A DOZEN PEOPLE HAD DRIFTED INTO THE DINING AREA after dinner to hear the latest. Slaught gave the update, saying they really weren’t sure what to do next because they weren’t getting any straight answers. A couple of the young guys offered to ‘handle’ things for him, if he knew what they meant, but Slaught just thanked them and said he’d get back to them on that. Maybe for now they could head on over to the workbay and help Shaun finish stacking that twenty cord of firewood lying out in the snow.
Mrs. Merrill said they should lock up that Jezebel and throw away the key. Slaught, assuming she meant Mitch Black, explained that they just didn’t have the means to hold anybody prisoners and she said, “Mr. Slaught, I’ve seen that woman, she has the evil eye. Don’t turn your back on her.”
Slaught agreed and then to get Mrs. Merrill to shut up because she was starting to freak him out, asked her if she would mind going and helping out Mary because they were trying to figure out how much extra bedding might be around and it was time to get that organized. Mrs. Merrill looked put out, saying she was busy working on her needlepoint and she held it up to show Slaught, the little blue house surrounded by red and green flowers with neat, tight little stitches that said “God Bless This Home.” Slaught nodded appreciatively, wondering if she was being ironic, but then said in a confidential tone, “She could really use your help Mrs. Merrill, she’s well meaning, you know, but not the most organized, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh, I certainly do Mr. Slaught, we had some of them come up back in the day, when I was still in school, back to the land types, you know, hippies. Couldn’t keep house to save their souls.”
“Yes, you’re right again Mrs. Merrill, but I gotta say, they deliver a mean baby.”
Once Mrs. Merrill was on her way, Slaught told everyone he’d let them know if anything exciting happened, then headed down to the workbay.
Chumboy was going through all of the gear, saying as Slaught came in, “Man, this is like Christmas.”
Slaught said, “Yeah, I guess we’re going to have to start thinking about that, having a real Christmas, now that we got all these kids.”
“Yeah, well I don’t think this stuff is really going to cut it for under the tree, it isn’t exactly little toy train material. But we got ourselves some great toys for big boys.”
“Anything we can use?
“Most of it. It’s pretty slick shit though so I guess it depends what we get up to, I mean its not moose hunting gear, eh? Scored some fine battery power though.”
“Don’t suppose there’s any paper work in there is there? Orders you know, any mission impossible shit?”
“You know Johnny, you’re very old school. No paperwork, but buddy there had a laptop with him, I passed it over to Jeff and Jordan, see if they can find their way around the thing.”
“Well, that’s something I guess, but what we need right now is to get those rambo types the hell outta here.”
“No kidding. No one wants to even bring them their meals. I asked for volunteers and no takers.”
“Well, we can’t keep ’em forever, but I think we’re stuck for another night at least—send ’em out first thing in the morning, I can go down tonight to feed ’em if no one else will go.”
“Not to worry, I told Jordan he had to, but he is some terrified of your Mitch Black.”
“Mrs. Merrill called her Jezebel.”
“Jezebel? I don’t know about that, all Jezebel did was try to stop folks from worshipping Yahweh and slaughter a few prophets. And for that, her servants tossed her out a window so a pack of dogs could divvy her up. No, I was thinking more along the lines of someone like Sekmet or even Artemis.”
“Never heard of Sekmet.”
“Some Egyptian type, apparently had eyes that shone like fire.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right—what about Artemis, that Greek?”
“Greek indeed. Goddess of the hunt. Reputed to wear a necklace of bull scrotums around her neck. Some poor sap came along and saw her in the buff, she turned him into a stag and then his own hounds ripped him to shreds. So keep your peepers to yourself buddy until Ms. Black is long down the trail.”
“Just glad I don’t have any dogs.”
“Well, that Sekmet chick wouldn’t be any easier. She got it in her head to destroy the whole human race.”
“I think you’re making this shit up Chum.”
“Then how come I’ve never heard of this Sekmet, then?”
“Come on Johnny, think of the all the things you’ve never heard of. That’s why you need me around.”
Slaught was just staring at him, thinking he was a pain in the ass sometimes. “If you’re so fucking smart, how do we deal with a hellcat like the one sitting in our storage room?”
