Ryan Westfield - Getting Out

She made a snap decision.

“We’re going on a little trip,” she said.

“What?” said Sadie.

“Yeah,” said James. “What the hell, Mom?”

“Watch your language, James,” said Georgia. “Something’s not right… We’re going to take a little trip up to your grandfather’s old hunting cabin.”

“What?” said Sadie, her voice rising in extreme disbelief.

“Something’s happening,” said Georgia. “Didn’t you notice that nothing’s working? None of the machines.”

“We get it,” said James. “You don’t like machines, Mom. You never have. That doesn’t mean the world’s ending…” He instinctively pulled out his smartphone. Like so many teenagers, he seemed to live on it.

His sister Sadie did the same thing.

Of course, both phones were completely dead.

“I don’t get it,” whined Sadie. “It had a full charge.”

Georgia wasn’t going to waste time convincing them one way or the other. In fact, she wasn’t sure of much these days.

She only knew to trust her instincts, and that was what she was going to do now.

“You two should be happy,” said Georgia. “You won’t have to go to school. We can lay low up there for a few weeks.”

“Weeks?” said Sadie. “I can’t miss two weeks of school…”

“You almost never go,” said James, interrupting her.

“Yeah,” said Georgia. “I thought you’d love a chance to miss school.”

“It’s John,” said James, teasing his sister. “She’s got a new boyfriend.”

“I do not,” said Sadie.

Georgia let them argue amongst themselves. Her mind, at the moment, was on other things altogether. Her plan was to get home and grab the camping gear and her rifles, as well as some food. Then they’d hit the roads as soon as they could. She had a very bad feeling. It was like a tightness in her chest. And she wasn’t the type to get anxious.

Georgia kept her thoughts to herself, as she didn’t want to worry her kids too much… not yet, anyway. If something bad had really happened, would Georgia really be able to keep her family alive? She could hunt. She could fish. She knew some edible plants. But would that be enough? Georgia had spent enough time in the woods to know that there was more to surviving than just eating.

Max had made possibly the worst decision of his life.

He’d told himself he wouldn’t get involved. He’d known right from the beginning that there would be situations like this, but he’d promised himself that he needed to look out for himself.

He didn’t even know Mandy and he didn’t even know if it was her in the apartment.

The door had broken off its hinges completely. It was a cheap one, with a cheap frame, and even worse were the screws, which must have been so short they barely went into the wood.

Max waited, standing just out of sight in the lobby.

He took a deep breath, like he’d practiced at the range. He felt surprisingly calm. His hands weren’t shaking, and his mind was clear and practical. He knew there was a host of unknowns waiting for him in that apartment. And he knew that his time to get out of town was severely limited, and this was only taking up more of it.

The adrenaline was coursing through him, making him feel energized and cold. He felt like he could take everyone on at once in that moment. But he had enough sense to know that that wasn’t true. It he simply ran into the room, he might be shot down.

But he had to enter at some point.

He stuck his Glock around the corner. His finger was inside the trigger guard. What a weird feeling, to be away from the gun range with his finger in the trigger guard. Normally, he followed strict gun safety.

He poked his head around slowly.

He took in the scene instantly. Mandy was on the couch, a gun in her mouth. Two armed men were there. One athletic, one not. Not that that would even matter.

To Max’s surprise, the fat one with the gun in Mandy’s mouth chuckled as Max peered into the room, leaving as much of his body as possible hidden behind the doorframe.

The other man pointed his gun right at Max. It was a pistol, one of those cheap numbers made who knows where. It might jam at any moment, not that Max could count on that for his own safety.

Mandy’s eyes turned towards him, a pleading look in them. But there was hope too.

“You know the deal,” mumbled the fat one loudly. “Come in and we shoot her. Not that it makes much difference to us.”

“Or join us for the fun,” said the other one.

They spoke strangely, as if they were on drugs.

How disgusting. They were only a couple hours out from the EMP, and already these sickos were breaking into homes to rape vulnerable women. The majority of Max’s colleagues were probably still at work. Society was likely divided—the people who didn’t know what was going on and were simply waiting for the power to come back on, and the people who had been lurking in the shadows just waiting for an opportunity like this to cut loose and do what they’d always wanted to do, which was cause chaos and have their fun.

And then there were the people like Max. He knew he didn’t fit into either of the other categories. But he wasn’t sure what category he was in. He’d thought of himself as a prepper, or at least a practical person with some measures in place in case shit hit the fan. Now he wasn’t so sure. He hadn’t planned on coming across two armed men so early.

The fat man had mumbled like he was on drugs. Max didn’t think he was drunk. But he couldn’t identify what drug he might be on. Maybe one of those new synthetic designer drugs shipped from China, the ones with devastating and strange effects on the mind and body.

“Drop the guns,” said Max, loudly and clearly.

But as he said it, he knew they wouldn’t do it. There was no reasoning with these animals.

The fat man moved first. Everything seemed to slow down, but in reality it all happened very quickly.

Max shot first, before the fat man could even squeeze the trigger.

Max hit him in the forehead. He crumpled instantly.

The man with the gun in Mandy’s mouth froze. He didn’t seem to know what to do. He watched with a horrified expression as his friend fell.

“One more… move,” he mumbled loudly. His eyes looked crazy, his pupils wide. “One more move… I’ll shoot her. I will…”

Max aimed carefully at the man. He knew he could take him out first. He squeezed the trigger, the bullet hitting the man in the chest. He crumpled, his weight falling onto Mandy.

She let out a long scream, muffled by the gun still in her mouth.

Max rushed over. He seized the dead man around the waist and pulled with all his might. The guy was huge, and it took all of Max’s effort to pull the body off her.

“Is anyone else here?” said Max.

Mandy was sobbing, tears rolling down her face rapidly.

She shook her head, but didn’t seem to be able to speak.

“It’s OK,” said Max, automatically offering words of consolation. But they sounded hollow even to him. In fact, he knew that everything was decidedly not OK. This was just the beginning.

“What’s going on?” she said, sobbing.

Max didn’t know what to do. He’d never been good at comforting crying women. Fortunately for him, there wasn’t time for that anyway.

But he had to think fast. Was he going to leave her here? He had to get on with his own plan. He’d made this little pit stop and saved her life. Wasn’t that enough?

Max knew that it was every man and woman for themselves at this point. He had drilled it into his head a thousand times, but he’d already made a grave mistake. A little too far along this path and there would be no turning back. He’d be taking care of whole families.