by Bruno Miller
Before Joel could answer there was a more distant bang—bang, then the AR reported three more times POP— POP—POP!
They were almost at the bottom of the steps now, and they could see the muzzle flashes through the front window. The thin curtains barely concealed the flares of light that flickered in unison with the loud crack of the rifle.
“Dad, are you hurt?” Joel shouted in the direction of the front porch hoping his dad could hear him through the wall.
“Negative. Meet me at the truck. Double time.” Joel heard his Dad’s no-nonsense reply faintly through the wall.
“This way, quick!” Joel grabbed Allie’s hand and pulled her in the direction of the back door. Stumbling through the house they made their way through the wrecked dining room, trampling on dishes and kicking furniture out of their way as they went. They continued their hasty exit through the kitchen until they reached the back door. Joel almost yanked the door open to bolt out of the house with Allison, but stopped himself, thinking to check first and make sure it was clear.
Slow down. Got to think. He pulled the 9MM out again and slowly opened the door using the tip of the gun. Grabbing the duffel bag handle closest to him with his left hand he took half the weight from Allie so they could move faster.
“Here, let me help you,” he said.
“Thanks.” She took the opposite handle as he led them out the door and down the steps. Joel scanned their surroundings for danger as they ran clumsily with the big duffel bag. They slowed down as they approached the corner of the house, and Joel carefully peeked around before they continued to the truck. He could see his dad already at the truck, crouched down behind the front of the truck with the AR laid out on the hood trained towards the street.
Joel holstered his pistol, relieved to see his dad.
“It’s okay. Come on.” Joel turned and looked at Allie.
Now out in the light of day, he noticed how pale and weak she looked. The poor girl. Who knew how long she’d been stuck up in the attic? He grabbed the other handle from Allie and took the entire weight of the bag from her.
“Let me get that for you, okay?” With a quick lunge, he hiked the bag onto his shoulder and headed for the truck.
“I can help,” Allie protested as she followed him.
“It’s no problem, really, let me help you,” Joel said without breaking stride. “It’s the least I can do.”
Joel let the bag slide to the ground from his shoulder and crouched down behind the hood next to his dad with Allie falling in behind him. “What happened?”
“Our friends decided to pay us a little visit and wouldn’t leave well enough alone.” Ben continued watching the street before turning to look at Joel and then Allie.
“Hi there, you must be Allie. I’m Ben.” He extended his hand.
“Hi.” Allie shook his hand.
“Sorry to have to meet you under these circumstances, Allie. Are either one of you hurt?”
“No, we’re okay.” Joel spoke for the both of them.
“So, is it just you or is there anyone else?” Ben looked at Allie.
Joel tried to intercept his Dad’s gaze and shook his head bleakly, hoping his dad would pick up on his cue and leave it at that. He turned to Allie and put his hand on her shoulder and then looked back at his dad.
“Okay then. If you have everything, let’s get out of here. No need to meet their friends.” Ben nodded his head at the street. “You guys will have to squeeze in on that side somewhere. Joel, see if you can make that bag work and find Allie a safe spot to sit.” With that, Ben snatched the AR off the hood of the truck and smoothly folded the bipod legs back against the rail. He slid it barrel first into the rifle bag leaving only the butt of the gun sticking out. Walking around and opening the driver’s door he wedged the the bag with the gun tip down between his seat and the center console making the rifle easy to access.
Joel stared at the loaded truck for a second or two and decided to not even waste his time trying to get the bag to fit. Wrestling the bag to his shoulder again, and then over his head he gave it a final heave onto the roof of the truck where it landed between the Thule crossbars of his roof rack. Then he took the extra bag he had packed for Allie from the store out of the truck and threw it up there as well. Reaching under the passenger’s seat he pulled out a couple tie downs and lashed the bags to the rack.
This opened up a tight spot in the middle of the rear bench seat for Allie, and she crammed herself in between the gear and sunk down out of sight from outside the truck.
