Getting Home

21

Dan saw them coming running down the road, brandishing their weapons and yelling.

Dan glanced back at the house. Still no movement. What was taking Rob so long?

Dan didn’t have much time. He’d been found, and the men would close the distance fast.

Even if Rob appeared at the door with Olivia in the next five seconds, it still wouldn’t be enough time to get away without a fight.

Rob would be burdened down carrying Olivia and the gear. He wouldn’t be any use in a fight like that.

It was up to Dan.

And Dan alone.

Dan ducked down behind the car, hoping they hadn’t seen him at all.

He could hear their shoes slapping against the pavement. They were close. Very close now.

Dan started counting the seconds in his head.

One Mississippi…

He had a plan. When he got to the count of five, he’d pop his head up and start shooting.

But he didn’t want to go through with it. Every fiber of his body was screaming out, telling him not to do it, telling him it was a terrible idea.

And it was a terrible idea.

Waiting until they got close enough to actually hit him? And then exposing himself?

But it was the only thing he could think of. He knew that with his inexperience, he didn’t have a chance at hitting the men from any real distance. He needed them to be close.

Two Mississippi…

An idea popped into Dan’s head.

Another plan.

He was small. Short and skinny. He could use it to his advantage.

Without thinking, he threw himself down onto the pavement, facedown. He did it too fast, and his nose bashed against the hard surface.

It began bleeding, blood dripping down. But he ignored it.

There was just enough space underneath the car for Dan to get under it.

With gun in hand, he squeezed himself all the way underneath the car.

Three Mississippi…

He kept crawling, his elbows and face occasionally scraping the rough pavement. He knocked his head against the car.

He ignored it all and kept going.

Four Mississippi…

There wasn’t much time.

He could see their legs out from the other side of the car.

They were getting close.

If he didn’t make the shot, he’d be stuck underneath the car. If Rob and Olivia came out of the house at the wrong moment, they’d be completely exposed and completely undefended.

Five.

Dan had his arms stretched straight out, gun in both hands. He took aim as best he could, lining it all up.

He squeezed the trigger. The gun kicked harder than he’d been expecting. The sound was defending, reverberating in the small area underneath the car. His ears rang in pain.

A scream.

One of the men collapsed to the ground.

Dan had hit him in the shin.

It was strange seeing him fall from the limited viewpoint that Dan had.

The scream of pain didn’t end. It continued, on and on.

Dan wasted no time.

The other pair of legs were dancing around. The other man was probably trying to find where the shooter was.

Dan squeezed the trigger.

The gun kicked.

He missed.

“Get him!” the fallen man was yelling.

Dan pulled the trigger again.

He missed again.

He pulled the trigger yet another time.

But nothing happened.

Was it jammed?

He didn’t know. He didn’t know enough about guns.

The only thing he knew was that it wasn’t going to work. He needed another weapon.

As fast as he could, he scuttled sideways. He needed to get out from underneath the car.

The man whose shin he’d shot was lying on the ground screaming in pain. He faced away from Dan. He was the one with the gun.

That meant that the man Dan hadn’t gotten was the one with the baseball bat.

That was good. Dan figured he had a better shot against a baseball bat than a gun.

Dan’s armed scraped painfully against the pavement. He was moving too fast. His forearm, exposed, was bleeding.

Before he could get out from under the car, the man he’d shot suddenly flipped himself around. Now he was staring face to face with Dan. They were both on the same level.

“He’s there! Under the car.”

Dan saw the gun pointing towards him.

But there wasn’t anything he could do other than keep going.

A shot rang out.

It missed, piercing some part of the car.

Dan was suddenly out from underneath the vehicle.

He scrambled to his feet, still holding the gun that might have been jammed.

He was out of view of the man with the gun. But his feet weren’t.

If Dan wasn’t careful, he might get his own shin shot.

“Dan!”

Rob had appeared at the doorway to the house. Olivia was slung over his shoulder and he held onto her with one arm. The pack was strapped to his back. In his free arm, he held a handgun.

A shot rang out.

The screaming man fell silent. Hopefully he was dead, and Dan wouldn’t have to worry about his shins.

It was all happening so fast.

A flurry of movement.

