by Bruno Miller
He knew one thing for sure: all this waiting was making him anxious, and he’d grown tired of watching their drug-fueled antics a while ago. Ben’s mind started to drift to a darker place, and he began having thoughts he would have been embarrassed to admit in front of his children—or any of the others, for that matter. He could easily take out all three looters right from where he was sitting, and they could drive out of town at their leisure, with a zero percent chance of an incident.
Ben pulled away from the scope and looked off toward the horizon. He inhaled deeply and released the air slowly, keeping his eyes closed. If the kids ever found out he shot and killed three unarmed people who didn’t pose an immediate threat, he would never be able to look them in the eye again. He couldn’t do it; he wasn’t a murderer. He had enough blood on his hands already. These looter meth heads would get more grace today than they likely deserved.
Ben was startled from his thoughts by the sound of a dog barking. He turned toward the trucks and, to his disappointment, saw all three dogs come flying out of the room, one after another. All of them began running hysterically around the vehicles, barking and growling as they went. They were chasing something and splashing water several feet into the air while doing so. So much for flying below the radar on this one.
Chapter Twelve
“Stop! Get back here!” Emma was the first one out of the room. Stopping at the edge of the concrete walkway, she called after the dogs much louder than she should have, although Ben doubted her voice could be heard over the ruckus the dogs were making. He scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as he could back toward the rooms. Joel and the others, except for Martin, were outside on the vestibule by the time he got there. Sandy looked as confused as he was.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” Ben glanced at the kids, but only for a moment, before turning his attention to the parking lot and the dogs. “Get back here. Right now. Gunner. Come here now,” he shouted louder than he wanted to, but he was cutting his losses. It was either that or continue letting the dogs carry on and draw attention to themselves.
“There was a rat in the room. The dogs started freaking out, so I opened the door to try and let it escape. We couldn’t stop the dogs from following. It’s my fault.” Joel ran after the dogs, into the water, and Emma followed him. Bajer was the first to surrender, tail between her legs and showing clear remorse for her actions. Gunner and Sam were less ashamed of their lack of self-control and returned as though they had just gone for a romp around the yard. Gunner even stopped for a drink in the nearly belly-high water before conceding defeat and joining the other dogs on dry ground.
“Get them inside…please.” Ben struggled to control his frustration.
“Sorry.” Emma looked down at the ground.
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault. Things happen. Just get the dogs back inside for now, please, and try to get them cleaned up as much as you can.” Ben’s voice got softer as he spoke; he realized the kids hadn’t meant any harm and the dogs were just being dogs. That didn’t help alleviate his concerns that they’d been heard by the looters, though. “How ’bout everybody brings their stuff out onto the sidewalk and gets it ready to go into the trucks? I’m gonna go check on the looters and see if they heard the commotion. I’ll be right back.”
Ben didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he turned and headed back to the corner of the building. Maybe they’d get lucky and the ruckus would go unnoticed. Maybe the looters were so high they wouldn’t care. Ben didn’t put much hope in either possibility.
When he reached the corner of the building, he already had his rifle up to his shoulder. He spotted the looters immediately, and to his disappointment, they were heading straight for the motel. He wasn’t surprised, but a part of him was hoping they would somehow slip out of here unnoticed. Maybe the looters wouldn’t be able to figure out where the sound had come from.
Ben watched for a few seconds longer as the three made their way across the street. Their progress was slow and their movements erratic, but they were definitely headed toward the motel. He figured he had a few more minutes before the looters discovered the vehicles. There might be enough time to get the trucks loaded and drive out of here before they were forced into a confrontation with the meth-fueled bunch, but it wasn’t looking good.
Ben lowered his rifle and shook his head; this wasn’t how he wanted to leave here today. They’d been so careful to stay out of sight and avoid drawing any attention to themselves. It was all for nothing now. The feeling of having to constantly be on the move to stay safe was becoming commonplace, and he didn’t like it one bit.
Ben watched the three strangers approach for a few moments more without the use of the scope while he accepted the inevitable. A new day, another encounter. He preferred the period right after the EMPs hit, when everyone was in hiding. Slinging the rifle over his shoulder, he headed back to the others at a quick pace. A collection of bags was already piled up outside the rooms and Joel was working on moving them to the appropriate vehicles with Allie’s help.
Glad he hadn’t put on his shoes yet, he set his rifle down so he could help Joel and Allie move the rest of the bags quickly. The water was up to his shins and felt disgustingly warm as he waded through it. He was careful to watch where he stepped as much as possible, although it was difficult in the brown, murky water.
“They heard all that. I figure we only have a couple minutes until they’re here. I’m not overly concerned, but I’d rather avoid them if possible.” Ben hoisted a bag onto his shoulder.
“Are they bad people?” Brad asked.
“They could be.” Ben didn’t want to get anyone overly worried, but he didn’t want to downplay the threat too much. He also wanted them to keep moving quickly.
“I got the dogs as clean as I could, but they’re just going to get wet again getting into the trucks.” Emma emerged from the kids’ room, preventing the dogs from squeezing through the door as she joined the others outside.
