Flustered, Angie didn't know what to do next. She kind of panicked. This was happening. Out of all the unbelievable things that happened lately, this is happening. She was going to break her sister out of jail!
Clive dug into his pocket. It seemed like he was in slow motion. He might have been just enjoying her excited energy.
He gave her the keys. She had the way. Metaphorically and physically she could unlock the door to her sister. She sprang to hug Clive.
He wasn't sure what to do. He stood there like he was being arrested with his hands up. When was the last time he was hugged? The last time he was touched? Other then the random hand shake and slap on the shoulder, when was the last time he had physically touched someone?
He cleared his throat and patted her on the back mumbling some things. Her hug did feel nice, he had to admit. But he had things to do. And apparently she did too.
"Are you going to go or not?" Clive asked touching his face covertly. It was hot. Probably red. He didn't take his blood pressure medicine today. That's why. That's definitely why.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Angie grabbed his hand and shook it. It felt like fake skin. Like plastic wrap over Jello. She never liked the feeling of old people's hands.
She turned around and ran to the van. She dropped one of the cartons of cigarettes and ran back to get it. Almost falling as she skid on the loose dirt. Back in the van she threw them on the floor. They would be safe there.
She started the van and slammed it in reverse. Her tires spinning she slammed it to drive. She was a little impressed in the van. It never got treated it like this. It was doing really well.
Angie sped out of site leaving Clive to his doings. Clive had nothing to do. But he did have to get some breakfast. This deal didn't start until tomorrow apparently.
Angie slowed down a bit. If everyone followed the emergency alert's directions, the one cop in town was an exception. She questioned her shadow. Where was he? She knew beyond any doubt he was not going to be part of the "emergency services" that were "unavailable."
The small town had one of full time cop. He was responsible for this section of the county that included two other small towns. It was a huge county. Over 2000 square miles. It had over 60 thousand residence. Most of them lived within inches of each other miles away down the main road.
There were about 200 officers for this county. Between state, city and county they were everywhere. But only Officer Charlie Holt had any authority here. And he meant business.
He was promoted after the last officer was fired. The rumor was the old cop had afternoon rendezvous with with the judge's barely legal daughter behind the Chinese restaurant. The reported story said he didn't fill his quotas.
Charlie Holt wanted to be a police officer since he was two years old. His mother had a picture of him in her wallet in a uniform from when he was six. She would show any person willing to give her one second.
His dad was a ranch hand and mysteriously went missing when Charlie was a kid. Rumor has it Charlie's granddad had something to do with it. Charlie's granddad being an officer himself never liked Charlie's dad. Mostly because he wanted his daughter to marry a cop.
Charlie was picked on as a kid. Bright red hair and freckles were just one reason. He wore his plastic police badge every day. Charlie didn't care what they had to say, he was going to give them speeding tickets one day.
And did he ever! If he cought you going 2 miles over it was an instant ticket. Angie had 3 from him already, but only one was a speeding ticket. The other two were for her seatbelt. She hated seat belts. She was too short for them, they rubbed on her neck.
Deciding that today was not the day to fight with Charlie about seatbelt laws and what freedom means, she put it on. It sat tight at her chest making her feel every breath she took. She was already out of breath from being so excited and nervous, this wasn't helping.
Angie and her shadow discussed the 45 mile drive to the jail. She would pass seven convince stores, two grocery stores, the area's DMV, Charlie's police station, the feed store and five budget stores. Countless houses and livestock. A couple burnt down buildings would fly by as well.
"And another truck stop" Angie said to her voiceless shadow. Angie decided to take a detour to see if Jared was there. Her sister could hold off another couple minutes she
As the houses and buildings flew by the image of Jared came to her mind. His face and arms golden from strapping down tractors and road equipment. "She thinks my tractors sexy," started playing in her head. He always had a farmers tan. A small giggle broke her thoughts as she almost missed the entrance.
She pulled in the parking lot dipping into a pothole. As the dirt flew all around her, she rolled her eyes. Every damn time. Once recovered she stopped. No open sign, but that wasn't weird. It wasn't the type of place that kept up on lighted signs, or cleaning.
