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By Max Masen
John grips the doorknob. He lets out a quick breath, random disturbing thoughts crossing his mind. He looks back up and sees Julie staring at him intensely, still hoping he will not open the door, regardless of how futile she knows the notion is. He looks to Tim and Tim clenches his lips together, upset with John’s decision but refusing to back down. He holds tightly to the concealed pistol.
“Julie,” John calls quietly with a stern appearance on his face. “Hold your gun steady. Get ready.” He hopes the people outside did not hear him. Julie nods and grips the rifle and holds it under the couch to keep it hidden.
John bobs his head and one last time releases an uneven breath. He turns the knob and pulls the wooden door open, revealing three people on the other side, one man and two women. The man has long black hair with a thick, scraggly beard. He wears a beige, baggy jacket with the hood up over his head. The women are both short but the same height as each other. They both wear bright ponchos despite a lack of rain pouring down.
“What can we do for you?” John asks, still holding the door but he is visibly starting to shake. Despite a lifetime of dealing with dangerous situations, the idle years of being off-duty have molded him into a more cautious, nervous man, like the one that stands before the strangers.
“We’re sorry,” one of the women announces, acting as if she and her companions are intruding. “We saw the sign welcoming strangers and assumed the building was vacant. Are you the owners?”
“Far from it,” Tim says, leaping from behind the couch and bearing his pistol. He aims it at the man and he puts his hands up in surrender and starts to beg for mercy from Tim. “But I’ll be damned if we let you take the place from us.”
John grabs Tim’s arm and yanks the pistol from his hand as he walks by. He presses the release on the side of the pistol and allows the clip to fall out of the pistol and land on the floor. “What do you think you’re doing, Tim? You can’t threaten these people like that!”
“John, we don’t know them. They’re going to interfere!” Tim yells, pleading with John to understand.
The three strangers stand aghast, shocked and surprised by Tim and John’s speech. The woman who has remained silent finally speaks up and says, “Interfere with what?”
The other woman turns to her and grabs her arm and says, “Barb, maybe we should just leave. These people are clearly doing something here and we completely interrupted.”
“After what we’ve seen out there, I don’t think so, Monica!” the man chimes in. He lifts his arms and spreads them out wide. His head shakes in disbelief at the notion that they leave the premises to return to the implied dangers lurking outside. He turns to John, thinking that he is the most rational one there, and says, “I don’t know what’s going on with you people, why you’re here, or how you got here. But we need to stay the night. We’ll leave in the morning.”
John turns to Julie, Julie’s jaw starting to drop and her eyes opened wide. She’s confused and doesn’t know what advice to give John.
Tim nudges John and urges again, “We can’t trust them, John.”
The man steps further in and pushes Tim against the wall, knocking over a painting upon Tim’s body hitting the wood. Tim grabs onto the man’s arm and tries to pry himself free.
“Let him go,” John says to the man, his face starting to darken and the man notices. He loosens his grip on Tim and lets him down slowly.
“So what’s it going to be?” the man asks. “We’re not spending another night out in those woods. Not after what we’ve been through. We’re willing to fight for this place if that’s what it comes down to.”
“Nobody’s fighting anybody!” Julie yells, angered by what the man implies. She stands up and aims the rifle at the man, pressing the stock firmly into her shoulder and her eyes peering down the sight. “You’re going to calm down if you not only want to stay the night but if you want to live.”
The man chokes out a laugh and peers down at the ground. “Well, are you going to shoot or can we all be done with the empty threats?”
“It’s far from empty,” Julie says calmly, still aiming down the sight of the rifle. “In fact there’s about thirty full threats in this magazine alone. It’d be a shame if I had to reload so stand still.”
“Enough!” John bellows, nervous that somebody will make a quick move to start a brawl. “We’re going to let our guests in, empty ourselves of any weapons, and sit down at the table and talk. Does that make sense?” He holds his arms up and stands in between Julie and the strangers. Tim stands still and looks at John and doesn’t make any moves or counterarguments. John looks around at everyone in the room, everyone standing tense and ready. They slowly start to give John a confirmation nod one by one.
“Thank you. Everyone in the kitchen now. I want all the guns on the table. Does that make sense?” John demands. He looks back and forth and waits for more nods. He gets one from every single person. Tim and Julie continue to glare at the strangers in anticipation. They all follow behind John into the kitchen and unload all weapons onto the tables, the strangers revealing a combination of combat knives and small pistols and one revolver. “Thank you. I think that was step one to getting on the right track.”
Everyone starts to relax and conversations begin between Julie and Barb, and Tim and Monica. During the mingling the man steps forward and bends in close to John’s ear. He says quietly enough that no one in the room can hear him, “You know why we’re here, John?”
Back on track! We missed a few days because of classes but we’re back to bringing you your favorite in post apocalyptic fiction, hopefully more on a consistent basis now. We’re going to be trying a few different schedules but sound off in the comments on what your favorite release dates for the updates on the stories are and how often you like them. We know once a day can be too much sometimes, but do you really want to wait a week to find out what happens to your friends?! If you do, just let us know in the comments. Remember to subscribe to the site for updates and see you next time!
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