3 Days (11 page)

BANG
!
BANG
!

I had once heard a car backfire in our neighborhood last year and, although it was loud enough to wake the next county, this was louder. Crawling away from Rocky, I couldn’t will my eyes to open. Two gunshots and one of them from the shotgun. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw Blaine a few yards away from me. He wasn’t shot and neither was Jared. Relief washed over me, I turned to look at the escapee. His body lay limp on the floor, blood pooling around his head. He had a bullet hole to his right temple. Blaine had killed him in one shot.

Blaine stood off in the distance, motionless, a look of horror on his face. It was evident that he was distraught. His hands were shaky, he had beads of sweat forming on his forehead, and he didn’t speak. Jared let out a cheer of accomplishment for Blaine and headed back toward the camping gear department while shouting over his shoulder, “Nice job, buddy! Now let’s grab what we can before we find out he had a friend with him.”

Blaine didn’t acknowledge the comment. He stayed standing there, unblinking, staring at the lifeless lump of orange on the floor. He had lowered the handgun to his side, but moved nothing else. I couldn’t remember a time that I had seen him like that. Vulnerable, terrified, and human. I walked up to his side carefully placing my hand on his free arm. “Blaine?” I whispered. He finally took his eyes off of the body to meet my gaze. I carefully took my other hand and placed it on his other arm. His breathing began to quicken as I slid my hand down his arm to the wrist of the hand holding the gun. I gently pried his fingers from around the hilt to loosen his strangled grip. Just as I took the gun from him, his body folded onto me, and he held me so tight I could hardly breathe. I had no idea what to say. Besides a fist fight in the ninth grade, Blaine had never hurt anyone before. And he had most certainly never killed a person either. And now, there he sat, in my arms after saving my life and the life of his best friend, resulting in a lifeless body lying only a few feet away from him. All I could do was rub my hand along his back and say, “You had to do it. You had no choice.”

He just sat there, shaking, breathing heavy, his head buried in my neck. He didn’t cry, although I wouldn’t have blamed him if he did. All he could do was hold me tight as I felt his heartbeat slowdown.

When Blaine gathered his composure, we met Jared in the camping department, ammunition cart filled. Walking out onto the pavement of the parking area, a strange sensation washed over me. The world was different to me somehow.

“Race you to the truck!” Jared shouted, cart bouncing around from the gravel-like glass shards on the walk.

“Oh, you’re on!” replied Blaine as he pushed his cart faster, barreling toward the bright green pickup.

Watching them play around was calming. I felt better knowing that Blaine was able to smile after all we had been through in the warehouse store.

My legs were still weak from the event, so I sauntered, rather than ran, toward the guys. By the time I got to the truck, they had loaded half of the supplies into the back. Helping them with the rest, I asked, “So, where to next?”

Blaine threw some of the camping gear into the bed of the truck and stood up straight, making himself seem taller as he looked down to me and replied, “The woods.”

Chapter 29

As Blaine steered the truck down one dirt road after the next, Jared explained that we were headed to a location they had scoped out before the flare. He described it as the perfect place to camp, making it sound like a luxury spa. This made me laugh because I had never heard Jared talk so passionately about anything in all the time I had known him. Well, except for video games.

Blaine pulled the truck off of the road, and we disappeared into the tree line. Seeing the confusion on my face, Jared said “This perfect spot is sort of off the beaten path.” I replied with a look of understanding.

In the distance, the sun began to threaten to touch the horizon. Just as I noticed this fact, we pulled up to the side of a sparkling creek. I was overwhelmed by a feeling of éjà vu but quickly shook it off.

“Crap!” Blaine hissed as he pulled the truck near a large stump of a dead forest tree.

As we came to a stop, I saw what he was upset about. Off to the left, about twenty yards, was a campfire. A tent stood a few feet away from it, and there was a man dropping a pile of sticks near the fire. Two medium-sized dogs shuffled around his feet, giving the impression that they thought the sticks were for the longest lasting game of fetch, ever.

“What the hell?!” cursed Jared, “I thought for sure nobody would come here. It is miles off the road!”

He quickly jumped out of the truck, slamming the door before I had a chance to slide toward it.

