WWIV - In The Beginning
Pedaling quickly, I made my way back into Woodbury, back home. If I was lucky, I could grab the gun and be back on the road within hours of discovering my mistake. If everything went smooth. When I rounded the last corner to my house, all plans disappeared from my mind.
The scene laid in front of me could only be described as chaos. Pure, utter chaos. What struck me most was seeing Ted running towards me after he recognized my form. Ted was running; Ted never ran - anywhere. The second attention grabber was in his hand he carried the .22 pistol. The one he took from Scott’s house. Ted was running; running with a gun.
“Holy crap, Bill,” Ted said, almost out of breath. “Are we ever glad to see you.” I stared at his yellow tee shirt, covered in deep red blood. Agog, my eyes came up to his face.
“What the hell happened here, Ted? I haven’t been gone that long. What happened?” He placed a hand on my shoulder as I finished.
“Trouble showed up again. Those same four punks from the other night. This time they had weapons.” He snuck a peek back towards his house before continuing. “Seems they think we have something we’re protecting at Winston’s house.” His expression tightened. “Something we’re hiding.” I shook my head.
“Why would they think that? All we did…” Words ended as I thought back to that night. Did I maybe over do the protection aspect of my speech? Did I say something wrong? I chased that thought away and looked back at Ted again. “I don’t understand. There’s got to be hundreds of empty houses in Woodbury. Why do they want this one so bad?” Ted shrugged and glanced back at his house again.
“Don’t know.” His eyes caught mine. Something was wrong.
“Whose blood is that, Ted? Who got shot?” He grimaced at my words.
“One minute we’re standing there, telling them to leave. Wasn’t going well.” Ted stroked his sweaty chin with his left hand. “Finally, Jim touches off a blast to show them we mean business. Scared everyone, including me.” Ted stared at his feet.
“Ted, who got shot?” I needed an answer.
“So they all jumped back. Looked like they were leaving. Then all of a sudden, they all have guns, handguns. Shooting starts; got wild kinda quick, ya know.” Ted seemed lost.
I grabbed Ted’s collar. “Ted, answer me. Who got shot?” I spoke slow and deliberate. He let out a small sigh.
“Jim. He got shot in the thigh.” He saw my face darken. “But that’s it. No one else got hurt, and we chased them off after that. For now at least.” His words trailed off again.
“Where is he?” Ted looked confused. “Jim, damn it. Where’s Jim?” Ted came back to the moment, finally.
“My garage. Let’s go.” Buddy followed as I left my bike in the middle of the road and trotted after Ted to his open garage. Alexis saw me coming and charged me. I was afraid of this. There was more concern on her tear-covered face than anger. She ran out and hugged me tightly.
“Thank God you’re back.” She squeezed tighter than I thought possible. “It’s awful. They shot Jim. For no reason.” She stared up at my face. “They just shot him.” I patted her back and pointed her in the direction of the front stoop.
Safely away from the others, I spoke quietly to the shaken young woman. “Alexis, what happened? Ted’s not telling me everything. At least I don’t think he is.” She opened her mouth, but I stopped her. “Tell me slow and start at the beginning. Okay?” She nodded.
“About an hour ago, those four guys from the other night showed up. Ted saw them right away and yelled for Jim. Ted went over first, yelling at them.” She peered around the corner to be sure Ted wasn’t listening to us. I looked as well. Ted was busy with Jim. For being shot and all, Jim seemed fairly calm. She started again.
“They were yelling something about they knew there was things hidden in that house. The Hillsberg’s house.” I gave her a quick nod. “I don’t know what happened next. Alice screamed and then someone shot. By the time I looked back, everyone had a gun and they all started shooting.” The story went by too fast. There were obvious holes. I needed Alexis to slow down.
“Are you sure it was them? The same kids?” Alexis nodded quickly. “How do you know? For sure, Alexis. Not just what Ted said.”
She thought carefully. “They said they just knew by the way we were guarding that house the other night, they were sure there must be a huge stash of something in there. Something like that.” She looked confused and shook her head. “Then they started shooting.”
I tried to piece together the two tales. Details were coming out, but I didn’t have the complete picture just yet. “When did Jim get shot? Before he shot or after his shot?” She looked surprised.
“I didn’t know Jim shot. I heard a loud blast and then a lot of smaller ones. I suppose Jim could have shot first.” She stared at me, troubled.
“Don’t worry about that. They all shot, so it’s no big deal.” I moved closer to Alexis. “How many times did they shoot? Do you remember?” She carefully considered my question.
“A lot. Maybe 20; maybe more.” I let out a big sigh. That was a lot of shooting. But I suppose with the shots that Ted would have fired in return, it might be close to the number.
