The First Hours Read online

  “I didn’t know where else to go and figured you could use the help if you’re going to defend this place.”

  Tom shifted down as he approached the trailer park entrance, “That’s a fact, but there are rules, and you abide by them, or you leave.” He heard the silence as Simon digested his words. “You’re welcome there until you prove otherwise.”

  “Fair enough,” Simon finally said. He sighed, “If we’re going to be dealing with these scumbags, I wonder if just the two of us will be enough.”

  Tom turned into the park and saw how many people stood around a bonfire burning in the center of the circle drive. He stomped the gas with the wheel cranked and swung the backend of the car around, hit the emergency brake, threw the transmission into neutral and bailed from the car. He had the man half out of the car before Simon made it around to help him.

  With the guy on the ground, Tom pulled his service revolver and stood facing the crowd of more than a dozen, “You tell Burger, the next time he comes to my place, I won’t be so hospitable. With bullets being in such short supply, there won’t be no warning shots. We’ll be making every shot count.”

  He jerked his head at the car, “Let’s get out of here before they wake up.”

  Back in the car, “Was that a little weird? I guess I expected them to…I don’t know. Maybe charge the car or something; instead, they just stood there.”

  “Who cares as long as we didn’t have to shoot any more of them.”

  They rode to the house in silence. Possibly each was evaluating what would be necessary for their future survival or what would be the next step.

  “That was pretty crazy, but I’m glad you showed up when you did. Until Jack lit the torch and threatened to burn the house down, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I guess I would have done what was necessary, but I really can’t be sure.”

  “You better get sure for the future. I was serious about no warning shots. They won’t be as polite the next time.”

  “Polite?” Simon laughed, “There was nothing polite about threatening to burn a man’s house down. I saw what was in there and they wouldn’t have gotten anything for their efforts.”

  Tom shook his head in disgust, “and if they’d burned it, they’d have really gotten nothing.”

  “It was kind of dumb to leave the girls alone, wasn’t it?”

  “Not if you’ve ever seen Carrie shoot. She has no qualms about protecting Nancy, and I trust her to do what it takes, but you’re right. It was a dumb mistake and one that won’t be repeated. From this point on, one of us will be with them at all times.” He looked at Simon’s profile, “You prepared to defend either of them with your life?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The scream was closely followed by the sound of skin slapping on skin as if someone had slapped someone else.

  From the bushes, she and Ryan were hidden behind, Teagan felt Ryan’s body tense, “Was that Deena? It sounded like her.”

  Teagan didn’t know where Deena and Trevor had gone and hadn’t given it much thought after she and Ryan had gone to check out the bathrooms. Trevor’s comment about how well he would support Ryan if it came down to defending them, came as no surprise to Teagan. There was something about him, she couldn’t put her finger on it, but he gave her the creeps, and his suave, narcissistic ways always had.

  Ryan groaned, “Damn…I wish…I almost wish they hadn’t caught up to us.”

  Teagan felt shame wash over her. She, too, wished they hadn’t. She would have saved herself a near beating, but she knew she would have always wondered what had happened to Deena. Now that she knew, she wished she didn’t. Once they reached home, she promised herself she would never think about the other girl again.

  “Are you going to go look?”

  Ryan huffed, “I guess I better.” Ryan got to his feet. A blast of supercharged air slammed him to the ground.

  Teagan felt the air rush by and was thankful she hadn’t been standing. She rolled to her knees and then crawled to Ryan.

  “Are you okay? Oh my God, what was that?”

  Ryan brushed his hand over his face knocking the bits of sand and dirt away. Teagan brushed his hand aside to inspect his head. She heard when his head connected with the ground. It had sounded hollow and painful. Gently, she felt the soft lump as it rose under his skin. Her fingers came away dry, so it wasn’t bleeding. It was just one more injury to add to his long list. Soon he would look as bad as she felt she looked.

  “I’m okay. I think. What the heck was that? An explosion?”

