01:07
Episode 1: The Original Blueprints
Part 7
Violet climbed onto her motorcycle with Laurel behind her. There wasn’t much room but the young girl seemed unafraid. Violet slapped on her helmet and thumbed the starter.
“You ever ridden one of these before?” Violet asked.
“Yes. My – my cousin has a Harley.”
‘Precious‘ thought Violet. She gunned the motor once and rolled away from the curb with Ned following her in his big Crown Vic. They drove out of the neighborhood passing a police squad. It was rolling into the neighborhood from the other direction with lights flashing. Violet activated her headset.
“Ned. Let’s roll down fifty-five through Minneapolis and take University to St. Paul. I’ve got a bad feeling about the cops.”
“Yep,” answered Ned. “The scanner is all about the shooting. Sounds like all hands.”
“Do they mention Laurel?”
“Who?” asked Ned.
“The girl. Her name is Laurel, do they mention her?”
“Ahhhh, no. Nothing about the daughter….”
Ned was cut short by a burst of automatic weapons fire. Instinctively Violet looked behind her and saw three new Dodge Dusters behind Ned, each with a passenger holding a Tek-9 leaning out the window.
“Ned, keep those goons off me. I’m heading for fifty-five.”
“Gotcha. Taking them up to….”
More automatic gunfire cut off Ned’s response and Violet sped away from the swerving hulk of metal behind her, whispering ‘Get out of there’ into her microphone.
Violet turned south towards highway fifty-five while Ned kept going straight leading off two of the Dusters. The last car peeled off and came down the street towards her.
“Hang on!” Violet told Laurel.
Violet turned the motorcycle into the oncoming traffic. Tires screeched and horns honked. Violet ignored them all and sped down the street between the cars. Their tail could not find a clear path through the evening traffic and so the driver brought it up onto the sidewalk and sped towards Violet.
“Shit!” she yelled.
Up ahead, across the four lanes of highway 55 Violet spotted a way out.
“I have an idea,” she told Laurel. “Try not to fall off.”
Violet took the the motorcycle across all four lanes of the moving traffic on the highway and into Brookview Golf Course.
“You can’t go in there,” screeched Laurel.
“Tell that to the shooters.”
Laurel looked behind them. The car was bounding over the curb after them, the passenger leaning out his window waiting for a chance to shoot.
“Faster! Go faster,” Laurel urged.
Violet gunned the engine. She and Laurel roared down the path pulling away from the car and heading towards a bridge over the brook. The bridge was wide enough for the motorcycle to cross but not a car.
“Ha! They can’t get us now.”
There was a screech of tires on the path and the car skidded sideways to a stop. The shooter leaned out the passenger window and fired a long volley of shots at his fleeing target. Two of the bullets smashed the right-side mirror of the cycle.
“Oops,” said Violet and zigged off the path, then zagged back across the bridge.
More bullets zipped past until the car turned to leave the way it had entered.
“Are they gone?” asked Laurel.
“For a while, yeah.”
The motorcycle zipped off the course down a short service road and back out onto the the highway cutting off a big black Suburban. They had traveled less than a block when Violet heard tires screeching behind her. She looked back and saw Ned fishtailing onto the highway headed in her direction. All three Dusters followed Ned.
“Ned! No! Get those guys off me you asshole,”Violet yelled into her microphone.
“Sorry, Vi,” Ned answered, “Next time I’ll see if I can outrun a Duster.”
Ned switched lanes but the Dusters were moving too fast. One driver came up beside him on the shoulder while the other parted the lanes by driving up the center line. The passenger of the car on the shoulder leaned out and fired three rounds at Ned’s window but the armored glass held. The driver on the center line pushed past Ned towards Violet and Laurel. Laurel looked back and saw the passenger pointing a Tek-9 and screamed. Violet swerved onto the shoulder and twisted the throttle.
“Ned. Can you take either of these guys out?”
“I’ll try to keep them back here but you gotta run.”
Traffic cleared around the Dusters like antelopes scattering from a lion. Ahead of Violet fifteen cars and a semi-truck were stopped at a red light. Violet smiled and sped on, keeping to the shoulder. On the opposite shoulder the car next to Ned also sped up.
