by Roger Hayden
“No, I’ve been inside. There isn’t any space for them to hide in the house. They’ll have to be somewhere else on the property. Nelson, did you see anything when you left? Anywhere they would keep them?” Mike asked.
“No, I didn’t see anything.”
“Most farms around here would have a storm cellar, I would think. It’d be out of sight, no windows, one door. It’d be a good place to hide them,” Sam said.
“That’s as good a place to start looking as any,” Mike answered.
Mike followed the forest line that faced the side of the house. He wanted to approach from there because it had the fewest windows and areas to spot them coming.
“Okay, Sam, you look for the storm cellar, if you find it before we do, then take everyone to Kalen and Mary’s location. We’ll catch up with you. Nelson and I will handle the house,” Mike said.
“Roger that,” Sam said.
“Okay,” Nelson replied.
Fatigue was starting to catch up with Mike. He had to force his hands closed over his rifle. The pain in his side still hadn’t let up, and it was getting harder to breath. He closed his eyes and counted to three.
One.
They’re alive. You have to keep moving. They’re going to be okay.
Two.
Push the pain out of your mind. You only have to go a little bit further.
Three.
Done.
Mike led the three of them as they jogged across the field toward the house. They had to weave around some of the cows in the pasture, but it was an easy jog for the most part.
Sam separated himself from the rest of the group and headed around back while Mike and Nelson moved to the front of the house.
As much as Mike wanted to go in and shoot first, he couldn’t risk them hurting his family. He had no idea what he could potentially be walking into, so he kept it quiet.
The wind blew the chimes hanging from the front porch and also rocked a chair that creaked back and forth on the splintered wooden panels.
Each step Mike took was slow, deliberate. He reached his hand for the screen door and gently pulled it open. He placed his hand on the brass knob to the front door and jiggled the handle. It was open.
Mike looked back at Nelson and raised his hand to count down when they’d enter. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Mike pushed the door open, rifle at the ready, and stepped inside. The living room was empty. He listened for any sign of struggle, mumbles for help, but heard nothing.
“I don’t think they’re here,” Mike whispered.
The two of them entered the kitchen, their eyes never leaving the sights of their rifles. A thud from upstairs caused the nose of their guns to point upward.
Mike motioned toward the staircase. The old steps creaked with each step up. His hands were aching badly. He could barely control the tremors. If someone came out, he wasn’t even sure if he could keep the gun steady enough to get a shot off.
At the top of the stairs, Mike could see someone walking back and forth through a crack in the door that was opened slightly. He figured that was where the noise came from, but he wasn’t sure who it was.
Nelson was right behind him, matching him step for step. When Mike pointed toward the door, Nelson nodded in understanding. They both lined up on either side, waiting for the person to come out.
Mike couldn’t hear anyone speaking, so he figured whoever was in there was alone. He peeked through the crack. As soon as he did, the door opened and Mike subdued Billy, dragging him back into the room, keeping his hand over his mouth.
Nelson followed quickly, shutting the three of them in the room. Billy was struggling against Mike but stopped once Nelson put the barrel of his rifle to his face.
“Is my family still alive?” Mike asked.
Billy nodded his head.
“Listen to me, Billy. I know you’re not a bad person. I know you wouldn’t try and hurt anyone. I just want my family. Nothing else. I spared your life once. Now I’m asking you to spare my family’s,” Mike said.
Billy’s eyes darted back and forth between Mike and Nelson. His breathing was quick.
“I’m going to let you go, and when I do you’re going to take me to my family, do you understand?” Mike asked.
Mike slowly moved his hand from Billy’s mouth. Billy didn’t scream.
“Where are they?” Mike asked.
“My mom put them in the storm shelter,” Billy said.
“Show me.”
The three of them snuck back down the stairs quietly. On their way out, Billy opened one of the drawers, grabbing the spare key to the shelter.
Billy led them out the back door into the fields. Mike looked around for Sam, but didn’t see him anywhere.
“Over here,” Billy said.
The storm cellar was underground, covered by overgrown grass and bushes; it was meant to be hidden. Billy unlocked the latch and pulled the door open.
When Mike looked inside, it was completely empty.
“Where are they?” Nelson asked.
Mike grabbed Billy by the throat and slammed him to the ground.
“Is this some kind of joke?”
Billy struggled for breath.
“No! They were here! I helped my mother put them here!”
Mike let go. Billy coughed, catching his breath. Mike paced around the shelter, looking in all directions, searching for any sign of his family, but there were none to be seen. Was this how he was going to lose them? Was this how it would end for him?
“Mike,” Nelson said.
Nelson was staring at the ground to the left of the shelter. When Mike went over, he could see several foot prints in the dirt.
“They’re still alive,” Mike said.
“Oh God,” Billy said.
“What?” Mike asked.
“My dad. He must have come and got them after we went to bed.”
“Do you know where he’s taking them?” Nelson asked.
“Hunting,” Billy said.
Kalen leaned up against the trunk of a tree. Her mind wandered. Everything felt like a haze. She could see, but she couldn’t understand. She couldn’t comprehend what happened. It was too much. All of it was too much.
