Manny's Mix-up

Part Six

“He’s got her.  He’s gonna use her to get to us,” Maddie said.

“So that means we better get out of here, right?”

Maddie’s eyes moved back and forth.  “I don’t know where to go.”

“Look, we have a weapon.  We’ll find a place to meet them alone.  We’ll talk to this guy.  Maddie, we’ll reason with him.  He’s your husband, right?  He must have some feelings for you.”

“He never had feelings for me.  He’s hard….”  Maddie just stood there.  Jason got up and grabbed her shoulders.

“Come on, we have to go.  Do you have some way of contacting her?”

“She has a phone.”

“A phone, that’s good.”

“But I don’t have one.”

“Jeez, Maddie, be some help here, will you?”

“Bill has a phone.”

“Then we go back to the motel.”

“What about Scout?” she said.  “If Hannah’s been gone for a while, he must be hungry.”

“Shit, now you’re worried about the damn dog.”

“We can’t just leave him.”

“You want to take him with us?  He wants to eat me.”

“No,  he doesn’t.  Besides, he’s a great watch dog.”

Maddie walked outside, took the lead off the hook on the wall and put Scout in the back of the truck.

Jason used the bathroom while she grabbed some of Scout’s food from the kitchen, and they both headed out to the truck.

They got back on the main road and headed toward Bill’s motel when a black truck came alongside them.  Jason didn’t like the feel of it.  He’d been in a movie once where the same thing happened, and it wasn’t good.

“That guy’s gonna push us off the road,” he said.

Maddie slowed down, and the truck slowed down.  She sped up, and the truck followed suit.

“What should I do?” she said.

“Stop.”

She slammed on the breaks, and they heard Scout hit the back window.  He whimpered, and Maddie began to cry.

“Shit,” she said.  She got out of the truck to check on Scout and the black truck stopped several feet ahead of them.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jason yelled.  “Get back in the truck.”

“You drive,” she said.  “Scout’s hurt.  I’m staying with him.”

“Jeez,” Jason said as he jumped out of the truck.  The dog lay on his side breathing heavily.  Jason opened the tailgate, jumped on the back of the truck and picked the dog up.  “Help me.”

Maddie ran to the back.  She could see the guy walking toward them as Jason lowered the dog into her arms.  The guy started shooting at them, and she struggled to hold Scout while Jason jumped down and they both carried the dog to the front seat.  Jason got into the driver’s side just as the guy got there and raised the gun.  Jason punched the accelerator and knocked the guy to the ground, where he was able to get off a few more rounds, shattering the rear window of the truck.

“Who the fuck was that?” Jason yelled.  Scout’s nails were digging into his leg, and it was pissing him off even more.

“Another trapper.  They have a pretty good system.”

“Then maybe we shouldn’t go back to Bill’s, huh?”

“Yeah, maybe not.”

Maddie stroked Scout’s head as they barreled down the highway.  The old truck kept up the pace, but Jason noticed the energy bar was getting low.

“What kind of fuel do you put in this thing?” he asked.

“It’s from before 2040, so we have to find an electric station.”

“For which we will need money, right?”

“I took some from Hannah’s house.  I have about twenty-thousand.”

“That should keep us for a while.”

“Not if we need energy.  It will spend about half of that to fill this thing.”

“Ten thousand dollars for energy!  Okay.  Will it at least get us more food?”

“If we’re careful.”

“Will it pay for a phone call?” he asked.

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“Where are we going?”

Maddie bit her lips.  “If we keep going this way, we should find a town.  I’m not sure.  I’ve never gone farther than Hannah’s house.”

“Then we’ve got nothing to lose.”

The trapper got back in his truck.  He picked up the communicator and called into his home base.

“Yeah, they got away.  They’re heading east on Beaver Creek.  I’m gonna head after them, but you may want to send someone to Springfield.  They’ve got a dog with them, but I think it’s hurt.  Yeah, it’s him all right.  The guy in the picture - Jason Taylor.”