Desperate Times 2 Gun Control

by Nicholas Antinozzi

  “What are you going to name the baby?” Bill asked. “I would be proud if you named him William.”

  “I’ll bet you would,” said Venus.

  “We haven’t talked about names yet,” Burt said. “But we’ll keep that in mind.”

  Doc laughed, bitterly. “Okay, can we now change the subject?”

  Jimmy looked over at Burt as he gazed lovingly at Venus. “I love you,” Burt whispered.

  “And I love you, too,” Venus replied, dramatically batting her lashes like the heroine in a silent movie.

  “What happened to Mars?” Jimmy asked, trying to follow Doc’s lead. “Was he always crazy?”

  “I don’t know, Jimmy,” Venus said. “Who can say what is in the heart of a man? Mars wants to kill you—I am sure of that. Pluto will not let himm or you would already be a dead man. The best Mars can do is to get Pluto to expel you all. By making everyone leave, he makes sure that no one comes back. If Mars killed you, he would be the one who is expelled.”

  “How soon would we have to go? Look at it outside. It’s going to be dark soon. They wouldn’t make us start walking in this, would they?”

  “We certainly would!” Mars shouted from the other side of the door. The lock rattled and the door was thrown open. “As a matter of fact, you can leave right now.” He held a brown grocery sack and tossed it onto the floor. “There. Don’t say we didn’t give you anything.”

  “We can’t walk all the way back to our camp,” protested Jimmy. “Look at it out there. We’ve got two injured people. Let me go find Doc’s snowmobile and take them back, one at a time.”

  Mars looked at Jimmy with obvious disappointment. He ran his hands through his long hair before speaking. “You don’t get it. You have ten minutes to be out of my sight,” he said, lifting his arm and making a great show of checking his watch. “All of you. That was my deal with the old man. He made me promise, and I’m a man of my word.”

  “You’re a lying pig,” spat Julie.

  “Outside! All of you!” Mars shouted, the chrome Colt suddenly appearing in his right hand. “You now have five minutes before I start shooting.”

  “Asshole!” countered Julie.

  “Three minutes!”

  Jimmy held his hand up to Julie before she could do anymore damage. They stood as a group and hurriedly dressed in their winter gear. Bill picked up the grocery sack as they filed out into the cold and wind. The gray light was already beginning to fade. The snow outside the door was over their boots, and they followed each others’ footprints as Jimmy led the way to the road. Not twenty seconds into their journey, things began to unravel and quickly came apart at the seams.

  “You son-of-a-bitch!” screamed Bill.

  Jimmy turned just in time to see Bill charge Mars and tackle him headlong into the snow. There was a furious tussle for the gun, and Jimmy stood in stunned silence as it looked as if Bill might actually come away with it. Jimmy had never seen Bill like this. He was nearly frothing at the mouth as he screamed curses at the younger man. Mars caught Bill with an elbow, and there was a momentum shift. Burt must’ve sensed this as well, and Jimmy watched as he also jumped into the fray. This caused the men who had accompanied Mars to the fish shack to jump in. The Colt exploded, and there was a terrible grunt of pain.

  “Burt!” shrieked Venus and suddenly launched herself on top of Mars.

  Jimmy was already charging his way toward the deadly scuffle as three more shots rang out. Everyone ducked for cover, and Mars was suddenly on his feet. He pointed the barrel of the Colt directly at Jimmy.

  “Come on, Jimmy,” Mars growled. “I think it’s time you joined your friends.”

  “Jimmy,” screamed Julie, “no!”

  Bill lashed out with a boot and caught Mars behind his right knee, just as the Colt exploded for the final time. The bullet sang by Jimmy’s ear as his life flashed before his eyes. Mars stood holding the smoking Colt, the action wide open to expose an empty magazine. Mars flung the gun at Bill and hit him square in the stomach just as Jimmy dived in for the tackle. Mars surprised him by meeting his dive with a vicious right hook that sent him tumbling into the cold, white powder. There was a jumbled commotion as Jimmy fought to regain his bearings. He stood up, punch drunk, holding a cheek that had already begun to swell. Mars was running now, a hundred feet away and heading toward the woods. Jimmy watched him stupidly for a second before returning his attention to the others.