  “It had to be. Maybe a gas line or something? It feels like you’re going to have a lump but no cut and probably a headache if the size of it is anything to go by.” Teagan let her hand drop back into her lap. Night had settled in making it impossible to see his injury, but she’d felt the soft swelling on his forehead and knew it had to hurt.

  “Please tell me we aren’t going to go find out what it was.”

  Ryan sucked in his breath, “We don’t have to. Turn around.”

  Teagan shook her head, “I don’t want to. If you can see it, I don’t want to know what it is. Are we safe here or not?”

  Another explosion ripped the silence, and the ground shook. Teagan braced herself against the dirt, waiting for the blast force to hit them. She felt the warm air rush by, but it wasn’t as bad as the first detonation.

  “Accidental or is someone blowing shit up?”

  “Does it matter? Turn around and look. Whatever caused it sure set a fire.”

  Teagan’s curiosity overrode her fear, and she turned to sit beside Ryan, “Oh my God! It looks like the whole town is on fire and it’s not that far away. I know we said we were going to rest, but I don’t want to stay here. We should leave.”

  “As long as we’re heading home, I have no problem with that.” Ryan pushed to his feet, “I’m going to see where Trevor and Deena got to, then we’re going.”

  “Works for me, but I’m surprised they aren’t here,” Teagan remembered the slaps they’d both heard before the explosions and wondered again if Trevor used his hands against Deena. Even that didn’t explain where they were. Wouldn’t they come running with the explosions and fire?

  When Ryan didn’t return in a few minutes, Teagan went to look for him. The sound of someone softly sobbing drew Teagan into the trees, where she found Deena sitting on a picnic table, crying, but no Ryan or Trevor.

  As much as Teagan didn’t want to get involved with whatever Deena had going on, she couldn’t ignore the girl or her problems.

  Teagan sighed, “Now what’s wrong? Did Trevor hit you?”

  Deena wiped her face and looked in Teagan’s direction, “I hit him…why does he always have to be so mean to me?”

  “Duh! Maybe because you let him get away with it?” Teagan only thought the words, and answered, “If he didn’t hit you, why are you crying?”

  Deena snorted to clear her nose, which made Teagan cringe. She never understood why guys did that, but at least they spit instead of swallowing the snot. She didn’t understand Deena at all. Everything before this trip had made Deena out to be refined and well mannered, but now Teagan wondered how much of it had been a pretense. Deena was everything that Teagan believed herself not to be, but Teagan wasn’t going to say anything to upset the girl further. She obviously had something going on, and Teagan wasn’t going to get in the middle of it.

  “Trevor told me my parents were dead,” she sobbed. “He said if they were in Seattle, they got blown up when…”

  “Oh, for pete’s sake. How does he know? We don’t even know what happened there and I for sure wouldn’t listen to him.”

  Deena used her shirt to clean her face, muffled by her shirt and through her tears, “He said someone dropped a bomb.”

  Ryan ran up right then dragging a protesting Trevor with him. Trevor resisted every step Ryan took forward by pulling back, “Come on, Ryan. What the hell, I told you I’m not going.”

  “Yes, you are,” Ryan gro
und out. “If I have to knock you out and tie you on that bicycle, you’re going. As soon as we get home, then you can do whatever the hell you want. I don’t care, but you’re going with us now.”

  “Why not just leave him? He’ll only slow us down.”

  Ryan looked Teagan’s direction and inclined his head toward Deena who still had her face buried in her shirt, “You of all people should understand. This is something I have to do.”

  Teagan nodded. She did understand. Once they were home, she never wanted to see either Deena or Trevor again. The responsibility she felt for Deena would be lifted from her shoulders, just as Ryan would feel once he delivered his brother to his parents. She didn’t know how two brothers could be raised by the same parents, under the same circumstances and be so different.

  Ryan forcibly pushed Trevor down onto the bench, who surprised Teagan by staying there. He looked like a little boy who had been chastised. When Deena reached out and touched his shoulder, he jerked it away. Grumbling under his breath, he put his back to her.

