He didn’t wait to see if whoever was outside had anything to say about the dead dogs before running to the back of the store and doing his best to reactivate the electric current to the gate and store entrances. He was willing to bet the people outside the store right now had friends or at least knew of people that had ended up as dinner for the two black dogs. In fact, Ben was counting on it. And he was willing to barter with the people attacking the store, but he and the others weren’t leaving this place under anyone’s terms but their own.

  Ben went over the breakers one more time, making sure he’d thrown all the necessary switches to activate Emmett’s electrically charged defenses. They were leaving as soon as they could, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a little extra insurance in place while he decided on the best way to pull out of here.

  “There, I think that’s it,” Ben said.

  “Planning on staying for a while?” Sandy asked. He hadn’t seen her approach; he was too focused on getting the power back on.

  “Not any longer than we have to, but until we do leave, we might as well use it to our advantage. They can have the place eventually.” Ben looked out toward the parking lot.

  “At least they’re not shooting anymore. Because of the dogs?” Sandy’s brow wrinkled.

  Ben lowered his voice so the kids wouldn’t hear. “They were feeding people to the dogs.”

  “What?” Sandy gasped, then pulled herself together quickly before the kids noticed her reaction. “Oh my.” She put a hand over her mouth as her face went pale.

  “I know. I found out when I was snooping around. Emmett almost caught me on my way back to tell you guys we needed to leave.” Ben blew out a deep breath and thought about the bloodstained concrete inside the kennels and around the butchering station. He pushed the image from his mind and headed back toward the front of the store. Sandy followed him.

  The only thing he needed to concern himself with at the moment was getting out of here. It hardly seemed fair to go from dealing with the couple and their trained killers to facing an angry mob of armed looters bent on revenge.

  “I want you all drinking water, as much as you can. We can top off the containers before we leave.” Ben made the announcement without breaking stride on his way back to the shooting window, only stopping briefly to pick up Amelia’s AR-15. He opened the hinged piece of wood, careful not to touch anything metal, and peeked outside. The sun was getting lower on the horizon, and the angle of the light made it difficult to see out into the parking lot.

  Ben stood to the side of the hole and cupped his hands around his mouth. “We need an hour and we’ll be gone. You can have the store and everything inside.”

  “We want the woman and her husband,” someone shouted back right away.

  “They’re dead. You can see for yourselves after we leave,” Ben countered. There was an extended pause in the conversation, and Ben started to doubt their chances of getting out of here without a fight.

  “You got one hour,” the stranger answered back.

  Ben pushed the small wooden door closed with the tip of his barrel and stepped back from the bags of cement and water conditioner salt that Emmett had used to fortify positions along the front windows of the store. Ben had no reason to trust the people outside. But if they tried something, there were worse places to fight from. He and his crew still had the upper hand.

  With any luck, he’d bought them some time. Whether or not the kids would be ready to drive by then remained to be seen. More than likely, he’d drive the Jeep and Sandy would drive the Blazer. Ben didn’t like the idea of pulling out of here like that, especially if the people outside decided to give them a run for their money.

  If Ben had his way, he’d leave here lying prone in the back of the Blazer, with a couple of long guns ready and plenty of extra magazines at his side. That wouldn’t be possible, though, if neither Joel nor Allie were sober enough to drive.

  “How’s she doing?” Ben crouched by Sam and the others. Sam lifted her head briefly to look at him before Emma pulled her back onto her lap.

  “I think she’ll be all right. We just need to keep it clean and probably give her some of the antibiotics Dr. Julia gave us,” Allie answered as she finished taping off a section of gauze. There were empty packets of disinfectant and ointment littering the floor. Ben was glad the supplies hadn’t come from their medical kit.

  Not because he begrudged Sam the care she needed. After putting herself in harm’s way like that, the dog deserved everything they could possibly do for her. But he knew what kind of world they lived in and how valuable those resources were.

  “Good girl, Sammy.” Ben gave Sam a quick rub on the head and settled back on his knees. It felt good to stretch his knee out a little. The brace was a big help, but it tended to make his leg feel stiff if he wore it too long. He noticed Allie’s eyes looked a little clearer, but the last thing he wanted to do was put either one of them behind the wheel before they were ready.