  Venus was dead, as was one of the guards. Blood and gore polluted the lily white snow, and the sound of bitter tears rode on the wind. Doc and Julie were hovering over Burt, and Jimmy staggered over to them and fell to one knee.

  “Hang on,” whispered Julie, tearfully. “Doc is here and we’re going to get you fixed up.”

  “Venus?” Burt asked, weakly. Blood bubbled from his mouth and covered his chin. His eyes were strained as he fought to keep breathing.

  “We’ve got a sucking chest wound, Jimmy!” Doc shouted. “I need something to stick in the hole. Jimmy, give me your shirt!”

  “Venus?” Burt asked again. “Where’s my baby?”

  The wind howled as Jimmy flung off his jacket and ripped at the buttons of his shirt when Burt emitted a terrible gurgle and his body was racked with spasms. Julie held her hands over her face as she turned away. Burt looked up at Jimmy. Their eyes met and Jimmy watched as Burt’s stare became cold and vacant. He lay there on the snow as his rich black skin faded to a shade of bronze.

  Julie rushed into Jimmy’s arms and they stood there, dumbfounded in their grief, as Doc carefully closed Burt’s eyes and slowly got to his feet. “Goddamn fool,” muttered Doc, dabbing his eyes. He then reached down and picked up the discarded Colt and reared back and launched it out onto the snow-covered lake. “Goddamn guns!” he then screamed at the sky.

  Pluto was suddenly among them, surveying the carnage with a shocked expression pasted to his bearded face. He fell to his knees at the sight of Venus and wept openly for a moment. “Thirty years,” he moaned. “I knew this woman for thirty years, and she was the best friend I ever had. She would still be here if it wasn’t for your damn guns! Get out of my sight! I want you all gone from here, and don’t you ever come back. Do you understand me? Go!”

  “They were our friends, too,” Julie reminded him. “And your guy is the one who killed them. Don’t you ever forget that.”

  “Go!”

  “Maybe we could stay here while Jimmy gets the snowmobile?” Bill asked. “Would that be okay?”

  “Get out of here!” screamed Pluto. “Right now!”

  Doc stepped between Jimmy and Julie and nodded toward the road. “Let’s go,” he said. “You can’t blame him for wanting us gone.”

  Chapter 30

  And that was how they left Bailey’s, minus Burt and his new love, with their murderer still out there, somewhere. The wind whipped sheets of snow in their faces as they trudged along, following Jimmy’s footsteps into and through snowdrifts that were now nearly up to his hips. Julie and Cindy both sobbed from time to time while Bill remained quiet. He followed Doc along at the rear of the line, still holding the grocery sack and eating a sandwich as he walked. The going was slow, and Jimmy prayed that nothing had happened to the Skidoo. The sky was the color of cold steel as darkness began to settle in around them. Jimmy wanted to stop and mourn for Burt, but he knew that they had no time to lose.

  “We’ll build a fire, and you can begin by shuttling the girls back to Ken’s,” Doc said as if he was reading Jimmy’s mind. “I think all three of you could fit.”

  “I don’t think we’ll be able to get a fire going in this,” Jimmy said over his shoulder. “Why don’t you bring the girls back to Ken’s? Bill and I can follow your tracks. You should be able to be back in under an hour. We’ll be fine.”

  The road was swept bare of snow as it wound next to the lake. Soon it was drifting higher than ever before, and Jimmy plowed ahead, using his knees as battering rams against the crusting powder. Jimmy was r
elieved to see the shadow of the Skidoo up ahead where he had parked it. “Thank God,” he said, as the sweat dribbled down his back. “I think we’re in luck.” The snow had drifted around the machine in great white dunes.

  Five minutes later, Jimmy and Bill watched as Doc and the girls motored away on the long seat of the old snowmobile. The single taillight quickly faded away in the whiteout.

