by Stalter, D
“I’m Elsa and my husband is Harold.”
Riley finished the text and hit ‘send,” then sat next to the old man while he waited for a reply. He didn’t have to wait long. A reply was quickly returned asking how they could help.
His return text explained that Elsa and Harold were stranded in Kasbeer, Harold had been beaten and their truck stolen. The neighbors promptly replied that they were very familiar with the area and would meet Harold and Elsa at the intersection of Highway 92 and 26 in the little village of Ohio.
Harold finished his glass of water and turned to Elsa. “Let’s go dear. That’s only, like, three miles away. We can walk that in an hour.”
Riley frowned. “Three miles is a long way. I don’t think you should be trying to walk any today. We can take you on our bikes. It may not be the most comfortable three miles you’ve ever done, but we’ll get you there.”
“Nonsense! We walk five miles a day. Three will be a piece of cake.” He looked at Elsa who nodded and smiled.
“We didn’t get our walk in this morning. I guess God has provided a way for us to make sure we get our daily exercise.” She turned to Riley and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Thank you,” she said, giving him a squeeze. “You are a good man.” She grinned before adding, “But a shave and a haircut might make that less of a surprise.”
Sherrie hid a smile behind a t-shirt she was hanging on the line.
Elsa took Harold’s hand and turned towards the highway. Riley watched them until they had turned north.
Wilson stepped out of the house. He carried an empty rucksack that he wadded up and shoved into a canvas pack on his Harley.
He glared over at Sherrie. “Watch the kid. I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get the rest of my guns that these assholes haven’t stolen.”
“Hey, now,” Riley said holding up his hand. “We borrowed them. You’ll get them back as soon as things settle down.”
“They ain’t your guns anyway,” Sherrie sniffed. “Nobody wants your guns. Those dirty things don’t even shoot right half the time.”
“Whatever. Just watch the kid and keep an eye on the news. There’s more going on than they are telling us. Those Muslims are ready to jump in as soon as we are distracted.” He turned to Riley. “You planning on staying? Things ain’t going to be good in Rockford. You might be better off staying here until this blows over.”
“I’ve got a business to run in Rockford and a sister who needs her kid back.”
“I told you. The kid ain’t going anywhere.” He pointed at Sherrie. “Get in the house. Sit with the kid and shoot either one of these fuckers that tries to take him. He pulled the door to the shed open and wheeled out a beat up Harley. “Don’t even think about taking Benny. Sherrie knows how to use that gun in there. I’ll be back.”
Day 1 - Wilson returns
When the sound of his bike faded away, Sherrie stepped out onto the back step. “He gone?”
“Yeah, he’s gone. You know you aren’t going to stop us from taking Benny.”
“Oh, I know. I just need to ask one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Will you take me with you?”
Will turned to Riley. His eye brows rose and his mouth formed an “oh.”
Riley raised his eyebrows. “What changed your mind?”
“Nothing changed my mind. I never intended to keep him from you. His dad doesn’t have the first idea of how to be a father. Benny needs to go back to his mom. But, when Wilson finds out I’ve let him go, he’ll kill me. So, I need you to take me with you.”
Riley shrugged. “Pack one bag for each of you. Got any backpacks? They’ll be easier to carry on the bikes.”
Sherrie disappeared into the house and returned a few minutes later carrying two backpacks. Benny followed, his eyes shifting to the right and left. He looked down the road his father had traveled just a few minutes earlier before landing on Riley. “Is my dad gone, Uncle Riley? Can we hurry? Please!”
Riley lifted Benny onto the back of his bike and gently tapped the skinny boy’s chin with his knuckle. “Sure, kid. Let’s blow this popsicle town.” He grinned before swinging his leg over the seat.
The sound of motorcycles caused him to turn his head back the way Wilson had left. But Wilson had headed east. This sound was coming from the north.
Will yelled. “Not taking chances that they ain’t friends of Wilson’s. They’re coming from the north. That’s where we need to go. Which way do you want to head?”
