The Long Road

Chapter 1 - Another Day

Derek lit up a cigarette and laid the lighter down in the passenger seat as he drove home from work that day. A pile of fresh butts sat in the ashtray. Five, he counted. All in a forty-five minute period, he noted. Chain smoking had become a habit of his as of late, but this day had been overly stressful. He had been used to closing the small grocery store he worked at, and today he had opened the store. He definately was not a morning person, but he could have coped had it just been that.

First thing that morning, the owner of the store had come in and observed him ringing up groceries for a customer he never really cared for. She was a short, older woman with an obvious hatred for everyone and everything. More than once she had complained to Derek about things most people wouldn't give a second thought. Now she was complaining about how the foods in the frozen section should be organized better, and that certain things such as frozen peas should be on a lower rack so shorter people could reach them easier.

Derek didn't care of course. He just kept ringing up her groceries with a constrained smirk on his face. How he wished one day he could just tell her how annoying she was. When he was finished ringing her up, she got very irate that he hadn't listened to her. He just sighed and told her the total, and she paid. Her complaints could be heard even after she had exited the store.

The owner of the store, Mr. Thompson, walked over to him then. He was a man in his mid-thirties. Glasses and a plain colored, button-up shirt. Very uptight. Everyone knows the type.

"Derek, that was not the way you should handle customers," he said, placing his hands on his hips and looking at Derek in a very demeaning manner. Derek shrugged and returned his look, an air of indifference in his voice.

"If she didn't annoy the hell out of everyone in the store," he said, "Maybe we would actually talk to her."

Mr. Thompson's face turned red, and he threw his hands up in the air.

"Do you need this job?" he asked. "Because if you don't, then there are several people that would gladly take it."

"Yes," Derek said, his temper beginning to flare. "I need this job." There was a lot more he wanted to say, like how he wanted to kick Mr. Thompson's football-shaped head around the store a few times, but he didn't want to jeapordize his pay check so he kept quiet.

"Well you definately need an attitude adjustment. Try acting like a normal human being instead of some thug and things would be a lot better for you!" Mr. Thompson said.

"Fuck you." Derek replied calmly. When the vein in Mr. Thompson's neck began to bulge out, Derek smiled happily.

"That's it!" Mr. Thompson said as he pointed towards the door. "You're fired! Get the hell out of my store! If you come back for anything besides getting your check I will call the police!"

Derek shrugged again and took off his apron, throwing it in Mr. thompson's face. I might just have to knock this guy on his ass. Derek stepped right in front of him and eyed him up and down.

"I guess I don't need this job!" Derek said. "So I guess it wouldn't be too much of a problem for me if I just laid your ass out right here!"

Mr. Thompson stepped back a bit, a frightened look on his face.

"Now just wait a minute," he said. "I don't want any trouble from you, I just want you to leave my store. Rest assured that I will call the proper authori..."

"I don't give a damn." Derek said, regaining his composure. "I already spent a year there. What's a few months for kicking your ass?" Derek bowed up and took a half-step forward, and Mr. Thompson tripped backwards. Derek laughed.

"Bitch." He said before he walked out.

As he smoked intently on his cigarette, the blaring metal song on the radio was interrupted with the announcer.

"This is Black Jack here at Kore104." His voice had a sense of seriousness and urgency that was very uncharacteristic for him. "This is the first time I have ever interrupted a song, but I think this time its...uh...pretty important. Some people have called in wanting to know what is going on at the hospital and on the north side of town.

"I don't know anything at all about it, but apparently what I have heard is that there's a situation down at the hospital and police have been called. The traffic is pretty backed-up, and I think is might be a pretty novel idea to find another route to your weekend escapades. Also the a lot of streets have been closed down on the north side near the business district and there's a lot of cops out there too. If I find out anything, I will give you an update then. Til then though, Rock on!"

Derek was a little concerned at this. His parents were coming back into town today from Florida, and the interstate exit they took to get home passed right through the north side of town. He cussed under his breath because he didn't want to delay the first home cooked meal he had had in weeks. He had been living with a friend for a few months, then there was a falling out right after his parents left. As far as he knew they hadn't caught onto the fact that he was living there again yet. After all he was twenty-two. Time for him to move on and make something of himself as far as his mother was concerned. What she didn't realize was that it would be easy for him to make something of himself if people weren't always getting in the way. Cops, bosses, the usual. All of them having something to add to things that didn't concern them.