“Beer.”
“Beer?”
“That’s what they used to distract Sekmet from her path of destruction.”
“So she’s all ready to rip some poor slob to shreds and someone yells Miller Time and that’s it?”
“Not quite that easy, it took seven thousand jars of beer dyed the colour of blood.”
“Thanks Chum, I’ll get right on that.”
“Anytime buddy.”
Slaught told Chumboy that most of his information was as useless as shit but he did think it might be a good time for a beer. Maybe they could find Susun and Jeff, see how the scavenging went. Chumboy said he’d go get Jeff, would leave Susun to Slaught since he was such a lady-killer.
Susun was just shutting her door when Slaught came climbing up the stairs. She stopped when she saw him, asked, “Looking for me?”
“Matter of fact I was, thought I’d see how you were feeling after your first day as an outlaw.”
She smiled, said, “Rifling through some lady’s kitchen with Jeff didn’t exactly make me feel like Bonnie and Clyde, but we did find some useful stuff. Got a large batch of beeswax.”
“Beeswax?”
“Planning for the future, thinking of setting myself up as an herbalist, could use the beeswax for ointments.”
“Did you find anything that we can use now? The future is kind of a crap shoot.”
“That’s your problem right there, the future is already starting. You have people coming here all the time, families, old folks, a young couple the other day. You think you’re hiding out at your hunt camp when in fact you’re smack dab in the middle of a community.”
“Guess I should of holed up in my ice shack instead of a goddam hotel, eh?”
“Okay, I have to ask. Why a hotel? Not exactly a classic hideout, know what I mean?”
“Well, the Fraser isn’t just any hotel, it’s one made to measure for any end times scenario.”
“Yeah? How’s that?”
“Well, you might not know this, but back in the day, this town was a textbook case of a firetrap, burnt down as often as they could rebuild. Finally, they built this place, fire proof to the max—it isn’t going anywhere.”
Susun smiled, said, “Well, Winterman, you’re right, I didn’t know that, and know what else I don’t know? Where to get a beer in this lousy joint. Tiny said I was the best scavenger he’d met so far so I think I deserve one.”
Slaught asked her what she’d snagged to earn that praise and she said two sealed bottles of Napoleon Brandy.
“God almighty, you gave that to Tiny?”
“Said he could use it for Christmas cakes. Figured you guys would just polish it off, it seemed special, so, yeah, I gave it to Tiny.”
Slaught couldn’t believe it, but decided to drop it, said, “So did you enjoy your first scavenger trip?”
She was leaning against the door, arms crossed, hair scraggly, a bit like the first day he saw her. She smiled, saying it was a little weird going into people’s houses, seeing things like toasters and pillows coated with ice, seeing where animals had gotten in, caught a raccoon sleeping on a turquoise sofa, paw prints all over the coffee table, but said yeah, the ride was great, and that it felt good to be doing something instead of hiding. “You get a little crazy when you’re hiding all the time, waiting for someone to come and pick on you.”
“I noticed.”
She gave him a dirty look, but could tell he was joking, and then he said, “Not so bad being one of those anarchists is it?”
“No, guess not.”
He sort of stared at her, unsure of what to say. She just looked back, so he said, “Well, why not come down for that beer then, rite of passage.”
“Even though I gave away the brandy?”
“Yeah, but it’s your loss. If you’d thought about it for a minute before turning it over to Tiny, you could be drinking it right now. As it is, you’re stuck with Chumboy’s homemade hooch.”
Jordan had groaned when Chumboy said he’d have to be the one to go check on the prisoners before bed, toss some food through the door and make sure they were tucked in for the night. Shaun had slapped him on the back, tossed him the keys and told him to man up. Jordan had steeled himself, finding Mitch Black to be one terrifying broad, expecting his dinner delivery to be rough but not expecting to end up with a gun to his head and being frog marched back down the hallway towards the back door of the hotel. At this very moment, his life totally sucked.
She moved fast, you had to give her that. He’d found them all sitting around when he knocked, he sort of stopped part way into the room because there was something funny in the way they were looking at him, and Mitch had said, “Jason, nice to see you,” and he said “It’s Jordan” and then she was right beside him with a gun to his temple saying, “I don’t really give a fuck what your name is, in fact I think I’ll call you Janice.”
