by Stalter, D
Allison nodded. “I know who he is. I look forward to them moving out here too. He’s always ready to pitch in and do whatever anyone needs help doing.”
Day 4 – Allison’s 1st Run In With Rich
Bent over the zucchini plant, Allison didn’t notice the approach of a man from around the corner of the corn field across the road.
Bella, who’d been laying in the shade of a Crape Myrtle, stood and came to stand next to Allison. She emitted a low growl and the fur on her back rose to a stiff mohawk. Allison looked in the direction Bella was focused on but didn’t see anything until the man stepped from the corn field. She recognized Rich from the farm down the road.
He was a hard man to miss. At least six five, maybe 250 pounds, with hair that almost touched his shoulders and black wire rimmed glasses. He looked like a tight-end that had gone to pot. But, as far as Allison knew, he’d never played football or done any sort of work. Unless you counted the rock band he’d been in for several years. He mostly sat around his house and drank beer while his wife brought home the bacon. Allison wasn’t sure but thought that Judy mostly worked under-the-table jobs so that they could collect as much government money as possible.
His wide shoulders didn’t fill out the shirt like they had the last time Allison had talked to him several years before. His shoulders slumped and he walked with a limp.
Allison told Bella to stay.
“Hey, Allison.” His eyes darted from her to the house, to Bella then up the road and back to her. “I’ll be needing some of that food from your garden.”
She took an involuntary step backward. “Don’t you have a garden?”
“Nope. Didn’t need one until now. But I figure you guys always have plenty. I’m sure you can afford to share. And don’t forget our agreement.”
“What agreement?”
“The last time you brought me seeds and said I should plant a garden, I told you that if shit ever hit the fan, I’d just get food from you.”
“I didn’t agree to that.”
“Well, you didn’t tell me ‘no,’ and now I’m sticking to my end of the agreement.”
“As a matter of fact, we can’t afford to share. This won’t get us through the winter. We are going to need every bit of it.”
Rich took another step forward. He stood just three feet from Allison. His huge shoulders blocked the sun. Allison could smell the stink of his breath and his unwashed body. She reached down and grasped Bella’s collar then pointed to the bush and said, “Go lay down.”
Bella whined, but walked to the bush where she sat and glared at Rich.
Allison squared her shoulders and tilted her head so she could look up into his eyes.
“This is our food,” she hissed. “Just turn around and go home or my dog will take your arm off. You had plenty of time to plant a garden.”
Rich had lost a little of his bravado. Now he whined. “But I didn’t. And now we need for you to share. You don’t want to see Judy suffer, do you?”
“Not happening.” Allison turned and started walking away. She hadn’t gotten two steps when she felt a big hand clamp on her shoulder. Strong fingers squeezed. She twisted loose and backed several steps away. Bella was suddenly at her side. The low growl sent a shiver up Allison’s back.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” Her hands were balled into fists at her side. “Turn your ass around and get away from here. If I ever catch you near here again....”
“You’re going to share this food or you’ll...”
“Or she’ll what?” a voice called from the barn. Three of the workers stood at the corner of the barn. Each one held a rifle. Two had their rifles pointing directly at Rich. The third held his across his chest, close if needed.
“I was just asking her to share the garden.” Rich held his hands up, palms facing out at shoulder height. “I didn’t touch her.”
“Liar!” Allison fumed. “If you guys hadn’t shown up, he was going to do something. He grabbed me when I tried to walk away. He would have grabbed at me again.”
“Want me to shoot him?”
Allison didn’t doubt the man would do it. She shook her head. “No. Don’t shoot him. Yet.” She turned back to Rich. “I’m going to tell you one more time. Get away from here. Don’t come back. Next time, I’ll let him shoot you. Or let my dog take care of you.”
“Hey! You don’t have to start threatening me. I was just hoping you’d be neighborly in a crisis. You’ve always been a queen bitch, but you’d think in a crisis you might have more compassion for neighbors.”
