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Tessa turned to the beast of a man, but he knocked her onto the pavement before she got the chance to fire off a round. She scrambled backwards, raising her arms and adjusting her aim as she squeezed the trigger. Blood squirted from his meaty bicep.
“She shot me!” he screamed through gritted teeth. Tessa was already on her feet, sprinting the last few steps to the open driver side door of the truck. A bullet whizzed through the air above her head and she ducked out of instinct.
“Stop her!” Olivia screamed.
Someone’s arm caught her from behind, knocking the air from her lungs. Her kids’ faces were full of terror as they stared at her from the dark floorboard of the truck and she was wrenched away from them. Moose whined, holding himself back, and crawled down next to the kids.
“Get them out of here,” Tessa cried to Robin.
“Not without you.” Robin slid the bullets into place and pushed forward the lever to chamber a round as the thick hand of the person holding her grabbed a fistful of Tessa’s hair.
“Let go of my mom!” Mason scrambled to get out of the truck. Robin was forced to drop the rifle and use both her arms to restrain the kids.
Tessa kicked backwards as her feet were lifted in the air and she used the grip of the pistol, smashing it behind her head. The pistol connected with the assailant’s teeth and sent hot fluid pouring down the back of her neck.
“Come on already. Someone get her hands,” Jed commanded. Tessa arched her body, aiming the pistol down on the mass behind her and trying to squeeze the trigger. But the person turned her sharply to the right and the bullet pinged off the body of the truck.
Charlie stepped forward with a length of rope.
Then there were too many hands, too many bodies pressed against hers. She screamed and lashed out and tried to bite. The horror on their faces. Moose’s frantic barks. Mason’s screams. Emily’s cries. She had to fight. They need me to fight.
The pistol fell to the road as her hands were bound together.
“What’s going on here?” Arthur’s voice was a beacon of hope in the chaos. The crowd of bodies parted, leaving Tessa tied and held back by a strong grip from behind that forced her to stay still. Arthur stood by the truck with his hand on his holster and the kids crying behind him.
“Nothing for you to be concerned with.” Jed put the Glock in the waistband of his pants. “This is a citizen’s arrest. She murdered a man last night and needs to pay for it.”
“You’re joking, right?” Tessa spit blood from her mouth onto his designer shoes. “You came by my house drunk, threatening me and trying to take my truck.”
“That’s not the way I remember it.” Jed leaned in closer with a cruel grin spread across his face. “We were having a conversation and you snapped. Two sides to every story.”
“I think you better step away from her, son.” Arthur’s hand moved to his holster.
Jed ripped out the Glock and pointed it lazily toward him, thug-like with only one arm. “What are you going to do if I don’t, old man?”
Brain matter exploded from Jed’s head. His body crumpled to the ground. The grip on Tessa’s shoulders went slack and she jumped away, tripping over the body on the street.
“No!” Olivia fell to the ground by Jed’s side and squeezed his hand to her chest. Makeup ran down her cheeks as she wailed, rocking back and forth on her knees.
“Who did this?” Arthur spoke loudly. His tone was authoritative and cold.
Tessa turned to him, confused. His pistol had never left his holster. She hadn’t even heard a gunshot. Their neighbors turned to look at each other, searching for the one with the smoking gun.
“She did it.” Charlie’s husband pointed his finger at Robin.
“Me?” Robin cocked her head to the side and held the rifle upside down as she scrutinized it with wide eyes. “I don’t even know how to load this thing.”
The distant sounds of sirens drifted up to them on the hill. Normalcy in a rapidly fraying world. But nothing was normal anymore. A cold sweat broke out on Tessa’s skin. She wasn’t sure if the cops or the mob would be worse. You should have left days ago. This never would have happened.
“She must have shot him just like she shot Carl.” Charlie reached for her husband.
“Like she shot me,” the big man hissed, still holding his bleeding arm.
“My gun was on the ground.” Tessa stared at the stupid pink and black pistol laying on the street and raised her hands in the air. “Plus, my hands are tied.”
“One of you better have some answers soon.” Arthur clicked his tongue, shaking his head from side to side as the sirens grew louder.
There were worried glances and heated glares as the mob turned on each other. Most of them took off running down the hill, but Olivia stayed on the ground sobbing onto Jed’s shirt and Charlie stood with her husband to the side. The big man wasn’t moving either.
