by Payne, T. L.
“It’ll just be a couple of hours,” Raine said.
“Brandon, why don’t you stay with them and we’ll load the stuff up and get the others,” Scott said.
“Make it quick before their people come looking for them,” Brandon said.
Raine loaded a round plastic sled with the tents, two butane fuel canisters, a thermos, a pair of waterproof waders, bungee cord, and a box of rain jackets. Raine scanned the flashlight up and down the aisle of pallets looking for a skateboard, socks or anything else they could use. Most of what was left was useless sports equipment. She couldn’t think of a use for golf balls or a tennis racket.
“Anything else?” Scott asked.
Raine frowned and shook her head.
“We really need to hit a ski shop. Snowshoes would make the trip so much easier and faster. Cross-country skis would be even better,” she said.
Scott nodded. “That would be great.”
“Look what I found,” Lucy said as she approached them. In her arms was a box of thermoses.
Raine took the box from Lucy. “That is an awesome find.”
“Yeah. Once we get water thawed, we can put it in the thermoses, and it won’t refreeze. That means if we find a large source of water, we can take some with us,” Lucy said.
When Raine had hiked in the winter, she’d always buried her water bottles in the snow overnight. During the day, she kept them wrapped up in her sleeping bag. The water would be a little icy by the end of the day but not solid.
“We should get going. We’ve already been here longer than we should’ve,” Scott said.
“We should get the others and go to the fitness center together. We can leave from there,” Lucy said.
“Okay,” Scott said. “Let me tell Brandon.”
“I’ll go get them. You guys wait here,” Raine said.
She regretted making the offer as soon as she reached the corner of the building. Staring out across the parking lot knowing she’d have to cross it alone and without backup almost sent her running back inside the store. But they didn’t have time. They needed to be out of there and on the road before the guys in the SUV made their rounds back this way.
Raine ran to the car at the edge of the store’s side parking lot. She peered around the front and when she was sure that she saw no lights or movement, Raine sprinted across the street, around the side of the warehouse, and under the cracked loading bay door.
“Let’s go, guys,” Raine called out as she approached the small storeroom where the others were waiting.
“What’s up? Are those guys back?” Sheena asked.
“No. We ran into some other people in the store. We need to get gone before someone comes looking for them. Scott wants us to all push on to that fitness center and leave from there,” Raine said as she helped Sheena stuff the saddle blankets into a large trash bag they’d found.
After everyone was loaded up, Raine led them back to the sports store and through the warehouse to where Brandon stood over their prisoners.
“We should go. Everyone grab as much as you can from the pile at the back door and let’s roll out,” Scott said.
“What are we going to do with them?” Raine asked, pointing to the man and woman on the floor.
“I think we should tie them up so they can’t run and get the rest of their group,” Lucy said.
“I agree,” JJ said.
“But what if the other group finds them first?” Raine asked.
Everyone looked to Brandon.
“What else can we do?” he asked as he handed the woman’s pistol to Scott.
“Find some rope or an electric cord,” Scott said.
“I have kids,” the woman blurted out. “They need us. If those guys catch us, our kids will have no one.” She was growing hysterical.
“Please. Don’t tie us and leave us here for those animals to find. Our group is harmless. We’ve mostly got kids and old people. We are no threat to you guys,” the man pleaded.
In the glow of the flashlight’s beam, he looked truthful.
Brandon leaned in close to Raine. “We can’t take that chance, Raine.”
She was torn. On the one hand, they had to protect their own group. They had a kid and three injured men. On the other hand, if they were telling the truth, they had children that needed them to survive.
“I agree. We can’t take the risk,” Raine said.
Antonio returned with an electrical cord and handed it to Scott. After Scott tied the man and woman’s hands together, Raine reached into her pocket and retrieved a small knife about the size of a pair of fingernail clippers. She leaned down and left it on the floor for the couple to free themselves with after her group was gone.
She had just turned toward the door to follow the others when she heard a crash behind her.
“Brandon,” Raine said. “Someone’s coming.”
Chapter 19
Academy Sports and Outdoor Store
Manchester, Missouri
February 21st
Raine was sawing on the electric cord with the dull pocketknife when the door leading to the main section of the store flew open.
“Hurry. They’re coming,” the woman whispered.
Brandon tugged on the back of Raine’s coat.
“Raine. We have to go.”
“We can’t leave them here like this,” Raine said.
Brandon grabbed the man and woman’s bound hands and yanked them both to their feet. “Let’s go. Now!”
Raine could hear the angry voices behind her searching for them. They were knocking over boxes and banging on shelves. Her heart hammered in her chest. She could see the faintest of lights ahead, reflecting off the snow outside the doorway. Raine, Brandon, and the two strangers had at least thirty feet to go to reach it.
As they skidded around the last stack of pallets, Raine glanced over her shoulder. Flashlight beams bounced down the aisle where they just been.
“Hurry,” Raine whispered.
As soon as her feet hit the snow outside, she took off after the others. The crunching snow sounded like a herd of elephants running a marathon. There was no way their pursuers couldn’t hear that.