“Get your ass back here,” Ned shouted at the car and sideswiped it. The car ran off the road and down into the ditch. Ned laughed but his elation was short lived. The car came back up onto the shoulder within inches of Ned’s car and the Tek-9 unloaded a string of bullets into Ned’s window which bowed and finally shattered. He hit the brakes and dropped back even to the bumper then turned sharp to spear the fender. The car spun into the ditch once more rolling tires-up at the bottom. Ned stopped on the shoulder and pushed out the remains of his window. He picked up a sawed-off shotgun from his passenger seat and pointing it at the driver’s window he fired. The window shattered. The driver was suspended in his seatbelt and clearly visible to Ned. Ned pumped another shell into the chamber and fired into the open window and without looking to see what he had done he sped off after Violet.
“Milk run,” he grumbled. “Just a ride across town.”
“Shut up Ned,” said Violet.
The traffic at the stop light was just starting to move, or at least the semi truck was moving. The front cars were both frozen, the drivers alternating between ducking beneath the windows and peeking up to see where the shooters were. Violet cruised by on the shoulder drawing shocked angry stares from the grid-locked drivers. Before she passed the semi-truck Violet squeezed the brake. She slowed until she matched the truck’s speed and waited for the Duster to appear in front — only it didn’t.
“Where did he go?” asked Laurel.
“On the other side of the truck. Hopefully he’ll stay there.”
“We’re just going to stay here?” Violet turned to look at her passenger in disbelief.
“You want to go after him?” Laurel cowered.
“No?” she asked.
Violet glared at the girl. “Amateurs.”
The truck approached another stoplight and began to slow down. Violet saw an opportunity.
“I’m getting off,” she told Laurel. “Just keep it upright and running. Can you do that?”
Laurel nodded but she looked frightened. “I’ll be right back.”
The truck stopped and so did Violet. She jumped off the bike and rolled under the trailer freeing her thirty eight as she did. From under the truck she could see the wheels of the Duster and was about the fire when she heard Laurel scream. Violet rolled back out.
“What is it this time?”
Laurel rolled the motorcycle backwards away from a Ram truck coming at them from the south. Violet could plainly see the AK-47 out the window. She jumped back on the motorcycle.
“New plan,” she said and gunned the engine.
The motorcycle shot forward and Laurel barely had enough time to grab on to Violet as they shot down the highway. From behind came the squeal of tires and the rattle of automatic gun fire. Behind Violet’s pursuers came Ned and his now less than pristine Crown Victoria and behind him the Duster at full speed.
“Ned? You still back there?”
“Little busy here, Vi,”
“Quit your bitching. And don’t call me Vi. I got truck with a Kalashnikov that needs blocking up here.”
“I’m bringing mine up. They’ll interfere with each other.”
“What? No! Ned just….”
Ned was already driving fast up the shoulder. He swerved around the other Duster and came out in front of the semi.. The two dusters followed close behind. When he came around the front of the semi the big Dodge truck was just fishtailing through the turn. Ned recognized the oversized driver from the house.
“Hello boys,” he said out loud. “Time to take care of the competition.”
Ned pulled alongside the truck and lowered the passenger window. He lifted the shotgun and pumped it then pointed it at the big trucks rear tire. Right then one of the Dusters came along side Ned and pushed him into the truck. The Driver of the Duster kept his car tight against the Crown Vic’s side pressing it to the pick up. From behind the last Duster bumped the Crown Vic completing the box. The shooter wasted no time and opened fire directly into the Crown Vic. Ned kept down as much as possible to avoid the bullets. Violet looked back and rolled her eyes.
“Jesus, Ned. I’ll be back there in a second.” Violet slowed and prepared to double back but Ned stopped her.
“Keep running. I can take ‘em”
Ned opened the glove box and removed a smooth grey grenade. Without a second thought he pulled the pin and tossed the grenade into the other car. There was a screech of tires and Laurel turned to watch a bright flame fill the car and the window glass shatter and fly out. The car wobbled violently and dove into the ditch where it rolled once to land wheels up.