  Teagan almost felt sorry for Deena. Almost…

  “I’ll get the bags,” Teagan turned to the tree she and Ryan had been sitting at, “Are we going to say anything to those guys?”

  Ryan looked at the building, “I’m sure they heard the explosion. What they do is no longer our concern. Let’s just get out of here while we still can.”

  Teagan gathered their few possessions, put her pack on, and handed Ryan his. Sitting across the bar, they set off. Teagan didn’t look to see if Trevor and Deena were with them, but she did hear them riding behind them.

  Teagan rode with her back toward the fire, but she could see the reflection against the clouds. She didn’t want to think about the people who worked and lived there. She wasn’t going to think about who caused the explosions or the fires. She did wonder about the type of person who could destroy everything around them, but her Dad always told her there were good and bad people in all walks of life that people with money were just as bad as those without. Personally, she thought the people with less would be the survivors of any disaster, natural or manmade. They had built their lives with few luxuries and were used to making do with what they had. She wasn’t sure where she and her father stood in the hierarchy of wealth, but they always had enough. Her Dad wasn’t stingy, but he was frugal. He would remind her they couldn’t waste, or squander and Teagan had always been okay with that.

  Ryan nudged her, “Hey, we’re almost to our exit. We just passed the sign; half-mile.”

  Teagan realized she was leaning back, snuggled up against Ryan, and had apparently been asleep. She remembered little of the ride up the freeway, but the sky was no longer fire red, and the cloud cover was gone, replaced by a blue sky with a thin line of yellow from the morning sun.

  Teagan slid to the ground on shaky legs. She held on to Ryan’s knee until she felt the pins and needles ease off. She wiggled her toes in her Ariats and sighed, “It will be good to get home.”

  Ryan grunted something, but Teagan didn’t hear what he’d said. She loosened the straps to her pack and let it slide to the ground, “We need food and a break so I can get the circulation going in my legs.”

  Teagan sat and looked through her bag and had a couple oranges and apple that had seen better days and a few cans the labels had torn off. She had three labels and three cans, one small one and two the same size. Vienna sausage was easy to identify, but she had a fifty-fifty chance of getting peaches or baked beans.

  Studying the labels, she decided, “Guess we’ll open both of them. The four of us will just have to share.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Ryan told her propping the bike up against the guard rail, “But I think it’s just the two of us again.”

  Teagan stood looking around, but there was no sign of them, “Where’d they go? What happened to stick together?”

  “They came screaming by us a mile or so back and said we were too slow, and they would see us in town. At this point, I’m happy to see them go.”

  “He’s a strange person…I thought he was so set against going back?” Teagan fished a sausage out with her fingers, “Crap! I’m sorry. I keep forgetting he’s your brother.”

  Ryan shook his head, taking the can from Teagan, “No worries. He has some issues that only he can work out. Now, he’s my folk’s problem. I just hope he takes Deena to her house and doesn’t just dump her off somewhere.”

  “So do I, but really, I’m done with her. I just hope I’ve seen the last of her, but I have this feeling.” Teagan pored the last swallow of beans in her mouth and chewed. “She’ll be the proverbial bad penny my dad is always talking about. Never did know what he meant but I do now.” She really did hope she never saw Deena again, but she would almost bet her thoughts would come back to haunt her. Teagan would never wish ill-will on anyone, but Deena was getting to be a thorn in her side.

  Teagan lifted her head, sniffing, “Is that smoke again?”

  Ryan turned in a circle with his nose in the air, and grimaced, “It is, but I don’t see it.”

  A shiver slithered up Teagan’s spine, “Maybe from the earlier fire?” “Please say yes. Please say the wind is blowing it this way.”

  “I don’t think so.” He turned in a circle, “the wind is from the wrong direction.”

  Pulling her brows together, Teagan blew hair away from her face. A layer of sweat clung to her, brow making the hair stick, “We need to go.” She wiped the offenders away.

