by Mark Tufo
“You’re both dead. I will hunt you down and make you pay for this over and over.”
“Roll over,” Mia said.
I placed my teeth on his neck. His body went rigid. “I think Riley is telling you to do what we want,” Mia said.
Icely began to shift.
“He is not lying about hunting us down, Riley. Rip his throat out now while you can,” Patches said as she got down beside me.
“I can’t,” I told her as I moved so that Icely could get on his stomach.
Then Patches did something that surprised me. She jumped up on his back and bit down hard on his neck, taking a small piece as he tried to reach around and get his hands on her.
“Don’t!” Mia shouted as he moved back. “It appears all these animals are great judges of character or your lack thereof.”
“What are you doing, cat?” I asked her.
“Killing him.”
I scoffed at her words as I looked at the bite that was barely bleeding, I’d seen insects cause more damage.
Jess spent a few moments tying Icely’s hands up. Mia bent down and checked her handiwork. “I wish it was tighter. Find something to put over his mouth.”
“You are going to wish you killed me,” he told the women as they rolled him back over and propped him up against the wall.
Jess shoved a black nylon sock in his mouth and then grabbed a silk scarf to tie around his mouth to hold it in place.
“Now what?” Jess asked as she stood up. Icely was glaring at her.
“Now I guess we find a car and get out of here.”
We were heading down the small narrow room when one of the women must have heard something as she was half in and half out of her room looking to see what was happening.
“Get your ass in your room,” Mia told her, pointing the pistol at her. The door slammed shut quickly. “We’re not going to have much time. Are you sure you want to go through with this, Jess? He might let you live.”
“And you?” Jess asked.
“Not a chance, not now.”
“Well why are we wasting time talking about it then?”
We headed down the stairs quickly, when we got to the front door Mia told us to wait for a second. She handed the pistol to Jess, who had to shift Zach to her other side to get a good grip on the fire stick. “If anyone but me comes back through that door you’ll have to shoot them, do you understand?” she asked a bewildered Jess. “Listen, girl, we’re only going to have one chance and it’s already slim, you may need to shoot your way out of this. Can you do it?”
Jess nodded slightly.
“Good, I should be right back.” And then she went out the door quickly and shut it behind her quietly.
I could hear thumping noises upstairs. Icely was either attempting to free himself or make his present situation known. He would be successful with either venture soon. I turned to go back upstairs and do what I should have already done.
“Come on, come on!” Mia said as she motioned with her hand quickly for us to come out the door.
I looked once up the stairs and followed everyone out.
“What’s going on?” Jess asked.
“I got Icely’s driver to get his car. Now if he shows up before the porch guard, we’ll have a real chance,” Mia said. She was looking around for danger.
“Patches, come here,” Jess said as the cat walked to the corner of the house.
“Riley, the man with the gun is going to be here before the car makes it,” Patches said.
“Give me the gun, Jess,” Mia said calmly.
Jess handed it over, gladly I think. Mia softly padded to the corner of the house. She was right behind the cat who was watching the approaching man.
“Hello, kitty,” the guard said. “Come here, sweetie.”
Patches purred and rubbed up against the side of the house. Mia tensed as the man’s footfalls got closer. The man’s attention was rapt on Patches; one hand held the rifle to his chest, with the other he was reaching out and bending over towards the cat.
He barely had time to register he was not alone as Mia placed the pistol close to his head and fired. She turned as she did so, but the metal bee did its job as the man fell over. The side of his head had exploded outwards in a shower of blood, bone, and brain.
“Holy shit, Mia, what did you just do?” the man that brought the car up asked. He was standing by the car he had just exited. He had seen everything. I ran down the stairs. He had still not taken his eyes off the scene on the side of the porch. When he finally noticed me running towards him, he turned to get back into the car, but it was too late.
I hit the back of his knee and he fell face forward—the top of his head catching the body of the wheeler. He wasn’t unconscious, but he also wasn’t moving quickly either.
“Cat, let’s go!” I yelled. She seemed to have frozen somewhat. She had played an integral part in the killing of the human. It had been necessary, but that didn’t make it easier.
Patches ran towards me. Ben-Ben started barking, he was corralling everyone to head into the car; got to love herding dogs.
Jess ran to the passenger side with Zach, Patches went into the back, I followed her quickly, Mia hopped into the driver’s seat, Ben-Ben ran over the prone form of the chauffeur onto Mia’s lap and then into the back seat.