With everybody and all their gear squeezed into place, Ben fired up the truck and backed out of the driveway. Once they were out on the street, Joel had a better view of the front yard turned battlefield.
The El Camino’s engine was sputtering as it labored to remain at idle. The car had come to an abrupt stop colliding head first into a utility pole at the edge of the yard. The front bumper was badly dented but otherwise the car looked okay. Joel could see the driver slouched over the steering wheel, the front windshield cracked in a weblike pattern radiating out from two separate bullet holes. The passenger was a few yards away laid out on the street behind the car. His legs and arms extended outward in an awkward pose. He was still holding a gun in his right hand and was lying in a pool of blood that had started to run toward the storm drain in the street.
When they were even with the El Camino, Ben threw the truck into park and hopped out leaving the door open.
“Wait here one second,” Ben ordered.
“What are…?” But his dad was already walking away.
“What’s going on?” Allie couldn’t see very much from where she was seated in the back of the truck and was walled-in by gear.
“I’m not sure, but my dad is smart with this kind of stuff, so there must be a reason for whatever he’s doing.”
Joel watched as his dad went straight to the driver and pushed his limp body over onto the passenger seat, and reaching in, he turned the car off and popped the hood.
“What do you mean by that?” Allie tilted her head still trying to catch a glimpse of the action.
“He used to be an Army Ranger.” Joel looked back at her. “We’re in good hands.”
Joel watched his dad as he pulled the keys out of the car’s ignition and threw them into the bushes. Then he proceeded to walk around to the front of the car and open the hood. Reaching into the engine compartment he pulled out a fist full of wires and threw them on the ground. Without skipping a beat, he produced the knife from his pocket and punctured both front tires.
Joel had never seen his dad move like this, with such purpose. Maybe a little at the range or on the pistol course, but this was different. The look on his face was all business and reminded Joel that he really didn’t know that much about what his dad had done in the Army. Sure he knew he was a Ranger and had heard a few mild stories about some of his dad’s adventures, but he’d always felt like Dad was holding back on some of the details. Now he was sure of it as he watched his dad cleanly move about.
“That ought to keep them busy for a little bit.” Ben climbed back into the truck as quickly as he’d gotten out, and before Joel had a chance to process it, they were speeding down the street headed home.
“So what happened back there while we were inside?” Joel asked.
“They finished up at the house up the street and were headed back down East Seventh. I guess they noticed our truck. The driver already had his gun out the window as they pulled into the yard.” Ben paused for a minute as he steered the truck around a wrecked car in the road.
“I couldn’t take any chances, Joel. There was no choice really. Those guys were looking for one thing only. There would have been no reasoning with them, and they would have killed us all to get their hands on this truck and our gear.”
“I found her hiding in the attic from them. They were the same guys that broke into her house and destroyed the place. She said there were more of them yesterday when they came around.” Joe
l looked back at Allie and saw that she was fast asleep wedged between the bags.
“I’m sure she’s exhausted.” Ben glanced back at her. “We can’t go back there to her house, to town, any of it, for a long time,” Ben said.
“She knows. She doesn’t have anything to go back to anyways.” Joel checked on Allie to make sure she was still sleeping. “Her mom is… was, a flight attendant. She thinks she was in the air when it happened.” Joel looked down at the floor and then back at Allie again.
“Does she have any other family around here?” Ben asked.
“I don’t think so. Just a dad in Pittsburgh is all I know of.” Joel shrugged.
“Pittsburgh, huh?” Ben gave Joel a look.
“What?” Joel protested.
“Nothing, just don’t get any ideas. The three of us need to sit down and discuss all our options after we get home and get settled. Your brother and sister are my top priority, along with you, of course.” Ben reached over and tousled Joel’s hair as he shot him a crooked smile.
“I know, but we can’t leave her on her own.” Joel blushed and turned away to look out the window.