  Brad seemed to have fared the worst from the tainted ice pops. Still on the couch in an apparent daze, he stared at Amelia’s body on the floor. Ben sat next to his son and put his arm around him.

  “Here, I want you to keep drinking, okay?” Ben moved Brad’s head gently with his hand, guiding his attention away from the body and toward the Nalgene he was holding.

  “Okay,” Brad mumbled, but he was distant and went right back to staring at the bloody corpse on the floor.

  “He ate more than we did.” Joel sat next to his brother, opposite Ben, and rubbed Brad’s back.

  Sandy shrugged. “The water should help dilute the drugs. It’s just going to take some time.”

  “Emma, how are you feeling?” Ben asked. His daughter didn’t look up at first, but when she did, he could see that she’d been crying. She had lots of good reasons to be upset, including Sam. Ben just hoped he wasn’t the cause of the tears. He hated having to shoot the dogs like that in front of her. Any of them, really. He felt guilty enough about killing the animals on his own, without any help from his daughter.

  “I have a headache.” Emma hung her head toward Sam again. She was mad at him; he could tell.

  “Em, Dad had to shoot them. They would have turned on us next,” Joel reasoned, but his sister ignored him and wouldn’t look away from Sam. Ben moved from the couch and went to Emma’s side. He rubbed her shoulder for a second but didn’t say anything. He knew the drill. She needed time to process what had happened. And even though killing the couple and their attack dogs was necessary, Ben couldn’t fault her for being upset.

  The day had been anything but pleasant, starting with the discovery of the Scout. Ben found it somewhat hard to believe the incident at the barn had happened at all. At barely four in the afternoon, they’d done very little driving and way too much fighting. At the moment, how could they have anything but a dismal outlook on life? Was this how they could expect their days to go from now on, or were they just this unlucky?

  Joel stood up slowly. “So what’s the plan now?”

  “We need to get back on the road, but I’m not leaving here empty-handed. I found a jerry can in the back to replace the one we lost. I want you guys to top off the water before we leave.” Ben didn’t like the idea of hanging around here any longer than they had to, but he didn’t want their suffering to be in vain, either.

  “They have a mop sink in the bathroom that I saw Amelia get water from earlier,” Allie stated.

  “Good. The loading dock door is open. Maybe one of you can pull the Blazer up by the Jeep so we can load up.” Ben wasn’t sure if they actually had an hour to get themselves together, but he wasn’t counting on the people outside to give them that much time. He was sure they wanted access to the goods inside the hardware store, and they would have it, in due time. But not until Ben and the others were ready. He was done being pushed around today.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Emma continued comforting Sam as the others went about the business of preparing to leave Paris, Illinois, behind. Ben assigned the kids to water duty, hoping some light activity might help the sleeping pills work through their systems a little faster. He’d given Brad the responsibility of helping out where he could and told him to drink plenty of water while they had easy access to more.

  Ben took the last few gulps of water from his Nalgene and threw it on the pile of containers to be filled. He wasn’t thirsty anymore, but he had no trouble forcing down the last bit while thinking about how hot and dry it was beyond these walls.

  “Well, you ready?” Ben had asked Sandy to wait for him before he went out into the lumber yard. She’d volunteered to bring the Blazer into the loading bay next to the Jeep. But there were armed people outside, and he had no reason to believe they were any less of a threat than the couple lying dead on the floor had been.

  Sandy drained the last bit of water from her Nalgene, wiping the excess from her mouth. “All set. Let’s go.”

  Both vehicles were inside the fenced-in lumber yard, and as far as Ben knew, he had activated the electrified security system. That was great for keeping people out but wouldn’t prevent an impatient looter from taking a shot at them on their way out to get the Blazer.

  He and Sandy had been carrying the deceased couple’s AR-15s, but Ben left his inside for the kids to use, if need be. He planned on grabbing Jack’s from the Jeep, as well as a few other weapons, once they got outside. They hadn’t come inside armed like they’d normally be when outside the vehicles, but the situation had unfolded in a way that surprised them all. It was another hard lesson learned.

