Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (31 page)

She most likely would have passed out if not for the extraordinary event that happened next. The dog didn’t rip her throat out as she feared but licked her from her lips all the way to her hairline. The thick saliva trail nearly finished off what the dead family in the living room started
, her stomach was roiling
. The thick muzzle still hung perilously close to her face, she in no way wanted to provoke the beast but if she could somehow get herself into a more defendable position
maybe she could still get out of there.

***

The beast which she dubbed Sampson drank greedily from the empty coffee can she had filled with water. She wasn’t completely comfortable with the dog but he didn’t seem now to be so intent on ripping her face off
, if he ever had
. A perfunctory tour of the rest of the house showed the dog h
a
d nothing to do with the carnage in the living room
.
F
ar from it. The near starving dog had not taken even the slightest bit of mea
t from it
s
now deceased
family
.
F
rom what Beth could tell
,
the dog more than likely had been locked in the laundry room when the killings had begun. The door was
a
thin paneled
one that
had been nearly shredded in the dog’s attempts to vacate the room and most likely assist in the defense of his family. Unfortunately
,
his freedom had come far too late or she figured that the killer or killers would have had some serious problems to contend with when the dog unleashed his savage fury.

“You hungry
,
boy?” Beth said as she returned from the top floor, checking to see if
there
was anything that could help her during the rest of her trek. Sampson looked up and what at first Beth took to be another growl quickly turned into a floor rumbling belch. Beth sighed in quick relief.

“Let’s go
,
boy
.
L
et’s find somewhere a little more hospitable for the night.” With uncanny understanding
,
the dog walked to the opening of the living room and let out a slow
,
mournful throaty sound and walked out the
front
door into the burgeoning twilight. Beth shook her head and followed.
She
saw some small fires off in the distance, but her trust of the majority of humanity had taken
a serious hit and she planned to avoid those small outposts of ‘civilization’ at all costs. Anyway
,
it seemed Sampson was of the same ilk, he walked a few steps ahead of her but in a direction parallel to the fires, always keeping them downwind, most likely so he could tell if anyone approached. Beth was thankful for the company even if she thought only fifteen minutes ago he was going to eat her. Sampson turned every few streetlamps to make sure his new charge followed, Beth wasn’t sure where he was headed but it was nice to follow for a change. After a while
,
Sampson stopped his tail wagging
.
Beth approached cautiously.

“What is it
,
boy?” Beth said as she approached the dog. His tail moved faster at her words, he waited for
her to catch up and made a beeline for the variety store ahead. Even from this distance and in the near darkness
,
Beth could tell the pickings were going to be slim. Most of the empty shelves had been overturned and the windows broken out
.
W
hat had been in
there
once was long gone. Sampson was not deterred, he strode purposefully through the shattered door, Beth approached more deliberately with her rifle at the ready. Food debris littered the floor, the crunching of old cereal echoing eerily in the emptiness. Sampson did his best to clean the mess up, she thought she may have named him incorrectly, Hoover seemed a much more apt
moniker
. Beth walked through the store
,
hoping that possibl
y
some edible morsel had been passed over or else she would be on the ground s
o
on fighting Sampson f
or floor scraps.
She
walked in
to the back storage area
.
T
his place was worse off then the rest of the store. She was about to walk back through the door
and
out in
to the main part of the
place
when a shimmer of red and yellow caught her attention, it was almost completely under a rack used for dairy products, a nearly full box of
S
lim
J
ims. Something which at one time she would have turned her nose up to but right now it took on a near mystic quality. Had she found filet mignon right now she couldn’t have been more pleased.

“Sampson!”
s
he cried. The dog slammed through the door quicker than Beth could have imagined. Eyes wild, teeth bared. Whatever trauma he had been through
,
he was anxious to make sure it never happened again. Beth was in awe of his
reaction
.

“It’s nothing
,
boy
.
C
ome here.” His face quickly relaxed and his tail began to wag as he realized there was no threat to his new pack. He trotted over, pieces of Cap’n
Crunch still clinging to his snout.

“You big moosh
,” she said
as she wiped the cereal off him. “I’ve got something you might like a little better.” Sampson’s tail wagged even more furiously as he got his first
whiff
of the near meat product being unwrapped. Drool
poured from his mouth
.
Beth was tempted to put the
S
lim
J
im on the ground
,
lest the dog in his haste mistakenly
take
her fingers off. But he waited patiently as she struggled with the
wrapper.
W
hen she put her shaking hand out to his mouth, Sampson looked into her eyes, as if to ask if she wanted him to have this tasty treat.

