Kiss My Apocalips Ch. 04

It was time to leave, and we decided to split up and go separately. Wanda, Sofia and Mrs. G took the newly acquired vehicle. Doriana declared that she would stay at my side, for the trip and at the proceeding. She didn't make it an item open for discussion, and nobody argued with her. I was getting the feeling that she was starting to be the "mother hen" in the family, or at the very least, the grownup. Since I had yet to have any reason to question her judgement, I consented without comment.

The City Hall auditorium was about half full when we got there. Mr. G had somehow arranged for a table to be set up at the side of the main floor. I plopped down the carrying cases for the weapons and the controller for the drone, then we sat behind the table and waited. There were Mr. G and his brother, as well Doriana and me, and we had a pretty good view. The council members were getting themselves seated at a long table up on the stage. We saw Wanda and Sofia sitting almost in the middle of the seating area. The mayor was sitting at a small, separate table, set next to the long one up on the stage. I asked Mr. G about it. Turns out the mayor is not part of the council, but he was designated to run the meeting. The sheriff and four deputies stood spread out down on the floor, next to the stage. The place was filling up.

Almost at once, my watch's haptic buzzed. I glanced down at my device, noting that Mr. G was doing the same. Wanda had sent us both the same text. "Blonde deputy with high-and-tight. One of Sofia's guards. She says he raped her. Often."

I showed Doriana the message. She never changed her expression, but she nodded. "I guess that answers that. We're working against the sheriff. What are our options?"

"I'll try to appeal to the crowd," Mr. G said. I thought he sounded a little less than confident.

"Let's bring this meeting to order!" the mayor was saying from his little side table. The buzzing conversation in the room died slowly and unevenly. "The town council has called this emergency session at the request of Rory Gonzales. Let me remind everyone here that the November elections are coming up in just seven weeks, and that the seats of half of the people on this stage are up for grabs at that time ... including my own. Mr. Gonzales is running against me. May the best man win, Rory!" He paused, apparently to let the laughter die down, but no one seemed to be laughing. "Ahem," he coughed distractedly. "So. Unless the council members have something else to discuss first...?" He looked over at the seated people onstage, but they only looked back at him blankly. "Uh ... Okay, then. Go ahead and proceed, Rory." He sat down.

Mr. G stood. "Thank you, Mayor Cosgrove. I think that several people in this room might have seen Jacob Jones around town." He motioned to me, and I stood, nodding self-consciously to several people I knew, before sitting down again. "Jacob left our community when The Event occurred, and has taken up residence elsewhere. Many of our town's people did that. But now, Jacob has returned with a request that I believe will benefit everyone. I ask you to hear him out. As a gesture of good faith, he has brought along several items to give to our police department." He sat back down.

I wished we'd rehearsed this more thoroughly. I stood and looked around. "Um ... yes. As for the items I brought along for the Acton PD, I thought I'd share one of our surveillance drones. It's a little large, so we left it out in our truck. It's all hooked up, though; and we'd be happy to give you a demonstration when we're through here. Also, I brought along a few firearms." I unzipped the long rifle's pouch and lifted it out. With a snap, the stand deployed near the end of the barrel and I set it down. The scope was already in place, and that was easily half as long as the weapon itself. It made for quite a demonstration. Perhaps a little too good. There were gasps all over the place, and people started talking all at once.

The mayor started pounding a gavel on his little table. Up until now, I hadn't seen a gavel, and I wondered where the thing had come from. Maybe he carried it his pocket. "Order, please!" He paused, but when people ignored him, he started talking over everyone. "I'd just like to say that I wonder where a boy this age got such a weapon. He's certainly not of age, and I believe it's a direct violation of the law. I'd like to direct the sheriff to seize the thing and arrest the boy!"

I gawked at him. "What are you talking about? You don't need to seize it! I'm GIVING it to you!" Everybody started talking again.

"QUIET!" a deep voice bellowed. The sheriff took a step toward the crowd, and the noise ceased immediately. "My concern here is not the gun itself. We could certainly use it. I'm worried that any individual ... or group, for that matter ... that is in possession of such an arsenal that this must be a part of, has to be considered, at the very least, a potential threat to this community. I believe that we should hold this boy until he has surrendered everything he owns."

