by Bruno Miller
“Not very much. I mean, I’ve had some classes with her, but I don’t really know her that well. She moved here during the last school year. From Pittsburgh, I think, with her mom.
“Oh, I thought you didn’t know her very well,” Ben teased, trying to lighten the mood.
“Well, I meant, that’s all I know, so…” Joel said.
“I’m just giving you a hard time, bud.”
“I know.” Joel shook his head. “Hey, don’t miss the turn. Left here.”
Ben steered left onto East Seventh Street and drove toward the residential section of the street which was still a few blocks away. This part of East Seventh was still considered downtown and was mostly made up of small businesses, like Ben’s store. He could see this area hadn’t fared much better than Main Street and most of the shop windows were busted out here as well. As they neared the area of single family homes located at the end of the street, Joel began counting off the house numbers as they passed.
“395… 397… 399, should be the next one.” Ben grabbed Joel’s knee with his right hand and squeezed it firmly. His posture straightened as he gripped the wheel with the other hand.
“There they are!”
Chapter Sixteen
“Who? Where?” Joel looked around.
“The guys from the store.” Ben nodded. “Up ahead, it’s them.”
Up ahead about 150 yards away, sat the blue Chevy El Camino. It was parked across the sidewalk and backed into the front yard of a house down the street but on the opposite side Allie’s house was on.
“Great,” Ben muttered. “Is this her house?”
“That’s her blue Jeep.” Joel pointed.
Ben turned sharply, catching Joel off guard, causing him to lean into the console and grab the door handle.
“Whoa,” Joel shouted.
“Sorry, needed to get off the road fast. Those two are bad news.” Ben put his hand on Joel’s shoulder and helped him back upright as he whipped the Blazer in on the far side of the driveway next to Allie’s Jeep. The Jeep was small next to their truck and didn’t do a great job of blocking them from sight. Ben hoped they were back far enough off the road that the two thieves wouldn’t notice the addition of their truck to the street.
“Looks like they’re cleaning that place out.” Joel looked at the El Camino, its rear bed full of household items.
“Yeah, it’s a shame,” Ben said. “Let’s hope the owners are long gone.” He didn’t doubt for one minute that they were dangerous and should be regarded as a serious threat. He wasn’t about to underestimate the danger the two thugs posed and their potential to cause serious problems.
“Okay. Here’s the plan. I’m going to find a spot on the front porch and camp out with the AR. You go around the side and look for another entrance. Hopefully you can get someone to answer the door, but there’s a good chance they’re gone, Joel.”
“I know,” Joel mumbled.
“Whatever you do, don’t walk around to the front of the house. If nobody answers just come back to the truck and wait for me. We can’t be here long, so we won’t be able to wait for them if no one’s home. Okay, buddy?”
“I understand.” With that, Joel eased open the passenger door and slid out, heading down the side of the house.
Ben opened his door and got out, then leaned back in and pulled the rifle bag out by its strap. Keeping an eye on the El Camino, he made his way up onto the front porch.
The house was a modest little Arts & Crafts style bungalow with a big covered front porch. Large oversized columns lined the perimeter of the porch and one on each side of the front steps with a railing connecting them all. The columns consisted of a stone base about three feet tall and almost as wide, on top of each stone square sat a wooden post completing the connection up to the roof.
Ben crouched down behind the right-hand column and laid the bag in front of him. Unzipping the bag the rest of the way, he pulled out the sleek matte black AR. Then he pulled a collapsible bipod out of one of the accessory pouches on the bag, slid it onto the key mod style rail and tightened it near the end of the grip.
Extending the bipod feet he lay down in a prone position around the side of the column, pushing the gun in front of him until he was lined up behind the scope. He flipped down the magnifier and zeroed in on the car first and then scanned the window for any sign of movement.
He wondered how Joel was making out and hoped he wouldn’t take it too hard if they came up empty here today.
* * *
Joel followed the narrow gray flagstone sidewalk around to the back side of the house where it ended at a set of small steps that led up to a door set back into a small landing area. Joel cleared the first two steps in a single stride but stopped dead in his tracks when he reached the third.
The door was ajar and sat open, but only by a few inches. He climbed the last few steps cautiously until he reached the small wooden landing. Tilting his head at an angle he pushed his right eye to the opening. He tried to look into the house through the crack between the door and the jamb but couldn’t see much of anything.
He knocked on the door lightly, although he wasn’t sure why at this point, and immediately regretted doing so as the door creaked on its rusty hinges and swung in a couple more inches.
“Well, that was smart,” he whispered to himself.
Joel stood motionless for a second, wondering what his next move should be. Should he go and get his dad? No, he said not to go into the front yard. Maybe just take a quick look inside and see if anyone was home. He wanted to handle this on his own anyway.
Could it be that they’d left in such a hurry, they hadn’t even bothered to close the door much less lock it? Maybe they were gone and he would never see Allie again. Pushing the negative thoughts out of his mind, he nudged the door open a little more to peek inside. Cringing, as the old hinges gave him away with their metallic squeals, he peered around the door.