She could still see Jake’s face, his blood pouring from the bullet hole in his head. When she squeezed she felt nothing. She saw him. She was angry. She killed him.
The progression of her thoughts that led her to that point was fast, unmerciful. Whatever satisfaction she thought she’d receive never came. It was nothing more than an illusion.
That emptiness she felt inside her, the fear and void that she replaced with anger, didn’t fade away. It simply grew.
She traded all of her pain for more pain, but this was different than before. There wasn’t a numbness. This had more clarity to it. She had an unexplainable need for more.
“Kalen,” Mary said.
“What?”
Mary moved to her quickly. She pointed behind Kalen, her eyes fixed on something in the distance.
When Kalen turned around she could see her mother and brother walking through the forest. Behind them were Mary’s sisters and Fay.
Mary started to run to them, but Kalen pulled her back down.
“Look,” Kalen said.
Just behind their family members, Ken watched them with his rifle aimed at the back of their heads, marching them forward.
Kalen could feel that burning inside her grow. Her hand went to the pistol her dad left her. When she pulled it out of her pocket, Mary grabbed her wrist.
“No. If you miss, he might hurt them,” Mary said.
“If we hesitate, he’ll kill them before we have a chance to do anything,” Kalen replied.
“We need to go and get your dad.”
Kalen tossed Mary’s arm off her.
“We don’t have time.”
Before Mary could stop her, Kalen was chasing after them. Kalen knew from what her father had said that Ken was a skilled hunter. She felt
a slight thrill run through her. The void was filling up again. This is what she needed. She needed to hunt.
Ken snuck out of bed, and headed downstairs. It was still dark out, so he knew he had time, but needed to act fast.
The promise of waiting to kill those people was a lie. He knew that even if Mike made it back there wouldn’t be any bargaining, not after this.
If the rest of his family was kept alive, then his family would be outnumbered, and he knew it would only be a matter of time before they were killed. He didn’t care what type of good intentions Mike would spit out. In the end it would be either him or Mike, and Ken wasn’t about to lie down.
The looks on their faces when Ken opened that cellar were tired. They hadn’t slept all night, and when they saw him with the rifle, he could tell they knew what was coming.
“Please,” Anne said. “Don’t do this.”
“Everyone out,” Ken replied.
He marched them off to the woods. There was a place he would take them, his hunting spot deep within the forest. It was far enough away from the farm and town that Mike would never find their bodies. It was a spot that you couldn’t get to unless you knew where it was.
Ken found his eyes falling onto Freddy and Sean. His mind went back to the fawn he killed as a boy, and the scolding his father gave him.
It wouldn’t be any different than anyone else he’d killed. All he had to do was pull the trigger.
None of them cried or begged on their march. He was impressed by it actually. He could never understand the sniveling characteristics of a beggar. All anyone had to do in life was figure out what they wanted and then take it. It was that simple. It was exactly what he was doing now.
He had enough bullets for all of them, but for some reason, he felt exposed. It was a feeling he couldn’t shake. Something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
Then when the first shot rang out, he realized that it wasn’t the dread of killing these people that he was feeling, but that he was being followed.
When Mike heard the shots, Billy and Nelson had a hard time keeping up with him. It was a burst of energy that came out of nowhere, a primal surge that coursed through his veins.
The firing was going back and forth. It grew louder the closer he moved. Screams echoed in between the shots. He just couldn’t tell whose screams it was.
Mike finally saw Sam up ahead, firing and ducking behind a tree. Bullets whizzed past. Mike dropped behind a log next to Sam.
“I thought I had a clear shot. I tripped on a goddamn rock,” Sam said, reloading a magazine into his rifle.
“Who were you shooting at?” Mike asked.
“The guy who had the rifle pointing at your family.”
Mike glanced over the log, and he could see people running toward him. Katie had Sean with her, but he couldn’t see Fay, Anne, or Freddy.
“Where’d they go?” Mike asked.
“He ran north,” Sam said.
“He’s heading to his hunting spot,” Billy said. “It’s where he takes his game to gut and clean before he brings it home.”
“Show me,” Mike said.
They were on foot for a few more minutes before they came across Fay, scanning the woods.
“Mike?” Fay asked.
“You all right?”
“I’m sorry, Mike. I’m so sorry.”
“Where’s Ann? Where’s Freddy?”
“Ken grabbed Freddy, and Anne and I started chasing after him, but I got turned around. I don’t know where they went.”
“It’s not much farther,” Billy said. “C’mon.”
As Billy brought them closer to Ken’s spot they came across Anne’s body. She was unconscious on the ground, but still alive.
“Fay, Nelson, you two make sure she’s okay. Billy, Sam, you two with me,” Mike said.
Billy slowed down once they were close. He gathered Mike and Sam around him.
“It’s just beyond those trees. My dad can smell an ambush coming, and right now we’re downwind. He’ll know we’re coming, so we have to be careful,” Billy said.
Mike shoved Billy out of the way, marching forward in stubborn persistence.
“Mike!” Billy said.
“Ken!” Mike shouted. “Let my boy go! If you want to hurt someone, hurt me.”
Ken’s face appeared from behind a tree. He kept his hand over Freddy’s mouth, keeping him quiet. Ken had a gun to his head with his finger on the trigger.