“They're here,” a gruff voice called behind them.
Raine looked back. One man stood outside and the other was in the doorway. They both held weapons.
“Run!” Raine yelled.
A thunderous boom exploded, and the man and woman fell, dragging Brandon down with them.
“Brandon!” Raine screamed.
Pop! Pop!
Someone else was shooting, but Raine was afraid to look. She ran to Brandon, who was already getting to his feet.
“Oh my God! Rob!” the woman screamed.
“Brandon. Are you okay?” Raine asked as she reached him.
“Grab his hand,” Brandon said as he pulled on the man.
Pop! Pop! More gunfire.
Raine grabbed the man’s forearm and yanked with all her might.
“Help him!” the woman pleaded.
Brandon yanked the man to his feet. Simultaneously, he raised his pistol and began returning fire at the men from the store. They passed Lucy as they dragged the man back toward the tree line. She was firing at the shooters. Raine pulled the man down into the ditch beside the road as Brandon ran back to assist Lucy.
Raine yanked open the man’s jacket and felt for the wound. She felt something warm and wet just under the man’s right clavicle.
“Shine this flashlight right here on his chest,” Raine said, handing the woman her flashlight.
The wound was about the size of a quarter, but there seemed to be a lot of blood.
“Help me roll him over,” Raine told the woman.
“Rob,” the woman whimpered.
The man moaned as they rolled him on to his right side. Raine ran her hand under the man’s coat, feeling for the entrance wound. She let out the breath once she located it.
“It missed his spine,” she told the woman.
> “Thank God,” the woman replied and burst into tears.
Raine looked around. "We need to get him inside somewhere. We need to get him warm before he goes into shock.”
“Here,” Sheena said, handing Raine one of their saddle blankets.
Raine hadn’t been aware that they had been there. Lucy appeared between the trees, followed by Brandon. They were moving fast toward them.
“We have to move,” Brandon said, grabbing the gear they’d just taken from the store.
“Where?” Sheena asked.
“Back to the warehouse,” Alicia said.
“No. They’ll search there. We need to get as far away as possible. Now!” Brandon yelled.
He was scared. The fact that he was that afraid shot terror through Raine.
“We can’t just leave him here,” Raine said.
Brandon looked down at the bleeding man and shook his head. He turned to the woman. "Where are you staying?”
“We’re staying in the Home Depot,” the woman said.
Brandon grabbed one of the round disk sleds and pulled it over next to the man.
“How far is it?” Brandon asked.
“About a mile,” the woman said.
“Rachelle,” the man moaned.
“I’m here, Rob. Don’t worry. You’re gonna be okay. We’re gonna get you back to the doc. She’ll get you patched up,” Rachelle assured the man.
“You have a doctor?” Raine asked.
“Yes. Can we go now?” she asked, grabbing Rob’s legs and helping Brandon move him onto the sled.
Brandon pulled with all his might, but the man was heavy. His feet hung off the sled and dragged on the ground.
Raine ran over, took the man’s legs, bent his knees, and crossed them inside the sled. He was having a difficult time staying upright. Scott grabbed the man by his shoulders and held onto his coat. Raine took hold of the rope below where Brandon held it and helped pull the sled. Even with the two of them pulling, it was still very difficult and slow. They couldn’t take any of the shortcuts they’d taken previously. The only way there was down the middle of Manchester Road. They were out in the open and exposed, and Raine didn’t like it.
Just past the Burger King, two men ran toward them calling Rob and Rachelle’s names.
“Hector. Rob’s been shot. We have to get him to the doc,” Rachelle called back.
Hector and another man took off running in the opposite direction. A moment later, they returned with a woman and a large sled. They were transferring Rob to the larger sled when the sound of a vehicle echoed off the nearby buildings.
“Hurry. They’re coming!” Brandon yelled.
“This way,” Hector said as he turned and ran.
They ran through a strip mall parking lot, around the back of the building, and down a side street. The street wound back and forth until Raine was completely lost. She glanced up at street signs, trying to commit them to memory. She wanted to be able to find her way back out, but after a few streets, the only one she could recall was Sovereign Court.
They cut through a wooded area and came out in the parking lot of the Home Depot home improvement store.
“Get him inside,” the doctor said.
As Rob and Rachelle disappeared through a loading bay door with the doctor, Hector stood with his arms crossed staring at Raine and her group.
“We should go,” Brandon said.
“But the men in the SUV,” Sheena said.
Rachelle poked her head through the door and said, “Hector, let them in.”
Hector reluctantly stepped aside. Sheena lifted DeAndre from his sled and carried him inside.
“I’m not sure about this,” Brandon said.
“I think if they were going to do something, they would have already,” Scott said as he stepped across the threshold and disappeared.
Lucy shrugged and followed him.
Raine and the others followed Hector into the store’s breakroom. Tables had been pushed against one wall and sleeping bags lined the other. Women, children, and an elderly couple sat at the tables. A minute later, two men and a twenty-something woman came in. The men stepped just inside and leaned against the wall on opposite sides of the door. The man in the black coat and beanie hat stared them down. Raine had the distinct impression that they were not welcome there. The man in the tan bomber jacket was checking Alicia and Lucy out. He was practically drooling. It gave Raine the creeps.
