“I’m not leaving our home for that asshole,” Ken said. “We’re taking it with us.”
Jimmy took one of the old steel cans and nodded his head. He was surprised for a second by Ken’s decision, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Ken began dumping a liberal amount of gasoline onto the floor of the shed and made a trail that led to the back door of the house. They worked quickly and quietly in the blackness of the silent house. The fumes made Jimmy’s eyes water, and he tried not to breathe through his nose. They met out on the porch, each having enough fuel left to make a trail that stretched down the deck, down the concrete stairs, and down to where the vehicles were parked. They dropped their cans as Ken clapped Jimmy on the shoulder.
“Wait for me to get around the corner,” Ken said, wiping a tear from his cheek. “I don’t want to see this.”
“I understand,” Jimmy said, nodding his head.
Ken turned away, and a moment later the Tahoe was running and out the gate. Julie joined Jimmy out in the gasoline fumes, saying nothing as she put her arm on his shoulder.
“I’m going to miss this place,” Jimmy said, pulling his lighter from the front pocket of his jeans.
“Me, too,” Julie said. “Come on. Let’s get this over with. I don’t trust our neighbors.”
Jimmy leaned down and thumbed his lighter. Bright yellow light flashed, and flames licked up in his face. Jimmy jumped back and watched as the flames raced away from them, up the driveway and nimbly climbing the stairs. Julie hooked Jimmy’s arm and steered him toward the Mack. They climbed inside as orange light blazed behind them. The entire house was engulfed in roaring flames before Jimmy had even cleared the gate. The fire lit up the night sky as small explosions rumbled behind them. Jimmy had never intentionally burned anything before, and he was shocked at how quickly the fire had spread. They met Ken and the others waiting inside the Tahoe at the corner. Even from this distance, the fire was so bright that it made headlights unnecessary.
And then Ken tooted his horn, as if saying good-bye to an old friend. Jimmy did the same, and they drove away from their refuge for the very last time.
Chapter 8
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself –nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." ~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt
They drove in silence for ten minutes, each lost in their own thoughts and fears as they followed the taillights of Ken’s Tahoe into the unknown. Ken had been adamant about keeping the fuel tanks on both vehicles full and using additives to keep the fuel from going bad, which at the time had seemed to Jimmy like busywork; he had not expected things to end this way.
“I hated her,” Julie said, turning in her seat to face Jimmy. “And I’m glad that she’s dead.”
Jimmy looked at Julie for a second and returned his attention to the road. He didn’t like where this conversation was headed, and he was still processing what had happened that night. He had been deeply in love with Paula for a long time, despite all her faults. They passed a small house just off the road, its windows glowing with amber light. Civilization was returning, and Jimmy was unsure how he felt about that.
“Are you glad that she’s dead?”
Again, Jimmy looked at Julie and said nothing. He didn’t know what to say.
“You hated her, didn’t you?”
“Don’t do this, Julie. I’m not dancing on Paula’s grave, all right? You didn’t see her body.”
“Oh, yes I did. And it made me feel good to see what Doc had done. She deserved it. She was a low-life bitch, Jimmy. I can’t believe you were engaged to her.”
“Stop it.”
“I can’t believe it. You’re actually sad that she’s dead, aren’t you?”
Jimmy took his right hand off the wheel and pointed his index finger at Julie. “Don’t ever tell me how I’m supposed to feel. You have no right to do that to me. I understand how you feel, and you’ve made your point. Can you just let it go?”
“Don’t you dare raise your hand at me.”
Jimmy gripped the wheel tightly with both hands and gritted his teeth. Ken had sped up and was now about half a mile ahead of them. The Tahoe’s taillights looked like two bloodshot eyes staring back at him. “I wasn’t raising my hand at you. I was only trying to make my point.”
Julie bared her teeth and stabbed at the air with the index finger of her right hand. “Does doing this make you feel like a big man, Jimmy? What’s next? How soon before you start slapping me around?”
“Will you listen to yourself?”
“I hated that bitch!”
