THE TRASHMAN (14 page)

The women had been busy. They’d taped tarps to cover the windows, and the interior of the store was well lit with several propane lanterns. Camp stoves set on the U-shaped front checkout counters served as their cooking area. In the clear space between the entrance doors and the counter, folding tables and chairs were waiting for the hungry group to dine.

The spaghetti sauce was spicy and supplemented with plenty of beef from cans. The meal was consumed in a jovial, almost holiday atmosphere. I was glad to see my children smiling and relaxed for the first time since they’d left Sam’s earlier in the day.

Jed finished his meal, gulped a third pouch of juice, and stood from the table. “I’m going ta check the front to see iffen somebody can tell we’re in here. I wouldn’t bet on those cheap plastic tarps blocking the light.”

I finished eating and wandered around the store while waiting for the others. There were so many items, necessary things on the shelving, candles, lighters, batteries on pegboard. I knew we still had hours of packing to do.

Jed returned and made an announcement. “The entire front of the store glows green and it ain’t even full dark yet. I can’t think of anything in here that would do ta block it. Anybody driving the road can spot us. We need to get a move on. Let’s finish out back while the women rummage the store for anything we want to take.”

I took Jed’s warning to heart and worked as fast as I could. So did George. The food was loaded and we moved boxes of lightweight paper products on the run.

The women were using the store’s stock of large plastic storage containers for packing crates. They already had several filled and waiting for us to load. Sadie had thoughtfully labeled the container lids with a marker. They were packing more food. I put two of the heavy containers labeled Ralph-Spam onto my hand truck and raced for the rear entrance.

The women were packing as fast as they could and we had few moments when there weren’t containers to load. Those few spare times we did have, were spent in the tool and hardware section loading our own containers.

After an hour, I was drenched with sweat and feeling the pain of heavy lifting. Inside the truck, stacking a load from the hand truck, I heard unrecognizable shouts and then heard George holler, “Hell no!” I ran back into the store and heard, “You’d better open up, or we’ll kill all you bastards.”

I stopped beside Jed. “Who’s out there?”

“It’s the pickup truck guys. They must ‘a seen the windows glowing. We’re in for a fight.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “To hell with fighting, this place is a trap. Let’s go to the trucks and make a run for it.”

“I like that idea,” he said and then shouted, “Give us a minute ta move the stuff blocking the door.” With him leading, we all rushed to the back dock. I hustled my family down the steps and into the cab of the truck. Just in time. I saw two men run around the nearest corner of the mall. They saw us and opened fire with their weapons. As I climbed into the truck, I felt something slam my side. I cranked the truck, put it in gear, gunned the engine, and went the other way. Jeb’s truck pulled out right behind us. It was now night, and very dark. I didn’t hear weapons fire above the roar of the engine, but I saw the muzzle flashes in my side mirror.

“Duck down,” I shouted, afraid a bullet would come through the thin metal of the rear box and hit one of us.

I whipped around the corner of the mall, raced across the parking lot, and then made a sharp turn onto Highway 41.

I heard the containers and boxes in the rear tumbling, but that wasn’t my worry. The slam I’d felt in my side had turned to serious pain. I felt the area with my hand and it came up bloody. Becky saw it.

“Oh God, Ralph! You’ve been shot!” She had the kids lean forward and bent to lift my shirt. I had the petal floored and concentrated on driving and watching the rearview mirror. Jed was right on my rear. In the distance, I saw another set of headlights enter the roadway and knew the pickup was chasing us.

“Lean forward,” Becky ordered. I leaned a far as I could and felt her move my shirt higher. “The bullet went in close to your navel and out the side about six inches away. Maybe it didn’t go deep enough to hit your insides.”

“How bad is the bleeding?” I asked.

“Not much at all now, but it sure must have bled when you were first shot. Your shirts soaked, and the side of your jeans. Does it hurt?”

“Yeah it hurts. Is it bleeding bad enough to make me lose too much blood?”

“God, I don’t know.”

I swerved to miss an abandoned car in our lane. Jed’s swerve was delayed and the right side of his truck’s bumper sent the small compact flying off the road. “Do we have tape?”

“Just packing tape.”

“Find something to wipe the blood and slap a piece of it over the holes. Maybe that’ll stop the bleeding.”

