by Vince Byrd
“If only, my friend. Life is full of ‘if onlys’,” he answered.
“I have my share of regrets and ‘if onlys’, as anyone does. Are you okay? We’re kind of in a situation here,” Jesse addressed.
“My faith is as strong as any preacher, but every man has his limit,” Henry announced. “Even Elijah, David, and Job had their limits. A man can only take so much; planes crashing, people dying everywhere, meteors, tsunamis, drownings, my friends being slain right in front of me, and perverts killing our children. What’s next? What spectacle will mine eyes be privy to now, Lord? I have reached my limit.” He looked up to the ceiling and held his hands out, palms up. “I no longer want to be witness to your judgement and to the evils of this world. I can’t do it any longer. My heart is overwhelmed with anguish. I need a break; I need some peace. I need rest, Lord.”
Jesse and Kat didn’t know what to say to him. He finally broke into a sob and leaned against Kat’s shoulder with his hands to his face. Kat just let him cry, as she too felt his pain from her own losses on their journey home. “I think we’re going to need a moment. Please be careful, though,” she said. Turning her head to the back window, she spoke loudly, “Keep him covered, Ginger.”
“Keep an eye on him for me. We’re going to be fine,” Jesse offered. He exited the truck to go talk to the man. He looked up at Larry and Ginger, then over at Ava, “Stay alert and watch our six…our rear,” he corrected.
Ginger pumped her shotgun, chambering a round. The man let out a loud whistle. All around them several men popped up with rifles aimed at them, and using the cars as shields.
Jesse held up his hands and yelled, “Whoa! Whoa! We don’t want anyone to get hurt! Let’s just talk about this!”
The short Hispanic man in the straw hat pushed himself off his truck and walked toward Jesse. “My name is Antonio Flores, and this is my toll road. These men are my enforcers. To pass, you must pay a toll fee.”
“What’s the fee?” Jesse asked.
“We will take one of those guns there,” he said, pointing at Larry and Ginger, “and all the food you have.”
“It’s nice to meet you Antonio; my name is Jesse. My friends and I have come a long way, and still have a long way to go to get home. Is there any wiggle room for negotiation on the fee amount?”
“A gun is non-negotiable since I see you have at least three,” he said, pointing to Jesse’s pistol hanging from his belt. “But we can, how do you say…haggle a bit on the amount of food. If you don’t have any, then you will have to give up something else of equal value,” Antonio informed.
“That’s a stiff price for what was once a freeway,” Jesse stated.
“We are not bad men, Señor Jesse. We are just trying to survive.”
“How about we give you an AR-15 with an extra full clip and a can of instant coffee?” Jesse offered.
“That sounds perfect to me, amigo. I’ve been aching for some coffee.”
“Larry!” Jesse called. “Bring me that Stag AR, an extra clip, and a can of coffee!”
“He means the extra one, Larry,” Kat pointed out through the rear window.
“You got it, Doc!” Larry yelled back. He pulled the extra AR-15 from behind the boxes, an extra clip from the ammo box, a can of coffee from a food box, and climbed out of the truck.
“Doc? Are you a doctor?” Antonio asked.
“No, I was a medic for a little while. That’s Larry; he just calls me Doc. It’s a long story.”
“But you know medical things, how to treat sickness, yes?”
“Yeah, for the most part,” Jesse answered.
“Mi madre, she’s very sick. We think she ate something very bad last night. What should she do?” Antonio asked.
“Is she vomiting?”
“Yes, like every hour,” he replied.
“That’s good. It means her body is fighting off the bacteria. Just have her sip on some water and rest and get her to eat something bland like crackers, toast, or rice. She should be fine after a day or two. Not too many people die from food poisoning. Dehydration is more of a threat. Make sure she drinks some water as soon as she’s able to keep it down. That will also help speed up her recovery,” Jesse explained. “Now, here’s your fee as agreed.” He motioned for Larry to give the payment to Antonio.
Larry stepped up and held out the AR and the coffee. Antonio held up his hand and spoke in Spanish to his men with rifles. Jesse and Larry looked at each other, and they recognized the words mama and doctor. The men climbed over the cars, came over to them, and patted Jesse and Larry on the back with gratitude. “Mí hermanos,” Antonio introduced.
Jesse nodded to them, wondering what was happening and why they were so glad to meet him. “What’s going on, Doc?” Larry asked.
“I’m not quite sure,” he answered.
“We were very worried about our mama, whether she was going to be alright or not, especially Emilio here. He’s the baby. You have assured us that she will be fine. My brothers and I have decided to let you pass free of charge. But, we do like coffee very much and don’t have any,” Antonio hinted.
“Please, take it, and thank you,” Jesse offered.
“No, thank you, Doc,” Antonio took the coffee and shouted, “Café,” to his brothers. They all cheered with excitement.
Antonio backed his wrecker out of the way, and Jesse pulled the truck through the barrier. As they passed, Antonio warned, “Don’t get off on exit 122. I heard they have a gang problem there.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Jesse nodded, as they pulled away. Turning to Kat, he whispered, “How’s Henry doing?”
“He’s better now,” she answered.
“Henry, that wasn’t so bad.”
