Yesterday's Gone: Season One

and ready to worship him as their new lord and savior if given the chance.  
    “So who’s up for busting out of here?” he asked.
    Smiles and nods circled the room. Boricio reached into his boot and peeled back the sole, and retrieved his emergency razor blade, then moved in a line, freeing each of the prisoners from their restraints and blindfolds. When he got to Moe, he leaned in, blade to Moe’s face, and said, “You give me one reason and I’ll kill you till you’re a second from dying, then stop so these Kool-Aid drinking mother fuckers can decide when you get your last two breaths, you dig?”
    Moe nodded. Boricio turned to the room, slipped the razor back in its plastic case and slid it into his pocket.
    “You’re all untied. That means you’re all invited to be valuable members of Team Boricio. Now if you’re not on Team Boricio, then that means you’re on Team Fucker. And let me assure you, every single person on Team Fucker is gonna die. So,” Boricio gave the group his biggest grin, “who wants to be on Team Boricio?”  
    Everyone nodded.  
    “No one does a thing without my say and only when I give it. I don’t know who these people are or why they want us here, but I can assure you, any fucker who walks through that door will be crawling out with a red smear behind them, if they’re lucky enough to crawl at all.”  
    Charlie laughed.  
    Boricio smiled. Kid had potential.

    * * * *

EDWARD KEENAN

     
    October 16, 2011
     
    Early evening
     
    Cape Hope, North Carolina
     

    “What are we gonna do?” Teagan asked, as the helicopter grew from hum to thunder as it drew closer. “Where can we hide?”
    “We can hide in here.” Ed said. “But if they’ve got F.L.I.R., they’d still pick up the heat signature on the SUV’s engine, exhaust, and brakes. If they’ve got ground troops, they’d come looking house to house.”
    “Are they looking for us?”
    “Don’t know,” Ed said, “Maybe they’re looking for survivors. Maybe they’re here to help.”
    “You think?”
    The pregnant teen stared at him, wanting to believe things might be okay. Ed didn’t want to shatter her hopes.  
    He knew she was thinking of the dream where the men in helicopters came to take her baby. The more he considered it, the less credence he gave the supernatural nature of her dream. It was a first-time mother’s fears of losing her child, that’s all. Amplified in a young girl who found herself suddenly without parents, or anyone else to care for her.
    Still, that quiet voice in the back of Ed’s mind was there. Finely-tuned intuition: It isn’t just a dream ; listen to the girl . His intuition had always called bullshit on anything superstitious or psychic. But for some reason, its ears were perked now. Either she was sharper than he thought or he was growing dull.
    “I dunno,” Ed said. “I suggest we play it by ear. See what happens, prepare for the worst.”
    “The worst? What’s that?”
    “That they’ve come to harm us.”
    He ran to the car, grabbed the Remington 30-06 rifles and shells he’d taken from the men at the gas station, and came back inside to prepare. He wished he’d had the foresight to break into a gun shop and load up on more weapons. But he hadn’t exactly expected to go toe-to-toe with helicopters.
    That’s when he realized: the men in chopper were looking for him, not the girl. Why didn’t I think of that before? Sure, he was probably presumed dead, and searches would be limited to the crash site and surrounding area unless evidence suggested he’d survived, but maybe someone had seen him and reported him to whatever authorities were still around. The rest of the world might be gone, but agents were roaches. Some survivors were a near certainty.  
    And now they are coming.
    He couldn’t take any chances. The men in the choppers might be there to help, but agents would say anything, show any face, to disarm you.  
    He’d have to act quickly, without question; fire the first chance he got. Like at the convenience store. And he’d have to prepare Teagan for what was going to happen.
    “I need you to trust me on this,” he said, meeting her frightened eyes. “If these guys are bad, or if I even think they’re bad, I’m going to shoot, no questions. Understand?”
    Teagan nodded.  
    Thunder grew louder.  
    Ed went to the window, peered through the curtain, and saw the chopper hovering above the trailer park, light sweeping the grounds. The