G Hopf - The End

“Please Max, don’t; he’s bluffing. We sent 30 men after them tonight. There’s no way they killed them all,” Mindy pleaded.

“You sent 30 and we killed 30, that’s why I’m here!” Gordon responded to Mindy’s plea.

“Sorry Mindy, I gotta go,” Max said, standing up and tossing his pistol. “I’m surrendering Gordon!”

“Walk down the hall toward me!” Gordon instructed him.

Taking out his flashlight Gordon flashed it down the hall so he could see Max to confirm. With his arms raised, Max followed Gordon’s command and walked down the hallway toward him.

Knowing there wasn’t a better time to deal with Max, Gordon stood up and pointed the rifle at Max.

“What are you doing?” Max asked, concerned.

“I said I wouldn’t hurt you, I didn’t say anything about not killing you,” Gordon said, then pulled the trigger twice.

The force of the two rifle shots hitting Max caused his body to fly back and land a few feet back then where he had previously stood.

Mindy started screaming hysterically. He heard her run from one room into what sounded like the kitchen. Advancing inside, Gordon took up a position just outside the kitchen door.

“Mindy, there’s no way out, my guys are out front. You can’t escape,”

Expecting a response, Gordon was surprised when she didn’t say anything.

“You’ve never been one for a loss of words,”

To Gordon’s surprise, he heard the front door burst open and someone come in.

“Who is that?” Gordon calls out.

“Holloway,”

“Roger that, Max is dead and Mindy is holed up in the kitchen!” Gordon informed Holloway.

“I know just what to use,” Holloway said.

A few moments passed; Gordon could hear Holloway down the hall in the family room. There was a kitchen door off of that room too.

“Fire in the hole!” Holloway yelled.

Gordon took cover, not sure what Holloway was throwing into the kitchen. A loud bang echoed out of the kitchen followed by a scream then silence.

Gordon and Holloway both entered the kitchen from their respective doors. The room was full of smoke as Gordon entered with his flashlight and handgun out in front of him. Both men looked for Mindy but could not find her, then turned their attention on the only other door in the room: the pantry.

“I know you’re in there,” Gordon said, knocking on the pantry door. He had tried to open it but Mindy had locked the door from the inside.

“Gordon, you can take what you want, just let me live,” Mindy pleaded with him.

The desire to blast the door and pull her out kicking and screaming was strong, but he changed his mind.

“Mindy, I’m not going to kill you,” Gordon told her.

With Holloway’s help, they pushed in a large china cabinet from the dining room and placed it in front of the door. Once he felt that she could not escape, he informed her of her situation.

“Mindy, I left you alive tonight so that you finally see the reality of the new world we live in. Your good friend Dan let the Villistas know where our pleasant little community was. They will be here any day, and if they find you, you will finally experience what so many have on the outside. When you finally close your eyes and death takes you, remember that it didn’t have to be this way. You chose this path.”

Realizing the truth in Gordon’s words, Mindy cried out, “Let me out, please!”

As he and Holloway walked onto the street and headed back home, her cries and screams grew fainter with each step he took until he could no longer hear them. He knew there was a good chance that someone would release her, but he felt confident that she wouldn’t survive the realities of the world outside her protected community.

Before going to pick up Simone, Gordon decided to check on his family. Exhausted, all he wanted to do was rest, but the day had only just begun.

“Hi, baby,” Sam said sweetly, greeting him with a hug and kiss.

“It’s done,” is all Gordon said. He didn’t want to go into everything that had happened at Mindy’s house. Kissing her, he asked, “How are the kids? How’s Hunter?”

“They’re both asleep in our bed. Hunter is doing better; I don’t know if he’ll ever be the same after tonight.”

“He won’t,” Gordon replied. He paused, then said. “I’m going to go get Simone. I want to leave as soon as the sun rises if that’s possible, okay?”

“Sure thing, babe; we’ll be ready.”

Gordon was very short with Samantha; the night had been long and his strength was waning. As he closed the door behind him, he thought that this would be his last walk to Jimmy’s house. He had walked to Jimmy’s house hundreds of times over the years and now this would be the last. Thoughts of his times in Rancho Valentino came to him in rushes: times of celebration, a birthday party, Easter egg hunting, the Christmas Eve nights walking with his family and looking at the Christmas lights. As he looked at his community now, he saw a broken place. Not only had the houses physically decayed, so had the peacefulness and civility. Life was falling apart all around him and he knew their only chance now was outside the gates and in Idaho.

Jimmy’s death was just the beginning. He didn’t want to admit it, but death now was the norm.

Entering the house through the still-open garage door Gordon got a better look at the casualties from earlier. He only recognized Gerald of the three dead. He stepped carefully inside so as not to fall again. Now that he could see, he saw that one of the bodies on the floor in the hall was Lance Corporal Fowler, his eyes wide open. He reached down and forced his eyelids closed then pulled his dog tags off his neck and pocketed them. Continuing on into the living room, he saw another dead body. It was the person who had shot at him just hours before. Gordon had many fond memories of this room; just last year they had watched the Super Bowl from here. The memories now proved depressing and he needed to find Simone so he pressed on further into the house looking for her.

“Simone, it’s Gordon,” he called out.

No response.

He called out again, “Simone, it’s Gordon; where are you?” Not hearing a response, he ran upstairs to where he had left them. They were not there. He looked in every room upstairs and couldn’t find her.

Then he realized there was one place he hadn’t looked; the back yard. His concerns were put to rest when he looked out the kitchen window. There, he saw her kneeling on the ground next to a shallow, freshly dug hole.

Opening the door to the back, he said, “Simone?”

She did not respond. She just rocked back and forth. He could hear her mumbling words, but they were unintelligible. Walking up behind her, he glanced into the grave and saw Jimmy wrapped in a bloody white sheet. For some reason, Gordon took note that the grave was very wide, wide enough to fit two people.

“Simone?” he said again, this time touching her shoulder.

Jumping at his touch, she turned around.

“Hi, Gordon; you’re just in time. Do you want something to drink?”

“What? Umm. No. Simone, do you want me to help you finish burying Jimmy before everyone comes over for the ceremony?”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” she answered. She glanced back to the grave and stared at Jimmy. Her voice seemed oddly calm and subdued.

“I need to get you back to our house and cleaned up before we come back here for your stuff and Jimmy’s funeral.”

“That won’t be necessary,” she replied. She stood up and said, “Follow me.”

Gordon just looked at her strangely; he had seen shock before but her behavior was different.

She led him to the garage and pointed to a wooden box on the work bench.