Richard Stephenson - Collapse

“Oh, yeah, mother fucker? Is that right? You get it? How ‘bout you get a bullet in the head? Huh? How ‘bout that?” Jack raised the pistol and leveled it at Max’s head, quickly closing the distance between them. “How ‘bout you shut your hole before I kick you in the teeth like your buddy over there! I haven’t decided what I’m gonna do with the two of you!”

“OK, I’m sorry,” Max said softly.

“This is what’s gonna happen, asshole. We’re cleaning this place out and taking your vehicles. Reckon we could go places in cop cars much easier. You gotta problem with that? Huh?” Jack rapped the barrel of the pistol on Max’s sweaty forehead. “Whadda ya think? That sound fine with you?”

“Take what you want, just don’t kill us.”

“Take off your clothes.”

“What?” Max looked at him in horror.

“You heard me – strip! You want me to shoot your friend here? I’ve always wanted to be a cop. Take off your god damned clothes! Hurry up!” Jack walked over to Charlie and aimed at his head.

“Stop! Okay!” Max began to take off his wet uniform.

“That’s better! Joe, cuff these two pigs together, his arm to his leg.” Jack tossed a set of cuffs to the fat man holding the shotgun.

Joe caught the cuffs and leaned his shotgun on a pile of rubble. “I’m gonna like being a cop! Always wanted a badge and a gun. Hot damn!” The fat man pushed Max to the ground next to Charlie.

“You behave now, or I’m gonna shoot your friend.” Jack aimed the pistol and Charlie’s head. “Go on and snap those cuffs on your wrist and to his ankle.”

With the men distracted by his uniform, Max leaned into Charlie and whispered, “Is your radio off?”

“It’s in my patrol car at my house; I don’t have it with me. They grabbed me on my way in.”

“Good. Just stay calm. Miller and Collins are in the woods, ready to attack when they can get us out of the line of fire.”

“God damn! We hit the jackpot! Check out this cool shit!” Jack surveyed the duffle bags piled up at his feet. “These grenades look badass! Can’t wait to find out what they do!”

“Hell yeah, we’re gonna run some shit for sure!” said the fat man.

“Hey Joe, keep an eye on these two. I think I wanna try on my new uniform.” Jack stripped out of his dirty clothes and put on Max’s wet uniform. Then he bent down and picked up Max’s duty belt, fitting it around his waist. “My oh my, this fits perfect! Whaddya think Joe? I look like a cop?”

“Hell no,” laughed Joe.

“Shut up, you fat ass! Hey, you two clowns got everything loaded in our new cop cars?”

Max watched the two nameless henchmen grab the last duffle bag and head toward the parking lot.

“Can we move it along, please? Assholes? Hello? Hurry up! Let’s go!” Jack was screaming at his two underlings, clearly letting them know who was running things.

“Well, now we get to the hard part. What are we gonna do with you guys?” Jack was pacing back and forth in front of Max and Charlie.

Joe walked over next to Jack and dug in his pocket. “Well, I know what I’m gonna do,” the fat man said, pulling his smartphone out of his pocket. “I’ve gotta take a picture of these two lovebirds.”

“They do look sweet in their little love pretzel. Smile!” Jack laughed at how upset Max was getting.

“Well shit, we might as well kill ‘em. Already got two dead bodies in the parking lot,” said Joe.

“Holy shit! I just got the funniest idea!” Jack laughed hysterically.

“What? Spit it out man!” said Joe.

“You know what we should do? Shoot one and not the other. Leave one of ‘em handcuffed to a dead body!”

“Jesus Christ, Jack! That’s some twisted shit!” the fat man snorted as he laughed.

“I don’t know. I couldn’t care less about killing fuckin’ cops. What about those little kids in the prison cell? I’m not killin’ a baby.”

“Me neither.”

“Your fat ass would eat a baby before you shot one.”

“That’s gross dude! Shut up!”

“OK, fine. Listen up, lovebirds; this is what’s gonna happen. Once we leave outta here, the two of you can play naked Twister and figure out a way to get over to the jail cell. The cell door key is on the hook next to the door. You let the bitch out and I’m sure she can help you out of your love knot. Sound like a plan?”

Max nodded.

“Well, shit, look here what I got. Didn’t even notice it when I put on the belt — a walkie talkie radio! Maybe we can listen to this thing and figure out what the cops are doing!”

Max closed his eyes and hung his head. Elizabeth .

One of the unnamed henchmen came running around the corner. “Jack! Some lady is on the radio asking for these cops, said she was at a command post.”

“Please tell me you didn’t respond!” Jack screamed.

“No, just listened is all.”

“What do we care about a command post? Let’s get moving and get the hell outta here!” said Joe.

“Think about it, stupid! A command post’s got supplies, probably all kinds of good shit. We got the uniforms, the bullet proof vests, and guns!”

“Shit, yeah! Let’s get moving!”

Jack and his hooligans took off toward the parking lot. Once they rounded the corner, Max turned towards the tree line and yelled, “NOW!”

Miller and Collins burst from the bushes and sprinted through the downpour to Max and Charlie.

“No! Forget us, you have to stop them! They’re looking for the command post!”

Collins understood immediately and took off after them with Miller close behind. All Max could do with his wrist handcuffed to Charlie’s ankle was wait helplessly and hope they stopped the men before things got completely out of control. If the two henchmen had taken the time to dig weapons out of the bags and load them with ammo, it was going to be an ugly fight. Max hoped the element of surprise would be to their advantage. He listened in horror to the sound of shotgun blasts and the quick pop-pop-pop of a pistol over and over again. Then after thirty nightmarish seconds, he heard a vehicle speed away.

All that remained was the sound of the rain.

“Miller! Collins! Somebody talk to me! What happened? HEY! YOU GUYS ALL RIGHT? MILLER! COLLINS!”

Charlie began to cry angry tears. “Those fucks killed them! Fucking animals! What kind of man takes a mother and two small babies and tosses them in a jail cell!”

“Charlie, listen, we need to figure a way to slide over there. Tell you what — lie on your back and tuck your chin. I can stand up and drag you on your back.”

“Okay, it’s worth a try.”

The plan was awkward but effective. As they moved slowly forward, Max searched for his two officers. Miller was lying on his back, his nose and left eye missing along with most of his jaw. A shotgun blast does horrific damage to its target. Miller was dead – no doubt about it. Max saw Collins ten yards away, leaning up against a piece of broken wall.

“Collins! You okay?”

Collins gave a thumbs-up.

“You get hit?”

Collins made a gun with his fingers and shot himself in the chest. Then he made a fist and pounded the vest.

“Vest stopped it and knocked the wind out you, probably broke some ribs?

Collins nodded in agreement.

“Son, I need you to toss me your restraint key so Charlie and I can get out of this situation.”

Collins tossed the key to Max. Once the two were separated, Charlie ran quickly to the cell door, reuniting with his wife and kids in a barrage of hugs and kisses.

Max sat down next to Collins. “I know it hurts, Collins, but I need you to talk, even if it’s a whisper. How many of them are left? How many made it out of here?”