Nathan cleaned the foot then pulled out a small metal probe and scraped the dirt out of the wound. Simon twitched and moaned but stayed pretty much still, letting Nathan clean the wound out. The wound was red and Nathan knew it would do no good to stitch it up now. “The wound is infected, but if you clean it two times a day with soap and water it should heal. You have to wrap it tight with a bandage after each washing. If he had his school shots and you keep him fed and hydrated he can make it,” Nathan told her.
“Don’t you have some medicine?” she asked.
“All I can give you is some antibiotic ointment. The rest is up to you,” Nathan told her.
“Stan spent all our money,” she told him.
“That’s on you, not me. You picked Stan so don’t expect me to feel guilty,” Nathan said.
“Yes sir,” she said, looking down guiltily.
“I will get you that gun. Then the rest is up to you. If you want to live, you will leave them and will have a chance. If not, the kids will be dead in a week, you the week after,” Nathan told her and tears ran down her face.
Seeing Amanda putting Ares’ pack on, Nathan stood up, grabbed his stuff and put it on. The woman held out the bag of food and the empty bottle. Nathan motioned to Amanda to refill the bottle. “Keep the food and start out after I get you the gun. The rest is up to you,” Nathan told her, checking his and Amanda’s equipment.
The mother nodded and followed them down to the highway. When they reached the road, the two men were standing in the middle of it waiting on them. When Stan saw the bag of food, he yelled, “Give me that damn food,” and advanced on the mother. She cringed back from Stan as he got closer.
Nathan took two steps and lashed out with his right foot, hitting the man in the chest and sending him crashing to the pavement, striking his head hard. Nathan spun around, aiming at Doug’s chest with his rifle. “Hands up buddy and you might see tomorrow,” he told him. Doug trembled as he raised his hands. “With your left hand, grab the pistol and lay it on the road and take four steps back. You know what happens if you try to act stupid,” Nathan said. Doug did as Nathan said and stepped back.
“Get the pistol. It’s all on you now,” Nathan told the mom. She stepped over Stan, who was rolling around on the road, holding his head. Bending over, she picked up the pistol and aimed it at Doug.
“NO!” he screamed as she pulled the trigger. A loud boom erupted as the bullet hit Doug in the chest, sending him to the ground screaming. She turned and walked over to Stan and aimed at his chest as he raised his hands. Another loud boom shattered the quiet as she shot him. He screamed as he rolled on the road. Mom walked over and pulled a wallet from his back pocket and did the same to Doug. Motioning for the kids to follow her, she walked over to the campsite and pulled on a duffel bag and reloaded the pistol. The kids put on backpacks and they stepped up on the road.
“Thank you,” she said, looking at Nathan.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Catherine.”
“Catherine, I’m Nathan. You need to hold what you have and don’t share unless you have enough. This won’t be the last time you’re going to have to kill, so just be ready and take care of you and yours. I wish you luck,” he told her.
She smiled. “Thank you Nathan, I will,” she said, and turned, telling the boys to follow her. Nathan watched them walk away as the two men moaned. Catherine would have many hard trials but she would remember what Nathan had told her. She and her boys would have a chance.
As Catherine and the boys disappeared around a curve, Stan tried to stand and move towards Nathan and Amanda.
“Dude, your best bet is to lay there and die. If I shoot you it’s going to be in the legs so the wild dogs can tear you apart,” Nathan told him, turning away as Stan fell down. Doug was coughing up blood as they walked past him. Up ahead, a hundred yards from them, a kid was sitting on a blue backpack beside the road.
“That’s the kid that was following us,” Amanda said, grabbing Nathan’s hand.
“It sure looks like it,” Nathan said as they walked toward the kid and he put on the pack. “Seems he was waiting on us,” Nathan said to himself. As they got closer, Nathan saw it was indeed a kid who was, for lack of a better word, round. Looking at his eyes, Nathan knew he was a teenager, but with the amount of flesh on him that was all Nathan could determine.
When they got closer, the kid held up his hands. “Sir, can I follow you and the girl?” he asked.
