Tom’s first conscious thought when he awoke was to be sure to tell Peg the bizarre dream he’d just had while it was still fresh in his mind. When he started to turn onto his side to face her, he realized that he was not in their king size bed.
He was on a chair in the living room.
It had not been a dream!
The events of the following day cascaded into his head in no particular order: the stark reality that his entire family was gone. The huge snowstorm and discovering that there wasn’t a single soul in Riverside Hospital-and how the doors to all of the patient’s rooms had been locked. When he recalled Erin Myers, he bolted upright and turned to look at the sofa.
She wasn’t there!
Tom bounded out of the chair just as the aroma of freshly brewed coffee hit his nose. He had a smile on his face as he headed for the kitchen.
He saw Erin at the stove just getting ready to crack an egg on the edge of the skillet.
“Good morning,” he greeted.
“Good morning. I thought I’d fix us some breakfast. I sort of improvised with the coffee maker,” she added, glancing toward the counter.
Tom looked over to where she had poured boiling water through the coffee maker basket into the Mr. Coffee carafe.
“Excellent! I’ll pour us a cup. Cream and sugar?”
“Lots of both,” she replied.
Tom prepared their coffees and handed a cup to Erin.
“How did you sleep?” he said.
“Like a log. I don’t think I’ve been that exhausted in my life!”
“Me neither.”
Tom went over to the window and peered out. There were shafts of brilliant morning sunshine slicing through the trees in the back yard. The sky was clear blue.
A perfect day to go out and find out what happened to the rest of the world, he thought to himself with a wry smile. He still couldn’t believe that this was really happening. He glanced over at the young stranger cooking at his stove. The scene was so incredibly surreal and bizarre that he almost felt like laughing out loud. But he didn’t.
Because this, amigo, is no laughing matter.
Where in the holy hell had his family gone? And everybody else? When were things going to get back to normal? Were they ever going to get back to normal? What in the hell should he do now?
He had no answers to any of these questions. All he knew was that he couldn’t just sit around this house and hope for some kind of miracle to come along and make it all go away. He was going to have to get into his car and go somewhere. Somewhere where the electric was still on, the phones still worked and people still existed.
So where should he begin?
Downtown would be a start.
And if he had no luck there, then where should he go?
He would just have to cross that bridge when he got to it.
“Here we go,” Erin said, carrying a pair of plates over to the table. On each was a huge pile of scrambled eggs. Forks, knives, napkins and glasses of water were already neatly set up on the table.
Tom went over and sat down. “It looks like you have some experience at this.”
“I’ve waited tables at a few places over the years.”
Tom thought it odd when she said this-it suggested that she’d had several different waitressing jobs in her young life. And she was only eighteen?
“That’s interesting. Any restaurants that I know of?” Tom asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
Tom had the feeling she didn’t want to go any further with this-just like the old boyfriend topic. He felt it best not to pry, at least not at the moment.
“These are really good. It’s refreshing to see a youngster who knows how to cook nowadays. Cooking seems to be going out the door in today’s society-especially with your generation.”
“I wish you wouldn’t lump me into some statistical bullshit, Tom! I mean-you make me feel like I’m five years old. I’m a woman, not some little kid!”
Her outburst left Tom dumbfounded. Her age seemed to be a particularly sensitive issue with Erin Myers.
As did her past.
Tom began to wonder what the real story was with this peculiar young lady. As much as he was dying to find out, he knew it would simply have to wait. The most pressing issue now was to try to get out of the predicament they were in and find out where everybody had gone.
“I’m sorry, Erin. I didn’t mean to offend you. But when you get to be my age, you look at the world differently with regard to some things. I guess that I was stereotyping and I apologize for that. It’s a bad habit of mine, I’m afraid.”
“That’s okay. I’m sorry I lashed out at you. I’m just a little too freaked out by all of this. What are we going to do?”
“I guess we’ll just get into the Jeep and drive around. Look for signs of life somewhere. I figure we can start out downtown and take it from there. There’s the police station, the city building, and so on. Surely, there has to be something. ”
Erin nodded. “I guess you’re right.”
Tom took a gulp of coffee and stood up. “I’ll go start the Jeep so it can be warming up. Thanks for the breakfast.”
She smiled at him. “You’re welcome. I’ll clean up the dishes.”
Tom was intrigued by this young lady’s resourcefulness. She would make somebody a great wife some day.