“I know, bud, I wasn’t saying that. We just have to work out the details is all.” Ben put his other hand back on the wheel and stretched his neck to one side then the other.
“Thanks, Dad,” Joel said.
“Thanks for what?” Ben asked.
“Everything.” Joel managed a small grin and shifted lower in his seat. He put his elbow on the door and propped his head up with his hand as he stared out the window, letting his thoughts take over.
What a day it had been. It was only midafternoon, but he felt like it should have been much later. He’d had to come to accept the loss of Brian, his best friend, and assume the role of protector for the girl of his dreams who was now sleeping in the back of his truck.
The loss plus the new responsibility combined with what they had experienced in town was enough to leave his head spinning.
All things considered, the day could have turned out much worse. He had no idea what tomorrow would bring, but he was sure of a few things.
He had his dad, he had Allie, and they were headed home.
Chapter Nineteen
Ben had taken a different way home for a couple reasons, the main one being to avoid driving back through town and running the risk of meeting up with any more undesirables. The other reason he wanted to head out of town on Rt. 160 was to get a better feel for how the bigger main roads were as far as obstacles and wrecked vehicles. It was a longer route home already and with the amount of accidents on the road it ended up taking them close to an hour and a half to get back to the house.
Allie slept the whole way back, even the last mile or so up the bumpy dirt road to their house. Ben felt relieved to pull into the driveway, but wasn’t about to let his guard down.
“Wait in the truck for just a minute, okay, bud? Let me just do a quick walk around.” Ben turned off the engine and hopped out. Everything appeared to be as they’d left it, but after the day they’d had, he wasn’t just going to assume all was well. He checked the doors on the garage first to see that they were still locked, then walked around the house doing a visual check on doors and windows. He caught a glimpse of Gunner inside, at a couple of the windows, pushing the curtains aside in his excitement and slobbering up the glass. This brought a little smile to Ben’s face, and he was glad to see that silly dog.
Satisfied that it was all clear, he called to Joel from the front porch. “All right, why don’t you guys come on in? Don’t bother with any of the gear other than Allie’s things. I want to unload all of it in the garage and sort through it there.”
* * *
“Okay.” Joel turned to Allie and paused for a second before he woke her. She looked so peaceful tucked in amongst the bags. He wished he could let her sleep and enjoy her alternative reality as it was surely better than this one they had.
“Allie… Allie, we’re here.” Joel gently shook her knee. “Hey, we’re here.”
She rubbed the palms of her hands into her eyes as she finally came to.
“Where are we? How long was I asleep?” She yawned.
“We’re here, at our house. You slept the whole way. About an hour and a half.” Joel grinned.
“I did?”
“Yep. You feel a little better?” Joel wished he hadn’t said that immediately after it came out. Of course she didn’t feel any better, she had just lost everything, including her mom.
“Yeah, maybe a little, I guess. Although I feel like I could fall right back asleep.” She managed a brief smile.
“Come on, let me help you out of there.” Joel offered his hand.
She had sunk even further down into the gear on the ride back and now her knees were almost at her head level. She grabbed Joel’s hand with both of hers, and he pulled her out of the hole. Once out of the truck and standing on her own two feet, she stretched and took in her surroundings.
“Wow, nice view up here. You guys are pretty high up, huh?” Allie said.
“Yeah, right around nine thousand feet. Really great sunsets up here.” Joel nodded in the direction of the currently sinking sun.
“Yeah, I bet. Just you and your dad live here?” Allie asked.
“Yep. Whoa, there. Look out. Don’t worry, he’s friendly.” Joel barely dodged Gunner as he came barreling down the steps and flew by him heading straight for Allie. Joel was worried she would be intimidated by Gunner’s exuberance, not to mention he probably almost weighed as much as she did. But he was pleasantly surprised when Allie dropped to her knee to greet the big beast of a dog.