A short time later, after he had traversed most of suburbia, he pulled onto the small street on which he lived. Bayside Street. It was a quiet little neighborhood nestled close to the wooded areas before the rural counties. Derek used to love it when he was a young kid. It was a nice place to ride a bike or have a water balloon fight, but once he got older, the monotony of it killed him. No one knew how to mind their own business in a place like that. And around the age of fourteen or fifteen, he had done everything that could possibly be done in or around Franklin.It was far better than living in the surrounding counties though.

As he pulled his beat up '92 Toyota Corolla down the road, he spotted a group of kids playing basketball in the street. He sighed, knowing the usual drill. He would have to sit there for a couple of minutes while they ran back and forth passing the ball until they finally decided to acknowledge there was a car waiting to pass. Then they would walk as slowly as they could to the sides of the street. Not the sidewalk, but the side, just to be difficult. Then they would exchange looks, letting each other know how ignorant they thought each other were. As Derek came to a stop, two of them walked over to his window.

Daniel and Livie Burns. They were probably the only two in the neighborhood Derek liked. Probably because their parents had been close friends ever since Derek's family moved there when he was two. Daniel was 17, just coming out of the awkward teenage years. His acne had cleared up, and he finally ditched his horrible chilly-bowl hair-cut for a modern buzz cut. He was a good kid. Good grades and all of that. Everything Derek's mom wished he had been when he was his age. Normally that would bother Derek, but the kid was just too naive to hold it against him. His sister, on the other hand, was a different story.

Olivia Burns was a bit of a problem child. At the ripe young age of fifteen, she was right on track with the usual rebellion of youth. She was a cute blonde who had blossomed a little too early, and she knew it. Their father had a hard time keeping her in line. She had a temper to match her old man's, and on more than one occasion Derek had seen her sneaking out of her house in the middle of the night. Just a normal sign of the times, he guessed.

"How's it going," Daniel asked as he walked over to the window.

"Alright, I guess." Derek said. "Just got fired from Super Mart."

"Wow," Daniel replied. "Why am I not suprised."

"Daniel, that's mean!" his sister said as she smacked him in the arm. Derek wasn't really in the mood for conversation, so he changed the subject.

"Have you guys heard about what's going on north side?" he asked, lighting up another cigarette. "From what the radio said, there's something pretty serious going on down there." Both of them shook there heads.

"Oh my god," Livie said. "What's happening?" She put her hands on her hips with one of those confused looks she gives.

"I have no idea," Derek said. "Black Jack said there was a lot of police around the hospital, and they had most of the north side of town closed down."

"That doesn't sound good," Daniel said.

"No," Derek said. "It doesn't. But I am pretty tired, so I am going to head to the house and lay down. You two be good."

"Ok," Daniel said. "Bye." He turned and joined back in the game.

"Bye!" Livie said as she leaned in the window and hugged him. Then she shimmied off to join her brother and the others.

Derek whipped into his driveway a couple of hundred feet away. He checked to make sure he had his cell phone, wallet, cigarettes, keys, and lighter, then hopped out of the car and into the house. The house had a little bit of an aroma to it. Not too bad, but not too good either. In the six days he had been there he had really junked the place up. He decided he would probably need to clean the house before his parents got home, so he turned on the t.v. and started picking up the living room.

He hadn't noticed the live news coverage at first as he cleaned off the coffee table and picked up some empty fast food bags, but as he was taking some cloths to the laundry room, the frantic look on the reporter's face caught his attention. He threw the cloths in the recliner and plopped down on the couch, then turned up the t.v.

"...still no reports from the mayor about what is going on." the young woman said as two cops ran past her. In the background was the hospital, and what looked like dozens of ambulances and police cars parked in front of it. "A group of people not yet identified have gone on a killing spree in the heart of Franklin. Apparently everything started at the house of an elderly couple early this morning. Seventy-three-year-old Karen Jenkins of East Dale was found in her home by police when neighbors noticed her front door was opened. Her body had been mutilated. Her husband, seventy-five-year-old James Jenkins has not been found.