“Funny, ain’t it, Mike? You had my son as a hostage, and now I’ve got yours. I just don’t know if I’m going to be as willing to let him go as you were for mine.”
“Ken, you don’t have to do this. Please, let him go.”
“Tell whoever you’ve got back there with you to come out, or I kill your boy right now.”
Mike didn’t have to ask Sam or Billy to come out; they did it on their own. When Mike saw Ken’s reaction to Billy being there, he was surprised.
There was no look of shock on Ken’s face. He just started to laugh.
“Just couldn’t let it go, could you, boy?” Ken asked.
“Dad, let him go. This isn’t right,” Billy said.
“Right?” Ken shouted. “What’s right isn’t for my own son to betray me! It isn’t right for my own blood to turn against me!”
“I’m not turning against you, Dad, but I can’t let you do this.”
Freddy squirmed against Ken, trying to free himself, but Ken’s grip was too strong. He couldn’t get loose. Then Ken felt the tip of Kalen’s pistol on the back of his head.
“Put the gun down,” Kalen said. “And let my brother go.”
“Kalen?” Mike asked.
Ken slowly raised his hands in the air, letting Freddy go and setting the pistol on the ground. Kalen walked around to face him, the gun aimed at his face. Freddy ran to his father, and Mike scooped him up.
“Well done, girl,” Ken said.
“Kalen, it’s okay. It’s over,” Mike said.
Kalen only took her eyes off Ken for a second, but it was enough for him to get the drop on her. He knocked the gun from her hands and went for his pistol on the ground.
The moment Ken had his hand on the gun and jumped up to aim at Kalen a shot rang out and Ken flew backward, a bullet tearing through his chest.
The smoke from Billy’s rifle rose into the morning air. As quickly as he fired the shot he ran to his father.
“Dad!”
Ken coughed up blood. He grabbed Billy’s collar and pulled him toward him.
“Dad, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Billy said, tears streaming down his face. “Somebody help him!”
Sam rushed over, putting pressure on the wound, but there was too much blood.
Ken’s fingers slowly lost their grip on Billy’s shirt, and his hand went limp. Sam checked his pulse, listened for his breathing, but there was nothing. Ken was gone.
Billy screamed. He shook his father, but nothing brought back the life in Ken’s eyes. Billy just sat there, hunched over his dad, crying.
Mike wasn’t sure what would happen next. Billy was emotional. He could turn on the rest of the group. He walked up and picked up the rifle, so Billy couldn’t do anything rash.
“Billy, he’s gone,” Mike said.
Mike placed his hand on the boy’s back, and Billy shoved him off him. He kept shoving Mike’s chest, pushing him back.
“You made me do this! This is your fault!” Billy said.
“Billy, I know what you’re going through. I do.”
“No, you don’t!”
The adrenaline finally left him, and Billy fell to the ground. Mike and Sam picked him up and carried him back to the farm.
15
Day 16 (the Cabin)
The reports coming in from Cincinnati had been constant for the past forty-eight hours. It was something Mike couldn’t ignore anymore.
He decided to give himself and the rest of his family a few more days before they would head out. He and Kalen had b
een sleeping during most of the days and nights. He’d never been so exhausted in his life. The days were more for him than anyone else.
The breathing was getting a little easier, but he still couldn’t move around a lot. His body felt like concrete, heavy and rigid. He was resting in his room when Anne came and knocked on the door.
“Honey, Fay’s here,” Anne said.
“Send her in.”
Fay had her daily basket of provisions that she came in from town to get.
“I suppose you still haven’t changed your mind?” Fay asked.
“No.”
“There has to be a way to fix this, Mike.”
“There isn’t.”
“If you could just talk to him. Hear him out.”
“It’s good to see you, Fay.”
Mike didn’t have anything else to add on the subject. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
He knew what she wanted. She wanted him to let Jung back in the cabin, into their circle. But it was something he just couldn’t do. Jung crossed a line that he never should have tried. He put Mike’s family in danger, and it almost got them killed. It wasn’t something that he took lightly.
Fay had chosen to stay with Jung and his kids at the motel in town. He knew she felt that he was being too hard on him, but Mike didn’t care. He’d given enough already. He didn’t have any more charity to offer.
The cabin was gathered around the dinner table. It was the first time Mike and Kalen decided to join everyone and eat in the kitchen.
There was a sense of relief when everyone saw Mike and Kalen walk in. For them it was a sign of things getting back to normal. For Mike and Kalen, it was them ready to face the people around them.
There wasn’t much talk. A few comments here and there, but Mike was thankful he didn’t have to say anything.
He knew everyone was already aware of the trip to Cincinnati. There wasn’t much objection when it was brought up. Everyone seemed to be glad to go. It gave everyone a sense of hope that once they made it to Cincinnati they’d be safe and that soon they’d be able to go home.
Mike wasn’t sure what home meant to him anymore. He wanted to believe that it was still a place where his family was, and that was true, but if his family wasn’t safe, then how could they enjoy their time together? How was someone supposed to grow and love and feel joy when the constant threat of violence was hanging over their heads?