by Hunt, Jack
Sam scoffed. “So I’m to believe you want me here. Working under your nose? C’mon. I’m not a fool.”
“It’s just an offer. Anyone who works for the department will receive more than their share of supplies. If you want to make this about you and me, fine, but I’m thinking about Anna here.” He looked at the house. “If you’re going to live in my house,” he looked back at Sam, “I make the rules.”
Sam ran a hand over his chin. “Your house?”
“Well I gave it as a gift.”
“That’s right. You did.” Sam rolled his bottom lip in. “Which means it’s no longer yours. It’s Anna’s.”
Richard narrowed his eyes and then looked back at the chief who was now speaking with Mason. Sam could just make out bits and pieces of their conversation — something to do with the state of the town and trouble.
“Listen, whatever issues you and I have, this situation is bigger than that. We’re not asking for a yes today. Chew it over and let me know.”
“Let you know,” Sam said, making it clear that he was stating he was the deciding factor in what happened in the town.
“Yeah. Me.”
“But you’re not mayor anymore, Richard.”
“Oh, I must have forgot to tell you. I was reinstated. Our last one flew the nest.”
Sam stood there dumbfounded, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
“Yeah.” Richard put his hands on his hips and breathed in the crisp morning air. “It’s good to be back at the helm.” He looked back at Sam again as if hoping to get a reaction out of him. “Well you think about it.”
“Yeah, I will.”
As he went to walk away, Richard looked back.
“Who knows… would it be so strange if through all this we became friends?”
“Yes it would,” Sam said. Richard grinned and walked back. The chief waved and Sam watched them get back into the SUV and drive off. Mason walked over with the shovel in hand.
“Is it me, or is there something about that guy that doesn’t feel right?”
Sam patted him on the back. “Welcome to Breckenridge.”
Chapter 2
It was a good thirty-minute ride to Summit High School. The mammoth school was sandwiched between Frisco and Breckenridge. It was the largest school in the area and with a steady influx from both communities, it’s size was perfect for an emergency shelter.
Anna and Amanda rode side by side on North Park Avenue. On either side of them were evergreen trees and a stunning view of the mountains. A cool breeze made the branches sway. Several vehicles whipped by them and for the first time Anna got a better look at what was being done in the community. For the most part the roads were clear, except in a few areas. Police had set up temporary checkpoints at the side of the road and were involved in clearing vehicles.
“So where are your parents, Amanda?” Anna asked casting a sideways glance at her.
“My mother lives in Florida, and my father left when I was young. I have no idea where he is.”
“How long were you living in Oneida?”
“Seven years. I landed a job at the local hospital. That’s where I met David.”
Anna nodded. She knew it was still a sensitive topic. She didn’t want to pry and thankfully she didn’t have to, Amanda opened up to her. It had been the first time since meeting her that she’d really had the chance to chat.
“Yeah, March 2011, he came into the emergency department with a broken arm.” She smiled. “I can still see the look on his face.”
Anna shifted down a few gears and the chain clattered.
“I’m curious. What made you come with us?”
“You know, in the heat of the moment I didn’t think about it. But I guess…” Amanda trailed off. “I never really had a relationship with my mother. You could say it was strained. Now had David still been alive we would have probably been in Syracuse right now.”
“We drove right by there. You know we could have dropped you off.”
Amanda nodded. “I couldn’t have done that. I only met his family once. Besides, I can’t go back to Oneida, not until things get better. That town is out of control. Truthfully, I’m surprised this place isn’t the same way.”
Anna kept a steady rhythm as she pedaled. Amanda was right. It was strange to see how things were being handled in the town. Then again, not all communities would spiral out of control in the first two weeks even with zero aid from surrounding towns. Breckenridge had always been known as a friendly town where folks helped each other out. It was the reason she wanted to get out of the house to help at the emergency shelter. That, and she was going stir crazy being at the house.
“How are you coping?” Amanda asked.
“It’s hard.”
“It is,” Amanda replied. “And yet you seem to be doing better than me.”
It was nice to find someone who she had something in common with, even if it was something as morbid as the death of a loved one. Having been sent away to a private school when she was young, Anna had learned not to wear her feelings on her sleeve but bury them instead. Those that were seen as weak were often preyed upon. She’d figured that out pretty quickly.
“Believe me. I’m not,” Anna said.
“What about your father, Sam? What’s his deal?”
“What do you mean?”
“I get a sense that you two don’t get along very well, or you’re not tight with him.”
“He’s been out of my life since I was eight.”
“Oh,” she said. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Anna was quick to change the subject. Up ahead the road was blocked with police vehicles that had pulled over a large military style truck. They had the occupants out and pushed up against the side and weapons were drawn. Slowing down, she eyed Highlands Drive off to her right. “Here, let’s go this way. I know a shortcut.”
