Yesterdays Gone: SEASON TWO (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) (Yesterday's Gone)

in her fear of doing anything which would get her shot, he would become frustrated enough to pull the trigger.
    “Now!” the man screamed again, and Noella jumped.
    Just stay calm, give him what he wants, and hopefully he will leave.
    Tony’s voice called from the back, surprising both her and the robber.  
    “Did you say something?” Tony asked as he stepped from the back room, reeking of smoke, pulling white earbuds from his ears. Tony’s eyes widened in shock, bouncing from the gun to Noella, then back.  
    He turned, and made it one hastened pace toward the back room before Mets Hat pulled the trigger and shot Tony in the back of the head. The gunshot thundered through the coffee shop and pierced Noella’s ears. She cried out, holding her hands over her ears, staring at Tony as he stumbled a few steps, then made a final sideways shuffle. He dropped, face cracking ceramic in a bloody crunch.
    Noella cried out, her voice and breath threatening to leave her.
    She stared at Tony’s dead body, and flashed back a decade, seeing her father die in front of her.
    No, no, no.
    She turned to Mets Hat, tears in her eyes. “Please don’t kill me,” she begged.  
    He looked more surprised than Noella. She had expected him to pull the trigger since she first saw death in his eyes. He obviously hadn’t been planning to . . . until now.
    He opened his mouth but said nothing. The death in his eyes retreated, leaving behind a broken shell of emotion. “Oh my God . . . What did I do?”
    His eyes darted back and forth, panicked, trying to figure out what he was going to do now. He just killed a man. And now he had to determine whether to flee or take care of the only witness. Noella was frozen, not daring an inch, for fear of spooking Death to take another shot.  
    He’s going to kill you.
    You saw his face. You saw him kill someone. He can’t let you live.
    Their eyes locked, and he looked down at the gun in his hand. “I’m sorry,” he said, raising the gun to her head.

    * * * *

    CHAPTER TWO

    Yesterday morning…
    Thursday, October 25

    Noella reluctantly woke to reality.
    She far preferred her dream world to this one. In her dreams, her dad was still alive, and she didn’t have to live with her Aunt Josie and Josie’s jerky boyfriend, Randy. At times, her dreams seemed solely designed to remind her how much of a nightmare her reality had become.  
    She opened her eyes to the sliver of light spilling through her parted curtains, and thought of her father, Thomas.  
    It had been 10 years today since his eyes closed forever, yet on mornings like this, in the lingering aftermath of the dreams,   10 years ago seemed like yesterday, and the wounds of grief still fresh.
    Noella faced the window, trying to work up the courage to start her day. Though she got six hours of sleep, it felt more like four. Her head was throbbing, again, and she was feeling groggy. Today was gonna be a long day. She reached for her bottle of pills, palmed one into her mouth, and then took a sip of water from the water bottle on her nightstand.
    A pill a day keeps the voices away.
    She lay back down, figuring she had about 10 minutes before she needed to start getting ready. Josie didn’t have to be to work for another hour, so Noella had time to maybe catch a catnap.
    She was debating whether or not it was better to just get up, or catch a few more Z’s, and have to go through the whole waking up thing all over again. A knock on the door bolted her upright in bed. She could practically smell the oh gross of Randy’s Old Spice on the other side.  
    He pounded on the door again, then yelled, “You ready yet? I’ve gotta get to work. I’m taking you to school, and we’re outta’ here in five.”
    Noella’s feet hit the carpet. What? Nobody told me! She opened the door and poked her head into the hallway where Randy was standing, dressed in his uniform and ready to go.  
    “I thought Aunt Josie was taking me to school, today. How am I supposed to shower and get ready in five minutes?!”
    “Nope, she’s come down with something and is laid up in bed, so now you get to ride with me in the cruiser.”
    Great.
    Just what she needed: to be driven to school with her aunt’s boyfriend in the police cruiser, again. Last time he dropped her off, she tried to keep her head down and sneak out of the car unnoticed. Randy, being the big jerk he was, waited until she was halfway out of the car and “accidentally” blurted the