“Yeah, I know. We’ll just have to do the best we can.” Ben nodded. Spending the day in the truck with wet, smelly dogs wouldn’t be any fun, but they had bigger things to worry about right now.
“When do you want me to try to load them up?” Emma asked.
“Might as well get them in now,” Ben said.
“I’ll help you, Em.” Sandy came out of the room, her arms filled with bags and gear. “I think this is all of it except for a few small things.”
Ben didn’t realize they’d brought so much stuff inside with them last night. Sandy walked to the edge of the concrete and handed off her things to Ben.
“Has anyone seen Martin?” Ben hadn’t noticed him helping.
“Not since he came back and went into his room,” Allie answered. Ben wished Martin would hurry up. At the moment, he was proving to be their weakest link. Even Rita and Carlos were chipping in with the packing.
Bang, bang, bang. Ben pounded on Martin’s door with the side of his fist. “Hey, Martin. We need to get going. Now.” Ben didn’t wait more than a couple of seconds before opening the door on his own and looking inside the room.
“I’ll be out in a sec,” Martin yelled from the bathroom.
“They’re headed our way. We need to move out ASAP,” Ben shouted back before slamming the door closed once more. There was no time for conversation right now. He couldn’t do anything about Martin’s speed, but he could grab the remaining items from his and Sandy’s room and load them into the Blazer while they waited.
Sandy and Emma already had Sam in the Blazer, and Ben was pleased to see Rita and Carlos sitting in the Toyota, ready to go. He never would have guessed the older couple would be the first ones ready this morning. Of course, they had plenty of help from Joel and Allie. Brad was in the back of the Jeep while Allie handed him gear through the rolled-up side panel. Joel nearly ran into Ben coming out of the kids’ room with Gunner in his arms.
“Look out. Coming through,” Joel grunted as he
carried the big dog above the water at a swift pace and dumped him in the back of the Jeep with Brad. Gunner looked indignant about the whole process but at least remained dry.
“Stay.” Joel looked Gunner in the eye until the dog sat down with a grumble. Sandy and Emma used the same tactic with Bajer and managed to get the smaller dog loaded into the Blazer with Sam. Ben wanted to do a final sweep of his and Sandy’s room to make sure they hadn’t left anything behind.
“Here, would you put this in the truck for me?” Ben handed Sandy his M24. “Everybody check your rooms and make sure you have everything.” The first thing he grabbed was the Kel-Tec shotgun, then Allie’s pocketknife, which was still sitting on the nightstand. Finally, he did a quick sweep of the room to make sure Sandy hadn’t missed anything else. Satisfied they had everything, Ben headed back outside.
He took a quick look around, making sure to check in the direction he expected the looters to come from. He was tempted to run to the corner of the building again to check on their progress but decided his time would be better spent getting everyone into the vehicles and making sure they were ready to pull out. He also noticed Martin was still missing from the group. What part of ASAP did the man not understand?
Ben ran down to Martin’s room and pounded on the door once more.
“I’m coming. Just grabbing my stuff,” Martin called out before Ben had a chance to say anything.
“Dad.” Ben knew by the tone of Joel’s voice that something was wrong. When he turned to look at his son, Joel’s gaze shot past him. Ben spun around to find the three meth head looters staring at them from around the corner of the building.
“Everybody get in their vehicles,” Ben instructed. Keeping his eyes on the three strangers, he readied the shotgun at his side. Slowly, the looters came from around the corner and stood in the open. Up close, they looked even worse than Ben expected. Their pale skin was covered with blisters and scabs. The rips in their clothing revealed that the rest of their bodies were covered with what Ben could only assume were radiation burns. The woman and one of the men looked to have been affected the most, resulting in missing patches of hair on their heads.
They stared at Ben and the others in silence for what felt like an eternity. Their sullen faces and bloodshot eyes almost made Ben feel sorry for them until they started to advance toward the trucks.
“Come on, load up.” Ben glanced back at the others and encouraged them to move into the vehicles before bringing the shotgun up to his shoulder and pointing it at the looters. Gunner let out a few low growls from the Jeep, as if to back him up.
“Don’t come any closer.” Ben hated everything about this situation, and judging by the look on his daughter’s face, he wasn’t the only one. Just the sight of these people alone was enough to give her nightmares. Between their drug-addled movements and their overall sketchy appearance, they more closely resembled extras in a zombie movie than human beings. Ben looked back to make sure the others were doing as he asked and was glad to see Emma already in the Blazer. He could see her through the side window; she was hiding as best as she could between Sam and Bajer.
He turned his attention back to the three strangers who were still approaching at an unsteady pace.
“I said stop.” Ben raised his voice and spoke firmly. What in the world was taking Martin so long? They would have been on their way by now if it weren’t for him. The last thing Ben wanted to do was shoot these people. Not for his sake or theirs, but for that of the kids. Not this close and in broad daylight. They would never be able to unsee the damage the shotgun would do to a body at this range. No one needed that image burned into their memories.
Two of the looters slowed their progress and finally stopped, but one of the men continued awkwardly toward them. Ben noticed the crazed look in his eye and could see his threats were having no impact on the man. He spotted a large hunting knife stuck through the meth head’s belt. It was visible now as the man’s shaky hand began to creep toward it, pushing his shirt aside.
