The Death of Colleen Rivers

Chapter 24: Baylor

I had to be brave. I had to be brave for Colleen's sake. I knew she was already frightened by all of this and she didn't need anymore of it. I just hoped that her hiding place was safe enough. I couldn't stand to have her be swept away from me again.

I knew Dad always kept a gun hidden in his room for this very reason — well, for intruders. I snuck down the hall so quietly that even I couldn't hear my footsteps.

I didn't know who was shot — if it was even just a warning shot — but I had to be armed incase they came up here. I searched under the bed, through his closet, even through Mom's closet for the gun but I couldn't find it. I did find Colleen those boots though and tied the strings together, throwing them over my shoulder so I could search with both hands again.

I went to the master bathroom and even searched every nook and cranny in that bathroom but still with no luck. There was still one place I hadn't looked...

Under the mattress is where the gun was hidden. The clip, gum and even extra ammo were all in a case so I just picked it up and carried it back to my room. I could still hear the men downstairs so they didn't make it up there yet, thank God.

I entered my bedroom, closing the door behind me and heading to the closet to fetch Colleen.

"Colleen, I'm back —"

I couldn't get another word out before I was bombarded with a hug my by frightened girlfriend.

"Don't you EVER leave me alone again, Baylor!"

I held her face in my hands. "I'm just glad you're safe. And I promise I won't leave you." I let go of her and went over to my closet, grabbing extra socks, gloves, blankets, two pairs of snow pants and coats, a couple flashlights and extra batteries, some water bottles that I had in my mini fridge, and a lighter. I managed to stuff all the small things into the backpack but had to put the clothes and blankets in a duffle bag with the gun. To fit the gun in there, I had to leave the empty case behind.

There was no way to get to the kitchen with those goons still there, so we would just have to go to a gas station once we had gotten down the road. We couldn't drive — they knew my car. It wasn't exactly normal to see a black BMW convertible strolling down the streets of this tiny town — so we would have to walk and cover our faces.

They wanted Colleen, but they would also try to get a hold of me because I'm closely tied to her. We both had to be disguised enough to not draw attention, but to also not be noticed as ourselves. Colleen had already switched her hair up so no one would notice her, but there was really nothing I could do besides shave my head and/or wear sunglasses and I really didn't want to shave my head. So it looked like I would be going the sunglasses route.

We finished packing everything and I climbed down my window, waiting for Colleen to throw down the bags so she could come down.

I took one last glance into the kitchen window to see the goons back to us, Mom, Dad, and Natalie all kneeling, their hands up in the air to surrender. I saw Dad glance my way and he lightly smiled, telling me I was doing the right thing.

I nodded back at him, saluted, and took Colleen's hand, running out of sight and into the woods to the nearest gas station that I could find on Google Maps.

~~~

The nearest station, while trekking through the woods, was a whopping 15 miles. I knew Colleen couldn't walk that far in one day, and definitely not while wearing my mother's shoes which we found out were actually a size too large. And when hiking, that made a huge difference.

She continued to tell me they were uncomfortable so I gave her another pair of socks to put on and that seemed to do the trick for a while.

We had walked about eight miles before I told Colleen we could camp for the night.