Nathan stopped and saw the kid was covered in sweat; it was literally raining off of him in sheets. “We are going that direction and you can follow but not with us,” Nathan told him.
“Mister please, I can keep up,” he begged Nathan.
“Nice pack,” Nathan told him.
“Yes sir, I found it in the car you opened up. Seen you get some stuff out of another one and did what you did,” the round kid answered with a chubby smile.
Nathan nodded with approval. “How did you get by all those people back there that wanted food? I want the truth,” Nathan told him.
The boy looked down at his feet. “I told them you was my dad and had all the food to make me keep up and wouldn’t let me carry any,” he said.
Nathan smiled and chuckled. “Now that is thinking, boy, good job,” he said with approval.
“Thank you, sir,” the boy said, his face lighting up with the compliment.
“Tell you what, you can move with us for a while. If you work out you can stay. If not, you go your merry way,” Nathan told him, impressed with the boy’s quick thinking and guts. “You do what I say when I say it. That means stop to rest or eat. You do nothing without me telling you,” Nathan instructed him.
“Yes sir,” he said, smiling and letting out a sigh of relief.
“What’s your name?” Nathan asked.
“John,” he answered.
“John, this is Amanda. I’m Nathan and the dog is Ares. Don’t get near him yet; he doesn’t know you,” Nathan told him. “I hope you have food.”
“Oh yes sir, I have a lot of food for us,” John said.
“It’s for you. We have our own but you still don’t eat until I say and only how much I say, is that clear?” Nathan asked.
“Yes sir,” John replied, smiling.
“You will walk on my right side a few feet behind me. If you see something, don’t yell, just cough to get my attention and every ten minutes take a look behind us with those huge binoculars,” Nathan told him. John nodded and took two steps back, falling into his position.
Nathan smiled and started walking. In the background they could hear the faint moans of the two in the road. When they were a mile away, Amanda doing her look-behind asked, “Are they going to die?”
“Doug is probably already dead. Stan will more than likely die. If he had someone to care for him he might live. It’s a lot harder to kill someone than you think,” Nathan told her.
She looked up at him with a serious expression on her face. “On TV they shoot them and they die,” she said.
“Better storyline. Unless you’re the hero you get shot a bunch and end up in the hospital,” Nathan said as they continued on. After an hour, he led the two to a spot under some trees to rest. He told John to eat, but just a small snack. Nathan watched John pull out a can of Vienna sausage and a handful of crackers then start eating. Getting up from the rest break, Nathan looked at the map, noting they were just over three miles from the state line.
Motioning for the two to get up, he turned, bringing up his binoculars. Up ahead was a bridge over the Interstate. It wasn’t an exit, just an overpass of some little county road. He noted movement under it and something on the shoulder of the road too small to be a car.
Thinking about a car, he looked around on the road, seeing them frozen in their last movements. Some were in the middle of the road but most were pulled over on the shoulder. They had seen so many, the cars just blended into the background now like trees.
When the two ca
me up to him, Ares bounded over, taking the lead. They all laughed as Ares trotted down the road with his tongue hanging out. They fell in behind Ares at a steady pace. When they were four hundred yards from the bridge, Nathan brought up his binoculars, never slowing his pace. Seeing what was ahead, he dropped the binoculars to his chest.
“Amanda, you will not show any fear. Is that understood?” Nathan said sternly.
“What?” she asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice.
“You heard me. If you show fear there is nothing I can do for you,” he told Amanda.
“I promise,” she replied.
“What color was the shopping cart the man had?” Nathan asked.
“Blue,” Amanda answered immediately.
“What color was the dog?” he asked.
“Black and white,” she responded.
“There’s a blue cart under that bridge and a dog running around that’s black and white. If it’s him, show no sign of fear or that you know him until I ask, is that clear? But you will not be afraid no matter what,” he demanded.
She raised her little binoculars up and gasped, her steps faltering. “It looks like the dog,” she said.
“Keep up, you’re with me now and answer my question,” he said.
“Yes sir, I understand,” she said with a quivering voice.