Riley nodded to the south. “Go south. We can swing around them.”
They cranked the throttles and dirt flew in an arc behind them. Riley glanced over at Will. Sherrie’s arms were wrapped tightly around his waist. Her eyes wide, nostrils flared.
Riley moved his left hand down and gently squeezed Benny’s hand that was clamped on to his belly roll. He didn’t have much of one, but Benny had somehow found it and was pinching as hard as he could.
Riley cranked the throttle more. Will sped up and led the way out of Kasbeer and south on Highway 26.
Watching his rear-view mirror, Riley counted five motorcycles behind them. Princeton was only five miles away. Riley considered his options. He could make a run for Princeton, but Princeton held unknown dangers.
His options weren’t good.
He felt the air rushing past his head ripple. A quick glance in his mirror revealed the riders behind him were shooting. He was out of options.
He leaned back and yelled to Benny, “I’m going to ride into the ditch. As soon as I yell ‘NOW,” I want you to jump off to the right side and roll into the bottom of the ditch. Do you understand?”
Benny screamed “Yes!”
Ahead sat a farmer’s culvert that led into a field. As he approached, he slowed slightly and dropped onto the gravel shoulder. The handlebars jerked but he remained in control.
They approached the culvert. He hit the brakes and turned the front wheel into the ditch. The soft dirt grabbed his front wheel and threatened to wrench the bars from his hands.
“Now!”
He felt the bounce as Benny flew off the bike. He let go of the handlebars and dove for the bottom of the ditch. He slid in the mud and rolled to his feet. He raced back towards the culvert before the bike stopped moving. He had only his Taurus tucked in his jeans.
“Benny, grab a rifle and bring it to me. Careful! They’re loaded.”
Poking his head over the grass, he saw the riders less than a hundred feet away. He took aim and squeezed the trigger. The lead bike went down, taking the second one with it.
The remaining three bikes skidded to a stop. Riley took a breath and squeezed the trigger again, taking out one more. The two remaining thugs flung themselves into the far ditch.
“And then there were two,” Riley muttered.
“Benny! Where’s the rifle? I need it now!”
He looked behind him but couldn’t see Benny through the tall grass.
Will was duck-running towards him in the ditch. He carried two rifles.
“Here.” Will handed a Riley one of the MPX’s. “God, I sure hope it’ll shoot.”
“Wilson was a pig, but his guns always shoot. And, stop calling me God.”
He raised the gun to his shoulder and peered through the scope. The guy who’d been on the second bike and had crashed was slowly inching towards the ditch on his stomach. Riley moved his face away from the scope and squeezed the trigger.
Looking through the scope again, the puddle of blood under the man’s head testified that he wouldn’t be a problem anymore.
“There are two more in the ditch on the far side of the road,” Riley told Will. “We can stalk them or we can turn and run and hope they aren’t any better shots on the ground than they were on their bikes.”
“I don’t like the idea of sitting here. Who knows how many more Wilson will send after us. But, I don’t like the idea of being shot
in the back if we try to leave. I think we need to finish this.”
Sherrie had been making her way towards them keeping to the bottom of the ditch. In her right hand, she held one of the pistols.
Will watched her for a moment and then said, “Do we trust her?”
Riley shrugged. “I think we can. Not as much as I trust you, but I think she’s on the up and up.”
Just then, Sherrie reached the spot where Benny lay. She dropped to her knees and screamed.
“Oh my God! Benny! Help!” She tugged at his shirt. “He’s been shot! Riley! I think he’s dead.”
Riley covered the ground between them, leaving Will to watch for the remaining bikers. He slid to a stop on his knees in the mud next to Benny.
Benny lay on his back with his knees bent. His left arm lay by his side while right arm lay across his stomach. Under his right arm, blood soaked his shirt and arm. His face was pale and still.