I shook my head as if to clear it. "There are weapons like this in every gun store in the state! Why pick on ... boys?" (I spat the word) "Go get your own guns!"

The sheriff's face turned a darker shade of red. "Most gun stores in Eugene have already been ransacked."

"Hey," I countered, "just because YOU didn't have the intelligence to get to them first, don't take it out on the people who did!"

The sheriff took a threatening step toward me. I stood my ground. Doriana was standing beside me, pressing her body into mine, whispering in my ear. "Settle down, lover. This isn't the way to win this fight."

I sobered immediately. She was right. I was wrong, even though I felt as if I'd been goaded into it. I nodded to my girlfriend, then I looked the sheriff in the eye. "I'm sorry," I told him, loud enough to be heard above the din. "That comment was unwarranted. We can talk about your concerns. I'll try to give this community every guarantee that I'm no threat."

Oddly, the man seemed to consider this. Of course, he didn't realize that I was on to his little kidnapping ring. The mayor was pounding his silly gavel again. But there was a man up on the stage, standing and waving and trying to get everybody to settle down.

"On behalf of the entire council," he shouted, "I'd like to hear what your request is, young man."

The crowd quieted. The mayor looked as if he was going to strike his gavel again, but thought better of it. The sheriff, oddly, nodded to me. I looked toward Mr. G, but then I realized that the request had been asked of me, not him. I cleared my throat.

"I have a good friend," I said loudly, looking at the crowd rather than the stage. "She's eighteen. A senior in high school, although not ours. For the past two months, she was kept prisoner in this town, and I would like to ask the citizens of Acton to help me find her abductors. She was raped repeatedly, and subjected to ...."

The room dissolved into chaos. Everyone was talking at once. The mayor was pounding his silly gavel again. The sheriff looked as if someone had just punched him in the face. He was staring at me, open-mouth and stunned. The man behind the table on the stage was again waving in an effort to be heard. I gave all my attention to the blonde deputy with the high-and-tight. He was standing very still, only his eyes shifting left and right.

Finally, the mayor's high-pitched voice rose above the others. "I insist we adjourn this meeting and hear this boy's alleged complaint in a private setting, away from the tender ears of the women and children present. I assure you that if there is any truth to these accusations at all, that law enforcement and your elected representatives will eventually ...."

"NO!" a shrill voice shouted plaintively. The entire congregation turned toward the center of the room. Little Sofia was standing on a folding chair, looking around at everyone else in the room. "It's NOT an 'alleged complaint!' It's ME! It happened to ME! There's another girl still there!" She stripped off her wig and threw it on the ground. "You have to help me save her! She's still there! Please! Please help me!"

"Stop that man!" Doriana shouted. "Stop him!"

It was almost comical. Everyone turned their attention to Doriana. Then, in unison, they all shifted their gazes again toward the door she was pointing toward. It was like watching spectators at a tennis match. I, myself had been looking the wrong way. Just as my attention shifted to the door, the sheriff was running through it. I spun toward the stage, but Mr. High-and-Tight was nowhere to be seen. The room was in utter pandemonium, the noise deafening. The one sound that was not present, I suddenly realized, was the pounding of that infernal gavel. I glanced in that direction and found that the mayor was missing, too.

Someone was pressing something into my right hand. I looked down at a walkie talkie. "I swear to God, if you get killed, I will never forgive you," Doriana told me. She leaned forward and kissed me, firmly and meaningfully on the lips. "Now, GO!"

I turned and sprinted for the door.

As I approached the black EV truck, the drone that was sitting in the back whirred to life and shot straight up at a breathtaking rate of speed. Everyone who happened to be outside stopped and pointed. I opened the driver's door and jumped in. "I'm here!" I shouted into the walkie. "Where am I going?"

"Just a second," Doriana's voice answered. "I'm trying to get oriented."

Two of the truck's doors opened simultaneously. Startled, I looked to my right and saw Wanda sitting beside me. In the rearview mirror, I saw little Sofia. "No!" I shouted at them. "Not safe! Get out!"

"There's a church," Doriana's voice said from the walkie. "A church beside a small round pond."

"Got it!" I yelled, and I put the truck into gear and sped away. Both the girls were still with me, of course. "What am I looking for?" I said into the device.

