“Too bad. You’re anti-gun, but pro-murder. Clearly you’re insane.”
“Lower the gun before an innocent person gets hurt.”
Holly’s pistol didn’t waver. “Are you Earl?” she said, the words sounding more like an accusation than a question.
“Francis Earl Duncan,” he said, his voice betraying the hint of a Southern accent. It was hard to place, somewhere in Alabama or maybe South Carolina. He wore a wide, welcoming grin, as though Holly had stepped into a funeral home rather than a nightmare. Grey hair aside, the guy could’ve been anywhere from forty to sixty. Everything he said made you feel comfortable. At home. “I see you’ve met some of my staff. I was just having a word with Emmanuel here…”
“W-who?” she said, stuttering, not sure anymore what was happening. Had all of this simply been the product of a fevered dream? Would she open her eyes only to find herself still sleeping on the hard floor of Concourse C?
“Manny’s short for Emmanuel,” he explained patiently. “I was letting him know how his beloved Granny Rivas succumbed to pneumonia. I’m sorry to say it’s claimed a number of the older folks since the power’s gone out,” he lamented, forming the sign of the cross. “For many of them, the cold is simply too much.”
“That’s bull,” she shouted. “I saw the bodies out back.”
Understanding bloomed over Earl’s smooth features. “I’m sure you have. And where would you have us put them… Holly, is it?” His gaze flit between her and Manny, who was rubbing his eyes and nodding.
A fresh surge of doubt began to creep in. “But you’re feeding them nothing but meltwater.”
Earl’s brow furrowed. “Hogwash. Who was it that told you a fib like that?”
Holly pointed to the cook, a white towel stained with tomato juice slung over his shoulder. “He did.”
The man folded his arms over his chest and shook his head. “I don’t remember saying that.”
“But…” Holly’s mind was reeling. Had she been hearing things or were these people lying to save themselves? Then a light in her mind flickered on. “What about Sally Johnson?”
The room stirred uncomfortably.
“I already told you,” Nurse Louise said, not sounding all that friendly anymore. “She went and ran off.”
“Maybe she tried to,” Holly shot back. “But she didn’t get very far.”
Earl took a step toward her and reached out a hand. “I’m afraid none of us know what you’re talking about. Now give us the gun.”
Holly blinked. “Back off, buddy, or I’ll drop you right here and now.” She shifted her gaze to a fresh face she hadn’t seen before, a frightened girl with blonde hair and bright eyes in her early twenties. “There’s a white shed out back, do you know it?” Holly asked her.
The girl made a small, almost imperceptible nod.
“Good. Run out there and take a good long look through the window and tell me if you see any faces you recognize.”
The girl stood frozen.
“Do it now!” Holly barked. She then turned to Louise. “While we’re waiting, my son Dillon suffers from Asperger’s. I need as many Zoloft pills as you can spare.”
The nurse paused before stepping away.
“Young lady, I think you’re making a terrible mistake,” Earl said, choosing his words carefully, as he always did. “If you have any concerns about the operation of this nursing home, I suggest you contact the authorities and fill out a―”
Holly scoffed. “You know perfectly well the cops have bigger fish to fry. That’s why you bumped Sally off and manipulated everyone who chose to stay. So you could enjoy a little power play at everyone else’s expense. You may look smooth and polished, but underneath, you’re nothing but a monster.”
“I suspect the patients and employees I’ve helped keep alive here would strenuously disagree.”
“I’m sure they will. They’ve been brainwashed. Just because the authorities might be too busy to bring you to justice doesn’t mean I won’t string you up myself.”
Earl’s eyes went wide.
A male nurse came forward, shielding Earl with his own body. “Leave him alone, lady. You don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s a good man.”
“I feel sorry for you,” Earl said, his gaze burrowing into Holly. “How embarrassed you’ll feel when this is all said and done.”
The black nurse returned and held out two bottles of pills. Holly reached for them. Just then, the nurse’s other hand sprang up, holding a pistol. Reacting on pure adrenaline, Holly bumped it away just as it fired, the bullet striking a male nurse who was standing by the door. He clutched at his hip and sank to one knee. Manny jumped in to wrestle the gun from her. Earl sank to the floor, shielding himself as several figures grabbed at the nurse and others came for Holly. Raising her pistol, Holly fired once in the air, the earsplitting sound stunning the crowd and forcing them back.
“Check on this guy, would you,” Holly said, waving two people over to the male nurse on the ground. “Anyone else so much as twitches and you die.” Over by the far wall, Dillon was cupping his hands over his ears. Loud noises not only frightened him, they disturbed him in a way the ordinary person couldn’t comprehend. “Manny, grab those pill bottles, will you?”
He scooped them off the floor and handed them to her. Holly glanced quickly at the name on the label and saw they were indeed the correct medication. She then turned her attention back to Earl. “Gun-free facility, eh?”
Footsteps sounded down the hall as the girl with the blonde hair came racing back. She skidded to a stop before them, panting. “She’s right. Sally’s dead, along with so many patients I couldn’t count them all.”
Those assembled in the room gasped. Everyone except for Earl and the nurse on the floor next to him.
Holly leveled the gun at Earl’s head. “Any last words?”
“Earl wasn’t the one who killed Sally,” Louise said, her hands clasped together. “It was me.”
“What?” Holly said, stunned. “But why?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “It just seemed like the right thing to do.”
That didn’t make sense. “Did Earl order you to kill her?”
“I’ve never killed anyone,” Earl protested.
The nurse looked up as though she were replaying a conversation in her head. “Not in so many words, he didn’t.”
“But you knew Earl wanted her out of the way, didn’t you?” Holly asked.
The nurse hesitated before nodding. “Earl made it clear that without her, we’d all stand a much better chance at making it through this.”
“That’s the great thing about brainwashing, isn’t it, Earl,” Holly said, her voice filled with contempt. “Not only did you have others doing your dirty work, you had them believing the evil impulse was their own idea.”
He didn’t look so sure of himself anymore. “I didn’t d―”
“Save your denials,” she said, cutting him off and sliding her finger over the trigger.
Earl squinted his eyes shut.
“No more,” Dillon said, his hands still over his ears. “No more, no more, no more.”
As sensitive as he was to noise, Dillon was even more sensitive to executions.
She eased her finger off. “Don’t worry, Francis Earl Duncan. I have a better idea for you.”
Ten minutes later, Earl was bundled into a winter coat and wearing a backpack loaded with nothing but a sealed jug of water.
“The water’s for when you get hungry,” Holly told him, relishing the bewildered look on his face. “Besides, you said yourself the punishment for breaking the rules was banishment or death. Hardly seems to make any sense killing you ourselves when Mother Nature’s more than happy to do it for us.”