“Stay here,” Blaine warned, as he opened his door. I watched as the guys approached the man by the fire. From what I could see he was older, probably in his late thirties to early forties. He had blond hair, and his skin was dark, like he had spent most of his life in the sun. They engaged in conversation, seeming harmless enough. I saw the man shake first Jared’s hand, then Blaine’s. He smiled and waved a hand toward the tent, calling out to it. From the tent emerged a woman, around the same age as the man, with fiery red hair, braided all the way down her back. She smiled at the two and shook their hands as well. Finally, Blaine turned his head toward me in the truck and motioned for me to come join them.

When I met them at the fire, I put on a pleasant face. “Hi.” I shyly waved, assuming they wanted an introduction. “I’m Kara.” Standing next to Blaine, he put his arm around me, a protective gesture as well as a possessive one, and I let the dogs sniff carefully at my ankles.

“Kara, this is Matt and his wife, Saundra,” he said, bringing me up to speed.

I graciously shook their hands and shared pleasantries as Blaine and Jared stood by my side, almost as if they were sizing up the strangers. Blaine was cautious, and after today’s events, I had no reason to think he would act otherwise. He questioned the two about their intentions and where they were planning to travel. As dusk approached, Matt and Saundra offered to share the camp site with us in return for keeping watch at night so everyone could get some sleep. Although Blaine was leery, he agreed to the arrangement.

We set up our tent across the fire from theirs and settled in for the first shift.

Jared roasted a can of beans on the fire while Blaine and I parked at the opening of our tent. The nights could get cold there, and I felt myself shivering. Blaine leaned back into the opening of the tent and grabbed a blanket, wrapping it around me. Rubbing my shoulders to create more heat, he said, “Sorry about earlier, at the outdoor warehouse.”

I looked up at him, searching his face. His expression was slightly that of shame, as if he had let me down somehow. “Why are you apologizing? You saved me from that creep. And he was going to shoot Jared.”

He flinched at the last few words, his breath catching. I heard him swallow hard as I put my hand in his.

He breathed, “I know, but it doesn’t seem right to take the life of another person.”

He had a point, to which I didn’t know how to respond. We just sat there, staring at the fire, speechless.

Leaning my head on his shoulder, my eyelids felt as though they were made of lead. My head became heavy, and the events of the day took their toll on my body. I was exhausted. As my head bobbed up and down twice from dozing off, Blaine pulled himself to his feet. He bent down, scooped me up, and said, “Let’s get you to bed, sleepy head.” I felt like protesting, but my body was just too weak from exhaustion. As he walked me into the tent and set me on the cot, I fell into the darkness of a deep, dreamless sleep.

Chapter 30

I awoke to a streak of sun, peeking through the opening of the tent. I had slept all the way through the night. Hearing the whispering and rustling outside of the tent, I sat up and smoothed down my hair, pulling it back in the elastic band I had on my wrist. I felt absolutely grimy, in desperate need of a bath. At this point, I would have settled for a toothbrush, with or without paste. But this was as good as was going to get, I guessed. Exiting the tent, the smell of eggs and beef jerky were stronger now.

“Well, well. Good morning, Kara!” I was greeted by Saundra, chipper and cheery, like someone had just given her a puppy for Christmas. “I hope you like eggs. I had to fight off the guys to save you a couple.”

The delicious smell was overpowering. After days of ration-style eating, eggs seemed like a luxury item. My mouth watered in anticipation of the first bite.

Saundra scooped the eggs out of the pan and onto a tin plate, handing it to me. They were steaming hot, but I couldn’t wait, and I burned my tongue on the first mouthful. Seeing my eyes water, Saundra chimed, “Careful, they are hot, hot, hot!” I made sure to blow on the rest before shoveling them into my mouth.

When I was finished, I noticed that Saundra and I were alone. “Where are all the guys?”

“Hunting or at least that is what they told me. I have a feeling they needed to take a bath and didn’t want to let us ladies know what they were really up to. Maybe they thought we would sneak up and steal their clothes when they weren’t looking.” I snorted a laugh. Saundra grinned. “And with me, they are probably right!” We shared a chuckle.