“Hey there, what’s your name big boy?” She fawned all over him, rubbing behind his ears briskly. Gunner leaned into her and almost knocked her over before she caught herself.
“And that would be Gunner.” Joel chuckled. “Sorry about that, he doesn’t know how big he is.”
“Oh, it’s okay. I love dogs! We have a yellow lab named Molly who lives at my Dad’s.”
“Okay, Gunner. Give the girl a break.” Ben walked back out onto the deck from inside the house where he had done a quick walkthrough, making sure it was secure.
“He’ll let you scratch him all day you know.” Ben smiled and shook his head at Gunner. “Joel, why don’t you help Allie get her bag inside and show her to the newer bathroom downstairs? It’s nice and clean and has a good size tub that I bet she would love to put to use.”
Allies eyes lit up when Ben mentioned the bath.
“I’ll get the generator going so you’ll have plenty of hot water.”
“Wow, thank you so much, Mr. Davis,” Allie said. “That sounds wonderful.”
“After you show her around the plac,e Joel, how about giving me a hand in the garage unloading the truck? Then, maybe after that, we can all sit down and get to know each other a little better over a hot meal.” Ben nodded at Allie and headed for the garage, pulling the keys out of his pocket.
“Sure thing, I’ll be right there.” Joel pulled at the bag on top of the truck until it slid off onto his shoulder with a thunk. “Right this way, ma’am.” He led Allie up the stairs and into the house with Gunner closely trailing after his newly found friend. He took her to the bathroom downstairs and turned the tub faucet on, letting it run until he felt warm water.
“Well, there you go, enjoy.” Joel began to back out of the bathroom, pulling the door closed behind him.
“Joel, wait.”
“Yeah?” he stuck his head around the partially closed door.
“Thank you, for today, for everything. If you hadn’t come looking for me, well I don’t know what I would have done,” Allie confessed.
“You don’t have to thank me. I’m just glad you’re okay.” Joel looked down at the floor.
Without warning she leaned in and kissed his cheek then pushed the door closed. Stunned, Joel was left standing outside the bathroom door. He turned around to see Gunner staring up at him.
“W
hat are you looking at?” Joel cleared his throat and headed back up the steps. He left the door open at the top of the stairs for Allie’s sake and turned to wait for the dog, but Gunner was still at the bottom of the stairs sitting by the bathroom door.
“Well, are you coming?” Joel looked at Gunner who responded by lying down outside the door with a grunt.
“Traitor,” Joel teased. “Fine then, stay there.”
When he got to the garage, his dad had already backed the truck in and was unloading gear.
“You okay?” Ben asked. “You look a little red.”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just a little worn out I guess.” Joel still felt the lingering effects of the warm flush that had crept across his face just moments ago. “Need some help?” He tried to shift the focus off himself.
“Yeah, let’s get all this stuff out of the truck and lay it on the floor over there so I can get it organized.” Ben pointed to a clear spot on the floor next to the truck. “So, how’s she doing?” Ben asked.
“Okay, I guess,” Joel answered.
“She’s been through a lot. We all have. So just make sure you give her time to process all that’s happened, and just be there for her, even if all you do is listen.” Ben glanced at Joel as he passed him the white food tubs from the back of the truck.
“I’ll try.” Joel paused. “I can’t imagine how she feels. We’re all she’s got now. I mean, except for her Dad in Pittsburgh.”
Ben slid the last white tub out to the tailgate from the cargo area and stopped to look at Joel. “I just want to make sure she’s up for the trip. It won’t be easy, so she has to be onboard one hundred percent. She might not want to leave Durango.”
“I don’t see why she would want to stay. She’s got nothing left here,” Joel said.
“What if her dad comes looking for her here? I don’t know. Let’s get her take on all of this at dinner. Here you go.” Ben tossed three dehydrated meal packets at Joel from one of the tubs. “How about boiling up some water for us inside so we can eat soon? I’ll finish unloading and join you in a minute.”