“Jesse, I’m sorry about that back there. I was—was…” he paused, “Well…I…”
Jesse stopped him, “You don’t have to explain it to me. Sometimes the weight and ugliness of this life can simply be too heavy for us to carry.”
Twenty-seven
Paige Day 1
The headlights from the old Ford Mustang beamed into the night separating the darkness. They had put twenty-five more grueling, slow miles behind them as they rolled through the town of Eufaula. They passed a family sitting in their car, probably staying until morning and hoping tomorrow would bring some sort of solution to their dilemma. Most people had moved on to find somewhere to stay the night. Those that had not had their eyes glued to the Mustang as it drove by.
Main Street was a little tricky. David had to creep up onto the sidewalk to get around a few cars that blocked the road. He had driven the route more than a hundred times in his life, but this was by far the strangest. He had come through in the wee hours of the morning before but only passed a car every once in a while, and the roads were always clear. Tonight, Eufaula was full of quiet chaos, blacked out with deserted concrete and cluttered pavement. Once they cleared the downtown area, they made the necessary turns to stay on highway 431 and were back out in the country.
“Is that my Duster?” Paige questioned, pointing up ahead.
“I believe it is,” David answered. “What happened?”
The front of the Duster was in a ditch with the front right corner rammed into an embankment. Scattered dirt and bits of grass and weeds were lying across the hood of the car from the impact. Leaving the headlights on, David parked behind it, and the group got out. There was no sign of Makayla. “Do you see her?” Paige asked, looking all around.
“No, she must have run off the road and left on foot when she couldn’t get it out,” Ethan said.
“I don’t think she even tried. There’s no skid or scratch marks in the dirt,” David said, opening the driver’s door. “Do you still have the second set of keys?”
Paige pulled them from her front pocket and handed them to him. David sat down behind the steering wheel, an
d inserted the key. The Duster cranked right up. “Why would she leave the car like that after she stole it from us?”
“Those dents weren’t there before. It looks like someone ran into her, and she ran off the road,” Paige speculated, “But, where is she now?”
“Maybe she hitched a ride with them since her car was in a ditch, or she walked somewhere,” Ethan said.
David waved for everyone to step back. He mashed the gas and the right tire spun a little, but the car backed out of the ditch quite easily. “Why couldn’t Makayla have done that?” he questioned through the window he had just rolled down.
“Do you think she’s in trouble?” Emily questioned.
“I don’t know, but even if she is, we can’t do anything about it. We wouldn’t know where to look,” David answered.
“Right here, there are several sets of footprints in the dirt, and some scratch marks over there from another car. Do think someone took her? Those are some big boot tracks,” Paige pointed out. She looked around and saw a house sitting off the road across a pasture. “We can go ask them to see if they saw anything.”
“It doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” Ethan pointed out.
“How can you tell? The power is out,” she noted.
“She stole your car. We have it back, let’s just go,” David urged.
“We have to try to find her. What if she needs us? There’s no one else looking for her. Do you know how many young women go missing in this country every day?” Paige petitioned.
“No, how many?” Ethan challenged.
“I don’t know, but I know it’s a lot. Can we just go check?” she pleaded.
“Why Paige? Why are you so concerned about her? She made her choices and even double-crossed us, like dad said. She doesn’t deserve us to look for her. I don’t understand this constant need you have to help. Why Paige, why?” Ethan interrogated.
“Ethan Lee! Do you even know me at all? I would want someone to look for me if I were missing and all alone. Yes, she made a mistake, but she is a human being and deserves our attention no matter what she’s done to us,” she defended.
“Yeah, tell that to the guy you shot earlier today,” Ethan shot back.
“He had my full attention, did he not?” Paige countered.
David broke in, “Okay, you two, how about we go to this house, and if we don’t get any answers or leads, we get back on the road? Is that doable, Paige?”
“Yes sir,” she answered, giving Ethan a squint.
“You and Ethan take your car. Emily and I will take the Mustang and follow you,” David directed. They drove both cars to the house in question and parked side by side. The driveway was two worn out lanes stamped in the brown, dormant grass that made it clear that vehicles frequented up and down the drive. The yard was completely flat. The ground was hard, and the car path led around to the back of the house as well. “You two go to the door, and I’ll leave my lights on for you.”
Paige and Ethan went to the door of the old white farmhouse. The address on the doorjamb was 669, but the last number six had swung down and hung only by its bottom nail, causing it to read 666. “That’s not encouraging at all,” Paige whispered to herself, knocking on the door.
“No one’s answering; let’s go,” Ethan prodded.
“Do you hear that? Someone is in there. I can hear them moving around,” she said, knocking again harder.
“I don’t hear anyone. Wait a minute. I did just see the glass beside the door jiggle, like someone slammed the back door. You know when the air pressure in the house…”
“I saw it move too. Let’s go around back,” she interrupted.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Let’s just get out of here,” he countered.
Paige motioned to David and Emily that they were going around to the back. She walked down the front of the house, and Ethan reluctantly followed. David stepped out and said, “Wait, we’ll follow you with the car lights.”