“Um, speaking of baths…” I hesitated. “Where is the ladies room?”

Saundra responded with kindness. After getting my only other change of clothes out of the tent, she led me to a spot by the creek that was secluded by heavy foliage. While I bathed in the water, she washed my soiled clothes on a large rock. The water was ice cold, causing my body to be covered in goose bumps, but it felt nice to get clean. Finishing up, I pulled on my clean set of clothes and we headed back for camp. We arrived just as the guys were settling back down by the fire.

Blaine looked up, a sign of relief that I was all right washing over his face. I could see that there was truth in what Saundra had said. Both Blaine and Jared had wet hair, and their faces looked clean shaven. There was a look of approval by Blaine when I sat down next to him by the fire.

“Look at that, you clean up real nice, Kara!” Jared chimed.

“Thanks, you do too,” I said, mumbling. Looking up at Blaine, I noticed he had cut himself shaving. Although he was not bleeding, he had a small area that was raw. Raising my hand to his face, I carefully touched the tender area, frowning. “Ow,” I whispered.

“Guess I am a little out of practice,” he scoffed lightly.

***

The rest of the day was full of conversation and activity. If the previous events until this point had not occurred, it would have felt as if we were on vacation. We shared stories, laughed, and avoided any talk of the Intruders. After lunch, Blaine mentioned that he wanted me to learn to shoot, and we headed out for a lesson on how to use the crossbow. Jared announced that he was going to the creek to fill the water supply.

When we all got to the edge of the creek, Jared waded into the water off in the distance. Schooling me on stance and sight placement, Blaine balanced an empty bean can on the lower branch of a tree away from the direction of our camp. Standing behind me, he molded my hands in his, showing me how to hold the crossbow. As we took aim, he said, “Make sure you don’t touch the trigger until you are absolutely ready to fire. It is a really sensitive—“
THWANG
! The arrow fired prematurely, and we heard what sounds like a dog yelping in the creek. The sound of water splashing is followed by Jared cussing. “She shot me in the ass!”

In shock, I dropped the crossbow as I watched Blaine run to Jared’s side. Jared was on the shore now, hopping around in circles, repeating the same line, “She shot me in the ass! Right there! Get it out, now! Oh crap, please tell me it wasn’t a poison-tip arrow!”

“It’s not, dude. Calm down.” Blaine tended to his friend’s injury, removing the arrow. He asked me to turn around, so Jared could remove his pants to clean the wound and bandage it.

“I am so sorry, Jared,” is all I could spit out while staring into the woods away from the guys.

“Sorry?! You should be, Kara. You shot me in…the…ASS!”

“You’re lucky it was your butt, man. It could have been worse!” Blaine came to my defense, but he didn’t have too. I felt absolutely horrible. As a professional klutz, I needed no excuses.

“But, she shot me right in the – “

“Yeah, we know, and now you are all bandaged up. Although, with the way you are reacting, I think I used the wrong bandage.” Blaine sounded short.

“What?” asked Jared.

“If I would have known you were going to act like such a girl when you got hurt, I would have packed some Hello Kitty Band-Aids for you!”

Blaine and I exploded into laughter and, when Jared had been covered properly, Blaine grabbed my hand to turn me around. Jared’s face was red, but not with anger. He was stifling a laugh as well. As much as he would never admit it, he knew he had overreacted about the injury. He finally accepted my apology and we made our way back to camp.

When we joined Matt and Saundra, we had to explain Jared’s limp. As we finished telling the story, Saundra asked, “Jared, how awful. Are you okay?”

Jared replied with a nod.

With that confirmation, they took the opportunity to burst into laughter, and we all joined in again. After we had a good laugh, we prepared what little we had for dinner and settled in for the night. Matt and Saundra had the first shift, so Jared, Blaine, and I prepared for a short night of sleep.

After last night’s full rest, I found it hard to sleep. Blaine lay beside me, face to face, his back to Jared. Holding my hand, he brushed the hair off of my cheek with the other. We hadn’t kissed since the bunker, and I ached for his mouth on mine. But I was conflicted, by the soft safety of his kiss, and the visions it brought to me. “What are you thinking about?” he asked, as though he could see the conflict on my face.