“Hang on! That’s Charlie Wiebermann!” Mr. Randolph stated.
“Not anymore.” Romy surprised herself with her cool detachment.
The thing that used to be Charlie Wiebermann slammed his fists and head repeatedly into the glass. A crack appeared, spiderwebbed, and in moments the entire window crashed inwards with a huge noise. Charlie fell through the window frame and landed on all the glass. Without any thought about the damage he was doing to himself, he started to get up again.
Romy took three quick steps forward, leveled her mini desert eagle, and put a bullet into Charlie’s head.
They all stood around in shocked silence for a moment.
Mrs. van der Laar was first to act. She walked up to the gun safe.
“Ralph, Cover the window in case another one shows up. You got the key to this thing?”
“Um... Yes, Mrs. van der Laar –“
“Michelle. Just call me Michelle.”
“Uh, ok. Michelle.” He reached into a desk and produced the key. In short order Michelle had the door of the safe open and collected a couple of rifles and another shotgun. She placed these on a desk, then went back to gather some ammunition.
“Any .380 or nine mill ammo in there?” Romy came over to inspect the safe. She had no spare mags or bullets other than the ones in her guns.
“couple of boxes of nine mill. No .380 in here, though.” Michelle handed Romy the boxes.
“Thanks.” She took the boxes, “I’m Romy.”
Michelle raised an eyebrow and faced the younger woman. “I know.” She said, not altogether unfriendly.
Mr. Randolph had picked up a rifle and was loading it by the time Michelle and Romy got back to the desk.
“I see some figures moving this way! They’re about a block away.” Ralph called out anxiously from the window.
Michelle nodded. “Ok. We got the guns and ammo we were looking for. Let’s hit the road.”
“Where are you going to go?” Romy couldn’t resist asking.
“Anywhere but here, sister.” She said with a smile. “We figure we would head back out of town and maybe hide out at my farm.”
“They’re getting closer, guys!” Ralph called from the window.
Michelle turned to Romy. “Want to come with?”
Romy nodded. Michelle looked over her shoulder. “Ralph are you staying here, or do you want to come with us. We figure on holing up at the farm.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice!” He turned from the window. “They’re still a half a block away.”
Michelle nodded at the table. “Let’s get this stuff loaded up and hit the road.”
They all grabbed some items and left the sheriff’s office. The sun was high in the sky. It was early afternoon.
Mercifully, the coast was clear. Michelle stuffed the extra rifle, shotgun and ammo behind her seat. The Randolphs jumped into the truck with her. Ralph and Romy got in the police cruiser.
“Follow me!” Ralph called out before they pulled out of the lot. He put on his lights and sirens, and the two-vehicle convoy headed up first avenue. The plan was to head up to center street, which was the old highway back before the freeway was built. That would lead them out of town and towards Michelle’s farm.
The plan never got further than two blocks, when another car t-boned the cruiser.
Time slowed down to a crawl for Romy as the accident happened. The screech of brakes seemed to go on forever. She turned her head in slow motion. Her eyes tracking the windshield, steering wheel, side window and finally beyond that window. The grill of a vehicle approaching from their left. Then the impact. The sound of crumpling metal. The sight of Ralph getting crushed and the sudden shower of glass flying through the interior of the cruiser. The glass shards captured the sunlight and sparkled in many colours, as if each one had captured a rainbow. It would have been a beautiful sight.
And then the impact, smacking Romy first into Ralph then into her own side window.
Then nothing.
The next thing Romy knew, she was being assisted out of the car by Mr. Randolph.
“Thank god you wore your seatbelt, missy!” He stated as he guided her to the truck. She was in a daze. She saw the ground drag by below her. She lifted her head at the sound of a loud report, and saw Michelle standing on top of her truck, a hint of smoke drifting from the barrel of the rifle she held to her cheek. She saw the fire explode out of her gun as she shot again and was surprised that the sound followed a second later. More hands grabbed her. She felt herself being lifted and could only see sky for several moments. They placed her on her back in the bed of the pickup truck. Mr. Randolph stayed with her.
As the truck started moving, time and sound finally aligned again in Romy’s head. She was aware when the truck took a right turn and felt well enough to sit up with Mr. Randolph’s help.
She watched the town grow smaller as the truck pulled away.
“Ralph.” She managed to croak.
Mr. Randolph’s face dropped into a sad frown. “Sorry lass. He didn’t make it.”
Romy didn’t really know what to feel. She’d hardly known the Deputy. He did save her from rape, and released her from that cell, which surely spared her life.
Flashes of the crash came back to her. Ralph wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. She remembered the slow-motion images of his body lifting and smashed into the door and window. That rainbow sparkle of glass also included a multitude of droplets of blood.
Romy looked down. Her hands, her lap and her legs were covered in blood. None of it her own.
The truck had gone several minutes when it suddenly slowed down. Romy looked over to see a boy running up to them.
Michelle and the boy had an exchange of words. The boy jumped into the truck bed with her and Mr. Randolph. Romy didn’t recognize him, but apparently Michelle had. The kid’s