"That's a good question. There are three vehicles, all driving like bats out of hell. Two of them are going in pretty much the same direction, but they're taking different routes. I see you! Turn left at the church!"

"Hold on!" I told my passengers. "Seatbelts!" I fastened my own, as well.

"I think Mr. Blonde Crewcut is in a red pickup," Doriana told me. "He's driving past a little shopping center now. Turning left. There's a house that's offset from the road. It's next to ... Is that a drive-in movie screen?"

"I know the exact house," I said. "On the way. Where are the other bad guys? How about the sheriff?"

"Oh! I think maybe he's already there! There's somebody getting out of a big sedan. Yes, I think it's him! He's heading inside! The red pickup is almost there!"

"So are we," I told her. "I knew a shortcut."

"We?" Doriana asked. "Who's with you?"

"The girls," I told her. "We're here. How much longer can we use the drone?"

"Twenty-seven minutes. Remember what I told you, Jacob. You stay alive for me! Do you hear me?"

"I hear you. Talk to you soon." I put down the walkie talkie. "Gun. In the glove compartment," I told Wanda. She took it out and handed it to me.

"I second what she just said," Wanda declared.

I nodded and got out of the truck. It was a ranch-style house, all one level. It was once sort of green; but now, it needed more of whatever paint that had been. A large Cadillac sedan and a red pickup truck were parked side-by-side near the front door. As I walked toward it, I heard two gunshots. Well, crap. I had no idea what that meant, but it couldn't be good. Had they just executed Sofia's friend?

Taking a deep breath and holding the automatic at the ready, I walked up to the porch and through the front door. There was a short hallway in front of me that went into a dining room straight ahead, and a second, longer hall that branched to the left. I advanced slowly, then stopped and looked at the sheriff, who was sitting in the middle of the dining room, bleeding all over the floor. The sheriff looked back at me, slightly surprised. He used two fingers of his right hand to point toward his eyes, then he held up one index finger, then made a chopping motion in the direction of the hall, then wiggled two fingers, like he was mimicking walking, then pointed down and to his left.

I took a moment to glance down the deserted hall, and I walked right up to him. He'd apparently been shot in the left foot. "I don't have any idea at all what that meant," I told him in a normal tone of voice.

He glared at me for a moment. "I have observed one perp, down that hallway, and he descended down a set of stairs to the left," he said.

I made a face that I hope conveyed the idea that what he had just said made some small degree of sense, and I nodded. "Now," I told him. "How am I supposed to believe that you are not, in some way, in cahoots with your deputy?"

"Well, for one thing, this particular deputy just fucking SHOT ME!" He screamed the last two words.

I nodded again. "Yes, I guess you have a point," I said, contemplating. "That would not really be in keeping with the whole concept of cahooting."

"And then there's the fact that this particular deputy is the mayor's nephew! And that this is the house the mayor bought for this particular deputy!"

"Ah," I said, nodding for what I hoped would be the last time in this particular conversation. "The mayor is the bad guy."

"Bad guy?" the sheriff howled, spittle spraying. "The man is a shit stain on the underwear of society! He is a pimple on the ass of progress! He is ...."

"I get the message," I told him, standing and walking toward the door at the end of the hall. "Doriana will be happy to know she got it right."

Before I got halfway down the hall, though, Blonde High and Tight emerged from the door carrying a nude girl in his arms. At first glance, she appeared to be a carbon copy of little Sofia, only with sandy-brown hair. She had the same slim build, the same perky, turned-up nipples on her bare breasts, the same cute nose, the same freckles. The man stopped and stared at me, then he slowly dropped the girl with one hand, and brought a revolver up toward me. I didn't have a shot because the girl was in the way, and we both knew it. As I backed away from him, he shifted his grip so that his left arm was across her body, and he was holding her in the vertical by gripping her right breast. She hung in front of him like a rag doll.

"Drop the gun," the guy said calmly.

"Well, THAT'S a bit of cliché," I replied. "Just exactly what would be my incentive for doing that?"

I had backed my way up to the dining room. The front door was still open across from it. I couldn't decide which way would be better. I found myself beside the fallen sheriff.

"I'll shoot the girl if you don't," the guy said. I got the impression he just wanted to sound like he was in control.