As they made it to the back with David following them with the car, the lights revealed a man dragging someone into a barn. “Did you see that?” Paige asked.
“I did, but let’s pretend we didn’t and get the heck out of here,” Ethan insisted.
“Tell your dad to get his gun and follow me. I’m going in,” she ordered.
“No, you’re not!” he grabbed her arm. “Stop and think about this. Let’s get Dad and then, we’ll go in together.”
“You’re right,” she held up her pistol to David, after pulling it from her waist band holster and motioned for him to bring his.
David reached into the glove box. He pulled out the pistol that Paige had given him and told Emily to wait there. The three of them approached the barn with caution, ready to draw down on someone that was a threat. “You cover right. I’ll cover left. Ethan, you hang back until the all clear.”
Paige and Ethan nodded. David leaned against the barn and looked into the lights of the car trying to see his wife, but he couldn’t see anything. David’s heart was pounding in his chest. He had his doubts about coming back out alive. What has this girl gotten me into? He questioned himself in his mind. He looked at Paige and nodded, indicating that he was ready. Paige and David burst into the barn. She fanned her pistol to the right and saw nothing but some hay and an old tractor. David fanned his to the left and saw nothing but stacks of lumber, some rusty bicycles, and a riding lawnmower. When they met in the middle with their guns, they spotted something lying on the ground that looked like a body.
Paige rushed to it and knelt down. She immediately started laughing and fell back on her behind. Ethan heard her laughing and ran into the barn. “What is it?” he asked.
“It’s a scarecrow,” she snickered.
David sighed a breath of relief and lowered his pistol. “So, where’s the person who was just in here?”
“I don’t know,” Paige answered and skimming the barn again.
They walked back to the car, and the passenger door on the Mustang was open. “Dad, Mom is gone!” Ethan exclaimed.
Paige and David both raised their pistols at the ready and scanned the area around them. “Emily!” David called.
“Mom!” Ethan yelled.
David was thinking about kicking the door in to the house to search for his wife when she came walking up. “I’m right here. I had to go,” she announced.
“You could’ve waited five more minutes until you saw whether or not we were dead or alive,” David asked.
“You know how I have to go when I get nervous. It was either go now or go in my pants, and that wasn’t happening,” Emily affirmed. “So, what did you find in there? Was it Makayla?”
“It was a scarecrow, Mom,” Ethan informed.
“Thank heavens, I was so afraid for you all,” she declared.
“Can we go now, Paige?” Ethan asked.
“Who was that we saw dragging the scarecrow?” Paige asked. “Where is he?”
“Can I help you folks?” a voice came out of the dark.
They were startled by the voice. Paige and David swung around and pointed their pistols at the shadow of a man that appeared out of nowhere. “Whoa!” the plump man in dirty overalls dropped the wrenches he was holding, and they clanked to the ground. “What’s that no-good son of mine done now? He’s not here.”
“I’m so sorry, sir!” Paige lowered her gun, and David cautiously did the same. “I don’t know your son. My name is Paige, and we’re looking for our friend, Makayla, a young African American woman about so tall. Have you seen her? Her car was in the ditch in front of your house out on the highway.”
“Sorry, I haven’t. I’ve been working on my piece-of-junk generator all evening and haven’t seen anybody. My power’s out. I can’t figure out why. I know I paid the bill. My phone is out too. It’s the darnest thing,” he rambled.
“We sa
w someone go into the barn dragging a scarecrow,” Ethan spoke up.
“That was me. I’ve been telling my son, Cooper, to put that thing in the barn for a week.”
“You didn’t hear us knocking on the front door?” Ethan asked.
“No, I saw the headlights and thought it was my son coming home from his girl’s house.”
“How did you get out of the barn without us seeing you?” Ethan wondered.
“Through the back door, my generator’s back there. You say her car was in a ditch in front of my house?”
“Yes sir. Is anyone else in the house or around that might have seen her?” Paige asked.
“No, it’s just me and Cooper that live here. Like I said, he’s gone to see his girlfriend. I hope you find her.”
“Thank you. Me too,” Paige hoped.
“Well, I’m Joe. You folks want to come in for drink or something? It’s dark, but I have some candles.”
“No sir, but thanks anyway. We have to get going. Joe, we’re sorry for bothering you and for pointing our guns at you. We’ll get out of your hair now.” Paige holstered her pistol.
“Yeah, it’s not every day you get a gun pointed at you. You’d better be careful with those. Good luck to you all,” Joe picked up his wrenches.
David and Emily drove the car back around to the front. Ethan and Paige walked to the Duster; they got in and followed the Mustang back to the road and onto the highway. “Ethan, what do you think happened to her?”
“I don’t know, babe, but I know she can take care of herself,” he replied.
“I hope you’re right,” she sighed.
They drove up the road a couple of miles. Shades of pinks and greens flickered off the windshield as Emily gasped at the sight she beheld. “David, look!” she exclaimed.
They stopped their cars and got out. Standing there in the middle of the road, they glared at the swirling colors that engulfed the night sky. The lights were a shimmering green with pink hues and yellow swirls, dancing their way across the heavens. “What is it?” Paige asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it,” David wondered. “Is it cast off from a distant bombing?”
