Read Online A Little More Dead by Sean Thomas Fisher - Free Book Online Page B

She spoke in a low voice. “I’m not
getting out.”
    Paul released a heated breath and jerked
his chin to Dancers because of its blacked out windows and
more manageable size. Dan turned off the headlights and cruised around
back, like a real cop on the hunt for an escaped inmate while Sophia pouted. The
police radio cast an eerie glow across Dan’s face, turning his eyes into sunken
sockets and his mouth into a sullen frown. Shutting off the engine, they waited
for their night vision to adjust with the windows up and the doors locked. It
was dead quiet. The kind ofquiet that now followed them everywhere they
went.
    Chills ran through Paul as he unbuckled
his seatbelt and turned to his wife. “We can do this without any mistakes this
time.”
    Sophia studied the back of the bar like
there was something interesting to see, but Paul knew the green dumpster and
litter stuck in a chain link fence were just distractions to keep from meeting
his eyes. She blamed him for those boys’ deaths and that was okay because so
did he.
    He could hear his own heart pounding in
his ears. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I missed that bathroom door and that’s
on me, no one else. Those kids didn’t deserve that and Carla didn’t deserve that
and I fucked up.”
    “Oh God, it’s not your fault, Paul!” Dan
interrupted, twisting around in the front seat. “Pull your head out because I’m
going to need you in there. We’re not cops or the National Guard and it’s only
because of you that we’ve made it this far in the first place. We don’t even
have time to bury someone, let alone mourn them. We have to keep moving,
mentally and physically, or we will be next. So don’t start getting sentimental
on me now, goddammit !”
    Sophia turned away in disgust. “Oh shut
up, Dan!”
    He frowned at her. “Why? It’s true,
Sophia. So quit laying a guilt trip on him because we all missed that door, and
now we have to go and do it all over again and I need both of you in the game!”
He turned back around. “Jesus!”
    Sophia pulled a zipper on the back of
her glove. Back and forth. Back and
forth. Paul set a hand on his wife’s hand, stopping the zipper. “I know
how messed up this is but if we stick together, we are going to get through it.”
    Sophia finally met his gaze, tears
magnifying her eyes as she searched his shadowy face. “I don’t blame you for
what happened this morning. I’m just scared.”
      He cradled her cheeks in his palms and tipped
his chin down. “It’s okay to be scared. We’re all scared.”
    Her eyes softened. “I love you.”
    “I love you too,” he said, kissing her
lips and soaking her in like this might be his last chance.
    Dan stared out the window, drumming his
fingers against the wheel. “Let’s get this over with,” he muttered. “I need a
drink.”
    ☠
    The metal back door was
locked , and a nearby cellar door had a padlocked chain running through
its handles.
    “What now?” Dan whispered, swinging his
nervous gaze around like he just heard something.
    Paul looked up, a light bulb going off
in his eyes. “The bolt cutters in the trunk.”
    Dan pulled the keys from his jeans.
“I’ll get them.”
    Paul covered him while Sophia gazed at
the night sky.
    “It’s so dark.”
    Paul looked up to the bright stars
above. “It’s crazy how much light pollution a city gives off.” He paused. “Used to give off.”
    “Even the sky has changed.”
    “Everything’s changed,” he whispered,
snapping his head around to a sound that came from a small patch of trees
behind them. It sounded like someone, or something, stepped on a stick.
    Sophia pressed up against him, her gun
hanging limply in one hand, a dark flashlight in the other. “What happens when
we run out of batteries in a few years?”
    He turned to her, his heart warming. Her
confidence that they would still be here in a few years gave him a thin ray of
hope in the moonlit darkness. “Solar power is our future now.