The Switch (7 page)

Samuel said nothing.

Chapter 10

It had been an exciting and
unusual day. Everyone was tired but happy to be making camp early. David and
Cameron took a short walk to find firewood but came back empty handed.

David announced, “No
firewood, no fire tonight.”

John asked, “Did you see a
pond or creek?”

“No, no bath tonight either.”

John was not going to go to
bed sweaty and dirty so he waited until it was dark and swung the .22 rifle
over his shoulder. “There is an exit about a mile up the road. I am going to
find some water to clean up.” He put his flashlight into his pants pocket and pushed
his bike back up to the highway.

The night air was cool and he
rode slowly along the dark roadway to the exit. He coasted down the exit ramp
and into a gas station and convenience store. He stopped at the edge of the lot
and sat still observing the store and surrounding area for several minutes. He laid
down his bike in the middle of the lot and sneaked his way to the side of the
building. He held the flashlight in his left hand and held the rifle in his
right, ready to shoot if he had to. He heard no noise nor saw any movement
around the building.

The glass in one of the large
windows was broken out so he stepped through into the store. He walked between
the aisles and found that there was only a few food items still on the racks.
He ignored the food and went to the men’s room. The smell nearly knocked him
down but he went into the stall and sat down to take care of business as fast
as he could.

He went back outside and took
several deep breaths trying to wash the stench from his nostrils and lungs. He
walked around the far corner of the building and found an outside faucet and
water hose. He took off his shirt and was unzipping his pants when he caught a
glimpse of someone walking towards the building from the street. He could not
see well enough to tell if the person was a man or woman, but the person had
not seemed to notice him. He stood motionless against the building and watched
the person get closer.

When the person went into the
building he zipped up his pants and walked to the corner of the building. He
stood motionless with just his head peeking around the corner of the building
so he could see when the person left. He was only fifteen feet from the broken window
and could hear the person moving things around inside. After about ten minutes
the person came out carrying a bag or sack. He could see the person was fairly
small, maybe only five four, so he figured the person was a woman.

He took a half step forward
trying to see better and his foot bumped a discarded soda can.

At the sound of the can
scraping the parking lot, the person turned quickly and screamed.

John said, “Don’t be afraid,
I won’t hurt you. I am just here cleaning up and looking for food”.

The woman dropped the bag and
ran directly at him.

He ducked and tried to spin
away but the person leaped on his back. He bent at the waist and tried flip the
person over his shoulder as he twisted and pulled on the person’s right arm but
he felt a sharp pain on the left side of his face. He grabbed his face and felt
blood.

He spun harder knocking her from
his back onto the ground. She jumped up and swung to cut him again, but he was
able to jump back and she missed. When she lunged at him the third time, he
threw a punch with his right hand and hit her directly in the middle of the
face. She dropped to the ground like a wet dishrag.

He leaned back against the
side of the building and felt his cut again. Blood was flowing, but as best he
could tell it did not seem to be a deep cut. He stepped slowly towards the
woman and looked at the knife on the ground beside her right hand. He put his
foot onto her wrist and picked up the knife. He bent down and looked into her
face. Her nose and lips were bleeding and he could see her chest expanding
slightly as she breathed.

He kept an eye on her as he
walked to the side of the building and the water hose. He washed his face as
best he could before going back into the store and searching the shelves for
first aid supplies. He used his flashlight and was able to find a box of band
aides and tube of antiseptic.

He stood so he could see the
broken window, watching for the woman. As he dressed the cut with the
antiseptic and tried to put a couple of band aides over it. The blood was still
flowing and the band aides would not stick so he found a roll of paper towels
and ripped open the plastic covering. He folded two of the paper towels a
couple of times and held them against the cut on his face applying direct
pressure until the blood flow slowed.

He continued to hold the
paper towels on the cut when he went back outside and found the woman was gone.
He aimed the flashlight on the ground and saw a trail of blood droplets leading
away from the spot where she was on the ground. He moved the light’s beam
towards the street but could not see her.

