Moving to a door on the side of the garage, Wendy unlocked it and peeked outside. “Oh,” Wendy said, seeing two Harley Davison motorcycles and a Jeep. The Jeep was jacked way up and Wendy knew Arthur would’ve liked it, but there wasn’t a top. Turning to the motorcycles, they just looked expensive to Wendy.
Closing the door, Wendy went and checked on the girls. “I’m going to the backyard, do you want to come?” she asked and the girls grabbed Ryan, flying out of the office.
When they were outside, Wendy looked at the swimming pool. “No, you can’t swim,” she told them.
“I’m kind of tired of water,” Sally admitted and Jo Ann agreed with a nod.
“Have to say, I am too,” Wendy said, walking over to a small shed in the corner. Finding a lawn mower and weed eater, Wendy also found an axe, a machete, and a hatchet and tossed them out the door for road debris removal, but hoped she wouldn’t need them. Seeing two five-gallon fuel cans and a long flexible funnel, Wendy tossed them out after feeling that the fuel cans were empty and grabbed a spool of rope.
Walking out, she saw the twins playing with Ryan in the grass. The twins were being very quiet and like he knew, Ryan was being quiet with his coos. Gathering the stuff on the ground, Wendy carried it to the garage and finished gathering tools, then grabbed a five-gallon fuel can from under the workbench.
Looking at the sedan, “Nope, I’ll just siphon the gas. Punching a hole in the fuel tank will be loud and we aren’t ready to leave yet,” Wendy reasoned and grabbed the long hose.
Shoving the end in the gas tank, Wendy blew into the hose and then briefly sucked and took the hose from her mouth, putting it in a fuel can. Letting that one fill up, Wendy pulled over another one that was empty. When the fuel stopped, Wendy figured she had only gotten seven gallons from the sedan.
Using the funnel, Wendy poured the gas into the Tahoe and then moved up to turn the key on. “That’s bullshit! You didn’t even move up to three quarters of a tank,” she moaned at the gas gauge. Turning the key off and yanking it out, Wendy clipped it on her suspenders.
She emptied the Jeep and found a full metal gas can in the back. Saving that, Wendy emptied the motorcycles and was happy that the Tahoe was now full. Putting the metal gas can in the back, Wendy started arranging the area.
Climbing out, Wendy went inside to the kitchen and started opening cabinets. “What the hell did you eat?” she asked toward the couch. Besides a few boxes of cereal and crackers, the cabinets held dishes and glasses.
Not about to open the fridge, Wendy closed the cabinets and headed back to the office. Collecting all the magazines for the pistols she had, Wendy grabbed AR magazines and set them on the desk. Inspecting the rifles as she turned back, Wendy saw four ARs and then looked closer and realized one was an M4. She grabbed it, and one of the ARs that had everything one could put on an AR.
“You must be kin to my husband,” Wendy mumbled, setting the rifles on the desk. Seeing a closet door, Wendy moved over and stopped at the wall that was covered with pictures. One was of the same young man and woman with a date of last February.
On the young man’s collar were shiny sergeant pins. “You got promoted. That’s why your stuff is set up different,” Wendy mumbled as she opened the closet. Seeing metal and plastic ammo cans, Wendy started pulling them out.
“There’s no way I’ll need this much ammo,” Wendy said, looking at the ten cans she had pulled out. “Screw it, I’m taking it.”
Checking the safe before she closed it, Wendy saw a .38 revolver and two compact 9mm Glocks. Tossing them onto the desk, Wendy closed the safe and then started carrying the stuff to the Tahoe. Instead of moving through the house, Wendy walked out the back to check on the kids and used the side door on the garage. Placing one Glock in the door bin on the driver’s door, Wendy put the .38 in an overhead storage rack after removing stacks of forms. The last Glock, she set on the center console. Grabbing the PVS-14, Wendy put it in one of the overhead storage bins so she could grab it fast.
Leaving the AR with all the attachments out, Wendy opened the storage drawer that covered the cargo floor. Removing more stacks of forms, Wendy put the other weapons she was taking inside and then filled the drawer with the other supplies that would fit.
When she was done, Wendy looked at her watch and saw it was just after noon. “It took me three hours to load all that?” Wendy mumbled in shock.
Shaking her head, she walked over and saw the twins eating peanut butter and crackers. That was the staple Wendy had packed for them. Between the twins, Ryan was on a blanket fast asleep.
“We ready?” Sally asked, handing over a cracker loaded with peanut butter.
“We could leave, but I want to check the house next door and the one after it,” Wendy answered and then shoved the cracker in her mouth. As she chewed, Jo Ann held up a bottle of water.
As Wendy took the bottle, Jo Ann asked. “Why do