The baseball bat was speeding towards his head. He hadn’t even seen the man who wielded it appear.

It was a good swing. Fast and intense and powerful.

Dan brought up both his hands as fast as he could, trying to shield himself.

But it wasn’t enough. The bat knocked through the flimsy shield of his comparatively weak hands and smashed right into his face.

Pain flared through him. Blood was pouring from somewhere. He tasted it in his mouth.

Dan brought up his hands again. It was purely instinctual.

He was on the ground, and the baseball bat was coming down hard again towards him.

A series of gunshots rang out. Dan didn’t know how many.

The man let out a strange, muted noise. Something between a moan of pain and a scream.

He fell right on top of Dan.

Dan lay there, trying to breathe, the pain in his face overwhelming him. Blood from the corpse mixed with his own. The weight of the man was crushing him.

“You still with us, kid?” came Rob’s deep voice.

The next thing knew, the dead body was pulled off him, and Rob was standing there, offering him a strong hand.

Dan took it, and Rob pulled him to his feet.

“You don’t look too bad,” he said, winking at him. “You’ll be all right. Come on, get in the car. There isn’t much time. We’ve probably attracted every scrounger and idiot in the area.”

Using his sleeve, Dan wiped the blood from his face as best he could. But it kept coming. His face was painful and sore to the touch. He stumbled around the front or back of the car, he wasn’t sure which. He made it through one of the open doors and collapsed onto one of the seats.

“Olivia?” said Dan, his voice sounding funny. Maybe his lips were swollen.

“She’s fine. Right, Olivia?”

“Never been better,” came Olivia’s voice.

“You did good, kid. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

Dan wiped away more blood. Now he could see again. Rob was in the front seat and Dan and Olivia were in the back.

Rob twisted the key in the ignition.

The car started and Dan felt it start to speed away.

“What took you so long?” Dan managed to say.

“You know how these things go,” said Rob. “Packing for a trip always takes longer than you’d think.”

“It was my fault,” said Olivia. “I’m sorry, Dan.”

Dan wondered what she’d meant, but she didn’t elaborate, and he didn’t ask.

He was alive. That was what was important. No matter how bad his injuries were, they’d heal with time.

They drove in silence. Rob seemed to know the streets well, and he seemed comfortable taking the various turns.

The streets were narrow and the houses remained close together.

Dan looked out through the windows. He was sure that his eye was black, and he could feel the swelling already starting. But he could still see well enough.

There was no one out there. To be seen, at least. Those who were out there were in hiding.

In this area, at least, the battles were raging mostly behind closed doors. Those who remained were still fighting for their lives, but they were doing it mostly in private.

Dan remembered back to when he’d been holed up in his grandfather’s house, anxiously waiting for someone to break in, for something to happen.

Those who’d remained in their homes would be in the same position now. Only worse. Food was only getting scarcer. And people were only getting more desperate.

How would it end? What would be the final outcome to those who hadn’t fled?

No one was coming to help. That much was certain at this point.

And no new communities seemed to be developing. At least not here. Not yet.

Instead, it was just a further breakdown of society. More tears in the social fabric.

Violent tears.

“How you two doing?” said Rob, from the front.

“Not bad,” said Dan.

“Olivia?”

“I’m glad to get out of there, but do you really think we can get all the way to this campground?”

“Let’s hope so,” said Rob. “If this car will make it, then I think we have a good chance.”

“What if we run into someone?”

“We’ll just have to take it off the cuff, as they say.”

The three of them fell silent, and the drive continued. The houses grew further and further apart, and soon they were out on the open road.

Rob took them down back roads, rather than the highway. He seemed to know them well.

Night fell, and they drove on. Rob didn’t use the headlights unless it was absolutely necessary. It was better not to call too much attention to themselves.

Olivia fell asleep at some point, and her slight snores echoed through the noisy car. Rob pushed the car onward, driving as fast as he could without the lights.

Dan stayed awake the whole way. The pain, for one thing, didn’t let him go to sleep.

And his mind was active. If the camp was still there, if Max was still alive, what would his new life be like?

Maybe it’d be a new life, full of peace, free of worry. At least as free of worry as a post-EMP life could be.