Running Backwards

The good witch

     It matched it's surroundings better inside then the outside did. The harsh lines and angles of the modern house were softened by plants vined around every inch of space in the grand entry. The living room to the back of the entry opened up fully to the outside as if it never stopped. The walls covered with flowers and water features created an air of tranquility that the outside, which fought for focus, couldn't match. The marble floor hidden by rugs of all different shapes, colors and textures. A climbing wall with a matching set of stairs reached to the second floor. The children raced to get their favorite toys to show the new comers. The dad, a strikingly beautiful man in his late 30s wearing a black pair of slacks and white button up shirt went to the kitchen. His hair barely greying on his temples.
   
    "I'm Marcus," The man said barely loud enough to hear past the ambient noise after locking their pistols in his safe. It was his only request.
   
    "I'm Angie, and this is my sister Fionna," Angie said still looking at the different colored flowering plants.
   
    Fionna stuck out her hand and smiled. The man accepted it but only out of politeness with a grimace. Fionna took some offence to that but continued to look at the different sites settling on one of the rock water features with frogs in it. The children raced back down the stairs breathless and took their toys to Fionna. Her face perked as if they were presents. Angie and Marcus sat down opposite from each other on rounded stools with citrus colored leather pads.
   
    "Thank you for helping us," Angie said fussing with her hair.
   
    She wasn't so sure about this place. It seemed weird to nussle this kind of house in the wilderness. The stark difference of aesthetics was odd. Marcus offered a tour, again out of politeness and Angie declined. The children following suit offering a tour of their bedroom to Fionna. She agreed but Marcus didn't seem happy with that situation.
   
    "I don't want any trouble," He said roughly while watching FIonna being dragged up the stairs by the children.
   
    "I don't either. We didn't plan to stop. But again thank you for your help. After seeing what's going on in town we weren't sure we'd make it out,"  Angie remembered the horrific scene at the park.
   
    "They took everyone they didn't want in their town and..." he trailed off unable to finish.
   
    Angie didn't need him to finish. They just sat in silence. She looked at the innocence of the property. Even the harshness seemed gentle compared to what was happening a couple miles away. She still wasn't sure she could trust him.
  
    Marcus wanted to tell Angie everything. She was the only person outside of the town that knew what was happening he just wasn't sure he even understood himself. The way of the world changed so much scared him and yet it didn't really change much at all. His family weren't part of the community. His children had no friends, they took his money at the barber but didn't talk about their days with him. And his wife, she was so eager to help them. Now she's gone because of them.
   
    "You can," He started out of the silence scaring Angie, he continued, "You can stay here for the night. It's not safe out there."
   
    "Is it safe here?" She questioned. She didn't want to offend him but she had to make sure Fionna and her were ok.
   
    "Yeah, I'll show you," Marcus said getting up and disappearing into a hallway.
   
    Three clicks later the doors to the outside closed by themselves. Windows were being covered by metal coming from the top, each clicked as they finished lowering. The lighting in the house changed from soft to sharp white, the water fountains stopped moving. A buzz came from the outside. Marcus reappeared.
   
    Angie felt trapped. Almost claustrophobic. There was silence other then the murmurs of the children playing with Fionna up stairs. The look on Angie's face showed her feelings, Marcus told her that everything was ok. He started up the stairs asking her to follow him.
   
    As they climbed the staircase there were pictures on the wall. Most looked like they were taken with a phone and printed but there were a couple professional ones. The one that caught Angie's eye was of the whole family. They were dressed in formal clothing, the boys in black tuxedos and the daughter in a floor length gown, with a woman in a similar dress. The woman holding an award, they all beamed with excitement.
   
    Marcus noticed Angie looking at the picture. He cleared his throat, "That's my wife. She was awarded for creating a drug that treats childhood glaucoma. The ingredients are growing down stairs."
   
    Angie accepted that easily, the plants were ones she had never seen before. It's definitely a possibility in this weird house. She continued following him up the stairs. The children and Fionna were in the daughter's room. The windows were covered and had soft almost too dark lighting compared to downstairs. Angie and Marcus watched as the children and Fionna played with blocks. The little girl with her red framed glasses playfully giggling while Fionna took her hands and roared pushing down the block tower. The little boy laughing too then started to rebuild carefully.
   
    Angie and Marcus continued through the hallway that held three more bedrooms and an office along with a powder room. They came to a door that seemed different. Marcus opened it with a key straining a little. It was heavy and made creaking noises as it swung. It opened to a small room with no light. Marcus continued to the back of the room from memory as the door closed behind them. Angie put out her hands and tried to feel her way. She stumbled on something and a whole rack came crashing down.
   
    A round hatch opened from above with light beaming through it and Angie could see again. Cans of food were all over the floor. Packs of freeze dried foods were piled on the other side. The room continued into the shadows where Angie could see a small arsenal. Marcus helped her up and he kicked the cans aside.
   
