All That I See - 02 Read Online Free PDF Page A

run,” I said, “and we have to do it while we still can.”
    She nodded.
    I stood and raked the top of the front fence with the automatic rifle while Sara made her way to the antenna tower. I hit one of the men below. The others ducked down behind their vehicles. When I saw Sara’s head drop down below the roof line, I followed her. She was starting to crawl back in the window.
    “No!” I said. “There’s no time!”
    She lo oked up at me then continued down the tower to the ground below.
    We r an north toward the back fence.
    “The van!” Sara yelled over her shoulder and cut off to her left.
    The white van in which the men had arrived would be our best shot of getting away quickly.
    “Go!” I yelled. “Check it for keys!”
    She kept running without looking back. The men at the front gate crashed through with their armored truck. I ran to one of the fallen men in the back yard and picked up a shotgun, and then I headed to the fence. Sara was already over and opening the van door. It had been a church van. It said ASHLAND CHURCH OF CHRIST, ASHLAND, TN on the side.
    I held the shotgun in my left hand (my bad arm), ran, and jumped, grabbing the top of the fence with my right hand. I started up but slipped and dropped down and twisted my ankle. I tried to stand, but fell again.
    “Leave the gun!” Sara shouted at me and cranked the van.
    The four men came around the side of the house. Seeing Sara in the van, two of them ran back toward their vehicle in the front. The other two kept coming and one of them was Corndog.
    “Just drive!” I yelled to Sara. “Go to Blaine’s!”
    She hopped out and ran to the fence.
    “Dammit, Sara! Go!”
    She looked torn, but then she heard the truck start up out front. She pulled the rifle off her shoulder and fired at Corndog and the other man approaching me.
    “They’re coming!” she said and stuck her fingers in the fence as if trying to reach me. I pivoted on my butt and fired toward the men with the shotgun. I missed. They both ducked down, but kept coming.
    “Go!” I yelled. “I’ll meet you at Blaine’s!”
    “No, I—“
    Then she looked up the street. The other men were coming.
    “I love you,” she said, “I’m sorry.”
    She ran to the van, jumped in and sped away. The Hummer came by after her. I made one last effort to help her. I pushed the barrel of the shotgun through the fence and pulled the trigger as the Hummer came by. I hit it, but it didn’t slow.
    When I turned back toward Corndog and his friend, they were almost on top of me. I fired wild and took Corndog’s foot off.
    “Gol damn! Gol damn sumbitch!” he yelled.
    The last thing I saw was the butt of the other man’s rifle driving down at me.
     

 
    CHAPTER 5
     
    When I woke up it was dark. My headache was intense. I was moving. I tried to sit up, but my head hurt worse when I did that. I lay back down. I was on a metal surface. I could smell gasoline.
    “Somebody…”
    I blacked out again.
     
    When I woke up the second time , two men were dragging me out of the back of the armored truck. They dropped me on the ground. One of them stood on my chest with a big steel-toed boot. Two more came up and looked down at me. One of them squatted down next to me. He was wearing a red flannel shirt and a NASCAR cap with a checkered flag on the front.
    “What is Blaine’s?” he said through his mask. “And where is it?”
    I didn’t answer. I figured this was Wheeler.
    “You told her to go to Blaine’s,” he said.
    “No,” I said.
    “I don’t give a flyin’ fuck about you,” he said. “I could spend a few more days here in Gay field just hurtin’ you. Or I could take you with me, just so’s I could hurt you someplace else...you know, someplace with class.”
    “I’m not letting you get her,” I said.
    “That’s a real number you did on Corndog,” he said. “That poor shit just keeps on tickin’, though.”
    I didn’t say anything.
    “Maybe I should let Corndog get at