Jared searched the end of the block in the direction they’d come and saw nothing. He directed the optics in the opposite direction and cupped his hands over the sides of the eyepiece lenses, effectively blocking out any light that might find its way into the eyecups of the binoculars, thus eroding the optics’ nighttime effectiveness.
His heart nearly stopped as he caught sight of two men, one kneeling, the other standing over the top of the kneeling man. In the darkness, Jared could only see the two human figures, but not much else. He strained and wished for the night-vision goggles he’d left behind as he studied the kneeling man. By the way the man seemed to be kneeling, Jared felt fairly certain he was armed with a rifle of some sort.
As Jared was attempting to discern whether or not he was facing men armed with rifles or pistols, he heard the clambering sound of someone scaling one of the backyard fences not more than two or three houses to their rear. His mouth immediately went dry as he felt Stephani’s hand clamp his arm in alarm. For a brief and almost comical moment, Jared realized she was scared half to death and didn’t even know about the two men at the far end of the block.
“Two guys up there,” he said, pointing up the street. “We have to get to the other side of the street; we need to run,” Jared urged.
Stephani squeezed his arm in the darkness, indicating she understood. Jared grabbed her hand, knowing he wasn’t going to stand out in the middle of the street and shoot it out with whoever was trying to contact them. Jared fostered no doubt whoever was out there only intended them harm, so he planned on making him and Stephani a very fast-moving target.
He took her hand like they were on a date walking through the park and not by the wrist, as he was sure John would have done. Jared didn’t know why, but he wanted Stephani to feel an equal in this escape. Somewhere deep in his mind, he felt it would assist her self-confidence going forward, knowing she and Jared survived together because of what they’d both done and not only what Jared had done.
Stephani felt Jared draw a large breath and knew it was time. She coiled her legs like a giant serpent in preparation for the sprint across the street. As Jared exhaled, he leaped to his feet, dragging Stephani to her own feet. The two sprinted across the yard and into the street. As the two reached the midway point of the residential street, a voice boomed out from behind them.
“Hey! Hold up there!” came a man’s voice from behind them, presumably the cause of the clambering they’d heard just as Jared spotted the other two men up the street.
Neither Stephani nor Jared slowed their pace, which prompted a gunshot from the man. The sound of the shot sounded deafeningly close as Jared raced for the safety of the side yard of a small dilapidated green house on the opposite side of the street. Jared heard a loud clatter as shot impacted the fronts of several homes. This told Jared the man was armed with a shotgun. Jared briefly had a fleeting yet comical rumination that were he to be killed, these men would be sadly disappointed to find his pack stuffed with tampons, hair bands and a teddy bear.
Jared was amazed that in in such a short period of time, he was now able to know the man was using a shotgun based on the sound of the impacting ammunition. Were the weapon a hunting or assault rifle, there would have been a single impact and not the clatter of multiple projectiles striking the house fronts. Jared was also reasonably sure that if the man were armed with an assault rifle, there would have been several additional shots fired.
Tragically, Jared’s knowledge regarding the munition’s impact came from hearing the shotgun blast that killed Dwight. Other than the two pellets that found their way to Dwight, the rest had clattered in much the same manner as the ones tonight.
As if to confirm his opinion, Jared heard the distinct sound of a shotgun racking additional ammunition into the weapon’s chamber. He knew what was next, and the man did not disappoint. Just as Jared and Stephani cleared the side of the green derelict home, the shotgun roared again, and for the second time, Jared heard the clatter of shot colliding with the siding on the house.
“You okay?” he said over his shoulder as the two ran down the side of the house towards the back fence. When Jared reached the side yard, he’d let go of Stephani’s hand and darted down the narrow confines of the side yard.
“Scared,” came her terse response.
Jared almost turned and smiled. If she maintained the wherewithal to give him that response, she was doing good enough. As they approached the six-foot-tall wooden fence separating the property’s rear yard from the property on the next block, Jared wished he’d told Stephani to ready the rifle before they started their mad dash for safety.
“You first this time,” Jared called out as they closed on the fence.
Neither of them had trained for this moment, nor had they enjoyed time to rehearse, so as Stephani grabbed the boards at the top of the barrier, pulling herself upward, Jared planted both hands directly on her butt and pushed as hard as he could. He was surprised at how easily Stephani went up and over the obstacle. The woman could only have weighed one hundred and five pounds at the very most, he thought as he latched onto the fence and hauled himself over.
When Stephani didn’t slap him for getting handsy with her, relief washed over him. Jared again snatched her hand in his and sprinted down the side yard of
