Her attempts to reassure him that she was all right seemed sincere, but he noticed the constant glances over at the body and the resulting look on her face. Rescuing the dogs would give her something to focus on, and it would be a feel-good moment when they let them out of the cages. That was what she needed. Of course, his plan could backfire if there were moonshiners waiting for them when they got there.
Sandy stayed a few paces behind Ben, and he was impressed with her ability to keep up and move quietly without any instruction. They made their way through the camp without incident, and the only moonshiners they crossed paths with were already dead.
Ben motioned for Sandy to stay put before moving to his position. He wanted to take a look and see what they were dealing with. As he crept around the container, he could tell by the yellow glow that reflected off the metal container wall that the small campfire the two moonshiners had going earlier was still burning brightly. He wished he had better cover, and the light made him feel exposed.
As he was about to ease his head around the corner, a shadow appeared on the container wall across from them, and Ben froze. He watched as it grew larger, and he barely made it to his feet as the moonshiner came around the corner. He was carrying a lever-action rifle of some sort and stomping clumsily through the brush when he nearly ran into Ben.
He tried to raise the rifle but was less than a foot away, and Ben was able to grab the gun and force it back against the man. Gunner and Sam let out a barrage of barks and growls, watching helplessly from their cages while Ben wrestled with the man. If Gunner had been loose, the fight would have been over before it started, but he wasn’t. Ben was on his own, and there was no safe way for Sandy to take a shot without the risk of hitting him.
The guy was huge, towering over Ben’s six-foot-two-inch frame by at least six inches. He also had him in size by a good fifty pounds, apparently all made of muscle. Ben could smell the moonshine on his breath as they struggled, and for a brief moment, he thought that he might have bitten off more than he could chew. At least Sandy was there to put a bullet in the guy and the kids would be safe.
No. He wasn’t going out like this. He wasn’t going to let this piece of subhuman trash take away his chance to watch his kids grow up. Ben dug deep. Through the fatigue, through the hunger and the thirst, he summoned the strength from somewhere to free his hand with the pistol and push it into the man’s chest.
Bang! Bang!
The sound was deafening at that range, and Ben felt the impact of the bullets as they blasted through the man. Ben let go of the lever-action rifle, which was still between them, and the moonshiner took a step back and looked down at his chest. He reached for the wound and tried to touch the gaping hole but fell backward before he could.
Ben stood over the body for a moment longer, ignoring the barking dogs for now. He had to make sure the guy was dead, although there was no way he was getting up from that. He kicked the rifle away from the man and motioned for Sandy to join him. She was still hiding in the last cluster of bushes with her hand over her mouth.
Ben waved her over again. “Come on.”
She snapped out of it and ran to him this time.
“Are you okay?” she asked while taking in his blood-soaked shirt.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s not mine. Let’s get these dogs out of here.” Ben’s head was still spinning a little from the fight and he felt dizzy, but he didn’t want to stop moving, mostly because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to start again. The dogs had changed their tune now, and the growls turned to yips of excitement as their wagging tails thrashed against the tiny cages. Sandy freed Gunner first, then Sam without hesitation, but she paused when she reached the other dog.
Gunner and Sam both ran to Ben, begging for attention. Ben mustered enough strength to give them each a few reassuring rubs on the head.
“What do you think?” Sandy asked.
The dog was a pit bull. A little thin but by no means too weak to give either one of them a run for their money if it turned out to be hostile. Sandy put the back of her hand up to the kennel and let the dog smell her. In a matter of seconds, a bright pink tongue was lapping at Sandy’s fingers through the wire cage, and the dog’s tail was wagging in a way that made its whole body wiggle.
“Aw, she looks friendly,” Sandy said affectionately as she crouched down to take a closer look at the tag. “Her name’s Bajer.” She had her fingers through the cage now and was scratching Bajer’s snoot. The dog was eating it up and ringing the kennel wall with her tail like it was a cymbal.
“All right, let her out.” He didn’t have the energy to argue or the heart to leave the poor dog locked up. Gunner and Sam were all noses as Bajer jumped down from the kennel, and the two of them cornered her for a brief moment. Ben braced for a fight, but it never came. Instead, Gunner threw his paws together on the ground and hunched down in the way he did when he was trying to initiate a game of chase.
“Looks like they get along,” Sandy said.
“Good, now let’s get back to the…”
“Ben, what is it?”
Something had caught Ben’s eye while he was talking, and he approached the container closest to the stacked cages.