They veered off the main stretch and continued heading north, parallel to Highway 9. They hadn’t made it two miles down the road when they saw a group of four young adults crowding near the edge of the road. They were dressed in dirt-bike gear and looked as if they had stopped to help someone. As they got closer, Anna noticed the person they were crowding wasn’t being helped, it was an older man and they were robbing him. He was clinging to two gasoline cans and one of the guys was trying to pull it away, while another pulled out a baseball bat that he had attached to his back and started hitting the man across the back.
The old guy curled into a ball.
Anna put her hand out and touched Amanda’s arm.
They slowed and came to a stop.
Before they had a chance to decide what to do, two of the bikers saw them. Anna quickly turned her bike around and made a break for it. Dirt bikes roared to life and Anna shouted, “This way.” She went off road, zipping down a steep hill that fed into a long stretch of road. She glanced back and saw two Kawasaki bikes soar over the rise. Why the hell were they chasing them? They didn’t have anything. In the heat of the moment Anna completely forgot she was carrying a Glock. She pedaled as fast as she could to try and put distance between them but they were closing in. Her heart caught in her chest. Her first instinct was to head for the nearest house. The homes were spread out before them, set back against a hilly landscape. Her knuckles went white from gripping the handlebars so tight, and her cheeks flushed red from the cold. Their bikes came screeching around a bend and Anna veered into a driveway. As soon as she reached the entranceway, she jumped off not even hitting the brakes and raced towards the door with Amanda not far behind.
Frantically Anna banged on the door, and yelled for help, her fear and natural survival instincts kicking in.
No one answered.
“Come on!” she cried out looking over her shoulder.
Amanda dropped her bike and hurried over and began beating on the door just as the two dirt bikes rumbled into the driveway. They stopped just short of their bikes and the drivers cut the engines and got off. They didn’t remove their hel
mets but she could tell they were male by the muffled voices. Both found the whole event amusing.
One of them slid out a baseball bat attached to his back and twirled it around.
“What do we have here?”
“Ladies,” the other said.
“Go away!” Amanda yelled putting herself in front of Anna because she was older.
The guy rolled the bat in his hand. “Or what?”
“The cops are not far from here.”
“No they’re not, and?”
It didn’t seem to faze them. As Anna moved to get around Amanda she felt the weight of the Glock at her side. She pulled up her top and pulled the gun. Immediately she felt a surge of confidence as she stretched it out.
“Get the hell out of here! Or I swear I will…”
The two guys stopped moving towards them and glanced at each other, a look of shock, maybe skepticism on their faces. She could tell they were trying to determine if it was real or not.
“Why do I get the sense that gun isn’t loaded?” one of them said.
Without hesitation, she fired a round near his foot and they immediately backed up with their hands out. “Okay, okay. We’re gone.”
Now she was the one moving forward. Anna stepped out from underneath the porch raking the gun between them. “Get out of here. Now!”
The two guys backed up quickly, hopped on their bikes, brought them to life and tore away leaving a plume of dust in their wake. Anna and Amanda remained there for a few minutes until they felt it was safe to move on.
They pushed their bicycles out of the driveway and looked off down the road. Besides a nearby neighbor who’d come out to see what all the noise was about, no one was there. They were gone.
Amanda climbed onto her seat. “Let’s go before they return.”
“I doubt they will.” Anna stared off down the road. She could have continued on but the thought of that man lying on the road ate away at her.
“Anna?” Amanda said trying to get her attention
“We should go back,” Anna said.
“What? Are you serious?”
“You saw what they were doing to him.”
Amanda brought her bicycle around and came over. “Look, I would help but let’s just tell the police and let them deal with it.”
“You saw how full their hands were. They’re probably dealing with multiple incidents like this. No, we should go back.”
Amanda sighed, and then nodded. It didn’t take them more than five minutes to retrace their steps. When they reached the section of road on Highland Drive the man was still there, curled up in a ball. The bikers were gone. They looked both ways and stood there for a minute or two to make sure the coast was clear before they made their way over. Anna slid off her bike and hurried over. The guy moaned, and it looked as if his head was bleeding. There was a large patch of blood on the ground near him, droplets dripped from his head.
“Hey mister,” Anna said getting close.
The man squirmed and cowered back.
“It’s okay. I’m not going to harm you. Those men are gone.”
The man was in his early sixties with a sharp nose, sunken eyes and silver hair. He was wearing a thick jacket and had dark jeans on with large rain boots. His knuckles were red, and slightly torn as if he’d fought back.
“Amanda, give me a hand.”
She got off her bike and cautiously approached.
“You’re a doctor, right?” Anna said.
“No, just a nurse.”
“We need to get him to the hospital. Do you think you can stay with him while I ride back to the police blockade and alert them?”
“Stay here alone?”
Anna pulled out the gun and handed it to her.
Amanda backed away. Fear dominated her mind just like it had in Oneida. It was to be expected. She’d witnessed close up and personal the horrors of a town that turned against each other. She’d seen how things could go wrong in a matter of seconds.
“Fine. I’ll stay here,” Anna said. “You ride back.”
“But what if those guys are farther down the road?”
