Free Primal by D.A. Serra Page A

bathroom closing the door. She has
no breath. Her brain stutters. Shock. Think. Think. The rain pours like an open
faucet onto the roof. It is loud and her gasping cannot be heard. She peeks out
and sees Gravel opening the door to the food pantry. She turns and climbs onto
the top of the tank of the toilet bowl. She slips her fingers under the tiny
opening of the bathroom window and presses with all her strength trying to open
the humidity swollen window. Her face goes red and her arms shake as she forces
open the double-hung glass.
    In the main room, Kent has taken off his coat and stands by
the fire warming. Theo has grabbed the stew pot from the table and is eating in
one of the armchairs. Ben stands, gun out, watching the table with a pleasant
look on his face. Everyone at the table waits. They exchange glances tense with
meaning, all hoping Alison is well hidden. She may be all they have.
    From the kitchen, “Lookie what I found!”
    “No, oh, no,” Hank drops his head and pain drenches his
expression. Gravel pops his head out holding a box of Oreos.
    Kent holds his hands up for the pass, “All right!” Gravel
chucks the bag over to him and turns back into the kitchen.
    Inside the tiny bathroom, Alison’s face is bright red and
her teeth clenched as she pushes and pulls the window a few more inches. This
is as far as it is going. This will be tight, maybe too tight. Shifting her
weight, the toilet tank wobbles a little, she goes for it.
    Gravel sees the wooden door to the bathroom. He walks over.
He pulls his gun. Alison crawls out into the driving rain and reaches up to
close the window. It comes part way down when the bathroom light flips on! She
hits the mud and rolls up against the lodge wall lying on her side with her
back flat against the building. Mud and water in her nose and mouth, she chokes
but does not move. Gravel’s pasty and distorted face appears in the window. She
can see the outline from his head where it blocks the light coming from inside.
He peers into the dark. She senses. He’s directly above her. She closes her
eyes and bites her lips. A moment. The light goes off in the bathroom. She lies
there submerged in mud.
    Gravel enters the main room and tells Ben, “Nothing.” Covert
glances are exchanged at the table. At least there is someone out there who
knows what’s happening.
    Ben says, “So, okay, listen up. I don’t particularly want to
kill any of you. My brother Gravel wants to kill all of you because that’s his
nature.” Gravel grins and shrugs as though Ben has said something charming. Ben
continues, “So we’ve got a delicate balance here. You folks need to behave so
as not to upset that balance. Now, you…” he speaks to Hobbs, “this your place?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Where’s your fishing boat? We’ll be taking that.”
    “Storm like this, my partner drove it to safe harbor this
morning.”
    “How far is that?’
    “About two miles by water.”
    “Fuck.” Kent says. Theo looks up from his pot of stew. He
offers Kent a piece of meat. Kent takes it from Theo’s fingers and pops it in
his mouth.
    Gravel asks, “Where’s the nearest town?”
    Hobbs responds, “No town.”
    “Fine.” Ben looks to Gravel. “Let’s just clean this
carburetor and hope that will do it.”
    Behind a tree, near the front of the lodge, she stands. She
is barely recognizable through the mud and the contorted expression. Her feet
are parted, her knees taut, her arms straight at her sides, her unblinking eyes
stuck to the lodge front window. It is dark outside and the lights from the
lodge illuminate the main room like a stage play. She feels as though she is in
the middle of something unreal. She stands indifferent to the pounding rain,
the thunderous noise, and the flashes of violent electricity.
    Inside, Ben’s tone has taken on an eerie controlling calm.
”How about you all move to the far corner over there by the game table and take
a seat together on the floor.”
    “Why?”