The threesome emerged on the street in front of the apartment building. The dolly was loaded, but Robert was still experimenting with how to manage the suitcases on the cart. He balanced a suitcase on top of the cart, and then placed another down below. He was circling the cart like it was a masterpiece and he was the artist. He tried to push the cart forward and the suitcases slipped off.
“That’s not going to work,” said Robert, as he shoved the suitcase back onto the cart.”
He circled the cart again tapping his forehead with his finger as he thought.
“Alexis,” said Robert, kneeling close to the cart, “help me with these pieces of yarn tied to the handle. We can tie them together and use it to hold the suitcase still.”
Alexis began to pick away at the knots holding the long pieces of yarn to the cart.
“Oh, I forgot something,” said Alexis, standing up as she spoke. “The cooking fuel and matches are in a small bag in the kitchen. I didn’t want to put them in a bag with food.”
“I’ll go grab it, I’ve got the key,” said Kyle.
Robert laughed and rolled his eyes. “You locked it? Do you think you’re coming back?”
“Shut up, old man.” Kyle shook his head, embarrassed, and jogged back into the apartment’s lobby.
Alexis removed the pieces of yarn, tied them together, and then Robert tied the yarn to the suitcases.
“Let’s take this for a test drive,” said Robert. “Hold this for me and cross your fingers.” Robert handed her his rifle. He slowly pushed the cart around and everything seemed stable. As he started to push at a slow jog, the bottom suitcase started to shift. He slowed down and pushed it back toward Alexis. “Look,” said Robert, kneeling in front of the cart, “this piece needs to be tighter, and then we’re good to go. Come over here, I might need your fingernails again.”
Robert had his back turned and did not see her set the rifle down. Side by side, they were both kneeling low by the cart with their backs to the morning sun. As Robert shifted the bottom suitcase back and tied the last strand of yarn tighter, he saw a large shadow cover both of them. Instinctively he stood up and spun around, grabbing for the rifle, but it was not on his shoulder anymore. Alexis screamed, and the shot of adrenalin could not take away the sick feeling overcoming his body now. In front of them was the large man he had seen from the window earlier that morning. He was holding Robert’s rifle. Alexis had left the rifle on the ground and walked away.
“That’s what’s left of my brother over there. I recognize his clothes,” said the large man, angrily. He was directing his anger at Robert.
Robert held up his hands and inched away from Alexis. He wanted to move so the large man would turn his back to the apartment building. As Robert spoke, he took small side steps and the man began to rotate, keeping Robert directly in front of him.
“I don’t know anything about your brother,” said Robert, trying to stay calm.
“I saw you looking out the window at me.” He threw his thumb over his shoulder at the apartment building, not looking back as he spoke. “You’ve got his cart. We had food in it. Where the hell is it?” He pointed the rifle at Robert.
“Hold on, just calm down,” said Robert, holding his hands higher. “We’ve got a lot of food. Just take our food and leave us alone.”
The crazed look never left the large man’s eyes, but he lowered the rifle. “I think I’ll take your food and your woman, too,” he said with a sneer.
The big man turned back around toward the cart, but did not have time to react to Kyle’s pistol leveled at his head. Kyle had heard his wife’s scream, so he ran back to the street and saw the man with Robert’s rifle. Kyle had silently crept, with his pistol ready, toward the man. As soon as the man turned, Robert had gone flat on the ground and, at point-blank range, Kyle pulled the trigger. Brain matter followed the bullet as it exited the exploding skull. The morning sunrise illuminated a halo of pink mist and the man’s ominous shadow disappeared as rapidly as his dead body hit the street.
Robert jumped back up and stepped away from the dead body. He paced back and forth by the cart rubbing his face and head with shaking hands.
“How did this happen?” asked Kyle.
Robert did not say anything.
“I was my fault,” Alexis said, as she began to cry. “I put the rifle down and walked away from it. That man came out of nowhere… it’s my fault… I’m so sorry.”
“I gave her the rifle. I shouldn’t have done that.” Robert walked over to Alexis and put his hand on her shoulder. She could feel his hand trembling. “Don’t blame yourself. Let’s forget about this and get out of here.”
Robert took the rifle, slung it over his shoulder, and began to push the cart. Kyle put on his backpack and was about to grab the handles of the dolly when he realized that he was still holding the key to his apartment. He offered the key to Alexis and she smiled, wiped her tears, and shrugged her shoulders. “What’s the point?” she said. He tossed the key to the curb and laughed at himself. They turned away, Alexis walking by his side.
The threesome took their belongings as far as they could toward rail yard. They ran out of paved road, and had to make several trips from the cart to where they had buried the rafts, in order to move all of their supplies. The two men removed the sandy dirt from the tarps covering the rafts, showed them to Alexis, and let her know that she would get Richard’s old raft.
Alexis walked around the rafts with her arms across her chest. She looked at them with a humbled curiosity. “I have never been on a raft or on a river. What am I supposed to do?”
“Float and paddle,” said Robert, as he began to mentally divide the food among the three rafts.
Alexis grinned apprehensively, trying to hide her fear.
The men dragged the rafts to a shallow spot on the riverbank and began to load everything. They had to carefully balance the load because of the amount of food they were able to bring. The men finally had an abundance of food, good food that would be edible the entire trip. This meant less time trying to kill a deer, or picking through the farm fields as they traveled downstream.
They helped Alexis into her raft and pushed away from the bank.
“How do you like it, Alexis?” asked Robert.
“I’m not doing much. Just sitting here.” Alexis began to feel overwhelmed as she looked ahead and thought of the distance before her.
“Use the paddle and get a feel for the water. See what it takes to move the raft. I can stay close behind until you feel more comfortable,” said Kyle, as he motioned for Robert to take the lead.
Alexis tried to paddle, but the raft was not moving fast. In fact, not much faster than the slow current. Kyle stayed behind to keep an eye on her. As he drifted lazily along, he became bored and decided to grab the binoculars from the backpack. They were getting close to the railcars that Cyrus’s gang had been using. Kyle scanned the western horizon and brought the binoculars into focus. He first noticed that the dead bodies of Cyrus’s men had been stacked close to the river. He moved the field of view farther down and brought the railcars into focus. The fire had destroyed the lead car. Then something caught his eye near the railcars. He saw motion. It was two men walking. When they stopped walking, he could see that one of the men was wearing a red bandana around his arm. Adrenalin and anger came back to Kyle’s veins and coursed through his body again. Strangely, the other man did not have a bandana on his arm. Then he remembered what his wife had said. Cyrus wore the bandana on his head, not his arm.
Kyle began to paddle for the riverbank. He jumped onto the bank and told his wife to stay next to his raft.