Flambeaux & Staug Ch. 04

Maynard drove frenetically, hoping to reach the entrance before Nick could. He had no idea how long ago he'd woken up, and thus knew he had to secure it fast.

Maynard did have a plan in advance, he just didn't think he'd need to use it so soon. Beforehand, Maynard had set C4 up in the mountains on either side of the road leading into Aftersun. He had the detonator in his coat and it was ready to blow at any second, but he needed to be sure that Nick was still in the town. Or that at least the entrance was blocked off. Maynard turned on a street and screeched to a hault at the city limits. Parking the car behind a garage, he hurriedly got out of the car and ran over to the street. Just in time to see a Hillton police car enter the town.

Thinking quickly, Maynard ducked down behind a large bush on the side of the road and kept a keen eye on the passing car. He cursed himself loudly. Now things were greatly jeopardized. No matter, he would deal with both of them. He was able to now isolate the town from any immediate help, so there was no real problem. Just an additional thorn in his side.

Shaking his head with chagrin, he walked back to the car. Maynard got inside and drove off to a nearby vantage point. This was the slum of Aftersun, the more populous part that had been responsible for the decay of the more wealthy segments. The broken down neighborhood went uphill and led to what once was a grassy knoll, but over time became a cracked concrete surface providing the base for a small factory, surrounded by a collapsing fence and decrepit dumpsters. Parking in front, Maynard got out and looked over to the mountains on the road's side, and smiled as he pushed the button on the detonator.

Not much of an exploding sound could be heard, and the large boulders tumbling down to meet in the road made minimal tremors, but the fallen rocks did in fact create the illusion that there never was a road leading into anything.

Then Maynard looked over and saw something else that pleased him. Looking down a couple main streets away, he noticed a figure walking on the sidewalk. Laughing, he walked over to the trunk and pulled out his sniper rifle and aimed carefully. Looking through the scope, he saw that it was Nick. Maynard did not wish to kill Nick but perhaps it was best. Looking down the next street he saw the police car from earlier moving slowly up and down the streets. A sneer formed on his face and he reified that they were going to meet soon. The officer would ask Nick what was going on, and it was likely that they would end up back at the house. It was the only place Nick knew of, it had a corpse in it, it was only natural for them to go there.

Maynard lowered the rifle and placed it back in the trunk. As he stepped into the car, he noticed the police car pulling up to Nick. Smiling, he headed for the house. He was in control once again.

* * *

"Get in the car, Nick," Matt said. "We've got to get out of here."

Nick shook his head. "What if there's a car bomb in there?"

Matt thought about this. "The note did suggest you'd see who was behind all this. I think they want us, or at least you to know." He shrugged. "They can't do that with a car bomb."

Matt made sense. Trying to forget about the bodies in the back, he sat in the front seat with his knees trembling slightly. Matt got in on the driver's side and found the keys in the ignition. He laughed. "To hell with hot wiring, I guess."

Starting it up, Matt backed out and drove down the street in the direction they'd come. "What do you think is happening here?" Nick asked shakily. Matt shook his head. "I haven't the slightest..."

Matt was about to turn when he noticed something down the road. "A police station," he grinned. "Maybe there's someone alive in there."

Nick made an odd face. "If there's noone anywhere else, why would anyone be there?"

"Because," Matt explained, "What if the police of the town were overpowered by whomever is behind all of this? I would imagine they'd stay holed up in the station waiting for some kind of reinforcements. Like SWAT or something."

"That may be," Nick admitted as they drove into the parking lot. Matt parked and they both got out. looking at the front doors of the station, not really sure of what to expect. Slowly, Matt placed his hand on the right door handle as Nick did the same on the left. Nodding at each other, they pulled the doors open to quite a scene.

There were a couple cubicles in the front room, each with its own bullet ridden corpse. There were two doors on either side of the room, both hanging open. Blood was splattered on the walls and there were several broken items on the stained carpet. Matt approached one body and pulled the gun from his hand. He handed it to Nick. "We've got to split up," Matt said gravely.

