“It might be a little chilly up there without much of a windbreak,” I told her. “I don’t think we can have an open fire.”
“You and Opus will keep me warm,” she shot back immediately.
She had a point.
I grinned.
I’d packed the cold sleeping bags I’d kept in the motorhome, knowing the nighttime temperatures dropped. When she said Opus and I would keep her warm, that meant she usually sprawled atop of me with Opus curled up in whatever space was left… if we let him. I wasn’t about to let him sleep outside, so I guessed I’d have to rough it. I grinned again.
“Ok, but if it gets too cold, we’ll come back to the van and warm up, or sleep in here.”
“Aye-aye, Captain,” she said, throwing me a jaunty salute.
Opus, of course, barked happily, having woken up in the middle of the conversation to put his two cents in. I pulled off where instructed and realized it was actually a perfect spot. The ground was relatively flat, and I wouldn’t be in the way of traffic and, more importantly, my van wouldn’t get stuck.
That was something I’d learned when I’d first got it. Parking on a soft shoulder with a big vehicle… it’s not pleasant. I shut the motor off, and as soon as I cracked my door, Opus jumped over my seat and was out in a flash.
I was about to say something but Tina’s look stopped me, and she nodded toward Opus, who was squatting at a bush, before walking around to every single bush that had the audacity to push its way through the rocky and sandy soil, to mark his territory. It was also obvious I should have stopped for him to go to the bathroom sooner. I made a mental note of that for next time and stretched.
We’d been on the road for a while, and nighttime was about to catch up to us. I heard Tina get out and then she went around to the back of the van and opened the double doors.
“So, you going to teach me how to shoot this?” She pulled out the box of the SU-16 I had somewhat shamefacedly hid from her.
“I’ve never shot one myself. I don’t know if we’re allowed to shoot here. I’ll have to look it up,” I admitted, though I was kind of interested in seeing what the lead spitter was capable of.
“There’s nobody around us. There was further back there, but it’s getting late now and all the day-trippers have left.”
“That’s true.”
“Plus, if you don’t want to weigh it down in your pack, I’ll carry it. You’ve still got your pistol.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it before I got myself into trouble. As girly as Tina was around me, I often forgot she had a tomboy streak a mile wide. It reminded me of her wanting to play laser tag and paintball and her girl's league of roller derby that was taking a break for the season and… she was everything I was and wasn’t. So instead of sticking my foot into it, waxing sappy, I went with it.
“If you want to, I’d love to figure out how to shoot it together, with you.”
“See. You’re a fast learner,” she said, tearing open the packaging.
I grinned and got my basic bug-out bag out of the back and then reached back further for my bigger backpacking pack. Tina didn’t stop unboxing the Kel Tec, but she watched as I snapped my day-pack-sized B.O.B. to the larger pack that already had a sleeping mat rolled and tied onto the bottom. I had an integrated camelback, basically a chamber for water with a straw for the person to sip on, but it was empty. I worked on filling that without making a mess, and by the time I was done, Tina had the gun unpackaged, had figured it out and was dry fitting the two small magazines that came with it.
“What do you call this?” she asked.
“A gun? It’s a Kel-Tec SU-16C I think. I don’t think it’s the B.”
“No, the black gun look. Tackticool? I’ll have to remember to get Opus’s vest out and put it on him so he can get in on the fun with us. I bet your fans would love to see all of us—”
Tina’s phone rang, interrupting her train of thought and she put the gun down and pulled it out of her pocket.
“Missed call. It was Craig, wait…”
Her phone let out a chirp, a notification for a voicemail or text message. She did some swiping as I put everything together for my loadout and then pulled out the pack she’d made to carry in her truck. We’d have to add a little bit of clothing, her sleeping bag to go with mine, the small two-person backpacking tent was already in my supplies… and then we could argue over food and who was going to cook and how much water we wanted to lug up to her spot and—
Tina looked up at me. “Craig called, must have bad reception up here because it only rang once.”
“Did he leave a message?”
“Yeah, said he got a call from that trainer in Germany he got Opus from. They had a canceled order for an intact girl. Since the person who canceled paid a deposit and won’t get it back, they were trying to sell the dog and were coming up dry, so they were reaching out to others in the states to see if anybody needed one. She’s like eighteen months old, kind of young for old boy Opus here, but…”
“When we get good reception…” I paused as Opus came up and sat down at attention in front of me, his big brown eyes boring holes in me. “How about you tell him we’re interested?”
“I don’t know how much she’s going to cost!” Tina was red in the face, and her hands were shaking.
“You don’t want a poodle for a lady friend, do you?” I asked Opus.
He looked at me for a long moment, then over at Tina who’d bit her lip, then back at me. He sneezed.
“So, you want a young lady to work with? Maybe see if there’s some romance involved someday? She’d be just like you, a fantastic specimen of what you are, Furface.”
Opus chuffed, but he was so quiet I almost lost his response when a soft moan of wind came over the rocks. I didn’t think Tina even heard it, because she was looking at me in either surprise or horror.
I bent down to his level. He barely moved.
