A lot of the switches were broken, and nothing was labeled. Yes, there was a main breaker, but it was so rusted, Tanner was afraid that if he so much as touched it, the thing would snap off and electrocute them both.
He shined his flashlight on the breaker box for a good few minutes, and then sighed heavily. “I think this was a wasted trip. There’s absolutely nothing we’re going to be able to do with this.”
“That’s what I was thinking too,” Kyla had to say, “but I hate to leave all of these people without power. It’s so cold out, and now people won’t even be able to shower.”
“I know. This really does suck, but it looks like we’ll have to wait until the maintenance guys come in.”
“If they ever do. I don’t know who owns this building, but the corporation doesn’t have a conscience at all. Look how long it took to get the heat back on, and we only recently started getting our pipes fixed. If it isn’t one thing here, then it’s another.”
Her grousing made him feel about two inches tall.
“I’m sorry, Kyla.”
“Why are you sorry? It’s not your fault, Tanner, and you know it. You should be just as irritated as I am, even if you aren’t staying here very long. We have basic rights as humans, you know? Like a safe and warm place to sleep, especially if we’re paying rent.”
Tanner wanted to tell her again that he was sorry, wanted to tell her he would make sure everything was fixed, but he wasn’t planning to do that. No. He was planning to see that she and the rest of the remaining tenants evacuated this old building, and then rip the old place down.
And he wasn’t going to lie to himself. The new apartments would go for five times the rent that these ones did. None of the tenants here would be able to afford to live in the new complex. Did he feel a twinge of guilt for the first time? Maybe.
But wasn’t it money that made the world go round? It did to him and to a lot of people. The saying about love was so much garbage. Yes, his set of fancy condos would cost a lot more money for its new residents, but why should that bother him? He was also going to boost the economy here. Think about the construction jobs, a lot of them, and business opportunities, too — there would be a mini-mall inside the complex, dammit. That made him less of a monster, didn’t it?
When they turned to leave, they heard a loud shuffling from behind the staircase. Tanner automatically pushed Kyla behind him as he shined the light in that direction.
“What was that?” she asked, her voice trembling. “It sounds a heck of a lot bigger than a rat scurrying across the floor.”
Before he could say anything, there was a scratching sound like someone moving, and Tanner was now absolutely certain that they weren’t alone. Maybe their horror flick scenario had just come true.
Tanner refused to let Kyla come up beside him as he moved toward the sound. What he should do was try to rush up the stairs and bolt the door closed. But, hell, if they were in a horror flick, they might as well be the stupid fools who walked straight to their deaths. No use ruining a standard plot. Besides, what if someone else had come down the stairs to try to fix the problem and had fallen and was just now waking up?
Just as he and Kyla reached the edge of the stairs, their flashlights pointed at the dark area beneath, a blood-curdling scream ripped through the air.
Chapter Seventeen
Kyla was on Tanner’s back with her legs wrapped around him before she knew what she was doing. When he said something and his voice came out indistinct, she vaguely realized that her hands were around his throat, most likely cutting off his lower airway. The problem was that she couldn’t make her muscles unclench. She told herself to let go, but it just wasn’t going to happen. She was a helpless mass of terror.
“Can’t breathe, Kyla,” Tanner choked out.
“Wh…wh…what was that?” That was all she finally managed to get through her chattering teeth.
“Let go and I’ll find out. I don’t want to hurt you by prying your hands away,” he wheezed.
Somehow she managed to loosen her grip around his neck, but nothing she tried was allowing her legs to give up their hold on his waist. She wasn’t going to move from his back.
“Okay, you have to climb down, Kyla, so I can figure this out,” he said, his voice still a bit hoarse, but sounding better than it had when she was nearly throttling him.
“Nope. Not letting go,” she told him.
To her amazement, a small chuckle escaped his raw throat. “Okay.” He moved forward and spoke to whatever monster was threatening them. “Who is there? I’m not going to hurt you unless I have to,” he said.
Whoa. Tanner really sounded frightening now Kyla wouldn’t want to be on this man’s bad side.
There was more shuffling behind the stairs, and she was really shaking now. This was it. They were both going to die because they were the stupid ones who had willingly — well, okay, not quite willingly — gone down into the dark and dingy basement.
“Listen up,” Tanner said. “Come out now or I start shooting.”
That stopped Kyla’s fidgeting. He didn’t have a gun — or at least she didn’t think he had a gun. She wasn’t going to question him, though, because if the intruder assumed he had a gun, then maybe he, she, or it wouldn’t try to go after them with a bloody hatchet.
They heard even more shuffling, and then Tanner backed up a few paces and turned his light once more in the direction of the sound. After a few more tense seconds, she saw dirty blond hair, and then a small body. It rose slowly and walked toward them.
“Please don’t hurt me,” the voice quavered.
Tanner froze as a child walked toward them.
Kyla barely recognized the boy, and it took her a few moments to place him with all the dirt on his face. “Billy?” she finally said.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. He came up to them, trembling.
“What are you doing down here?” Tanner asked. He knelt on the ground, quite a feat because Kyla was still attached to him.
That was the point she realized that she needed to let him go. She carefully untwined her limbs from his body and landed on her rear with a slight thump. She stood up slowly and staggered away from him so she could find the flashlight she’d dropped. Any movement at all was now difficult; she felt an ache all through her because she’d been wound around him so tightly. She wondered whether he had bruises where her legs had held him in a death grip.