    They climbed up the hatch onto the roof. Almost bare there were two outdoor couches and a big square table with a small fire pit in the center all on a rectangular slab of concrete half way down the roof top. The floor looked like ice with the harsh lights shining off of it. She couldn't see much of what wasn't lit, but could see 300 or more feet in front and back of the house. Poles with that looked like stadium lights sat feet apart from each other circling the house from above the rooftop. Marcus walked confidently on the icy flooring but Angie carefully put one foot down hoping it wouldn't crack under her weight.
   
    "You're good, it's five inch polycarbonate. Stronger then bullet proof glass," Marcus called with a small giggle.
   
    Angie was relieved but still causious. She slowly followed Marcus to the couches. They sat in silence again. Angie was unsure about being on the rooftop even with the same substance flowing up into a railing between the rooftop and the ground.
   
    "So..." Angie started intrigued by the small room. Marcus looked up at her, "So you're prepared." She made a short awkward laugh.
   
    Angie looked down into the glass. A series of tubes showed through. "What is this?" She asked pointing down at the floor.
   
    "Solar panels, I create them..." He paused to think if that was the correct tense, "I guess I created them. This was a prototype house before..." he just stopped.
   
    "Before?" Angie questioned. Politeness was over. She couldn't handle it anymore. She still felt trapped in the house, there was a mysterious situation around the mother and he didn't look like a prepper yet the house was well prepped. His partial answers made her nervous.
   
    He paused, unsure that he should tell the stranger everything. He started but then stopped. He dug into his pocket and produced a pack of nicotine gum. He chewed it for a second and settled it on his gums. Angie noticed a decorative ash tray off to the right of her. She pulled out her dwindling pack of cigarettes and offered him one.  
   
    A look of relief came to his face. He took the gum out of his mouth and put it back in the small blister pack casing. He pulled one out of the pack and scrambled for a lighter in the same pocket as the gum was in.
   
    "I told her I would quit, but didn't get there before..." He trailed off after before again as he produced his lighter.
   
    "Before what?" Angie almost growled.
   
    He took a deep and slow drag of the cigarette. "Before she died."
   
    "Oh, I'm sorry," she said sheepishly. She now felt bad for pushing.
   
    "It's ok. We've been prepared for it for a while. We didn't expect an apocalypse though," He took another drag of the cigarette ashing it after into the small hole of the black glass jaguar.
   
    "You look pretty prepared for the apocalypse to me," Angie said still skeptical about the man.
   
    "I told you, this was a test house. It's actually a bunker. I created the solar panels for it. They line the rooftop and back side of the house. They used to show it to people who wanted to put the systems in their own homes. We moved here when my wife was diagnosed with kidney failure from diabetes. They sold it to me for cheap because everything is out of date. Well, not that cheap." A small smile came across Marcus's face.
   
    It seemed too good to be true. Fionna and her stumbling on a random man and his two kids that live in a bunker? A giant above ground bunker? Who also saved us from the towns people that burnt bodies in the park?
   
    "So what's up with the town people?" Angie asked still on guard pushing for more information.
   
    "They're fucking crazy even before the apocalypse," He said standing up and walking over to the front of the house.
   
    "I don't get it," Angie said freaked out from his reaction to the question.
   
    "They called my wife a witch," He finally blurted out. Angie was shocked.
   
    "A witch?" She had a little giggle after but stopped when he looked back at her angrily.
   
    "I don't know what these people think. She's a horticulturalist, a scientist, she creates medicines and sold them to big pharma so they could put their spin on it and add side effects. That's why she grows Abby's medicine. She grew a lot of things and offered it to the people in town. So they call her a witch," He finished walking back over to put out the cigarette thinking, "Well, she was those things."
   
    Angie wasn't sure what to say. She sat there looking around again to find the words. Nothing popped out. Her shadow was no help as she replayed his words over in her head. So weird. Everything about this was weird and didn't sit well. There were no other words for it. Just weird.
   
    Angie lit another cigarette and offered Marcus another. He declined. He just stood at the front of the house and looked into the nothingness.
   
    After what felt like forever he walked over to the railing and continued, "She was at the clinic when the bombs went off. I usually go with her but something felt off so I stayed with the kids. Abby is 12 and we leave her sometimes with Kevin. I locked down the house and went to town to get Sophie," his voice was broken at every few words, he choked back the tears.
   
    Marcus doubted telling Angie the rest of the story. This random stranger didn't need to know what happened. But there was no one else. No one came to help them. Who could he tell the story he played back hundreds of times in his head? It wasn't the children. He told them their mom died because of her sickness.
   
    He slowly continued accounting for every minute, "I left the house and went to the hospital. People were freaking out. Cars wrecked everywhere, fires started in houses and stores. Looting was already happening minutes after we heard of the first bombing at the capital. I couldn't hear anything but Sophie's voice in my head. She was always telling me to stay with the kids. When the crazies were confronting her at the store, she's say "Stay with the kids" but I didn't listen. I wish I would have. No one should see their wife burning at the stake in front of a hospital." His tone was flat and low. He scanned the front of the house as if it were the parking lot where his wife met her demise.
   
    "She cured a baby in town of colic. A couple with jaundice, treated ear infections, colds and the flu all without a penny. We had enough and she hated to see the poor suffer in the area. She just wanted to help them. But they all turned on her. They wouldn't take her help anymore. They hissed and threw things at us. Even when we had the kids. At the first chance they had they proved how deep their hatred sat," He turned to face Angie with tears in his eyes.
   