Her brow furrowed. “Amanda, he’s bleeding out. He needs helps. We certainly can’t place him on the back of our bikes.” Anna felt like she was talking to a teenager but it was clear Amanda was still traumatized by the events in Oneida. It wasn’t a matter of being strong minded or fearless, Anna was neither. She was just as scared but she wasn’t going to let it paralyze her. She looked at Amanda assuming she would snap out of whatever state she was in but it didn’t appear she would.
“Look, one of us needs to go for help.” Anna looked off down the road. “A friend of my mom lives on this road.” She got up and grabbed her bike. “Stay with him, I’ll be right back.”
“Anna. You can’t expect me to—”
“Please.”
Anna took off pedaling as fast as she could. She didn’t want to leave her behind but one of them needed to make a decision and Amanda clearly wasn’t in her right frame of mind.
It had been a while since she’d spoken with or seen Eric Porter.
Not long after her father had left Breckenridge, he’d shown up, comforting her mother and running a few errands. From the little she’d managed to glean from her mother over the years, he was just a friend, a good friend but nothing more. She had a sense the feeling wasn’t mutual.
Anna recalled visiting him at Thanksgiving a couple of years back when she’d returned home. Her grandfather was there and her mother had made a big thing about it and said that he didn’t have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with so that’s why they were joining him, but she wasn’t dumb. She knew their friendship had progressed. With her father out of the picture it wasn’t uncommon for her mother to mention Eric in their conversations on the phone. While she never admitted that they were dating, Anna kind of knew they were spending time together. In some ways she resented it and in other ways she appreciated Eric being there for her mother. It couldn’t have been easy.
“Now which house was it?” she muttered to herself scanning the homes as she went by. She must have gone by at least ten homes before she spotted the road sign, and a red mailbox. The memory of that night came back to her. Anna swerved into his driveway. Please, be home; please be home, she thought as she made her way up to the house. As she came around a cluster of trees, there was her grandfather’s 1948 Chevrolet 3100 pickup. She’d recognize that anywhere. When she was young her grandfather would take her out to the garage and let her sit in his multiple classic cars. He would rattle on about different models he owned and ones he wanted to collect. Back then she thought he was kind of cool but over time she came to see how controlling he was.
Ditching her bike by the door she knocked and called out to him.
“Eric. It’s Anna.”
She cupped hands over her eyes and peered through a window. As soon as she saw him in the kitchen she breathed a sigh of relief. He turned, smiled and made his way down. The door swung open and before he could greet her she pointed back to the road. “There’s a guy injured. I need your help.”
Without waiting for a yes, she grabbed up her bicycle.
“Hold on, Anna, we’ll throw it in the back.”
He came out and lifted it into the rear and went and got his keys for the truck. Within minutes they peeled out of his driveway heading back to the spot.
“Who is it?” Eric asked, as the truck rumbled down the road.
“Not sure. We ran into a group of young guys on dirt bikes. They gave him a beating and stole gasoline from him and took off.”
“Bastards.”
As they came over a rise Anna spotted Amanda sitting beside the guy with her hand on his head. He was still curled up in a fetal position, like an injured animal beside the road; it was the most pitiful sight she’d ever witnessed.
“Ah damn, that’s Gene Landers.”
Anna squinted. “You know him?”
“Not personally but I know his son. They own a
hardware store in town.”
He veered the truck to the hard shoulder.
“How long has he been here?”
“Ten minutes, maybe longer.”
Eric hurried over and assessed his situation. He checked him out before asking for help. “C’mon, give me a hand.”
Gene groaned as they hauled him up and carried him to the truck. Amanda supported him from the other side as they slipped him into the back. Amanda hopped in the rear and Eric returned to grab up her bicycle. Within minutes they were driving away from the scene.
“When did you get back?” Eric asked.
Anna looked over her shoulder and checked on Amanda in the back, she was stroking the guy’s head and holding a piece of rag that Eric had given her to stop the bleeding.
“About five days ago. We were at my grandfather’s.”
“How did you get back?”
“My father.”
Eric’s expression changed. “Is he still here?”
She nodded.
Eric returned to looking at the road ahead, a look of concern spread on his face. “I’m sorry about your mother, Anna. She was a good woman.”
Anna’s chin dropped a little, and she nodded.
“Are you planning on staying?” he asked.
“Yeah. For now, I guess. It’s pretty bad out there.”
“What was Boston like?”
She shrugged. “We didn’t stay there long enough to see it come apart but we traveled through plenty of towns that were in a worse state than Breckenridge.”
“Yeah, well we have your grandfather to thank for that. If he hadn’t paid for all those generators, I’m sure we’d have been in a worse state than we are.”
Eric eyed his rearview mirror. “Who’s the woman?”
Anna shifted and looked back. “Amanda Baker. She lost her fiancé in Oneida.”
He nodded. “Where are you heading?”
“To Summit High School to help out.”
Eric smiled. “Just like your mother.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m pretty sure she would be out there now if she had made it.” He breathed in deeply. “Well, I’ll drop you guys off on the way and make sure Gene gets the medical attention he needs.” He glanced at Anna again. “It’s really good to see you home, Anna.”