Amber nodded and wiped at the sheen of sweat on her forehead. "Why can't we just yell at him and tell him to leave?"
Cami's mouth drew into a tight line. "Giving away our position is a bad idea, for one thing. For another, if we just yell at him and don't back it up with at least a show of force, it'll just make these fools bolder. If he's part of the group that's already robbed several houses in the neighborhood, then we’ve got to make a stand and we've got to do it now before they decide to take over the whole neighborhood.”
“Why us? Why now?” asked Amber as she gripped her pistol tight.
“I draw the line when someone wants to break into my house. Now put the pistol away and take the rifle." She looked at Mitch. “You use the shotgun—it’ll be easier to fire and much more effective at close range.”
"Right there with you, Cami-san,” Mitch said. He grimaced. "Wasn't planning on shooting anybody today, but it is the apocalypse…”
Cami clapped him on the shoulder. "That's the spirit. Remember guys: aim small, miss small."
Amber nodded and holstered her pistol, then removed the rifle from her shoulder and moved off, muttering the mantra to herself as she slipped through the bushes. Mitch did likewise in the opposite direction, waited for a long moment, then burst from the tree line and sprinted to the shed. He tripped halfway there, but managed to not lose the shotgun, and recovered in time to make it to the back of the shed unseen.
Cami exhaled and took one last look. The stranger was indeed on the far side of the house and out of sight. She left the tree line and quick-crawled to the edge of the garden. Once she dropped down to the grass and felt the cool embrace of the earth, she slithered forward to the corner and kept her pistol up and ready.
It took her a long moment to find Amber hidden in the trees at the edge of Marty's property, but her daughter had followed the plan exactly. As Cami watched, Amber climbed up about ten feet into the big pine tree she used to climb as a little girl. Propped up on one of the branches, Amber all but disappeared except for the rifle and scope that nudged aside one of the boughs. Grateful that Amber had thought of using the high ground to their advantage, Cami felt even more reassured that they could pull it off when the man stumbled back around the corner of the house and shouted something.
Cami tensed, got to one knee, and raised her pistol to take aim at the stranger's chest. He turned, glared at the house, and threw his arms up in frustration.
"Hello? Isn't anybody there? Where are you?" he shouted. "Somebody's got to help me!" he cried in a weaker voice as he lowered his arms in defeat.
Cami narrowed her eyes and took aim. Something about the man's voice triggered a memory that she couldn't shake. He sounded far too familiar for her to just blindly fire away. She muttered a curse under her breath. "If you value your life, freeze!” she shouted. “You turn around or look anywhere other than where you're looking right now, and it'll be the last mistake you ever make!"
The man threw his arms up and all but danced in excitement. "Don't shoot, don't shoot! I'm not here to hurt anybody!"
"I'll be the judge of that, now stop movin’ around. I'm not the only one that's got a gun drawn on you."
"No, don't kill me! I've come too far! Please—I’m just trying to find my son!"
Mitch appeared around the side of the shed, his shotgun aimed at the ground. "What are you doing?” Cami yelled.
Mitch ignored her and walked closer to the man. “Dad?"
Regardless of her orders, the stranger turned, and Cami realized exactly who it was. She let out the breath she'd been holding and quickly pointed her pistol at the ground as she jumped to her feet and turned to warn off Amber. "Hold your fire! Hold your fire!"
"What's going on?" Amber hollered from the tree.
Cami frowned. "Just stay there!" she yelled back. So much for not giving away their positions.
When she turned back to Mitch, he'd embraced the bedraggled man in his filthy clothes, the shotgun left abandoned on the ground.
Cami moved quickly across the yard and kept her pistol ready, but aimed in a safe direction, and retrieved the shotgun. No force on earth was going to take that weapon—Reese's favorite—from her possession. Over the past week, things like the shotgun had come to represent Reese in her mind, and she found herself unusually attached to them. Cami didn’t consider herself an overly sentimental person when it came to possessions, but she made an exception for the marine shotgun with its shiny stainless-steel barrel.
"Dad! I can't believe you made it! I'd all but—I-I didn't think…” Mitch stammered as he choked back tears.
Mitch’s dad laughed and cried at the same time, held his son at arm’s length and took a good long look, then embraced him once more and buried his face on his son’s shoulder. He only looked up when Cami cleared her throat, then smiled as he wiped tears from his mud-streaked face.
"Oh Cami, I can't thank you enough. I can't believe you kept my boy safe—thank you so much," he babbled as he stepped from his son and reached out to embrace Cami.
“Gary, thank God! It’s so good to see you,” Cami said as she hugged her friend. Tears welled in her eyes. If he could make it home…maybe Reese still had a chance.
Cami called Amber down out of the tree
