Getting Out

9

“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” said Mr. McKinney.

“I don’t want anyone to get hurt either,” said Georgia.

“Then put your gun down.”

Georgia knew she had no other choice. She couldn’t risk James getting killed. If he was shot in the stomach, that might be the end. He’d bleed out… Who knew if the hospitals were even open. This was a panic situation, the type of situation in which normal people did things they never would do otherwise. For all she knew, Mr. McKinney could pull the trigger by accident. After all, his finger was inside the trigger guard. He looked jumpy and nervous. In the dim light of the camping lantern, she could see that his eye was twitching.

Georgia slowly put the rifle to the ground. “I’m lowering it to the ground,” she said, speaking slowly and as calmly as she could.

Her thoughts turned to Sadie in the car, and she hoped that she was OK. She also hoped she’d stay in the car, rather than come looking for them.

“Good,” grunted Mr. McKinney. “Good.”

Georgia laid the rifle on the ground and stood back up slowly.

“Look,” she said. “I get it, you’re angry. We were coming to steal your supplies, that’s true.”

“So you admit it then.” He still had his gun trained on James’s stomach, and he didn’t show any signs of pointing it somewhere else.

“I admit it,” said Georgia. “But I thought you weren’t here, and that you weren’t coming back. A cop just told us that the whole area was blocked off. We figured no one else had been able to get home from work.”

“Well I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Look, we’ve known each other a long time. Do you think I’d actually try to hurt your family?”

“I heard you say it yourself. You said it was either your family or mine. Well, I’m going to have to make the same decision.”

“Please, don’t hurt James. If you need to shoot someone, shoot me instead. But shooting us isn’t going to help anything.”

“No!” said James. “Mom, don’t say that.”

“Don’t say another word,” said Mr. McKinney, glaring at James. His finger on the trigger seemed to be shaking.

“Look, Mark,” said Georgia. “This is a crazy situation… Let’s just forget this ever happened, OK? We’re going to go back to our truck and drive away…”

“What if you come back?” said Mr. McKinney. “I’ve got to think about my family.”

Georgia suddenly realized that the rest of the McKinneys must be inside.

Suddenly, a voice spoke from the dark.

Georgia recognized it instantly. It was Sadie.

“Drop the gun,” said Sadie, speaking from the darkness. “I’ve got a rifle pointed right at your head, and my mom’s been taking me to shooting practice since I was eight.”

Sadie was bluffing. Georgia just hoped that Mark McKinney didn’t know that. But he was at work most of the time. He probably hadn’t noticed whether or not Sadie was heading off to the shooting range with Georgia or not.

“I don’t believe you,” said Mr. McKinney.

Georgia prayed silently that Sadie actually had a gun with her. If she was still scared of even touching guns, she wouldn’t have brought the gun with her. Then there was no chance. Georgia was seriously regretting her plan to rob her neighbors.

Sadie stepped out of the shadows. She was across from Georgia, at a right angle from where Mr. McKinney was pointing his gun.

Sadie held one of Georgia’s hunting rifles. She held it like she knew what she was doing. Her finger was inside the trigger guard, on the trigger.

Georgia looked at the gun, realized which one it was, and knew that it wasn’t loaded.

Georgia prayed silently to herself, to no one, to anything at all, that Sadie could pull this off. Mark McKinney seemed to be getting less stable by the minute. The more worried and the more anxious he got, the more likely he was to do something rash, and his gun was still pointed at James’s stomach.

“Drop the gun, Mark,” said Georgia.

“Drop it,” said Sadie.

Georgia was impressed. Sadie was holding the gun like a pro, and speaking like a pro. It must have been all the gunslinger movies she’d watched with Georgia when growing up. There were always standoffs in those movies, and the guy who won was usually the guy with the coolest demeanor, the guy who was the most relaxed and the most sure of himself and his abilities.

Sadie held the gun.

“OK,” said Mark McKinney. “I’m dropping it. But I want you off my property.”

“Whatever you want,” said Georgia.

He dropped the gun to the ground.

Georgia moved towards him and scooped it up. She put it in in the waistband of her jeans. It might be useful later. She had no intention of giving it back to him, not to the man who’d pointed a gun at her son’s stomach.

“Good work, Sadie,” said Georgia. “Now give me the gun.”

“Thank God,” said Sadie, handing the gun to Georgia. Sadie was visibly shaken as she handed the gun over. Her cool demeanor had vanished. You could see she didn’t like even touching the gun. “I don’t have any idea how to use it.”

“You did great,” said Georgia, knowing not to mention that it wasn’t loaded.

“A trick!” shouted Mark McKinney.

“Stay where you are,” said Georgia, pointing the rifle at him.

He looked her right in the eyes and he looked completely terrified.

“Where’s your family?” said Georgia. “Are they inside?”

Mark nodded.

“No one’s going to ask if I’m OK?” said James. “That nut job was going to shoot me.”

“Grow up, James,” said Georgia. “You’re fine. Now go into the shed and check for gas. We’re going to need extra gas if we’re going to make it up to the hunting cabin.”

“You’re going to rob me anyway!”

“We’ll leave your food and water,” said Georgia. She realized she might regret this decision later. But she couldn’t leave them here to die…

James was back a couple minutes later, holding his flashlight in his mouth. He had two cans of gas meant for a lawnmower, one in each hand.

“Let’s go,” she said to her kids. “And don’t move, Mark. I’m taking the gun. I don’t think you have the balls to shoot someone anyway.”

James loaded the gas cans, they all got in, and Georgia backed out of the driveway.

“Well that went well,” said Sadie sarcastically. “Looks like James should have done a better job being a perv and spying on Mrs. McKinney.”

“Shut up,” said James. “I’m the one who almost died.”

“He wasn’t going to shoot anyone,” said Georgia, but she wasn’t so sure she was speaking the truth.

Georgia drove slowly down the darkened street. The pitch black night seemed to swallow them up. The absence of light pollution was creepy. Not a single star shone in the sky. It was cloudy. The moon was gone, completely invisible.

“Mom,” said James. “I don’t get it. How are we going to get out of here? You heard the cop, the road is blocked off.”

Georgia didn’t say anything for a moment. “We’re just going to have to find another way.”

She was racking her brains for ideas. She couldn’t think of anything. How could they get out, if not for roads?

Then, an idea occurred to her.

It would be dangerous. It would be risky. It would be kind of crazy.

But there was a slight chance it might work.

And that just might save their lives.

Crazy ideas were just the kind of ideas she was looking for right now. The normal things wouldn’t work. Nothing was normal now, and it might never be again.