I was dividing my attention between the road ahead and the view to the rear. The pickup had gained ground and was only a hundred yards behind Jed’s truck and closing the distance fast.

Box trucks aren’t made for speed, but they are made solid. I saw the pickup draw near Jed’s truck and then cross into the opposite lane to pass him. Jed did the smart thing. He moved into that lane and slammed his brakes. We were doing close to sixty-miles-per-hour. Jed crossed back into his lane and I saw the pickup leave the road, rolling and spilling the men in the rear as it went over.

I didn’t slow down. With Jed tailgating my rear, we fled the scene. I don’t know if ten minutes or an hour passed before Jed honked his horn and flashed his lights on and off. I took that as a sign he wanted me to stop. I slowed and came to a standstill, not bothering pulling off the road.

Jed stopped behind us and left his truck to run to my door. I cranked the window open.

“Good work back there, Jed, I don’t think any of them will be coming after us.”

He must have seen something in my expression. “You don’t look so good. You okay?”

“I got shot in the side, back at the store. Becky says it looks like the bullet went in shallow and came out.”

Jed shook his head. “Hope she’s right. If you’re smart, you’ll get a jump on infection and stop at a hospital or pharmacy to root for some antibiotics. Look, we’re going to split and head for the campsite. Good luck going north and watch your ass. Seems like the world’s full of crazies.”

“Take care, Jed. Tell George, Sadie, and Diane we were glad to meet them.”

I shifted the still running truck into drive.

“Are you okay to drive?” Becky asked.

“I am for now, but I’m going to take Jed’s advice. Do me a favor and watch for a pharmacy or hospital sign. Hell, out here look for veterinarian clinic. They’ll have antibiotics.”

“How bad does it hurt?”

I could hear the concern in her voice. “It hurts, but not as bad as it did.”

“Lean forward and let me see if the tape stopped the bleeding.”

My shirt was stuck to my side by dried blood. She peeled it loose and then had me lean forward so she could check the exit hole. I could feel my stomach muscles on that side already tightening.

“You’re not bleeding past the tape. We need to stop somewhere and put a better bandage on it. I packed a box with first aid stuff.”

“I’d rather drive until daylight so we can see a place that looks safe.” I started to tell her I was too scared to stop, but for the children’s sake, I held my tongue and tried to say something to calm them.

“Hey, Will. That was pretty exciting back there, wasn’t it? Almost like a movie.”

He answered and I could hear a quiver in his voice. “It was scary.”

“It sure was, but we got away from the bad guys.”

“You got shot and you could die.”

I hoped he was wrong. “Naw, it’s just a flesh wound. I’ll be okay. How about you, Jen, were you scared?”

“I was, but now I’m sleepy.”

It hurt me to know she was so young in this messed up new world. “It’s okay to sleep. The bad men are way behind us and won’t be coming again. Will, you may as well sleep, too.”

Becky shifted the kids so she could sit beside me. Jen laid her head on her mother’s lap. She was serious about being sleepy. In less than a minute, I could hear her gentle snoring. Will propped his head on the passenger door and in no time, he was out, too.

I kept our speed to forty, swerving around an occasional abandoned car or truck, thanking God that the road had been relatively clear during the high-speed chase. Becky sat beside me, not saying anything. After a bit, I realized she was crying.

“We’re going to be okay,” I told her.

“We’ve been on the road one day and we’ve had guns pointed at us. Now you’ve been shot. What’s tomorrow going to be like?”

“I’m hoping by this time tomorrow we’ll be sleeping on soft beds in a remote cabin beside that trout stream.”

I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Honey, I didn’t want to say it while the children could hear, but I’m scared. I mean really scared. From now on, no matter what, we need to have our pistols in our hands and be ready to kill.”

Becky replied in a low voice. “That’s what it’s come to, isn’t it? Kill or be killed. Oh God, Ralph, if it wasn’t for the kids, I don’t know if I’d have the strength for this, but I’ll find it. I have to.”

“We both have to.”

We rode in silence through the rest of the night. As the sun rose, I felt myself nodding off and asked Becky to look for a place to rest and eat. She spotted a farmhouse that had burned but the barn was standing. I saw that the double doors were wide open, and left the road, stopping the truck well away from the barn.