The place was trashed, and it wasn’t Allie and her mom bugging out kind of trashed. Things were broken and furniture tipped over. The place had been torn apart by looters, maybe the two idiots down the street had been here too.
Then he noticed the inside of the doorjamb. It had been forced open and was reduced to splinters by some sort of blunt force from the outside.
Joel’s heart raced as his mind tried to make sense of it all. Had they been home when the house was broken into? Was Allie okay?
“Allie?” Joel called in as loud a voice as he dared. “Allie, are you here? It’s me, Joel!”
No response.
“Please, God, let Allie be okay. I’ll never ask for another thing as long as I live. I can’t handle two in one day,” he whispered to himself.
Chapter Seventeen
Joel found himself pushing further past the door into the house. Even though his mind was telling him to stop, his legs seemed to have a mind of their own.
He pulled out the 9MM pistol and held it firmly in his right hand. His palm was sweaty, and he squeezed the gun extra tight to compensate for his shakiness. He brought his other hand up to the gun to steady his grip as he held it at shoulder height in front of him. He tried to remember what his dad had taught him about how to clear a room and approach corners.
He and his dad were regulars down at the shooting range, and he had always enjoyed going there and shooting the different guns they owned. The range had a couple different competition pistol courses that local law enforcement used to train. When the pistol courses weren’t in use, they were open to any member of the range to use. Joel and his dad had taken advantage of those opportunities and run the courses many times. It was one of his favorite things to do there, and he’d gotten pretty good at it over the years.
Now he just had to put it all to use in a real world environment.
He brought his trembling hand up to wipe away a bead of sweat that tickled his face as it ran down from his forehead, then quickly put his hand back on the gun.
Real life was a lot dif
ferent than the range when the potential targets that could pop out at any second from behind the next corner weren’t made of paper. It all seemed like a lot to think about at the moment and he had to force himself to refocus on the task at hand and settle down a little before he continued.
Swallowing hard, he made his way forward putting most of his weight on the balls of his feet, selecting each step carefully. He moved through the kitchen where he’d entered the house to what looked like a dining room.
The china cabinet lay face down at an angle where it came to rest on the dining room table and the spilled contents were all over the floor in broken pieces. Trying not to step on any of the glass or china pieces, he tactfully tiptoed through the room without making a sound.
Up ahead appeared to be the living room with a set of stairs on the right. The steps went to a landing and then turned back in his direction and rose out of sight. In the middle of the room was the front door. The porch where his dad was set up must be beyond that.
He briefly considered opening the door and letting his dad know what was going on, but decided against that for fear of blowing his dad’s cover and giving away his location. Joel was probably already in trouble for coming in here alone.
He went over to the bottom of the stairs and looked up. There was a small hallway at the top, but he could only see a few feet in either direction.
“Allie?” he called again, a little louder than the first time and with a little more confidence. Joel was pretty sure the house was empty at this point, and his hopes of finding Allie were fading fast.
He thought about going upstairs, and even climbed a few steps, but instantly had second thoughts. The house wasn’t that big, and he was sure someone would have heard him by now, not to mention, he had already been in there for too long and was probably in for a lecture from his dad, as it was.
“Allie?” he called one final time before he turned around and headed down the stairs, now with his gun held loosely at his side in one hand.
As he stepped off the last stair tread, he heard a faint voice and spun around.
“Joel? Joel Davis, is…is that you?”
Joel felt the blood rush to his head and a feeling of warmth flooded over him. Forgetting all about caution and proper protocol, he quickly ran up the stairs and looked down the hall to his left and then to his right.
“It’s me. It’s Joel. Allie is that you? Where are you?”
“I’m in here, the bedroom on the right, at the end of the hallway,” Allie answered, her voice still sounded muffled, like she was in the wall or something. Joel jogged down the hall making sure to holster his gun, which he now just realized still had the safety engaged. How stupid I am, he thought. I wouldn’t have been ready if I had needed it.
“Gotta do better,” he mumbled.
Now in the room, he still couldn’t see her. Had he gone the wrong way? Then he heard a noise from inside a large walk-in closet. He turned to see two legs dangling from a small attic access in the ceiling.
He rushed over to the closet, as she slid the rest of the way through the hole. She all but landed on him. Joel caught her before she hit the floor and helped her get her balance before he let her go. But Allie hung on to Joel for a second longer. He didn’t object.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I think so.” Allie reluctantly released her grip on him and backed away a few inches. He could see that she had been crying.
She glanced toward the stairs. “We have to get out of here, Joel. Before they come back.”
“Who?” Joel asked.
“Those guys, whoever they are. They’re the ones that made this mess!” Allie looked around the room. “Wait how did you get here? I’ve been trying to start my car since yesterday and its dead…everything is dead!”
With that, she hung her head and began cry into her hands.
“What’s wrong? Allie? Talk to me.” Joel bent down a little and tried to look her in the eyes.