“I know you did! Let it go, will ya? You’ve made your goddamn point!”
Tears were flowing down Julie’s cheeks, and she angrily wiped them away. “Don’t talk to me. You’re still in love with her. I can tell. Don’t try and deny that. She’s gone, Jimmy. She got fifty whacks which is a thousand less than she deserved.”
Jimmy could feel the blood pounding at his temples and wondered how things had gone so wrong so quickly. Ken rounded the last bend in the road before they reached the small town of Ely, and Jimmy watched as the taillights disappeared into the night. Jimmy turned and faced Julie. “This is wrong,” he said, trying to remain calm. “I’m sorry for pointing at you, okay? I’m sorry for whatever I said that made you so angry, all right? I love you.”
Julie put her face into her hands and began to sob. Jimmy reached over to comfort her, and she quickly slapped his hand away, hard, a stinging blow that caught him off guard.
And that was when he noticed the flashing lights.
“Oh, shit!”
Julie had returned her hands to her face and obviously was unaware of the danger that lurked ahead. She continued to sob and looked very small in the passenger’s seat.
“Pull yourself together, Julie. We’ve got big trouble!”
They were rounding the corner now, and Jimmy could plainly see the State Trooper’s red and blue flashing lights behind Ken and the Tahoe. Jimmy’s heart sank as he watched Ken pull over to the gravel shoulder.
“Oh, my God!” exclaimed Julie. “Oh, my God, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know,” said Jimmy, slamming his hands hard on the wheel. “Son-of-a-bitch! Those bastards must’ve ratted us out. This is just great.”
The Trooper had pulled to a stop well behind Ken and nearly leapt out of his car. Jimmy swallowed hard as he watched the big man pull his pistol and train it on the Tahoe. Jimmy slowed and tried to think what to do. Part of him wanted to take aim at the Trooper and run him down. He knew this was wrong, but the desire to save his friends from danger had been ingrained so deeply that he couldn’t shake it.
“Get down on the floor, Julie. Now!”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, but I have to do something.”
They were less than fifty yards from the back of the flashing car, and the cab of the Mack was flooded with multicolored light. Jimmy nodded to Julie, and, as if to emphasize his point, the Trooper turned and aimed his sidearm directly at Jimmy.
“Get down!”
Julie didn’t need to be asked again. She unbuckled her seatbelt and slid to the floor in one fluid movement. Jimmy continued ahead, pulling past the flashing lights and illuminating the Trooper in his headlamps. The man was furiously waving him to stop and still had his gun trained on Jimmy. Suddenly, Ken slammed the Tahoe into reverse, and the big SUV shot backward like a rocket. The back of the Tahoe crashed into the front of the Trooper’s car with enough force to push it sideways. Jimmy could clearly hear the crash and watched as the Trooper frantically tried calling something into the microphone clipped near his heart.
“What’s happening?” screeched Julie.
“Ken just rammed the Trooper’s car! Holy crap!”
“Has he lost his mind?”
Jimmy actually saw the muzzle flash of the Trooper’s gun a microsecond before the bullet passed through
the windshield. He heard the whiz of the bullet as it ripped past his right ear and slammed into the steel behind his head. The man began to shoot indiscriminately at the Tahoe. Jimmy tromped down on the accelerator, and the Mack sprang to life. He took aim for the man with the gun, Trooper or not. Fire blazed from the semiautomatic weapon as it bucked in the Trooper’s hands.
“Jimmy, what are you doing?”
“Hang on!”
The Trooper quickly realized that his life was in serious danger and swung his gun at Jimmy and squeezed off a round before he took two fast steps and dived for the cover of the ditch. With the taillights of the Tahoe hopelessly smashed, Ken roared ahead of them on the highway. Jimmy swung the Mack back to the right and continued to grab gears as fast as he could. He could hear the popping of the Trooper’s gun and feel the bullets slamming home into the back of the truck.
And suddenly they were in Ely.