I put on my best "I'm considering this" face; and I said: "You shoot her. I shoot you. How, exactly, does that get you what you want?"

He tried to shrug, but found that difficult while holding a semi-conscious girl and a gun. "Okay. I shoot HIM." He shifted his aim toward the sheriff. "Then you try to shoot me, but you shoot her, instead. Then I shoot you. I can live with that."

I took a deep breath, then slowly lowered the gun and set it on the floor.

"Kick it away," he ordered.

I positioned my foot behind the automatic, then kicked hard. The gun went skittering across the short foyer, out the open door and onto the front porch.

He frowned at that, but didn't seem to think it was worth commenting on. Always facing us, he walked slowly to the "T" in the hallway, turned slowly, and continued backing away from us, always keeping the revolver trained on the center of my chest. When he got to the front door, he cautiously placed one foot back to maintain his careful progress. As I watched this, a female leg appeared from just outside the door and hooked the back of his ankle. At the same time, a hand reached out, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and pulled.

The man cried out, let go of both the girl and the gun, and he brought his hands back to try to arrest his backward fall. Wanda's form suddenly materialized to pluck the small girl out of mid-air, and she gathered the seim-conscious hostage into her arms.

The man was up again almost as soon as he hit the floor of the porch. He spun toward Wanda, but she was backing away very rapidly with the new girl. He turned the other way, and faced Sofia, who was holding my.45 automatic, and he issued a snarling roar.

"You goddam little cunt! Give me that fuckin' gun or I'm ...."

Sweet Sofia started pulling the trigger over and over again, and she didn't stop. From a distance of five feet, she hit her intended target a grand total of three times out of the eight bullets she launched in his general direction. One hit him in the left testicle, one went through his left shoulder, and one took off the top of his head above eye level. When it finally dawned on me that she was trying to eke out even more rounds, though the device obviously had no more to give her, I walked up and gently took it from her shaking hands. She didn't resist.

Wanda was back, supporting a woozy girl that clutched her out of a sense of shared comradery. She looked around, focused on one person in particular, and said: "Sofia?"

"Sadie!" And they were in each other's arms, holding one another for all they were worth.

"You came back! You came back for me!"

"And I'll never leave you again! Ever!"

"I love you!"

"I love you, too!"

They kissed. I considered it a nice kiss. Very nice.

Wanda leaned against me. "Like sisters," she said, nodding.

"Yup. Sisters," I concurred.

The sheriff was there, leaning heavily against the door frame. He sort of hopped over to a rocking chair and fell heavily into it, where he proceeded to bleed on the porch.

"Do you know where the mayor's house is?" he asked.

"Over on Circlewood?" I asked.

"Yes. Have the rest of my deputies get over there and arrest the son of a bitch. There will be two of them." He motioned toward the remains of his former deputy. "Roland there had a brother. They both lived here." He jerked a thumb toward the interior of the house. "Sam's the mean one. Tell everybody to watch out for him. I don't think he'd hesitate to shoot anybody if he thought he was cornered. Better hurry, though. He and his scumbag uncle are going to pack up quick and then head for the hills."

I nodded and walked toward the van, pulling out the walkie talkie. "Doriana?"

"I see you, lover. Everybody alright?"

"Yes. We got Sofia's ... uh ... friend. You were right. The mayor's the bad guy. The sheriff says to send the posse over to his house on Circlewood Street. The mayor and his one remaining sleazeball nephew are probably over there packing, getting ready to flee the scene. Tell them to watch out for the nephew. Apparently, he's a real bad hombre."

"Wilco," she told me.

I keyed the transmitter again. "What does that mean?"

"Uh ... I'm not sure. Will comply? Something like that."

I got to the truck and climbed in, only to realize that three girls were scrambling into the other seats almost simultaneously. "No!" I told them. "Too dangerous! Get out and stay here!"

My orders were met by the sound of seat belts fastening. "Don't be angry, Jacob," Wanda said softly. "Life will be much easier if you just give up and accept the fact that your women will always be with you."

I sighed and started the vehicle moving toward the other side of town.

"Sadie," Sofia said from the back seat, "this is Jacob. He saved me. Then he agreed to save you."

"Hi, Jacob," the meek voice floated up from the back seat. "You're a really big guy."