As the World Ends (17 page)

He gave in too easy. Another sign he was badly hurt. They drove in silence most of the way. Rob was in and out of consciousness Worried, Lauren drove a little faster. She prayed Roan missed the major organs. Every now and then she reached over and put her finger under his nose to make sure he was breathing.

The sun wasn’t out, but the grey mist had lifted. As they approached town they saw a lot of burned-out abandoned vehicles and buildings, but no people.

Shaking Rob to bring him around, she asked, “Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I’m just resting my eyes.” He smiled at her.

“I can see that.” She smiled back, hiding her concern.

“Where are we?”

“Asheville.”

“I don’t see anyone.”

“I haven’t seen anyone since we entered the town.” She stopped the truck and turned her head toward him.

“Did you reload your gun?” Rob asked.

“I never shot it.”

“Where’s your knife?”

“It’s right back in my sheath where it belongs. How about you, did you reload?” She watched his hands shake. It was an effort for him to speak. Time was against him. Worried she scanned the area.

“Yes,” Rob groaned.

“Rob, please just take it easy, I’ll find someone.”

“Try to find the police station or hospital, whichever comes first. Both should have generators.” He lapsed into unconsciousness again.

Tears running down her face, she found the police station first. Locking Rob in the truck, she headed up the steps. At the front door she pulled on the right one—locked—she tried the left one next, same thing. She ran around to the back and found a door open. As she walked down the hallway, the silence eerily inched its way up her spine. Fear threatened to overcome her, but she pushed it down and thought only of Rob. He needed her to stay strong. Each room she checked, along with the quiet, continued to set every nerve in her body on edge. Then she heard it, stopped, and listened for a moment. A soft cry, female she guessed.

“Hello,” Lauren called out and waited.

The crying stopped. “Hello, is anybody here?”

Stepping into a large office filled with desks, phones, and computers, she looked around for the person crying. There wasn’t one cop in sight. Movement to her right caught her attention. A woman stepped from one of the offices lining the side of the room and pointed a shaky gun at her. Lauren hoped she didn’t pull the trigger by accident. A fast assessment had her figuring the woman to be about thirty, with short brown hair, and not much taller than her at five-three. Lauren hoped she had some common sense.

“Hi, I’m Lauren,” she said, holding up her hands.

“I’m…I’m Shelley…Shelley O’Toole.”

“Could you point that gun somewhere else, Shelley?”

“Sorry.” Lauren watched her lower her gun.

“Where is everybody?”

“There were so many explosions, and then the looting started, and then the gunfire. So many people I know…” She stopped and started crying again.

“Shelley, my husband’s outside in a truck and he’s badly hurt. Where’s the hospital? Is it still functional?” Lauren pushed.

“The hospital’s open and operating on a generator. Are you familiar with the town?”

“No. Are there any cops I can speak with,” Lauren asked, watching the woman scan her and realizing she was hurt.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were hurt. What happened?”

“When the explosions started we headed to the mountains. We ran into this creep who attacked and wounded my husband. Long story short, I killed him while he was trying to rape me. The dead guy is in the back of the truck. My husband really needs medical attention, please get us to the hospital,” Lauren pleaded.

“I’ll take you. All the radios are still out.”

“Do you know yet what caused all this?”

“It’s some kind of solar flare, it effected the whole country, in fact the whole world,” Shelley said, dazed. “The national guards have been trying to restore order. They told me the flares brought down all communication networks worldwide.”

“It wasn’t the Mayan’s prediction of the end of the world?” Lauren questioned.

“I don’t know about you. My world ended when they killed my husband.”

“I’m so sorry, Shelley, really. It’s just…never mind. Is the hospital far?” Lauren was trying to be sympathetic, at the same time holding back her temper. Rob really needed medical attention.

“I’m sorry too. Here, let’s go.”

“I’m out front,” Lauren said, leading the way.

“Won’t do you any good the door was barricaded.”

“It was that bad, huh?”

“Yes, like a war zone. They shot my husband in cold blood.”

