Tarra pulled and tugged Pharaoh in the opposite direction. She happily called his name and began to run. The dog stopped barking and naturally began to run alongside her.
Once Tarra was clear, Carrie left the bushes and approached Alexis. Her heart pounded. She knew that Alexis was a shifty, paranoid type. What were the chances of Alexis simply blowing her head off? What if she had orders from the Probsts to not allow anyone to pass? Carrie had to speedily think of a back story as to why she was there. Maybe to see Claudine about a medical issue? That might work. But, she’d have to think of something with a bit more substance to go along with it.
Carrie walked toward Alexis and was happy to observe very little change in Alexis’ demeanor once she had spotted her. Carrie put her hand up in a friendly wave. Alexis didn’t wave, but at least she nodded her head backward, as if to say “What’s up?”
Alexis stopped Carrie once she was close to the jail and asked, “What are you doing here?”
Carrie gulped, but then straightened up and replied, “William asked me for an inventory of all the medical supplies in my trailer before we roll out today.”
“Oh,” Alexis said, “I didn’t know about that.”
“Must have been a last minute thing,” Carrie said. “Are the Probsts home?”
“Yeah,” Alexis replied.
“Cool,” Carrie stated, then started walking toward the Probsts’ RV. Her plan had been to pretend as if she was going to the RV, then sneak around the bushes near the PODS container to blindside Alexis, since she had been facing the road most of the time.
Suddenly, Fish yelled to Carrie from the jail window, “Hey! What are you doing? I know you aren’t leaving with the damn Claudine crew…are you?”
Carrie’s cover was blown, it wouldn’t take long before Alexis could put two-and-two together! Damnit, Fish!
Alexis’ body had been faced toward the jail window while Fish screamed, but when she turned around to challenge Carrie, she was looking down the barrel of a gun.
Carrie yelled, “Drop your weapons, now!”
Alexis did not comply. Instead, she drew her own pistol so fast it was as if she was Roland Deschain himself and pointed it at Carrie.
“Hmmm, no, I don’t think so. You drop yours,” Alexis ordered. But in reality, Alexis absolutely did NOT want to fire any gunshots. That had been an order from the bosses. Gunfire would cause chaos. There was no time for chaos.
“Just shoot her, Carrie!” Fish hollered from inside the jail.
Alexis rolled her eyes at Carrie and said with a disgusting laugh, “No way…you two are together? Is that why you’re here? Rescue attempt?”
“Maybe,” Carrie replied with a slick grin.
Alexis shrugged her shoulders and said, “Each to their own, I guess.” Then she changed gun hands, unshouldered Fish’s M-4, and tossed it into the grass next to the gravel driveway.
Carrie cocked her head at the bizarre action curiously as Alexis said, “I think we can settle this like women, don’t you think? Unless you’re too afraid, of course.”
Carrie watched as Alexis bravely tossed her pistol next to the M-4 in the grass, leaving her unarmed. Carrie laughed and said, “Wow, you really are a dumb blonde!”
Then she pulled the trigger.
Alexis flinched, but the gun only clicked. Nothing happened.
Carrie pulled the trigger again and again, still nothing. Shit! Neither she nor Stephen had checked it for bullets!
Alexis’ eyes went slant in a scowl and she rushed forward, knocking the pistol out of Carrie’s hand.
Carrie reached out to grab Alexis by the jacket but the ex-cop was too fast. She ducked Carrie’s arm, spun around to Carrie’s back, and then punched her square in the kidney.
Carrie couldn’t believe the power that Alexis had, the blow had sent her to her knees. Some of the air had been knocked out of Carrie’s lungs, as well.
“No!” Fish yelled from behind the window as he watched his rescuer drop down.
Wasting no time, Alexis wrapped her left arm under Carrie’s chin and locked in the chokehold with her right arm. Carrie’s hands instinctively went to pry the left arm from her throat, but it was the wrong move. Even though Carrie was strong, Alexis had her locked up way too tight. After all, she was a well-trained combatant. Carrie was just an over-sized nurse.
Alexis turned Carrie’s body so that her red, oxygen-deprived face was toward Fish. She wanted him to witness what she was about to do to Carrie next.