  “I shouldn’t have been separated from my daughter,” said Bill in the last light of a terrible day. “What if something happens to her?”

  “Some gentleman you are,” Jimmy said, not bothering to hide his disgust. “Come on, let’s keep moving!”

  Jimmy could hear Bill rummaging in his lunch sack as they walked. Jimmy had lost his appetite and couldn’t have eaten even if Bill had hot pizza. They crossed a small lake and then another. The going on the fresh snowmobile track was much easier, and Jimmy was thankful for that. Predictably, Bill needed to make a pit-stop about an hour into their walk, and Jimmy lit up a cigarette as he waited for Bill to return from the woods. The wind seemed to be dying down, and he caught a patch of stars in the blackness above them.

  Jimmy had nearly finished his Camel when Bill emerged from the shadows. “That was cold,” he stammered, hugging himself as he followed his footsteps out of the woods. “Hey, does Doc know where he’s going? I thought we should have turned back there.”

  Jimmy shook his head in frustration. “Doc has lived up here for most of his life. You have been to Bailey’s only one time. I think I’ll trust Doc.”

  “I don’t know. I really think we should go back and turn south at that last pine tree.”

  “Will you just let it go?” Jimmy shouted. “Doc knows his way around here better than any of us! Now follow me, and we’ll keep walking until he comes back for us. You can ride back to camp when he does. I’ll go last. Deal?”

  “I guess so,” muttered Bill. “You never thanked me for saving your life, Jimmy. That hurts, just so you know.”

  Jimmy turned his back on Bill and started walking. He hadn’t thanked Bill, and he knew that the time to do so just hadn’t presented itself. Burt was dead, and they were fighting for their lives. Jimmy muttered a thank you and continued walking.

  Jimmy had something else on his mind as he wearily followed the mechanical footprint of the Skidoo. What was Ken going to think about all of this? Jimmy knew he’d be furious that they’d lost Burt. He also knew that Ken would hunt Mars down like an animal. Ken would demand justice and he would extract it, no matter what anyone said, no matter how long it took. A sliver of moon was exposed by the retreating clouds and offered a hint of cold light. Jimmy continued walking, all the while thinking of what Ken would say to him upon his return. There would be hell to pay and Jimmy knew it. Ken would hold him responsible.

  “This isn’t my fault,” Jimmy said, as much to himself as to Bill.

  There was no reply.

  Jimmy stopped and turned around, but Bill was nowhere to be seen. Jimmy growled with anger as he stared into the blackness. “You’re a goddamn fool!” he screamed. “Do you hear me, Bill? You’re an idiot! Get back here, you’re going to die out there!”

  All Jimmy heard was the last gasps of wind in his ears and the pounding of his own heart. The fall of night was complete, and Jimmy could feel the temperature starting to nosedive. There wouldn’t be much time, not now that the sky had cleared. “Bill!” Jimmy shouted again. He waited, cursed, and continued to walk. He didn’t know what else to do.

  Well over an hour passed before he realized that Bill had been right. The snowmobile track began to meander like a tired river and began to double-back. Jimmy groaned as stumbled onto a place where two sets of tracks converged in a four-way. “Oh, shit,” he mumbled. The cold had crept inside his jacket, and his jaw was shivering uncontrollably. “Damn it, Doc,” he said to himself. “You were supposed to know your way around.” Jimmy examined the tracks in the snow, then shrugged and followed them to his left. He prayed that he chose the right way.

  The cry of a lonely wolf sounded in the distance, and the call was answered by a dozen howling voices. How far away were they? Jimmy tried to guess, but out in the woods they could’ve been one mile away or five. There was no judging their distance. One thing Jimmy knew for sure: the wolves would be hungry. Deer and moose tracks were a rare sight these days. Another howl pierced the night, and Jimmy knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that the wolves were getting closer. He began to jog on his tired legs, sucking in huge breaths of sub-zero air.