They made it to the hospital in ten minutes and had Rob in surgery within the half hour. The doctor explained to Lauren that Roan had missed Rob’s vital organs by less than a quarter of an inch. It was the only reason Rob was still alive. Considering her wounds trivial, she refused treatment until she knew Rob was all set. Shelley left, leaving Lauren alone to deal with her fears. In the waiting room, she’d got up and paced and then sat back down again only to get up and pace some more.

Lauren looked when she heard footsteps. Hoping it was the doctor. It turned out to be Shelley with a uniformed officer. “I thought you left.”

“I did. This is Kevin Moore. He’s now the highest ranking cop in Asheville.”

“Hi,” Lauren said, looking Kevin up and down. He couldn’t be more than twenty-five.

“Mrs. Henderson, I need to ask you a few questions. Are you up to them?”

Polite, Lauren thought. “Yes.”

“Shelley tells me you have a dead body in the back of your truck.” Yes, doesn’t everyone, came to her lips, but she thought better of voicing it. They might not like her sense of humor.
At least I still have it.

“It’s not our truck. It’s the dead guy’s.”

“Who is he?”

“His name’s Roan Kline.” Both the cop and Shelley looked at each other.

“Do you know him?” Lauren looked from one to the other.

“Yeah, his ex-wife works here. She has a restraining order against him.”

“Great, those things really work, don’t they?” she said sarcastically, pissed-off the cop showed no discretion as his eyes roamed over her body.

“Not really. You need medical attention, Mrs. Henderson. Why don’t we get you to a treatment room?”

“I’m not leaving this room until I hear how my husband’s doing,” she said forcefully.

“I don’t have a female officer anymore, so I’m going to ask Shelley to stay while I question you, okay?”

“Okay,” Lauren whispered.

As she ran through the whole story again, it hit her at the end that she’d killed a man. Shaking, her voice quivering, she got to the part about the rape and vomited all over the cop’s shoes. Shelley put her arms around her trying to comfort her but nothing would calm her down. Today, she had killed a man.

“I’m so sorry,” she cried.

“It’s okay,” Shelley said, while the cop studied her.

“Oh my God, I killed a man.” She cried harder, dry heaves racking her body.

“It’s not supposed to be easy, Mrs. Henderson. I contacted a doctor before I came down, and she’ll talk to you, okay? First, you need to be examined and your injuries documented.”

“He didn’t penetrate me...I mean…he almost did…” Her face burned from embarrassment, but she continued, “… but I killed him before he got any further.” Reliving the shock, the insult, tears running down her face, she fixed her eyes on the floor.

Officer Moore took her chin in his hand and raised it, looking directly into her eyes. “Mrs. Henderson, the shame’s on him not you.”

“Thank you, but I don’t want an intrusive exam.” Lauren cringed at the thought.

“The exam is part of the investigation. I’m sorry it has to be done. The other part of the exam is for your injuries. I don’t think you realize how serious they are. They need to be treated. One of the nurses has a blouse for you, so you can change. You’ll be more comfortable.”

She looked down at her husband’s jacket that she’d thrown on. It had opened exposing her breasts and stomach. The bruises on her chest and stomach shocked her. Pulling the jacket tightly around her, she leaned back in the chair, closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall.

“You’re very kind, officer. Thank you and thank you, Shelley.”

Shelley sat down next to her, grabbing her hand as the doctor walked in. Lauren opened her eyes, sucked in her breath as she came to attention.

“Mrs. Henderson?”

“Yes,” Lauren answered, bracing for the worse.

“Your husband came through surgery fine. As I said before, he was a very lucky young man. The knife missed his vital organs both times. He’ll heal and be back to new in about three to four weeks. His back was also bruised. How’d that happen?”

“He fell out of a tree.” Looking down at her hands, she missed the surprise in the doctor and the cop’s eyes.

“Why was he in the tree?” Officer Moore asked.

“He heard a vehicle when we were walking down the mountain, our truck hit a rock, and killed the fuel line,” she rambled.

“Why didn’t you ask for a ride?” Moore asked.