Riley leaned close to Benny’s face. The boy was breathing. He gingerly moved Benny’s hand from his stomach. The exit wound was very near the edge of the body. Depending on where they found the entrance wound, Benny could be fine or might have suffered internal organ damage.
He gently rolled Benny towards him and confirmed that the bullet had not been close to any organs. In fact, if Benny had been shot two inches to the left, the bullet would have missed him completely. He determined that there wasn’t enough blood for the bullet to have ripped through the colon or kidney. It was too low to have struck the lung.
“I need something to plug this hole and then we need to get him somewhere to clean that up so he doesn’t get infection.” Sherrie stared at Benny with a faraway look in her eyes.
“Sherrie!”
She looked up at Riley and her eyes came into focus. “I need something to plug this hole,” he repeated.
She blinked twice and then patted her pockets. She reached in and pulled out a tampon, unwrapped it and handed it to Riley.
He smiled. “Perfect!”
Will, who had made his way along the ditch, leaned over Riley’s shoulder and said, “Uhm. No. You can’t use that.”
“Why not?”
“The wonders of modern technology. Tampons and Kotex are made to absorb blood. We don’t want it to absorb more blood than required.”
He slid to the bottom of the ditch where Riley’s bike lay. Digging in one of the bags, he came up with a clean t-shirt and a roll of duct tape. “Here. Use this.”
Benny cried out as Riley covered the wound.
“Hey, buddy.” Riley looked in to Benny’s eyes. “You’ve got a little bit of a hole in you, but you’re going to be fine. We’ll get you out of there and find a clean place to patch you up so you can get better.”
Benny’s face scrunched, causing lines to crease his cheeks. “My dad shot me?”
Sherrie leaned forward and took his hand. “No, honey. Your dad wasn’t there. I recognized two of the guys. They were friends of his that live just north of Kasbeer. I think he probably stopped and told them to make sure we didn’t leave.”
“My dad told his friends to shoot me?”
“No, honey, he’d never tell his friends to shoot anywhere near you. They were just plain stupid.”
Will walked up and gazed down at Benny. “Hey, bud. We’ll get you taken care of.”
He turned to Riley and jerked his chin towards the culvert indicating he wanted to talk in private. When they were far enough away, Will said, “I was able to see two heads bobbing in the ditch. They headed back to Kasbeer. If we are going to get going, we need to do it now. If they get more bikes or men or guns, we’re sitting ducks out here.”
It didn’t take long to drag Riley’s bike to the road. Benny insisted on walking himself out of the ditch. Riley and Sherrie walked on either side of him, their hands hovering protectively near his back. Once the bike was on the road, Sherrie swung up on the back and scooched as far back as she could, Benny accepted help settling in front of her. Riley carefully put his leg over the bike and shifted forward until his balls felt like they were going to scream.
Will walked to his bike, and they quickly got it on the road.
“Which way? Want to hit town for the hospital?”
“I’d rather see if we can get him somewhere and clean him up. I don’t think it’s serious. It didn’t even look as bad as that time you got shot in ‘stan. But you cried a lot more so yours looked scary until it didn’t.”
“Hey! I thought they shot my dick off.”
“And it was just a little nick on your belly.”
Will shook his head and flipped his hand in dismissal. “Where do you want to go?”
“Let’s take that next road to the left. See if we can find an empty house or at least a house with people who don’t shoot first. After we get him taken care of, we can go around and head back north to Rockford.”
Day 1 - Riley
Will led the way. They headed east on the narrow but paved two lane road with tall corn growing on both sides. The road was so narrow, and the corn was so tall, that it felt like riding through a tunnel.
A quarter mile off the highway, the road took a 90 degree turn to the north and a few hundred feet further, turned east again.
They rode past a white farmhouse on the south side of the road. A man of about 30 was working on building a barbed wire fence in front of the house, making access to the house from the road difficult.
Very smart move, thought Riley.