Nick was pretty jaded to the dead body factor by now, but he could not walk around a place like this by himself. "I -I can't"

"Nick," Matt said sternly, "If we both go one way we might get hit from the back. We've got to split up."

Nick collected himself and nodded. "Alright," he said. "I'll take the door on the left."

With that Nick pointed the gun out in front of him and walked forward through the open door. A hallway lay before him, with two doors on a side and one at the end. The first room he entered was apparently a break room of sorts, equipped with a soda and candy vending machine and stacks of styrofoam cups next to a coffee maker and a refridgerator. Curious, Nick opened the refridgerator door and found rows of severed heads in plastic bags. A short gasp escaped him and he quickly shut it, exiting the room and continuing through the hallway. The second room was an office, with an expensive looking oak desk in the middle of the room with an empty chair behind it. Backing out of that room, he read the sign on the door at the end of the hall. "Utility closet," Nick muttered. He opened it and a corpse adorned in a three piece suit fell into his arms. Nick let out a yelp and ran back down the hall, stopping at the front room where he and Matt had split, bending over and panting. "I'm getting really tired of this," he said to himself.

He headed down the way Matt had went, and noticed that this hall was exactly the same as the one he'd just been in with the exception of a staircase leading down after two doors. Looking down, Nick saw Matt and called to him quietly. Matt nodded as Nick approached him. There were two doors and Matt was about to enter the last one. "That one's locked," he whispered. Nick nodded as Matt opened the other door.

It was an interrogation room, with a large mirror on the right wall, separating them from the locked room. There was a table and a chair with a tied up man sitting in it, apparently unconscious. Matt walkked over to him and slapped him until he woke as Nick untied him.

"Wha- what's going on?" the bewildered man wondered. He looked as though he was in his forties, a skinny and pale balding man with thick eyeglasses. His white button up shirt had rolled up sleeves and he looked as though he had no idea what was going on.

"We were hoping you could shed some light on that," Matt told him. The man's muscles eased a bit. His voice was a bit high and squeaky, it was fit for his rather small physique. "I'm detective Jack Baca," he said extending hands to both Nick and Matt. "You're not an officer from this precinct," he told Matt. "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Hillton," he said, "and I found Nick here in the street. He's just as clueless as I am about all this."

Jack scratched his head. "And you are..?"

"Officer Matt Corgan."

Jack nodded. "Well, the captain and I were interrogating this wierd looking fellow about the disappearances of about forty citizens. We found him where many of them were last seen and brought him in for questioning. This guy seemed like he was drunk or something, so we didn't think we'd have a problem with him. So we bring him here and he grabs Captain Burnside and snaps his neck before I can even mentally react. Then he pulls a gun out and points it at my head. I guess he wanted me alive, because he hit me with the handle rather than killing me."

Jack stood up and stretched. "But the captain's body is gone and there's no way you guys would have been allowed down here, so do you think you can fill me in too?"

Nick cleared his throat. "Everyone upstairs is dead."

Jack grew quiet. "There isn't anyone outside, either. The whole town is empty."

Jack's jaw dropped open. "That's impossible!" he shouted. "How the-"

Shots rang out from the locked room and bullets pierced through the mirror, two hitting Jack in the chest and one in the head. Nick and Matt instinctively dropped to the ground and waited for a minute or so. Nick's heart was pounding viciously as he clung to the ground for dear life. Soon Matt slowly stood and examined the bulletholes in the mirror. "We're alright," he told Nick, "for the moment."

Nick scrambled to his feet and to the door. "I don't need to know anymore, let's just get the hell out of here, and fast."

Matt agreed as they rushed out of the room. They both noticed that the previously locked door was now wide open, but only Nick bothered to notice what was inside. A message had been carved into the wall with a knife. It read, "You have one hour."