    "They burnt her and didn't stop. They burnt anyone they didn't want in their town. Rich or poor, healthy or sick, a witch or not, if you didn't fit what they wanted then they burnt you." He finished sitting down.
   
    "Holy shit!" Was the only thing Angie could get out of her mouth.
   
    "They would have burnt you. They burn all the people passing through. They say it's because you're undesirable but they just want what they're carrying. Plus your sister looks like she needs a hit," He said with a judging look on his face.
   
    Yet again, Angie couldn't see Fionna. Thinking about what Marcus said she just saw Fionna's 16 year old face. How did Marcus see what she so obviously couldn't? She looked at Marcus embarrassed.
   
    "Umm," Marcus's look softened for Angie's sake. "I know what they look like, my mom was one."
   
    After a few more moments of silence Marcus started toward the hatch without a word. He felt so exhausted mentally and physically that he doubted he would ever be rested again. Angie watched him start down the hatch as she finished her smoke. Marcus was one step down the latter as one of the lights exploded over Angie.
   
    He looked back to Angie as if she did it. Still sitting on the couch glass from the light rained down on her. Standing up she lightly brushed herself off looking up to see what made the light crumble. It wasn't until something hit the railing bouncing off that she realized it was coming from the front of the house.
   
    Marcus signaled for her to get down. The glass all over the floor of the concrete slab crushed into her hands and threatened to go through her pants. Marcus slid over the flooring to see what was in the front of his house. He popped up his head and brought it right back down as a shot hit where his head was.
   
    A megaphone beeped and illegible mumbles came out of it. Once there was a consensus one man spoke, "You gon' give us the stra'gers or we commin' in ta get 'em."
   
    Neither Angie nor Marcus spoke. They just laid on the floor frozen. Angie's heart was going crazy again. She was sure she was going to have a heart attack.
   
    "Ya broke tha deal. We not gon leave you na mo'," The loud voice boomed bouncing off the glass.
   
    "What deal!?" Angie whispered to Marcus.
   
    He just shook his head trying to play off what the voice said. Angie was not going to die for this secretive man. She inched herself from the concrete to Marcus.
   
    "No, you're going to tell me. There's no more secrets," Angie said loud enough to get a shot taken in their direction.
   
    He shook his head again turning away sliding to the hatch on his stomach. Angie grabbed his arm. He yanked it from her as if it hurt. Looking at the space where Angie's hand used to be he rubbed it. A slightly darker spot appeared.
   
    Angie's eyes went wild, "What's wrong with you?" She looked at her own hand to see if her skin changed color. He shook his head trying to avoid giving answers again.
   
    "Look, you're going to tell me everything. You have no option now. But we're getting off this roof first," Angie said leading the way to the hatch.
   
    They slid from the floor to the hatch and couple more shots rang out. The 8 or more people started banging on the front door. As the hatch closed the intruders took to the other windows and doors. Banging could be heard muffled in the room they landed in. The children and Fionna were at the heavy door. Angie stopped in the middle of the dark room and put her hand up, it touched Marcus's muscled chest. He doubled over like it hurt even though it as barely a touch.
   
    "Is that door secure? Are they going to get in here?" Angie said a little too loudly for the small room.
   
    "They can't get in. The walls are titanium and concrete, The door covers are tungsten. It's completely solid. We can live in here for," He started calculating, "Twelve years. Even with you two."
   
    That relieved Angie, but she couldn't stay in here for twelve years. That was enough information on that question. The others would just have to wait. Angie tried to open the door but it wouldn't. Marcus stuck out a key from his belt.
   
    "It locks on both sides. Safety incase they can get fron the roof hatch or from the door. A real panic room," Marcus said proud of himself. Angie just rolled her eyes in the dark.
   
    They finally opened the door to reveal the children and Fionna. Each of them started talking. No one answering any questions they all suddenly stopped when a loud crash came from downstairs. Angie and Marcus looked at each other then he quickly turned and went into the dark of the room. He came out with three wepons. Two AK 47s and a small pistol.
   
    He handed Fionna the pistol and told her to stay in the room with the kids. He handed Angie an AK and quickly showed her the basics of using it, he didn't know they had two hidden in the van. They slowly looked over the stairway seeing plans all over the floor and a big crack above the door following up to the second floor through one of the windows above it. The door stood proudly holding it's form.
   
    They both let out a sigh of relief seeing that the door held whatever crashed into it as more knocking and yelling came from outside. Marcus knew it was secure but wasn't sure what hit the door. Angie ran down the stairs stopping at the door to listen.
   
    She whispered to Marcus, "They're not sure how to get in. I guess that's a good thing."
   
    He just nodded.
   
    "What are we going to do?" She asked quietly backing from the door.
   
    He just shook his head. He was as helpful as Angie's shadow. She thought as a barrage of bullets hit the door and they both crouched out of reflex.
   
    "What do they want? Other then us that is," Angie questioned. She needed all the information to figure something out.
   
    "They want guns and food," He shortly as Angie stared at him waiting for more information.