A Town Called America (3 page)

Once again he came home drunk and decided that because there was a single unwashed dish in the sink, she needed to be taught a lesson. As it turned out, and with no surprise to her, it was a two-hour lesson. It was just another of many beatings she had received throughout her young life.

The gas station was the only barter store in town, and it lay on the town’s perimeter. The building was boarded up, and the only access was through the front entrance, a sheet of steel bolted to where a glass door once had been. In addition a small window on the back side served as a walk-up area to outsiders. It allowed travelers access to bartering without allowing them entry inside the town.

Just outside the store, Chris paused in an attempt to regain her composure, as her emotions were beginning to overwhelm her.

She knew Shawn was working this shift, and all she had to do to get what she wanted was flirt a bit and pay him a little attention. The thought of her using her body to get what she wanted made her feel queasy. Shawn was a nice enough guy, and he wasn’t bad looking either, but he was still a guy, and it sickened her that she had to act in a certain way to get what she wanted.

All men are the same
, she reminded herself.
In this world you use what you have to get what you want. Screw men!
She thought, holding back her tears.

Tilting her head up toward the sky, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of air. She stood there for a few seconds, taking in the feel of the brisk breeze on her skin. Chris opened her eyes a moment
later and focused on a few leaves falling to the ground. Although they were brownish gray and wilted, she saw only their pure beauty, the only beauty she thought she had in her life.

Although it was freezing cold, she was without a jacket because she’d left her house quickly, and for good reason: her stepfather had been on a rampage. She opened a button on her blouse and pulled her jeans down a bit to reveal her hips. Her body was slightly numb from the cold air, but with confidence and determination, she pushed open the door and walked into the store.

“Damn!” Chris unintentionally said out loud when she saw who was working behind the worn counter. She hadn’t made it six feet inside when she stopped dead in her tracks. Amber’s Rottweiler, named Billy Bob after her favorite actor was growling at Chris from where it lay unchained next to her.

“Oh, what a surprise to see you,” Amber said with contempt in her voice. “What do you want this time? Booze or drugs? Everyone in town knows what you really are, Chris. You’re a whore and a junkie, and you’re not getting anything from me today, or any other day for that matter.”

Overweight and out of shape, Amber was in her early forties but easily could pass for midfifties. Her thinning grey hair cut short reviled her aged skin. One could tell by looking at her tattered clothing that she’d had a hard life and wasn’t the approachable type by any means. It amazed Chris that Amber owned a business at all, considering that she was a drunk and even drank while at work.

“Amber, I don’t want anything except some soda and for you to shut up your stupid barking dog.”

“You talk about Billy Bob like that again, and I’ll whoop your little ass like I did when you were a kid!” Amber shot back.

Chris rolled her eyes. “Why are you always giving me shit? I’m not a kid anymore.”

“Giving you shit? Get out of my store!”

“What the hell?” Chris yelled back.

“Just get out now!”

With sheer bitterness, Chris turned and walked out, letting the door slam hard behind her. She wasn’t an angel, but she’d never done
drugs in her life, and Amber knew it.
She’s a mean old hag the world would be better off without
, Chris thought.

“What the hell is all this?” she asked no one in particular when she stepped outside. In the parking lot, she saw a guy arguing with a woman while a crowd watched the scene unfold.

An older man standing next to Chris told her, “Rick just drove in here like a madman, jumped out of his car, and started screaming about the end of the world or some crap like that.”

Chris stood there staring at Rick. He was attractive, with dark, shoulder-length hair and a two-day beard. He wore a leather jacket, blue jeans, and biker boots that she thought were very sexy. For some reason she felt a connection to him she couldn’t explain.

As soon as Rick told everyone to get inside or they were all going to die, she knew he could be her ticket out of this shit hole town.

FOUR

“W
ho the hell are you?” Rick asked the woman in the passenger seat.

