A Mother's Love

StarThe wind blew through the shattered window frames. McKenzie held her breath as she listened for the scurrying of feet and held her necklace close. The wind died down and the night became deathly quiet. The last twenty months all led up to this moment. The main house was across the yard. She inched forward slowly making sure to avoid the rubbish strewn around the shed.

“Kenzie where are you?”

“I’m over here Luke, shut up and watch your step,” she seethe.

Luke quickly crept over to her sidestepping the broken bottles and upturned paint cans. McKenzie glanced at him quickly. The pandemic affected everyone in different ways. Her family took Luke in after he lost his entire family to the virus. He was lucky to be spared. She could tell that he still had resentment about what had happened, but without him there, McKenzie would not have known what to do when her mother became ill. After she lost her mother, her father disappeared and left the two to fend for themselves.

“This is our only chance Luke.”

“How do you know this will work?”

“I don’t know that it will, but I have to try. It’s not like it will make anything worse.”

“McKenzie you could get caught or even worse. We are breaking the curfew AND breaking into the leader’s house.”

“We have to do this! If we succeed than we can gain some semblance of normal and try to rebuild. Someone has to take a stand. If it has to be me than it will be. You can leave at any time Luke.”

“You expect me to leave you here by yourself? You’re not the only one who wants answers for the way he acted,” Luke replied raising his voice.

Light clicked on and shown in their direction. They both held their breath as they waited for total darkness.

“Probably just some wild animals creeping around looking for scraps,” a gruff voice called out in the darkness.

The lights turned away and they shed was enveloped in darkness. McKenzie and Luke both let out a sigh of relief. Neither one spoke a word, but they both knew what the other was thinking. Their time was quickly approaching. McKenzie’s legs were beginning to cramp from squatting in the shed when a light penetrated the darkness. The light flashed five times in succession.

“That’s the signal McKenzie.”

“Let's go,” she replied jumping up and running for the opening that was once a door.

McKenzie and Luke ran across the yard keeping to the shadows. When they reached the wall of the house, the storm cellar door opened and a familiar face popped up. The two descended underground as their eyes adjusted to the bright light of the cellar.

“I thought you two were caught there for a minute.”

“Sorry Declan. Little Miss Take a Stand here was trying to cause a problem,” Luke said nodding in McKenzie’s direction.

“You guys are lucky that I have new guys on guard duty with me. For the last three weeks I have been telling them about the creatures that roam around. They are terrified to venture out from the safety of the house.”

“We appreciate everything you have done Declan. We both owe you a favor when this is over, if we survive.”

“Listen here little lady. You two will survive this and we can settle up after that. As long as you have that locket around your neck, you have everything you need to win this battle. So, if we are done with all the chit chat, let’s get going,” Declan instructed.

McKenzie and Luke nodded in agreement. Declan led them up the stairs. At the door, he held up a hand to pause their movement. He opened the door and peered around it. There were no souls in sight and the silence was deafening. Declan led them out of the basement and into the main hall. The thick carpeting hid their footfalls as they jogged past paintings depicting the Leader as a savior during the pandemic. The anger built up in McKenzie with each picture that she passed.

“How does he think he saved us? He only looked out for himself during this whole situation. He didn’t care who he stepped on or who died as long as he looked good,” she thought to herself.

“ This is it McKenzie,” Declan said pausing at a heavy oak door.

He gave her a nod as he turned to leave. He had to go and cause a distraction to bid her more time.

“McKenzie,” Luke began to plead as he laid a hand on her shoulder.

“I need to do this Luke. He can’t win.”

“I know. I will be right out here if you need anything. Just yell and I will be there.”

“ I know.”

McKenzie gripped the heart locket her mom gave her before she passed and felt the warmth radiating out from it. She grabbed the door knob, turned, and pushed the door open.

There he was, sitting there and smiling. He slowly stood up as McKenzie entered the room.

“ It’s about time that you finally showed up. Are you ready to hand over that necklace to me?”

“ Over my dead body you scum. You released this plague to secure your own power and didn’t care about who you hurt as long as you got what you wanted. Did you really want to destroy mankind?”

“ I may as well tell you the truth. It doesn’t matter anyway. You won’t make it out of here alive.”

“ One of us won’t.”

“ Enough! I did release this virus. I did not plan for it to become a pandemic or to wipe out a majority of the population. It did work out for me however. Now I am the most powerful person in the world and there is nothing you can do to stop me. No one would ever believe you even if you did make it out of here. Now hand over that necklace so I can have the picture of my family back.”

“ We may have been your family in public, but in private we were your slaves. You left me and Luke alone after mom died. You didn’t care about us. You told everyone we died too!”

“Stop being so dramatic my dear. It was better for you for everyone to believe you had died too. You were never meant to be in the spotlight. You were a black mark on my reputation.”

“How dare you!”

“Face the truth girl, you were always a pain for me to deal with. That us why I told the world that you had succumbed to the virus, but now I can tell them the truth you went rouge and tried to kill me. It’s a good thing my guards are well trained to protect me,” he laughed as he pulled out a gun.

A shot rang out in the night. The Leader's face went blank as he looked down at his abdomen. A pool of blood was forming on his shirt.

“How?”

“ You’re not the only one who knows people Jeff. If you survive your wound, you will be charged with every crime possible,” McKenzie sneered as she hit the top of the locket and their entire conversation began to replay.

The door opened behind her. She turned and smiled.

“It's over with now. We can go home.”