There was light, but not much of it. The town was still mostly vacant, and Jimmy was happy for that as they roared through downtown in excess of 80 mph. Julie had returned to her seat and quickly buckled her belt. Jimmy watched a man and a woman as they stared back at him. Their expression was clear: they looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“What the hell just happened?” Julie asked, staring out the passenger window into the side mirror. “Did we just kill a cop?”
“No, but we came close. He was trying to kill us!”
“Oh, shit, Jimmy. This is so bad.”
“I know! Goddamn it!”
Ken continued to cruise at a high speed, and Jimmy stayed close behind, close enough to see the frightened look on Bill and Cindy’s faces as they turned in their seats. Julie was right; this was bad, really bad. Jimmy’s hands shook on the wheel as his heart thumped in his chest. They were in some serious trouble, and they needed to do something. He just didn’t know what that something was, and he continued following Ken, hoping that he had a plan.
“What are we going to do?” Julie asked, the strength returning to her voice.
“I don’t know, baby. I don’t know.”
“I’m so sorry, Jimmy. I love you so much. Can you forgive me for being stupid?”
“Forgive you for what? I don’t remember what we were talking about.”
“Good. That’s what I wanted to hear. Oh, my God, look at the back of Ken’s truck. Do you think it’s safe to drive it like that?”
“I don’t think he has a choice.”
Jimmy followed the Tahoe as it followed the twisting and turning road that led back to the city of Virginia. There were long-abandoned cars and trucks littering the shoulders, and Ken rode the centerline for much of the way. They met no one on the highway as they hurtled forward into the blackness. Jimmy cracked his window, lit up a cigarette and apologized to Julie.
“Don’t worry about it, sweetie,” Julie said, reaching over and resting her hand on his knee. “Just concentrate on the road.”
“No problem. It’s just been a long day.”
“No shit.”
Jimmy smoked half of the cigarette, careful to blow the smoke out into the whistling wind of the cracked window. Julie sat with her hand on his knee, occasionally glancing over at the side mirrors. Jimmy stubbed out the stale Camel in the ashtray. He longed for a fresh cigarette, among so many other things. The road slowly straightened out and dipped up and down over rolling hills. Every so often they would see lighted windows in the woods, further proof that man had returned and the crisis had passed.
They drove in relative silence for roughly half an hour as the road signs counted down the miles to Virginia. Jimmy knew if they were going to run into trouble, that would be likely where they found it.
“We should pull over and get off the road,” said Julie, saying exactly what Jimmy was thinking.
“I know. What the hell is he doing?”
They were just miles from the intersection of Highways 53 and 169 which met on the outskirts of the old mining town. Dread began to overcome Jimmy as he continued to follow Ken at what was nearly top speed for the Mack. He looked over at Julie and took her hand in his.
“I love you, baby,” Julie said, once again reading his mind.
“I love you, too.”
The crossed the Laurentian Divide, the north-south boundary that splits North America. A blue sign at the side of the road used to proclaim the landmark, but it had either passed by in a blur or someone had stolen it. As the road dipped again and rose, Jimmy’s heart nearly stopped.
The highway was completely blocked ahead, and suddenly there were flashing lights behind them. Jimmy squeezed Julie’s hand as he hit the brakes, following Ken to the side of the road. They were done for. Up ahead were dozens of armed men standing behind a barricade of emergency vehicles. The lights on these vehicles began flashing, and it seemed as if a dozen spotlights were instantly upon them.
“Oh, Jimmy…”
“I know. I love you, Julie.”
“I love you, too.”
Jimmy stopped the Mack and tore the seatbelt away. He slid over in his seat and kissed Julie with more passion than he’d ever kissed anyone. The kiss was all too short as screaming men surrounded the cab and ordered him back into his seat and to put his hands on top of the steering wheel. Jimmy gritted his teeth and nodded his head in defeat.
A moment later he was pulled from the cab and savagely beaten. During the wicked kicks and angry stomps he could see a group of men doing the same thing to Ken. Through the pain he could hear Julie’s screams. The beating continued until he watched a boot-heel connect with his forehead, and the back of his head slammed against the asphalt. Jimmy saw stars and then saw no more.
