by Harley Tate
“Were you there when the bomb went off?”
She nodded. “Made it onto the back roads, but that darn car likes to overheat if I don’t take it slow.” She smiled at her daughter. “I made it last night.”
Danny swallowed. “Were your kids here all alone?”
Despite the sickness ravaging her body, Barbara’s eyes sharpened. “Yeah, and what’s it to you? Ginny’s almost eleven and Graham’s big for his age. They can take care a themselves.” She patted her daughter’s hand. “Can’t you, honey?”
Ginny didn’t look at her mother. “Yes, ma’am.”
Danny turned to Ginny. “Where were you this whole time?”
“In the basement.” She twisted another tissue in her hands. “When all the lights went out, old Mrs. Hetenmaker over on Dumpries told us to git down there and not come out till Momma got back.”
At least the girl and her brother did the right thing. Danny turned toward Midge and tugged her out of ear shot. “We should try and find a clinic. Someplace that can help her.”
“Are you crazy?” Midge could barely keep her voice in check. “That woman’s on death’s door. We should get out of here and hit the road. There’s nothing we can do for them.”
“What about Ginny and her brother? We can’t leave them here with a dying woman and no one to look after them.”
Midge held the top of her head and stared at the ceiling. “As awful as it sounds, that’s exactly what we have to do.”
Danny ran his tongue across his teeth. “What if we stay until she dies? Then we can try and find someone to take the kids. Barbara said she has a sister in Detroit.”
“Who’s probably bits of radioactive ash at this point. Listen to yourself, Danny. You’re being ridiculous.”
“And you’re being cruel.” He regretted the words as soon as he uttered them.
Midge’s mouth hung open and her cheeks colored with shock. Her voice turned cold and bitter. “If you’d rather stay here and help this woman, fine. But I’m walking out that front door and helping Jack and Cassandra make it to St. Joseph. My mother is out there somewhere, and I have to find her. I can’t keep stopping to save people who can’t be saved.”
As she turned to leave, the sound of a door banging open at the rear of the house stopped her still.
Danny turned to Ginny. “Do you know who that is?”
The child bit her lip, eyes wide as saucers. “It might be Graham. He took off lookin’ for help, too.”
“How old is Graham?”
“Almost nine.”
Danny backed away from the door. The heavy tread down the hall didn’t sound like a child’s.
Chapter Twenty
MIDGE
Wednesday, 9:00 am CST
Rural Michigan
The door swung open and Midge braced herself. A scrawny boy, almost Ginny’s height but thinner than a rail, stumbled into the room. The hand that pushed him was attached to one of those men her mother described as stocky.
Midge would have called him enormous. His shoulders barely fit through the open door and his greasy red hair scraped the trim as he ducked into the bedroom. The perpetual scowl and scar above his right eye turned him almost into a caricature of a movie villain.
He reached out and took the boy by the shoulder, pushing him with enough force to make him stumble. A villain, indeed.
“You didn’t tell me there’d be other people here.” The man squeezed the kid’s shoulder until he yelped. “Why didn’t you tell me, Graham?”
“I-I didn’t know.” Graham whimpered as the man dug his fingers into his flesh. “Please, Mr. Henry, sir. I swear I didn’t know.”
Danny stepped forward. “Are you a neighbor?”
Henry wiped his right hand on his stained jeans and shoved it in front of him. “Henry Grimple. I live down thataways.” He jerked his head toward the road. “When Graham here told me his mother was sick, I stopped everything to come check on her.”
Danny shook the man’s hand and came away flexing his fingers. “You rushed over here to help?”
“Of course. Why else would I?”
Midge doubted it. Judging by the way he refused to let go of Graham, she bet he’d come to raid the place and leave the kids to starve. She took a step closer to Ginny. “Where were you, Mr. Grimple, when the power went out?”
Henry’s eyes narrowed to almost slits. “Don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
She shrugged. “Just seems a little strange. The kids were all alone for close to three days, but you hear that their mom is sick and you come running.”
