Out of LA

by Dennis Elder

  Doc, Sally, and Sylvia moved slightly toward Mark. Some of the others sensed something was up and stood up next to their bikes. A few moved closer to see what Mark and Jake were going to do.

  “Don’t do it Mark,” begged Sylvia.

  “Pull off his shoe and sock,” ordered Mark. Jake reached down and pulled off Chuck’s remaining shoe and sock.

  Then Mark pulled out his razor edged K-Bar military knife and held hit out.

  “We’re not going to kill you,” said Mark with even anger in his voice. “But we can’t risk you coming after us either.”

  Mark moved quickly. He pushed Chuck face flat on the ground and deftly cut loose his plastic hand cuffs.

  Ohhh, that’s much better, thanks!” said Chuck as his arms fell to his sides.

  “Not for long, butt head,” said Mark, as he smashed his shins across the back of Chuck’s calves pining him to the ground. Then he made a quick one inch incision across the Achilles heel of Chuck’s left foot.

  Chuck immediately started to howl. He was sure they’d just let him go. Everybody else was a little shocked too. It certainly wasn’t what they expected. Frank was convinced Mark was going to shoot the guy. Mary smiled inside and thought it was appropriate.

  “He won’t be coming after us for a long, long time now,” said Mark as he wiped the blood off his knife and moved past Sylvia and toward his own bike.

  A couple of seconds went buy as they group looked at Chuck on the ground. He was holding his foot and whining like a little girl.

  “Let’s mount up people. We can still get in some mileage before the sun goes down,” barked Mark. That got everyone moving, except Mary.

  “You can’t leave me here like this!” screamed Chucky. But nobody was listening. Everyone had already turned to get on their bikes.

  Mary stayed behind for a few more seconds. Chucky looked up at her and pleaded for help.

  “Please help me,” whimpered Chuck. “How will I get back to my house?”

  Mary pointed to Cedric’s bike and said, “You could try riding back on the bike.”

  Chuck turned to look at the bike and said, “I can’t ride a bike… my foot is all messed up.”

  “Well, I’m sure you’ll think of something Chucky,” said Mary as he slung her AR-15 onto her back. “Just remember the walking people come out a lot more after dark.”

  Mary climbed on her bike quickly and sprinted to catch up with her growing family.

  Mark had paired Mary with Lenny and put Pam with Sam. Mary caught up with Lenny and fell in right behind her. Sam had been riding alone since Robert’s death the day before.

  They transferred Little Sally into a more stable bike trailer and hitched her up to the trailer behind Tyrone. As usual, the mule didn’t seem to feel the extra weight. Just before he took off, Tyrone yelled back to see if Sally was ready. She stuck her little hand out her trailer window and gave the thumbs up sign to Tyrone. She still wore her Princess Puffy sunglasses.

  Cedric was a trooper. As long as it wasn’t too steep he peddled right along with everybody else, even with his attached trailer. When they had to climb steep hills Teresa would attach a rope to Cedric’s bike and help him along. On a bike, that girl was almost as strong as Tyrone. Mark told the team they would rotate positions in the line every day, but would always position Tyrone, Teresa and Cedric in the middle of the bike line to give added protection for the kids. Mark and Gracie were still the scouts and took their place a hundred yard ahead of the group, with Gracie wearing the big helmet

  Mark could have called it a day at 3:30 pm but he wanted to see how the new recruits performed on the bikes. They rode for an hour until they came the outskirts of northern Victorville and pulled off the Dale Evans Parkway off ramp. They found a side street with a few homes on it and decided it would do for the night.

  They settled on three homes - two on one side of the street and one on the other. Mark rattled off who got body details and who was scavenging for dinner. The others told Mary, Pam and Lenny in on how things worked. Everybody got a turn. It was all in Mark’s little book.

  Mary saw the book while she was unpacking her bike.

  “Everything by the book, sir?” quipped Mary.

  Mark didn’t dignify her comment with a response.

  Junior was leading on the food scavenge detail. Mark turned to Junior before they pushed off.

  “Hey, Junior,” said Mark.

  “Yea Major,” replied Junior.

  “We’ve got kids now,” began Mark. “Keep it in mind when you’re in the market. We’ll need to feed them good food, but we may need some sweets and stuff too. Keep an eye out.”

  “Roger that,” said Junior as he started down the road headed for the local market. Four other team members followed him.

  Mary heard what Mark said but this time couldn’t come up with a snappy comment.

  Chapter 72: Hampton

  Marylin really began to worry when Kevin didn’t return by sunup, and it was 10 am now. The two men on the freeway hadn’t done much. She’d kept a careful eye on them – it helped to pass the time. One of them rode west on his bike once. But he came back less than an hour later. Marylin was so thirsty. She searched through the trailer one more time but found nothing. The men on the road were eating again and they seemed to have lots of water. When she saw them drinking it made her mouth seem all the more dry. It was getting hard to swallow.

  “I can’t give myself up to them,” she thought to herself. “No matter what I can’t. I’d rather die in here than go with them.”

