Disenchantment 39

*****

 

 

 

 

“Pull over there,” said Mark. That’s Oren’s car. The other is Malbourne’s.”

 

Hornblende pulled over on the opposite side of the road and they both got out. Hornblende opened the trunk and tossed Mark a flashlight. “You ever fired a weapon?” he asked.

 

“No, my dad was big into it. Me? Not so much. I guess that I always thought that I drank too much to bother getting into guns.” Memories of his father, whom he hadn’t spoken to in a number of years brought back memories of his lost son, Eddie, Nannette. He did think about his ex-wife briefly too, but memories of her were not good, as they were contaminated with bitterness. The first three brought on a feeling of sadness, while the fourth turned that depression into anger.

 

There was so much bullshit in the world. How could anyone ever remain positive? It seemed that no matter how one tried, it was never good enough. The world would just crush you again and again.

 

“Well, you have experience with this, huh?” Hornblende pulled out a taser and more gently handed it to Mark, explaining how it worked. “Now you can still fuck up with this, so be careful. You also only get one shot, so if you need to use it, make it count.”

 

“You think that we’ll need weapons?’

 

“Don’t know. Better have them and not need them, and such.” Hornblende placed his Glock in a strap on the left side of his chest. He then took out an old leather belt with a holster for his thirty-eight. Put the belt on and placed the weapon in it, where it rested on his right hip, seemingly easier to grab with his right hand.

 

“Why don’t I get a sturdy flashlight like yours? This one is old and cheap.” The device seemed like some relic from the past that wasn’t well taken care of, faded yellow, and the plastic was cracked and splitting. ”They haven’t even made anything like this in thirty years or so,” Mark complained. “You don’t have another sturdy one like yours?”

 

“Did you bring your own flashlight?”

 

“You know that I didn’t.”

 

“Then use the one I gave you. It is old and cheap. It’s only in my car for emergencies. I’ll keep my police issued one, thank you.”

 

“I could have gotten a better one if we stopped for beer.”

 

“Yeah well, you’re the one that thinks this apocalypse is related to some underworld god, so maybe we didn’t have time.”

 

“You hear that?” asked Mark. Something had been scratching at the back of his mind since they had arrived, an idea that swirled around just below the conscious level, trying to break free, and then it did.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing. Nothing at all. No sound. That’s exactly how Oren described it. It’s like the night shut off.”

 

“Yeah, that’s unusual. You can carry this.” Hornblende gave him a small backpack, almost like what a grammar school student might carry his or her books in. I put some bottles of water in it and a first aid kit.”

 

“You believe yet?” asked Mark.

 

“Believe what?”

 

“Oren’s version of things. Do you believe it was real?”

 

“Not sure, you?”

 

“Yes. Look at the sky. There are no stars.”

 

The cop took a moment to look up at the sky. He paused and seemed to be contemplating something, a far-off look evident on his face in the limited glow of the artificial light. “Hmmm... yep.” was all Hornblende had to say about that. “Okay, where do we go from here?”

 

“Look at that.” Mark shined his flashlight over toward the chainlink fence next to the tree that had been spoken of by his friend. “There’s a hole in the fence. It’s all just like Oren said it was. I think this is real.”

 

 

 

 

*****

 

 

 

 

It was all turning to shit. I thought I had planned meticulously how to get to you. It wasn’t working out. Mark and Nannette were gone, both for very different reasons, and their replacements were not interested in doing the job I paid them to do. Malbourne didn’t even seem interested in continuing.

 

It was all for you. I was doing it all for you. I thought I planned everything out so damn well, but I hadn’t thought of people quitting.

 

The whole while, I hadn’t thought of weapons. These things we had to deal with, they aren’t mortal. What good would weapons do? I realized then that had I thought to bring along some guns, I would have forced them to come. I would have made them come. It was all about getting you back.

 

If the gods aren’t shitting on you, then other people are.

 

“We had a deal,” I said. It was directed at Jesus and Ricardo, but I glanced toward Malbourne as well after I said it.

 

Malbourne nodded and added: “Yes, we are really disappointed in you two failing to complete what you said you would. We had a verbal contract. Any court will see that as a violation of said contract and we can seek financial restitution. You had better rethink your decision.”