"Since then the unidentified group has vandalized property and attacked what seem to be random individuals in the North Terrace area, and apparently attacked the hospital just a few hours ago. Police have two suspects in custody. The mayor ordered the north side of town and the area around the hospital off limits. Anyone heading this way should find an alternate route home. We will bring you more as this story unfolds. This is Nancy Moore for News Channel 8."

Looks like someone pissed in the wrong persons bran flakes this morning.

Derek thought it would be a good idea to let his parents know not to go through the north side, so he flipped out his cell phone and dialed his dad's number. It rang several times with no answer. Derek was about to give up, when his father finally answered the phone.

"What?" Derek's father said, obvious irritation in his voice.

"Hey," Derek said. "I just thought I would call and tell you it might not be a good idea to come through town. There's a gang or something attacking people and the cops have it all closed off."

"Well why the hell couldn't you have called me thirty minutes ago?" his father growled. "We're sitting here a few blocks from North Terrace at a dead stand still. There's cops running all over the place, and they wouldn't even let you're momma out of the car to go use the bathroom."

Derek groaned. Of all the places they had to get stuck at, they picked right up the road from where the action was happening.

"Is there any other way you can get out of there?" Derek asked.

"No, dammit!" his father yelled. "We're stuck here. Let me call you back later." Then he hung up.

"What a bastard," Derek said. "Maybe it would do him some good to get his ass beat by some young punks."

On a whim, he dialed his girlfriend Philena. The ring-back tone she had on her phone was one of those gut-wrenching girl-pop songs. Everytime Derek heard it he gritted his teeth. But it was worth a few seconds of sonic garbage. She was an awesome lay.

"Hey!" she screamed into the phone and giggled over the music in the background. "What are you doing baby?" she asked.

"Just sitting here at the house," Derek said. "What are you up to?"

"Riding around with Amy getting stoned out of my mind!" she said just before she busted out into a laughing fit.

"Must be nice," Derek said. "I'm all out. Listen, have you heard about what's going on downtown?"

"No, we're out here by the mall," she said.

"Well something bad is going on. Lots of cops and ambulances. Why don't you come over here where it's safe?" Derek said with a hint of mischief in his voice.

"Well," she drug the word out in anticipation, "Maybe. Let me and Amy stop and get a bite top eat, then go get some cloths, then we will be on our way!"

"Alright. That's cool." Derek said. "See you soon."

"Bye!" Philena said, the hung up.

XxXxXxXx

A couple of hours passed and his parents hadn't gotten home yet. It was probably nothing. They most likely stopped to get a bite to eat. Most likely without me.

After a while of watching t.v., he decided to go outside and smoke a cigarette. Grabbing his pack and lighter, he stepped out onto the front porch and closed the door. He deeply inhaled the smoke and relished it. A year in jail had given him a new appreciation for smoking. Being locked behind bars without access to much more than lousy food and the rare delight of tobacco rolled in toilet paper. Every exhale was like a little taste of freedom for him.

It took him a few seconds to realize that most of the cars in the neighborhood were gone. That was very unusual, but he guessed everyone was either stuck in traffic or heading to the other counties in case something went wrong. He had been standing there for a few minutes when he noticed Daniel walking up the driveway. Derek didn't mind, he was happy to have the company.

"Hey," Daniel said. "I think something really bad is going on." Derek noticed once he got closer the almost terrified look on his face.

"It's probably not that bad," Derek said. "Did your girlfriend miss a period? Or is your dad going apeshit again?"

"No, no, no, no!" Daniel said. "It isn't anything like that. Most of the other guys in the neighborhood got called home, and most of them were leaving, like, a few minutes later. I stopped the Kilgores and talked to them, and they said things are real bad in town. They didn't know what it was, but they said Mr. Kilgore's brother, who is a cop, called them and told them to leave town for a few days."

"Man," Derek said. "Like I said, it's nothing." Derek said. He leaned up beside the house and tossed his cigarette out into the yard.