  She took another look out the side window hoping to spot Kevin coming back. But nothing moved.

  That’s because Kevin was lying face down on the cement floor of the home he had entered the evening before. He hit his head pretty hard when he tripped down the basement stairs. A little blood had dried next to his head where he’d cut himself. He finally woke up around three in the afternoon. As he slowly sat up, he reached for his head. It really hurt. Slowly he leaned his back against the concrete wall of the basement. The staircase was above him. He was groggy and had difficulty thinking, but he could now feel the sun coming in through the basement window. As he reached out check his arms and legs for broken bones, a large dog suddenly appeared in front of his face and began to lick his cheek with great enthusiasm. Kevin was so groggy that he actually enjoyed the sensation at first. He smiled at the dog, which seemed very glad to see him. Instinctively Kevin raised his arm and began to pet the animal. When the dog started licking Kevin’s mouth he realized he didn’t like kissing the dog and gingerly pushed the dog’s head away.

  “Nice doggie,” Kevin mumbled, as he dragged his sleeve across his doggy-licked lips. He continued to gather his wits. While he sat there blinking and unblinking his eyes, the dog just stared back at him.

  When Kevin finally stood up he saw a few stars in his vision.

  “I hope it’s only been one night,” he thought to himself as he remembered Marylin. She was all alone in that hot box of a trailer with no water.

  His pillowcase was to the side and the peanut butter was lying on the floor. He leaned down to put the peanut butter back in the pillowcase. When he did he noticed the basement west wall was all shelving. On the bottom shelf he spotted one of those very large packages of bottled water. There were over 30 bottles in there. He grabbed the package and broke out one of the bottles. It tasted good going down. He drank an entire bottle and half of a second bottle before he stopped. Then he thought of Marylin again. He looked at his watch and realized it was only 3:30 in the afternoon. It would be five more hours before it was dark enough for him to walk back to the trailer.

  There was an old plastic patio chair in the basement and so he sat down. The dog followed him and sat on the floor looking up at him. Kevin reached for the dog and scratched him behind his ears. The dog seemed to enjoy it immensely.

  “So, what’s your name fella,” said Kevin.

  Kevin felt the dog’s collar and noticed a name stam
ped on a metal tag. It said, Hampton.

  “Hampton huh,” said Kevin aloud. The dog recognized his name and barked. The bark was loud and deep. Kevin suddenly realized if the dog barked loud enough it might lead the two men to him.

  “No Barking,” whispered Kevin, as he continued to pet the giant dog. “No barking, Ok.”

  Hampton was a very large German Sheppard – maybe 90 pounds. He was chocolate colored and had a sweet temperament. While Kevin waited the hours away he found out that Hampton was also a well-trained dog. He could sit, roll over, lie down and come to Kevin with very simple commands. The hard thing was, the better he got to know the animal, the more conflicted he became. If he took the dog with him, the dog might bark – however innocently, could lead the bad guys right to their trailer and Marylin.

  Kevin surmised that the dog had survived on toilet bowl water and a large sack of Winterman brand dog chow. The twenty-pound paper bag had been ripped open and chunks of the dry dog food were strewn around the floor.

  “Looks like you had everything you needed down here fella,” said Kevin as he continued to pet Hampton.

  By 7 pm Kevin was feeling much better. He’d cleaned the cut on his head as best he could and found some antibiotic salve in the downstairs’ bathroom. He applied the salve to his head and shoved the rest of the tube in his pocket.

  After it was finally dark, around 8:30 pm, Kevin went upstairs. Hampton followed on his heals. Kevin decided he couldn’t let the dog starve down there. Hampton hadn’t barked since Kevin told him not to, hours earlier. So, he put about ten pounds of dog food in one of the pillowcases. He knew the animal would need to eat, if Hampton decided to follow him back to the trailer.

  Kevin crept to the front of the house and looked out the living room window. He couldn’t see the men, but he could see the distant glow of their campfire. He moved to the back of the house and exited out the door he’d come in through the night before. Hampton followed right behind him. Kevin wondered if the dog would take off once he got outside. But the German Sheppard stayed right by Kevin. So, he knelt down and rubbed the dog behind both of his ears.

  “OK, Hampton,” began Kevin. “It’s very important that you don’t bark, Ok. Not a sound. No barking,” Kevin finished. The highly intelligent dog seemed to understand exactly what Kevin wanted.

  Kevin stood up and turned east and back toward the trailer park. He could only hope Marylin was all right.

  The two road-side convicts were both asleep and their fire was dying. The men had drunk too much again and had both passed out. Squeaky dreamed of clean white linen bed sheets and the smell of her mom’s apple pies. She really knew how to bake an apple pie. Suddenly his dream went all dark. He’d had this dream several times and it always ended up with his crazy step-father beating him with a razor strap.

  “Make a man out of you,” his stepdad used to say.

  Squeaky endured his first beating at the age of eight. His last beating was on his thirteenth birthday. His mother had baked him his favorite desert, an apple pie. He had a couple bites left when his stepdad drove up. He was drunk again. Squeaky and his mother could always tell just how drunk by the amount of time that passed between each footfall on the back-porch steps. That night it took a long time between steps.