Chapter 9
“All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.” ~ Victor Hugo
Jimmy woke up, and for a long time he didn’t know where he was or how he got there. His head felt fuzzy, and there was pain, a lot of pain, coming from so many different directions that it was hard to tell where it hurt him the most. He forced his eyes open and stared up at the tiled ceiling and decided that he must be in a hospital. With considerable effort he turned his head, and what he saw there confirmed his suspicions. An IV bottle hung above him, and wires connected him to expensive-looking machines on caster wheels.
“He’s awake,” he heard a woman whisper. “Get the doctor.”
“Thirsty,” Jimmy said thickly. He had never been so thirsty in his life.
A woman was suddenly standing over him holding a cup and a spoon. She was roughly Patty’s age and had a grandmother’s smile. “I can give you some ice chips,” she said, spooning some out of the cup. “You’ve been out for a long time, a very long time. I thought we were going to lose you.”
Jimmy tried lifting his head, but found that he didn’t have the strength. He opened his mouth, and the woman fed him like a baby bird. Ice had never tasted so good. He chewed the ice slowly and savored it inside his mouth before swallowing it.
“How was that?” asked the woman, who Jimmy had already decided was a saint.
“Delicious,” croaked Jimmy and he smiled.
“Would you like some more?”
The woman continued to slowly spoon feed him the ice, and again she told Jimmy that she thought he was going to die. She called it a miracle that he had survived. “How long?” he asked.
“Let’s see,” she said, stepping back and reaching down to the foot of the bed. She pulled a clipboard up and held it at arm’s length. “Three days.”
Jimmy closed his eyes and thought back to what had happened. He suddenly remembered seeing Ken being beaten and his eyes popped back open. ”Ken?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about him,” the woman said. “He’s down the hall, and he’s in much better shape than you are. He’ll be happy to hear that you’re awake.”
Jimmy let out a sigh of relief and opened his mouth for some more ice. He chewed and tried to move his arms, but he found that they were strapped to the bed. That didn’t
surprise him very much, and he found that it really didn’t matter because he lacked the strength to use them. The door suddenly swung open, and a prematurely balding doctor with a three-day shadow rushed inside. He had an open, honest face, and was probably close to Jimmy’s own age.
“You gave us quite a scare,” the man said, reaching down and prying Jimmy’s eyes open, one at a time. “Can you tell me your name?”
“Jimmy… Jimmy Logan.”
The young man in the lab coat smiled. He was tall and fair-skinned, almost to the point of looking anemic. “Excellent. Listen Jimmy, you’re one lucky son-of-a-gun. Those animals really did a number on you.”
Jimmy swallowed hard and tried to clear the cobwebs from his head. He wanted to close his eyes again, but he needed some answers before he did so. “Julie?” he asked, weakly.
The man and woman stared at each other, and Jimmy instantly knew something was wrong. As doped up as he was, he could read it in their eyes. The doctor stiffened and shook his head. “Look,” he said, wiping the back of his hand across his brow. “We tried to save the baby, but there was nothing to be done. I’m afraid she’s had a miscarriage. I’m terribly sorry. She wanted to tell you herself. But I’m afraid that isn’t going to be possible.”
“Miscarriage… how?”
“I’m afraid I can’t answer that,” the doctor said, making a show of checking his watch. “Look, I’m going to be blunt, and this can’t go any further than this room. We know what you did up there and we don’t blame you one bit. We’re on your side.”
“Did… where?”
A puzzled look appeared on the doctor’s face, and again he exchanged a look with his nurse. “Listen, you and your friends are big news. I’m afraid the authorities have been up in Ely, and they’ve discovered some bodies. They’ve already questioned Mr. Dahlgren, and they’re going to be talking to you soon. They don’t know that you’re conscious, and I want to keep it that way, all right? You need your rest. Try to remember that whatever you say will be used against you. Can you do that?”
Desperate Times Three - Revolution Page 6