Harrison's shoulder was throbbing from the repeated shotgun blasts, and his ears were ringing. Jason was gasping on the floor beside him, still alive, but in a bad way.
After all the commotion, it was deathly silent in the store. A minute passed, Harrison's shotgun poised on the slim gap between the boxes and the door. When nobody else seemed keen to push through, Harrison turned to Jason. His brother was still resting against the counter, breathing shallowly. The pad of gauze on his forehead was now soaked bright red and leaking small drops of blood down Jason's brow. Jason didn't seem to notice. His whole body was shaking slightly in the grip of a small seizure. The sight terrified Harrison. He hadn't seen Jason this bad since before the bone marrow transplant. He laid the shotgun down on the tile floor.
“Breathe, Jason,” he whispered. “Come on, just breathe for me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about all these years I've barely been a brother to you. I'm sorry for leaving you to take care of dad. I'm sorry. Just breathe, a little longer. I promise I'll make it alright.”
The whisper of footsteps on smooth tile wasn't lost on Harrison. He shook Jason again. Jason's eyes focused for a moment, then rolled back up in his head.
“If I die right now, I'm sorry,” Harrison said, then grabbed the shotgun from the floor and whipped it up, aiming not at the front door but back into the dark store.
The man who'd been creeping through the store froze. His eyeglasses glinted in the glow of the dim flashlight. The knife in his hand flashed brighter.
“I thought you'd be a coward,” Harrison said, standing with the shotgun. He strafed sideways, so that the counter was no longer between them. “That's why I went ahead and unlocked the roll-up door, figuring you'd try to sneak in behind me.”
“Then that makes you the biggest dumbass who ever lived,” the man said, twisting his scarred lip into a smile. “There's still guys behind you that would rip your head off for a bite of creamed corn. How many can you keep back with one gun?”
“Oh, because the door's broken?” Harrison said lightly. “Well....that was my fault. See, a little chewing gum was all it took to hold the diamond from my brother's ex-wife's wedding ring against the door, and a bit of pressure from a fire extinguisher on a timer was enough to shatter it at the right time. I figured a few would stick around, and I took care of them. The rest? They're two blocks away, eating a big pot of chicken and biscuits that they couldn't help but smell. I know, because I put a fan behind it all to blow the scent this way. Take a deep breath. Can't you smell that? It's my brother's recipe.”
The man's smile faltered. His eyes flicked over to Jason, gasping on the floor.
“What's wrong with him?” the man asked. He began to back away.
“You,” Harrison said, and pulled the trigger with a grimace. The man's head blew away. His body thumped to the floor, still gripping the knife.
Harrison spun and lugged the metal street sign up against the front door. He'd grabbed the sign while he was setting up the chicken and biscuits. He screwed bolts into the holes he'd already drilled to keep the sign in place around the doorframe, then turned back to Jason.
Jason's breathing was ragged, but the fact that he was still breathing was as good a sign as any.
“You idiot,” Harrison whispered. “You should have told me you were out of medication.”
“You...would have left,” Jason whispered back.
“Of course I would have,” said Harrison. “You think I want to run this store without you?” He managed a smile. “You're the best part of it.”
“You don't act...like that,” Jason breathed.
“I mean it. You make every morning worth getting up for. Now keep breathing like that. Slow and steady.”
Harrison held him until morning came, then stood up and stretched. The man with the scarred lip was still dead, and nobody had come banging at their door over the night. Jason was asleep, and he had some color back in his cheeks, but he needed his medication. Harrison knew where to get more, but it was in the last place on the planet he wanted to visit.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART II….
The Killing Days Page 6