  The wolves were closing in on him, and Jimmy was soon running as fast as he possibly could. Jimmy could feel tremors of fear race down his spine as he imagined being ripped apart by a pack of starving wolves. He tripped and rolled in the snow, but he was on his feet in an instant, brushed himself off, and continued running.

  Two full minutes later, as Jimmy’s lungs were about to burst, he spotted an orange glow directly in front of him. The wolves were close now, perhaps even as close as half a mile. They howled as they ran, and the excitement was clear in their voices.

  Jimmy topped a small rise and was shocked to see Doc standing over a roaring fire. He was holding a long stick as if it were a spear. The shock on his face was evident as he saw Jimmy. “Out of gas,” he shouted. “Hurry, get into the light!”

  Julie and Cindy were huddled behind Doc, and they both screamed for him to move. Jimmy scrambled for the blazing pile of brush, nearly falling again as he did so.

  “Where’s my dad?” Cindy cried. “They didn’t get him, did they?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jimmy said, running up to them and scooping them both into his arms. “He knew we were lost. I think he went to find Ken’s on his own.”

  “Jimmy!” shouted Doc. “We can catch up later. I need you to grab a chunk of wood and join me. We’ve got company!”

  Jimmy spun around and found himself staring into the eyes of a huge timber wolf. He stood not fifty feet away from them, and he quickly showed them a huge set of canine teeth. “Oh, shit,” muttered Jimmy.

  “Come on!” shouted Doc, defiantly. “I’ll run you through, you dirty bastard!”

  Jimmy spotted a pile of deadfall and scooped up a fat piece of birch. The wood was soft, but it was the size of his leg and felt good in his hands. Jimmy raced to join Doc at the fire and brandished his club menacingly.

  “Jimmy,” cried Julie, “behind us!”

  Jimmy spun around and saw that they weren’t alone. Two wolves were slinking behind the girls even as they screamed in terror. Jimmy ran back to protect them. “Come on!” he cried. “I’ll bash your damn skulls in!”

  “There’s another one!” screamed Cindy. “Oh, my God, Jimmy!”

  Jimmy saw the third wolf as it closed in on Cindy and was only barely able to thwart the attack with the butt end of his club. The wolf snarled in anger and snapped at Jimmy as it passed. Jimmy swung the club again.

  “Be gone, you rotten devils!” screamed Doc.

  They were fighting the wolves on two fronts, and the brush fire was in desperate need of fuel. “We need some more wood on the fire!” shouted Jimmy. “That’s our only hope!”

  Julie and Cindy fell to their knees and began chucking pieces of deadfall onto the sputtering flames. Jimmy stood waving his birch club like a sabre. The wolves growled as they glided across the snow, sizing them up.

  Chapter 31

  Just when all seemed lost, Jimmy heard a familiar sound that sent pangs of joy shooting into his heart. The sound was that of a rapidly approaching snowmobile engine followed by another. Jimmy and Julie grinned wildly at each other. Cindy put her arms around Julie and buried her head in her jacket.

  Jimmy was just turning to face Doc when it happened. The huge black wolf seemed to fly from out of nowhere and took Doc totally by surprise, hitting him square in the chest and knocking him flat on his back. “Jimmy!” he screamed.

  “Doc!” shrieked Jimmy. “Doc!”

  Another wolf joined the first in a flash of movement a
nd before Jimmy could exhale, they were quickly dragging Doc back up the hill away from the fire. Doc was kicking and screaming and thrashing his long arms. “Help me, Jimmy! For the love of God, help me!”

  Jimmy screamed in agony as nearly half a dozen, snarling wolves suddenly appeared between Doc and him. He lunged at them with his club, but they held their ground. Doc screamed again as he was dragged over the top of the hill and out of sight.

  “No!” cried Jimmy.

  The next sound was so loud that it nearly took Jimmy’s feet out from under him. Jimmy had only heard the report of a .50 caliber once before, but there was no mistaking it. There was a wet, thwacking sound, and suddenly the big gun exploded again. A wolf began to yelp and leapt high enough in the air for Jimmy to see it from below. There was another shot and then a long moment of silence. The remaining wolves slipped back into the darkness.