“Oh, that’s a wonderful way to introduce yourself when you’re the one who told everyone to get to a safe place. You’re an ass,” she said under her breath. “I’m Chris, and I already know who you are. Well, I’ve heard of you anyway. You’re Rick, that scavenger guy who lives outside of town.”

“Yeah, I am, but when I said ‘a safe place,’ I didn’t mean my car. It’s too late now, though. I don’t have time to take you back. We need to move. We’re running out of time.”

Chris shrugged. “OK, I’ll bite. What are you talking about?”

“It was on the radio. Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”

“Um, OK?” Chris said in a low, confused voice.

The drive from town to the cabin seemed almost instantaneous, as Rick was again driving excessively fast for the icy conditions. After he’d gone back out the main gate and turned down a dirt road just outside of town, it took only about ten minutes to reach the cabin.

“What the hell is this?” Chris asked him. “I thought you were getting us away from here. I don’t want to go to your cabin.”

Rick, if he did hear her, didn’t respond.

The cabin was a log home nestled into the side of a hill. From the outside it appeared small, but stepping through the door, one could
see there was actually quite a bit of space inside. The area around the outside of the cabin was a dump, but that was just to keep any would-be looters away.

Inside there was a large, open floor with a stone fireplace next to a very small kitchen. A set of stairs on the left led to a large loft and study, which were sparse but quite comfortable.

Rick had lived there for nearly six years since Jess had left him. He didn’t have many things in the cabin other than a lot of books and a few hunting rifles and pistols. n abundant amount of tools and a few things left over from his time in the army as well as everything else he owned.

The wraparound porch, with its hot tub hiding in the back, had been his real pride and joy. After long trips on the road, it was the perfect way for him to relax, but those days were long past. Now it just sat there, reminding him of better days, when people had things like electricity.

The trees around the property kept the cabin out of sight from any neighboring homes, and a stone pathway led up and around the hill through the woods to a small lake frozen with thick ice. Rick had spent many hours sitting beside that lake in his favorite chair, watching the sunset.

As they approached the cabin, Rick was rambling about the M.M., but Chris was more interested in the property than anything he had to say about any military invasion. All she knew about the M.M. was that it was some group of soldiers; its official title was “Mors Mortis Military.” Other than that she just knew they’d organized themselves after the global economic collapse.

“Wow, I’m impressed. I didn’t know this place was up here.”

Rick still wasn’t listening as they came to a stop in his driveway. He didn’t bother trying to park in his usual spot either. He slammed on his brakes, just missing a large hole in the ground near the cabin. The last owner had intended it to be the foundation of a new garage, which Rick never had gotten around to building. Now the only thing left was an old recreational vehicle parked in it. It was deep enough that the roof of the RV was just at ground level.

Rick jumped out of the car, ran to the other side, and pulled Chris from the passenger seat before she even had a chance to react.

“Hey! What the hell?” she yelled, almost falling to the icy ground.

Rick grabbed her by the arm, tugged her to her feet, and ran toward the cabin, pulling Chris along with him. It was all she could do to try to keep up with him.

Once they were inside, the realization that something was very wrong began to hit her. Chris jumped, startled when Rick closed the door behind them. A minute later she slid into a corner on the floor, her knees tightly against her chest, and watched Rick. Within minutes he was pulling wood from a pile just outside the cabin and soon was boarding up the windows from the inside.

The sound of the hammer pierced Chris’s mind with every strike as she watched him in silent fear. Her fear wasn’t of Rick but that something bad was about to happen, something she knew she wasn’t prepared to deal with, something she couldn’t put her finger on.

By the time Rick had finished boarding up all six windows, Chris felt as if hours had passed. When he turned on an oil lantern, he saw how scared she was.

In the blackness the lantern was the only light until Rick started a fire in the fireplace that slowly illuminated the room. Chris, sitting silently, watched the shadows from the fire dance around the room with a life of their own. It was both comforting and sad to her, but that was something she was accustomed to in her life; to her, mixed emotions were her normal. There were always multiple feelings for everything. Her mind constantly was trying to divide itself and drive her mad.