She tried to go to the bathroom one time on her way to her sister. They wouldn't let her without buying something. The inside smelled musty and the goods had dust on them. The cashier, an older woman missing teeth, handed her the key to the bathroom after she bought a soda. The door was around back of the store.
Walking into the bathroom she held back her stomach contents. She stood there regaining control and left again. Through her life she's handled a lot of... Manure. She helped change Amanda's diapers and Lola's. She picked up after all the animals at the farm. She helped clean up a dog park once. But this was not an option.
After putting the thought of the bathroom behind her she decided to drive around to the truck parking. She couldn't see the left side of the lot from the front. She slowly crept trying to avoid the hundreds of pot holes. She was more successful dipping into them then staying out of them. She swore the van did it on purpose.
Coming around the corner she looked at the empty lot. Tears were welling up. "Where is he? Is he ok?" She asked her shadow trying to get some answers from the vaped nothingness.
She lit a cigarette. She could barely take in the drag. The air rhythmically stopping half way and then continuing into her lungs. She threw the just lit cigarette out the window.
"Woop Woop," Charlie's car shrieked.
That's exactly what she needed right now. As she tipped her head back she prayed he would just go away. Her and God had a tenuous relationship. She was still pretty upset about some things, but knew he at least heard what she was saying to him.
Instead of vanishing, Charlie pulled up next to her. He rolled down his window and motioned that she should do the same. After an eye roll and deciding the van can't out run his car she did what he asked. He was looking at the sky as she did.
"What are you doing here!? Do you know there's been a terror attack!? It's not safe out here!!" He yelled and then coughed on some dirt his car kicked up.
Charlie, Angie said in her mind loudly, today was not the day. It wasn't the day for many things and today is not the day for this.
"Charlie! Of course I know what's going on! I'm not stupid! I was minding my own business! I don't harass people because the only way I have any power is under the law. What? What is it? What in the hell do you want from me!!! I have my seatbelt on, I wasn't speeding, I wasn't doing anything! Leave! Me! Alone!!" Angie screamed back at him.
Charlie's head moved back like he was a turtle trying to escape to his shell. His eyes grew bigger then was natural. Angie lit another cigarette and blew the smoke out at him. She sat there with her elbow out the window staring at him intently listening for his answer.
Angie didn't get this way a lot. The last time she spoke like that her sister went to jail for the first time in Texas. Angie's boss yelled at her for being late. She let him have it. She even mentioned little manhood. It was well deserved, he was a serial sexual harasser. There may or may not have been an anonymous tip sent into corporate about him after that.
There's a purpose for her moods though. Angie quit that job at the end of her tirade. A couple days later she was on the truck with Jared. Today, well today she needed to go. Jared wasn't there. And she had something very important to do.
After Charlie recovered he got out his ticket book. Angie rolled her eyes over and over again. Her words came back to her mind about rolling her eyes. That made her roll her eyes again. Like she ever listened to herself.
Charlie handed her a ticket for littering. His smug smile beaming at her. She blinked at him. Her face was definitely red because she felt like she was on fire.
She flicked her cigarette at his car. She crumpled the ticket up into a ball. Then threw it at him. It made it into his lap when he was unsuccessful trying to catch it.
"It's the fucking apocalypse Charlie. I'll pay that when the power comes back on," Angie laughed out loud. She probably looked like Cruella DeVille and definitely sounded like her. She slammed the van into drive and sped off leaving Charlie in a cloud of dust.
Angie thought about Clive's check for his cigarettes. Laughing with her shadow she thought to it, Maybe she could borrow one for Charlie. She would even give him a tip.
Angie giggled to herself but stopped. Charlie wasn't a bad guy. He helped her when her old Ford broke down in the road. He pulled up behind her with lights flickering. Just in time to watch her kick it and tell it how horrible of a car it was. She didn't mean that. She was mad that she was missing the visit with her sister. It was only a couple weeks into her sentence.
He helped her push the car into the driveway of a local store. Put a flag in the window. Then drove her home. He even gave her the number to the plumber she got the van from. A couple days later Andrew helped her tow it home. It had a ticket on it for improper parking. Thanks Charlie.