“I couldn’t hear you. Do you want us to see if we can find you a girlfriend? Maybe somebody to raise a litter of pups with?”
Again, he chuffed, real quiet.
“I can’t hear you, buddy.”
He barked, and Tina about fell over. I stood back up, petting him between the ears, my hand kneading the spot in the back of his left ear like he loved.
“So, yeah. Let’s do it. I’ve kind of wanted to but didn’t want to push, and I got the idea you wanted to, and now we know Opus does want to.”
She hesitated. “But…”
“Call it an early or belated wedding present,” I told her.
What happened next would almost be described as X-rated and even Opus crawled under the van for a moment until Tina and I finally broke apart. Good thing there was nobody in sight of us. That was when I noticed the sun was setting, and if we were going to get set up in the daylight, we’d have to get a move on. I put on my pack, strapping it across my chest and waist. Tina put the gun in her bag with a magazine, and a box of .223. Then she got her sleeping bag and handed me the larger soft-sided cooler. She filled her hands with two single-gallon jugs of water and wordlessly we started up the hillside.
Setting up camp doesn’t have to be difficult, but sometimes I found myself making it more work than it actually needed to be. I found a spot in the sandy hillside that didn’t have large rocks and then rolled out the groundsheet. Opus walked across it as I was getting it in place and he chuffed as if to give me approval for an unasked question.
“Dude, move,” I told him as I rolled out the tent.
“He wants something,” Tina told me.
“What do you want, buddy?” I asked him, pausing what I was doing.
He turned his head sideways and then walked around in a circle and laid down.
“You can’t sleep there, I have to get the tent up. Don’t you want to go see if there are any rabbits in the area around here to chase?” I asked hopefully.
He yawned and put his head down between his paws.
“I don’t think
you impressed him with your pathetic attempt,” Tina said, and I could tell she was about to laugh.
“Come on boy,” I said shaking the tent out and standing at the edge of the groundsheet.
Opus opened one eye at me and then closed it again. I had a thought. I fluttered the tent out like I was going to set it up right over the dog, but when the nylon fabric covered him, the dog let out a soft snore. I could understand being tired, but this mutt had been sleeping on and off for most of the drive today. There was no way he was tired, even if he was only sleeping out of boredom.
“Dude…” I pleaded, pulling the tent off and letting it settle near Tina’s feet.
Opus opened one eye again. Frustrated, I reached for his collar, and he lunged. I pulled my arm back at the last second, and his teeth got nothing. Then the fuzzy terrorist barked once and rolled on his back, wiggling his back and butt against the groundsheet before getting to his feet, his back legs tensing.
“I think he wants to play rough,” Tina said quietly.
I’d played rough with him plenty of times, and although he’d startled me for a second there, I knew he wouldn’t have gotten me… but he’d sent a very clear message.
Ham.
He was practically an Easter ham the way he’d been hamming it up in his acting and I looked around, spotting a rare piece of wood that had come to rest under a bush, a branch that had snapped off and been washed down till it caught under one of the shrubby bushy plants we were planning on using for a windbreak. Opus’s eyes went where mine were and we both dove.
Well, I dove. He lunged.
I might have gotten it half a heartbeat before he did, but I was trying to get the stick and avoid crushing him. He knew I outweighed him, and had no problems using his shoulder and mass to try to get there first. I laughed as he pulled back, a playful and full-throated growl coming out of his jaws.
“I’ll work on this, you boys have fun,” Tina called from behind me.
I pulled harder, but I was trying to be careful not to pull too hard and break teeth. I was slowly pulling him to me, his feet scrabbling in the mix of sand and rock. I was about to declare victory when he changed tactics and pushed forward. I wasn’t expecting that, and off balance, he pushed the stick into my stomach. I tumbled backward with the slope. When I got up, Tina was laughing, and Opus was sitting about eight feet away, the stick between his front paws as he laid in front of it.
“That’s how it’s gonna be?” I asked.
He barked happily. I darted forward, and he waited for the last instant, until I almost had my hands on it, to make his move.
“I’ll get dinner going, too,” Tina said.
But as we started another game of tug of war, I wondered how she was going to manage all of that while laughing her fool head off.
17
Tina
Tonight, she’d get the shotgun out from under the bed and load it and pray she wouldn’t need it. Next, she’d Google dog breeders. She wanted something big, mean, and loyal. She had happened to stumble across a Facebook ad about a local breeder of German Shepherds. She’d have to do the training with the puppy, but—
The sound came from the bedroom, and the thump was felt through the wall she’d placed one hand on to brace herself while she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Thump. Something sounded like it scraped across the closet door on the wall on the other side of the mirror.
Dread filling her, she opened up the bathroom door, ready to bolt. Instead she saw the empty hallway in the house where she’d grown up with her parents. The door to her old bedroom was closed tight, as it had been since she’d bought the mini-storage from her mom and dad. Her bedroom (her parents’ old one), had its door slightly ajar.