  Ryan straddled the bike, waiting for Teagan to pull on her pack. She debated even taking it, but the few things in the bottom could add to whatever her father had, and she had no idea what they would find when they reached her home. The fires in Salem and the smoke she smelled now might spell disaster, and they would need any amount of supplies somewhere along the way. Just because they’d made it this far, didn’t mean they were going to find their homes and town untouched. The trailer park down the road from her house had always been a bone of contention for her Dad and the surrounding neighbors. The weekends were the worst. She never did understand how they had money for alcohol when by the looks of the poverty in the park, they were barely making ends meet.

  “Ready?” Ryan asked, “The sooner we get there, the sooner your questions will be answered.”

  “Stop doing that? I feel like you’re reading my mind, and I’m not sure I like it.”

  Ryan laughed, “Then don’t put your feelings on your face.”

  “In that case, I’m going to stop looking at you when I speak,” she returned.

  “You weren’t speaking, you were thinking,” he laughed, “but whatever.”

  Teagan brushed his comment off and hitched her butt onto the bar. She was sure the backs of her legs were covered by black and blue bruises from sitting on the bar, but at least there was a bar to sit on. She couldn’t imagine having to sit on the handlebars, or Ryan having to stand while she rode the seat, if it were a girl’s bike. She consoled herself with the thought that there were only five more miles to go. Then she would know.

  If it was even important anymore, she was going to broach the subject of her mother and why she felt it necessary to sneak away without telling him. Whatever her plans for continuing her education were, no longer mattered in the grand scheme of things. She would continue to study the books she’d already bought because some of the principles of equine medicine could apply to humans as well and if Ryan were correct, bullets and bandages would play a huge role in their future.

  The ride off the exit ramp was exhilarating and scary at the same time. Ryan leaned into the corner without slowing down. The smudge of smoke hanging over the trees in the distance urged him to pedal faster.

  The two-lane grew close with the trees lining the sides of it and gave way on the southern side when the creek came into view. The same creek that ran on the backside of Teagan’s property. She had spent many happy hours with Carrie, damming off the creek to make a swimming hole and then fishing for trout out of that same cree
k. She knew if they stopped, they would hear the sound of the rushing water and possibly see the deer who frequented the grass along its banks. If they were lucky, it would provide a water source as long as it wasn’t fouled by someone upstream.

  Teagan’s eyes began to burn. Coughing, she realized the smoke was getting thicker the closer they got toward home. They were surrounded by pines, fir trees and a plethora of maple, cottonwood, and vine maple as well as a few cascara trees. The cascara had almost been the death of her when she’d first found out she could peel the bark, dry it, and sell it for spending money. No one had bothered to tell her cascara was the necessary ingredient in the making of laxatives. She’d quickly learned to wear gloves.

  “This isn’t good,” Ryan hollered in her ear.

  He was right, but she wondered why he’d bothered to say anything. She could see the flames jumping from tree to tree without him having to point it out. He obviously wasn’t going to stop by the extra effort he put into pumping the pedals. This was the only way into their small town without going a hundred miles out of the way and going in from another road.

  Teagan’s heart practically jumped out of her chest when a tree in front of them collapsed partially blocking the roadway. Ryan grunted and pushed on. The roar of the fire as it consumed everything in its path became deafening. The fire-created wind threatened to blow them over.

  Ryan put one foot down, and they slowed, “We can’t get any closer,” he hollered.

  Teagan looked back the way they’d come thinking of the tree that fell, “We can’t go back.” Several more trees had fallen after they’d passed. It seemed as if they were surrounded. The visibility and air quality were non-existent. Teagan pulled her shirt up to cover her nose and mouth. The heat was almost unbearable even though the brush and trees were yards away.

  Teagan had lost track of time as Ryan pumped the bike, but knew they had to be almost through the forest. A quarter-mile before her driveway, the trees ended, opening up into pasture and planted crops. There was a line of old-growth fir along their property line, but the house sat well away from them. If they could just make it a little further.