“Let’s change places. You drive and I’ll ride shotgun. Put your pistol beside you. What I want you to do is drive into the barn and stop. If there’s any trouble start shooting.”

Shifting to leave the driver’s seat, I cried out when a sharp pain gripped my side. The sound woke the children.”

“Where are we?” Will asked, still groggy from sleep.

“We’re stopping to rest and eat,” I told him. “I want you to keep your head low until I tell you it’s okay to sit up. You too, Jen. Mother and I are changing places and I’m coming around to your side. Slide over to make room for me.”

Climbing down from the driver’s seat was bad, but climbing back into the cab on the passenger’s side was pure agony. I gritted my teeth and hoped I hadn’t started my side bleeding again. I rolled down the window, checked to make sure the safety was off the Beretta and nodded to Becky.

“Kids, keep your heads down. Darling, shift into drive and let’s do this.”

She entered the barn at a good clip and braked fast. I was prepared to shoot anything that moved. She had her pistol up and was ready to do the same. Nothing was moving. I gritted my teeth again and shifted my head out the side window to peer up at the loft. No one looking down at us.

I said to Becky, “I’m going to get out and check. Put the truck in reverse and get out of here if anything happens.”

Becky turned a glare on me and shook her head. “I won’t do that. Let’s both get out and fight if we have to.”

I could tell she meant her words. I opened the truck door and slid from my seat to the dirt floor of the barn. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I gave the loft area a closer look.

“Keep watch down here. I’ll check the loft.” My side was loosening up and climbing the wooden stairs wasn’t too painful. There were a lot of hay bales up there. I checked every place someone could hide before calling, “All clear,” and going down to rejoin her.

“Let’s close the doors and eat.”

“You have to be tired,” Becky said. “Climb in the truck and catch a nap. I’ll wake you when the food’s ready.”

“You were awake all night, too.”

“But I wasn’t driving and I haven’t been shot. Oh, another thing. Don’t ever suggest something like you did in the truck. What would you say to me if I suggested you drive off and leave
me
behind? You aren’t expendable, stupid.”

“I know.”

“You’d better know. Strip out of your nasty shirt so I can wash the blood off of your side before you lie down.

She had to soak the cloth of my shirt with water to loosen it. She was gentle with the rag, scrubbing away the blood from my skin, but the area was tender and I whined like a baby.

I was asleep as soon as I found a comfortable position on the wide seat of the rental truck. When I felt her nudging me awake, it was as though I hadn’t slept at all. Worse, my side was stiffer and more painful than ever. It took five minutes to squirm from the truck and I wasn’t able to fully straighten once I was standing.

“You’re in bad shape, aren’t you?” Becky asked.

“I’m just sore and stiff as heck. Jeez, getting shot hurts.”

“I found the container with the first aid supplies. You want me to doctor you before or after you eat?”

“Depends on what’s for breakfast? Smells like spaghetti to me.”

“The kids begged for a repeat of last night.”

“Spaghetti, and then you can give me pain. Actually I’m starved.”

“A car drove past while you slept. It was going in the opposite direction we’re going. I couldn’t see who was inside it because of the tinted glass. A little later, a pickup went by with one person in it, an older man.

Becky had tossed hay bales from the loft for use as chairs. Two bales stacked and covered with a small tarp provided a table. Still half asleep, I dug into the plate she handed me.

“How long was I out?”

“An hour or so. I hated to wake you.”

“No, I’m glad you did. After you treat my wound and we pack up you can do the driving and I’ll ride shotgun.”

“You don’t think we should wait, let you get more rest?”

“Naw. I can sleep while you drive. You see anything to worry about you can wake me. Honey, I don’t want to be traveling. I want to be at the cabin in the mountains.”

“Do you have any idea where we are?” she asked.

I spoke around a mouthful of spaghetti noodles. “Last sign I saw before we stopped said Cordele, Georgia ten-miles. I drove maybe five miles after that.”

She went to the truck to fetch our Georgia roadmap and spread it on the clear end of the table. “We’ve covered sixty miles since yesterday morning.” She began tracing lines with her finger. “Oh man, we still have over three hundred miles to go.”