“You led me here, you should have the first bite.”

Sampson gently took the offering from her hand and in one bite had the snack in his mouth. Beth couldn’t be entirely sure, but she would have sworn on a
B
ible that he was smiling. Beth took a little more time to savor hers, but not by much. Sampson waited patiently
,
his front paws occasionally pattering in anticipation but he never made a threatening move. Ten minutes later and a dozen and a half
Slim J
ims gone they headed back to the main part of the store. Hunger not yet gone, but the edge definitely dulled. Sampson stopped first
,
frozen in place right at the door
.
Beth stopped to
o
,
she hadn’t heard anything
,
but the dog’s reaction froze her in her tracks.

“Are you sure you saw somebody walk in
here
,
Jimmy?” The deep voice carried even in hushed tones.

Beth’s heart began to trip over itself
.
What is wrong with people?
s
he wondered. Sampson made as if to go through the door and deal with the threat. Beth gently put her hand on his massive shoulder,
his
muscles quivered with a surge of adrenaline. He looked up at Beth
,
she shook her head and mouthed the word ‘no’. Sampson eased a little. Muscles not shaking but they were taut, he would react quickly if the need arose.

Beth could tell the people in the store were trying to be stealthy but the spilled dry goods on the floor made
their
approach pathetically loud in the eerie quiet. She could
hear the two men methodically walk up each aisle
,
searching. Why they were so intent on finding her was a mystery.

“Whoever you are, you need to come
out
,”
o
ne of the voices yelled dangerously close to her hiding spot. Sampson laid his ears back, as if to make himself more aerodynamic when he sprang. “This is our store and we don’t take kindly to looters!”

“
Looting?
”
s
he
whispered,
“there’s nothing in here.”

Sampson turned to look at her, as if to say, ‘be quiet’.

“Yeah
,
we won’t hurt you
,”
c
ame the other voice.

"
Yeah
,
right, where have I heard that before
?
" She mumbled.

Sampson looked at her again as if beseeching her to stay quiet, even if she had said it loud enough for only the dog to hear.

“
Okay, okay
,”
s
he mouthed. Sampson seemed to be happy with her answer and returned his full attention to the store room door.

“Listen
,
we’re good people, we don’t want any trouble
.
W
e just want you out of here.”

Beth knew she was being stupid, but he sounded sincere
.
S
he was about to go through the door, when a voice she heard too many times before froze her in her tracks.

“You might not be looking for trouble
,
but it sure as hell found you
,”
c
ame the voice of the man that had been relentless
ly
tracking her for miles.

“Look
,
mister
,
we
—
” Beth never heard the rest of the man’s plea as a gunshot
roared through the store.

“Wait
-
wait
,”
c
ame the other man’
s cry, but it fell on deaf ears.
A
nother shot silenced him even before he could ask God for help.

The acrid smell of
gun smoke
filled the small store
room
.
Beth feared Sampson might sneeze. But he held fast
,
even more leery than he had been only moments before. When the echoing from the rounds had finally dimmed, the man spoke again.

“Honey, I’m home
,”
c
ame the almost cheery voice, but Beth could feel the malice
dripping
from
his
words. “Are you here? Were you just picking me up a little something?”

Pegged
knew in the very depths of his black soul that his quarry was in
the
store somewhere. He wanted to
rush in and finish this off now, but there was absolutely no light in
side whatso
ever and she could be anywhere. And something else was troubling him
;
he couldn’t be sure
,
but he didn’t think
s
he was alone
.
H
e didn’t know why he thought that
,
but he was sure
. And whoever was in there
with her was dangerous
.
V
ery
dangerous
.

“What kind of fucking greeting is
this
,
bitch!”
h
e yelled in impotent rage. “I come miles and miles to see you and you don’t even come to
m
eet me
at the door
—
pretty ungrateful if you ask me
!?”

He
’
s the devil incarnate
, Beth thought.
How in God’s name could he possibly know I’m in here
?
Beth didn’t dare voice her concern for fear the man’s hearing was somehow even better than Sampson’s. Sampson even
sensed
how dangerous this man could be
.
H
e didn’t back down but his stance showed he was going to be more on the defensive. Beth understood his motives completely.

She jumped a little bit when
Pegged
startled her out of her thoughts.

“I’d love to come in and shop with you
,
but I think I might wait until the morning when I can see a little better.