Alan let the guy go, who gasped while pushing himself away from the table edge, and headed toward the door.
Rachel stood and watched him go, confusion distorting her face.
Alan didn’t say a word to her as he headed outside, his body having to push himself through the crowd that had gathered at the door, several cries of excuse me and get out of my way leaving his lips.
Once outside he found himself looking down toward the parking lot. Flashing lights danced across everything as an ambulance pulled in, its siren blaring.
To the left the crowd was being pushed aside to make room for the emergency vehicle while another couple of deputies knelt by a young man lying on the ground. Next to them Alan saw Tina sitting on a car, but no Jimmy.
He hurried down toward her, his legs taking him to the right so he could detour in between the parked cars thereby making his journey much easier than if he had tried pushing through the crowd.
“Tina!” he called as he neared her. “Tina!”
Tina looked up the second time he shouted her name, saw him coming toward her, and quickly stepped between the cars to meet up with him.
“Are you okay, what happened?” Alan asked.
“Jimmy got in a fight,” Tina said. The makeup she was wearing had been streaked by tears and now was smeared as she wiped at the wetness with her arm.
“Do you know where he went?” Alan asked. He noticed she was shivering and quickly took his coat off and draped it over her shoulders.
“I don’t know,” she said, her hands hugging the warm jacket to her body.
“Tell me what happened, okay,” Alan said. “Take a deep breath first.”
Tina did what he said and told him about the guy shouting something to them while Jimmy was holding her and how Jimmy had snapped. “He just went up to the guy and punched him right in the face,” she said. “I heard the sound of him hitting him and then the guy fell to the ground and Jimmy started smashing his head into he ground.”
Good God, Alan thought. Jimmy was going to get in so much trouble even if the other guy started it, especially with this happening on school grounds.
“What exactly did the other guy say?” Alan asked. “You said he mentioned Brett?”
“Yeah.” Tina looked up for a moment and then, “He said Brett had his bondage tapes at the Hood place. I think Brett is waiting for him.”
Jimmy stopped at home before heading to the Hood place, and hurried down into his room, his mother calling to him from the family room, asking what was wrong.
“Nothing,” Jimmy called back while heading out again. “I just forgot something.”
With that he got back in the car and hurried toward the Hood place, his mind focused on one thing: Brett.
“The fucker must’ve gotten lost,” Brett said while opening another can of beer. It was his eighth or ninth of the evening and he was feeling great. Ron hadn’t had as many but was probably feeling the same. The guy was a lightweight. One beer for him was like three for Brett.
“Probably passed out or something,” Ron said. “You know Matt doesn’t drink that often.”
“He just better do his job and get Jimmy over here,” Brett said. “After that he can go piss all over himself for all I care.”
Ron nodded.
Tires screeched to a halt.
“Shit, what was that?” Brett asked while struggling to stand, his hand guiding him up along the porch wall.
“No fucking clue,” Ron said. He had an easier time standing up.
The two stepped out into the yard just as Jimmy came around the corner of the Hood place. The dork was still wearing his tux.
“I see you got my message shit head,” Brett said with a smile while raising his fists. He was gonna beat the fucking shit out of him now.
Jimmy raised his right hand. “Yeah, I got the message you motherfucker. Where are my tapes?”
“Like I’m gonna—” Brett stopped
“Fuck man, that’s a gun,” Ron said. He started to turn toward the trees.
“Don’t you fucking move,” Jimmy warned while pointing the gun at Ron. He looked back at Brett. “Where are my tapes?”
“I, they, I—”
Jimmy fired.
Brett felt the impact before he even heard the gunshot and fell to the ground without a sound, his legs simply seeming to vanish beneath him. A scream followed.
“You shot him,” Ron said, eyes wide, mind suddenly sober.
“Yeah, and I’ll shoot you too if you don’t tell me where the tapes are.” He started to turn the gun toward Ron while saying this.
Ron bolted.
Jimmy aimed at the running figure and fired, but Ron kept running. He fired two more times as Ron disappeared into the woods, missing both times.
“Fuck,” he said as Ron disappeared into the trees. Word about this would spread quickly. He needed to hide Brett. If his luck held people would just assume Ron had had too much beer and hallucinated the entire thing.
Brett was writhing on the ground when Jimmy approached. The pain and sudden loss of bodily control was terrible. Nothing mattered. He just wanted it all to end.
Jimmy grabbed his leg and began dragging him. Brett screamed as his insides shifted. Piss ran down the other leg.
Alan heard the gunshot and nearly collided with Ron as he came running out of the woods to the sidewalk. Even though he didn’t know the guy personally, he recognized him as one of Brett’s buddies.
The guy did not stop to chat, and after avoiding the collision he kept running. What did that mean? Had Brett gone crazy with a gun?
Alan quickened his pace. Behind him Tina still struggled to keep up in clothes that weren’t meant for running, the two having easily walked away from the school during all the commotion.
If you shot him motherfucker I’m going to rip your heart out, Alan shouted to himself. Exactly how he would disarm Brett was a mystery, but he would find a way. He never even considered getting shot himself.
Alan pushed himself through the woods. In the darkness it was difficult to find his way. For a moment he worried that he had made a wrong turn, but then everything opened up.
He stepped into the yard of the Hood place. Overgrown bushes and long grass made it almost impossible to see what was going on.
He looked to the left toward the street but couldn’t see anything. Once he neared the driveway of the house, however, he could make out the back of their mother’s car on the street, half of it sticking into the road where another car could easily plow into it if the driver wasn’t paying attention.
Tina came up behind him. She was out of breath and could hardly stand on her sore feet. Between sucking in deep mouthfuls of air she asked, “Was that a gunshot?”
Alan nodded.
“Does Jimmy—” deep breath “ — own a gun?”
“No.”
There had been several shots and then nothing but silence. What did that mean? Was it all it took, or had they been fired to get Jimmy’s attention? Perhaps Jimmy had been beating the crap out of Brett so he pulled a gun to stop him, but didn’t actually shoot him. Was Brett capable of killing someone?
“I want you to wait here,” Alan said to Tina. “Go by the car or something, but stay out of sight until I yell that it’s okay. Got it?”
“Okay.”
“Good.” Alan turned and looked at the bushes. God what am I doing? he asked himself and then pushed through them rather than just walking around them, a stick instantly swiping his cheek. The cut stung like hell, yet would be nothing compared to a bullet cutting through his insides.
His hope was that he could sneak up on Brett and Jimmy and that the two wouldn’t even know he was there, that way he could tackle Brett if he had a gun.