NightFall (2 page)

Jenkins held his pistol steady. “I
told you the way to go, Reverend. And you deliberately disobeyed
me. This area’s belongs to our men. We’ve claimed it along with
everything in it. You’re officially trespassing.”

Phelps could feel his heart beating
faster. He held up his hands defensively. “Our mistake. There was
just some confusion with the group. We’ll go the other way
now.”

The rain beat against Jenkins’s hard
fedora. Phelps blinked rapidly as drops rolled down his forehead
and into his eyes.

Jenkins scratched his chin as if to
consider Phelps’s plea. “We’ll let you pass… for a small fee. How
does that sound?”

The man behind Dale jammed the barrel
further into his neck. “Get on your knees!”

Dale held his hands high and knelt
slowly.

“
Let’s talk about this,
Mr. Jenkins, please,” Phelps pleaded. “We haven’t got much of
anything. Our supplies have been stretched thin.”

Jenkins raised his .357 magnum. “The
name’s Mayor Jenkins, if you don’t mind.” His barrel looked as big
as a cannon.

“
Mr. Mayor, I’m sorry,”
Phelps said.

“
Tell your group to come
out,” Jenkins ordered.

Phelps carefully turned around and
signaled to his frightened group in the van.

Jenkins leaned in closer. “And if one
of them runs or does anything stupid, there’s going to be trouble,
unfortunately.”

“
What the hell is going
on?” Harvey walked up first, still carrying his
umbrella.

“
Just stay put, old man,”
he responded.

The rest approached, unsure of what
was going. Zach and Erin huddled together holding their children.
Beatrice latched onto Harvey in fear.

More men suddenly jumped out from
behind nearby cars and surrounded the group all armed and pointing
weapons.

“
Why are you doing this?”
Erin asked with, gripping her children’s hands.

Jenkins and his men only offered
stone-cold silence.

“
Look, we don’t want any
trouble,” Zach added.

Dale was still on his knees. There
were up to ten men surrounding the group—some kind of bizarre
ambush.

The reverend attempted peaceful
resolution once more. “Gentlemen, I would ask that you allow us to
go on our way. We don’t have much, but we’ll gladly give what we
can.”

“
And we plan to take it,”
Jenkins said. He waved his men over.

They swarmed the group and yanked the
backpacks off their backs, tossing them to the road.

“
None of this is
necessary, please!” Phelps said.

Jenkins took a step closer to Phelps
and pushed his magnum into his right cheek. Phelps shuddered and
closed his eyes as the tore through their backpacks, coming up
short of anything of value.

“
Ah hell, Mr. Mayor. There
ain’t nothing here but baby wipes and clothes in here,” one
long-haired, tattooed man shouted.

“
I told you we didn’t have
anything,” Phelps said.

“
Not true,” one the other
men said. “He dumped a bag out revealing all the items they had
taken from the vehicles.

In response, the men went ordered
everyone onto their knees—all but Phelps.

Jenkins lowered his magnum
paced Phelps as ran soaked their captives. “I thought I’d seen it
all,” he said, pausing. “Trespassing
and
theft. This isn’t good,
reverend.”

“
We...” Phelps began. “We
didn’t know.”

Jenkins swung his blunt pistol hard
against his face, knocking him to the ground. Beatrice and Erin
screamed. The children shook with fear.

Zach jumped up, infuriated. “You
bastards!”

One of the men stepped forward and
clubbed Zach in the back with the buttstock of his rifle, sending
him to the wet ground.

Jenkins stood over Phelps, clutching
his magnum like a hammer, as the reverend lay there on his side
holding his face. He tried to rise from the ground, but the
throbbing pain in his face was too much.

Jenkins noticed his struggle. “Stay
down, Reverend. If you know what’s food for you.”

He looked up nodded to his men. They
shouted at the group to stand up, jabbing them with their rifles.
Once on their feet, they led them off the road and up a hill.
Phelps remained on the ground paralyzed with pain.

“
Where are you taking us?”
Harvey asked.

Jenkins pointed to a small dilapidated
warehouse ahead and off the road. “A holding are where you can get
out of the rain.”

Dale turned and looked back on the
street where Phelps still lay—head in bloody hands. He looked for
any sign of his pistol, which he knew had fallen somewhere in the
road near Phelps. Maybe Phelps could find it, storm into the
warehouse, and save them.

“
What are we going to do?”
Erin asked, as they were pushed along.

“
Pray for the best,” Zach
said. He squeezed her hand gently.

From the road, where they had left
him, Phelps struggled. His jaw felt broken and his vision was
blurry. He couldn’t even move his mouth to shout. For the first
time in as far back as he could remember, rage was building within
him. But he was angrier at himself than anything. No matter how
hard he tried he couldn’t even stand up. Not even when he heard the
first gunshots.

One shot after the other rang out in
rapid succession from the warehouse, followed by screams. Then
silence. What had they done? They wouldn’t have just killed them
all like that, would they? Why even waste the time taking them
away?

Silence followed. Lying on his side,
Phelps reached his shaking hand out, trying to brace himself. Up
ahead, he saw Dale’s pistol lying in a puddle. He didn’t know why
they had left him and what he could do. He searched for the
answers, hoping something came to mind. He was no hero. What game
were the men playing with him and why? He had to know what happen
to his people. He turned away from the pistol and walked up the
hill toward the warehouse, ready to face his demons.

