by James Hunt
“I thought you were with the people in town. I thought you were coming to hurt my family.”
“People in town? What town?”
“Carrollton. It’s just a few miles west of here. We had a group of bikers ride through and they killed everyone. They killed my grandfather. I just didn’t want anyone else to hurt my family.”
Mike picked the boy up by the scruff of his neck and threw him onto the hood of the car.
“So you thought you’d shoot at a group of people traveling with children?” Mike asked keeping the gun pointed at him.
The young man’s arms were out wide, his palms still up in surrender.
“I didn’t even mean to hit anyone. I was just trying to scare you. I swear,” the boy said.
“Your family still in town?”
“No, we have a farm just outside of it. It runs right along this road a few miles west. That’s why I was out here, to keep watch.”
Mike glanced down the road where the boy’s farm would be, then grabbed the collar of his shirt pulling him toward him.
“You have anyone else keeping watch?” Mike asked.
“No, it’s just me. It’s just me.”
Mike backed up, leaving the boy on the hood of the car. Mike picked up the rifle the boy dropped and slung it over his shoulder. With his pistol, Mike gestured toward the tree line.
“Walk,” Mike said.
The boy rolled off the hood of the car and started marching toward the forest. He kept glancing back at Mike, his eyes red and wet.
“Please, don’t kill me. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I swear,” the boy said.
Mike walked up behind him bringing both of the boy’s arms to his head.
“Keep your hands up where I can see them,” Mike said.
Clarence and Fay came out from behind their cover and started walking toward them.
“Mike, what are you doing?” Fay asked.
“Stop,” Mike said.
The boy froze, his hands still tucked behind the back of his head. Mike kicked the boy’s legs from under him, collapsing him to the ground. Mike tossed the boy’s rifle to Fay.
Tom and Nelson came rushing out.
“He’s just a kid,” Tom said.
“I keep telling him that it was just an accident. I wasn’t trying to hurt any of you. I was just trying to scare you off. I just wanted to protect my family,” the boy said.
“What do we do with him?” Clarence asked.
“You’re going to let him go, right, Mike?” Nelson asked.
“No, he’s going to take us to his barn and then we’re going to drop him off there and make sure he doesn’t follow us,” Mike said.
The boy’s expression eased. The color flushed back into his face and his body lost some of its tension.
“Thank you. Thank you, so much,” the boy said.
Jung came out from behind the trees. The boy caught sight of the blood stained over his clothes. Jung had a dazed look on his face. He walked like a zombie; jagged, limping steps propelled him forward. He stared at the boy sitting at the base of the tree.
“It was him?” Jung asked still looking at the boy.
“Yes,” Mike said.
The look Mike saw in Jung’s eye was a look he’d seen before. As much as Jung spoke about taking the non-violent road he could see the struggle in the man’s face. It was the first time someone had hurt a member of his family like that. It was the first time Jung had a taste of real violence in his life.
“You shot my wife,” Jung said.
“It was an accident,” the boy said.
“You could have hit my kids.”
“Take it easy, Jung,” Mike said, inching closer to Jung who had his eyes glued on the boy.
Before Mike had to intervene Jung turned away and headed back to his wife.
“Did she die?” the boy whispered.
“Not yet,” Mike answered.
***
Jenna was too weak to move, and everyone was too weak to carry her for a distance longer than twenty feet. Mike and Tom tried to carry her through the trees to the highway, but couldn’t even make it that far.
The boy, who told them his name was Billy Murth, said the farm he was from was a mile down the road.
“The farm has a cart we could wheel her back in,” Billy said.
“Fine. Me, Tom, and Nelson will go with Billy and grab the cart,” Mike said.
“I should come with you,” Jung said.
“No, you should stay here and make sure your wife and kids are okay,” Mike said. “That’s the best thing that you can do right now, Jung.”
Mike gave Nelson Billy’s rifle, and Mike took one of the rifles from their own stash and gave the handgun he was carrying to Tom. Mike pulled Fay to the side out of earshot from the rest of the group.
“If we don’t make it back, there might be a good chance that his family will come back here looking for you guys. Have somebody posted on watch at all times. The kid could be playing us,” Mike said.
“What am I supposed to do if you guys don’t make it back?” Fay asked.
“If we’re not back by nightfall and if Jenna gets some of her strength back, follow the tree line down the highway. There’s a dirt road that’s hidden with some brush about four miles west. It’ll be on the left side. You won’t be able to see entrance from the highway, so when you guys are walking make sure you stay to the left.”
“Where does the road lead?”