“Hey Fishy, watch this,” Alexis said to the horrified Fish behind the window. But that would have been Alexis’ biggest mistake, because something in her voice had signaled Carrie to tighten up her mighty trapezius and neck muscles in anticipation. She remembered how Julia’s neck had been broken on that forest trail near the beach.
Alexis tightened her lock on Carrie once again and twisted, thinking it would have easily broken Carrie’s neck, but it didn’t. The muscles in the nurse’s upper body were too solid. Carrie now had an opportunity, because Alexis was temporarily dumbfounded.
Carrie mustered all her strength at once and stood up, which lifted Alexis’s feet off the ground. She still clung to Carrie’s throat as she dangled, which was another one of Alexis’ mistakes, because Carrie started to spin in place.
Alexis’ didn’t know what to do, so she continued to hold onto Carrie as she spun. Maybe she thought that Carrie would run out of oxygen soon and pass out. That was what she had hoped for, anyway.
Fish cheered from inside the jail as he watched Carrie spin Alexis around, “Fuck her up, baby!”
Carrie stepped toward the PODS container, and increased the momentum of her spin. Aiming at the corner of the jail, Carrie used the last shred of power she had left to hurl Alexis one final time.
The ex-cop’s body, now nearly horizontal from Carrie’s spin, smashed into the corner of the jail near the door. She had connected with the cold steel between her hip and thigh, and instantly released Carrie so she could break her own fall to the gravel below.
“Yeah!” Fish shouted.
Alexis was battered and in severe pain. She raised her head just in time to see Carrie’s large fist deliver a right cross to her temple.
Everything went dark for Alexis after that.
Carrie caught her breath as she searched Alexis’ body for the keys to the lock on the PODS container. After trying a few different keys, she found the right one. As Carrie released Fish from his bogus incarceration, she told him, “I think I know who killed Julia Hollingsworth.”
“Yeah, me too,” Fish agreed, and retrieved his M-4 from the ground where Alexis had tossed it. He picked up Alexis’ 9mm and handed it to Carrie, saying, “I think you should have her gun. You’ve earned it. I’ll take the one with no bullets. I have some extra rounds back at camp.”
Carrie took the pistol from Fish and asked while pointing at Alexis on the ground, “What should we do about her?”
Fish thought about it for a few seconds and then said, “I really want to kill her, but that would just get Claudine and William pissed off and they’d come at us with everything they got. Just leave her. Hopefully we’ll be out of this shithole park by the time she wakes up.”
The two left Alexis alone and ran toward site 199.
The Probsts had heard the commotion from their RV, mainly the loud banging sound as Alexis had met the metal jail, but couldn’t see what was happening at the PODS container because a line of trees and bushes had separated the two sites. They had waited until the coast was clear before exiting their RV to investigate.
Alexis was still out cold next to the jail. William went to her unconscious body and checked for signs of life. He could see that she was breathing and notified Claudine that she was alive. Then he asked, “Is this going to be a problem?”
Claudine responded, “It might be. You know that Alexis won’t let this slide. It looks like they took her gun, too.”
William said, “Then you need to get her to swallow her prid
e. If she wants to run off and play revenge games, we leave without her. She might never come back. Fish is going to shoot her on sight.”
“I know,” Claudine said, “but we’re not leaving without her. I’ll get her to drop the issue.”
*****
Meanwhile at site 199, Stephen stuffed all of Fish’s belongings that were in his small tent into a garbage bag. Once the tent was cleared out, he broke the it down and packaged it up as well.
There was nothing left to do, other than wait for Carrie to return with Fish. Tarra had already retrieved Carrie’s RV trailer with Fish’s truck.
Stephen and Tarra were proud of themselves for being able to pack up everything so quickly, and they shared what was left of the coffee they had made earlier.
“Damn, my wrist really hurts!” Stephen admitted, rubbing the bandages.
“I bet it does! I heard that cracking sound from halfway down the road,” Tarra laughed.
Kyla walked up to Stephen and asked, “Daddy, why don’t you get some of Nurse Carrie’s medicine if it hurts so badly?”