And then the big tray of food was all over the floor and they were all up, dressed in their snow gear, and he was moving down the hall, wondering what the hell to do now, wondering too if they were just going to pull the trigger, it must feel so easy when you’re holding the gun to just pull the trigger. He had never pulled a trigger. Never even shot a partridge.
“Get a move on, Janice,” Mitch said, twisting the gun barrel against his head.
In what seemed like a matters of seconds they were down the hall and Laskin was booting open the door, the cold air blasting into Jordan’s face as Mitch shoved him in front of her through the snow. The sky was navy, the hard diamond stars flung up here and there across the horizon, the snow hard packed but Jordan still tripping in it, Mitch yanking him back and tightening the grip on his shirt. It smarted a bit and Jordan asked, “You going to kill me?”
“I’d love to, so just shut the fuck up or I will.”
Jordan figured he’d better do as he was told because this wasn’t really his kind of situation, and by the look on Shaun’s face as they all came ploughing through the door of the workbay, it wasn’t really his either. Kirstie was there, sitting on the workbench, and Shaun had just straightened up from laying down another armful of firewood. Shaun made eye contact with Jordan but it wasn’t helpful, more like what the fuck is going on. Kirstie looked scared, eyeing the gun in Mitch’s hand. Shaun moved over beside Kirstie, saying, “We got a problem here?” Jordan thinking it was obvious there was a problem, but Mitch said, “I think you have the problem asshole, and if you don’t do exactly as I say, your problem is going to get a lot worse.”
The two guys that never talked went straight over to get the machines ready. One of them said it looked like most of their extra fuel was gone but Laskin said it’d be fine, they’d fuelled up just before coming in here. Then the big loud mouth was checking the bins saying, “There’s nothing fucking here,” and Mitch turned to Shaun, “Our guns?”
“They’re in lock-up.”
“Where’s that?”
“Back inside.”
Jordan heard Mitch curse under her breath then she looked to Laskin. “So?”
Jordan could see him thinking, someone needed to get the guns but there was just one weapon between them. Laskin asked if the machines were ready to go, and Leclerc said everything seemed fine. Laskin said, “Turner, behind you, the drill, give it.” Laskin sounding impatient, waving his hand as Turner passed him the drill, then saying, “Get the big doors open and the machines ready to go. And now, which of you puppies has the keys to the lock-up?”
Nobody said anything. Laskin made a ‘tsking’ sound and revved the drill a bit to make sure it was working, and moved over to the workbench where Shaun was standing. “Ever see that movie, what was it, Saw, maybe Saw II?”
Jordan figured Shaun was trying to put on a brave face in front of Kirstie, her clinging to Shaun’s arm as he said, “If you wanted to crash our party you should’ve just said so. Sorry, no movies, but there’s more beer outside in the snow.”
“This isn’t a party, jerkoff, its is a fucking home invasion. Now if you don’t get down to the lock up and come back with our stuff I’m going to take this drill to your honey’s face. I’ll make Saw II look like Mary fucking Poppins.”
Jordan said, “Okay, okay. I have the keys.”
Mitch barked at Jordan, “Get over here. And you, you little bitch, I want you to tape your boyfriend here up nice and tight, okay?”
Jordan said, “Alright, just calm down, I’m going, but I’ll need a bag or something.”
“Get back here quick,” Laskin said, telling Leclerc to toss him a bag from the sled. “No complications and these two will still be able to pucker up, understand?” Jordan glanced back at Kirstie, her trying to get the tape started, dropping it, swearing, then hearing the tear of the tape as she got started on Shaun’s ankles.
Jordan didn’t want to run, more because it made him feel panicked rather than worried he might attract attention. Where the fuck was everybody anyway? He wasn’t sure if he wanted to see anyone, might make a mess of everything, but then maybe he did. He didn’t know what he wanted and he sure didn’t know what to do. Man, this was messed up, this was like a ‘no fucking way out’ situation. He pictured it, positioning the gun in the bag, coming into the room, swinging up the bag and shooting Laskin, but then what? There were too many of them, five other guys plus the psycho bitch. He didn’t stand a chance.
