Maria’s Point of View

I was still so angry that I couldn’t help but scream out in rage every few minutes as I remembered what had just happened to me. The walkie-talkie crackled to life as someone tried to get a hold of me, but I turned it off. They can complain about me killing people after I’m clean. Now that I’m almost there. I wonder if there was a girl whom I could borrow an outfit from. I’d just have to hope so, because I wasn’t thinking clearly when I thought to come here.

…

We all sat around the table; a secondary table was dragged in for the kids, and we waited for Victor to finish saying grace before eating. Vicky was hard rolling her eyes while everyone else had their head down. I only opened my eyes because she nudged me. “And I’d just like to thank The Lord again for cleansing my spirit of the demons that haunted my mind. Amen.”

Everyone got to work eating the delicious food. Akiko’s repertoire increased as more people joined in at our meals, and different foods were cooked. We had a giant pot of spaghetti, freshly baked rolls, a rack of ribs, t-bone steak, meat loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, egg rolls, fried wontons, miso soup, rice, three different flavored pies, and an angel food cake with dense fruit syrup on top. Even with all this different food, there would be no leftovers.

Every single meal since Victor came was this large and varied; most people only picked a single meal like the spaghetti, but some, including myself, had a bit of everything. We were only a few minutes into our meal before someone pushed the door open. I heard a familiar voice yell out. “Hello? Is there a shower I can use here? I… I need a shower, please?”

Akiko wiped her hands clean with a napkin before she made her way to the entrance to guide whoever just showed up. Vicky mumbled to herself more than anyone. “Yeah, let’s let everyone in my mansion. It’s not like I mind.” I got back to eating, working all day, and being out in the rain for hours; it was brutal and draining, but it needed to be done. My appetite was still huge after going hungry for so many years in a row. I ate like it was my last meal for every meal.

Most of the people at the table finished, and it left only a few of us eating by the time the woman finished her shower. As she came in, I was stunned by her appearance… She must have asked for a spare set of clothes, and Akiko thought the sexy cosplay costumes were actual outfits. I couldn’t hold it back as I started to chuckle, and she yelled at me. “Don’t laugh!”

The mystery person was Maria, and the outfit Akiko chose was a sexy cop costume. The shorts barely covered half her thighs. Her breasts were so big she couldn’t zip up the front of the costume, leaving most of her chest exposed. Akiko just looked at her before fussing. “Oh, we should have found you something that fit better.” I began to laugh loudly now while she kept yelling at me.

“You here to arrest me, officer?” She gave me a death glare before her gaze flickered over the table, still filled with food. “Can I?” I looked at Akiko. “It’s up to her.” With a soft smile, she answered. “Sure, I don’t mind. Tell me what you think.” She sat down and piled a bit of all the meat left onto her plate as she sucked the meat off the rib. “Oh my. This is about to make me cry, it tastes just like the ribs mi madre used to make.” With no concern for her appearance, she ate at a frenzied pace. We finished the rest of the food as she breathed out in contentment. “That hit the spot. I’ve only been eating melted ice cream and stuff from my freezer before it went bad lately. It’s been years since I had a home-cooked meal that good.”

The tension I sensed from her had completely drained, and the constant frown was gone from her beautiful face. She now just looked tired. “I should… Go see what the person on the other end of the walkie-talkie wanted before I make my way home.” Looking at me, she sheepishly asked. “Can I… Come here when I need a shower?”

I pulled out a phone that was hacked to use any of the satellites overhead and handed it to her. “If you need to get hold of me, you can use this phone. It’ll work even when your normal cell phone has no signal.” She left after looking at the phone. It wasn’t that fancy, but it was designed to work in the apocalypse, while hers wasn’t. As she made her way outside, she pulled her phone out and began transferring numbers. 

I got up and stretched before I decided to work out. As I made my way to the weight room, Maria came busting back through the door. We made eye contact as she yelled. “I need your help again.”

…

Police Chief’s Point of View

I tried to get a hold of Maria to figure out why the prisoners were freed. The squad in front of ours was ambushed when they walked in at the end of the day, and I’d have died if there hadn’t been a volunteer deputy in front of me to absorb the bullets.

Now, the remaining police officers watched the building, waiting for someone to move, as they would sometimes fire out at us when they thought they could hit someone. I was so done with this job, I didn’t sign up for all this work. If I knew the fucking world was going to blow up, I’d have fucking retired, but I didn’t. It meant it was still my job to make sure the world didn’t devolve into chaos, as no one followed the laws anymore.

The only thing I knew was that most of the prisoners weren’t inside anymore. I could only see three silhouettes moving inside the building. It meant that unless the rest were hiding deeper inside, there were only three people in the building. We had casualties on our side; three of my men and two volunteers were killed in the initial attack, and another two volunteers fled.

They attempted to leave again as one of the remaining living policemen under my command fired to stop them from coming out. I was frustrated by the situation; I couldn’t get a hold of my daughter and was sick of these constant gunfights. This was the fourth one since this damned rain started. I was about to call out to start trying to discuss their surrender when a boat with loud music playing charged at the building.

As they drove past, I heard the song playing as I caught a glimpse of my daughter riding on the boat. I panicked as Judas Priest’s ‘Breaking the Law’ played. The prisoners fired at the boat as it went full speed at the building and disappeared before slamming into it. I could hear something other than the music playing and gunshots, I could hear my daughter screaming in fear at her situation.