Worth Saving (19 page)

When I jumped to the ground I ran for the corner of the building, trying to get out of sight before the guy looked out the window. I think I was successful because I didn’t hear anything more.

Without any idea where Claire might be now, I decided to follow through with the initial plan. Walking towards the selected area, my guilt about losing my bow was overwhelming. I had no idea what I was going to do now.

  I tugged at my hunting knife insuring it’d come free easily if needed. As I turned another the corner I saw Claire running down the street looking over her shoulder. A few seconds later Big Jake followed around the same corner. He was unarmed but was gaining on Claire; she must have been real tired to let him get that close. I had a feeling she’d been drawing him away from me while I took care of the other two. She wasn’t supposed to have let things get this close. It looked like the situation was going bad fast. I started to bring my bow up but I remembered my screw up earlier and cursed under my breath.

Claire turned into a parking garage. I could hear her tennis shoes echo through the cavernous building. I knew she’d go out the back. No way was she going to let herself get caught without an exit.
I started towards them but saw Jake slam to a halt, his feet sliding on the dirty street as he changed direction. My stomach lurched when I realized that he wasn’t going to follow her into the garage but was running for the rear entrance. She was going to run right into him.

Chapter Twenty Three

I dropped my useless bow and ran flat out for the building, praying I could stop Claire before she walked into Jake. The garage was huge, empty with only a few cars in the parking spaces. Most people had stayed at home those last few days.  Claire wasn’t anywhere in site. I stopped and listened but couldn’t hear her running. My heart pounded as I thought of her in his hands.

We almost collided as I rounded the corner. The mountainous form appeared in the doorway like a slab of stone. We both sprang back. Big Jake's eyes bulging and mouth agape in total surprise and I’m sure mine was the same. We reached for our knives, my heart breaking when I thought about my useless bow lying out in the street. This could have been ended right then and there if I’d had my weapon.

He brought up a twelve inch Bowie knife with a four inch wide blade that looked like it could cut through an oak tree. My new knife looked puny in comparison and felt strange in my hand. I wished they hadn’t taken my regular hunting knife from me.

Big Jake ducked his head as he stepped into the garage, his pupils dilating as he left the bright sunshine and entered my darkened haven. He scowled, his forehead wrinkling and focus narrowing on me, then spit an ugly green goop of phlegm to the side. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, exposing massive, hairy forearms that looked like small cannons. I’d difficulty swallowing when I thought about what he could do to me if he ever got a hold of me.

“Come on kid, let’s get this over with, I got things to see and people to do,” He said with a menacing sneer.

I swear he thought he was funny. I didn’t say anything as I continued to back into a relatively open part of the garage. I figured the only advantage I might have was maneuverability over size. The Eagle needed to become the crow.

He slowly stepped towards me. His free hand covered his stomach as he shifted the cutting edge of his blade to face downwards. I remembered a passage from an old book, something about using your free hand to protect your intestines and having the
sharp edge facing up because that way you could cut with a left or right slice.

It was obvious that he knew what he was doing and that made at least one of us. My hands shifted to mimic his movements and my mind raced as I tried to figure out what to do next. This was not what I’d planned, so many things could go wrong, not least of all was me ending up with a huge hunk of metal sticking out of my guts.

We slowly started to circle each other when suddenly he tossed the knife to his other hand and then back before he lunged towards my left side. I was caught totally by surprise. The only thing that saved me was the fact that he hadn’t expected the move to work. He pulled back too early, expecting me to react faster than I did. My lack of experience was now evident and a confident smile crept over his face as he contemplated the ease with which he was going to gut me.

The circling started again, both of us concentrating on the other’s weapon. He made a few weak faints towards me, each time stepping back to see how I’d react. I held my ground and continued to circle, looking for an opening. Sweat was starting to burn my eyes and I could feel every muscle tense up as tight as a board. I’d lost track of sounds or smells. I could only see that giant knife.