A couple miles down the road Angie stopped again. She took off her seatbelt. She was out of breath. There was just too much going on. She felt like she was breathing under water. In the ocean with no boat in site. It was all on her. If she didn't do it, who would?
Fionna might figure it out. She always did. Sometimes better then others. Usually with Angie's help. Or dad's. Or a random drug addict name Le Roy's.
Dad and Amanda would stay in NY. But there wasn't much there. Small Town Beaverton wasn't even a town. They had no government but was under the close by village's rules. There were a couple farms but mostly it was trees. Ever yard had trees, every road was lined with Forest.
If the taxes weren't so high, and her ex-husband wasn't a stalker, she would have stayed there. The weather wasn't her favorite either. Last she knew there were feet of snow on the ground and another storm coming.
Angie picked up her cigarettes and then decided against it. In gear the van sped off. She wasn't worried about Charlie anymore. She started to speed and didn't put her seatbelt back on. The driver's side window down and the wind in her hair made her feel better.
The jail came into site. Her better feeling flew out the window. She stopped at the field before the parking lot. Watching for any movement she didn't dare to make a sound.
There they were. Two cars.
Angie punched the van's steering wheel. Of course. This wasn't going to go as easily as she thought. Everything up to this was easy. Well, making coffee was hard. Getting in and out of the basement was hard. Getting out of the garage was hard. She rubbed the small cut on her hand. That was the small stuff.
She thought of Clive. Would she still have to feed him breakfast if she didn't get her sister? Probably. She had to at least try. Just go in there. See what happens. She can play it off to the guards like she didn't even know about the apocalypse.
Angie imagined with her shadow how that conversation would go, "Oh, I didn't realize the world got bombed and there was no one on the road. I don't even use lights because I'm from the stone age."
Angie thought about the Amish people. And wondered if they knew any of this was happening. Or even if they cared. Angie decided that they were going to live a better life without a government to harass them.
Tuning back into the situation after the brief reprieve, she put the van in gear slowly. She didn't know why she was trying to do things quietly but she was. She pulled in with no issue. No potholes detected.
She parked dead center to the building. After collecting herself she headed to the doors.
Angie has been there so many times they know her name. They know who she's seeing. They know her favorite visitation booth. Angie made small talk with them while waiting. She knew their families. She saw them at the diner or at a store and said hi.
Her dad always told the girls, "You catch more flies with honey." And that they weren't listening to him.
When Angie looked at the clock on the dash before coming in, she wasn't surprised it was just after 11. That's when she would always come. She tried to be inside waiting by 11:15. Getting in the booth by 11:30. Her sister eat lunch right after the visit.
She didn't want to cut into her sister's time. She didn't want to interrupt her schedule. Angie always liked schedules. She though that helped her get everything done. Even as a kid she would make plans at night and stick to them during the day. But when her sisters were involved usually the plan was blasted out of the water. Who was she kidding? Her plans would usually blast off by themselves.
Tapping on her hip for her pistol one more time, then tapping on Clive's keys again, she opened the door. It was heavier then she remembered. She was a little surprised it wasn't locked.
"Angie?" A voice rang from behind glass.
Angie froze. Her brain went completely blank. What was she doing? Where was she? The door hit the back of her boot and kicked her back into reality.
It was Nicole the guard who was the regular receptionist. She was behind a desk in the receiving area's safe room. It had bullet proof glass around the top half. Dark wood paneling on the bottom. The same paneling covering the door to get in and out. It was maybe four feet from Angie.
She was in her early twenties. Just starting her career in public service. She told Angie all about her many siblings and the many men that wanted her attention.
Nicole was a storybook character. Tall, blond and drop dead gorgeous. It was her tenderness that really drew you to her. She was kind and gracious. Angie knew without any doubt Nicole would lose a shoe at some point. Then the perfect man would bring it back to her.
"Nicole. What are you doing here?" Angie asked in a rough tone. Saying it loud enough to get past the glass of her safety box.
Nicole thought for a second then realized the question really wasn't what she was doing there. She worked there. "What are you doing here?"
"Umm," Angie couldn't think of a good reason other then the actual reason she was there.