He returned to the water hose
and removed all of his clothes. He held the hose over his neck and shoulders
being careful not to let the water get onto his cut and reopen the wound. He
washed with his left hand as he held pressure on the cut with his right. The
cool night air evaporating the water from his skin was cold but refreshing. He
used some of the paper towels to dry off before getting dressed.

He put the rifle sling over
his shoulder, climbed onto his bicycle, and pedaled away while still holding
pressure on his cut.

He held the handlebars with
his left hand and pedaled back to the highway and the camp site.

When he got back to camp,
everyone but David was asleep, he was standing with his back against a tree
acting as a guard. When he saw John’s face he shook his head and asked what
happened.

John’s only response was
“women”. He crawled into his tent with no further explanation.

Chapter 11

David moved from tent to tent
and woke everyone about thirty minutes before daylight.

“Time to rise everyone. If we
want to get through Nashville before the bad guys get up and moving, we need to
break camp as fast as possible, no dilly-dagging, let’s get moving.”

The cut on John’s face was
swollen and a deep red. He put a fresh tab of antiseptic crème on the cut along
with three fresh band aides before leaving his tent.

John tied his tent and
sleeping bag onto his bike and went to help Thomas’ finish packing their gear. Samuel
was still not speaking. John could tell he was still upset about the comments
about GOD and killing the rapist.

While John was explaining to
Barbara about the need to get through Nashville early Samuel finally spoke.
“Let’s get moving.”

Barbara and Sandra obeyed his
command without hesitation. They pushed their bikes up the side of the hill to
the highway along the side of David and the others.

Samuel did not wait for
anyone to say anything about the morning plans. He climbed onto his bike and
began coasting down the long hill into Nashville.

As David watched him coast
ahead, followed by his wife and daughter, he looked past him at the skyline of
Nashville. “They could be in real trouble passing through Nashville if they
have no weapons.”

John chuckled, “GOD will take
care of them.”

Lynn said, Let’s keep them in
sight, they may need our help again.”

Everyone was full of anxiety
and worry as they anticipated the potential problems ahead. The fresh cut
across John’s face added to the anxiety. Both Megan and Cameron asked their
grandfather how he cut his face. He lied and told them he had fallen from his
bicycle. Both Renee and Lynn listened to that story and knew it was probably
not true. They both knew their father well enough to know he did not fall off
the bike. They knew his temper. If he had really fallen off the bike, he would
have had one of his famous “dumb ass attacks” and smashed the bike to pieces.
But in spite of what they thought, neither girl asked him what really happened,
they knew he would tell his story when he was ready.

Within an hour they were in Nashville.
They were seeing very few people but one thing they did see for the first time
were indications of serious civil disorder. From their position on the
interstate they saw burned out building after burned out building. Some of the
buildings were still smoldering and the smell of the fires was strong.

David was riding in the front
of the group and stopped to look at the destruction. Samuel stopped alongside
David and said “God forgive them for they know not what they do”. 

Barbara lowered her head,
“Life as we knew it has changed forever.”

Both families straddled their
bikes and rested as they talked about the burned out city and the potential
danger ahead

David said, “I will ride a
few hundred yards ahead and watch for trouble. Everyone else should stay close
together and be alert. Watch for people on the overpasses. If you see something
suspicious, call out.”

 Lynn added, “Let’s get
going. The sooner we get through here the better.” That was the only suggestion
that had to be made. It was becoming more evident every day that chaos was
coming.

John rode in the back of the
group and watched the windows of the buildings closest to the highway for
danger. As he pedaled steadily he thought about the past few incidents. Barbara
being raped, Samuel being beaten up, himself being cut by the unknown woman,
and now the signs of looting and destruction. He knew they were on the last leg
of their trip to the lake in Alabama but the danger seemed to be increasing. By
car he could have been home from Nashville in less than three hours. But on the
bike, it would probably be three days at best before they made it home.

