by Caryl McAdoo
“Go get that duct tape we found in the coach’s desk.”
“Right away, sir.” While the nerd’s footfalls echoed, Jackson studied the guy. How could any decent man do what he’d obviously planned on doing?
“You run a tight ship. I like the little dude calling you sir.” The gangster grinned. “So how come you ain’t gonna shoot me?”
Jackson glanced at the girls then back. “I still might.”
The man wiped his mouth. “Well, if you ain’t, want to barter?”
“No.”
The guy looked from him to Aria to McKenzie then back to him. “We got a lot of good stuff. Weed, meth, ammo, tools, food, about anything you might need or want.” He nodded toward Aria. “That one there, she’ll bring a big premium. Might even get yo’self an AK-47 for her.”
She was right. This guy was an animal.
Al burst through the door holding out the gray tape. “Shall I perform the honors, sir?”
“Please, and start with his mouth. If he says much more, I might just have to shut him up permanently.” Jackson looked at his captive. “Turn around and put your hands together behind your back.”
Al stepped forward and pulled out a length of tape.
The banger faced the wall and held his hands together behind him. Both trembled. He turned partially back. “Wait, go ahead and shoot me, man. If you tape me up and leave me here, it’ll be way worse than a quick one to the head.”
“Tempting.” He nodded toward Al. “Tape him good.”
“Don’t be troubled, sir. I concentrated on Lupe’s boyfriend’s methodology when he constrained me with the multi-function adhesive tape.” He wrapped his hands making figure eights around them. “You may trust that your prisoner will not be able to liberate himself. No, not at all.”
“You can’t leave me like this.”
“I can do about anything I decide at this point.”
Al smiled and slapped the next piece over the man’s mouth then continued with the task at hand. Real quick the nerd had him bound hand and foot with a fat strip over his mouth. Al faced him. “What do you think, sir?”
“Nice job.” He looked around. Cooper leaned against the door jam with wet hair. “Where’s Boggs?”
“He just got back.” Jackson stepped aside, and Coop spotted the captive. “What happened while I was in the shower?”
“Boggs, here boy.”
The dog trotted into the room wagging his fluffy tail.
“Dude, this nice friendly dog here? He will rip your throat out if you should manage to slip my friend’s duct tape job.”
The guy nodded, his eyes wide and twitchy.
He faced his sister. “Gather your stuff; you ladies can take the other locker room until you’re done.”
Snuggling her blanket tighter, she did what he said without any drama at all. Aria glared at him and followed silently. He un-cocked the revolver and stuck it back into his belt. Shame her Poppy hadn’t added a holster in his drum.
Letting the girls take their showers first definitely proved to be a wise decision. His reasoning had been to see if the warm water held up. How could he have dreamed they’d be attacked? He didn’t want to even consider what might have happened if he’d been in the showers, too.
One more time, when times got tough, things had just gone right.
Jackson followed them out and escorted them personally. He started to tell Boggs—sitting and staring at the banger—to stay put, but it looked like the dog had already assigned himself the job of jailer. Man, if he had to bet right then, he’d have to go with Coop’s alien theory. No way the animal could be a regular mutt.
“Al, Cooper.” The boys followed him into the hall. “We’ll need to gather some more stuff before we’re ready to leave.”
While the girls relocated in their new locker room, the farthest one away from where the banger attacked them, he and the boys hunted for a ladder, string, rope and a sharp knife. For sure, Jackson didn’t want to leave one of his for the guy. A good time after, he had everything ready.
McKenzie emerged first, clean all the way around. “What’s with the ladder and rope?”
He smiled. “The guy’s right, a bullet to his head would be better than leaving him all taped up.”
“You’re not going to shoot him, are you? Jackson, you just can’t. That’d be coldblooded murder! Listen to –”
“Calm down. No. And I’m not leaving him all taped up either, so that’s what the ladder and rope are for. Go see if you can find a candle. One of those tall ones.”
