Joe came into the den, walked to the gun cabinet, and picked out a Remington Model 870 Bushmaster with a twenty inch barrel. 'I got me a good rifle out in the car. This here will do for close work.' He looked at Sam. 'You got plenty of shells for this?'
'All we'll need to hold up the sporting goods store and get some more,' Sam said grinning.
Joe also grinned. He shook his head in disbelief. 'I been a cop for more years than I like to think about. Now I get to operate from the other side of the fence. Should be interestin'.'
'Let's start loading up the cars and trucks, people,' Sam said. He walked over to the coffee table and picked up the handy-talkie to call Monty and tell him they were on their way.
The telephone rang, startling them all. Sam picked up the receiver. It hummed for a few seconds, then clicked, a voice taking the place of the hum. 'You will all die,' a man said. 'And you will die slowly and painfully, and with much humiliation. Turn on your TV set to the early local news.' The voice was gone. The phone went dead.
'Something up?' Joe asked.
'Yeah. And I bet you I know what it is.' Sam walked to the TV set and flipped it on, turning to the channel that carried news of local interest to that area the station served.
'—And in news of interest to the residents living in Clark County, especially those who might be considering travel on routes 12B, 12C, or 467, in a word—don't! Those routes have all been closed for one week, effective at six this morning. All you folks up there in Logandale—
Sam clicked off the set. 'Hell of a choice of words,' he said. 'Cheerful son-of-a-bitch doesn't realize just how accurate he was.'
'Kowalski's lyin' through his dentures,' Joe said. 'He didn't tell Monty or me about any damn closin' of roads around this area.'
'Of course not,' Sam said. 'The mayor is one of them. But it makes me more certain I'm right about the coven members' plans. I had a hunch—no, that's not it. I guess Dad must have told me. I don't think they're going to wait until the thirty-first. I think the timetable's been altered. I think Saturday night is their deadline. I don't know how I know that. I just do. And I think, from what Satan told me, after he kicked me in the butt and just before he pissed on me, that they're going to play with us for a time. Then they'll try to panic us. But they're going to have a hell of a time doing that if we're bunkered in tight.'
'Let's get to it, folks,' Joe said. 'We got a lot of work to do.'
'1 got the same call you did,' Monty told Sam. 'We all heard the news. No telling how long all this has been in the works.' He shook his head. 'Stick up the sporting goods store, Sam? Steal guns and food and ammunition? 1 don't know about that.'
Sam was mildly amused at the cop in the man. 'You think we can just walk into the place and buy what we're going to need, Monty?'
Monty opened his mouth to argue. Before he could speak, there was a knock on the door. Noah opened it and looked into the faces of Father John Morton and his wife, with Byron Price and Richard Hasseling in tow.
'Have the doubting Thomases reversed their positions on the matter of Satan?' Noah asked, waving the group inside.
'Please don't rub our mistakes raw, Mr. Crisp,' Richard said. 'Believe me when I say that you are looking at a very confused group of people.'
'Call me Noah. And you're right. I am sorry for the unwarranted sarcasm. But the past night has been rather harrowing for all of us.'
Viv took Barbara Morton's hand and led her into the kitchen for coffee. Richard and Byron told the group of their experience with the invisible shield covering the area. Byron pointed to the knot on his head.
'I lost both my faith and my temper out there,' the man admitted. 'Several times. But I rediscovered both, never fear.'
Sam came right to the point. 'Can either of you men use any type of weapon? Rifle, pistol, or shotgun?'
Father John Morton and Richard Hasseling had had some experience with rifles and shotguns when in their teens. But neither had fired a gun in years. Byron was city born and reared and had never fired a gun in his life.
Shit! Sam thought. Another argument for compulsory military training. 'Well, you'll just have to learn. A very few of us will have to be covering a lot of ground, and all of us will have to man a perimeter. Let's get to it, people.'
The small caravan of Christians made their way slowly into the main part of Logandale. There was not a living soul on the sidewalks when they began the move, but all were conscious of being watched from the houses. Each window seemed to contain an evil face. Each vehicle was equipped with a Logandale P.D. handy-talkie and they kept in constant touch. Each person knew the agenda.
First the sporting goods store for guns and ammunition. The big supermarket on the edge of town for supplies was second. The Catholic church was next for holy water. The service station on the way out of the main part of town was fourth. There they would top off their tanks to be ready for the run for safety. Fifth was the dash for Fox Estate.
Sam led the way in his pickup. Nydia, in her car, with Little Sam and Mille followed him. Mille's pistol was in her hand. And Joe had told Sam that he had no doubts as to Mille's reaction if trouble began. She would shoot first and ask questions later. Desiree and Jeanne rode with John and Barbara Morton. Fourth in the parade was Richard Hasseling and Byron Price. Noah rode with them, his .357 in his hand. Monty and Viv were fifth. Father Le Moyne drove the last vehicle, with Joe riding shotgun.
These, then, were the only organized humans in Logandale opposing the forces of the Dark One.
