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“I’ve got her, just make a space. Make a space!”
“Tina? Just relax and stay with us, okay? You’ll be fine! Mark, I need a syringe with a needle!”
“What kind, mom?”
“Doesn’t matter; I have to try to suck out some of the air from her wound.”
“Suck out… the air?”
“Just get a syringe and needle! And someone get a light over here; Jacob, you do that. Get some lanterns or something!”
“Dianne, I’m taking a quick look around the outbuildings to make sure there aren’t any surprises here.”
“Good thinking, Jason. We’ll hold it down here. Sarah, you got a hold on her arm? I need to cut off her shirt.”
Jason took a few steps back, watching in the dimly lit interior of the house as his wife and friend worked on a body lying on the table. Tina was still alive, but the bumpy ride back home hadn’t done her any favors and her chest wound was leaking bubble-filled blood from around the edges of the duct tape that had been hastily applied.
Hoping that Tina would make it, Jason stalked out of the dining room and into the kitchen before making a quick tour through the entire house. He checked in each and every nook and cranny that was large enough to conceal a person, just on the off chance that one of the gang had hung around and was waiting in ambush. With the house checked and cleared, Jason made his way outside, casting a wary eye at the burned section of the porch.
Out at the edge of the woods, just beyond the driveway, he could make out the forms of the men he and Mark had slain. In too much of a hurry to do anything with the corpses before, they had stripped them of their weapons and thrown them beyond the driveway. They were all still there,
just as they had been previously, and Jason nodded grimly and whispered to himself as he added up the bodies. “Guess no one showed up to try and help you fellas.”
The rest of the property was as quiet as the front yard, aside from the animals which were both hungry and tired of being cooped up for so long. Jason slung his rifle on his shoulder and distributed feed to them in the barns, wrinkling his nose at the smell and at the prospect of likely having to help clean out the messes they had been making.
With the outbuildings checked and cleared and the edge of the property looking clear, too, Jason made his way to the small shed in the woods and pulled open the trapdoor leading down into the tunnel. Rifle and flashlight in hand, he made his way down the tunnel until he reached the barred doors that led up into the basement. It took a few moments of grunting and levering, but he eventually freed the doors and swung them open to emerge into the basement of the house.
“Mr. Statler!” Mark cried out from the base of the stairs before stepping out, a pistol gripped between two nervously shaking hands. “I didn’t know you were coming back in through the tunnel. I thought you were one of them breaking back in or something.”
“Good instincts,” Jason smiled, “but no, I was just finishing up checking outside. Everything’s clear for the moment. How’s Tina?”
“Mom said she’s alive, which is all we can hope for right now.”
“Morbid, but I can’t say I disagree.”
“Do you think they’ll come back? The gang, I mean.”
“I don’t see how. Their leader’s the only one who was alive there, and I doubt if he’d be foolish enough to try attacking us by himself.” Jason paused. “I hope not, at least.”
“If he does, we’ll be ready for him.” Mark slipped the pistol into a holster on his belt and Jason smiled, wrapping his arms around the boy.
“You’re doggone right we will.”
Chapter 10
Washington, D.C.
The drama and horror—both old and fresh—that had ensued in the basement of the building made all the more stark the differences between the subterranean labyrinth and the cool, clear air of the outside world. The emergence of the three survivors into a sharp breeze and the whisking away of the scent of death that had permeated their clothing was not appreciated, though. Neither was the silence and peace that still reigned over the area after the previous battle that had been fought. The only thoughts on the minds of Rick, Oles and Dr. Evans as they stepped forth back into the natural sunlight were contemplations of their mortality and remembrances of their friend.
The grounds of the old naval observatory were mostly paved with asphalt roads and parking areas, but there were a few places with grass and potted plants that looked like they were well-maintained, once upon a time. It was there, in one of those small patches of grass and soil, that Rick, Dr. Evans and Oles stood over a mound of freshly-dug earth. Moments passed in silence before Oles finally broke it, speaking nervously as he looked at the others.
“Should we say something?”
“We’ve already said everything we need to.” Rick sighed as he leaned on a shovel they had found in a small shed in a corner of the grounds. “She was a friend to us and a genuinely good person. For her to die here is unjust and unfair… but so’s everything that’s going on. She didn’t have to help us, but she did.” Rick slammed the point of the shovel into the ground and looked at Oles and Dr. Evans with moist, steely eyes. “So let’s finish this.”
“For her,” added Dr. Evans, meeting Rick’s gaze.
“For her,” Oles finished.