He thought about how he would
be driving along with the cruise control on, maybe listening to Rush Limbaugh
on the radio. His thoughts drifted to Rush’s chances of survival. As best he
could recall, Rush lived in New York or Florida. If Nashville was being
destroyed think about what is happening in New York! John summarized his
thoughts with the idea that he would never hear Rush on the radio again.

They rode past hundreds of
abandoned cars and were near the south edge of Nashville before noon. As they
rode past a large mall on the right side of the highway they could see flames billowing
from the roof. The fire was so big and so hot they could feel the heat of the
mall burning.  It looked as if the mall would be nothing but rubble within the
hour.

Suddenly Sandra began
screaming. She dropped her bike to the ground and ran to her mother.

David called for John, “Grab your
rifle,” and he pointed to a field at the far end of the mall parking lot.

A group of about six young
men were running in their direction with guns in their hands.

John dropped his bike to the
ground and shouldered his rifle. He did not hesitate, he fired four quick shots
directly over the heads of the charging men. Only one of the men stopped his
advance, the others continued to charge and began screaming and waving their
guns in the air.

John again did not hesitate.
He aimed at the closest man and fired. That man dropped to the ground. John
then aimed at a second man and fired again, but he did not fall. David fired
two or three shots with his pistol and another man fell to the ground.    

At the sound of David’s shots
they stopped their advance. The 9 millimeter pistol sounded like a cannon being
discharged compared to John’s .22 rim fire rifle. As the men ran away one of
them stumbled and fell. John aimed at him through the scope and could see blood
covering the front of his shirt. John could see his second shot had not missed.

But he did not see Samuel
drop his bike to the ground and run his direction until Samuel was running in
his direction and screaming. Samuel ran into John like an offensive lineman
blocking a defensive back knocking them both to the ground.

He shouted, “The Lord will
not forgive you for what you have done. You have killed those young men!”

John struggled to get out
from under him but his right arm was pinned under his back. David ran to Samuel
and grabbed him by the neck and pulled him off.  The fat man struggled and
broke free of David’s grasp and lunged at John again. John was better prepared
this time and swung the butt of the rifle into the side of Samuel’s head dropping
him to his knees.

By this time almost everyone
was screaming in fear. John took two steps back and sat on the ground. He
looked around at his grandkids, his daughters, and then to Barbara and Sandra
who were standing to his right with their arms around each other and a look of
horror on their faces.

He then turned and looked at
the men lying in the field. His heart was pounding and his hands shaking. He
was struggling to regain his senses so he could think straight. His mind was
racing. He could not think clearly enough to evaluate the situation.

He mumbled, “Options,
options, options, think John, think. This is serious.”

David could see the bewildered
look on his father-in-law’s face. He helped John to his feet, looked him
directly in the face.

“I believe we will be better
off if we separated from that family.”

When John did not respond, David
said it again, “We need to get away from these people, we need to get moving
quickly, we need to get out of here now!”

The first sensation John felt
was the blood flowing again from the cut on his face.

He looked at Samuel and said,
“God forgive him for he knows not what he does.” He then turned to Barbara who
was now holding Samuel’s arm.

“Good luck, I hope you make
it to Atlanta safely.” He picked up his bike to leave.

Renee shouted at him, “You
can’t just leave these people here, they are helpless.”

John turned around and calmly
walked back to Barbara, Sandra and Samuel.

“Do you want to travel with
us or go it alone?”

Samuel spoke with a broken
but angry tone, “You are a sinner. We won’t go anywhere with you.”

With that, Lynn began cursing
at Samuel. Her words were almost unrecognizable, but they conveyed a message
that Samuel was an idiot, that John had saved their lives for the second time, and
that he did not appreciate what had been done for him.

Renee stepped between Lynn
and Samuel and told her to calm down.

John asked Barbara and Sandra,
“Do you agree with him, to go it alone?”

Sandra looked to her mother
for an answer, Sandra said, “The Lord will provide for us, we will go on alone.”

That was the last the
families saw of each other. As John’s family rode off, the Thomas family stood
by their bikes with their heads bowed, praying.

David looked back, “They need
to pray, they are going to need help from someone.”