Pestilence

46

He didn’t have much sensation at first, just a general numbness and anxiety. As Howie Burke took his daughter in his arms, he grasped that he shouldn’t be holding her and withdrew. The jeep was upright but severely damaged. He sat up, ignoring the pain in his back and arms, and he thought about trying to start the vehicle but decided against it.

The fire was rising over the seat at a steady but slow pace. He pulled Jessica away from the vehicle.

He heard tires in dirt and the shouting of men. Headlights swarming them, he impotently watched the terror in his daughter’s eyes. He had no words of comfort for her or explanations. Instead, he turned away from her and saw Mike a little behind them. His head had been crushed so thoroughly that it was only a slick in the dark, a black puddle in front of a fully-grown male body.

“Who are they?” Jessica asked.

Howie watched the jeeps. Five of them roared to a stop near them, and men in uniforms jumped out, pointing terrifying black weapons at them. They shouted orders, but Howie couldn’t hear them. He couldn’t hear anything but a soft buzzing sound, and he wondered if Jessica had really spoken or if he’d imagined it.

The men were closing in around them, their lips moving, their faces contorted with rage and fear. One of them was young, maybe eighteen. He was trembling and sweating, and in the headlights of the jeep, Howie saw that his fingers were turning white from gripping his rifle too hard.

Other men were next to Howie, closer than the boy. But Howie saw only him. They were on the same frequency somehow. The two of them knew what was about to happen; this incident was between them, and everyone else was just there to witness it.

Neither of them averted their eyes as they stared into each other. The soldier’s eyes were wide, and he didn’t blink, despite the droplets of sweat rolling into them.

And in an instant, both their lives changed.

“Run, Jessica!”

Howie sprinted. The first soldier was only a couple feet away, and Howie grabbed his rifle and kicked the soldier in the chest, sending him to the dirt. The other soldier swung at him, but Howie tackled him before the butt of the rifle impacted his face. He slammed his fist into the soldier’s jaw, but the soldier barely seemed to notice.

The young soldier, horror written on his face, aimed the rifle. His hands trembling worse than before, he fired a single shot, and Howie was suddenly staring up at the sky without any memory of the motion that had put him there.

He lay helplessly on his back as two soldiers slapped handcuffs on Jessica. He screamed for her but couldn’t hear the words that came out of his mouth.