He made another lunge, stabbing at my belly button. I sucked in my gut and scooted back as I instinctively brought my blade down towards his thrusting arm. I got lucky and nicked him a little on the upper forearm. He immediately brought his hand back and scowled at me as the blood started to ooze and drip onto the gray cement floor.

Maybe it wasn’t going to be as easy as he planned, I thought. If I kept out of his reach and nicked and dinged him until he got weak from bleeding, maybe I could survive. My heart soared with the thought of surviving, maybe even beating him. I had to tell myself not to get cocky and concentrate. I couldn’t let this go on too long,
the other men might show up or Claire might walk into the situation. I had to finish this and soon.

He shifted the blade to his left hand and held the cut against his side to try and staunch the bleeding. He was baiting me, opening up, trying to get me to commit, instead I started circling to the right. He looked confused for a moment then quickly shifted the knife back to his right hand and took two quick steps towards me, leading with the knife tip. This time however, I didn’t step back instead I shifted to the side like a Bullfighting matador. The silver blade shot past me and before he could react I grabbed his enormous wrist and pulled, continuing his forward momentum while I brought my weapon towards his ribs. 

I saw a flash of fear race across his eyes when he realized how vulnerable he was as my blade reached for his heart. For just a moment, he thought he was dead. I didn’t hit true, I felt the knife skid along the bone and new that I hadn’t landed a killing blow. I let my movement carry me on and out of his range behind him. He spun around quickly, moving blindingly fast for such a big man. The cut on his side had opened up about six inches of muscle and bright red blood soaked his sliced shirt and his left arm wasn’t working correctly.  He was pressing it against his body trying to slow down the bleeding. This wasn’t a faint, I’d really hurt him this time.

We started dancing again, going around in circles. His furrowed brow scrunched up and I could tell that he was getting worried.

My heart was racing and I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my body making my hands shake and muscles tighten up. He stabbed again, his blade passing between my side and arm. I moved back trying to stay out of reach but he let out a vicious roar and grabbed my knife arm in an iron grip that threatened to tear it out of its socket. He held my arm and knife away while he tried to bring his weapon up in a castrating cut to my groin. I screamed and twisted away, dropping my knife while I wrenched my arm free.

I heard the tinkle of metal hitting concrete and reacted without thinking by continuing my twist and throwing a round house kick to his knife hand. It worked, I couldn’t believe I'd connected. Neither could Big Jake as his huge silver pig sticker flew through air and under a nearby car. 

Both of us stood there for a frozen second, gasping for air. A look of pure hate descended over his face as he brought his hands up and charged me. And now it was my turn to look death in the face. Before I could move, before I could think about moving, he had those two huge meaty hands around my neck and was starting to lift me off the floor. His thumbs searched for my wind pipes. As his fingers tried to meet in the back and bring everything into on small space.

He brought me in close; I could feel his stinking breath on my cheeks as he squeezed with every bit of strength he had left.

The world turned red as I fought to keep conscious. I tried to bring my hands up and break the grip but it was like trying to bend a baseball bat. There was absolutely no give. I couldn’t think, I don’t remember any thoughts flashing through my mind but the need for air. Without knowing I was going to, my hand dove into the front of my jeans. I could feel the redness turning to black. Praying it’d work I pulled my hand out and snapped my wrist, the blade of my father’s pocket knife flew open with a satisfying click.

Big Jake heard the click and his eyes look startled, his hands frozen in place, the looming black held off long enough for me to bring my arm up and shove the blade into the side of his throat.

Warm, wet blood spurted across my arm. His eyes opened as big as coffee cups as he grunted with the blow. I held it there twisting it, trying to drive the point in as far as I could. All the hate and pain flowed through me and into that piece of sharpened metal. Air rushed into my lungs as the hands started to release. I kept pressing the knife into him, not daring to stop.

