“Okay, but I must tell you. In order for you to leave, there are two things you need to know.” Jason smiled.
I hated that smile.
Spade took an aggressive stance. “Yeah? And what’s that?”
“The weapons. They’re ours, not yours, so you can’t have them. We’ll be wanting those back,” he said.
All I could think was, oh shit!
Spade snickered, as if he thought Jason was telling a joke. “And the other thing?”
“Aside from Crystal staying with us, so are the other women.”
“W-what?” That last comment even caught Spade off guard.
“It’s the end of the world. It has to restart somehow, by someone. Better people like us--survivalists, than the likes of you. The women, they’re staying.”
“My daughter’s fourteen,” I said, as if it mattered, like there was any chance in hell I’d leave my kid here.
Spade took a step toward Jason.
I saw it before it happened and was helpless to do anything.
Jeremy raised his gun and shot Spade in the back of the head. Spade fell forward in a heap with arms splayed out, blood and brain spilling from the cracked bowl that was his shattered skull.
“No!” I yelled. “Are you out of your fucking--”
I spread my arms wide, pushing Allison and Charlene behind me as Jeremy pointed his gun at me.
Jeremy’s chest exploded like his heart ruptured. He dropped his gun and clapped both hands over his heart, falling to his knees.
I hadn’t heard a shot. I didn’t know what had just--
The upstairs window.
The barrel of a rifle protruded.
Jason was screaming and he started to run for his brother. Palmeri reached for him, tugged on his sleeve. It probably saved his live. Another shot sent a chunk of dirt and crisp leaves into the air. Looking up, Jason now knew where Dave and Sues were.
Like a cheetah, he spun around and ran for the house.
Erway tried to stop him. He pushed her aside, pulled his gun, fired as he ran into the house, and slammed the front door.
“He’s inside,” I said, looking up at the window. “He’s in the house!”
“Crystal’s been shot,” Palmeri said. She knelt beside the woman.
“How’s it look,” Allison said, running over to them.
I was at the front door, throwing my shoulder into it. Steel. As Jason promised, there was no way to knock it open. At the window, with the shutters open for the day, I used the shovel like a baseball bat and smashed the glass.
“The shot’s to the stomach,” Erway said. She had blood dripping from her lip, and nose. She tore a piece of Crystal’s shirt at the bullet hole, exposing the gut wound. The blood bubbled and pooled on her belly. With a gentle swipe of her hand, Erway cleared most of the blood off.
I used the shovel blade as if I was ringing a triangle, and knocked all the shards of loose and protruding glass from the frame before I climbed in through the bay window headfirst. Jason saw and fired at me.
Heat burned my skin on my right shoulder. I fell back out. “Dave, he’s in the house!”
“Daddy!” Charlene left Allison’s side and ran to mine. She looked at my shoulder. Copying Erway, she dug her fingers into the clothing hole, and pulled the material apart. I tried to look.
“I don’t think it went in. A graze,” I said. Sure felt like it went in. If a graze hurt like this, as if my skin was on fire, I couldn’t imagine what getting shot actually felt like.
Cash had been shot.
“You look okay,” she said.
“All this shooting, it’s going to be like ringing a dinner bell for the zombies. Keep an eye on everything. Don’t let them sneak up on us,” I said.
Charlene stood up, held out her hand and pulled me to my feet.
I was more cautious this time, and looked through the open window. I hoisted myself up and into the log cabin. I removed the machete from the sheath over my back. I stood still, listening, my eyes looking everywhere. Jason knew Dave was upstairs. Would he have gone right up after them? Did he think he’d killed me?
The stairs were right in front of me.
The urge to yell out for Dave and Sues was so strong that I almost had to bite my tongue to keep quiet. I took a few small steps toward the staircase. The silence was maddening.
Through the smashed out window, though, I could hear Erway and Palmeri working on Crystal, each one barking out different things.
They needed supplies to save that woman.
I knew where the medical supplies were. In that room with all the weapons.
We needed to stop Jason first. He was the threat. Then we could concentrate on helping Crystal. It was the only thing I could come up with that sounded remotely rational.
I put a foot on the first step.
It squeaked.
The bedroom door, behind which my son died, flew open.
Jason came out of the room holding a lit, oil filled lantern. He flung it across the room. The beveled glass shattered. The oil splashed out onto everything, and fire quickly followed.
The sofa and carpet caught first, then the curtains next.
In that instant, Jason was on me, knocking me back against the wall.
Flames crackled. I heard Charlene outside screaming for me.
Jason punched me in the solar plexus causing air to rush out of my lungs. Gasping, I tried my hardest to fill them with air. The man didn’t stop, didn’t let up.
His fists were like rocks. It felt like ribs were snapping with each blow delivered.
I knew what the man thought. There was no way he was going to win, kill us all. His plan had failed, and because of it, his brother was dead, so he had nothing to lose at this point. He would destroy the cabin, and go down fighting.
Jeremy would have said, “It’s what our father would have wanted.”
I closed my eyes and ignored the pain in my chest. I used my head like a fist and broke Jason’s nose with my forehead. The crunch of bone was satisfying.
His eyes watered, and he backed a step away from me. It was all the time and room I needed.
I noticed the brass knuckles on his fist, fucking bastard. I stepped into my punch, used all my weight, and drove my elbow into his face. He went down. “Dave!”
I stomped on his back with my foot, then kicked him across his already bloodied face. It knocked him out. “Dave!”
I heard them upstairs.
Dave and Sues were at the top of the stairs. “We were trying to get out the window. We didn’t know you were in here.”
“Come on, get out. We have to get out!”
They came down the stairs.
Sues jumped over Jason’s body. “Dave,” she said, as she unlocked and pulled open the front door.
The flames were everywhere. The heat was more intense than I could ever have imagined. I saw orange and black flames roll up across the ceiling, like spilled fluid, except upside down.
Dave pulled on my arm.
“Let’s hit the weapons room. We need more,” I said.
“Fast,” Dave said. He didn’t call me crazy or stupid, he just ran toward that room.
Inside, he grabbed for guns and ammo.
I took an armful of sheathed machetes and swords. I grabbed a few hunting knives. I knew these were going to be our weapons on the road. Ammo was always bound to run out. “Let’s go. Let’s --”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Jason said. He looked like a monster with his swollen and bruised face. At this point, it was more purple and black than white. He stood right at the door. Smoke began to fill the room. There were no windows in this…closet space. Just weapons and enough ammo to make the entire cabin explode. “None of us are.”
Jason had a gun, and he had his finger inside the trigger.
“Let them out of there!” That was Palmeri’s voice.
I don’t think Jason expected anyone to enter the burning cabin. Bet he thought shooting us would be too lenient, and us burning to death was a far better punishment.
Jason flinched, but didn’t turn around.
“Drop the gun, or I’ll shoot you in the mother-fucking back, Terrigino,” Palmeri said. “You know what? I have no time for this.”