick schemes they might plan, and then try getting one step ahead of them.

  “Well, I don’t know,” Carl finally replied, which was the honest truth. “It’s going to be hard for them. Those evil men we had to run away from, they’re after those people, too. But they’re well-hidden and hard to find. Hopefully, Cyrus will see that it isn’t worth it and move on.”

  As he finished his sentence, he spotted movement in the scope. Carl snapped to full attention. “I got something,” he said intensely. He focused the scope. A lone figure had stepped outside the clothing store on the far end of the mall building. “Yeah. One guy.”

  “Who is he? Cyrus?” Tara asked.

  “I can’t tell. He’s not showing his face – wait, I see him! What the hell? He’s wearing a dark jacket, black pants and old work boots. I’ve
never seen this guy before.”

  “Maybe he’s one of the survivors,” Preston said.

  “Just one?” Tara asked, “Where’s everyone else?”

  “He could be scouting around, looking to see if the coast is clear,” Carl said. “Preston, didn’t you say Chad Bosworth kept tabs on movement coming toward the mall?”

  “He said he found out about Cyrus and his men coming. I guess he does have scouts or spies or whatever casing the mall.”

  “Maybe. I want to get a better look, though,” Carl said.

  He unlocked the driver’s side door and leaped outside with the rifle. Then he took a position behind the car in front of the SUV and continued watching the lone male. Tara joined him, after telling Preston to stick around in the vehicle with Shyanne. Then she crouched beside him.

  “Nothing yet,” Carl said. “Wait, somebody else is coming out.” He kept a watch on the second man. His heart sank when he saw who it was. “Damn. It is Cyrus.”

  “What’s he doing?” Tara asked.

  “He’s not attacking the other guy.” Carl magnified the scope as far as he could. Fortunately, the scope displayed the two in good detail, about full body height. The newcomer was berating Cyrus, an odd sight as Cyrus was a couple of inches shorter than the other man. For his part, Cyrus shrank back a little. Carl wished he could read lips, as it might offer a clue as to what this other man was saying.

  “Cyrus looks like a whipped dog,” Carl said, “I don’t know who this guy is, but he seems as though he’s the real head honcho of Cyrus’ little band. Maybe it’s that Jason who Cyrus mentioned during our fight.”

  “But when did he get there?” Tara asked, “We never saw him.”

  “He could have shown up any time we were running for our lives in there,” Carl replied. “Damn. There could be more killers in there, maybe a lot more.”

  Just then, Cyrus and the stranger finally seemed to resolve their argument. The pair turned and walked back into the mall. With a heavy sigh, Carl lowered the rifle. “God help those people,” he said. Beside him, Tara shook her head.

  “Mister Carl!” Shyanne shouted to Carl. He spun around, terrified that something was happening to her. But the little girl was only outside the SUV, shouting and pointing toward the parking lot on the other end of the mall. Preston was behind her.

  Carl slung the rifle back, the barrel pointed to the sky. “What is it?”

  “People! I see people!” Shyanne jumped up and down excitedly.

  Carl looked at Preston, who just shrugged. “She spotted them. I can’t see very well from here, but it looks like a long line of people. Some of them look like they have torches. It’s like something out of an old Frankenstein movie.”

  Carl ran to the other side of the SUV. “I’ll take a look.” Then he pointed the rifle in their direction and looked through the scope.

  Shyanne and Preston were right. A stream of people were marching across the parking lot from the direction of the city. He swung the rifle back and forth to see if he could track the entire width of the line. In a few minutes, he determined there were about twenty people. And, as Preston had said, some of them were carrying torches. The people must have made them to provide light for nighttime marches.

  “They’re right,” Carl said with a bit of wonder in his voice. “More survivors. Around twenty, probably.”

  “Let me see,” Tara said.

  Carl offered the scope to her. “Yeah,” she said upon looking through the scope. “I see them.” Her breathing suddenly quickened. “But they’re headed right for the mall.”

  Carl’s jaw clenched. “Damn. They’re walking right into a den of snakes.” What would Cyrus and that mystery man do when they spotted these new people coming?

  “Carl, if there are a lot of people coming, wouldn’t Cyrus and whoever else is in there just run?” Preston asked. “Look, even if you’re one of the toughest guys on the planet, at some point the odds are going to be against you.”

  “Why are they going to the mall?” Shyanne asked.

  “Because it’s a good shelter,” Carl said. “In fact, if I was in their shoes, I’d do the same thing. But they don’t know what’s in there.”

  “Well, they’re about to find out because they’re already at the west entrance,” Tara said as she kept a watch on the procession. “They’re starting to go in.”

  Carl held his breath. Anything could happen now. If Cyrus and his men made a move, people might start streaming out of the doors. Or, even worse, Cyrus’s goons might simply wait until the procession fully entered the building before striking. The inside of that building could become host to a bloodbath. Even if the people revolted and took down Cyrus’s force, there still could be a high level of civilian casualties.

