Primal - By D.A. Serra Page 0,24

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?” Gravel asks his brother.

“So you and Theo can tie them up.”

“Tie them up? Let’s just do ‘em and be done.”

Ben smiles nicely at the group at the table, “See, he’s so impulsive, ever since he was a little kid.” Then, back to Gravel, Ben explains, “Currently, they are assets. Humor me. Tie them.” Theo jumps up immediately. He pulls the table lamp from the wall and snaps apart its cord.

Kent stops him, “Theo, here.” He holds up a spool of fishing wire. Theo smiles.

Alison watches her husband and son get up from their dinner seats and move toward the game table. Over and over in her mind she hears, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening. She watches them all sit together on the floor.

Theo and Kent unspool fishing line. Kent kneels down next to Jimmy who presses back against his dad’s chest.

Hank tries, “He’s just a kid. You don’t need to tie him.”

“Yeah? How old are you kid?”

“Nine.” Jimmy’s voice is barely a whisper.

To Hank, “What are you raising some kind of wimp for the world to shit on? When I was his age I’d already killed three dogs, five cats, and the annoying kid next door.”

Outside, Alison digs her nails into her head with terrified bewilderment. Her whole body bursts and shakes. Help. I need help. She turns around in a frenzy. What to do? What do I do? The instinct to find help engages and sends her running through the woods. The ground is muddy and hard to maneuver. She loses her footing, slips, and slides down a small embankment. She stops, looks ahead, realizes she is only a few feet from the edge of a cliff. She can barely see it in the darkness. A flash of lightning shows her its depth. She scoots back from the edge on her ass. Sitting there on the ground the near miss actually calms her. She talks to herself. Stop. Where are you going? What are you doing? Focus. Calm. What can I do? Think. Plan. Smart. Be smart.

The hostages are corralled uncomfortably in the corner. Theo has pulled over a chair and sits facing them with his weapon in his lap. Ben is surrounded by tools. He is taking apart the carburetor. Kent throws some logs on the fire. Gravel lies on one of the sofas with his feet up. He and Kent are in the middle of a discussion.

Gravel says, “It’s dandruff.”

Kent corrects him, “Doctor said it’s stress induced scalp flakes.”

“What kind of stress have you got?”

“Bein’ your brother mostly.” Kent laughs at himself.

“It’s dandruff.”

Theo stands suddenly and walks over to the hostages on the floor. He looks at them slowly. No one moves. No one breathes. His eyes stop on Mike. Theo bends down over Mike’s feet. He sizes them up. He unties and snatches Mike’s shoes. He takes them back to where he was sitting and puts them on.

Ben asks, “Is there any music in the glorious rustic hideaway?”

“Radio over there.” Hobbs uses his chin to indicate the bookshelf.

Ben signals to Gravel who gets up and turns on the radio. He flips through the dials.

“I can’t believe there’s no TV here,” Kent says and then to Ben, “Did you get to watch TV in the pen?”

“Not too much.” Ben concentrates on the carburetor.

“We were a Nielson family for a