“Fucking Christ!” shouted the girl. “He’s nuts.”
“Overkill, Ned,” Violet growled at him.
“No,” replied Ned, “I’d say just about perfect kill.”
“Fuck! I’m heading downtown. See if you can’t scrape those other guys off on Washington.”
The remaining Duster came up beside Ned while the truck pulled away towards Violet.
“Violet, you got the truck on your six. I got the last car but you’ll have to outrun the truck. Can you do that?”
“He’s got a Kalashnikov Ned. I can’t outrun bullets.”
“Then dump the girl. It’s not worth it.”
“No! I have to get that thing. It’s family.”
Carl leaned out the passenger window of the truck and fired off a round that Violet could feel scratching her leather jacket.
“I hope she’s worth it,” Ned told her. “I’m taking mine north on Washington. You go south.”
“Roger. Buy you a beer when this is done,” said Violet.
‘I really doubt that,’ Ned thought.
Bullets smashed the back window of the Crown Vic and Ned was suddenly too busy to respond. There was just enough space between cars for Violet to squeeze through to the 6th street exit. Like deadly game of follow the leader everyone else followed single file. Violet raced ahead as fast as she could, weaving around the delivery trucks at the loading docks. At Washington she turned south, missing a passing Cadillac by inches and causing a chain reaction of screeching tires and honking horns but she was able to put some distance between her and the truck. Benny wasn’t as fortunate or as skilled as Violet and the Ram left an long, ugly crease along the side of the big Caddy. By the time the truck was straightened out Violet and Laurel were nearly out of sight. Ned took full advantage of the narrow road. As he reached the end he pulled hard on the parking brake and spun the big car sideways to block the Duster from exiting. Ned brought the shotgun up and unloaded it into the grill of the car.
“C’mon, fuckers” he shouted. “Come and get me.”
With that he slammed the car into reverse and spun it back around, shooting out onto Washington avenue in the opposite direction of Violet and in his head he was praying ‘please don’t follow me.’ The Duster took off North to follow Ned. Violet sped down Washington Avenue once again weaving in and out of the slow evening traffic and as she crossed an iron railroad bridge she nearly ran right into another problem. Mobs of young men and women in torn, blood-stained clothes, their faces covered in gruesome scars and sporting horrible wounds, slowly dragged themselves across the road.
“Zombies!” shouted Laurel pointing at the display.
Violet slowed down the bike, cut off on all sides by walls of mindless corpses. She honked the bike’s horn.
“Get out of the way dumb-asses,” Violet yelled.
A group of zombies, one in a blood-stained sweatshirt with “Kat and Mouse:Guns for Hire” on the front, turned and looked at her. The sweatshirt girl raised one ragged hand in Violet’s direction and flicked her the bird. The group broke character in bursts of laughter but refused to move. Violet snarled at the girl and tapped the very visible thirty eight in her shoulder holster. Sweatshirt girl got out of the way pushing two other zombies with her.
“Fuck! Whatever, bitch,” she yelled over her shoulder.
The group parted but not soon enough. The truck roared across the iron bridge towards the crowds of stumbling zombies.
“Get out of the way!” Violet shouted at them.
“Move! Right Now.”
Partly from Violet’s urging and partly from the imminent threat posed by the truck the crowd ran towards the curbs. Violet kicked the bike into gear and sped off with the truck on her fender.
“Christ! We’ll never make the turn,” she yelled. “This could get messy.”
Laurel gripped tight to Violet’s waist and instinctively leaned into the turn. Violet set the bike nearly sideways skidding across all four lanes of suddenly stopping traffic but she made the turn. Benny was smarter this time and took the truck in a wide arc that cut across the median, sending two zombies flying out of his way, but avoiding anything that could damage the truck. As they came out of the turn Violet was directly in front of them once more and Carl took the opportunity to fire off two rounds at the women. One of the bullets grazed Violet’s cheek drawing blood and turning its pathway into an angry red burn. By habit she drew the thirty eight and fired off one quick shot at Benny which spider-webbed the windshield.
“Oh sweet Jesus,” Laurel yelped. “They’re going to kill us.”
