Fugitive

Chapter 20

It was stupid on my part. Waiting for the police to slow their search would have been a better move. But I couldn't wait forever to get food, plus who knew when the owners of the property would return home and I had to find Dennis. Dennis Penfold. His name is enough to spread anger through me. The nearest store was a while up the street. I stuck to the side of the road and kept my head down. The last thing I wanted was for someone to report me. Ivy climbed up the side of one of the houses. They were slowly getting nicer and nicer. I guess I was reaching the good neighbourhood, so to speak. There was a cool breeze. The trees swayed and leaves were swirled off the ground. The store was busy when I got there. Too many people to go inside. So I hide around the side of the building watching people go in and leave until I figured there weren't many people in there. As I'd hoped the store was pretty much empty when I entered. I went straight to the chips section. They were easy and quick to eat and don't attract attention. I ducked my head when I walked past the security cameras. I figured one of them would have caught my face. It didn't matter. I'd get away somehow. Off to the corner was a rack of energy bars. I decided they were a better choice. I grabbed an armful of all different types and another bottle of water. The clerk at the counter was very talkative which made me more anxious. "Hey there. How's your day going". "Fine thank you", I replied keeping my head down and away from the camera right above me. "It's getting a bit more chilly out there, you can really feel the cold creeping in now. I hate the winter. The rain and the cold. Summer is just so much better for everyone". I nodded not saying anything. The lady clearly wasn't getting the impression I didn't want to talk. "Do you have any plans for the rest of the week"? "No, not really. Same old". "Where do you work"? She seemed to scan the items in slow motion. I appreciate how enthusiastic she was. She was after all polite and really nice. But it was completely the wrong place at the wrong time. "Oh, I work at the department store down the road". "Is it nice there"? I nodded, not bothering to elaborate on the lie. "So, are you going hiking or something? Usually people who buy this many energy bars are going on some kind of walk or day trip". I shook my head, knowing she would ask where I was going if I said yes. "No, I'm actually just stocking up all the cars and the emergency kits. You never know what could happen". "True, very true. That's a good idea. I must get that sorted out soon as well". I nodded. She placed everything in the bag. I paid in cash. I looked away as I walked out the door. I turned left and kept walking. A few blocks away I stopped to put the energy bars in my bag. I kept one out and ate it, savouring the flavour. Then I ate another. I was hungry. I took a large sip from the water and kept going. As I turned the corner I could see cops up the street. Their car was parked just off the street. Someone was waving as they got in their car and drove off. They didn't come this way, instead making a U turn and heading in the other direction. Which was a relief. Within minutes it was raining. Not heavily. It was barely a drizzle but it was angled as it came down battering my face as I walked. More annoying than anything. Normally I liked the rain. But this was just bad, I guess. And kind of chilling. I wasn't getting very wet but it was cold and made the day so much darker. It gave the streets a haunted kind of feel. Fitting I guess. Halloweens coming up. Halloween. It was my favourite holiday when I was little. When we went trick or treating and all the streets were decorated with pumpkins and fake skeletons. It was a holiday to get candy. Cat and I always went to as many houses as we could. We ran in between to get more in before our curfew. Mom used to walk around with us but gave that up when we got a little older. There were enough parents and other people on the streets on Halloween night for her to feel okay about it. She wouldn't have been otherwise. She worries a lot. Part of being a mother. All of them do it. Cat didn't used to worry that much, but since Toby she'd been different. More concerned. Somehow more sympathetic. It was funny to watch. Interesting really. How carefree she could be but so paranoid with Toby. She got very upset with me one day for taking Toby to a quiet road. I sat him on a skateboard and pushed him down slope of the road. We did it quite a few times. On the last, he fell and got a scrape, as kids do. She got home from work and got mad when she saw it. I'm sure she knew it wasn't that bad but Toby was crying a lot, as kids do. She couldn't believe I'd taken him onto the road to do that. We got in a bit of a fight. I couldn't see what the big deal was, but she did. She said he could have broken an arm, gotten ran over or worse. She was being paranoid. I was looking after him. I wouldn't do anything to put him in danger. We were having fun. I'll admit maybe the road wasn't a good idea. But it wasn't busy and I was watching him the entire time. I think