He went outside and got into the Jeep. After he started it up, he noted the fuel gauge and realized that they would have to get gas soon. He wondered if the gas pumps would work without power, then answered his own question. Of course not-virtually everything needed electricity to work nowadays. He’d have to either siphon out some gas from another car or “Hold it right there!” a voice commanded.
Tom turned to see a gun staring him in the face. A man in his late twenties or early thirties was standing outside the Jeep poking a gun through the open door, glaring at him with malice.
“Who are you?” Tom said, his heart racing.
“Don’t you worry about who I am, motherfucker. You just need to worry about how you’re going to do as I say so I don’t pop you with this piece. Got it?”
Tom had never had a gun in his face before in his life. Nor had he ever been as scared as he was that moment.
“I got it.”
“Now, get out of the car, slowly. Don’t make one false move or I’ll blow you away. I may just blow you away for the fun of it if it moves me. Hell, who knows?”
“I’ll move slowly. Please, don’t shoot me!” Tom cried.
The man roared with laughter. “What a pussy! You sound like an old lady, you know it?”
Tom was not concerned with what this guy thought about him. All he wanted to do was stay alive.
“Turn it off. You’re not going anywhere,” he said as Tom started to get out.
Tom turned off the ignition and stepped out slowly from behind the wheel. The man backed away, keeping the gun pointed at his chest as Tom stood up.
“Now, let’s go see where my Erin girl is. I believe you shacked up with her last night in there, didn’t you? Did she give you a good blowjob? Or maybe she let you bang her from the rear-she really likes that.”
Tom, despite his fear, wanted to punch the bastard’s smug face. What in god’s name was this guy’s problem?
“She didn’t do anything but sleep here.”
“Right! And I’m the president of the United States!” the stranger laughed.
It was then that Tom realized this must be the infamous Kyle.
And he was even worse than Erin had described him.
Much worse.
“Come on, shithead, lead the way. Slowly. And don’t make a sound or I’ll waste you.”
Tom led the way to the door. He considered spinning around and trying to knock the gun out of Kyle’s hand, but knew that only worked in the movies. This was no movie and he was no James Bond.
Tom reached the door.
“Open it-slow and easy. Don’t try to be a hero.”
Tom opened the door and entered, Kyle following closely behind.
They went through the laundry room and into the kitchen. Erin was washing the dishes.
“Well looky there! It’s my little girl-whore playing housewife! How goddamn cozy!”
Erin dropped the plate and spun around, the look of shock, dread and terror on her face.
“ Kyle! What are you doing here?” she cried.
“Why, I’m coming to take what is mine, honey. And you know you’re mine, now don’t you?”
“God, Kyle-let Tom go! He doesn’t have anything to do with this!” Erin pleaded, staring past Tom toward his captor.
“What do you mean, ‘he doesn’t have anything to do with this?’ He has a lot to do with this! He took you in and banged you last night! Now that wasn’t a nice thing to do at all, taking another man’s woman and dissing me like that. No, I’m afraid that Mr. Tom here is gonna have to pay for that.”
“I told you-” Tom said.
“Shut your goddamn mouth! Or I’m gonna make it so you can’t ever talk again!”
“Kyle, please don’t hurt him! I’ll go with you-I’ll do anything you say! Just don’t hurt him!”
“Why, it sounds like you’ve really taken a liking to Tom here. You must have had a real good time screwing him last night. Jesus, girl-don’t you think he’s a little old for you? Not that that has ever stopped you before. But then, that’s a different situation altogether, now isn’t it?”
“Kyle, please don’t-”
Kyle laughed hideously. “I think I got a pretty good idea what’s going on here. I have a feeling that you haven’t quite told this guy everything about our special relationship, have you? I can tell by the look in your eyes.”
Erin started weeping. She convulsed so violently that Tom ran over to her side, forgetting the gun pointed at him.
Suddenly, the gun fired. The sound was so loud that Tom’s ears rang. He saw a hole in the shattered ceramic tile to the right of his sink.
“The next one is for you, asshole. Now go over and sit down at that table before I get tempted to quit wasting any more time on you.”
“Are you all right?” he said to Erin.
“Now, motherfucker!” Kyle roared.
“Go Tom!” Erin pleaded.
Tom went over to one of the chairs at the kitchen table and sat down. He realized that he could be dead now and knew that he was going to have to cool it if he was going to have any chance of getting out of this alive.