She watched as he made his way across the road and followed the ditch south. Then she turned and walked to the barn. She tried to keep her hands from shaking and forced the tears that threatened to erupt back.
“Did he hurt you?” It was the man who had held his rifle across his chest. His brown eyes showed concern. She thought his name was John.
“No. He just scared me.” That’s when the tears broke loose. She covered her eyes with her hands. “I’m so sorry. I’m fine. I just… I was just scared and it all boiled over. I’m OK.”
“Hey, come in the barn and sit at the table. You just need a few minutes to collect yourself. I’d cry too if a guy three times my size tried to jump me. Come on. I’ll find some ice water. I know we have some.”
“How did we get ice?”
“Your neighbor, Don, dropped it off this morning. It almost makes me feel normal. Here,” he said, pointing to the bench. “Sit. I’ll go get you a cup.”
The ice water was delicious. As she sipped, she gazed around the shop taking in all the changes. What had once been a huge shop, big enough for the biggest tractor and the motor home, as well as table saws and miscellaneous tools was now empty of vehicles. The table saws dominated the center of the shop.
Around the perimeter, on three sides, a mezzanine had been built. The men were partitioning rooms below the mezzanine as well as above. Each room was six feet wide by eight foot deep. There were 17 rooms per floor for a total of 34 rooms. Allison wasn’t sure she wanted to see those rooms filled. But, in this uncertainty, the more hands helping, the better life would be.
She was just draining the glass of ice water when James rushed in. Spotting her, he hurried to her side. He slid down next to her and clasped her hand in his. “John said that Rich was here to cause trouble. What happened?”
“He wanted food from our garden.” She looked down at her hands.
“He asked for food?”
“No, he demanded food. When I told him ‘no’ and tried to walk away, he grabbed me. Hard.” Her voice rose as she explained the situation. She pulled the sleeve of her t-shirt over her shoulder. Sure enough a bruise was beginning to form. She paused to take a breath. “I don’t think he would have done anything, but I don’t put it past him to sneak in at night and raid the garden.”
“That won’t happen. We’ve got three men teams set up in three hour shifts all night. Anyone sneaks in the garden and it’ll be the last garden they sneak into. Where was Bella while he was giving you shit?”
“She was growling and I didn’t want it to escalate so I made her lay under the bush.”
“What the hell! Why didn’t you just let her get rid of him?”
“Because I’m afraid that if I allow her to take that step into protection, I won’t be able to control her when I need to. What if she thought it was OK to protect me against one of the guys here when all they are doing is helping me? I just don’t know how to teach her to back off if I let her protect. I’ve seen what people can do when they try to teach their dog to attack. They end up with vicious dogs that can’t be controlled. I don’t want Bella to ever end up like that.” She bent her head and rested her forehead on her fingers. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know anything. I just want life to be what it was a week ago. Can’t we just do that?” Her shoulders shook.
“We’ve got nine guys staying here now,” James said. “We shouldn’t need Bella for protection. I asked G
reta if she wanted to stay in the house with us but she’s planning on going home tonight to check on her parents. She’ll talk to them about joining us and if they are willing, they should have some skills that will help. Greta says that her dad is a wizard in the garden as well as a trapper. He knows knots and snaring techniques that he can teach us.”
“That sounds great.” Allison wiped the tears from her eyes. “I really like Axel Burke. I’ve only met his wife, Julia, once, but she seems nice. What have we got going on tomorrow?”
“Steve’s got two guys with him and they are going to build a bigger outhouse. I think they are digging two with two holes each. One for men and one for women. We need to make sure they are big enough to make it through to next summer. I told Steve to plan on 50 people using them and to make the holes big enough to last til next August.”