  “Oh my God!” Tara suddenly blurted out.

  “What?” Carl rushed to her. “What’s happening?”

  “Don’t tell me those sons of bitches are already attacking those poor people,” Preston said.

  “No.” Tara suddenly jogged down the lot with the rifle scope still on her face. “No, I just…I just…”

  “Tara, slow down!” Carl caught up to her. Shyanne and Preston followed. “What do you see?”

  “He’s gone inside,” she whispered. Now she skidded to a stop and removed the eyepiece.

  Carl looked at her. Her mouth gaped open, her eyes widened, and her face twitched. “Tara, what in the world did you see out there?”

  “I thought I saw Michael,” she whispered.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Michael?” Carl looked from Tara to the mall and back again. “Your boyfriend?”

  Tara nodded once. “I’m sure. Yeah, I’m sure of it! He…he looked a little weird. I don’t know. But I know his face. I…” Then she leaned against the hood of a nearby car. “I’m sorry. I need a moment.”

  Preston stood halfway between Carl and Tara and the SUV, with Shyanne beside him. Carl said to Preston and Shyanne, “Stay with the SUV while we sort this out.”

  He didn’t want any of them to stay out in the open for long. Especially if Cyrus had gathered reinforcements, including that man who was out with him, who might be that Jason who Cyrus had talked about. But Tara clearly was shaken by what she just had seen. Carl wanted to piece this together, but he would have to do it carefully.

  He stayed with Tara and waited for her to compose herself. Then she stood up while still not facing Carl. “I saw him,” she whispered. “But he didn’t look like himself. He had a white cloth or a sheet or something wrapped on top of his head. And the way he was walking.” She swallowed briefly. “He’s alive, but God, he looked terrible.”

  “From the sounds of it, someone was able to bandage him up,” Carl said.

  “I didn’t think he made it,” Tara said, almost in a daze.

  Carl wanted to ask her about what had happened that initially separated the two, and perhaps learn why Tara was jittery about joining the survivors beyond the Earhart overpass.But Tara had pushed off the car and was storming back toward the SUV.

  Carl followed her. “Tara…” he began.

  “Okay, boys and girls, enough waiting around. I’m going back in there.” Tara then flung open the passenger’s side door. “Time to start collecting weapons since my rifle’s spent.”

  Preston, who was seated in the back, stood up. “Wait, you’re going back inside the mall?”

  “You bet.” Tara placed her rifle onto the passenger seat. “Time to waste those bastards before they do something terrible to those people in there.”

  By now Carl had caught up with her. “Tara, hold on. It’s tactically dangerous to rush back in there without a plan.”

  “I have a plan,” Tara replied. “Kick the asses of those goons. Works for me.”

  “Tara, we barely escaped with our lives and now Cyrus may have reinforcements. We need to stop and think,” Carl said.

  “I am. We need weapons.” Tara opened the glove compartment. “I don’t care if these people have bazookas
, I’ll take them. Preston, you have any more of that mace on you?”

  “I wish I did, but I used up one can, and I lost the other while running out of the mall,” Preston replied, a little sheepishly.

  Tara turned in Carl’s direction, snapping her fingers. “I got it. Bombs! You said you rigged up an SUV to blow up and take out a mob that was after you. Well, look at all of these parked cars! There’s got to be a few tanks with a lot of gas in them. We’ll make a few little bombs and blow those bastards to kingdom come.”

  Carl clenched his jaw tightly. Admittedly, it wasn’t a bad idea if they were about to run a gauntlet of bad guys out in the open but flinging Molotov cocktails inside a mall was a much different idea. It didn’t help that Tara’s suggestion triggered memories from his overseas tour. He suddenly had visions of his fellow Marines being hit roadside with improvised explosive devices. The idea of creating anything similar to that quickly galled him.

  “You’ve got to be joking,” Preston said. “You’re going to set off bombs inside the mall? Aside from possibly killing some innocent people, we have this thing called fire. If you blow up something, it’s going to produce a lot of flames, and those flames are going to spread. Now, usually we have this thing called a fire department, but right now it’s shut down and there’s probably no actual firefighters who stuck around town. So, unless you want to burn down the mall, I think making bombs is a tough sell.”

  “He’s right,” Carl said. “I’d do it out here in open air where we could escape and if there are no structures nearby to catch fire, but we can’t do it in that mall. Even if the place didn’t burn down, the smoke would gather inside and kill everyone if they couldn’t escape in time.”

  Tara bit her lower lip. “Okay,” she said. “Scratch the bombs. But the fact is, I need weapons.” She turned to Preston. “How about lending me that gun? I know you’re not going back in there, so there’s no point in hanging on to it.”

  Preston quickly grabbed onto the gun as if guarding a precious treasure. “You want me to hand over my gun? No, thanks.”