“A taper? What are you going to do?”
He glanced at the skylight. “You’ll see in an hour or two.”
The two boys cleaned up first, then Jackson took his turn. The shower wasn’t hot, but warm enough to enjoy. Felt great to be clean. He kept the revolver with him, just outside on the bench; uncomfortable to leave it with anyone. Aria still wanted to kill the guy. As much as he enjoyed the cascading water, he cut his shower short.
Putting dirty clothes back on? The pits. But at least he’d brought change of underwear and socks.
Not that he had to worry about being in an accident and going to the hospital. The staff would see that his mother hadn’t made sure he wore a nice clean pair of boxers. He needed to remember to ask Pop about that bit of phobia his generation had passed on to his mother and most the other ladies her age.
What a stupid thing to worry about.
From the window, the girls cooed over the beautiful sunset. Some things still hadn’t changed. Full of more shared stew, cleaned and filled water bottles replenished, and all the extra canned goods they could carry loaded, he looked around.
“Okay, people, I think we’re ready. Only one more chore before we leave. Let’s get it done. Bring a couple of those desks, too.”
Cooper dragged the ladder out and down the hall toward the locker room. His sister picked up the knife and string, still twirling the candle. Al grabbed a desk and pushed it out the door. Aria crossed her arms over her chest. “We should forget all this nonsense and just shoot him.”
She might be right. The next female he would try to kidnap hadn’t escaped Jackson’s thoughts. He also considered offering the pistol to her, but she’d probably use it. “No, we’re doing this my way, and if he gets loose, fine. If not, then…” He shrugged. “Grab another desk.” He hurried past the others and walked into the locker room first. Boggs still sat guard.
“Al, go ahead and cut the tape off his hands then re-tape them in front of him.”
Cooper cocked his head. “But then won’t he be able to cut his hands free?”
“That’s the idea.”
The nerd stepped toward the guy then turned and smiled. “Sir? Maybe you should get the pistol out, just in case.”
“Good idea.” He pulled it from his waistband and pointed it at the man. Short and slim, the fellow wasn’t much bigger than Jackson. Al leaned him forward, cut the tape from his hands, then re-taped them in front. “Girls, drag those desks out in front of him a little ways, over there, and put them a little bit apart.”
“Go ahead and wrap a time or two all the way around his back so he can’t move his hands. Tape him up real good.” He looked over to his little brother. “Open that ladder and work it over him. You.” He nodded toward the man. “Scoot back all the way to the wall. Al, tape one leg to each side of the ladder.” He leaned in closer to the guy. “Sit still or you die.”
Once the boys had all that in place, Jackson measured the cotton rope, taped the butcher knife to one end, then attached the other end to the top of the ladder. Next, he tied a piece of the string between the two desks, so that it held the rope with the knife back. He placed a candle right next to the string running between the desks and looked around.
“We ready?”
“Wait.” Aria marched through the door and straight over to the guy.
“For what?”
She leaned over and slapped the guy’s face. He winked at her. She kicked h
im in the groin. He grunted and moaned. Facing Jackson again, she smiled. “Now, I’m ready.”
He looked at Al. “Think it’ll work?”
“Yes, sir. In approximately one hour, or less, the candle’s height will diminish sufficiently that the twine now quiescent against its base will shift above the flame, catch fire, and burn through. That should release the suspended butcher knife to swing toward the banger. By all calculations, it should swing to his lap and enable him to employ it to cut the tape and free himself.”
“Are y’all sure that the knife won’t stab him when it swings toward him?” McKenzie glanced at Aria.
“Most unlikely, ma’am. Its angle and velocity wouldn’t be sufficient to even slice through his clothing. Retrieving it and severing his bindings will actually require a bit of maneuvering.” He faced Jackson. “We’ll be long gone, sir. And from the appearance of his condition, his full interest would be focused on acquiring whatever drug that’s necessary to settle his internal instability.”