“Rachelle said you saved her and Rob,” the man in the black coat said.
No one said anything.
“Where are you guys staying?” the bomber jacket guy asked, never taking his eyes off Alicia.
Raine glared at him. “We’re just passing through.”
“To where?”
“To none of your damn business,” Sheena said, stepping in front of Alicia with both hands on her hips.
Raine was glad to see that she wasn’t the only one to notice that the man was creepy. At times, she questioned her judgment of people. She’d thought she’d become a student of body language and the subtleties in tones of voices as she hung out in hospital waiting rooms. But she’d been wrong about Brice and Tom. When the going got rough, they’d stepped up and surprised her. Sheena, on the other hand, was a great judge of character, and she didn’t take crap from anyone. Raine liked that about her.
“You don’t have to be rude. I was just making small talk,” Bomber Jacket said.
“You two should be out guarding the front doors. Those assholes down at Dierberg’s Market are out looking for trouble right now,” a middle-aged woman said as she entered the breakroom. “You too, Hector.”
She was dressed in a long, red wool coat with a fur-lined hood. Her white and red knit hat was pulled down to her eyebrows, exposing only a middle-aged face. She must have held some position of authority, given that the three men promptly departed without a word.
“I’m sorry about those three. They came with the building,” she said as she pulled up a folding chair and took a seat at an empty table.
“Have you been here long?” Raine asked.
“Since the cars stopped working,” the woman said.
“Abbey, can the children go see Rob now?” the elderly woman asked.
Abbey turned and stared at the two kids seated at the next table. The girl looked to be around five or six. Her blonde pigtails poked out from a unicorn knit hat. The boy could have been eight or nine. He wore a yellow puffer jacket and a knit hat with letters that spelled “BOSS” on the front of it. He looked sullen and angry. He glared at Raine. Raine looked down. Her hands were covered in his father’s blood. She put them behind her back.
“I think so. Doc just finished bandaging him up. Stop at the door and make sure it’s okay with her first before you go in, though,” Abbey said.
The elderly woman and man each grabbed a child’s hand and headed for the door. The boy never took his eyes off Raine as he was led away.
“They’ve been through a lot,” Abbey said.
“Ain’t we all,” Sheena said as she pulled a chair out for DeAndre.
“You doing okay, little man?” Abbey asked him.
In true DeAndre, nothing-fazes-me fashion, he flashed her his biggest smile and said, “I’m cool.”
The woman laughed and nodded. “Good to hear.” Abbey turned to Sheena. “He’s cute.”
Sheena pulled a saddle blanket from her bag and wrapped it around DeAndre.
“Nice saddle blanket you got there, kid,” Abbey said.
“We got them from this horse barn. But there weren’t any horses. I was bummed. I really wanted to ride one,” DeAndre said.
“I have horses,” Abbey said.
“You do. Do you think I could ride one sometime? I’ve always wanted to—”
“Dee,” Sheena said, giving him that mom look that says “you're talking too much.”
“Well, that would be all right, except my horses are back in Tennessee,” Abbey said.
“What are t
hey doing there?” DeAndre asked, ignoring his mother.
“That is where I live. I was on my way home when my car just stopped working,” Abbey said.
“Was this place looted when you got here?” Raine asked.
Abbey pulled out a chair and took a seat across from DeAndre.
“Oh yeah. There was barely anything useful left.”
“All the lumber, nuts and bolts? Things like that were looted as well?” Brandon asked.
Abbey twisted in her seat to answer him.
“No, we have plenty of that. But all the generators, battery-operated anything, batteries, flashlights, and things like that were all gone.”
“What about grills and charcoal?” Raine asked.
“We found one broken grill in the back, but no charcoal. We’ve been burning lumber in it to thaw water.”
“What about carpet, rugs and things like that to keep you warm?” Raine asked.
“We have lots of those too. We put a stack of area rugs on the floor to lay on. We’re using a blanket-type insulation used for radiant flooring as sleeping bags. One of the men cut strips and duct-taped them into blankets. They’re pretty warm, actually. There’s quite a few things we can use for warm bedding. We’ve been using untreated lumber to keep a fire going. It doesn’t really warm this place much, but it’s able to heat water and cook meals. We don’t have much water, though,” Abbey said.
“Have you checked the toilets in the bathrooms? We found water still in the backs of the tanks,” Raine said.
Abbey smiled. “No. No one’s thought to look there. Thanks. I’ll have someone check on that.”
The two men from earlier burst into the room calling Abbey’s name.
“You’re gonna want to see this,” Bomber Jacket said. He was talking to Abbey, but he never took his eyes off Alicia.
Abbey stood and moved toward the door.
“What is it, Roy?”
“Shane and Russell captured one of those mother—”
“Watch the language,” Sheena scolded him before he could finish.
Bomber Jacket—Roy—looked down at DeAndre and smirked.
“Where are they?” Abbey asked.
As Abbey followed the two men from the room. Scott said, “We should go check it out.”