“If I’d known they were here alone, I’d have checked on them.” Henry leaned down and the weight of his hand on Graham’s shoulder sent the kid slouching toward the ground. “You should have told me, Graham. I’d have come right away.”
Barbara moaned on the bed. “He knows to leave you alone.”
Midge figured they all did. She glanced at Ginny. The girl stood frozen to the spot, back ramrod straight, eyes fixed on Henry. Her skin paled even more than it had before and it didn’t take a genius to figure out Henry terrified her. Even if Midge and Danny managed to chase the guy off, what would he do to Ginny and Graham once they left?
Nothing good.
Danny sensed it too. His hand swept across his front in an attempt to conceal Randy’s gun in the holster.
Henry noticed. “I’d appreciate it if you’d remove your hand from that gun.”
Danny didn’t move.
Henry slid his hand over to Graham’s throat. His meaty fingers circled the poor child’s neck. Graham whimpered. Ginny shuddered beside Midge.
“Maybe you didn’t understand me.” He tightened his grip.
Graham’s eyes bugged wide. His hands reached up on instinct to claw at Henry’s fingers. The kid couldn’t breathe.
“Put the gun on the ground or I squeeze the life out of him.”
“You will not!” Barbara rose up from the bed, more skeleton than living person. “Leave my baby alone, you wicked old coot!”
Ginny let out a cry. Tears slipped down her cheeks. Barbara fell back on the bed, moaning and blubbering as the standoff continued.
They had to do something. A million options flitted through Midge’s mind, none of them good. At last, she opted for the least terrible and motioned to Danny. “Do what he says.”
Danny cut her a glance, furious she was willing to give up. She shifted just enough for the outline of Max’s revolver to show through her sweatshirt and all at once, Danny understood.
He lifted Randy’s gun from the holster and slowly set it on the ground. “We don’t want any trouble. How about you let Graham go and we can all talk about how to help his mother?”
Henry released his grip on Graham’s throat and the kid’s mouth fell open. He gulped air past his blue-tinged lips as Ginny sobbed.
“Ginny, be a good girl and come get that gun and bring it to me.” Henry lifted his lips in what might have passed for a smile in hell. “Now.”
The little girl took a step forward, but her mother’s arm shot out. Bony fingers wrapped around Ginny’s wrist. “No, baby. No! You stay away from that man.”
They couldn’t wait anymore. Midge caught Danny’s eye. She jerked her head toward Henry and Danny nodded. He held his hand down by his side with three fingers out. He curled one, then two, then three.
Midge took off, rushing Henry, at the same time Danny leapt forward. They crashed into the oversized bully and Midge’s shoulder clipped the doorframe. Danny grunted as he slammed his whole weight into Henry’s right side and all together the three of them tumbled to the ground in the hall.
Graham managed to squirrel himself out of the melee and Midge wasted no time, punching and kicking with all her weight. Danny joined in, narrowly missing a monster right hook from Henry as he struggled to rise up from the ground.
Midge yanked Max’s revolver from her holster and gripped it like rock. She couldn’t shoot in the commotion. Her aim was ter
rible and the chance of hitting Danny or one of the kids was too high. Thankfully, she knew how to throw a punch. With all the force she could muster, Midge slammed the butt of the gun into Henry’s temple. His arm fell to the floor, his face went slack, and Midge exhaled.
Danny fell back against the wall, clutching his ribs. “I think I bruised another one.”
Midge shook out her hand and climbed off Henry’s limp form. “Help me drag him. We’ve got to get him out of here before he wakes up.”
As Danny struggled to stand, Ginny poked her head into the hallway. Her eyes went wide as she stared at Henry on the floor. “You really are a prince.” She looked up at Midge. “Are you a princess?”
Danny smiled. “She’s a ninja.”
Midge couldn’t help but smile, too. “Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
Ginny’s head bobbed up and down. “I won’t. I swear.”
“We’re going to move him. You go and keep your mom and brother company until we come back, okay?”
