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“Alright. I’m going to do one while I wait.” Her voice was playful, teasing, even as she grimaced and looked again at the body on the floor. There was a shuffle in the front of the house, Robin crying out, and the plastic rip of a zip tie tightening. For a split second, she almost left her position. You better not hurt her, prick.
“Don’t move or you’ll regret it,” Scott ordered. His boot steps were heavy against the hardwood floors. Tessa readied herself, her body hidden by the doorframe, and took calming breaths to slow the rhythm of her heart. His eyes lit up when he turned the corner into the kitchen and she gave him a welcoming smile.
“Passed out, huh?” Scott returned the grin, rubbing his shoulder as he sauntered forward with the gun soft in his hand. She stepped clear of the door and fired point blank into his skull. He dropped instantly, blood and brain matter spraying across the marble countertops and pine cabinets.
Tessa turned back to the room, positioning the 9mm above Gerald’s right ear and firing with her eyes closed, grateful she hadn’t eaten much today as the contents of her stomach churned.
Then she was running, flying through the house, searching for the staircase that was just past the dining room table, and scrambling up the steps.
“Mason! Emily!” she screamed.
The door at the end of the hall shook as tiny fists beat against it. “Mommy! We’re in here!”
A taunt rope was strung between the door handle to the one across from it and Tessa’s hands began to shake as she tried to loosen the knot. Pure rage and anger clouded her vision and she yanked on it, trying to tear apart the rope with her hands.
“I’ve got it.” Robin was suddenly beside her with Landon’s rifle slung over her back and a kitchen knife in her fist. She sawed fast through the fibers, but it wasn’t fast enough. Tessa could feel herself falling apart.
You did it. You’re safe. But she wouldn’t be able to breathe again until she got them all out of this house.
The door swung open and their arms were around her waist, their perfect faces unmarred, all their body parts intact. She dragged them down the stairs, keeping their eyes covered from the mess on the floor of the kitchen, and into the fresh air outside.
Moose almost knocked her over as he barked frantically and wagged his tail, pissed off about being left on the porch. A cry of relief escaped Tessa’s chest as she reached down to run her hand through his fur. “You’re the best boy. Good job listening to me.”
“Can we go now, Mom?” Mason rubbed his shirt over his face, holding back the tears that had already rimmed his eyes red. She wanted to scoop her whole family up and carry them inside of her where they’d be safe from the horrors of this world.
Her heart broke all over again for them as she stood tall and wiped the hair back from his forehead. “In just a second, okay? Mommy needs to make sure the other lady here is alright. You and Emily go wait in the truck.”
The kids took off running, holding each other’s hands, and Moose followed closely so as not to get left behind again. Tessa filled her lungs with air, sucking in deep breaths, as images of what had just happened played through her mind with increasing clarity. Panic only now began to wrap itself around her throat, but she pushed it away with a stubborn firmness. You did what you had to. What’s done is done.
With one final breath, she turned to the porch where Robin was trying to console the shaking woman and two girls crying by her side. The door was closed behind them, but Tessa couldn’t bring herself to walk up the steps again.
“What happened?” She was suddenly too tired to be more kind with her choice of words.
The woman struggled to form sounds for a moment but she forced herself to meet Tessa’s gaze and swallowed back the pain. “They came up into the driveway when Nick was working in the garage this morning. I heard the fight, the gunshots, but by the time I got the girls out of bed, it was already too late. They came… They came inside.” She broke down at the recent memory, shutting her eyes as if she could make it go away.
“Are you going to be okay?” Tessa asked, moving closer out of instinct, but still unwilling to step off the gravel.
The woman straightened her shoulders and squeezed her children closer to her side. “My brother-in-law lives down the road. We’re going over there now.”
“That’s probably for the best.” Tessa nodded, looking around the yard and trying to find the right words for what she needed without sounding completely callous.
“She says KM7NIC was her husband,” Robin explained.
The woman tensed at the word was and placed her hands over her daughters’ ears, but she kept herself together. “I’m sorry I can’t help you call your friend. The radio was Nick’s hobby and I never learned to use it. He did tell me you were coming though and I made up the guest room for you if you guys need a place to stay. Honestly, after what you did for us, you can have the entire house.”
“I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t have done if you had the same opportunity.” Tessa shied away from the praise, but Robin caught her eye and nodded.
She just lost so much. Tessa sighed. “I will take as much gas as you can spare. I have a nineteen-gallon tank that I need to fill now and then at least once more before I get to my dad’s house.”
“You can have as much as you want.” The woman motioned with her chin to the on-ground fuel tank tucked behind the garage. “Let me get the generator on for the pump and we’ll get you all filled up.”