“You’ve got that right. He’s clearly skitzing.” Aria rolled her eyes and walked toward McKenzie. “I don’t know why you’re so worried over a drug addict getting hurt anyway. You obviously have no idea what he intended to do with me—and probably you, too, for that matter.”
“Aria, you say you’re a Christian. How can you want him dead or even hurt? WWJD?”
The older girl glared at his sister, but didn’t say anything.
“What would Jesus do? Just in case you don’t know what that means.”
“McKenzie, lighten up.” It seemed both girls were upset with him now, but Jackson’s little traveling band was set for the night’s journey. “You satisfied with this plan, Sis?”
“Well, at least if it doesn’t work, we tried. It’ll be in the Lord’s hands, not ours.”
“Okay.” He glanced at the skylight then Al. “What did the chart say?”
“Moonrise at nineteen forty-nine.”
“Alright then, let’s light the candle and get out of here.”
“I got the matches ready.” Cooper hurried toward the desks. “I’ll fire it up.” The boy watched the candle’s flame, seemingly mesmerized.
“Come on, Bubba. Let’s go.”
His little brother took Aria’s hand and headed for the door.
On her way out, the girl spit at the man. “I hope you rot in hell.”
Boggs stopped at the door and looked at the little man. He would have ripped the guy’s throat out if he’d been there when he grabbed Coop’s sister. Why had his master called him away when Jackson opened the door for him? The ways of men were so strange; for instance, McKenzie worrying so much over the bad man.
With one last look, he turned and caught up with his boy who had taken his usual place.
At the front of the pack, Cooper scratched Bogg’s head. “So, I wonder how far we’ll get tonight, boy? Do you suppose we can make it all the way back to the King’s Highway before morning? I hope so. Don’t like walking on the railroad tracks near as much.”
He gently wagged his tail, bumping it against the boy’s leg with every swing. He dared not bark, but he let out a soft rumble. “I love you, Coop.”
“I love you, too, Boggs.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A hundred steps or so from the school, Jackson stopped and turned around.
The desire to return and blow out the candle almost overwhelmed him, but could he leave the guy to starve or worse? Could he put a bullet in the man’s temple? He shook his head then continued after the others. Fate, or God, or whatever would decide the man’s destiny. He would have a chance if the candle thing worked, but oh well.
Jackson determined to put the banger out of his thoughts. The die cast, he had no intention of returning.
Cooper stopped short of the next intersection. Jackson joined them at the front and searched the night. Nothing moved, best he could tell. The moon rode low in the east, but cast enough light to make out shapes. He pulled his pistol and waved the others across. Once they reached the other side, he joined them.
Twice more, he used the same maneuver to cross intersections, and once, he went under a raised railroad.
Each neighborhood he passed through resembled the ones before it. A few bonfires flickered off in the distance now and then, but not much else. Guess the folks still hanging around hunkered down after dark. He didn’t really know if that many regular people still hung around.
Only ones they had encountered since the flash were thieves, kidnappers, and murderers.
Where would the good people have gone?
Maybe like him, they had family who lived in the country and were trying to make it to them. But wouldn’t they have passed others traveling from the cities? It seemed so, but these were definitely strange times, nothing like the world he’d grown up in.
Once he crossed Parker Road, there weren’t any more houses, only wide open fields on both sides of the tracks. He kept an eye out for cows or horses, but neither saw nor heard any livestock. Had they already all been slaughtered? Likely, with this pasture so close to town.
If he’d only paid more attention in his past life instead of majoring in sports, electronic games, and general fun, he might have done better. None of that mattered though, not anymore. What did matter—at least to him—was getting his people to a safe location. If such a place still existed.
Hoping so kept him moving forward. He had no idea what he would do if Meems and Pop weren’t there. His grandfather was one tough old bird. He wouldn’t have let anything bad happen.