Was the man desperate enough to risk his life for whatever supplies he hoped to steal? Or maybe he wanted to be put out of his misery. Judging by his looks, Ben leaned toward the latter. He should have obliged the guy by dropping him in his tracks, and he might have if the kids weren’t watching. Instead, he aimed to the left a few inches and prepared to squeeze off a round into one of the windows just ahead of the advancing looter. If that didn’t deter him, there would be no more warnings, kids or no kids.
Chapter Thirteen
Boom. The shotgun blast was magnified substantially by the partially enclosed vestibule as it echoed off the brick exterior of the motel and resonated down the corridor. Ben closed his eyes immediately after he pulled the trigger, worried some of the glass or brick might blow back in his direction.
The butt of the KSG dug into his shoulder, and he knew right away there was something different about the way it felt. In that moment, he remembered the shotgun was loaded with the incendiary Dragon’s Breath ammunition from Jack’s. It was meant to intimidate the moonshiners in the wide-open compound, not be fired at a wall ten feet away. Ben opened his eyes partway, only to be blinded by a shower of sparks and a white-hot fireball that smashed the window into hundreds of pieces.
Dozens of magnesium fragments bounced around under the covered walkway and melted their way through the vinyl soffit ceiling of the vestibule. Ben did his best to shield himself from the debris. He felt like he was inside the grand finale on the Fourth of July. He lowered his arm slowly and tried to catch a glimpse of the looters through the deluge of sparks.
Ben was most concerned about the guy with the knife, although he couldn’t imagine the man would still be advancing toward him through all this. Suddenly, there was yelling that rapidly increased in pitch and intensity. Ben took a few steps back until he was almost in front of Martin’s room. He recognized the scream to be one of agony and panic, and a few seconds later, he knew why.
From the smoke and remaining sparks, the man who had been advancing toward Ben with the knife emerged with parts of his clothing on fire. He continued screaming as he ran down the walkway toward the vehicles, and Ben prepared to shoot again. But the man dropped the knife and veered off at the last second, launching himself into the pool of standing water surrounding the trucks. He thrashed about wildly, attempting to douse the flames without much luck at first. Some larger chunks of magnesium must have lodged themselves under his clothing—or, at that range, maybe even under his skin.
This was not what Ben wanted to happen. In fact, quite the opposite. He’d completely forgotten about loading the KSG with those shells back at the compound. Those rounds were meant to be his Hail Mary if things had turned dire with the moonshiners. If he’d realized that ahead of time, he would have used his pistol to make a point.
He looked to see what had become of the other two looters, but they were long gone, doing their best to run back across the parking lot, toward where they had come from, tripping and falling down several times in their haste. He turned his attention back to the man in the water. His clothes were smoldering now, but it didn’t matter; he was dead. At least Ben assumed he was. His limp body lay face-down in the water.
Martin’s door flung open. “Jiminy crickets! What’s going on out here?” His eyes were wide as he fumbled with the belt on his pants and coughed at the lingering smoke. Ben was startled by his appearance and swung the shotgun in his direction. But he quickly moved the muzzle away once he realized it was Martin.
“Where have you been?” Ben tried to control his frustration.
“I’m sorry. I tried to be as quick as I could.” Martin’s expression changed from surprised to embarrassed.
Ben exhaled loudly and shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Let’s just get out of here.” Martin continued to apologize as he grabbed the remainder of his things and waded through the shin-deep water to the Scout. He eyeballed the body half floating in the water but didn’t say anything about it, and he didn’t ask
any more questions about what happened with the looters.
“Come on, we need to get the trucks away from the building.” Ben spoke loud enough for the others to hear, but no one moved. They were all still in shock at the events that had just unfolded right in front of them. Ben hadn’t fully processed them, either; everything had all happened so fast. But there wasn’t time for that now. The roof over the vestibule was starting to burn, and so was the room the fireball had landed in.
The smoke was getting thicker by the second, and he was beginning to worry it would draw more attention to his group. There was a chance the looters weren’t alone.
“Are you okay?” Sandy said from the passenger seat of the Blazer. Ben was relieved to see that she was going to let him drive without giving him any grief about it. Now wasn’t the time to worry about a few aches and pains anyway. Plus, he wanted to drive right now. He felt like that was at least the one thing he could control.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He looked down at his body and clothing to double-check he was actually all right. But other than a few singed hairs on his arms, he’d survived unscathed.
Joel started the Jeep and began to back away from the motel. “That was crazy. Was that one of those Dragon’s Breath shells from Grandpa’s?”
“Yeah. That wasn’t the plan. I forgot I had those in there,” Ben lamented. He hated how the morning had played out so far. In all his efforts to give the kids a normal start to the day, he’d managed to accomplish the exact opposite. In fact, he’d set a man on fire in front of everyone, a man who was armed with nothing more than a knife and was clearly desperate. What kind of lesson was he teaching the kids now? And while he knew it really wasn’t Martin’s fault, at the moment, he was having a hard time not laying blame squarely on the man.