Ginny nodded again and ducked back inside the room while Midge bent down and took one of Henry’s wrists in her hand. Danny grabbed the other and together they yanked Henry down the hall and into a shabby living room dominated by an old tube TV and a plaid couch that would have fit right in on a 1980s sitcom.
Midge kicked open the screen door to the back porch and Henry’s head banged down the broken concrete steps. She paused as his feet cleared the house. “We can’t leave him here.”
Danny stood up with a grimace. “I know.”
Midge turned and surveyed the yard. An old playset with a busted swing rusted on the concrete, and beyond it a metal shed squatted amongst the weeds. “We can dump him in there.”
“But once he wakes up—” The rest of the sentence died on Danny’s lips. He stared at Midge. “You can’t be serious.”
“What other option is there?” She squinted against the glare of the sun. “We leave him alive and the second we’re gone, he’ll raid the house. Those kids will be left with nothing.”
“We could find a clinic. Take their mother there and see if anyone can care for the kids.”
“Even if we could find a hospital that would take her, that woman’s going to die, Danny. And then what? You really think CPS is going to be up and running without power? No state social worker is going to work for free.” She bent down to grab Henry’s wrist again. “Those kids are on their own and you know it.”
Danny didn’t say any more. He reached down and lent his weight to the effort, dragging Henry the rest of the way to the shed. After wrangling with the door for a few minutes, Danny shoved it open and together they dragged the man inside.
Midge pulled her gun from her holster. “You should check on Barbara and the kids.”
He frowned. “I can do this.”
“No, you can’t.” Midge refused to sugarcoat it. “You’re better with the kids and I’m better with the dirty work. It’s just the way it is.”
Danny tore a hand through his hair. “It should be the other way around.”
“But it’s not. Now go before one of those kids comes out here and figures out what we’re up to.”
“I still think we could find another way.”
“Then you’re a better person than me.” Midge stared at Danny, gripping Max’s revolver so tight her fingers ached. At another time, would they even be friends? She didn’t need to ask. She already knew. Danny deserved someone better; someone who didn’t jump to the expedient thing. Someone who was willing to take a chance if it meant helping someone else in need.
Midge would never be that person. She would never share his optimism and faith in their fellow man. Bad people like Henry took and took until there was nothing left and then they burned the scraps. The man who shot her father didn’t need to kill a cop that day. He did it because he could.
Maybe Midge had more in common with men like that than with her father. She stood in the shadow of the open door as Danny took a final look at Henry.
“I suppose you’re right. This is the only option.” He ran a hand down his face. “I wish there were another way.”
“So do I.” She held Danny’s stare for a moment before he turned and ducked out of the shed and into the light. Midge watched him walk, lit up by the morning sun, and she wondered if she would ever shake the shadow of the shed and what she had to do.
With a heavy sigh, Midge picked up an empty burlap sack cast off on the floor and threw it over Henry’s head. The revolver might as well have been a thousand pounds as she hoisted it into position with two hands. She leaned forward and pressed the barrel into the middle of Henry’s forehead.
The burlap dimpled around the metal. Midge closed her eyes. She counted to three. Then to five. Then to ten.
Finally, she lowered the gun. She couldn’t do it. No matter how much Henry deserved to die, she couldn’t be the one to decide his fate. If she killed him, she’d be no better than the thug who murdered her father. And no matter how heavy the situation, she couldn’t stoop that low.
This wasn’t life-or-death, split-second, take-a-shot-or-watch-your-guts-fall-out-of-your-middle-as-someone-else-finished-you-off type of thing.
Midge stepped back. She didn’t need to kill Henry. She only needed to immobilize him. She thought back to action movies she watched with her dad as a kid. What was it the Terminator did in the second movie? He shot them in the kneecap.
I can do that.
Midge aimed at Henry’s knee. Even if he bled all over, a blown-out knee wouldn’t kill him. He could crawl home and figure out a way to survive.
