Alone (21 page)

Chapter 25

As they approached the trees that separated them from the warehouse, Roy turned and looked at Tom and Debbie. “From here on out, no talking.”

“How are we going to approach the warehouse?” Tom asked.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?” Roy stared at Tom.

Tom thought for a second. “You said from here on out no talking.”

Roy shook his head. “Let me make it clearer for you. Shut the hell up. No more talking!”

Roy looked at Tom. “Just follow me and be quiet. We are going to follow the woods to the right. It will lead us around the clearing and to the back of the warehouse. Just watch me. I’ll give you signals so you will know what to do. Stay low so that asshole doesn’t spot us. If we can get in the building before he knows what happen, it shouldn’t take us long to get him cornered. Got it?”

Roy looked at each of them. “Then let’s go!”

Roy started through the woods as he held the rope handle on the box he and Tom were carrying. Tom followed behind being pulled along as he held the handle on the other end of the box. Debbie brought up the rear, struggling to keep up as the pick kept getting tangled in the brush.

They were half way around the clearing when Roy turned and signaled that they were going to take a break. The rope handle was rubbing against the blisters he got from carrying the box back from the mines yesterday and they were starting to hurt like hell.

He let the box drop to the ground and then sat on top of it. He rubbed at the blisters on his hands as he watched Debbie finally catch up with him. He signaled her to come over to him.

When she stepped in front of him, he took the pick and turned it over and handed it back to Debbie so the metal blades of the tool were near her hands and not dragging on the ground. He whispered. “Carry it this way and you won’t have so much trouble.”

Debbie smiled as the sweat ran down her face. She mouthed. “Thanks.” And then dropped down on a fallen branch for a breather.

Roy smiled, stood and pulled the handle on the box. Tom stood and picked up his end and they started moving again.

Debbie look frustrated as she stood and started to follow, not having been given any time for a break.

It took them another fifteen minutes to reach the back of the warehouse before Roy stopped again.

He turned and spoke quietly. “Tom you take the axe; Deb give me the pick. We’ll leave the box of tools here and come back for them when we need them.”

Roy turned and studied the back of the warehouse. “Just like I thought. There are no doors or windows back here. Deb, when you were on the other side a few days back, you said there were no doors or windows over there, so that leaves these three doors on the left side and the big doors on the front as the only ways in or out. Follow me. We’re going to hit that first door. When we get inside and I can see what it is like inside, I’ll let you know what we will do next.”

Roy stepped out of the woods and began to cross the short clearing. He ran to the back corner of the building and waited for Tom and Debbie.

When they reached him, he signaled them to follow. He rounded the corner of the building, pressed his back against the building and began to move slowly.

About one third of the way towards the front of the building, they reached the first door.

“Tom, take your axe and knock the handle off that door, then be ready to go inside fast.” Roy ordered quietly.

Tom nodded and stepped over to the door. He raised the axe and swung at the door knob with all his strength.

“Clang!” The mangled door knob broke loose and dropped to the ground.

Roy ran over to the door, ready to rush inside and pushed.

He bounced off the door when it didn’t budge. Roy stared at the door and pushed again, but it held firm. He bent down and examined the hole where the knob had been. He ran his fingers around in the hole. “This damn thing should open?”

“What do we do?” Tom whispered.

“This thing should open. Something must be blocking the door on the inside.” Roy replied. “Let’s move on to the next door.”

Tony climbed the steps and came into the room. Trish was sitting in her chair, looking out the window.

He cringed as he walked into the room. The bright pink and yellow chair assaulted his eyes. “It’s too early in the morning to be looking at that chair.” He thought. He smiled but was happy Trish liked her new chair. As long as that chair made her happy, he was careful not to complain about the awful color combination. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings. He had worked too hard to earn a little of her trust. That in itself was worth putting up with that chair.

Tony sat down in his chair and handed Trish a box of blueberry pop tarts. “I think you will like these. The first week I came here I ate a box of these every morning.

Trish tore open the first pack and took a large bite. A big smile spread over her face. “These must be why you had to find bigger clothes.”

“Watch it smarty pants. You tease me and when you have to start wearing bigger clothes, I’m really going to tease you!” Tony grinned at her as he took another bite of his pop tart.

Trish smiled then started to blush. It had been a long time since she had tried to tease anyone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I was only trying to tease you in a nice way. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

Tony laughed as Trish looked confused.

“Trish you didn’t make me mad, if anything you make me happy. I know I’ve only known you for a few days, but honestly I can’t imagine how anything you would say or do could ever make anyone mad.”

Trish blushed again. “Honest?”

“Honest.” Tony smiled. “Here, I found you a bottle of grape juice to drink with your pop tarts.”

Trish’s eyes lit up as she reached for the bottle.

“Clang!” The sound came from somewhere near the back of the warehouse.

“What was that?” Trish sat up in her chair looking startled.

Tony got out of his chair. He carefully moved up to the window and glanced outside.

The area looked clear, then he glanced down at the mirrors he had set up yesterday.

Trish was right, it was hard to see much in the mirrors from this distance, but he could see movement. He couldn’t see who it was, but he already knew who it would be. He couldn’t see clearly, but he could tell there was a group of them along the side of the warehouse near the doors.

“Trish, we have company.” Tony said as Trish began to look very nervous.

