Dysis' Will; Part 2/2

[Part 2]

“Drop any weapons onto the ground now, slowly. Turn around, and take three steps back.”

“Don’t have any on me, gents.”

“Do it now, smartass, or we’ll open fire.”

“Now that’s rather boorish. But I swear, look,” William turned out his jean pockets, “Empty as the mind of a marine. Now can we move on?”

Dysis heard Parke’s groans resume. He had made it across the floor from the counter to the front windows of the store, behind and to the right of William. If their assaulter could hear, he wasn’t paying attention. Not to the cop’s firearm that Parke had finally reached.

“Turn around, hands on your head, and take three steps back.”

William pondered on this, “Yeah… yeah let’s start it that way.”

William obeyed the command, casting a look in Dysis’ direction. His eyes seemed to sparkle. A crack in the air was followed by a splattering puncture in William’s cheek. The soldiers by the trucks flinched, though they had not opened fire and remained stationary.

William’s mouth smoked, and in the moment that he was fired at by Parke his neck had snapped in an audible crack. There he stood, until with a frustrated groan he pushed a bullet to the front of his mouth, and spat it onto the tarmac.

“Fuck’s sake, Parke.”

The lot alit in gunfire as William turned and rushed at the soldiers in a blur of an instant, already tossing and throwing the two dozen men in turns over and against the vehicles parked before the café.

This…

The windows behind which Parke had fired from smashed from an incoming soldier, who landed on the cop and rolled into the store’s tables and chairs.

…can’t be real.

Some of the men would fight back, their physical exchanges with William brief before they were knocked away like nothing. It was inhuman.

It’s chaos incarnate.

The din of the screams and gunfire were deafening.

With one hand still on her chest, Dysis shuffled behind the tables towards two SWAT officers who had made it to their feet, one of whom had both of his legs bent like bows, held up by his partner, before they were thrown off their feet by a flying soldier. She didn’t care anymore. She had seen enough. Even if it cost her, even if her own legs would be broken in the process, she needed to leave.

An engine roared from outside, and one of the trucks came crashing through the far end of the store and into the back wall. One of its front doors flew off its hinges together with a soldier, and out came William, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“What he wanted to achieve with these wheels… beats me.”

He saw Dysis.

She made for the counter, vaulting over the top, being caught mid-air and tossed back against the floor by William. Her back screamed in pain.

“WILLIAM…!!”

He turned around to the source of the cry, and saw Cal, bleeding from his forehead and apron torn in two, standing in the back door with the fire extinguisher in his hands. Despite her agony, despite the despair of that store in the sunset, Dysis felt elation wash over her.

“Hiya, Cal. You see what he did there, with the truck?

“Shut up.” He took a step forward, “This has gone on for long enough, whatever this is.”

“That’s not going to do much.”

“I know. But you needn’t worry about it.”

“I’ve been calm as the Pacific this last hour, Cal. You’re the one who needs to chill out.”

“Shut your fucking trap you fucking—”

“No, you listen for a second, kid.” Now William made a step towards the other, “You’ve not the faintest idea what’s happening here. You said so yourself. Who are you to dictate anything to the man that’s the cause of it all?”

“What you’re doing here is wrong, and that’s objective. I don’t care if you’re fucking president of the planet, we don’t have to be here. And if you’ve any heart in you, you’ll stop this right now—”

“Oh, for the love of all that is beautiful…” William craned his neck and back in sequential snaps, then, to Dysis’ dismay, fiddled with the hole in his cheek before pointing the same finger at Cal, “Stop it. I know what you’re saying, but stop it.”

“Stop what…?”

“Just be quiet, alright? Both of you…” William looked between Dysis and Cal, “have been witness to the greatest experiment since the atom bomb, I tell you. What you’ve just witnessed has tested your faith in all things orderly and absolute to the point that you still think a fire extinguisher can distract me for long enough to make your escape. You’ve seen and felt terror unlike anything you’ve really felt in your mediocre, comfortable lives, and the first instinct you have is to run away. It’s… truly… truly depressing.”

A storm siren sounded from outside, briefly catching Cal’s attention.

“Pay it no mind, kid.” William held up his hand, “You have your whole life ahead of you. And you too, Dysis. Just give me a second, in the meantime. I think one of these boys has called for some more friends.”

Cal caught eyes with Dysis. She had never seen him the way he was, and, for some indeterminable reason, it was like a breath of fresh air. He had always been quiet, like her, ever since they had met on her first day working at the store.