“My cabin. My family will recognize Sean, so make sure you keep him safe.”
“No, Mike, this is insane. You don’t know what you’re walking into.”
“If we don’t get Jenna somewhere where we can sterilize that wound she’s going to die of infection. The only place that I know of is my cabin, and the only way I can get her there right now is to find something to carry her with.”
“Be careful.”
Mike kept his hand on Billy’s shoulder and the four of them took off down the road. He made sure to keep his eyes peeled for anything suspicious.
“How many people do you have at the farm?” Mike asked.
“Four,” Billy said.
“Who?”
“Me, my dad, my mom, and my younger brother.”
“Do they have any weapons, other than the rifle you had?”
“Yeah, my dad’s got a lot of guns. He’s a hunter. He takes tourists out on hunting trips for deer. Or he used to.”
“Great,” Tom said. “So we’re walking into a situation where we’re holding the son of a hunter and gun enthusiast hostage.”
“Will he be home when we get there?” Mike asked.
“I don’t know. He sent me to cover the east road while he went out hunting. He usually doesn’t come back till closer to sundown.”
“What about your mom and brother?”
“They’ll be home.”
“Can your mom shoot?” Tom asked.
“Yeah,” Billy answered.
“So much for catching a break,” Tom said.
It took them twenty minutes to reach the farm. The house sat in a clearing off the highway. An open pasture cut through the middle of the forest and cattle, horses, and other livestock roamed the fields grazing.
A large steel gate surrounded the property, fencing the cattle in. The gate creaked when Mike undid the lock and swung it open.
They kicked up dust from the dirt road as they walked closer to the house. Mike could see a barn in the back. Bells from the cattle dinged in the fields around them. Suddenly the front door of the house flew open and a woman wielding a shotgun marched onto the front porch.
“Let my son go or so help me God I will pump you full of lead,” Beth said.
Beth was a skinny woman. Her body looked far too frail for the 12-gauge she was holding, but the barrel of the gun stood rock steady.
Mike kept his grip on Billy’s shoulder, but made sure his gun wasn’t pointing anywhere near the boy.
“We don’t want any trouble, Ma’am,” Mike said.
<
br /> “If you don’t want any trouble then why did you come onto my property, holding my son hostage, and armed to the teeth?”
“Your boy shot one of the people in our party. The girl he shot needs help. All we need is a cart to carry her and we’ll be on our way.”
“Tell them to put their guns down.”
Mike nodded to Tom and Nelson and they placed their rifles on the ground in front of them.
“Kick them away from you,” Beth said.
Tom and Nelson complied sending the guns sliding across the gravel. Mike placed his gun down last, but kept Billy close.
“You all right, Billy?” Beth asked.
“I’m fine.”
“Did they hurt you?”
“No.”
Beth walked toward them keeping the barrel of the gun pointed at the three of them. The sun reflected off the steel of the shotgun. When she got close enough Mike let Billy go and he ran for his mom.
“Mom, it’s okay. They’re not going to hurt us,” Billy said.
Beth kept the shotgun pointed at them. She paused for a moment taking all of them in, their hands in the air, waiting for her judgment.
The barrel of the gun finally dropped and Tom and Nelson let out a sigh.
“Thank God,” Tom said.
“The cart’s around back. How bad is she hurt?” Beth asked.
“She took a bullet to the shoulder, but she lost a lot of blood. She’s not strong enough to walk yet and we need to move her quickly,” Mike said.
Mike followed Beth around the side of the house and his eye fell on an old wooden cart. It was six feet long and stood four feet high. The wood was cracked and splintered along the bed. Two long handles jutted out from the front, where it looked like it would normally be pulled by a horse, or ox.
“That thing looks like it’s about to fall apart,” Tom said.
“It’s sturdy. We still use it to push around some of the livestock feed,” Billy said.
Mike grabbed the front handles and turned it around.
“We don’t have a lot of options. Nelson, grab the other handle and help me pull. Tom, grab the guns on the way out,” Mike said.
Tom tossed Billy his rifle back and collected their guns from the ground and put them on the bed of the cart, shielding his mouth from the dust kicked up by the wheels.
***
Jung held his wife’s hand. Her eyes were half open. He had pulled out his sleeping bag and laid her down on it. The white bandages covering her shoulder were soaked red. Sean kept their two children preoccupied by playing a game with them. Jung watched from a distance as their two small children tried knocking an empty can from a tree trunk with a rock.
“Jung,” Jenna whispered.
“Shh, it’s okay. You’re going to be okay,” Jung said. “Mike went to get us something to carry you in and then we’ll go to his cabin. Mike said he’d be able to help you more once we get there.”
