“Well, that’s your Lea Ash. He was just like the others. Let’s get out of here and back to my place. That shot and the horn blast will have been heard for miles.”
“Back to your place then, Bernie, and no stopping,” Jack said.
We ran back to the car and Bernie started to pick his way back towards Elmhurst. I watched for signs of movement out of the window, but inwardly cursed the failure of our mission. It didn’t take long to arrive back at the vehicle blockade and Bernie stopped the pick-up close to the side of the road. We checked our weapons again and headed out onto the street in a half crouch, with Bernie in the lead and Jack bringing up the rear.
There was no escape from the mangled vehicles, corpses, and devastation, as we headed back to the safety of Bernie’s apartment along an alternative route. The dead seemed to cloy at me and I wondered if we could survive through constant attacks. Lost in my own thoughts, I jumped at the sound of gunfire and saw a puff of dust on the road about two yards in front of me.
“Quick, behind the car,” I shouted.
“For God’s sake, what now?” Bernie said.
“Someone is trying to kill us,” Jack replied dryly.
Bernie’s face was red; he said through gritted teeth, “I fucking know that.”
I looked around the side of the car and saw the girl we had trapped in the recycling bin appear from behind a mailbox. She was pointing a pistol towards us with both hands, and fired again. The round hit a tyre of the car we were hiding behind, and it quickly deflated.
“It’s the girl from before. She’s coming towards us with a pistol,” I shouted.
“We’ve no other options now. Shoot her, shoot her now,” Bernie replied frantically.
Jack started to shake and fumbled with his rifle. “I can’t, I can’t… fuck. Fuck!”
Another shot thudded into the cars bodywork.
“One of us will be dead if someone doesn’t do something,” Bernie shouted, grabbing my arm and shaking it.
I looked at Jack; he had his rifle on his shoulder and was looking at me.
“I am going to hell for this.” He stood up and fired before quickly sitting back down against the wheel of the car.
“Did you get her?” Bernie asked.
“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Jack said in a low voice.
Both Bernie and I stood up and saw the body lying in the road about ten yards away. I looked back down at Jack who was just staring straight ahead.
Bernie held out his hand for Jack to haul himself up with. “Back to my place guys, before anyone else turns up.”
We ran, not jumping over puddles or avoiding corpses, but just straight for the apartment with the desperate need for safety. Bernie opened the door in an instant and we piled through, slamming it shut. We all slumped down on the couches and sat staring in silence for ten minutes.
“You did the right thing back there,” I said to Jack. “If you hadn’t shot her, there would only be two of us sitting here now.”
“It’s done, and I want to forget it,” he replied.
Chapter 5 – Temptations
We had landed at JFK forty-eight hours ago, but it felt like weeks. I had witnessed and experienced enough horror in two days to last several lifetimes. If we didn’t get some control back, I knew we wouldn’t make it another two days with killers ready to hide, deceive, and attack us.
Jack hadn’t said a word for the last hour, he seemed troubled after the shooting this morning. I couldn’t leave the tough jobs to Jack, it would put an unfair toll on him. Bernie needed to be armed with more than a flare gun.
“Bernie, your menu seems a little limited,” I half joked, as he handed me another bowl of baked beans.
“Do you buy lots of fresh food just before going on holiday, in case things like this happen?” He said stiffly, as he pointed towards the window.
“Did you have a job before?” I asked.
Bernie sat down on the couch opposite me with a bowl of beans balanced on his knee. “Yes. I was a plumber for the last thirty years and built up a pretty strong business locally. I had twelve staff on the books and I had started to take things easy. We have a place up in Orange County and for the last few years, had started to travel outside the States. I can’t see the phone ringing anytime soon, so that’s me retired. What about you two?”
“We both spent time in the army as you know. Jack worked on missile defence systems, and I was in communications. Although the army always tells you that you are a soldier first, so we do have combat training. For the last five years, we’ve run a landscaping business, but like you say, we’re now retired. Did you have any hobbies?”
“My only real hobby was spending time with Linda. We would eat out, go to the movies, and watch the Jets together. We led a quiet, happy life; none of it involved firing guns.”
“Come on, Bernie, I thought all yanks had at least a hand gun for defence?”
“Nah, New York is the safest city in the world.”
I smiled at his response. If we came across anyone expecting to be rescued and led to a safety zone by three members of Delta Force, they were going to be sorely disappointed. All we could offer at the moment, was a bowl of baked beans in a basement apartment and some speculative arguments.
“Bernie, you said there were a couple of big stores close by?”
“Not again, Harry, I’ve enough food to last us for another couple of days,” he replied.
“I think we should go this afternoon. Then we won’t have to move for a while after that. Let’s just get it out of the way. We can also find you a weapon as well.” I paused and waited for Bernie’s reaction.
“I haven’t seen you kill anyone yet,” he replied, maintaining eye contact.
“It’s not a competition, Bernie; we all need to be armed if we’re going to stay alive,” I said, wondering if he still blamed me for Linda’s death.
Jack had been quiet during our conversation and was fiddling on the computer.
“Are you up for a trip to get some food and drink, Jack?” I called over to him.
“Yeah, whatever,” he replied quietly and carried on surfing the net.
“Have you found any new updates from anyone since we landed?”
I joined Jack at the desk.
“No, it’s all still the same old shit from a couple of days ago. None of the news sites have even changed.”
“Have you checked twitter yet?”
He sighed, typed in the address, and logged in. We had a direct message.
Direct message from Lea Ash
Was that shooting on the bridge something to do with you? We were on our way there and saw a man on the bridge get into a car.
We hung around for a few minutes then heard a shot. Are you ok? We want to get out of the city now, what is your location?
“What do you make of this?” I called over to Bernie, trying not to sound excited.
“This person could still be a killer. They just didn’t get to us first,” he replied, after gazing at the screen.
“Why didn’t she try to take out the other killer on the bridge, then?” I snapped.
“Fine,” Bernie hit back. “We can give them one more chance, but I am not going anywhere near Manhattan. Your friends are dead, just like Linda.”
I hadn’t even been thinking about Andy and Dave. To be honest, I’d already given them up. I didn’t want the argument to escalate, so I turned to Jack, “What do you think?”
“Let’s tell them we’re in Elmhurst, but that they have to find a place here and make contact if they want to meet us.”
“Why not give them a false address and we can watch it from a distance?” Bernie said.
“That’s not a great way to meet,” I said. “We could be leading them into potential danger. Would they ever trust us after that? I prefer Jack’s plan.”