And without two working legs, Ginny and Graham could always get away from him. Midge exhaled. This was the right call. She might have stabbed DuBois and shot at the Fresh Boys, but she couldn’t kill an unconscious man in cold blood.
With another calming breath, Midge took aim and pulled the trigger.
Chapter Twenty-One
DANNY
Wednesday, 12:00 pm CST
Rural Michigan
Danny stepped up into the house and eased the screen door closed as a single shot rang out. He closed his eyes. Killing a man like that—Midge was right; he couldn’t do it. He’d rather tie him up and leave him to starve than shoot him.
What a coward. Danny scrubbed at his face and hurried back toward Barbara’s bedroom. As soon as he opened the door, he knew something was wrong.
Ginny stood beside the bed, tugging on her mother’s hand. “Come on, Momma. Wake up. It’s Ginny. Henry’s gone away. It’s okay to wake up.”
Graham stood in the corner, tears dripping off his jaw.
“What’s the matter?” Danny eased up to Ginny.
“She won’t wake up. Momma won’t wake up.”
As soon as Danny neared the bed, he knew why. Barbara was gone. He reached forward and held two fingers on her neck. Nothing. Oh, God. How was he going to explain it to them? How was he going to leave them behind?
As he stood there, unsure on what to do, Midge slipped into the room. One look at her face confirmed what he’d heard. Henry was dead. He swallowed, thick spit clinging to the roof of his mouth and throat.
Midge stepped up to the bed and closed her eyes, instantly aware of what Ginny and Graham couldn’t comprehend. They were orphans. She approached Graham. “Hey, it’s okay.” She slipped her arm around his shoulder. “Your mom isn’t going to hurt anymore. She’s done hurting.”
He sniffed. “She is?”
Midge nodded. “Now she’s in a beautiful place that’s full of flowers and waterfalls and all of her favorite foods.”
“Even Funyuns?”
Midge smiled. “Yep. Heaven has everything.”
Graham wiped at his face.
“Did your sister tell you we have horses and a carriage?”
His eyes finally lifted off his mother’s body. “No.”
“Well, we do. And there’s room for you and your sister if you want to come.”
Danny couldn’t believe it. Midge was offering
to bring the children with them? He didn’t understand why she thought she was bad with kids. Between her interactions with Emily and now Ginny and Graham, the girl was a natural.
Ginny let go of her mother’s hand and walked hesitantly over to Midge. “Will it be just like in Cinderella with the carriage and the driver and the footman?”
“We don’t have a footman, but Danny over there is a pretty good driver.”
“She’s right.” Danny straightened up. “I’m the best carriage driver this part of Michigan has ever seen.”
“Where will we go?”
Midge crouched between the two children. “First we’re going to a place on Lake Michigan called St. Joseph. There’s a real nice family traveling with us and they have a brand-new baby they need to take home. We’re going to their house.”
“And then what?”
Midge hesitated, glancing back at Danny before continuing. “You know how in every Disney movie, something terrible happens in the beginning?”
“The parents die.” Graham stared at his mother.
Midge nodded. “Just like that. Well, afterward the princess has to go off on an adventure, and although it might be hard, what happens in the end?”
Ginny sniffed. “A happy ever after?”
“Exactly.” Midge reached out and took each of their hands. “If you two will grab your backpacks and pack up, we’ll set off on our very own adventure. It won’t be easy, but we’ll win in the end.”
Ginny took her brother by the hand. “What about Momma?”
Danny stepped forward. “She would want you to come with us.”
The kids looked at each other for a moment before Ginny pulled Graham toward the door. “Come on, I’ll help you pack.”
Danny watched them trundle down the hall and into a bedroom before turning to Midge. “What made you change your mind?”
She wrapped her arms around her middle. “I couldn’t do it.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t kill him. God, I’m such a coward.”
Relief flooded Danny and he rushed up to take Midge by the shoulders. He bent until he could look her in the eye. “No, you’re not. You’re the bravest person I know.”