“How many times do you think Ted shot? About?” She looked confused, again. A frown crossed her small face and she glanced away. “Alexis? Did Ted shoot first?”
She stared at me more serious than I think I’ve ever seen a person look. Quietly, she answered. “Ted never shot. Not even once. I saw him pointing his gun. But I never heard a shot from him. Except for the first shot, they all came from the other group.” Ted had frozen. He probably forgot to click the safety off. Whatever caused it to happen, Ted never got into the fray. I squeezed my forehead tight.
“How many of the other guys got hit? Did you see any of them being carried off or limping.” I watched her eyes as she shook her head. Dang it.
“They only ran off when Jim fell. I heard them say something about coming back later. But they left when Jim went down. I don’t think his wound is bad. I think he just got grazed on his thigh. But that was enough to scare them off.” Alexis finished quietly.
“Did anyone else come close to getting hit? Ted? Alice? You maybe?” Tears streaked her face. Large brown doe eyes stared intently.
“Ted. One guy stood there and shot four or five times at Ted. I don’t know how he missed. He was only ten yards away. Every time he shot, Ted flinched. But in the end, not one bullet hit him. I thought he was dead with every shot, but he just stood there, flinching, holding his gun out.” Alexis stopped and sobbed. No wonder Ted seemed so off to me. He’d stared death in the face and lived to tell the story.
We joined the rest of the group in the garage. The group was small now. Almost tiny you could say. Jim sat reclined on a chaise lounge surrounded by Ted, Alice, Charles and Charlotte Johnson, and Alexis and myself. Alice, Charles, and Charlotte all looked like they’d seen a ghost. Their faces were white, hands shaky and spirits low. They spoke in soft tones trying to be brave, but their actions denied their lofty motives. Sweat poured down Alice’s pale face. She tried to wipe it away with a piece of paper towel, but the towel was already soaked.
Putting my hand on Jim’s shoulder, I knelt down and spoke. “Hey big guy.” His wound was bloody and raw, but looked superficial. “I think you’re going to live.” He nodded but didn’t speak. “It looks like someone has that wound all cleaned up, so that’s good. A lot of pain?”
“I knew those guys would be back, Bill. I could just feel it in my bones.” He stared harshly at me. “I wasn’t about to let them, or anyone else, loot that house. Not on my watch.” Maybe he was in shock, maybe not. He sounded rational. “You taught me that, Bill. Stand up for what’s yours. Protect your neighbors, right?” A sudden pang of guilt shot through me. Yeah, that was me alright. Stand up and leave was more like it.
I patted his shoulder. “You did good, Jim. Good work.” I rose and looked around the group. They seemed to be waiting on words of encouragement, from me perhaps. I
sighed and avoided all eye contact. “Ted, can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked, leaving the garage.
Ted followed and we stopped on the lawn between our homes. “What’s up, bud?” he asked. I finally saw the fear in his eyes.
Where to start was the problem. “Alexis thinks maybe your gun jammed or something. She mentioned it didn’t seemed like it went off at all.” I tried to give him a small, reassuring smile. He pulled the gun from his pocket.
“I’ve never really shot this particular model.” He paused, looking at the black weapon. His eyes came up to mine. “I’ve never actually shot a handgun before. I didn’t know where the safety was. Still don’t know.” I took the gun and examined it closely.
“I think it’s this lever back here.” I flipped it forward and heard a loud snap. I reset the safety. The process reminded me I should examine the safety on my gun as well. “We should have covered that. My bad.” I gave him the weapon back.
Silence reigned. I needed to ask Ted something else.
“You came pretty close to being shot today.” He looked away and nodded. “I think when there’s a lot of commotion like that, well, it’s easy for things to get confusing. But you shouldn’t just stand there, Ted. You need to find cover at a time like that.” He rubbed his chin and stepped back.
“I swear to you Bill, I could hear those bullets go past. I could feel them they were so close. And I just froze. I didn’t think I was dead, I just couldn’t move. I won’t even say I was scared. I just couldn’t do … anything.” A single tear slid down his face. I had never seen Ted cry in all the years I’d known him. I squeezed his shoulder.
“Ted, I wasn’t here. I won’t judge you. Heck, no one has said a word about me not being here. I’m just glad everyone’s alive. But you need to be more careful.” I turned and gazed at Winston’s home. “I don’t think there’s any need for you to die protecting something Winston abandoned. He’s probably not coming back you know. I don’t think he’d want anyone to get killed in his absence.” The voice was mine, but the words seemed foreign, forced. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ted standing next to me, nodding.
Chapter 14