Nicole interrupted her, "There's no visitation today. There's an apocalypse. You don't know that?"
She tapped a hand written sign on the opposite side of the glass. It said "No visitation until further notice."
The words "I live in the stone age" repeated in her head.
"I do but..." Angie said slowly to give herself some more time.
Nothing. Nothing came to mind. Then Angie had an idea. Sad, get very sad. Angie had to get her from behind the glass.
Angie covered her face with her hands and started to do her best fake cry. Never doing a real fake cry before she hoped that she was selling it. She even wiped her fake tears from her face and went back to fake crying into her hands. She peeked through her fingers to see what Nicole was doing.
Nicole stood up from her desk with a heartbroken face. Either Angie was doing a good job at fake crying or Nicole was very gullible. Angie's fake cry wasn't bringing her any real tears so Nicole was probably just gullible. Angie put out one hand to ask for a hug. Her other hand still being fake cried into.
Angie was about to stop fake crying. This wasn't working. A couple more seconds and she'd just have to try a different approach. A real tear came out at that thought. She didn't want to threaten Nicole.
Angie felt the warmth of Nicole's arms around her. A grateful sigh came out. She hugged Nicole back. It felt like the sun was shining in the dark room.
After getting her fill, Angie sat down in the waiting area chairs with her. She looked at Nicole's face that was full of worry. They held onto each other's hands. Nicole was so sincere in her concern.
Angie had a couple different options. She could try to lie and convince her. That wasn't a great option because lieing wasn't her strong suit. She could threaten her, but Nicole was a trained guard. There was only one other option.
"I need my sister." She started. She waited for Nicole to understand what that meant. Nicole just shook her head up and down knowingly. Angie knew she had to elaborate the plan a bit more.
"I'm going to go in there to get her. And you're coming with me." Angie said strongly and serious. She was going to play this straight forward with no bullshit.
Angie needed Nicole. Her sister told her it was a maze inside. There were corridors that went no where, doors that led to more doors. By the time she found her sister, Nicole would be long gone finding help. She would probably run into Charlie. He would love to be the hero of this story.
Nicole let go of Angie's hands and looked at her offended. She realized that Angie tricked her into coming out of the barrier. She stood up. She knew what Angie meant. She was going to break her sister out! And apparently bring her into it.
Nicole turned to run back into her box. Angie grabbed the back of her uniform shirt . Nicole turned and grabbed her now untucked and twisted shirt. They played tug-a-war with it.
"STOP! I'M NOT COMING WITH YOU!" Nicole screamed frantically trying to pull her shirt from Angie's grip.
"I JUST WANT MY SISTER!" Angie said pulling the shirt harder with every syllable.
As if Nicole just remembered she was an officer and not a clearance sale shopper, she let go of her shirt all together. She pulled her 9 mm out of it's holster. Aiming for the chest she pointed it at Angie.
Angie immediately let go of the shirt. She raised her hands and started to back away. Sweat poured out of her. Nicole shook her weapon the at the holster. Angie slowly unsnapped it and handed her pistol to Nicole.
Nicole was shaking. She put Angie's pistol under her arm. She had never drawn her gun on anyone before. Throughout training they would draw on dummies for practice, but never people. She was ready to defend herself if she had to be. But definitely didn't want to.
She slowly backed away from Angie. She watched her so closely she could see the sweat come across her forehead and down into her eyebrow. She wasn't sure if it was from the situation or that the air conditioner wasn't on. While backing up she bumped into the door of the safe room. It scared her and she dropped Angie's pistol.
She slowly picked it up with her opposite hand never letting her barrel drop. She unlocked the door with the key on a retractable keychain attached to her belt. She walked in backwards and slammed it shut. She put both guns on the desk and crouched in the far corner.
Angie let out a scream that almost sounded like a growl. She was defeated. Not by Nicole but by life. Her plans have never worked out. Why would they magically start working out now?
Nicole swallowed the lump in her throat. Even though she was horrified by what just happened, especially that noise Angie made, she honestly couldn't blame Angie for doing this. She might even do the same in her shoes. This was an apocalypse. Why not try?