He got to the lock up, hands shaking as he tried the key, sliding open the door and stepping in, scanning the shelves, seeing the guns sticking out of a big box marked For Elves Eyes Only. Chumboy’s handwriting. He grabbed them, shoved them in the hockey bag then dumped in several clips. Grabbing a few gps he headed for the door, stopping first to listen, then heading back down to the bay, the bag bumping against his leg awkwardly.
When Turner let him in through the door he leaned into him, said, “You’re a lucky little shit you delivered the goods,” sounding tough but smelling too much like the sickly aftershave you wear in Grade Ten. Jordan didn’t say anything, but walked over to where Laskin was waiting and dropped the bag. “A few guns, several clips, gps. Okay?”
Laskin unzipped the bag and had a look, saying he was indeed fucking lucky but they still owed him some hardware and he’d be back for it.
Jordan said, “Yeah, well, I don’t feel so lucky.”
Both Laskin and Mitch laughed, and Mitch said he sounded like he was pouting and Kirstie said, “Never mind Jordan, come on over here.”
Jordan couldn’t hear what Laskin said to Mitch as he reached out and she passed him her gun, but when he turned around he said, “Okay fellas, mount up, time to ride out of shitsville.”
Jordan was wondering why he wasn’t feeling relieved at this point, but it was probably the look in Laskin’s face as he shoved the gun into his belt, something just not quite right, and then Mitch said to Laskin he should get a move on with whatever was going down because they didn’t want anyone surprising them at this point, so Laskin said, “Hey, Kirstie, I want you to do me a favour.”
Shaun said, “Leave her alone.”
Laskin was taking the drill off the bench saying, “Shut the fuck up and listen, because you have an important message to deliver to Slaught, understand?”
Kirstie just stared at Laskin, Jordan figuring she wouldn’t want to be looking at the drill.
“Kirstie, you focused here?” he asked again, giving the drill a shake in her direction.
“Leave her alone,” Shaun said again, moving forward to try and get in front of her, but his ankles were taped now and he moved awkwardly, leaning too far forward, and Laskin brought the drill up and slammed it hard across Shaun’s face, throwing him into Kirstie and opening a thick gash of red angled along his temple.
“I said shut the fuck up, okay? Now, Kirstie, listen, I am going to take this drill to your boyfriend here. Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill him or anything, I just really liked that movie, know what I mean? And then you’re going to tell Slaught that I’m coming back real soon with a bunch of my guys to do the same thing to every last one of you. Got that?”
The sound of the drill started up and Jordan could hear Kirstie crying and swearing as she bent over Shaun, but Jordan couldn’t feel anything, felt like he was paralyzed, watching Kirstie trying to stop the blood but it was sticky and getting on everything and then he could see Laskin holding up the drill, readying it to bring down on Shaun, and Kirstie letting go of Shaun and taking the edge of the work bench and tipping it up, shoving it into Laskin. It knocked Laskin off balance, the drill flying backwards, him yelling “You little bitch,” and then he steadied himself, reaching across and slamming his fist into Kirstie, sending her crumpling up against Jordan, Shaun falling forward across the bench.
“For Christ’s sake,” Mitch said, sounding more exasperated than anything, but Laskin’s face was hard as he slammed the drill down again against the side of Shaun’s head, letting go of it then and whipping the gun from his belt. He aimed it first at Shaun. Shaun was wiping at the blood on his face, trying to see, yelling, and Jordan was trying to think but everything was moving way too fast, and he was tangled up with Kirstie and she was moaning and then he saw Laskin swing the gun down towards them and Jordan tried to pull himself up but couldn’t get his hands to move where he wanted. Laskin said, “The little girlfriend will have to give Slaught the message another way I guess,” and he shot her twice. One shot seemed to clip her elbow that was sticking out as she was squirming to find a way of pulling herself up, and then the other bullet plunged into her side, sort of grabbing her in the gut, making her sort of bend up then fall back into Jordan who was yelling her name, and then both of them losing their balance and pitching sideways into a stack of milk crates. Then everything went black.