He handed her a walkie-talkie. “Here take the radio. Keep an eye out the window. They are along the side of the building at the doors. If you see any other movement in the other mirror or out front, push the button and tell me what you see.”

“Where are you going?” Trish’s hand shook as she took the radio.

“Remember I showed you some of the things I did to help us defend ourselves.” Tony asked.

“Yes.” Trish replied as she nervously looked down at the mirror and saw the fuzzy image of activity by the side of the warehouse.

“I’m going to go down to see what I can do to protect us.” Roy stared at Trish. “I need you to help me by watching the mirrors and out front. Can you do that for me?”

“OK.” She replied but Tony could tell she was scared.

“It will be fine. Trust me.” Tony said, then he looked Trish in the eyes. “You trust me, right?”

Trish looked up at Tony. “I trust you.”

“Good. Just remember that.” Tony smiled. “I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Tony turned and ran out the door.

Trish could hear the rapid tink, tink, tink, tink as Tony ran down the rungs on the ladder.

She turned and nervously watched the movement in the mirror.

Tony jumped down, skipping the last four rungs on the ladder. He landed on the warehouse floor and began to run to the back corner of the warehouse where, based on the sound he had heard and the image in the mirror, he thought they were trying to break through one of the doors.

He ran up to the last door and spotted the door knob lying on the floor near the bottom of the door. The beams he had placed against the door had held and done their job.

The sheet metal walls were thin enough he could hear someone talking on the other side.

“Roy, what do we do?”

This confirmed Tony’s guess that it was Roy and his group outside the door.

“Move down to the next door.” Roy instructed.

Tony walked down to the next door and listened. He had just arrived at the next door when “Clang!” something slammed into the door and echoed through the warehouse.

The door knob fell from the door and bounced around on the floor.

It was followed a moment later by someone slamming their shoulder into the door.

“Damn it. This door is jammed up too. There must be shit packed against this door too.” Roy said quietly. ”Move down to the next door.”

“What if its jammed up too?” another male voice asked.

“Just get your ass down to the next door.” Roy said angrily.

Tony thought for a second. He knew what they were doing now. He had one last chance at the next door to do something.

He ran the thirty feet down to the next door. He looked at the shelf across from the door. He quickly started to climb the shelf. He had to get to the top before they tried to break down that door.

He was breathing heavily as he reached the top of the shelf. He had just made it onto the top of the shelf as another loud “Clang” sounded.

Tony stood and pulled his penknife out of his pocket. He reached for the rope that was tied to the top of the shelf and stretched over to the top of the sheet metal wall and disappeared outside.

He cut the rope and waited.

A second later he heard the loud sound of boards slamming against concrete, along with two very satisfying sounding thuds. The sound of boards meeting flesh and bones.

When Tony was working to secure the warehouse and find ways to defend himself, he got an idea when he jammed the boards from the empty shelf against the doors. He had thrown a rope over the top of the sheet metal walls and let it fall to the ground outside. He had carried six of the heavy boards from the shelf out and tied them into a bundle and pulled the bundle up to the top of the wall and under the overhang of the roof. He did this over each of the three side doors. When he cut the rope, the heavy beams fell to the ground and on top of the people below.

Tony heard a woman’s scream, followed by loud cursing and cries of pain.

“Shit Roy. I think my damn leg is broken!” The other male voice cried out in pain.

“Damn It! That son of a bitch booby trapped the damn door!” Roy yelled sounding pissed off. “Can you walk?”

“It hurts man!” The male voice answered in obvious pain. “I can’t move, shit, it hurts!”

Tony scurried down the shelf so he could hear the conversation going on outside a little better.

“Just stay here and be quiet.” Roy said. “When I get inside, I’ll bring you in and put a splint on your leg.”

“You can’t leave me here?” The male voice cried.

“Shut the hell up.” Roy shouted. “I certainly can’t carry your ass.”

The other male voice continued to groan in agony.

“Come on. Let’s go back and get our stuff.” Roy ordered.

A quick smile passed over Tony’s face as he realized they were going to retrace their steps and go back past the two doors they had tried unsuccessfully to break through.

Tony started to count as he ran to the shelf in front of the last door in the back. He estimated he had twenty seconds.

He reached the shelf and started to climb frantically up the side of the shelf.

His count was at nineteen as he reached the top. He stood, grabbed the rope and cut it.

He listened as the beams slammed into the walkway outside the building. It was followed by another scream.

Tony quickly climbed down off the shelf and listened.

He could hear a girl crying. She let out a painful scream.

“Shut up.” Roy yelled. “It’s not broken.”

“Roy, my foot hurts like hell. God look at all the blood!” The girl cried.

“It looks worse than it is. You’ll live.” Roy said. “Now get your ass up and let’s move before anything else falls on you.”

Tony heard the girl crying, but the sound faded and moved towards the back of the warehouse and then it was quiet.

Tony ran to the front of the warehouse and climbed the ladder up to the room.

Trish was staring wide eyed at the door when Tony ran inside. “What happened?”

“They were trying to break down the doors to get inside. I dropped some of those heavy wooden beams down on them.” Tony answered as he ran over to the window. “I think I got a couple of them.”

Tony looked down at the mirror and back along the side of the warehouse. He couldn’t see clearly, but he could see the clutter along the building that wasn’t there before. He could also see a body or bodies, he couldn’t tell for sure, lying beside the wall.