maybe one car went passed, and that was it. We got out of the way with plenty of time. There was never a risk of him being run over. The few people on the street headed indoors. It was Saturday, so I assumed a lot of people were at home. Possibly a few taking their kids out to soccer or other sports. Part of me wanted that. For a long time, I wanted to be a dad. The kind of dad that took his son to soccer and intimidated every guy who asked his daughter out. When I was on my tours a lot of the guys there were married or engaged. Some had kids. They were always talking about them. Their family life. Or though I had family. My life was Afghanistan. For the longest time, I hated it. I spent a lot of quiet nights thinking about how I wished I had my own family to go back to. I guess it just never happened. That faded away after Isaac. I saw how easily it was for the nicest guys to die. The youngest guys. I didn't want to do that to anyone. I realised having a family back home would only complicate things. Lead to heart break and sadness. Then I started noticing it in the married guys. The ones who could only call home every few weeks. The ones whose kids didn't know what was going on and the ones whose wives begged them to come home. I realised I didn't want that. The military gave me purpose, so I knew I couldn't just leave. It made me feel like someone needed me, that I was more important than I really was. When I came back the third time I planned to get a job somewhere. Because I had no qualifications besides gradating high school I knew I couldn't get a job that paid really well. The military was actually a pretty good way to go. I was earning money while seeing different parts of the world and I had no bills to pay. I actually had quite a stash saved up. Which was how I'd managed since I'd gotten back. Granted it was quite lonely, and they weren't nice parts of the world, and I was risking my life. I was debating going back when I came home but never went through with the paperwork. I was stalling, I think. I don't know. I tried to talk to other ex-marines to see what they did for a living now. Most of them went into the police force or similar. Some had their own stores and owned a business to sell weapons. That didn't really appeal. The police force thing, maybe. I always thought it would be cool to be in the FBI. Maybe. Doesn't matter now anyway. I found shelter at a bus station and took out my phone. I pulled up the latest news report and watched the video. There was a brief mention about me, just how I was in Jacksonville and the car chase from the airport. Some news company or something even got a bit of drone footage. The rest of the news was focused mainly on politics and a terrorist attack in Washington. I turned it off after the highlights. I had no urge to learn more about the attack. I already know how screwed up the world is. I don't like to keep hearing it. As for politics? I've never been that interested. I put my phone back into my bag to save the battery. I watched the rain for a bit, staring out into the street. Just thinking. I had no idea how I was going to find Dennis. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. He may not even be here anymore. I don't have any connections. I could get a hold of Alexander, maybe. Though I'm sure he'd be sick of me. After the whole fake coke thing, I'm not sure he would even want to talk to me. He's done enough for me. A stray cat brushed past under my legs and through a small hole in the building. I would just have to find Dennis myself. I could find someone who has contacts. No doubt Dennis would be in the shadiest and darkest parts of town. Around Western Boulivard to Henderson Drive is a pretty dodgy place, so I've heard. Ironic really since a lot of the Military live there. It's a large area to search but I decided to head there first. So, I bought a bus ticket that departed in an hour. I could have walked, but that would have taken a while. It wasn't much to go off but it was a start. I didn't have another option really. I'd just missed the afternoon commute. So, there were very few people on the bus at that point. Which was good. I wasn't on the bus long. The majority of the trip I stared out the window watching everyone who got on the bus to ensure there was no one that would call the cops or something. Then there it was, the storage facility I'd told Alexander to hide my guns in. I had to get them. I yelled at the bus driver to stop. Not ideal as all the passengers looks at me. I pulled my hood further around my face. "Sorry, I'd like to get off here". The driver just gave me a look and opened the door. I waited until he'd driven off to walk through the gate. I walked right in. I knew where I was going. I'd always had this storage facility. I'd found it useful to have one in the past. It was a good place to put my things when I went overseas. I kept going until I reached my unit and pulled the key off my dog tag chain. I always kept it there so I wouldn't lose it. I'd made a copy and given Alexander the spare before I left. I unlocked the unit and made sure no one was around before opening it up.