“John don’t say or do anything,” Nathan commanded over his shoulder. John didn’t say anything, wondering what he’d gotten himself into. Nathan walked over to Ares and unclipped his pack and handed it to John, who grunted with the weight, “Carry this,” Nathan told him. Nathan reached up and pulled the Velcro tab, uncovering his badge.
When they walked under the bridge, Nathan stopped in the shade. “This is our spot. Go get your own!” a man shouted from next to the abutment under the bridge.
“Taking a break, boy, so shut your fucking mouth!” Nathan shouted, seeing three men sitting under the bridge. He stepped over to the cart, acting like he was looking inside, but was watching the men.
One of them stood up and walked down the easement. “Get the hell away from my cart and get those kids out of here. You can’t do nothin’, cop,” the man sneered. Nathan lifted up his face, looking at the speaker. He was around fifty, wearing an old Army olive-drab field coat; he was around 5’10”, a hundred and sixty pounds and filthy as hell.
“Watch your tone with me, boy,” Nathan told him as a dog ran down and stood beside the man, barking at Nathan. It was an Australian Shepherd and a nice-sized one. He understood why Amanda would want to pet it; it looked cute but they were not good with strangers.
“I said git,” the man said as Nathan circled the buggy, acting like he was looking in it. When the man was four feet away, Nathan jumped forward, lifting his right foot and planting it in his chest. The man shot back from the impact as his dog ran at Nathan; Ares let out a loud series of barks that stopped the dog in its tracks.
Nathan turned to the dog, looking at Ares, and punted it. The dog let out a sharp yelp as it flew through the air. Spinning around, Nathan walked over to the man on the ground; he was holding his chest with one hand as the other hand held him up on his knees. Bringing up his left leg, Nathan stomped the man’s face, driving his head into the concrete.
The two men up top stood up and ran down the easement. One pulled a knife; the other pulled out a pipe. Nathan swung up his rifle, sending two bursts and hitting Knife Man in the gut and Mr. Pipe in the left hip. They both fell, screaming and clutching their wounds, and rolled down the slope, stopping at the bottom.
The man’s dog had gotten up and was standing about ten feet from Nathan, barking and growling as Nathan squatted down and rolled Green Jacket over, going through his pockets. Lifting his jacket, Nathan pulled out a revolver and threw it over by Amanda, who picked it up and put it in her bag.
Nathan stood back up as the man groaned and put his hand underneath him and pushed up, raising his upper body off the ground. Lifting his foot, Nathan stomped on the man’s right humerus, snapping it. The man dropped down on his face screaming. Jumping in the air, Nathan brought one foot down on the man’s back, feeling several ribs crack. The man’s dog lunged at Nathan and he kicked at it, barely catching it in the chest. The dog yelped and backed off, barking.
“Scooter, get ’em,” the man groaned at the dog. The dog came at Nathan and he kicked at it and missed, but Scooter backed away. Nathan stepped back and motioned Amanda and John over.
“Doesn’t feel good when someone jumps on your back, does it boy?” Nathan asked the man lying on the ground.
“I ain’t hurt you,” the man groaned.
“Yes you did, but you didn’t know it at the time,” Nathan said, and the other two men quieted down, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. “I beg to differ. You recognize the young lady by the big dog?” Nathan asked, and the man looked at Amanda.
“I ain’t never seen her before,” he coughed, holding his broken arm gingerly as he rolled over and sat up. His nose was crushed and he had to keep spitting out blood. Scooter came over beside him and growled at Nathan.
“I’m sure she looked different when you last saw her. Trying to kill her, taking her food, and making your dog bite her,” Nathan said.
“I ain’t done no such thing, mister,” he spit out with a lot of blood.
“Amanda, describe the necklace the man took from you,” Nathan said.
“It was a teddy bear on a gold chain and the teddy bear had diamonds around him with two for his eyes,” she said.
“Your crime speaks through your pockets,” Nathan said, holding up and displaying the necklace she’d just described.
The man coughed and his eyes got wide. “She was trying to get my stuff; it’s mine, I found it,” he said.
“So this cart is yours, everything you own?” Nathan asked with sincerity.
“Yes sir,” the man said, smiling with blood running down his face.