His hands dropped away and he fell to his knees, with my dad’s old Buck master pocket knife sticking out of his neck. He looked
up at me with a confused daze expression that reminded me of the first man I’d shot with that arrow all those months ago. Why was it that these guys never anticipated their own death?

I bent and held my knees as I tried to breathe again. Air never tasted so good. That sweet clean taste that made me feel like I might live again. Big Jake toppled to the side, his eyes wide open looking into nothingness as the blood stopped burbling from his throat.

A faint gasp made me turn. Claire stood at the bottom of the ramp to the next floor her hands covering her mouth in shock. She looked between the body and me then squealed and ran up the ramp. Sliding to a stop she looked me over from foot to the top of my head, obviously looking for wounds.

“Where are you hurt?” she demanded before running her hands over my shoulders and chest. She kept shaking her head, not believing that I wasn’t hurt. Suddenly she started shacking and big tears began rolling down her face. “You’re okay, you’re alright,” she said and stopped herself from fainting by grabbing my arms. I wrapped her up and held on. I knew this was what I wanted for the rest of my life.

“I love you Claire, I’ll always love you.” I said, feeling like I could fall through the floor if she didn’t feel the same way back. I held my breath waiting. I could feel her tense in my arms and then lean back and look at me. Her eyes searched mine, then a smile lit up her face as she reached up and started kissing my cheeks and lips, mumbling something about me taking so long.

We stood there next to the body for several minutes, holding onto each other. Suddenly three loud clicks broke through our cocoon of bliss. I turned and saw three men holding pistols pointed directly at us. I immediately stepped in front of Claire, who let out a huff and stepped to my side. No way was she going to let me face this alone. It upset me the way she never let me protect her.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” The middle man said with a creepy smile on his face.

“You two, move away” the smallest guy said, waving his gun for us to step away from the body. We both took several steps and watched their shock when they saw Big Jake lying there with my father’s knife sticking out of his neck. I was looking for an exit, could I figure out some way out of this. I had to get Claire away, we’d come so close.

I looked at the men as they stared at Jake, I noticed that the farthest man was Dan. The man who’d held me at the camp fire that night. He looked happy as he stepped back behind the other men and said, “We’re going to leave them alone guys, they killed him fair and square, I don’t know about you, but this changes everything.” I noticed that his gun was now covering the two other men.

They turned and saw what he was doing, they obviously couldn’t believe it, both of them started stuttering and mumbling when he indicated they should holster the guns. “It’s not worth it, not anymore,” he said, shaking his head.

They looked back at us and then at Danny, both of them thought better of it and shrugging their shoulders they holstered their guns.

“Hell, he weren’t my brother or anything. Come on Jimmy lets head back to the compound; they’re going to be interested in this news.” The little guy said and started walking down the ramp. The other man hesitated like he didn’t know what to do, but came to the same conclusion and started after his friend.

Dan continued to hold the gun on them and watched them walk out the far door. He relaxed when they cleared the doorway and walked out of sight. He looked at me then at Claire and finally at the body on the ground next to us. Shaking his head he said. “You are something else, kid.” To Claire he said, “Don’t let him go, there won’t be another come along like him for quite some time.” He looked all around him then turned and walked out, following his companions.

Claire smiled like she’d found a pot full of gold, looked at me and slipped her arm around my waist for a tight hug. I knew exactly how she felt.

.o0o.

Day 2162

Claire’s Diary

Ellen is doing great, we are all doing great.

Life is real good, we’ve built a new home on the top of the department store across from our old home. Kris and the boys plan to remove all the rubble and build a home on the ground level. He works so hard every day. But I think we’re going to make it, several people have asked to join us and there is talk of fencing off part of the park and start growing our own food.

That’s not the only thing we are going to grow. I haven’t told him yet, but Big Jake was wrong, women can still have babies. I just confirmed it with a home pregnancy test. Our children are going to be so lucky to have Kris for a father.

The End