Suddenly, for a brief moment, the expression of pain on the man’s face vanished. His eyes darted to the side, seemed to show some recognition, and then came immediately back to Ricky’s gun, where they’d been pointed before.
“You see something out there, buddy?” said Ricky, turning his head in the direction that Ricky had looked.
Ricky didn’t see anything. It was just the same old regular snow-covered woods.
But he’d sworn that the man had seen something. Something familiar, something that would make him momentarily forget the intense pain of two gunshot wounds.
“Who’s out there?” said Ricky, his voice becoming tense and agitated. His mood was starting to shift again, this time to paranoia.
The man’s eyes flickered off to the side once more.
Ricky turned again to look.
But it was too late.
Something heavy hit Ricky in the back of the head. Hard.
Pain seared through his skull. It felt like someone had driven a steel spike through the back of his skull.
He reeled in pain, falling to the ground. The cold snow covered his face, somehow making the pain even worse.
18
Rose had gotten there too late. She’d been all over in search of Jake.
When she’d finally found him, he’d already been shot.
She hadn’t brought a gun with her. She’d been too frantic and too concerned about Jake to remember a firearm. The whole world of guns was completely foreign to her. It always had been. Even over the last day, with the imminent threat of an attack, guns were still the last thing on Rose’s mind.
And she was regretting that attitude now.
She was panicking. There wasn’t anything she could do.
But she had to do something.
Rose had hidden behind a tree, peeking her head out. When she’d been trying to figure out what to do, half-paralyzed by fear and panic, she’d seen the stranger shoot Jake again.
Jake was still alive.
He could be saved.
She’d finally acted.
The stranger had been distracted by his own semi-coherent ramblings. Rose had dug through the snow until she’d found a heavy stick. A good, heavy one. Plenty of heft to it.
Rose held the branch high above her, then swung it down as hard as she could. She heard and felt the heavy wood connecting with the man’s skull.
The stranger fell heavily onto the snow with a grunt of pain. Half his body had fallen on top of Jake.
“Jake! Are you OK?”
Rose bent down, frantically trying to push the stranger’s body off of Jake. The stranger wasn’t moving. He was heavy, but she managed to push him completely off of Jake.
Jake didn’t look good. The color was draining quickly from his face. His eyes were half-closed. He’d been shot twice, once in the shoulder and once in the knee. Blood had soaked through his jacket at the shoulder.
“Rose…” said Jake, his voice sounding like it was fading away.
“It’s OK, Jake,” said Rose. She was trying to make her voice not sound as frantic as she felt. A single tear rolled down her cheek. “It’s going to be OK, Jake.”
“We should have…”
“What is it, Jake?”
Rose felt completely overwhelmed. She couldn’t do this. She didn’t have it in her to watch the only man she’d ever loved die before her eyes. She tried to remember something about first aid. Shouldn’t she make a tourniquet, or do something to stop the bleeding?
She didn’t know.
She stared down at Jake’s face that was so full of pain she could barely stand to look at it, not having the slightest idea what she should do next. She was letting the panic overwhelmed her and take control of her completely.
Rose’s leg was pushed up against the stranger. He still hadn’t moved, but she didn’t know if he was dead. She hadn’t checked his pulse, or even looked at his face since he’d hit him.
Rose’s heavy stick lay on the ground, half buried in the snow, completely forgotten.
The stranger’s leg suddenly moved. Rose felt it against her.
She spun her head to look at him.
Just at that moment, the stranger made his move.
He’d either been lying in wait, waiting to make his move, or he’d just woken up out of his daze.
He moved fast, scrambling into position, and then lunging up from the snow at Rose.
His body hit hers heavily. He knocked her onto her back. Her head hit the ground hard, her neck snapping back. Snow kicked up into the air around them.
The stranger’s face was right against hers. He kept her pinned down with one arm. She thrashed at him, scratching his face with her nails, drawing blood.
But he just grinned down at her.
She couldn’t get out from under his weight.
But it’d be OK.
Jake would save her. He was so close by. He was right there. He’d always been there for her before.
It’d only be a few more seconds. Just a matter of time.
“Jake!” cried Rose.
The stranger was reaching for something in the snow. His eyes didn’t leave Rose’s as he fumbled in the snow with his free hand, searching for something. Probably his gun.
“Jake!”
But there was no answer from Jake.
What was he doing?
“Ah, there we go. Found it,” muttered the stranger, leering down at Rose with intense eyes full of anger. “This is a new world now, lady, and you’ve got to learn to finish what you start. You don’t bash someone in the head like that and not finish the job. ‘Cause they’re going to come back for you.”
“Jake!” cried out Rose. There was an intense desperation in her voice. She’d never even heard herself use that tone before. She felt more hopeless than she’d ever felt.
Sure, she’d encountered problems in the past. Life before the EMP hadn’t been easy for her, in comparison to her friends. But those problems were nothing in comparison to the problems of her new life.
And now she’d finally encountered the worst problem of all. The one she’d never survive.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” snarled the stranger. With his thumb, he pulled back the hammer of his gun. “More than anything, I’m doing you a favor.”
“Please,” cried Rose. “Please don’t.”
If she could buy more time, Jake would save her. He was gravely injured, but surely he’d manage to marshal his strength to save the love of his life.
“Too late, lady.”
The stranger seemed to be enjoying this. That was good. All she need was more time, and the stranger seemed willing to give it to her.
“I don’t deserve this,” cried Rose.
“We deserve everything we get. It’s all coming to us, whether we like it or not.”
Was Rose going to leave the world believing that someone else would step in and save her?
Finally, something clicked in her mind.
Her survival instincts kicked in.
Strong instincts.
No one else was going to help her.
Jake wasn’t going to.
No one was.
Only she could do it.
Rose let out a furious scream and pushed herself up against the man, using all her strength and all her weight.
She broke free from his pin, from his one arm that had pinned her down. Only her upper body was free. His knees, hard and knobby, were still pressing into her thighs.
Rose’s hands went for his gun.
But it was too late.
The stranger pulled the trigger. The revolver discharged.
The bullet struck Rose in the arm.
The pain surprised her, sending a shock of adrenaline through her whole system.