“My mom. I haven’t seen her since before the bombs or whatever they were that hit us. I’m scared that she may be… I think she’s…” Allie choked on the last few words and couldn’t get them out as she teared up again.
“Hey, I’m sure she’s fine. We can help you find her,” Joel offered, as he put his hands on her shoulders.
“You don’t understand. Joel, my mom is a flight attendant. She was in the air when it happened.” Allie closed her eyes and sighed deeply, fighting back yet another wave of tears.
The gravity of the situation struck Joel like a ton of bricks, and he knew, just like Allie knew, that her mom wasn’t coming back. She leaned into Joel again, and this time he readily embraced her as she released a torrent of pent-up emotions.
Joel didn’t know what to say at first and then thought it was best not to say anything at all. It felt good to hold Allie, and for a moment, he forgot about everything as he inhaled the flowery sweet smell of her hair. This certainly wasn’t the way he pictured this happening, and he hated to see her hurt so badly. He knew he had to do something. Anything. There was really only one thing he could do for her right now.
“You’re coming with us.” Joel pulled away a bit and looked down at her while trying to make eye contact. She rubbed at her eyes and looked up at him.
“Really? Are you sure?” Allie asked.
“Yes! Absolutely! You can’t stay here. I won’t leave you here.” Joel doubled down on his promise.
He suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility as the words of his offer played over again in his head.
“Who’s we?” Allie asked.
“My dad,” Joel said. “He’s on your front porch right now, keeping an eye on those two idiots that are ripping people off. They’re down the street a few houses right now, by the way, so we really should get moving.”
“That’s what I was going to tell you before. If it’s a blue car then, yeah, those are the same guys that broke in here. There was an older pickup truck with them too. I think there are about four or five of them. They’ve been terrorizing the neighborhood or at least what’s left of it. I heard a few gunshots across the street last night and when I looked out the window, I saw them walking over to my house. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I ran upstairs and hid in the closet, but when I heard them kick the door in, I climbed up into the attic and closed the hatch behind me. I could hear them talking when they were in the house and overheard them say they would be back later, so I’ve pretty much been up there ever since. Except for a few times when I came down to try to start my Jeep or find something to eat and drink.” Allie took a big breath after getting her story out, still wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Oh, wow. I am so sorry! Let’s get you out of here,” Joel said, trying to encourage her into moving faster.
It felt like it had been a while since he entered the house, and he was now extremely anxious to get back outside and get going. His dad was probably freaking out right about now, on how long he was taking.
“We have plenty of supplies from my dad’s store, so really all you need are clothes and a good pair of hiking boots. Pack light.”
Joel added the last part, thinking this might buy him some favor with his dad. The last thing he wanted to do was break the news to him that Allie and her five suitcases were coming with them. He was sure his dad would see it his way—he had to. They couldn’t just leave her here to fend for herself.
Maybe he was worrying for nothing, and his dad would be fine with it. After all, he was the one that had said, ‘this might not be the best place for your friend Allie and her mom to stay,’ on the ride here.
Deciding not to waste any more time worrying about it, Joel focused on helping Allie get her things together so they could leave.
Allie led Joel down to the other end of the hallway and into her room. She opened the bi-fold doors on her closet and tossed him a purple duffel bag that read Durango Demons Field Hockey on the front. He recognized the bag from the times he’d seen her practicing afte
r school when he had been there for lacrosse practice.
“Is that too big?” Allie asked.
“No. I think it’s good.” Joel laid the bag on the bed and spread it open. She began throwing things into the bag almost immediately. Joel looked around the room and noticed a few ribbons and trophies on a tall blue dresser by the door. There was a picture on the dresser of Allie and an older man, maybe her father, Joel thought.
Meanwhile, Allie had darted back out into the hallway and returned in less than thirty seconds with a variety of things from the bathroom. Running over to the bed she let them spill out of her arms into the open duffel bag.
“That’s my dad,” she said. “He lives in Pittsburgh.”
“Wow! Really? Huh.” Joel’s eyes widened. “My mom lives in Maryland with my brother and sister. I don’t really talk to her all that much though, mostly just my brother and sister.”
“We usually talk once a week or so. I don’t have any siblings though.”
Allie stuffed a few final pieces of clothing into the bag and looked around the room for a second. She scooted over to the dresser and opened the top drawer on the dresser and stuck her hand into the back corner rooting around for something. With a slight grin and a sigh she pulled out a small leather-bound notebook with a couple hair ties wrapped around it. The little book was stuffed full and well worn with bits of paper sticking out here and there.
She held it to her chest briefly and smiled, then stuffed it into her bag and zipped it closed. The smile was gone as quickly as it had appeared. Allie grabbed her bag and turned to Joel.
“I’m ready.”
Chapter Eighteen
Joel led the way down the steps with Allie right behind him. He was about to offer to take the bag for her when all of a sudden, a loud POP—POP broke the silence.
Joel hunched his head down in a knee-jerk reaction as Allie jumped back and let out a shriek.
“What was that?” She grabbed at Joel’s shoulder.