Mia had no sooner shut the driver’s side door when the door to the house flew open. The imposing form of Icely dominated the entryway. He said nothing and he did nothing…and that was somehow worse as Mia got the wheeler moving.
Mia’s hands were shaking on the wheel as she sped down the driveway. Jess reached over and grabbed the fire stick which she was threatening to drop.
“I’ve never killed anyone before,” Mia said as she looked over at Jess.
“Well keep it to one,” Jess told her as she secured the fire stick and then pointed out the front window, hoping Mia would follow suit and avoid the rock column that held the gate up.
The car swerved violently, Patches landed on top of me. For the briefest of moments I wanted to sink my fangs into her, and then it passed.
“Sorry,” she said as she pulled her claws from my chest.
I winced as droplets of blood fell on the seat.
“I bit a two-legger, Riley. They’re going to send me back to the pound now,” Ben-Ben moaned, his head hanging low and his tail tucked neatly under his behind.
I nudged his face up with mine. “No one, Ben-Ben, and I mean no one, is ever sending you back to the pound. I will make sure of that.”
“You did good, Ben-Ben,” Patches said.
The car scraped the ground as we left Icely’s yard. “Get Zach secured in the back, Jess, this is going to get worse before it gets better,” Mia said as she concentrated on driving.
“We’re not free?” Jess asked, but from her tone I knew even she knew the answer before she had asked the question.
Jess reached back and set a quiet Zach down and did her best to make the harness in the back of the car fit the baby as best as possible. As soon as she finished, the fire alarm sounded for the third time.
“Thank you, Riley,” Zach said. “Thank you, all of you.”
“I was missing the smell of your paper pants,” I told him. “All of the credit goes to Patches, though, without her we’d all still be captive.”
“I’m sorry, Riley, I didn’t know,” Ben-Ben added.
“How could you?” I asked, hoping to relieve his guilt.
“I should have, though. You were fighting to the death. Jess and Zach were being forced to stay with a man holding them captive. Patches is out there risking her life to get everyone free, and I’m trying to figure out how to get more bacon. What kind of pack protector am I?”
“The best kind,” I told him. “You kept yourself in the best place to escape, you held on to your faith of me even when you doubted my actions, and when we were up against the wall you did something that went against everything you’ve ever learned. You are as much a part o
f this pack as any of us,” I told him. He smiled at that.
“You know what would make this perfect?” Ben-Ben asked.
We all knew the answer, but we let him say it anyway.
“Bacon,” he said proudly.
“We need to make it out of Vegas,” Mia said as she looked in her rear view mirror, which had just lit up from the wheeler that was following.
“Will they keep following?” Jess asked as she turned to see. “There’s two of them.”
“At least for a while. Outside of Vegas is the unknown, and they won’t be in such a rush to go exploring. It will take some threatening from Icely before a posse comes chasing us.
“How long until we’re out of the city? Because they’re gaining,” Jess said as she sat back down.
“Five miles,” Mia said as she maneuvered around a car that was coming from a side path.
“At least they’re not shooting yet,” Jess said.
“They won’t, Icely wants us alive so he can kill us personally. If they stop us, Jess, we will need to take ourselves out. What he’ll do to us will be so much worse.”
I wasn’t really sure what Mia meant by ‘taking themselves out’ but Jess’ reaction let me know it was not a good thing.
“Good thing I have some Asian in me!” Mia yelled as she drove the wheeler up onto the path where the two-leggers like to walk. She was able to get past a large wheeler that had stopped in the middle of the wheeler pathway.
“Watch out!” Jess yelled as she placed her hands up by her face. The wheeler feet screeched as Mia turned sharply to avoid a light holder.
The wheeler started to slow down. “Mia, what are you doing?” Jess asked as she finally peeled her hands away from her face.
I looked out the front viewer. There was nowhere for the wheeler to go, large trucks were blocking the entire pathway including the footway.
“Now what?” Jess asked.
“How many bullets are in the gun?” Mia asked as she reached for it.
Jess pulled it away. “Not a chance, I haven’t...we haven’t come this far to just put a bullet in our heads.”
“You don’t understand, Jess, he’s not just going to kill us, he’s going to make us suffer. You will wish that you had put the barrel of the gun in your mouth and pulled the trigger.”
“And what about Zach? Will you be able to kill him? Because I sure as shit won’t be able to!” Jess screamed.