Once the fire was strong, Rick sat on the couch and placed a shotgun on the cushion next to him.

“And now we wait,” he said quietly.

FIVE

S
hawn had woken up in a bad mood and didn’t feel like going to work. Although jobs were scarce, and six bucks a day was an OK wage, today he’d rather stay home.

After he had called in sick to the store with much hesitation, Amber had agreed to work his shift. She really didn’t care about him or the fact that he said he was sick. Amber wasn’t doing him any kind of favor, and he knew it. The only thing she cared about was the extra money she’d make from the deal—fifteen bucks Shawn had agreed to give her.

After crawling back under his sheets, however, Shawn realized he couldn’t sleep. It had been a terrible couple of days for him, and he didn’t want to do anything. The makeshift generator the heated his building quite working again, and the night before he had gotten into a heated argument with his landlord over late rent. There was only one thing he thought he might miss by staying in bed, and that was Chris coming to the store.

Shawn knew she flirted with him not because she liked him but because she wanted smokes or whatever. But he didn’t care. He liked her regardless, and he knew it was obvious to her. They had known each other since they were kids and even had gone on a couple of dates before her aunt had died and her life had fallen apart. Although
they hadn’t spoken to each other much in the last couple of years, he still cared about her a great deal.

Shawn didn’t know the extent of how bad things were for her at home, but he had an idea that they were rough. A couple of weeks back, when Chris was at the store, she had dropped something and bent over to pick it up. When she did, he saw bruises on her back and neck. He wanted to help her but didn’t know what to do. If he said anything to her, she may never speak to him again. So he kept quiet and let her walk out of the store.

Not being able to sleep, Shawn figured he’d walk across the street to the store and see if he might run into Chris. His apartment was on the backside of the building across the street, so he couldn’t see the store until he got outside and around the corner. He didn’t care if Amber saw him after he had called in sick; after all, he was paying her.

Shawn left his one-room apartment and descended the rickety stairs until he reached the outside door, which hung on only one hinge. He pushed open the equally broken screen door and stepped outside.
Man
,
it’s cold
, he thought.

Shawn was wearing jeans and a T-shirt.
Hell with it
, he thought, as he wrapped his arms around his body to stay warm. Once he was around the corner of the dilapidated apartment building and on the street, he saw a black El Camino pull away from the store. The driver seemed to be in a hurry, as the car peeled off leaving a trail of smoke and dust behind it.

Shawn crossed the street and headed toward a small crowd that was beginning to disperse into various homes and buildings. As he approached, he saw a familiar face standing in the parking lot, staring down the street.

“Oh, hey, Shawn,” Old Man Smith said.

“What was that all about?” Shawn asked.

“Rick drove in here and almost took out the fence across the way, along with the store. Damn good thing that beast of a car stopped, otherwise the whole building would be gone.”

“I don’t get it,” Shawn replied.

“What you don’t get? Rick’s a nut job. He was screaming about the end of the world. Told us to get inside or we were all going to die. I’ve seen him around a few times, but the sheriff knows him better than I do.”

Shawn shrugged. “OK, whatever.”

“Not whatever, Shawn. You know that girl you have a thing for… um, what’s her name? Amie?”

With hesitation Shawn replied, “Chris.”

“Yeah, her. She got into his car and drove off with him.”

“There’s no way she’d—”

The old man shook his head. “No, she left with him. I already talked to Sheriff Parker, but he just said that Rick’s an OK fella.”

“Where would she go with him? He’s just a worthless scavenger.”

“Well, I heard Rick tell some woman he was headed up to his cabin—you know, that nice one outside town near the lake. I think that’s his place.”

“Yeah, I know where it is, but I can’t see Chris going outside the fence so close to nightfall. Not unless…” Shawn didn’t finish his sentence; he was thinking this Rick guy had to be the source of Chris’s bruises.

Shawn hurried to his apartment, grabbing his jacket and a few other belongings before running back outside to the attached shed. He knew what he planned to do would be a mistake, but it didn’t stop him.