The man wore a red plaid shirt with the arms torn off revealing his thick muscled arms. He stopped working and stared at them as they passed. Riley lifted his hand in a wave, but the man just stared.
Once past the house, Riley saw a large red barn set back behind the house. An older man of about 50 stood in the open doorway watching them pass. He carried a shotgun on a sling over his shoulder. He was pulling a wagon that was piled high. Riley couldn’t tell what was in the wagon, but assumed it was fence building stuff. He lifted his hand again to wave.
The old man did return the wave.
In another half mile, the road dipped and a large tract of spruce trees stretched away from the road at least a half mile. It looked natural, but at the same time unnatural. 30 or 40 acres of spruce trees in the middle of fields of corn?
Will slowed to a stop. Riley stopped next to him. Will nodded towards a private drive that wound through fat pine trees. “I think I caught a glimpse of a roof back in there. Want me to go check?”
“Be careful. I’m going to pull in a little ways and get halfway turned around in case we have to run.”
Will slowly rode away. Riley rode 20 yards in, surprised at the beauty of the place. A two or three acre pond lay on one side of the driveway. The driveway followed the edge of the pond around to a two-story cabin which faced the pond. He carefully backed his bike up so that he could go either way.
If there was no one home or the occupants were friendly, he could keep going towards the house. If they had to run, he could quickly head out the driveway.
Will returned ten minutes later with a smile. “Come on.”
He led them around the back of the house where a small garage squatted. The overhead door was open. They pulled the bikes inside.
“Is anyone home?”
“Nope. And I don’t think anyone will be. Looks like this is a weekend cabin. I let myself in and cleared the house. There are three bedrooms but only one has any clothes in the closet or drawers. And there aren’t many clothes. It’s got to be some rich guy’s weekend place.”
“Or some rich guy’s bug-out place.”
“Could be, but either way, I’m sure they won’t mind us borrowing it.”
“Or they’ll show up and be pissed.”
“Tomato Tom-ah-to. You’re always trying to argue, doggonnit.”
“Let’s get Benny in there and get that wound cleaned out.”
He turned his head and looked at the boy behind him. Silent tears smeared his face, but the boy was putting on a bra
ve front. “How are you doing, Benny? Hanging in there?”
“It hurts real bad.”
“We’ll get you taken care of. I promise.”
Riley gently carried Benny in through the door into a cheery kitchen. White cabinets hung on yellow walls. A huge wooden table sat in the center of the room surrounded by stainless steel appliances and marble counters.
“Find me some towels,” he said to Sherrie.
The towels were in the second drawer next to the sink. They were white and brown with ducks in various stages of flight.
“Get me at least two wet ones and a couple dry ones.”
She went to the sink. “Uh... The power is out. No running water.”
“Hold on,” Will called. A moment later they heard the hum of a generator and, after some pipes banged and gurgled, water spat out of the faucet.
“Check to see if the stove works. I’d like to put those towels in boiling water before I try cleaning his holes.”
Sherrie bent over Benny and talked to him in a low voice. She held his hand, rubbing it softly while Riley cleaned the wound. Will brought a bottle of vodka he’d found in one of the pantries.
“Told you this guy was rich. Not just any vodka. He’s got Grey Goose. Here, you can pour some of this on after you get it cleaned out. Might not be a bad idea to pour a little down his throat too. He looks like he could use it, dag-nubit.”
He set it on the counter and held up a booklet. “This guy even has a driveway alert. If you don’t need me here, I’m going to go out and find it and then see if it’s working.”
“Yeah, it would make me feel better if we could be alerted if someone pulled in. Go check that out.”
Benny lay quietly through the cleaning and bandaging. Riley wasn’t sure he could have held that still. He had to hand it to the kid.
They settled Benny onto the couch in the living room. Sherrie sat in a chair next to him.
Will came back in and announced that he’d found the sensors but didn’t know if they worked or not. “I’m going to go back out there and walk back and forth. Let me know if you hear any buzzers or bells.”