Had she closed it? She thought she had, but there was an inch of it open, and the murmur of soft music wafted out. She knew she hadn’t turned on the radio, and the soft glow of the bedside lamp illuminated the sliver of open space between the door and the jamb. She knew she should pull her phone out and call 911, she knew she should go to her car, lock herself in, but this was a replay and she couldn’t stop what she knew was coming next.
She watched as her hand pushed the door open, the hinges squeaking as the door swung in toward the left wall. Rose petals were spread from the doorway to the bed, which looked crimson as it had been covered. Sprawled out on top of her comforter, naked as the day he was born, was Lance. That was enough to make her heart almost stutter to a complete stop, but what was worse was what he had in his hand.
She’d later find out the knife was a Ka-Bar, and he was rubbing the blade along his chest, small scratches from the razor edge noticeable, blood dripping down his body and onto the petals below.
“It’s about time you quit ignoring me, bitch.”
“Lance, you can’t be here,” Tina stuttered, reaching for her phone in her pocket.
“Put it on the floor,” Lance commanded.
So many times, he’d used his fists and words to beat her into submission that she almost complied, but she had been a strong woman before him and she’d found the core of steel in her soul once again, that for a short time, she’d lost.
“Get out now,” she said in a voice that sounded confident, but she remembered she’d been trembling and scared and her courage had surprised her almost as much as it had Lance.
He blinked and shook his head as if realizing she’d said something he couldn’t believe he was hearing.
“I said—”
“Get out now, or I’ll call the cops,” Tina repeated and was about to hit the send button when Lance made a sudden movement.
Tina jerked her head as the knife flashed past, sinking into the wood of the door. She turned to run and hit the button at the same time and clipped the doorway instead. She stumbled and was tackled from behind. She was thrown to the ground under the weight of her ex-boyfriend, him easily towering over her.
In her dream, she remembered her rough and tumble days as a tomboy, and how she had a friend who was obsessive about Aikido and how they used to play and practice as young pre-teens. She went with the movement, and used his momentum as she rolled on her back and pistoned with her legs and threw him clear. Never before had she had this work out the right way, but instead of patting herself on the back she prepared to flee, she realized that she’d thrown him between the exit and herself.
Lance struggled to his feet as she made her choice. She ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. She shot the lock and was working the small eye bolt lock her father had put in when she was little when the door shuddered.
“You bitch, come out HERE!” Lance screamed.
Tina backed up and hit the call button.
“Get away from me!” she shrieked.
“911, what’s your emergency?” a voice said, but was so quiet she could hardly hear.
“I’m in the…”
Lance shrieked and bang on the door so hard that it deafened her.
In a blind panic she pulled out drawers. A weapon, she needed a weapon. Her right hand was full, so she tossed her phone as another blow hit the door, the jamb starting to break, the sound like an ice cube with warm liquid pouring over it, cracking. She pulled open her makeup drawer.
There!
“Please state your emergency,” she heard as the door shattered, blowing open, the darkness, her fears now manifested in Lance.
His fists were bloodied, drool ran down one side of his mouth and his forehead was bruised and bleeding. Had he used his head? His knuckles were in worse shape.
“I’ve got something for you,” he said, one hand going to his crotch.
“Oh yeah?” Tina said, her voice coming out, high pitched, the panic almost ready to take control.
“You’re going to love it, and afterward, we’re going on a trip. Of all the girls who’ve gone there, you’ll be the only one who’s gone while alive.”
Tina had always prided herself on being strong-willed, unflappable and thought she could always do whatever it was
a man could do. What she realized in that moment, was that at some point, Lance had broken her. Her body broke, and she knew that this time he was going to kill her.
“You had to have known it was going to come to this,” Lance said, reaching for her.
“Lance… don’t,” she said softly.
“If you want, I can make it quick. You know… after we’re finished in the bedroom…”
“I don’t want to remember it,” Tina said softly.
“I’ll make it quick, then. I loved you once—”
He’d stepped in close, and the scissors she’d been hiding behind her back came out in a flash, four inches of gold colored steel piercing his side. He stopped abruptly as both hands slapped over his left side, one hand pulling the scissors out slowly. Blood spurted. Tina almost gagged but was moving again, her training with Adam coming back to mind. Eyes, balls, throat and kidneys. She faked a punch at his throat and when his hands came up, her knee went crashing into his unclothed and unprotected testicles.
He fell over sideways, his entire body spasming in pain, blood gushing from the spot where she’d stabbed him. Tina bolted, grabbing the phone as she ran, praying.
“Ma’am, are you there?” She heard as she ran down the hallway and into the kitchen of the mini-storage.
“Bitch!” Lance screamed over her shoulder.
“Please help me,” Tina said in a calm voice over the phone, working the door handle lock and the deadbolt.
“I’ve already traced the call, troopers are on the way. Are you safe?”
“Bitch!” Lance screamed, stumbling to his feet in the hallway, “I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Please hurry,” Tina said and ran out the door and into the main office where she’d grabbed the master set of keys to the storage units.
“Ma’am, you need to go to a safe space—”
“Bitch!!!!!!!”
18
Opus Odyssey_A Survival and Preparedness Story Page 12