by Vince Byrd
“What makes you so sure?”
“Old people drive cars like that, and a lot of them don’t use GPS.”
“Okay, I’ll bet you a quarter there’s no map.”
“You’re on, prepare for your money to be taken.”
“We’ll see,” she smiled at him.
Ethan tried the driver’s side door on the Lincoln, but it was locked. He went around to the passenger’s side, and the door was unlocked. Giving a thumbs-up to Paige, he opened the door and sat down on the seat. When he opened the glove box, mustard and ketchup packets fell out into his lap. It was stuffed with napkins, papers, and condiments. He dug to the bottom under all the clutter and pulled out a map. “I knew it,” he said to himself.
“What did you know?” a deep, scratchy voice asked from the back seat.
“Whoa!” Ethan jumped out of the car and looked in the back. He saw a frail-looking, old man sitting in the back seat scrunched down with his head leaned back. “What are you doing back there?” He held up his hand, motioning for Paige to come to him.
“It’s my car, sonny. What are you doing in my car?”
“I needed a map,” Ethan answered, looking down at the map in his hands.
“Well, you have it. What are you waiting for? You’re letting in the night air, close the door.”
“Sir, are you alright?”
“Does a bear crap in the woods?”
“Yeah, unless they’re in a zoo or in Antarctica.”
“Oh, so you’re a thief and a smart aleck punk too?”
“I’m not a thief or a punk. I just needed a map. I will put it back.”
“If I wasn’t here, you were going to put the map back, is that what you’re telling me?”
“No, I was…”
“That’s what I figured. Now, close the door, thief.”
Ethan closed the door. “There’s an old man in the backseat,” he said to Paige as she stepped up to him. She bent down and looked into the car. The man was just sitting there scrunched down with his eyes closed.
“Is he okay?” she asked.
“He said he didn’t want the door left open because of the night air, and he called me a thief.”
“You did take his map,” she pointed to the map he was holding.
“Borrowing the map, and by the way, you owe me a quarter.”
Paige opened the front door and looked into the back at the man, “Sir, my name is Paige. Do you need some help?”
The man opened his eyes and looked at her for a moment. “Martha? Martha, is that you? I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Sir, my name is Paige. Is Martha supposed to come get you? Is she your wife?”
“You’re not Martha? Where’s Martha?”
Ethan was standing beside her, looking in also. Paige looked up at him and whispered, “He may have Alzheimer’s.”
The old man grunted and then laughed a deep, devious snicker. “Martha is my ex-wife, and I don’t have Alzheimer’s. But seeing the look on your face when I called you Martha was worth the map your thieving beau took from me. You better watch out for that one; he’s got slippery hands.”
“Well, aren’t you full of grit? What is your name, sir?”
“People call me Tugg.”
“Tugg, why are you out here by yourself?”
“My car quit on me like all the others you see around you, and I’ve got a bum knee, so I can’t walk very far.”
“How far is your home from here?” she asked.
“A couple of miles.”
“Would you like for us to give you a ride there so you won’t have to walk?”
“That’s kind of you. You would do that for me, Martha?” Paige raised her eyebrows, wondering if he really did think she was Martha.
“Does he have to come?” Ethan groaned.
“Yes, Ethan and I will help you to our car.” They helped Tugg out of his Lincoln and into the Duster, placing him in the front seat for better comfort. He pointed the way to his house as Paige drove. Ethan took the map with him so he could give it a look when they got to his house.
“Have you been in your car all day, Tugg?”
“Yep, I got some lunch and was on my way back when my car went caput. Other people wanted to help, but they would’ve had to carry me all the way. I can only walk a few steps before I have to rest. Right here, this is my driveway.”
Paige pulled the Duster into a short, dirt drive of an old, rundown, tiny house that sat at the end of it. “Let us help you in. Do you have your keys?”
“It’s not locked. I thought I didn’t have to worry about thieves around here, but I guess I was wrong.” Tugg glanced over at Ethan and shook his head at him, then he let out another low snicker. The car lights lit up the house through the windows. Paige and Ethan helped him into his home. He stopped them at the front door to turn on the light switch, but nothing happened. “What the…”
“The power is out all over the place. Maybe, they’ll get it back on soon,” Paige said, wondering if that was true or not.
“Put me in that chair right there.”
After sitting him down, Paige asked, “Do you have any candles?”
“In the kitchen, second drawer. Can you grab me a bottle of water off the counter, Martha?” Tugg asked, adjusting his legs as he reclined his chair some.
Ethan followed Paige into the kitchen. She found the candles and a lighter with them. Upon lighting one, Ethan said, “Let me look at the map for a minute.”
Paige lit another candle and set it down on the one end table by Tugg. She broke the seal on the water and handed it to him. “Thanks, Martha. You sure you don’t want to ditch that guy and go with a real man?”
“Tugg, are you going to be okay here alone?”
“Yeah, Martha will be by in the morning to check on me. You kids go on now, so I can get my beauty rest. Don’t forget though, keep an eye on Slippery Hands in there.”
“Yes sir, I will.”
“You can keep the map, but let your beau know I gave it to you and not him.”