“We’d already had one run-in with Roan the day before. We had decided to leave the mountain and packed up our truck. When we were heading to our truck, Roan jumped out of the bushes and knocked Rob down. They fought until Rob shot him in the leg. We left him there and took off. Rob didn’t want to take him with us because he had already made advances toward me.” She noticed the cop wasn’t happy. Not as cut and dry as he thought. Damn it, she said too much but she had to finish it out. Moore nodded through her whole story and told her he’d get back to her.

Shelley was kind and opened her house to Lauren while Rob stayed in the hospital recuperating. At first, Shelley was embarrassed by its condition, then explained how the looters hit everywhere. It was a cute five room cape, but all the knickknacks and furniture were over turned or smashed. Lauren helped her put things in order. It was the least she could do to repay Shelley’s kindness. It also kept her from going stir crazy between visiting hours.

Moore ran a professional investigation, taking Lauren up the mountain to point out the caves and the area where her truck broke down.

“Is this where he attacked you?” Moore asked as they stood in the clearing.

“Yes,” Lauren whispered, hugging herself. Stooping down she touched Rob’s blood stain. Her gaze roamed until it landed on the spot where she had killed Roan. The content of her stomach burned a path up her throat over her tongue to her lips. Grabbing a tissue from her purse, she wiped her mouth.

“Mrs. Henderson.” Moore placed a hand on her arm startling her. Lauren’s mind dragged her back, the fear overwhelming her.

“Mrs. Henderson,” Moore said again. “I know this is difficult, but I only have a few more questions, and then we can go.”

“I’m so…sorry. I didn’t realize it would put me back there. What do you need?”

After answering all Moore’s questions, she relaxed when he seemed satisfied. As they climbed into his cruiser he radioed the station. The communication systems were coming back online. He requested a mechanic to come up to the area and fix her truck, giving her transportation back and forth to the hospital. The gas stations and grocery stores had started to come back online too. People were trying to get their lives back to normal one day at a time.

By the end of the week, Moore concluded Lauren was telling the truth. When Rob came out of the medically induced coma, his story matched Lauren’s. Roan’s ex-wife came forward and explained the divorce was in part because of his obsession with the date December 21, 2012 and then his belief it would occur in the following year. But mostly, it was because he had started to beat her and rape her whenever he was in the mood for sex. Lauren realized she had missed a bullet there and found a church where she lit a candle of thanks.

Three weeks later, Rob was released from the hospital with instructions to rest for another month. Before heading home they stopped at Shelley’s house.

Lauren knocked on the door and Shelley answered.

“Hi, Lauren, you must be Rob. I met you in the hospital though I doubt you’d remember.”

“Sorry, I don’t. Thank you for everything you did for us, especially for taking Lauren in.” Rob surprised them both when he stepped forward and gave Shelley a big hug.

“You’re both welcome back here any time.”

“Thank you and the same goes for you. Our home is always open to you,” Rob said.

“Look at my manners, please come in and have some tea.”

“Thanks, but we really need to get on the road and head home.”

Shelley gave them both a hug before they left.

The drive took an hour and a half. Lauren made sure to take it easy for Rob’s sake. They drove up to the front of their house surprised to discover it was mostly intact. Some windows were broken, turning the gas off before they left probably save their home. The homes that exploded remained an eyesore. The rest had minimal damage.

“How are you feeling,” Lauren asked.

“Almost like new,” Rob answered.

“Well, it’s time to laugh.” She frowned.

He looked at her like she was crazy.

“Remember I asked you if it turned out it had nothing to do with December 21, 2013, and it was only a gas explosion. What would we do? And you said we’d laugh about it,” she said, not really feeling like laughing.

“I know it’s been a hell of a month.” He tugged on one of her curls.

“That it has. I love you.”

“I love you back.”

Taking her in his arms, he kissed her. Key in hand, she unlocked the front door and carried her bags inside then went back out for Rob’s. Once inside she closed the door, turned, surprised to find he hadn’t gone upstairs to rest. He pushed her up against the door and kissed her again.

“I’m glad to be home,” he said, hugging her.

“I am to.”

Tomorrow they would check out the house and assess the damage, but for now, it was just the two of them. She ducked under his arms and ran to the stairs.

“I’ll race you to the bedroom,” she said, throwing him a smile over her shoulder as she got a head start.

The End.

AUTHOR BIO