Allison nodded. “I talked to that one guy. The guy with the long beard that always wears the Farmer John overalls. I think his name is Matt. Anyway, he was telling me that he can use the compost pile to build a heater. We were talking about gardening. I told him that I’d like to find a way to grow cool-weather crops in the arena during the winter. He thinks that if we build a greenhouse inside the arena and then find a way to add some heat, we should be able to do it. He thinks he can build a heater using copper tubing under the compost pile. He was going to see if he could get some copper tubing and I promised to find that little solar operated fan I bought and stored somewhere. I need to find that tomorrow so I have it when he’s ready. Can you help me?”
Day 4 – Riley Meets Homeowner (Get off my porch)
Riley handed Sherrie the dutch oven he’d brought in from the grill.
“Never thought I’d be cooking soup on a grill.”
Sherrie grinned. “I never thought I’d see you cook period. I hope we aren’t ruining this Phil guy’s expensive cookware. He’d be pissed.”
“You know if he hasn’t made it here yet, he’s probably dead.”
She nodded. “I feel guilty because part of me hopes he is dead and we won’t have to face him. Does that make me a horrible person? Or just a loser?”
Riley put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You’re neither. You just want Benny to be safe and you are wishing for it to happen. You really are a good person.”
She smiled. “You didn’t always think that way.”
“No, I didn’t. I didn’t bother to look past the fact that you were Wilson’s sister. I just assumed that I didn’t need to know you. I wouldn’t like you anyway. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
She twisted away and reached into the cupboard for bowls. “Can you call Will in and get Benny?”
He found Will and Benny both in the library. Benny was curled up in a chair with a book. Riley bent over and lifted the book out of Benny’s hands. “Bushcraft 101?”
Benny shrugged. “I’m getting kinda tired of soup for breakfast. Soup for lunch. And then soup for supper. Maybe I can build a trap so we can eat something else.”
“Well, when you catch something, we can put it in our soup.”
Benny giggled.
“Come on guys, Sherrie has the table set. We are having a fine dinner of soup.”
Will looked up from the folder he held. “I’ll be right there.”
Riley noticed that Benny moved to the kitchen with a lot more ease than he’d had for the past few days.
“You hurting any less, buddy?”
“Well, it still hurts but not so bad. And if I don’t move fast, I don’t hurt much. When I forget about it, then sometimes I hurt so bad I want to cry.”
“I know, buddy. You’re doing great. I’m so proud of you!”
Benny smiled as he slid into his chair.
Will strode into the kitchen and took the chair next to Riley. He held a folder. “This Phil Handler is certifiable.”
“What do you mean?”
Will held the folder out to Riley. “Take a look. This is a list of guns and ammo. I’m only assuming that it’s his inventory. But, if that’s true, we haven’t found all his hidey-holes. Well…”. He picked up his spoon and took a sip of soup. “I had a feeling he had more hidey-holes. If we spend much more time here, I’d like to take a look to see what he’s got.”
The driveway alarm chimed. Both Riley and Will sprang from their chairs and met at the front door.
Will peeked through the curtains on the door. “This must be our Phil Handler now.”
“How do you know?” Riley cracked the curtain apart just enough to see the truck.
“That truck coming down the drive is about a $90,000 truck. It can only be him.” He stared out the window at the black truck for a few more seconds and then looked at Riley before setting his pistol on the table. “You stay here and cover me. I’m going to meet him and try to break the ice.”
“Take your gun, you fool.”
Will shook his head. “This guy is gonna be wound for sound. The sight of someone coming out his front door is going to send him over the edge. If I’m carrying a gun, there’s no doubt he’ll shoot. You just be ready in case he can’t control himself. If he starts shooting, I’ll be flying back through that door. But I’m counting on him not wanting to shoot his own house up.”
The truck pulled to a stop just twenty feet from the front door and Will slowly opened the door and stepped out onto the porch with his hands held out to the sides in full view so the driver could see they were empty.