Ethan stepped in and asked Paige, “Are you ready?”
“Yes, let’s go. I’m ready. I think Tugg is settled. Oh, and he said that this map was mine, so you owe me a quarter.” She snatched the map out of Ethan’s hand. Tugg slapped his good knee, grunted, and snickered at the same time to the point it almost took his breath away.
Just as Paige was stepping out of the door, Tugg said, “Thanks, Paige.” She stuck her head back in and looked at him. He nodded to her, “You’re a good egg.”
“You take care of yourself, Tugg, and keep your hands off Martha.” He grinned from ear to ear and nodded with more snickering as she slowly closed his door.
Thirty-three
Jesse Day 7
Jesse sprang up from Ginger and stepped toward the woman that was charging at them. He drew his pistol and shouted, “Stop!” She didn’t. He fired a shot over her head. She halted, sliding a little on the wet pavement. She pulled the rifle to her chest, resting the stock under her armpit, pointing the barrel toward Jesse. “Don’t! I don’t want to have to shoot you!” he pleaded.
The woman stood there looking at her husband’s body in the rain as she was being drenched herself. “You killed my husband,” she screamed at him, tightening her grip on the rifle.
“And, I am so sorry about that, but you know why. He was robbing us, and he shot our friend.”
“Doc!”
“Don’t move her, Larry. Control the bleeding, but do not move her,” Jesse instructed without taking his eyes off the woman. “Ma’am, think about your children. They only have you now. Things are only going to get worse; they’re going to need you now more than ever.”
Her bottom lip quivered as she began to weep. She looked at Henry hugging Ava, then at Ginger lying on the cold conc
rete, and Kat trying to stop the bleeding. She looked at Jesse, and sensed that if she made a move, it would be the end of her. Dropping the rifle to her side, she looked down at her husband and relaxed her body. She knelt down in the cold water and kissed her husband on the forehead.
Jesse took a breath of relief and adjusted the grip on his pistol, never taking his aim off her. Tears welled up in his eyes as he sympathized with her loss. He blinked them back quickly to stay focused on the threat. He watched her get up, walk back to her car, and get in. She consoled her children for a moment, cranked the car, and proceeded to drive toward them to pass under the bridge. Her children were plastered to the windows, looking at their dead father lying in the rain as they cried out for him. Jesse stepped aside, still holding his aim on her as she drove by. She never looked over at any of them again. She stared straight ahead with her eyes on the road in front of her, tears leaking down her face. Jesse holstered his gun once the car was out of range.
Jesse turned his attention to Ginger, assessing her wound and her physical state. “Kat, can you grab a blanket from the truck to keep her warm?”
“Got it,” she answered.
“Doc, is she going to be okay? You’ve got to tell me that she’s going to be alright,” Larry begged. “Let’s get her to a hospital.”
“We don’t even know where a hospital is, Larry. I don’t think we should move her yet. The bullet was a .22 caliber, so it’s small, and it looks like it only grazed her head. I don’t see a penetration wound, but the graze appears to be deep. The bleeding is clotting, her pulse is steady, and her breathing is good. Let’s wait and see if she wakes up, but…”
“But what?” Larry worried.
“She could have brain swelling from the impact of the bullet, or it could have cracked her skull. We’ll have to wait and see; looks like we’re here for the night. The sun is already behind the trees. Let’s find something to slip under her so she won’t keep sucking up the cold from the concrete.”
Kat returned with a blanket and covered her up, “How about some cardboard from a couple of boxes?’
“That would work perfect.”
Jesse and Kat emptied a couple of their supply boxes and broke them down. They gently slid them under Ginger for a barrier from the cold ground. “Larry, stay with her and let me know if there is any change.”
“I’m not leaving her side, Doc.”
“Do we have anything to build a fire with?” Henry asked.
“Nothing that will burn for very long, and everything out there is wet,” Jesse answered. “It’s not super cold; as long as we keep her covered, I think she’ll be okay.” He popped the trunk on a nearby car and jerk out the trunk carpet. He stepped out into the rain and dragged Theron’s body to the side, covering him with the carpet. He stepped back under the bridge. “I’m going to make some coffee after I dry off. Anybody want some?”
“I’ll have some,” Ava spoke up, staring at Theron’s body.
“I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m sorry we all had to see that,” Henry said.
“I know how they feel, the kids, I mean. Bad men killed my daddy, but a good man killed this man. Whether he was bad or not, I’m not sure. He was doing a bad thing to us and now he’s… Why did he do it, Henry?” Everyone was quiet as they listened to Ava question Henry.
“I don’t know. Maybe, he felt like it was his only choice to provide for his family.”
“But Jesse offered him some of our food and water. Why did he have to be so greedy?”
“Sometimes men, good or bad, make decisions that are wrong, and they pay the price for those decisions,” Henry explained.
“Do you think Jesse would have shot the mother of those kids?” she asked.
Henry looked over at Jesse and said, “I believe he would have to protect you and me and the rest of us.”
“I would have too,” Ava stated without hesitation. Henry’s heart felt like it dropped into his stomach hearing her speak of killing like that. She turned and walked over to Jesse to help him with the coffee. Jesse removed the stove from the back of the truck and set it up. Ava retrieved the coffee, the pot, and the cups.