He’s been here longer than I have, and yet now…

“Enough of this.” He was brandishing the extinguisher.

No, don’t do it, it’s not going to work.

“I agree.” William approached the doors again.

What?

“Just make sure to get these fellas out of here in the next half hour, I think. If not earlier.”

Dysis assumed he was referring to the cops and the soldiers.

“Fucker.” Cal had activated the fire extinguisher, just as a piercing whistle was growing outside.

William had leapt away from the foam, jumping several feet into the air of the parking lot as a missile blasted Dysis’ eyes in a fiery glare. She lost all hearing, and her head felt like it would burst.

The world turned white. Soon it focused again, and Dysis saw the front of the store destroyed, ablaze in fading fire, and the rest of the café intact. There was no William in sight.

It’s over?

Just like that.

She heard a clutter and saw Cal pulling himself up from behind the counter, still holding the extinguisher.

“How the…”

Dysis saw that she herself had been knocked back into the corner couch.

“What a day…”

She couldn’t help but chuckle at Cal’s remark. She saw that Parke and the soldiers were slowly picking themselves up as well, groaning and grunting.

“What happened?”

Cal had addressed one of the marines, who shrugged off and limped towards the store’s entrance.

“It was an airstrike. Mighty obvious.” Parke’s gravelly voice came from an otherwise broken man being lifted up by two SWAT soldiers who could still walk on their feet.

“Really? Who called it—?”

“For fuck’s sake, kid, grow a brain.” The squad leader of the marines struggled over to the truck in the wall and turned on its radio.

“I think we have to get out of here.” Dysis noticed how her heart had ceased back to a regular rhythm. She rose from the couch, leaning on an overturned table to address the rest in the room, “He said we have half an hour.”

The soldiers exchanged glances.

“What does that mean—?”

“It means we get out of here.” The squad leader put down the radio and climbed into the driver’s seat, “Not everything is for you to know.”

“You came here to save us.”

“We did. And to stop a violent maniac. Which we did. Now climb in the truck.”

The words seemed to sting.

This feels wrong.

“No.”

“Right. Get in the truck, now. Come on.”

“No.”

I can’t.

All semblance of patience dissolved from the squad leader’s face.

“Get in the fucking truck, and stop wising about.”

“Come on, then.” Parke and those assisting him proceeded towards the vehicle, and the others either followed or went outside to the second truck.

“And get my partner, Ranger! He’s waiting outside!”

Voices of confirmation soon followed, informing that he was hiding quietly in one of the SWAT cars.

Cal looked over in consternation. Dysis avoided his gaze.

Don’t start now.

“Dysis, they clearly know something we don’t. Even William did—”

“Don’t refer to that fucking freak by his name, Cal.”

“We have to go. What’s gotten into you?”

She couldn’t say. But she couldn’t leave either.

“I think… if I leave, something’s going to happen to me.”

She heard a gentle chuckle.

“What’s going to happen to you, Dysis?”

“Don’t laugh, Cal, please.”

“Okay.”

“He’s coming back. And when he does, I have to be here. Else, who knows what will happen?”

“Who told you that, Dysis?”

“He took a bullet and threw two dozen built men like they were ragdolls, Cal. What more do you need?”

“Well, the missile took care of him. I don’t see him, do you?”

“He’s coming back. If you don’t understand that you’re an idiot.”

There was silence. The storm siren returned, wailing in the distance, though from a different direction.

It’s on wheels, driving through the neighbourhood…?

“Come on!!” The squad leader thumped his boot on the doorframe of the truck.

“Dysis you’re a fool if you think someone’s surviving what he did. And you’re a fool to stay when the military is telling you that you need to leave. Why can’t you see that?”

“I suppose ours are different paths to follow.”

“Oh, for fuck’s… get up.”

He took her by the arm. She tore it away.

“Go, Cal. I’ll be fine.”

“How do you know that? You don’t. Get up.”

“Stop it. You’ve helped me enough. Thank you. Now go and do your thing…”

She might have chosen a less abrasive expression, and by the look on Cal’s face she assumed he’d pull her up again. But he walked off. Still holding the fire extinguisher.

Why after such a long quarrel does it feel like he’s leaving too easily?

She thought he would fight longer.

The squad leader gave her a dismissive glance before igniting the engine as Cal was helped into the back, reversing out of the store while the wall and debris crumbled and crackled under the tires. The sirens still wailed.