“No one’s going to kill you girl. I’ll make sure of that.” Laurel’s grip on Violet grew tighter and Violet felt a warm sensation pass through her body.
‘Don’t get all mushy now,’ she thought.
Carl fired off another shot and Violet handed the pistol back to Laurel.
“What should I do with this?” Laurel asked.
“Shoot at them.” Violet yelled.
“But – but what if I hit them?”
“Have you ever fired a gun before?”
Laurel didn’t answer.
“Then it’s not likely. Just point it at the driver and fire. We want to scare them back.”
Laurel took the gun and held it with both hands as Violet accelerated across the Mississippi bridge. The girl aimed at the windshield and, as Violet watched in the mirror, expertly steadied herself and fired off two rounds – both of which landed withing half an inch of Violet’s first lucky shot.
‘Begginner’s luck,’ Thought Violet but the truck was dropping behind.
Laurel gasped and dropped the pistol which disappeared behind them.
“Sorry,” she told Violet.
“Not a problem,” Violet told the girl.“There’s more.”
The truck was pulling up again and Violet switched lanes frantically – both to avoid the slower cars and to keep out of Carl’s targeting range. The Hennepin Avenue bridge was lit bright as Broadway against the dim fall evening and that plus adrenaline was making it hard for Violet to make out the upcoming streets. She navigated by landmarks alone and cruised up the hill after the bridge bringing her – and the truck – to the eastern bank of the river. Benny had shaken off whatever damage Laurel had managed to do and now charged at the motorcycle as if his life depended on it. As Violet made the turn south on to University the truck was close enough to the motorcycle to bump the rear fender and only Violet’s jigging across the road kept Carl from being able to take aim. Carl had other ideas. The truck edged closer to the rear of the motorcycle and violet could only move so far one way or the other without risking the oncoming campus traffic. Carl finally closed the gap and bumped the cycle making Violet scramble to recover.
“If I tell you to jump,” she yelled to Laurel, “You jump.”
“N-no! Don’t leave me out here.”
“I’ll slow down and you jump. Those two idiots will come after me and you’ll be safe. Got it?”
“No! Fuck you! I’m not jumping.”
Violet shook her head and gunned the motor just in time to avoid another bump from Benny.
“Fine! Have it your way.”
Violet leaned to the right and turned down 6th street back towards the river. As she made the turn she slowed down enough to pull the cycle to the side of the road and tip it over sideways dumping Laurel off onto the asphalt. The killer righted her cycle on the fly and zoomed away just as Carl and Benny roared by. Laurel rolled to a stop on the pavement. Frantically she scrambled to her knees to watched Violet drive away. She saw the two killers catch up to the cycle and ram it towards the river. She lost sight of Violet as she flew over the fence and down into the park below Main street. The truck rolled on.
Laurel stood. Blood ran from a deep gash on her forehead. She touched it lightly and the skin began to heal beneath her fingers. Satisfied that there were no other problems the girl walked towards the low fence that ran along the top of the bluff marking the eastern edge of the park. Violet’s motorcycle lay in a twisted heap along side the fence. Laurel looked over down over the edge. The sun had set and although Laurel stood beneath a street lamp the area down below inside the park was unlit. Still the girl gazed into the complete blackness as though it were daylight. She stared at one point for a moment and then, after looking around to see if anyone were watching, vaulted the fence and plummeted down the bluff.
Laurel landed a hand’s width from Violet’s head. She reached down and felt the blond woman’s pulse at her neck and then brushed the short blond hair aside to check a deep gash on the back of her skull. If it were possible to see her expression Laurel would have looked puzzled.
“How the hell are you still alive?” She asked out loud and then shook her head as if to dismiss the in-congruent data.
“You won’t be going anywhere soon with that bump on your head. I guess I owe you one since you tried to save me and all that, but what the fuck am I going to do with you?”
Laurel’s heard footsteps coming towards her. She sighed and picked up Violet with obvious reluctance, carefully lifting the woman over her shoulder as if the she weighed nothing. Laurel crept towards the crumbling mouth of the old Pillsbury mill tail-race and entered the inky darkness. She carefully laid Violet down on a dry patch of dirt and then called out. “Help me please,” she cried sounding every bit a scared young girl.