  “What’s this,” shouted the drunk man after he swung open the back door and dropped his lunch pail on the kitchen floor. “You ate without me?” roared the man.

  Squeaky’s Mother stepped forward a bit. From time to time she could exhibit a little courage, but never enough to report him to the police.

  “It’s his birthday, hon,” said Squeaky’s mother. “It got late and you weren’t here so I made him…”

  The woman never finished her sentence. The drunkard swung out his fist and hit the woman square in the face. She went down in a heap as dishes crashed to the floor all around her. She did not get up.

  When the police questioned Squeaky later that night he couldn’t recall what happened after his mom fell to the floor. He did remember eating the rest of his pie.

  The coroner’s report said the woman’s neck probably broke when she landed on the floor. The second coroner’s report said the man had been stabbed over a hundred times.

  But Squeaky was smiling again. He had learned how to control this dream. He was back under the clean linen sheets and he could smell his mother’s apple pie on the pillowcase.

  The two pillowcases that Kevin had been carrying smelled a bit like dog food and were very heavy now. He put the water bottles in one case and everything else he found in the other. He had to stop a couple of times and rest during his walk back to the trailer. Whenever he stopped, Hampton would stop too.

  Once Kevin finally arrived at the trailer he softly knocked on the door. He didn’t want to startle Marylin.

  “Marylin,” I’m back,” he whispered, holding the pillowcases in both hands. “Open the door.”

  But the door didn’t open. So, he set down one of the pillowcases and reached up for the handle. When the door swung open he stuck his head inside and whispered again, “Hey Marylin. I’m back and I’ve got water and food.”

  Marylin still did not answer. It was dark inside and Kevin couldn’t see anything. The dead woman smell was still there, maybe a little worse. So, he pushed the food and water inside and held the door open for Hampton. The dog jumped up the steps, took a quick look around the trailer and then made himself comfortable on the couch. Kevin shut the door behind him.

  “Marylin?” whispered Kevin again - but still no response.

  He looked around the trailer but couldn’t find her. He was afraid she was passed out on the floor somewhere.

  Maybe she went…” began Kevin. But he stopped in midsentence because the trailer door handle was suddenly twisting. Somebody was out there. “The men found us,” he wondered quickly. He panicked and reactively fell back onto one of the small kitchen chairs. He reached for the handgun he’d always kept in his belt. But he left it with Marylin.

  Just then the door opened and in walked Marylin.

  “Kevin,” said Marylin as she quietly closed the door behind her.

  “Marylin,” said Kevin.

  Both were quiet for a moment as she stood there looked down at Kevin. Then she noticed the large dog spread out on the couch.

  “You found a dog?”

  Kevin turned to Hampton. The big animal looked back at him with bright eyes.

  “Yes, in a house, where I found food and water,” he said, suddenly remembering the water, grabbing a bottle from one of the pillowcases and offering it to her.

  “No thanks,” she said nonchalantly.

  “Aren’t you thirsty?” questioned Kevin.

  “Not anymore,” replied Marylin as she turned to the trailer’s front window and carefully parted the curtains. Both of the men were still sleeping along the highway wall. The fire was almost out. “And why didn’t you come back last night?” Marylin suddenly continued.

  “Right, remembered Kevin. “Well, I found a house with a basement and accidently fell down the stairs. Hit my head pretty hard and didn’t wake up until about three this afternoon – but I did find plenty of water and some food.”

  “And a Dog,” added Marylin.

  “His name is Hampton,” said Kevin.

  “Hampton?” asked Marylin. “Nobody names their dog Hampton.”

  “It’s on his dog collar,” replied Kevin, as Marylin moved toward the couch and sat down beside the animal. Hampton sat up and tried licking Marylin’s face. But she kept her distance, instead she gave him a good scratching behind his ears.

  “Hampton,” said Marylin. “Welcome to our abode.”

  Kevin just stared at Marylin. “Why wasn’t she thirsty?” he wondered.

  “Did you drink the tap water?” suddenly questioned Kevin, alarmed as he sat forward on the kitchen chair.

  “No, and the water pressure is off anyway,” responded Marylin. She was still petting Hampton. “Such a big boy, such a very big bo
y.”

  “Then how come your not thirsty?” began Kevin. “I risked my life out there to find you some water and now…”

  “I’m fine,” said Marylin never taking her eyes off Hampton. I found plenty of water next door and some food too,” as she turned back toward Kevin. “You want some?”

  “Do I want some?” said Kevin with a twist of sarcasm in his voice.

  “What about the two bad guys,” said Kevin. Didn’t you think about the danger out there,” continued Kevin, as he pointed toward the freeway. “We agreed you would stay in the trailer until I got back. You could have been killed, or worse.”

  “Well, last night I thought maybe you weren’t coming back. I was getting desperate and I needed water,” said Marylin. “So, I went next door and found eight water bottles and luckily a few things we could eat.”