Stephen and Tarra looked at each other. It was a good idea! After all, they already had Carrie’s RV on site, and Tarra knew where everything was located inside of it.
“I’ll be right back!” Tarra smiled as she went to the door and disappeared inside.
As Tarra fingered through Carrie’s painkiller stash, Stephen heard a series of gunshots outside. They were somewhat distant, but not outside The Park. The shots were not coming from the main gate or the bridge either, they were definitely closer than that.
“Uh, oh,” Stephen said loud enough for Tarra to hear him, “the shit is starting to hit the fan…I think.”
Tarra popped her head out of the trailer and said, “I hope that’s not Fish and Carrie.”
Kyla asked her daddy, “Where is Uncle Fish? Why was he gone for so long?”
Stephen lied to his daughter, “Uncle Fish was just making sure it was safe for us to leave, honey.”
As Tarra emerged from Carrie’s trailer with some pills, they heard more and more gunshots. Tarra dubiously shook her head at Stephen as she handed him the medicine and said, “So much for a quiet getaway.”
“I know, right? We need to get going, we should have been out of here already,” Stephen agreed as he popped the pills into his mouth and downed them with a gulp of cold coffee.
Tarra stated, “Yeah, we were supposed to have met Ox over twenty minutes ago.”
Stephen pointed at his bicycle attached to the end of Carrie’s trailer and said, “Maybe I should bike out there quick and let him know we are still coming.”
Tarra laughed and said, “The hell you are! Not with all those gunshots I keep hearing. Plus, it wouldn’t be good for your wrist, anyway.”
The two adults suddenly turned toward the road, a truck was approaching at a decent speed. Tarra was still carrying Stephen’s M-4, and unshouldered the weapon as the truck slowed down near site 199. Three men in the bed of the truck armed with rifles and a shotgun were studying the Alexanders.
Stephen withdrew his .38 special and pointed it at the men in the truck, and Tarra followed suit with the M-4. Stephen yelled at the men, “Get the fuck out of here!”
The men laughed at Stephen as the driver of the truck almost slowed to a stop. One of them tapped the roof of the cab and said to the driver, “Keep going to the next one.”
When the truck passed, Tarra looked at Stephen and said, “There are only old people at the next site, Stephen. I don’t think they have any guns, either.”
“So what are we supposed to do about it? Save them? What about the Kays?”
Tarra didn’t know what to say. The men would likely take whatever they could from the people at sites 203 and 204. What if the old people resisted? Would the men in the truck kill them? She had a really hard time allowing that to happen, but Stephen was right. They didn’t have enough time or manpower to intercept the men in the truck, and they certainly couldn’t leave their twins alone. And besides…who were those men, anyway? Tarra had never seen them before, which didn’t necessarily mean they weren’t from The Park. But, what if the main gate was breached?
Tarra asked Stephen, “Did you recognize any of those men?”
“Yup,” Stephen replied with revulsion. “Two of the men in the back of that truck had worked for me. They were my fishermen. I didn’t recognize the other one or the driver. What’s sad…is that I don’t remember the names of either of the two men that I recognized.”
Stephen’s reply gave Tarra a bit of consolation. Even though The Park was turning against itself, at least it wasn’t outsiders (yet) or an all-out invasion from the Bowmen or the AWOL compound in Oak Harbor. Even so, insiders could be worse. They knew too much.
Ahead up the road, Stephen and Tarra watched as the truck stopped and the men hopped out. Tarra cringed as she heard them shout at the elderly residents of site 203. All of the foliage between the sites prevented the Alexanders from viewing the activities occurring, but they heard shout after shout. Then, the senior citizens started yelling back. Maybe the men had tried to take something a little too special to the old folks? Something of sentimental value?
Tarra anxiously looked at her husband, but said nothing. He already knew that she wanted to run over there to quell the campsite invasion, but it was too dangerous.
“Compassion can get you killed,” Stephen said quietly, almost to himself.
“What?” Tarra asked.
“Nothing. Something Hal told me once,” Stephen answered.
The Alexanders would just have to helplessly sit and wait as it all the drama unfolded at site 203….or would they?
A new voice suddenly boomed near the others, “HEY! What the fuck is wrong with you guys? Leave them alone!”