She waited until all of them had left, then, in the final crimson light of the day, Dysis picked herself up and began restoring the café to its former state. She rearranged the tables and the chairs, those that were still whole, and retrieved the vacuum from the back room to clean up the plaster and glass littering the floor.

She would return to college after this. Something deep down told her that she would be fine, though the future was murky and vague. If she was wrong in her hunch, and those sirens were gospel, she could not account for what would transpire in the remaining few minutes.

After sweeping the counter and pouring herself a coffee from what remained in the jug, miraculously unscathed, Dysis drank and waited for what was to come. Soon she found it hard to see the cup in her hand, using the torch in her phone to illuminate her place in the store. An infinite number of shadows were cast by all the pieces of rubble surrounding her, and with the sun long gone the horizon turned grey, the parking lot a silent void as the receding sirens stopped their blaring. Any movement seemed loud.

Dysis finished the coffee, placing the cup behind her on the counter, just as she heard a set of footsteps emerging from the blackness. Directing her light at the entrance, she saw William smirking back at her, his chest charred black.

“Your faith is commendable, in choosing to stay back.”

“Well… after all the times you told me to stay…”

He chuckled, “That’s right. You finally understand, don’t you?”

Despite how calm Dysis felt in that moment, she felt her heart start racing once more. It was habit by now.

“I probably do, but it’s hard to say until you look back in hindsight.”

“I agree.” William opened his hands, “Do you regret staying back while they all left?”

“I do. It’s not fair on Cal. He did everything he could.”

“He’s weak. You and I both know that.”

“That’s not fair either.”

“Is it?”

William stepped over the store’s threshold, noticing the cup at Dysis’ elbow.

“It’s a good coffee, you know? You have talent for a dead-end job like this.”

“Is that something to be proud of?”

“I’d think so.”

William breathed in, a long, weighty inhale. And let it all out.

“Not much longer, now.”

Maybe I shouldn’t have drunk that coffee.

If it was from the caffeine and not something else. It was becoming hard to breathe again, and by habit Dysis placed her hand on her chest. William seemed to notice this.

“What are your plans after this, Dysis? I hope you have some.”

“I do…”

But not now.

“I can’t think about it now…”

“I understand.”

His burning grip embraced her, but she could hardly care anymore. With her head pressed against a chest that felt like hot molten steel, out of the corner of her eye she saw the room alight in a brilliant white. A moment later came the roaring winds, and air hotter than any summer’s day.

Dysis fidgeted but was hugged tighter by William as she felt her feet leave the ground, and the blood rush to her head and back down again while the store audibly splintered and broke, bits of debris impacting a William who hardly flinched. Her heart was tearing through her chest, and against her will Dysis felt herself scream. This was the end, she was sure.

Her legs felt tarmac, and soon she was rolling against it. The winds had ceased, though they pulled at her hair back in the direction they came from, dragging her for several feet along the ground. And then it was over.

Dysis expected any type of cataclysmic spectacle after looking up. She did not expect a naked William, standing some distance away, looking down on her.

“Don’t hate me for it. The temperature burned it all away.”

But not you. Or me.

Each side of her body, most exposed to what had just happened, seared like the worst sunburn she ever had, and there two disintegrated lines were marked, though the rest of her was still clothed. Dysis hugged herself all the same.

“What… what was it?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

It was. Behind William, about a mile away, a raging mushroom cloud was turning night into day.

“So much… for you?”

“What would you do, Dysis? Don’t blame them for their reactions to my actions. Besides, they evacuated everyone in time. It was just you that was left.”

William kept his distance, his feet slapping against the ground as he walked around Dysis. The back of his head, torso, and limbs were burnt to a crisp.

“Where are you going?”

He stopped.

“You were so ready to leave me behind, and now you’re wondering where I’m off to?”

“You’re…”

She couldn’t bring herself to say it. This time it wasn’t loss of breath or a palpitating heart. She was calm.

William nodded, “I know. Just don’t falter now.”

And with that he was off, wandering into the night, onto the sidewalk and the grass, disappearing behind some trees that still cast a shadow. He was gone.

He finally left.

Save for a few bruises following her roll on the tarmac, and her fall on the floor back at the now decimated store, there was no longer any pain. With no pain, there was a promise of tomorrow.

There were more sirens. These ones weren’t of the nuclear kind. She’d have to make herself decent before meeting these new faces. Standing up, Dysis brushed herself off, and with a final glance at the mushroom cloud, started limping her way towards their ever-growing howl.