Richard Stephenson - Collapse

“Why are you turning on the heat?” asked Tank.

“Hot air rises. The smoke is coming in on the driver side, so those windows are rolled up. The hot air will push the smoke out of the cabin in a few minutes. Once that’s done we can roll the windows up and turn on the A/C. Take the wraps off your heads and put them over the holes. Wrap your mouth around the hole and try to breath in some good air.”

The plan worked perfectly. In a matter of minutes, the smoke had cleared out of the cabin and the windows were rolled up. The air filter in the engine did a decent job of keeping the smoke out. Once the temperature was somewhat comfortable, Richard turned off the vents and returned to his air hole. The three men stayed in the car for two hours until the smoke finally began to clear. Once the sun broke through the clouds, it was time to move.

“Let’s go! We need to be as far away from here as possible in the least amount of time. Tank, will this car do us any good? How far do you think it’ll make it on two flat tires?”

“In this terrain? Not far, the rims will shred the tires and once the rims flatten out and have nothing to grab onto, we’re stuck.”

“Let’s get moving then. I think it will be a long time before they realize we’re gone. They got a prison full of dead inmates to keep them busy.”

The three men loaded up in the wounded SUV and headed west. For the second time in his incarceration, Richard was a free man.

Chief Maxwell Harris was filled with rage. He fought to control the fury with every fiber of his being. The last time he had allowed rage to take over, he had crashed into a stolen car going sixty miles an hour, killing four people in the process. For his efforts, he had shattered his hip and leg and still lived with the agonizing pain to this day. Since then, Max had made a promise to himself to remain in control at all times. His current predicament was challenging that vow. Two of his officers were dead, as was an innocent civilian. A band of thugs had stolen his uniform, leaving him in his underwear. They then proceeded to empty out his armory and load their take into his police vehicles. Now they were out looking for his command post so they could rob it as well.

“Chief! We don’t need to crash before we get there! Slow down!” Deputy Collins was sitting in the passenger seat of the dead civilian’s pickup truck next to Max.

Max remained silent but did slow down. Collins was right; driving like a maniac on flooded roads wasn’t smart. With no way of communicating with the command post, Max could only try to get there as fast as possible, praying that the band of thugs didn’t find the place before he got there.

They arrived at the high school, parking in back so Rudy’s truck couldn’t be seen from the road. They made it into the school. Racing down the hall to the locker rooms, Max burst in so quickly that Elizabeth and Dr. Stone screamed.

“Max! What in the hell are you doing? You scared us to death!” screamed Elizabeth.

“We’re in trouble!”

“No kidding, genius. Why aren’t you wearing pants?” Elizabeth laughed.

“Elizabeth! I’m not joking, we’re in danger! Get everyone in here and keep them quiet! Do it now!”

Elizabeth could immediately tell that Max wasn’t joking. Max crouched down in the doorway with his weapon drawn. Collins was doing the same thing but had one arm wrapped around his mid-section, clearly in pain. Something very bad had happened to them. Elizabeth quietly herded the wide-eyed group into the room.

“Elizabeth, listen to me, I will explain the details later. That group of redneck idiots that shot up the gas station is out there. They robbed the armory at the police station — taking bullet proof vests and police uniforms. They’re armed and looking for this command post. They stole my SUV and two patrol trucks. Might take them a while to find us or they could be here any minute.”

“Oh my! Where’s my husband? Where’s Rudy?” asked Trudy.

“Your husband is fine; he’s back at the police station with another officer.” Max felt horrible lying to the woman, but the last thing he needed was to deal with a hysterical widow during a firefight. “Elizabeth, you and Kathy stay in this room and keep these people safe. They can’t get into the gym since the roof fell in. The only way they can get in is through this door.”

“What’s the plan? Where are you going to be?” Elizabeth drew her sidearm.

“We only have one vehicle and we can’t leave on foot. We’ll just have to watch for them from the hallway and kill them before they get in the door.”

“You sure they’re coming? They might decide to move on.”

“Trust me, they’re coming. They know we’re here. Not a lot of buildings left in town that we could be in; they don’t have many places to look. Just a matter of time.”

Max and Deputy Collins crept down the hallway to the front entrance of the school. Max kicked in the door to one of the classrooms with windows overlooking the parking lot. The visibility was low due to the rain; however, they would still be able to see a vehicle coming from either direction.

They didn’t have to wait long.

“Are they fucking serious? Are they really driving down the road flashing the red and blues?” asked Collins.

“Well, we know they aren’t too bright. Probably living out some childhood fantasy. I’m surprised they aren’t running the sirens,” answered Max.

Max’s SUV was leading the convoy with the other two police trucks following. They turned off the main road and headed toward the parking lot. From their vantage point, Max and Deputy Collins were less than ten feet away from the front entrance. The thugs would walk right into their trap.

The three stolen police cars pulled up into the circle in front of the school. As Jack and his two henchmen exited the stolen vehicles, Max noticed that one of the thugs was bleeding from his right arm. He had tried to wrap it with a towel but had done a poor job of it.

“Jack, this shit hurts! It won’t stop bleeding!”

“Relax, you pussy. Stop being a fucking baby! We find this command post and I’m sure they’ll have medical supplies.”

“You think it’s in here? I don’t see any vehicles or anything.”

“This has to be it. That rundown shithole of a hospital was barely standing. This school looks to be in decent shape; the command post has to be in there.”

“What are we gonna do?” asked the injured henchman.

“Well, let’s keep it simple. Maybe we can get them to come to us.” Jack reached for the hand mike and shouted. “Attention! This is the police!”

“I didn’t hear anything,” said the injured henchman.

“Shit, this is the loudspeaker. What the hell? Oh, here it is; guess I should turn it on.” Jack flipped a red switch and a light came on. “This is the police! Uhh, we’re looking for the command post. We’re here to help you guys. Someone come out and meet us and take us inside.”

“You think it worked?”

“I don’t know, dummy. Let’s wait a minute or two and see if anyone comes out.”

Max looked over at Deputy Collins and rolled his eyes.

“You think we should go inside?” asked the injured henchman.

“Might as well, come on! The two henchmen started up the walk to the front door, with Jack following close behind.

Max quickly looked over and pointed at Collins and held up one finger, then he pointed to himself and held up two fingers. You take the first one; I’ll take the second one. Collins nodded his head. The three thugs stepped onto the curb and walked under the awning to the front door. As they took a step towards the door, Collins opened fire on the first man. The first two rounds hit his vest; the third round hit him in the throat, lodging in his spine. Once he fell to the ground, Max opened fire on the second man with three quick shots. He only needed one. The first round hit the thug square in the nose and blew a hole out the back of his head. The second round went into the parking lot and dinged off the handicapped parking sign. The third round grazed Jack’s left arm, sending him in a nosedive behind some bushes. Collins emptied his weapon into the bushes and quickly reloaded.