A tall man fumbled with his truck door, his eyes wide, his mouth moving with obvious curses. When the truck’s driver door finally swung open, he reached back in and grabbed a Mossberg 930 Tactical. As the shotgun swung in Will’s direction, he forced himself to speak slowly.
“Mr. Phil Handler?”
The shock tactic worked.
“How did you know my name? Who are you?” He looked around. “Get off my porch.”
“Mr. Handler, my name is William Clayton Mead. Winnebago County SWAT Team Leader.”
The shotgun wavered. “What’s a SWAT team from Rockford doing in my house? I didn’t do anything. Everything’s legal.”
“We got stuck a few miles from here when the power went out. We’ve got a twelve-year-old boy with us who was shot. We needed a place to clean him up and get him healthy before we head home. Your place was the first place we found. We don’t plan on staying. In fact, we were hoping to leave in the morning.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Phil’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. The shotgun started coming back up.
Keeping his voice low and slow, Will said, “Easy, Phil. I’ve got my badge right here in my front pocket. Can I take it out?”
Phil stared for a few seconds before sighing and nodding. He kept the gun on Will until Will had removed the badge from his pocket and held it up. He then shrugged and lowered the gun.
“Come on, let’s go look at that twelve-year-old. I have medical supplies or have you found them yet?”
“No, we didn’t find any medical supplies,” Will said as they stepped through the front door into the living room. Riley had crossed the room and was standing in the kitchen with Sherrie and Benny. All three nodded solemnly at the pair in the living room.
“Well, then.” Phil started across the living room. “I guess you all know who I am. Who are you?”
“I’m Shane Riley. This is my nephew Benny, and that is Sherrie. She’s Benny’s aunt on his father’s side. I’m really sorry we took over your house. We didn’t have a choice. Benny here got shot just after the power went off.”
“I heard. Let me take a look at that.” He walked to where Benny stood and waited for Benny to raise his shirt.
“It doesn’t look too bad. You got it cleaned pretty good. I’ve got some medical supplies in the library.”
Riley raised his eyebrows. “In the library?”
“Oh, you didn’t find that concealment, did you? What did you find?”
“Papers on the house and gun inventory.”
“Yeah, well there are three concealments in the library. Come on, I’ll show you the medicals.”
They followed him into the library where he pressed a button hidden on the bottom shelf of the far bookcase to reveal a compartment behind the shelves.
“Hmmf,” Riley snorted. “I never would have known there was space behind the shelving.”
“There’s actually three feet of space back there. It’s a hidden room between the library and the kitchen. Three feet wide by twelve feet long. It’s got a total of six concealments - three from each room. And there’s a man-door in each room hidden in the shelving here and under the cabinets in the kitchen.” He walked to the far end of the room, bent down and pressed a button on the underside of the second shelf. A Murphy door slid open. Behind the door looked like a long hallway with LED lighting along the floor.
“So that’s why the one cabinet in the kitchen was empty?” Sherrie asked.
“Yes. I hadn’t figured out what to put there so that it didn’t slow me down if I needed to use it. I figured an empty cabinet was better than trying to move cans or boxes out of the way if I needed it.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Riley offered. “I’d never have thought to look in there.”
The roar of motorcycles caused them all to turn toward the front of the house.
“Shit!” cried Riley. “It’s Wilson and his gang.”
He turned to Phil. “Can Sherrie and Benny hide in there?” He pointed at the narrow safe room.
“Well, sure,” Phil stammered. “Do you know George?”
Will helped Sherrie and Benny into the room and then slid the Murphy door closed. He strode over to Phil, stopping when he was nose to nose. “How do you know him?”
“I bought most of my guns and ammo from him. How do you know him?”
“He’s the reason we are here. He had kidnapped Benny. He failed to return him to his mother. He’s who we’ve been hiding from. It was his buddies who shot Benny.”
Phil’s face fell. “You don’t want to mess with him. He’s crazy! Now, he’s chased you to my house and he’s pissed. You’re gonna get me killed.”