 

“You too,” I said, glaring at Malbourne.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“You too. You were just about to quit on us as well. Right before they did. Don’t think that I didn’t notice, or that I forgot.”

 

“Look Oren, it was just a suggestion.”

 

“Yeah...uh-huh, a suggestion.”

 

“I’m really sorry Mister Oren, but we can’t do this.” Ricardo did indeed look to be sorry, but I didn’t care about how sorry he was. I cared about getting you back.

 

“You will do this.” I was seething. I felt my world falling apart. You’re my world and I wanted you back so desperately. I began looking around for any sort of weapon that I could use against them, my eyes darting quickly to different places in our surroundings.

 

“Look Oren,” said Malbourne. “We can get some more people. We can come back tomorrow.”

 

“Fuck you. There is no tomorrow. This shit will be gone tomorrow. There’s only tonight.” I noticed a large rock, I could probably grab it with both hands, but it would make me slow and unwieldy. Then, about twenty feet away, my eyes came to rest on a nice-sized rock, roughly the dimensions of a softball. Wieldy indeed.

 

“We don’t want any trouble,” said Jesus.

 

“If you don’t want any trouble you’ll be coming with me.” I began walking toward the rock, leaned over, and picked it up. It felt good in my hand, solid, an object I felt that would bend these people to my will.

 

As I turned back around, Ricardo had dug into his pocket and retrieved a buck knife. He flicked it open quickly with all the experience and dexterity of one who had done it hundreds of times before. “No trouble, please. You can’t take us both on. You might even have to take on three of us.” He then looked over and nodded toward Malbourne. “Can you get all three of us?”

 

Floyd mumbled something about a light. I didn’t pay much attention to him. He was one that I was sure was still with me. However, I did began to wonder what he would do if I attacked the others. I knew that he wanted to go with me, but I wasn’t sure if that would change if I acted with violence toward the others.

 

“I only have to take out one of you. The other two of you will come with me after that.”

 

“Don’t do this, Oren. We can work something out.” Malbourne still looked calm. He always seemed so stoic. I didn’t think he would join the fray, but I kept an eye on him nonetheless. I couldn’t be certain.

 

“You afraid of losing your gravy train?” I asked him. “You will if things don’t go my way.” I walked back toward the group, eyeing Ricardo and Jesus, occasionally glancing at Malbourne to see if he would make a move.

 

“You guys, there’s some light back there from where we came,” Floyd said it, but it didn’t register. I was thinking mostly about the two I thought would oppose me.

 

“Rethink this, Mister Oren,” said Ricardo. Jesus stayed where he was and Ricardo started to circle around behind me.

 

The only way I could keep an eye on both of them was to turn my back to Malbourne. I am sure they planned it that way, hoping they would get a last-minute ally in the form of the attorney, or at least to make me wary, lose my nerve.

 

I was getting close to attacking. Ricardo had the knife, if I rushed him first I could remove the weapon from play. Even at that point, I didn’t want to kill him, just incapacitate him. However, if he did die...I was willing to risk it. Getting you back was the goal; that was what was most important.

 

Ricardo raised his arms into a defensive position, swayed on his feet, putting his right leg back, a fighting stance. This wasn’t his first rodeo. It wasn’t exactly mine, but it was my first with weapons. Jesus seemed less experienced, not sure what to do, only raising his arms slightly, it almost seemed that the body language conveyed was to get someone to calm down as opposed to being aggressive.

 

“I don’t want to hurt you guys, but I need at least two more people to go with me.”

 

“It seems that you’ve got them, Mister Phileus,” came a voice from not too far off, but unexpectedly farther than I would have anticipated. The voice was slightly familiar, but I couldn’t place it immediately.

 

I looked back the way we had come, toward the wash. The beams of two flashlights were poking their way through the darkness. The combination of illumination from both the firepit and the flashlights didn’t allow me to see who was coming as the rays of light continued onward, toward us.

 

As the figures approached, I made out the cop, Hornblende. I had no idea what he was doing there. I hadn’t thought of him in weeks. I would have assumed he had bigger priorities than me with the world ending. It was the second figure that really surprised me. Out of the darkness came Mark.

 

“So, where are we going?” asked Hornblende.