Two Months
Before

Monday, September 12, 2016

The microwave in Rob
Parker
’s kitchen emitted a lengthy,
piercing beep—the frozen sausage patties were ready. A coffee pot
bubbled to the top, with steam steadily rising toward the ceiling.
A television was on in the living room with the local morning news
playing at a moderate level. There was commotion all throughout the
house. Still in his bathrobe with light stubble on his thirty-six
year old face, Rob stormed into the kitchen, distracted and half
there mentally, searching for something of great importance. His
eleven-year-old daughter, Kelly, followed him, and was on the brink
of tears.

“
I know I gave it to you
last, Dad. You said that you were going to sign it.”

Rob went straight to the microwave and
opened it.

“
And I did.” Rob pulled
the plate out of the microwave and set it on the counter. “We’ll
find your permission slip before the bus gets here, I promise.” He
slid on the tile over to the coffee maker and turned it off. “Now
have a seat and eat your breakfast.”

On the table were two plates and two
glasses of orange juice.

“
I don’t eat those
things,” Kelly said.

Rob looked
perplexed.
“Oh. Well, have some Froot
Loops or something.” He
went to the
pantry, pulled out a box, and set it on the table.

“
That’s OK,” she said,
pushing the box away. “I’ll just get something out of the vending
machine at school.”

“
No. We don’t buy cereal
so you can spend your allowance on candy at school.”

Already behind schedule,
Rob
’s day was off to a hectic start. The
school bus was going to arrive soon, and he couldn’t find Kelly’s
permission field trip permission slip.

His thirteen-year-old son, Josh,
walked into the kitchen with his backpack over his shoulder and his
iPod earbuds in place watching Rob riffle through the kitchen
drawers.

“
You guys are still
looking for that thing?” he asked, tossing his bag on the counter.
He grabbed a sausage biscuit from the table and devoured it. Rob
was too distracted to answer. Josh reached into the pocket of his
jeans and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Well, I’ve got mine.
Better luck next time.”

“
Don’t say that! It’s
around here somewhere,” Kelly said, defensively.

Rob looked at his
iPhone.
“You sure about that?”

“
Yes, I’m sure. Right,
Dad?”

Rob slammed the last
drawer shut pulled up a stool next to Kelly.
“Now think real hard. Are you sure that I didn’t give it back
to you?”

Kelly folded her
arms.
“You didn’t. If you did, I would
have it.”

Stuck for an answer, Rob thought to
himself, trying to play each step back in his mind.

Josh looked at his phone
through bushy-blond bangs.
“Bus will be
here in ten minutes.” He scooted out from the table, grabbed his
backpack and left the kitchen.

“
You could be more helpful
here, you know,” Rob called out.

Josh stopped in the
adjacent living room and turned to face them.
“What do you want me to do?”

“
Help us find this thing,”
Rob said. “If your sister can’t go, you can’t go. How do you like
that?”

Josh stared back.
“You can’t do that.”

Rob leaned back on his
stool with his arms crossed.
“I’m your
father. I can do anything that I want.”

“
But it’s not
my—”

Rob stopped him.
“Start helping us look.”

Josh turned and stormed off toward his
room, muttering under his breath.

“
Dad, look,” Kelly
said.

She was staring ahead, over his
shoulder, wide-eyed.

He turned and could see it
pinned on the refrigerator. The Rob stood up and walked over. A
small note had been placed over the slip from Mila, his wife,
addressed to Kelly:
Don
’t forget your permission slip. Have fun! Love,
Mom.

Rob snatched the signed permission
slip from the fridge and handed it to her.

“
Well… I guess that clears
it up.”

Kelly held the paper in
her hands, relieved, but wanting vindication. She then looked up at
Rob.
“I told you that you never gave it to
me.”

Rob humbly bowed to
her.
“Accept my deepest apologies, fair
maiden.”

Kelly ran out of the kitchen with the
paper in hand.

“
Don’t lose it,” Rob said
jokingly.

He then went to the
counter and poured some coffee into his Brooklyn Dodgers mug,
contemplating his day. After the kids went off to school, there was
much work to be done.
Their field trip to
the Metropolitan Museum of Art would last all day.

Josh walked into the
kitchen, ready to go.
“Kelly told me it
was on the refrigerator the entire time?” he said.

“
That’s correct. How’d you
miss it?” Rob retorted.

Josh shook his head
and
walked toward the door when Rob called
him back. “Wait for your sister.”

Josh stopped.
“Ugh. She takes forever.”

Rob approached him at the
door.
“You need to look out for Kelly, you
know,” he said, placing a hand on Josh’s shoulder.

Josh looked down and he began to shift
impatiently.

Rob continued.
“You remember what it’s like to be in sixth
grade, right? New school with new people.”

Josh looked up.
“She has the same friends from last grade, Dad.
Just a different school.”

“
That’s not my point. She
needs you there for her.
You
’re her big brother.
Understand?”

Josh nodded. Kelly emerged from the
hallway and into the foyer wearing a pink hooded jacket under her
backpack.

“
You all ready?” Rob
asked.

Kelly said
“yes” and smiled.

“
OK, gotta go,” Josh said,
impatiently.

“
Hold on, guys.” Rob
leaned down and hugged Kelly. “Stick close to each other and enjoy
the museum.”

He then turned to Josh and
gave him a hug, despite his son’s futile resistance.
“Remember what I said. Love you guys. Have fun
today.”

The kids said goodbye and left the
house. The sun was just rising as cars from the neighborhood street
passed by—commuters going to work.

Rob waved to them and watched as they
walked down the front lawn and onto the sidewalk to their bus stop
at the end of the road. Once they were out of view, he closed the
door. The house was quiet again, except for the television in the
living room.