“Now, Erin girl, I want you to sit down next to your friend. And if you cry like that one more time, I’m going to kill him. You know what I think about those crocodile tears, don’t you? And I’m not gonna put up with any of that bullshit, I can tell you that right now!”
“I won’t cry, Kyle. I promise.” Erin declared warily as she sat down beside Tom at the table.
“I know you won’t, you ho! Now, you two sit there while I figure out what I’m going to do. I’m so goddamn tired I can hardly think straight. And that’s your fault, you cheating slut! Keeping me out all night trying to find you after you sneaked out on me. I liked to never caught up to you, but luckily there weren’t exactly a helluva lot of tire tracks in the snow out on the roads.”
Kyle kept his gun trained on Tom as he walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door. He pulled out a bottle of Chardonnay, popped off the cork and took a long swig.
“Jesus, I needed that! I don’t suppose you have any decent road food around here, do you old man? Some chips or peanuts-something like that?”
“There are some chips in the pantry.”
“That’s real hospitable of you,” he said. He went over to the pantry and rifled through the shelves, keeping a close eye on Tom. He took out a bag of potato chips, a box of Ritz crackers and a jar of salsa dip.
“This is a start. Well, I think we should be shoving off now, dear. We’ve got a long way to go. Kiss your old buddy here goodbye, but only on the cheek, now! I wouldn’t want you to get all excited and want to screw him again!”
“What are you going to do to him, Kyle?” Erin asked suspiciously.
“Not sure yet. Probably shoot him.”
“Kyle, you can’t! He hasn’t done anything wrong! Just take me and leave him here-”
“Quiet, bitch! We’ve already been through this. He has done plenty wrong and I am going to make him pay for it. Just not sure how much he owes me, but I’m thinking his miserable yuppie life ought to make us about even.”
“Kyle, if you kill him, you might as well kill me, too.”
Kyle feigned a chuckle. “What a laugh! That’s just about the funniest thing I’ve heard all day! But your supreme sacrifice isn’t going to do me any damn good at all, so you might as well forget that offer. I’m going to give you a break though, darling, just because I’m such a sweet guy and all. I’ll let your buddy live if he really means that much to you.”
“Thank-you Kyle! You won’t regret this!”
“You’re gonna owe me big time! You hear me?”
“Yes, I know. I will make it worth your while.”
“You bet your sweet ass, you will! Now, Mr. Yup-shit, maybe you can tell me where you keep your duct tape. And if you tell me you don’t have any, the deal’s off. I’ll just blow your head off.”
Tom thought for a moment. “I think there’s a roll in one of the cabinets in the laundry room.”
“You better pray it’s there or you’re out of luck. I want to get the hell out of this place and I don’t have time to be looking around for a roll of goddamn duct tape. Go get the tape, Erin. And hurry before I change my mind.”
Erin nodded and ran to the laundry room. Tom heard some shuffling around and a moment later, she returned with a roll of duct tape.
“What took you so long? Now, you’re going to have to pull out that chair a little, old man, so I can get this tape around you.”
Tom scooted out a foot or so from the table. Kyle pulled out a length of tape and starting at Tom’s elbow, began wrapping it around his chest and the back of the chair. He wrapped it around no less than a dozen times. Tom could hardly breathe it was so tight.
“Now, your feet.”
He bound Tom’s feet together several times then continued wrapping the tape around the front legs of the chair.
“And now, just in case you get a notion to try chewing…”
Kyle proceeded to slap a four-inch strip over his mouth.
“There, now. Sorry you can’t say goodbye, old man, but that’s just the way it goes. Come on, wench. Lead the way out of this place.”
Erin stood up and faced Tom. “Thanks for your help, Tom. I hope you find your family. And don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay.”
“Let’s fucking go! ” Kyle shouted.
“My coat, I left it-”
“I’m losing patience here. You have thirty seconds to get it or I blow him away!”
Erin ran into the living room and returned a few seconds later with her coat.
“Grab that stuff and let’s blow this Popsicle stand.”
Erin gathered up the food, glanced at Tom with a look of sadness and regret, and then ran out the door.
The moment she was out of sight, Kyle stared directly into Tom’s eyes.
“And this is for humping my girl!”
He brought the handle of the gun down cleanly into Tom’s skull.