"That's not all," Daniel said frantically, raising his voice. "Dad hasn't gotten home yet, and we can't reach him on his phone, and Livie is freaking out."

Derek sighed. Their dad didn't really care much for Derek. Even though he was friends with Derek's parents, he knew it would be best to keep his kids away from him. His fears of pot smoking and outright defiance probably wouldn't be too far fetched either. Against his better judgement, he decided it would probably make the kids feel better if they stayed with him until their father got home.

"Go get you're sister," he said. "You two can hang out here."

"Ok," Daniel said. Then he darted back towards his house.

xXxXxXxX

Derek sat with Daniel in the kitchen, watching the day settle into dusk through the window as he listened to Daniel tell him about how things at school were, his girlfriends, and all kinds of things Derek didn't really care to hear about. Daniel liked to ramble. Not about anything off the wall, but he felt that every detail was important. He wouldn't tell you that he got ice cream yesterday. He would tell you that he got a double scoop of butter-pecan ice cream on a waffle cone. And then he would tell you about how the building looked really old. Stuff like that. Derek didn't mind too much. Daniel was nice company.

Livie was curled up on the couch in the fetal position. They had tried to call their dad several more times, but with no response. Livie began to think that maybe he had been attacked or killed. Derek knew better. Their father was a good man, but he was known to go have a few drinks with the guys from work at times. He was probably at the local bar throwing darts or something.

"I am going to go to college to be pyro-technician," Daniel said. The statement took Derek by suprise a bit.

"Have you lost your damn mind?" Derek asked.

"Huh... why do you say that?" Daniel replied. Derek smirked then kicked back in the chair.

"Well for starters," Derek said. "You'll probably kill yourself or someone else. Secondly, who was the last person you talked to that was a pyro tech or had one in the family?"

"Well... no one," Daniel said. He made slightly disappointed face and looked down at the floor.

"Exactly," Derek said. "There's maybe a couple thousand in the entire country. And I bet most of those had a relative or a friend that got them started in it. It would be pretty shitty to go to college for two or four years, then when you go to get a job, there's not an opening anywhere. You need to go to college for something you can use. Make some good money at."

"Well why didn't you go to college?" Daniel asked with an inquisitive glare. Derek just looked at him and shrugged.

"College just isn't my thing," Derek said. "I would be just fine if people who stay out of my business."

"Well maybe if you didn't do things to get in trouble, they would leave you alone," Daniel said.

"Smart ass," Derek said. "Well maybe if yo..."

Derek didn't get to finish. A loud scream cut him off in mid-sentence. The kids yelled and screamed all the time, even at night sometimes, but this scream sounded different. It sounded wrong.

Both of them jumped up out of their chairs and raced out the front door. Livie jumped up onto the couch on her knees, asking what was wrong. From the front porch, they couldn't see anything, but they could definitely hear it. What sounded like two or three people screaming appeared to be coming from behind one of the houses on the opposite side of the street. Derek wondered if it would be worth his time to go check it out. Screaming meant cops. From the sounds of things, someone was getting beaten bad. He almost turned and went back inside when Daniel sprinted across the street.

"Daniel, get your ass back here!" he yelled, but to no avail. Daniel had already jumped the fence at the house across from them. Derek followed. He used to be a good runner in school, but four years of heavy smoking stopped that. He was huffing pretty hard after he jumped the fence and turned around the side of the building. He didn't see Daniel standing there and slammed into him, almost sending them both reeling to the ground.

Derek looked at Daniel and asked him what was up. The only reply he got was a blank stare as Daniel gazed across the next yard. Derek turned to see what was going on. One of their neighbors, Tammy was on her back porch screaming at something. It took Derek a second to see, but finally he saw her husband and son fighting in the back yard. Her husband, Frank, wrestled their son to the ground. Derek couldn't see anything after that because of a row of hedges.

Tammy's face went white when her son rose up. He faced his mother and screamed at her. It sounded like a psychopath on crack.

"Kyle!" Derek yelled. "Calm down!"

Kyle turned to face them, his shirt soaked from the blood that was flowing out of his mouth.