Looking down in the cart, Nathan saw a pack, clothes, some food and assorted crap. “You hurt a little girl and stole from her for this worthless shit?” Nathan asked.
“It’s not worthless, it’s all Scooter and I have!” he shouted.
“Oh I’m sorry, sir,” Nathan said. Reaching behind him to a pocket on the side of his pack, Nathan pulled out a small bottle of lighter fluid. Flipping the top open, he squirted the liquid over the contents.
“No please, don’t! You have her stuff and you hurt me bad. Please just leave,” the man begged.
Reaching into his pocket, Nathan pulled out his Zippo. “A little girl asked you the same thing and you sent your dog after her. It bit her and she fought it off and you hurt her again. She ran and you could’ve stopped again but sent your dog after her again. So please sir, tell me why I should stop?” Nathan asked, striking the lighter across his thigh and holding up the flame. Turning to the cart, he touched the flame to it, setting its contents on fire.
“No!” the man screamed, trying to stand up. Nathan shouldered the rifle and shot the man in his left ankle. He fell down screaming, holding his ankle and writhing around in pain. Nathan looked around and could see people off in the distance watching; the closest was a hundred and fifty yards away.
Turning back to the man, Nathan saw him tying a dirty bandana around his ankle, even using his broken arm. “Pretty good,” Nathan said, nodding with approval.
When the man was finished, he looked back at Nathan, crying. Snot was running down his face, mingling with the blood. “Please don’t,” he begged.
For an instant, Nathan didn’t see the man with the green coat. “You could’ve stayed at the bar; you didn’t have to drive home,” he said and shook his head and snapped his fingers. Ares trotted over to stand beside him. “Do you like your treatment?” Nathan asked.
“I know I done wrong,” the man said.
“But you were laughing, weren’t you?” Nathan asked with ice in his voice.
“Yes, but I was wrong!” the man shouted.
Nath
an lifted up his hand. “Ares, kill the dog,” he snapped, pointing at Scooter.
“NO!” the man screamed as Ares lunged through the air. Scooter may have been big for an Aussie dog at fifty pounds, but Ares was one hundred and twenty pounds of trained muscle.
Scooter, seeing the massive dog flying through the air, tucked his stub of a tail and tried the submissive approach. It didn’t matter; the command had been given and Ares put Scooter’s entire head in his mouth and clamped down. Scooter yelped as Ares swung his head back and forth, swinging Scooter like a rag until his neck popped.
Ares opened his mouth and dropped Scooter on the ground. He walked back to Nathan and sat down, panting, as the man crawled over to his dog, weeping. “See what doing unkind things to others has cost you?” Nathan asked.
“Damn you to hell, I hope you die!” the man yelled, reaching out and stroking his dead dog.
Amanda walked over to stand beside Ares. “I would’ve shared my food with you. I just wanted to see your dog. Now look at your stupid dog,” she said.
The man rolled over and looked her. “I should’ve killed you!” he shouted.
“You’re right, you should’ve, but I got away. I have a dog now and it’s better than your stupid dog. You’ve seen Ares knows how to kill, but he can do something else,” Amanda said. The man’s eyes got wide as she raised her arm. “Ares, get 'em’!” she shouted and Ares leapt forward.
The man raised his hands, seeing nothing but an open mouth with big white teeth coming at him. Ares latched onto his broken arm and started to violently shake his head back and forth, dragging the man around.
“Ares, here!” Amanda yelled out in her tiny voice and Ares let the man go and went and stood beside her.
Amanda stroked Ares’ back while looking at the crying man. “Look at me!” she yelled and the man looked up. “I’m not scared of you. My name is Amanda. Amanda Sterling, and I’m not running away from you this time. I choose to leave while you die.” She turned around. “Ares, come,” she said and walked off.
Nathan smiled at her then walked over to the man and kneeled down. “Your choice led you here. You’re not in danger of dying now,” Nathan told him, seeing the relief grow on the man’s face. Nathan grabbed his pistol and rammed it into the man’s gut and pulled the trigger. The muffled shot startled Amanda, causing her to turn around.
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