“So what do we do?”
Taylor wanted to ask why the decision-making responsibilities fell on him; ask why someone else couldn’t do the thinking for them. But he had taken the reins and he couldn’t let them go that easily. It beckoned back to a time when he had known how to start things, but his weakness had been in finishing them. He had started college and dropped out. His father had gotten him a job with one of the local construction companies and he had quit showing up for work his third week into it. That had been a time in his life when ideas and plans had seemed to flow effortlessly from his mind, but his follow-thru had been sorely lacking.
Recalling that period in his life was embarrassing. The worst part about it was that those events had taken place less than three years ago.
He could feel the bulge of the keys in his pocket. He ran his hands through his hair and said, “Let’s think this through. We can’t go out the front because they would chase us down in no time flat. The back way and the car are out because we’d be sitting ducks. Bottlenecked in the alley.”
Carl had his ear against the metal of the back door, listening. It was impossible to hear anything over the rain coming down.
“What if we distract them?” Tina asked.
“Huh?”
“Distract them. Somebody could get their attention at the front while the other two slip out the back and get my car.”
Carl’s face brightened. “That’s not a half bad idea. What do you think, bro?”
Taylor mulled it over. He didn’t like it. It was dangerous.
But options were scarce.
“It might work,” he said. “So your car is pretty reliable? I wouldn’t want to even attempt something like what you’re talking about and then get to the car and it doesn’t start.”
“I said that it doesn’t have any get-up-and-go, but it starts and runs fine. There was only one time that it didn’t start, like six months ago, but I got the battery replaced and it hasn’t had a problem since.”
“All right. Good enough. The only reason I ask is because if this was a cheap horror flick we’d get out there and the car wouldn’t start.”
“Well, this is real life,” Tina said. “Not a horror movie.”
“Right about now, I’d say the line between the two is starting to blur. Anyway, so here’s what we do. You two stay back here. I’ll go up front.” He took Tina’s keys out of his pocket and splayed them out. “Which one is the key for the front door?”
Tina pointed to the one with a large square bow. “This one.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
Taylor removed the key from the keychain and handed the rest of the keys to Carl. He went to the back of the store, carefully slid the key into the lock, and slowly turned it. “This one’s unlocked. When we’re ready, I’ll unlock the front door and do something to get their attention. When they start coming all the way out of the alley, I’ll yell for you two to go. Get to the car and get out of the alley.”
Carl cocked his head. “And what about you? What’s your escape plan?”
And that’s the kicker, Taylor thought. Exactly what is my escape plan?
He walked himself through it in his head, explaining it to them out loud. “The only way out would be through the back. Close the front door, and if there’s time, I’d lock it. Run out the back and shut that door.”
“But the alley dead-ends,” Carl said. “You’d still have to come up the alley to the street.”
“Maybe those things would have made it inside the store by then,” Tina said.
“Maybe. And maybe they would see you coming out of the alley.”
“Then I make a run for it. You two will have gotten away in the car. At the end of the alley, you’ll take a left and when you come to the first intersection, you’ll take another left. Once you get around that corner, leave the car running. Don’t even put it into park. Just keep your foot on the brake. I’ll know where to find you.”
“If there’s running involved, then maybe it should be me that plays the distraction. Between the two of us, we’ve already established that I’m the faster runner.”
“I want you driving the car. You’re faster, but I’ll be fast enough.”
Carl stared at his brother and something unspoken passed between them. A look that traded a thousand words in an instant without either one of them opening their mouth.
Finally, Carl nodded.
“It’s settled then. Let’s do this before I go chicken shit.”
Taylor started for the front of the store.
“Wait,” Carl said. “Take this.” He handed him the machete. “If they get too close you can hack the shit out of them.”
Taylor weighed the blade in his hand. It was lighter than he had thought it would be. He wondered what it would feel like hacking into their flesh.
They’re not people anymore, he thought. Not really. They’ll tear you to shreds if they get the chance. Remember that. If push comes to shove, you can’t hesitate.
Another reason he wanted them out of sight and around the corner was that he was willing to bet that Tina’s father was somewhere in the mob, salivating profusely like all the rest of them. If she spotted him…things could turn ugly quick. She might lock up and shutdown. Logic and emotion. The two often didn’t play well with one another.
“That could get us kilt,” he said quietly and almost laughed.
“What?”
“Nothing. Talking to myself. So we all have this down, right? I’ll open the door, wait for my go, you guys bolt and get around the corner of the first street. Two lefts. Remember that. Then wait for me. Unless it isn’t safe. Then just keep going.”
“There are parts of this I don’t like,” Carl said.
Taylor shrugged. “I don’t like any part of it. Remember what Dad used to say? About how a person can get old before his time. How a guy had to learn two words to prevent that?”
“Fuck it,” Carl said.
“That’s right,” Taylor said. He pointed the machete at the back door. “Now get back there and be ready. When I give the go, you can’t be fucking around.”
Carl stood there staring at Taylor, looking like he had something to say. After a moment, he turned and headed to the back, Tina following behind him.
Taylor headed to the front of the store, pausing momentarily at the end of the last aisle, double-checking that they hadn’t strayed from the entrance of the alley. When he was close to the window, he could see them. No more than thirty feet away. Some of them swayed back-and-forth rhythmically, as though rocked by a powerful wind.
He removed the key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock. He glanced at the mob and turned the key. He opened the door slowly.
And then he stepped out onto the sidewalk.
Chapter 4
The Escape
Hindsight is twenty-twenty.
It wasn’t until he was on the sidewalk, getting wet in the rain and facing a mob of a hundred or more bloodthirsty creatures that could hardly be categorized as human, that it occurred to him that he could have simply ran the other way. Instead of luring them into the store, he could have broken to the right and rounded the first street corner. Could have had Carl and Lisa take three lefts instead of two. He could have taken two rights and they would have met each other.