“Hey I’m right here!” Zach bellowed. “I don’t want anyone shooting me!”
“You said they won’t shoot us, tell them to move or you’ll shoot them,” Jess begged a defeated looking Mia, whose head was resting against the steering wheel.
“Might as well die trying,” Mia said as she picked her head up. The wheeler lurched forward; the smell like Alpha’s burnt dinner came from the rear feet as the wheeler gained speed.
Men scrambled from their blockade once they realized what Mia was doing.
“Put your seatbelt on, Jess, and give me the gun.” Jess looked over at Mia. “I promise it’s only for them.”
Jess handed it over, took a quick look in the back to make sure Zach was still under the leash, and then she quickly buckled herself in.
“Riley, help me pull the baby behind Mia’s seat,” Patches said.
“You sure? But she’s under the leash.”
“It’s too loose, he’s not safe.”
I tenderly grabbed Zach’s foot. “Sorry,” I told him around my mouthful of his leg.
Ben-Ben grabbed the front of his shirt as I pulled him over the edge and gently let him down onto the floor. “Oooh, a french fry,” Ben-Ben said as he looked under the seat.
Mia shot metal bees from her gun. The big wheeler that had been directly in front of us was moving quickly to get out of the way. Between the bees and the car speeding down on him my guess was that he wanted to get out of the way.
“This is going to suck,” Mia said just as our wheeler made contact with the front of the truck. Mia crashed up against her steering wheel as our wheeler spun to the side, she was able to get us going straight again within maybe seven feet. Her breathing was labored as she spoke. “That hurt,” she mumbled.
“You alright?” Jess asked as she turned to the back. “Zach?” she cried in panic.
Ben-Ben barked around a mouthful of old french fries. “Right here!” he said, his tail wagging furiously.
“Oh, Zacky,” Jess said as she tore her leash off and reached behind Mia’s seat, grabbing for Zach, a half chewed french fry hanging out of his mouth.
“I really don’t see why he thinks these are so good,” Zach said as he spit the old spud to the ground, his face wrinkling up as he did so.
Ben-Ben dove down and snatched it off the floor before Patches or myself could, although why he thought we’d want it I really don’t know.
“Sorry,” Ben-Ben said when he finally brought his head up.
“It’s okay,” I told him.
“You okay, Zach?” Jess asked as she patted down his entire body.
“Except for my tongue…which now tastes like dirt,” he chortled.
She hugged him tight.
“What now, kiddo?” Mia asked as she roared past the Vegas sign.
“Colorado?” Jess asked, hoping her new traveling companion would want to go with her.
“Never been. Seems as good a time as any. Maybe get some skiing in,” Mia told her.
EPILOGUE
“What now?” Gerald asked as they watched the car rocket past the blockade and out of the city.
“Well Icely said to not kill them. I would say that it was mission accomplished,” Jerome said as he got back in his truck and headed home.
“Are you going to tell Icely they got away?” Gerald asked him.
“I’m going to pretend I never saw them coming, if I were you I’d do the same. If for some reason you feel the need for honesty, then please only throw yourself under the bus or I’ll cut your throat. Understood?” Jerome asked.
“Loud and clear, never saw them.” Gerald got back into his damaged truck and headed for home.
Jerome waited until his friend was out of sight before he doubled back and headed towards Gerald’s home. The silver paint from the Mercedes Benz was all over the front end of Gerald’s truck, and that was going to give him away. He knew his friend would not go down alone.
He parked his truck a few streets over and walked casually over to Gerald’s house. He rang the doorbell.
“Hey, man, come on in,” Gerald said with a beer in his hand. “Want one?”
“Sure,” Jerome said as he shut the door taking a quick peek outside.
Gerald came over and handed the beer to Jerome.
“Sorry about this, man.”
“About what?” Gerald asked as the blade slid into his stomach, the impact as hurtful as if a sledge hammer had struck him.
“Why? We grew up together,” Gerald asked as he slid to the floor.
Jerome pulled the blade free. “You should have moved your truck quicker. The moment she hit your car you were a dead man...you just didn’t know it yet.” Jerome wiped his blade on Gerald’s shirt. Gerald wrapped both his hands around the gushing wound. Jerome stepped back and popped the top on the beer. He took his time drinking it, waiting for his friend to take his final breath. “You always were slow,” he added as he opened the door took a quick look around before exiting and going back to get his truck.
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