Angie smacked her forehead on the glass out of frustration. Doing it a second time made Nicole get up. She looked at Angie with her eyes closed and real tears slowly dripping onto the small ledge outside of the safe room.
Nicole could feel how upset she was. She offered some pacifying words that Angie didn't pay any attention to. Nicole tapped on Angie's forehead from the inside.
"Hey, hey listen," Nicole got Angie's attention with incessant tapping.
Angie didn't want to even look at Nicole. She could blame Nicole for all of her problems. That was an ok thing to do at the moment. Angie was sure of it. She'd make herself feel bad for it later. Nicole kept tapping on Angie's head through the glass.
"Why are you even here?" Angie said sniffling.
Nicole had to think about that. She didn't know how long she had even been there. She looked at her watch. It showed 11:33. She'd been there almost 24 hours.
"No one came in to relieve me." She whimpered.
"No one's coming." Angie said annoyed with a large eye roll. Her head still on the window.
Nicole looked down at the desk. Then at Angie's forehead. She looked around for the answer to both of their problems. It was silent in the big room. No buzzing of the florescent lights.
"I couldn't help you get in anyway. To get in and out of the main door we use our key cards or get buzzed in. The generator quit working last night some time." Nicole shrugged her shoulders, "You would need a key. We lock ours in the break room when we're out here. I only have a set to this door and the main door."
Angie looked up. She smiled deviously. The smile scared Nicole more then the animal call Angie made earlier. They looked each other in the eyes. Without breaking contact Angie lifted Clive's keys out of her pocket.
She clanked them together, "Are you coming?"
Angie walked over to the main door of the room. She looked over to Nicole who was trying to decide what her next move was. Angie started trying keys.
Nicole slid her weight to her foot closest to the door. Her other foot felt glued down. This was the wrong thing to do. She should let Angie go in and then go find help.
She looked at Angie. Then looked at the outside door. Then looked at the desk. She let out a big sigh. Between the news reports and the radio in her car she knew it was the apocalypse. No one showing up to work was weird. No one showing up to the jail meant things would never be the same.
Nicole grabbed the guns and ran out the safe room door. She had to decide really quickly what kind of person she was going to be in this apocalypse. She turned to get to Angie. Helping someone that was never anything but nice, well other then just now, was definitely her kind of survivor. She had to admit, breaking your sister out from the jail took some balls too.
Angie tried 12 different keys before she found the right one. The door screeched open. Angie had her pistol in her hand. She didn't know what she was going to find in there.
While they slowly and cautiously walked through the corridors Angie's head finally cleared. There was still a rumble from the different pods but no other sounds. She suddenly remembered there were two cars in the parking lot.
"Are you the only one here?" Angie asked a little more spooked now then before.
"Yeah" Nicole replied quickly.
"Is that your Kia out there?" Angie asked trying to be nonchalant.
They got to another locked door. Angie tried to figure out what key was right. Nicole grabbed the keys and immediately shoved the right one in.
"No, my car is in the shop. I have my dad's green thing," She opened the door for Angie, "Who's keys are these? There's so many of them!"
"Who's car is the Kia?" Angie asked. Partially to avoid the key conversation and partially to make sure no one else was there.
"I donno," Nicole said as if it didn't matter. Like she wasn't an accomplice to jail breaking.
Nicole led Angie through the rest of the doors. She pointed out important landmarks like the offices and the medical ward.
Then she stopped. They could hear people talking more clearly. Woman's voices mostly at a steady roar with a few higher pitched laughing or screaming. They looked past the bars of the door.
The woman's side had open pods. There were a dozen or so woman in each. The air coming out of it stunk. The power was out and so was the running water. No showers, no toilets.
Angie scanned what she could see without letting her presence be known. Women were smoking and laughing. She could hear a rhythmic scraping of some kind.
"Are you sure this is the right one?" Angie whispered to Nicole.
"Yeah, do you see her?." Nicole nudged Angie forward to the door.
Angie took a big breath and let out her sister's name.
YOU ARE READING
Running Backwards
Science FictionAngie finds out she's not as mentally healthy as her purposely mundane life made her believe. While taking a trip to save her family during the apocalypse she learns how to truly have family and friends. And who the real monsters are that walk among...
