by Stalter, D
“There’s nothing to talk about. You’re not taking Benny.”
“I think you’re wrong,” he called over his shoulder, “Bring her out.”
One of his friends stepped to the car. He opened the back door and reached in. When he straightened back up, he held a pistol in his right hand. His left hand was wrapped in a woman’s hair as he yanked her out of the vehicle.
Her long dark hair was a tangled mess. Dried blood covered one side of her face and under her nose, which was clearly broken. Her arms were spotted with dark bruising. She stood bent at the waist, listing to the side. Her blank stare indicated that she had checked out. Her mind was no longer processing.
“Denise!” Riley sucked in a breath.
“Stay calm,” Will spoke in a low tone. “Stay calm. Don’t let Wilson see your distress. He’ll feed off of it.”
Riley struggled to slow his breath.
Wilson chuckled. “Poor dear fell down a flight of stairs. Then she walked into a door. She’s rather accident prone. I’m getting a little tired of taking care of her. Want her back?”
Will leaned against Riley. “Stay cool. Let me take this.”
He straightened and locked his wrist in shooting position. “I’ll count to three. Nice and loud.”
“You’ll get her when I get Benny.”
“One!” Will shouted.
Wilson shifted his eyes between Riley and Will but made no move to release the woman
“Two!” Will shouted.
Wilson moved his left leg and his hand tightened on his weapon.
“Three!” Shouted Will, but the word was drowned out by the report of the gun.
The man holding Denise dropped to the ground, his hand still tangled in Denise’s hair. Denise fell on top of him. She screamed. Her body curled into a fetal position.
Wilson stood staring at his hand which no longer held a weapon. Blood sprayed, painting the white propane tank in long red streaks.
James and the two security members stepped around the front corner of the barn, weapons ready.
The third man, who had been standing near the car, lay face down and spread his arms wide. A dark spot on his jeans announced just how scared he’d been.
Riley ran to Denise who lay whimpering, still laying on top of the dead man.
Curt and Linda approached from the side of the hill.
Don and Peter raced from the pasture.
Allison stepped out of the barn.
“I need help!” Riley called. “Someone get me something to use as a stretcher.”
The End
Allison and Mary settled Denise onto a cot in the store room. Jaden carried jars of herbs to the kitchen and spread them on the counter, waiting for Allison to get free and show her how to blend the herbs into medicine.
Allison instructed three of the group members to carry the recliner from their living room to the room she had given Sherrie and Benny. She sent Jaden to the house to gather all the extra pillows from the hall closet.
“She’s obviously got some broken ribs,” Allison told Riley. “Even in a hospital, the only thing they could do for her would be to give her pain pills. She will be more comfortable sitting up so we’ve got the recliner for her. It’s overstuffed and should make it easy for her. The extra pillows will give her the support she needs to get comfortable enough to sleep. I’ve got some oxycodone to get her through the next day or two, and then we will switch her to aspirin and then to herbs for relaxing. It will be at least six weeks before she’ll be able to do much.”
“I appreciate everything you’ve done. How long do you think it will be until we can get out of your hair and head to Rockford?”
“Uhm,” Allison said. She looked away and then back. “First, it’s better if we just allow your sister to heal. You don’t want to be moving her too soon. And, second, Curt and Linda came past Rockford two days after the flare. According to them, there is nothing to go back to.”
Riley’s mouth dropped. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. I think they’re still outside. Let’s go see.”
Curt confirmed what Allison had said, adding, “We didn’t get within 20 miles of Rockford and the smoke was drifting to the east, but even from that far away, we could tell it was devastating. The sky to the east was as dark as night. If you don’t have to return to Rockford, I’d stay far away.”
Riley shook his head. “Not what I’d wanted to hear. With Benny and Denise here with me, I guess we start over somewhere.”
“You could stay here,” Allison offered. “We have the room and we could use your help.”
“I thought you couldn’t wait to get rid of me.”
“I might have been wrong.”
“Well, I appreciate that. I’d like to stay until Denise is on her feet, at least. Then we can reevaluate our goals.”
Allison nodded. She looked across the road to the south to where James and the two security team members were digging a grave for the bodies of the men who had held Denise. She shook her head.
“I never shared with anyone how much I prepared for a disaster. When I started preparing, the only thing I had in mind was how we’d survive if James’ business failed and money was short. I never imagined that it would end this way.”
Curt ran his fingers through his hair. “This isn’t the end. This is only the beginning.”
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Thanks so much for reading about how Allison got started preparing for hard times and ended up building a community that helped each other survive the solar flare. I hope you come back to read Allison’s next saga that starts two months after the flare.
The characters you liked will be back. There will be new characters to hate.
If you liked this book, please go to Amazon.com and leave a review. When you leave a review, it helps the book move up in Amazon’s ranking system. The higher a book ranks, the more Amazon will suggest it to other readers. I’d really like for you to review this.
D Stalter
