GLOWING (Joel Miller)

21 | The Bloater

My ears were ringing and my head was pounding. I cautiously turned around, from where I was huddled behind Perry, staring at the bright light. It illuminated the entire street, including a house at the very end, where every soldiers' flash light was trained.

"Who's up there?" A soldier bellowed from ahead of me, slowly approaching the house. "You two, go around. Take him out."

Two more soldiers obliged, running over towards the building.

I waited in silence, my heart beating hard in my chest, as Kathleen stepped forward. A tiny part of my brain sighed in disappointment that she was okay.; but a bigger part was wary of what she was about to do.

"Dead end, Henry," she called out into the impenetrable darkness. She took a few steps forward, taking her time. "Gonna step on out? Save us some time."

There was no response, but Kathleen wasn't having it. She continued to walk forward, waving the soldiers after her. I suddenly felt a gentle push against my back and looked up to see Perry, nudging me forward. "Come on."

There was still no response from the so-called "Henry," but Kathleen continued her taunting. "No?" She said patronisingly. "That's alright. Doesn't matter."

We all took a few more tentative step forward, before a scared voice called out from behind a nearby car. "I'll come out," it said shakily, and my heart clenched at the fear laced within it.  "Just let the kids go!"

Kids?

Kathleen just stopped walking and I could hear the smirk in her response. "No, sorry," she replied with the most insincere sincerity I'd ever heard. "The girl is with the man who killed Brian—" What?  "—and Sam... well Sam's with you."

"You don't understand!" The distinctly male voice called out.

Kathleen just sighed. "But I do. I know why you did what you did." There was no response. "But did you ever stop and think that maybe he was supposed to die?"

I clenched my teeth at her lack of empathy.

"He's just a fucking kid!"

"Well, kids die, Henry," Kathleen explained like a teacher disciplining a child. "They die all the time. You think the whole world revolves around him? That he's worth... everything?" I knew my anger was obvious, because Perry moved his hand from my lower back to my shoulder, gently squeezing it. "Well, this is what happens when you fuck with fate." Kathleen bellowed.

Suddenly, Kathleen reached back, grabbing my arm in a vice-like grip and yanking me forward. I struggled, trying to wrench my arm out of her grasp, but four soldiers surrounded me, holding me down. I looked back to see them trying to contain Perry as well. I went still.

Kathleen's grip remained tight around my forearm as she stared out at the vast expanse of abandoned vehicles. "You mess with my family, I mess with yours!"

With the speed of a bullet, Kathleen raised a handgun to the side of my head, resting the cold barrel against my hair. My breath hitched as I tried to stop the panic, quickly rising in my chest. Oh shit, oh shit, I thought as everyone around me went silent.

"It's time, Henry," Kathleen called out once again. "Enough! Come out now or she gets it."

Now I really started to panic. Who the fuck is Henry? I thought. If I don't know him, he sure as hell doesn't know me. Why the fuck would he come out of his hiding place?

But, despite my completely rational questions, moments later a dark skinned boy—seemingly no older than twenty—stepped out with his hands raised above his head. He slowly inched forward, his eyes never straying from Kathleen's, whose—now—shaky hand still held the gun to my head. Very slowly, she lowered it, cocked it, then raised it once again, this time pointed at Henry.