For the next couple of hours, the tracks passed through only a few sparse communities. None of them had any bonfires lighting the darkness. Guess all the farmers kept to his grandfather’s early-to-bed, early-to-rise theory. Or, if the people hadn’t left of their own free will, the bangers might have showed and stole whatever they wanted and enslaved the people.
Cooper stopped and knelt down. Jackson joined him. Another small town quietly slept just ahead.
“Sir.” The nerd barely spoke above a whisper.
Jackson looked at him.
“I know this place. We’ve reached downtown Frisco.”
“You sure? Frisco’s a pretty big town. I played ball here a time or two.”
“Yes, sir. This is the old downtown.”
“Okay.” Jackson closed his eyes and pictured the map. “By what I’m remembering, seems we’ve traveled at least twelve miles tonight.”
“Should we be looking for a place to spend the day, sir?”
Jackson checked the moon. It hung a bit over mid sky. Best he could figure, that’d mean around three or so. “No, let’s push on a little farther.”
Cooper tugged on his sleeve and pointed at his mouth.
“Good idea.” He backed up thirty yards or so, then led them a ways off the tracks to a clump of cedar trees.
McKenzie swung off her pack. “Want an MRE or would you prefer something out of a can?” She smiled.
“MRE is good, but let’s splurge and eat two tonight. Any of those chicken parmesans left?”
Aria pulled a brown package from her backpack. “I’ve got one.”
“And I’ve got a southwest beef and black beans here.” Al held his out.
Jackson shared with Aria. Her coolness toward him was icy, but he didn’t care. Her being so bloodthirsty…a big turnoff. Seemed the more he got to know her, the less attractive she became. He’d cut her some slack on that banger who attacked her family, but wanting him to plug a helpless man who was all tied up….
Maybe he’d understand better if he’d been through what she had.
Cooper, who had been eating some of the beef with Al and McKenzie, scooted over to him. “I’ll take some of that rice.”
Jackson handed him the plastic spoon. “Sure.”
After his brother moved back to the beef MRE, Jackson stopped short of full and gave the rest of his cut to Boggs. No way could what the dog had been getting be near enough, but maybe he still hunted some
when he went off. And, he might still be going on those hog innards from two days ago.
Had that only been two days? Seemed more like two months.
Maybe Coop’s aliens sent them through some time warp? He laughed aloud at the thought; more like they released a crazy virus.
“What’s so funny?”
He looked up. Aria stared at him. “Oh, I was thinking about Cooper’s alien theory.”
“But it was the Russians. Remember? We saw them.”
“Yeah, I know.”
She nodded, glanced at the others, then leaned in close. “Sometimes I hate your guts.”
He shrugged and lied. “I understand.”
She smiled a weak, sad sort of smile. “But I also love you.”
“Love me?” Man, what was with the girl?
She looked down into her lap. “You were right not to shoot that guy. I was wrong to want him dead. It’s just that –”
Jackson touched her hand, and she looked up. “You’ve been through a lot.”
A tear rolled down her cheek and dripped off her chin. Her dark eyes glistened with more. She nodded then quickly got up. Kneeling beside her backpack, she started digging around inside it.
He didn’t wait on her to come back. He needed to think about this. Man, he’d never had a non-relative tell him that they loved him. And the hate thing? Could you love and hate someone at the same time? He swung on his backpack and walked to where McKenzie and Al sat. “Let’s get a move on, people.”
Cooper jumped up and patted his leg at the dog. “Come on, Boggs. We’re the leaders.”
The others did as they were told, but without as much gusto as his little brother.
With old town Frisco behind him, the landscape turned back to farmland and pastures again. Six intersections later, the high-lines came into view, then right after county road ten-forty-three, the huge pylons crossed the railroad.
He whistled softly, and Cooper stopped. The others bunched up behind him.
“McKenzie, let me see the note. Al, check that tower’s numbers, will you?” He pointed to the one northeast of the tracks.
“Certainly, sir.” Shortly, the nerd trotted back and reported the number.