No one said a word after that for a while as they made themselves comfortable. They sipped on their coffee and ate some snacks from the truck. The day turned to night, and the rain continued to make the pitter patter rhythm in the darkness. Jesse leaned against a car that was nearest to Ginger. Larry laid down beside her and whispered in her ear, trying to get her to wake up. “You have to wake up, G. Our tin castle awaits. Come on, I know you’re tougher than this.”
Kat joined Jesse. Ava and Henry got into the car and laid back in the seats. Kat reached over and took Jesse by the hand, “It’s not your fault. It wouldn’t have happened if Theron hadn’t pulled his gun on you.”
“I know, but like Henry said, ‘decisions’.”
“We’re doing the best we can. She’ll wake up.”
He looked at her, smiled, and squeezed her hand, “I hope you’re right.” He stuffed the last bite of his pop tart into his mouth. “You know, when I get home, I don’t ever want to eat another pop tart again.”
“I will if it’s not blueberry,” she laid her head on his shoulder.
The sound of the falling rain soothed everyone to sleep. Jesse drifted off into a dream. Bullets whizzed by his head as he took cover behind a burned-out Humvee. His men were pinned down and injured by three young teens that were indoctrinated into killing American infidels. PFC Smith was not going to make it without a better tourniquet on his arm. Corporal Ferguson was hurt as well, and Ferguson had done the best he could to control the bleeding. The IED explosion had killed Lieutenant Chandler and Private Lane. Jesse had become team leader in an instant, and his men were now under attack. He was the only one that could get a shot at the insurgents.
Jesse got on his belly and took careful aim at the young boys that showered down fire and lead upon them. “Forgive me, Lord.” He fired three consecutive shots into one of the boys, and his body fell lifeless to the sand. The other two continued to hammer at him with rounds. Jesse took a deep breath to relax himself and waited for his chance. One of the boys stuck his head out just long enough for Jesse’s shot to end his existence in this world. The last boy made a run at Jesse in a suicide attempt to annihilate the infidel that had killed his young comrades. Jesse put three rounds into his chest, and he fell face first onto the sandy ground only yards away.
After patching his men up and calling for an extraction, he walked over to the two dead boys and studied them. They were barely sixteen, if that. He felt queasy in his stomach. He walked over to the one that had charged him and rolled him over. He saw the face of his own son, Jacob, lying on the desert floor in a pool of blood. He jerked awake and jumped to his feet.
He looked around, and everyone was still sleeping. Dawn came warmer and damper with a thick, grey fog that encompassed the bridge. Tiny particles of condensation floated on the morning air from east to west. The night had slipped away from fatigue of the prior day. The dim light was obstructive. He could only see the bottom of Theron’s boots poking out, but not the rest of him. It was a somber reminder of yesterday’s events. He looked down at Kat curled up under a blanket. Henry and Ava were sound asleep in the car. Larry was still beside Ginger, who was still on her back unconscious.
He rubbed his face and eyes to help remove the image of his son and the dead boys. He started to check on Ginger when she moved her arm and rubbed her cheek. She drew her eye brows together with her eyes closed, and rubbed her face with her other hand. Jesse shook Larry awake. “She’s waking up,” Jesse whispered.
Larry sat up and looked at her. Ginger opened her eyes and looked up at Jesse. She then turned and looked at Larry. “Hey, there you are G. You gave me a scare, girl,” he touched her cheek.
“Who are you?” Ginger asked.
Thirty-four
Paige Day 1
The night was pitch-dark, more so than Ethan had ever seen. His eyes were bloodshot from his intense focus on the road and careful driving. A stalled car could appear out of the darkness or around a curve without warning. There were no tail lights or street lights, only his headlights to aid him through the darkness. His hands stayed at ten and two, and his body was giving him signals that it was way past his bedtime.
They were on the homestretch. They’d traveled north on route 411 to Gadsden, Alabama and hooked highway 278 into Georgia and were now on highway 92. Drivers had long abandoned their cars in and on the sides of the road. If any people were still in their cars, they were asleep. It gave him a weird, eerie feeling of being all alone in the world. He glanced over at Paige; she’d drifted off to sleep a while ago. He spotted a sign for a Krystal restaurant, and his stomach growled at him. “What I would give for a sack of Krystals right now,” he sighed. And just like that, there was something in the middle of the road that appeared out of the blackness.
He slammed on the brakes, stopping the car. Paige jerked awake from the sudden shift of her body. “What!” she squawked.
“It’s okay, look,” he pointed.
“Awe, it’s a deer,” she marveled. Three does stood in front of the Duster, flicking their ears and white tails as they studied the car. Finally, after about a minute, they walked off the road and into the woods. “They are so cute. Where are we? I must have fallen asleep.”
“Must have? I had to keep brushing the sawdust off the seat while you were sawing logs over there.”
“Whatever, I was only asleep for a minute.”
“According to the map,” he grabbed the map and gave it a glance, flipping on the dome light, “we are only a few miles away from your house.”