“We’re hurt. Please help”
Carl nudged Benny and the two men drew their pistols and walked towards the tail-race tunnel.
“We’re here to help little girl,” Carl called to her as they entered. “Just keep calling so we can find you.”
“I’m right here dumb shit,” Laurel growled and knocked Carl to the ground with a round-house kick to his head.
When he heard Carl being attacked Benny reacted by charging towards the sound. Laurel reacted by stepping out of Benny’s way and kicking him into the opposite wall as he passed. Laurel walked to where Benny had fallen. In the absolute dark of the cavern she reached down with both hands, grabbed Benny’s left arm and neatly snapped it as if it were a stalk of celery.
“Ahhhh!” he screamed. “God damn! God damn! You – you broke my arm.”
“Don’t be a baby, damn it. I hate babies.”
“Who are you?” Benny asked.
“Laurel Swanson. You two killed my father, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Yeah I guess.”
Laurel raised her foot and brought it down on Benny’s outstretched leg. There was another snapping sound and Benny Wailed again
“Stop that P-please stop it. What do you want?”
“I want my dad back, asshole.” Laurel kicked Benny’s broken leg bringing another wail.
“But since I can’t have that I need to know why you killed him.”
“We were told to.”
“By who?”
“I’m not supposed to tell…”
‘Snap’ went Benny’s remaining good leg.
“Gooooddddddd! Shit! Shit! Shit! Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. I’ll tell you. All right? I’ll fucking tell you.”
“Who is it, crybaby?”
“Brenda Kitsune.”
“Who’s Brenda Kitsune?”
“Some kinda mashical woman.” Benny was slurring his words now as the shock set in.
“Magic?” asked Laurel. “Like a witch?”
“Yeah. She a witch. I’m cold.”
Laurel looked down at the giant laying curled up on the dirt floor of the tunnel. She knew he wasn’t good for any more information.
“You can leave if you can drag your ass out of here.”
“You lettin’ me lif?” Benny asked.
“That’s up to you. I kicked that other guy in the head a little harder then I wanted. He won’t be a problem to anyone but his nurse from now on. When you get out of here you can get him an ambulance if you want.”
“Th-thangs,” he slurred.
Laurel snorted. “Don’t mention it, asshole.”
She picked up Violet and carried her outside of the tunnel to a narrow creek that ran down the remnants of the tail-race. There she laid the woman back down in some grass and looked her over from her head to her foot as if she were scanning her for something. While she was doing this Violet opened her eyes.
“Where the fuck am I?” Laurel smiled down at Violet.
“You were hit by that truck. You saved my life.”
Violet sat up and checked her arms and legs, making sure everything moved. When she was sure everything was still working she stood up and brushed herself off.
“Are – are you sure you should be standing?” asked Laurel.
“Sure. I’m fine. We got to get you to that house.”
“But you have a concussion.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“I mean you might have one.” Laurel stared hard at Violet’s head.
“What are you looking at?” Violet asked. “Do I have a hole there?”
“Your concussion … is ….gone.” Laurel stopped and blinked, then shook her head as if freeing herself from a spiders web.
“I said I’m fine, kid. Let’s go.”
Violet began walking along the path back up and out of the park with Laurel following behind.
Up above them both a raven settled on a street lamp. It watched the two women exit the wooded park and when they were clear it flew down to the mouth of the tail-race tunnel. There it transformed into Brenda Kitsune and walked inside.
“You two are pathetic,” she barked.
Carl still lay where he had fallen after Laurel’s kicked to his head. Drool ran from his slack mouth and his eyes were unfocused but still moving. Benny had dragged himself a few feet across the floor but he, too, lay nearly still.
“All you had to do is get the girl and instead you let her beat you up. You are just too pathetic to live. Brenda waved her hand and where Carl had lay there was now a rat and Benny had been changed into a large raccoon. Brenda smiled at the pair, both still laying on the dirt unmoving. She exited the cave and walked back up to Main street.
EPISODES
