“There’s still some room in the back, Mom. Let’s take a quick walk back to the house with the nursery. I forgot about toys!” Eric said after their breakfast of canned fruit. He had finished packing all the boxes and clothes in the back of the Humvee and they were almost ready to leave.
He was so excited about all they had found, Allexa kept quiet about wanting to get back on the road.
***
He watched the two soldiers walk up the long driveway of the big house pulling a wagon loaded with children’s toys. From his hiding spot across the street he couldn’t see them enter, but in the silence that now surrounded everything, he heard a door open and close.
This is my place! I found these houses first! Everything here is mine! his drug deranged mind screamed at him. And they can’t have any of it!
He moved quickly up the same drive then veered off to the left to get behind the house, the gun he found in the house with the bodies in his pocket.
He crouched behind the garage and inched his way to the sliding door. He was in luck—it wasn’t locked. From behind the heavy curtains he could see one of them go down into the basement and the other disappeared from his view. He silently slid the glass panel aside and entered.
***
“There’s something upstairs I want to get. If you would get a bowl of ice cubes from the ice maker behind the bar, I’d really appreciate it. I want to take an extra ice pack with us for my knee,” Allexa said, climbing the long, graceful staircase again. She opened a door she recalled being the walk-in linen closet and turned on the overhead light. Neatly labeled shelves were stacked with colorful sheets and blankets. Standing in front of the wide shelf marked ‘master bedroom’, she pulled down a set of bright blue king sized sheets and stuffed them into the matching pillowcase. Taking a second set of deep green, Allexa picked up both bundles and a two-toned comforter, knowing they would be well received by Eric and Rayn for their makeshift king bed.
Halfway down the staircase, Allexa heard a gunshot echo from below. She dropped the linens and pulled her gun. Running silently down the thickly carpeted stairs, she looked around the corner to see Eric lying on the floor and someone standing over him aiming a gun.
“NO!” she screamed, and when the guy turned, she pulled the trigger.
Allexa knelt down beside her bleeding son. “Oh, Eric!” She sobbed, stroking his face gently with her fingertips. He opened his eyes and winced.
“He surprised me. Man that hurts!” he said, breathing hard and struggling to sit up. Allexa kept him on the floor, helping him to lean against the nearest cupboard. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his upper arm where blood was oozing out.
Confident he was temporarily stable Allexa retrieved her gun from the floor and stood over the assailant. He didn’t move. She kicked his gun further aside, and then picked it up. A .22 could do some damage, but her 9mm hollow point did more. He was dead, and Eric needed medical attention or he might be too.
She inched around the ornate doorway to the front door, where the bundles of sheets spilled out into the slate foyer. She dashed to the side, quietly throwing the lock so they wouldn’t be taken by surprise if this assailant wasn’t alone. “I’m getting my medical bag from the Hummer. I’ll be right back.” She pulled the Glock from his holster and handed it to him. “If anyone comes through that door that isn’t me, shoot them!”
***
Allexa cut the sleeve off from Eric’s shirt to better see the wound. After washing it with bottled water, she wrapped and bandaged it.
“We’re only an hour away from Moose Creek. You need Doctor James to remove the bullet,” she said.
“Mom, I know this is going to sound weird, but it doesn’t hurt as much now. And the first thing we need to do is drag this piece of human garbage outside into the backyard. Then we put the rest of what we collected in the Hummer. Are you okay with that?”
Allexa looked at her son, admiring his strength and resolve, and she started shaking.
“Hold it together, Mom!” Eric yelled. “Grab one foot and I’ll take the other. Now move!” She did as he asked, stopping only to open the sliding door wider.
***
With everything else already in the back of the Hummer, plus the pillowcases filled with sheets, the toys, the youth bed, and clothing, the big vehicle was full. Eric rested in the passenger seat while Allexa lowered the garage door, put the keys back where she had found them, and shut off the propane and the generator.
“There still could be more of them, Mom. I’ll keep watch while you get us out of here,” Eric said through gritted teeth, his Glock resting in his lap. The pain that had initially abated had returned in full force.
Once the subdivision was behind them, Allexa sped to the hidden loop that took them to the 150. Going back to Sawyer might have been quicker, though not by much, and they both wanted to go home now.