Kyle grabbed his wife’s face and kissed her on the forehead. “Where were you? We were looking for you.”
“I was on the roof. When it rains, I put buckets out to collect water.” Alexis stood up and used the loose clothing of her sundress to wipe away her tears. “Where have you been all these months? How did you get back here?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll explain later.”
She turned to go into the apartment. “Honey, come in quickly and lock the door. I’ll light a candle.” She looked at Robert and invited him in too. Robert accepted the invitation, and, in his haste to find a place to rest his weary body, was the first to enter.
Kyle stepped inside and saw Robert’s figure in the darkness, looking alertly out the window. In the room was a large couch with a coffee table and a few chairs. Robert moved to a chair in the corner of the room and, by moving away, allowed a little more moonlight to come through the window. Kyle sat in the middle of the couch and placed the backpack on the coffee table. There was a faint smell of sulfur from the match as Alexis lit a candle. The orange glow grew brighter as the large candle that Alexis brought into the room came closer. Alexis was holding the candle directly in front of her when she crossed the room and stood next to Kyle. She sat the candle on the edge of the coffee table, and began to cry when she saw the expression on her husband’s face. She could see that he had just realized what she had not told him yet. She was not pregnant any longer. She had lost their baby.
Without a spoken word, Robert realized the horror Kyle was now experiencing. Robert subconsciously pushed back with his feet to move his chair further into the corner, but there was no escaping the tragedy filling the room.
A broken man slowly and weakly stood up from the couch. Kyle then went to the room that they had prepared for the child. Robert heard him cry from the baby’s room, closed his eyes, and tried to keep his own demons from returning. They were telling him that his children were in trouble and that he could not help them. He understood that there was nothing he can do. All he could do was remind himself to survive one day at a time and not give up hope.
Alexis turned away from the candlelight and entered the nursery to be with her husband.
“I’m sorry, Kyle. It’s been horrible here. Since the grid went down my life has been a nightmare. I’m so sorry—”
“I’m not blaming you for anything.” Kyle had turned away from his wife and leaning over the crib. He gently pushed the mobile hanging at the head of the empty crib.
“Kyle, when I saw the red armbands that you and your friend were wearing, I panicked. Men with red armbands attacked me and my friend.” She began to cry again. “It wasn’t my fault.”
“What? Men with red armbands attacked you?”
She was shocked at the sound of his voice. He sounded like a killer. She knew her husband would never hurt her, but she unconsciously took a step backward. If the room was illuminated, she would have seen his narrowed eyes grow bloodshot and his hands begin to tremble with the adrenalin coursing through his veins. His breathing became deep and quick. His body was ready for combat.
“It was after the power was out for quite a while. I didn’t think you were coming home. A friend lives close by, so I walked to her house hoping we could help each other get through this. As we were walking back here, those men were looting the area. They surrounded us. I fought back as hard as I could. An ugly man with a cratered face told the men to hold me. They called him Cyrus; I think he was the leader. He had a red bandana on his head, not on his arm. He whispered into my ear, ‘Don’t fight back so hard. It’s bad for your health,’ and then he hit me in the stomach. I passed out. By the time I woke up, I had lost a lot of blood and realized I had lost the baby, too. My friend was gone and I haven’t seen her since.”
Kyle felt the rage beginning to erupt from his body. He ripped the red cloth off his arm and went back to the room Robert was in. “Robert! I’m leaving! You don’t have to come with me. I have something to do and I may not come back… I have to do it. I’m going to kill them all… every single one of those bastards… they’re all going to die.”
Robert stood up from the chair. “Kyle, I heard what she said. I’m so sorry to hear that. You’re a good man and don’t deserve what’s happened. Calm down for a second, and let’s talk about this.” Robert held his hands up at his chest level with his palms facing out. He motioned downward with his hands to try to reinforce his desire for Kyle to calm down.
“Kyle, please don’t leave—” Kyle pushed his wife away as she tried to hold on to him. “This is something I have to do. Nobody is going to stop me,” Kyle said, as he reached for his backpack and angrily thrust the red bandana into it.
“I’m not going to stop you. I just want you to think about what you are doing,” said Robert, in a calm voice. “You don’t have a plan. Don’t be foolish and get yourself killed.”
Kyle’s wife stood behind him and gave him a hug. She could feel the tension in his body. Kyle turned and sternly put his hands on her shoulders. “I will come back… after I do this.”
Alexis stepped back and then sat in a chair. She leaned forward, put her face in her hands, and began to cry. “This is my fault… it’s all my fault,” Alexis said, weeping.
Kyle turned to Robert and said, “I do have a plan. I am going to kill them… all of them. I know where they are. The men we captured told us they would be in those Amtrak cars. They won’t be hard to find, and when I find them, I’ll have a couple of presents for them.” Kyle tapped the backpack to remind Robert of the grenades. “The rain is going to keep them inside, so they’ll be easy to find. I’m leaving now.” Kyle grabbed the backpack and turned toward the door. He paused by his wife on the way out and whispered in her ear, “I’ll be back when I’m done. I love you.”
They heard his footsteps in the hallway fading as he left.
“Damn it!” said Robert, as he grabbed his rifle. “I’m sorry about this, Alexis. I have to go with him. I’ll do my best to keep him safe. When we get back, we’ll make a plan and get out of here.”
With tear-filled eyes, Alexis asked, “Where will we go?”
“With me, I’ll explain later.”
“Don’t let him get hurt. Promise me you will not let him get hurt.”
“I promise. You had better lock the door behind me. I need to run fast and catch up with him.”
Robert picked up the red armband he had thrown down earlier and ran as fast as he could down the dark hallway. The stench of death was still overwhelming and he tried to cover his nose with the red cloth to filter the odor. He descended to the ground floor through the stairwell filled with the horrendous stench, so thick in the air that its taste filled his mouth, gagging him once more. After he stepped over the corpse sprawled in the stairwell, he swung his rifle to his back and made a dash for the doors to the street, still covering his nose with the bandana. When he stepped through the broken doors, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head. Robert’s world spun around before him. His vision tunneled and began to slowly fade away as he landed on the concrete sidewalk. He heard the voices of several men laughing as he lost consciousness.
Chapter Fourteen
When Robert regained consciousness, he was lying face down on the concrete in front of the apartment building. A bag covered his head, blocking his vision. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious. They had bound his wrists behind his back, but his legs were free. Robert heard a distant clap of thunder and remembered that it had been raining. His clothes felt wet, but it was barely sprinkling now. He tried to get up, groaning from the pain in his head and wrists, and then he felt a kick to his ribs that knocked him back down.