Arrival: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller

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Maya leaned against the wall, her eyes closed, listening to Janine’s wailing.

Although Maya had truly wanted to help the sick girl and also to get out of the tunnels, she’d clearly failed on the first goal. And while it was always difficult losing someone on the job, this was hitting Maya harder than she’d expected. Janine had looked into her eyes with a sense of trust, and Maya felt as though she’d betrayed it by letting the girl die. Of course, Maya had done no such thing—logically, she knew that. She and Reno were no more responsible than anyone else for the unfortunate circumstance that had caused Cassie’s appendicitis. But that wouldn’t stop the grieving mother from lashing out at those who had tried to save the child. It never did.

“You bitch.”

Maya opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder.

Still kneeling by her daughter, Janine had shifted her gaze to Maya. Her narrow eyes glared at the paramedic. Maya turned all the way around.

“I’m so sorry, Janine. I know how you must feel right now.”

“The hell you do,” Janine said. “My daughter is dead. What could you possibly know about that?”

“We did all we could do,” Reno said.

“You shut your mouth. This is your fault, too.”

“You’re in shock right now,” Maya said. “But understand that we did everything we could to help your daughter. This hurts us, too. Trust me on that.”

“Trust you?” Janine laughed through her tears. “Look where ‘trusting you’ got me. My daughter is dead!”

Maya swallowed, choking back her own tears.

“Look, Janine. Just—”

“No, you look,” Janine said, cutting Maya off. “This is your fault, and you’re going to be held responsible.”

Janine reached into her back pocket and pulled out the Glock she’d taken from Maya. She stood and aimed it at her. Maya raised her hands.

“Whoa, hold up,” Reno said.

“Shut up,” Janine said, turning the gun on Reno. She pointed it at the ground only a foot from his feet and fired. The shot ricocheted off the ground and buzzed off into the dark tunnel.

Maya covered her head, the sound of the gun booming in the confined space causing a ringing in her ears.

Janine then refocused her attention on Maya, aiming the gun at her again. She stepped away from her dead daughter, moving into a position that allowed her to see Maya and Reno at the same time. She then took a step toward Maya, the gun still pointed at her head.

“I should have listened to Mitch. It was a mistake to move Cassie—all this movement made it worse. I should have let her rest. Instead, I listened to the two of you, and now she’s gone.”

“You’re not making any sense,” Maya said.

“I’m making perfect sense. And now, you and your boyfriend are going to pay for what you did to my Cassie. You’re both going to die.”

“Janine, your daughter was very sick when we got to her. If I had to guess, I would say that her appendix burst before we even met you.”

“But you said you could save her!”

Maya sighed. “I said that, if we could get her to the surface, that we might be able to—”

“Enough. I don’t want to hear anymore!”

Janine growled, and saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth. Maya tensed, staring at the woman’s finger wrapped around the trigger. Janine stopped and looked at Maya again with burning eyes. Tears flowed down her face.

“Someone has to pay for this. An eye for an eye.”

Maya shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be like this. We did all we could.”

Janine stepped forward.

“I’m sorry,” Maya said.

Maya closed her eyes shut and pictured her children. She conjured one of her favorite memories—a trip to the Nashville Zoo. Even though Aiden and Laura had both been to the zoo dozens of times, they always pretended to enjoy it to appease Maya. But the best part of the day had been when they’d sat in the wide-open field in the middle of the zoo and had a picnic. Neither kid had fiddled with their phone or tablet. They had all enjoyed the moment together. A simple, wholesome, good time as a family.

That’s what she wanted her last thought to be before this woman took her life.

Take care of them, Mom. I love you so much, Aiden and Laura.

Instead of a gunshot, Maya heard a grunt and then a thud. She opened her eyes to see Janine lying face down. Blood flowed from her neck, pooling on the ground.

Reno stood over her with the small knife in his hands. Blood covered the blade. He shivered, and then gasped for air before looking at Maya. His trembling hands dropped the knife and he came to her.

“Are you all right?” he asked, holding both sides of her face.

Maya, still in shock, hugged Reno. She held him tight, grabbing the back of his shirt. Reno pulled back after a minute.

“We’ve got to find a way out of here.”

Maya glanced down at Cassie. “We need to explain this to the tunnel people. We were trying to save the girl, and you killed Janine in self-defense. They have to know that—”

“They won’t care, Maya. Once they come looking for Janine and Cassie, and find this, they’ll be looking for vengeance.”

Blood had pooled around Janine’s body, a slowly burgeoning puddle spreading beneath her like black ink. Reno was right. No explanation would satisfy the people who would no doubt be on the way after hearing the gunshot reverberating through the tunnels. They had to leave. Immediately. Reno grabbed the knife and gun.

I’m sorry, she thought as she took one last look at Cassie’s body.

Then Maya wiped her face, following Reno into the dark void of the tunnels by light of their penlight.