Jung tilted her head up and pressed a bottle of water to her lips.
“Do you remember that vacation we took to Sea World last year? I kept complaining about flying all the way to California for a week filled with nothing but sea animals?” Jung said.
“You tried to convince the kids to just take a weekend trip to the coast.”
“And they wouldn’t even budge because of all of the pictures you showed them. They were so excited and when we finally left for the trip and we made it there they wanted to leave right away, but you couldn’t peel me away from it.”
“You kept wanting to get your picture taken with penguins.”
“They were so cool, but they smelled awful.”
Jung’s face broke into a smile, reflecting Jenna’s. The creases of his eyes wrinkled up, while the dark circles underneath seemed to be under more stress.
“You were right about that trip. It was a good idea. We should do it again,” Jung said.
“I’m glad you liked it.”
His smile faded. The circles under his eyes darkened. Tears began running down his cheeks.
“Jung,” Fay said. “Mike’s back.”
Mike and Nelson dragged the cart all the way through the field to the edge of the trees.
“Tom, come help me get Jenna on here,” Mike said.
Mike and Tom scooped her up while Jung grabbed the bags underneath her. Jung spread the sleeping bags on the bed of the cart. Mike and Tom laid her down. Jenna winced as the guys set her in the cart.
Jung managed to put Claire and Jung Jr. in the cart with their mother. Jung and Nelson pulled while Fay, Tom, and Mike kept watch on the sides and front of the group. Sean kept close to his father while Clarence brought up the rear.
The rickety cart’s wheels clattered against the pavement, the handles vibrating in Jung and Nelson’s hands.
Mike knew they’d be slower now, and he wasn’t sure how the group was going to get the cart up the dirt path to the cabin, but for now they were moving and that was priority number one. Fay came up behind him.
“So, what happened back there? How did you get the cart?” Fay asked.
“I asked for it,” Mike answered.
“Are you going to bring it back to her?”
“If it survives the trip.”
With their rifles loaded and the dirt path to the cabin only a few more miles up the road Mike let himself hope. He hoped that his family was there. He hoped that they were all okay. He hoped that Jenna would make it.
It was a feeling he hadn’t let himself experience since they left the neighborhood. He didn’t want to let false expectations get in the way of having to do what needed to be done. He knew the trip would be hard. He knew there wouldn’t be any guarantee that he would make it to the cabin and that there wouldn’t be any guarantee that his family was there when he did arrive, but being so close to the finish line caused the hope that he kept at bay for so long to creep in.
“We’re close, right?” Fay asked.
“Yeah, we’re close,” Mike answered.
Day 11 (Cabin)
“I don’t want you going outside by yourself,” Anne said.
“Mom, I’ll be fine,” Freddy answered.
Freddy hadn’t been outside since his grandfather brought the three girls back from town. He was kicked out of his room, so they could have his space, and moved in with his grandfather. He heard his mom arguing with his grandfather about it the other night. She was still worried about what happened in the town nearby.
The three toys Freddy brought with him were starting to bore him and he wanted to explore outside, but his mom refused to let him go alone.
“I have to get lunch ready. If you want to go outside then ask your sister if she’ll go with you,” Anne said.
“But she never wants to go outside. She just sits in her room all day.”
“Well, maybe she’ll change her mind today.”
Freddy threw his head back in exasperation and marched over to his sister’s room. The door was shut. He gave it three knocks.
“Kalen, will you come outside with me for a little while?” Freddy asked.
The room was silent. Freddy knocked again.
“Kalen, open up. Pleeeeease, mom won’t let me go outside unless you come with. I’m dying in here.”
Freddy slumped his whole body against the door. He pathetically clawed the wood and jiggled the handle. He almost fell over when Kalen jerked the door open.
“What do you want?” Kalen asked.
Freddy caught himself from falling face first onto the floor when Kalen swung the door open.
“Please, please, please, please, please come outside with meeeeeee?” Freddy asked.
He dropped to his knees and clenched his hands together, begging her. Kalen rolled her eyes and walked over to her bed. He saw her reach for her shoes and slide them on.
“Yes!” Freddy said.
Mary, Erin, and Nancy joined them outside. There was a storm in the distance and the sun was hidden by clouds, but Freddy didn’t care. He ran around the
cabin, exploring everything he hadn’t been able to see since they arrived.
After doing a lap of the cabin he circled back around to Mary and Kalen sitting on the front steps. Freddy held his arms out, closed his eyes, looked up into the sky, and spun around.