It sounded like Fish!
And it definitely was, because upon hearing the voice, Pharaoh’s ears perked up and he left the Kays, darting directly towards site 203.
“Do we follow?” Tarra hopefully asked, pointing at the fast-moving dog.
“We do not,” Stephen answered. “Give it a second, let’s see how this plays out.”
“Ughh,” Tarra complained and rolled her eyes. She really, really wanted to get over there to help Fish. But Stephen would never allow it. She even thought about just running behind Pharaoh and suffering through the lecture from Stephen later. But she wouldn’t need to.
A quick burst of automatic fire and then a couple semi-automatic shots that sounded like they were from a handgun thundered over the shouting and loudly-barking dog at site 203.
After the shots rang out, Stephen and Tarra had scooped up the Kays and hid behind Fish’s truck. They listened as horrified screams from an elderly woman ended the shouting. A few more seconds later the truck on the road at site 203 squealed away.
Tarra peeked around the truck near the tail-light and spotted Fish, Carrie and Pharaoh hustling towards them. Fish was grinning as he ran, of course. Whatever had happened at site 203 was over, and their team had won.
Tarra met the three runners on the road and asked, “What did you do over there?”
Carrie looked at Fish as if he should answer the question. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “We only shot the ones with guns.”
Carrie added, nearly out of breath, “And we let the people at site 203 have those guns.”
Stephen couldn’t help it, he immediately thought to himself, “Should have took those guns for ourselves, we are about to embark on an incredible journey with the possibility of many random encounters along the way.”
Tarra pointed at the 9mm pistol in Carrie’s hand and said, “Wow…you got her gun, too?”
“I sure did!” Carrie said proudly, remembering the recent battle with Alexis.
Stephen was glad to see that his best friend was okay. Carrie’s rescue mission was a success. Since the gang was all there, Stephen rallied everyone by shouting, “Alright people, let’s get this show on the road!”
*****
>
Tarra drove; Stephen rode shotgun (without a shotgun); the Kays and Pharaoh were in the back seat of the King cab; and Fish and Carrie rode in the bed of the truck to provide security. Tarra had passed Stephen’s M-4 to Carrie, so she would be equally as armed as her counterpart. Stephen wanted to take an ammunition inventory, but there was no time. They had arrived at The Park with enough rounds to take on a small army, but Fish had gone through some of those rounds since then. How many? Stephen had no clue. He should have been keeping track. Hopefully, Fish had been using semi-automatic mode or at least short, controlled bursts when spraying automatic fire.
With Carrie’s trailer in tow, the two security riders in the bed of the truck would be unable to see anything beyond it. Ox would be following them, and that was a good thing, but he would be towing a trailer as well. Although…Ox’s trailer wasn’t quite as large as Carrie’s. He would have better visibility to the rear than they would.
On the way out to meet Ox and his family, Fish pounded on the roof of the truck and exclaimed through the busted out window, “I totally forgot about Wolf! We need to go back and get him!”
Stephen yelled back over his shoulder, “Too late now, in order to go back the other way, we would need to tour through the entire campground again and make a loop. We’re not going to put ourselves in more danger than we need to. I’m sorry.”
Fish was about to argue with Stephen, but Carrie put her hand on his shoulder and shook her head. She silently told him that she was sorry, but also that Stephen was right and they needed to get out of the campground as soon as possible. So, Fish just sighed sadly and accepted the fact that he’d probably never see his little buddy ever again. It was his own fault, too. He should have thought about the little guy earlier.
When the Alexander party arrived at the intersection near wood station #1, they noticed that Ox had his caravan pulled off to the side of the road. Likely to allow other vehicles passage. But, after further observation, Stephen thought differently. Ox had pulled his truck and RV trailer snug up against the tree line, which indicated more of a defensive posture than a polite one to allow vehicles to easily pass. The dense greenery along the side of the road would cover him from any sneak attacks. Ox only had to cover the exposed avenue of approach from the road. He and his son were standing between the truck and trailer, each of them armed and ready for whatever Ox had been afraid of when he had initially positioned the vehicles.
THE COLLAPSE: Seeking Refuge Page 23