  Ben held his hand up while checking around the corner of the building. He scanned the lumber yard and paved parking area beyond the fence until he was satisfied that they were clear. Thankfully, there wasn’t much left standing that could be used for cover by anyone trying to snipe at them.

  Thanks to the sun’s position in the sky, the building cast a long shadow almost all the way out to where the Blazer was parked. Even in the shade, the metal skin of the warehouse was still plenty hot. And with the thermometer reading close to 115 degrees, it was no wonder why. The drop in temperature was encouraging, even if it wasn’t by much, but it was still far from comfortable.

  “All right, let’s go.” Ben held Jack’s rifle at the high-ready position and led the way for the first couple of yards, then let Sandy run ahead while he covered their most vulnerable side. She jumped into the driver’s seat and fired up the old Chevy. The sound of the big V-8 made him smile for a moment. He expected the truck to start, but the Blazer had been running hot as well, and he wasn’t in the frame of mind to assume anything would work like it should today.

  He started backpedaling toward the building, waving Sandy forward. He stayed outside the vehicle for the short drive to the building, just in case he needed to shoot while escorting her back to the loading dock. Sandy pulled in behind the Jeep, where the Blazer would be out of sight from outside the lumber yard. The kids were already carrying water out to the loading dock as they arrived.

  “We’re just about done,” Brad reported proudly. The poor kid was doing his best to walk in a straight line while carrying a load of full Nalgenes, but he was failing.

  Ben hated the fact that the kids had been drugged. He tried not to think about what might have happened if he and Sandy had accepted the ice pops. But he needed to stop beating himself up over the situation they were in. He already felt bad enough about the dogs. Knowing they had to die didn’t ease his guilt about killing the two animals. The real culpability for what had happened here fell on the people who trained them. And they’d gotten what they deserved. Eventually, Emma would see the situation for what it was, wouldn’t she?

  Ben leaned in toward Sandy and spoke quietly. “I’m gonna grab a few things I saw earlier, including a jerry can from the outdoor section. You think you can keep the kids up here? I don’t want them to see what’s back there.”

  The kids were already on their way back to retrieve the rest of the water, but he didn’t want to risk them overhearing. It wasn’t because he thought he could hide the ugly truth about the couple and their dogs forever, but because he wanted to spare them the horrific details. Their imaginations would run wild once they found out, and there was no reason to add the things he’d seen to their nightmares.

  Sandy nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

  Ben made his way back inside and paused briefly to check in on Emma. She was still sitting on the floor, cradling Sam’s head in her lap. He was glad to see that Bajer had reappeared and was lying close to her as well. He’d imagined them all being ready to leave but not being able to because the little brindle-colored dog was missing.

  The reappearance of Bajer reminded Ben of the couple’s other dog, Charlie. He hadn’t seen the mutt since the shooting started, but he wasn’t overly concerned. The mild-mannered dog hadn’t shown any aggressive tendencies toward them. If anything, Ben felt sorry for the animal now that its owners were no more. The trick would be trying to get out of here without Emma insisting they take Charlie with them, too.

  Ben thought about the logistics of adding another dog to their crowded vehicle and shuddered. Hopefully Charlie stayed out of sight and out of mind. At least out of Emma’s mind.

  “How’s she doing, Em?” Ben asked.

  Emma didn’t bother to look up. “Fine.”

  “I’m sorry about the dogs, sweetie. It’s not how I wanted things to go.” He took another shot at alleviating some of his guilt, but he knew better.

  Emma nodded and looked across the room at Emmett’s body, then at Amelia’s. It was then that Ben knew what he needed to do before retrieving the jerry can and heat-reflective paint. He wasn’t sure how long they’d need to stay here for the kids to recover from the tainted ice pops, but in the meantime, removing the bodies couldn’t hurt. It was the last thing he felt like doing, but if it helped Emma snap out of her funk, the effort would be worthwhile.

  Ben eyed the row of garden carts and settled on an oversized double-wheel wheelbarrow to haul the bodies. He loaded Emmett, then Amelia, thinking about the two Cane Corsos and how they weighed nearly as much as the old couple.

  Ben pushed the wheelbarrow toward the outdoor garden area where he’d found the jerry can. Reaching the double doors that led outside, he picked up speed and plowed through the opening with the wheelbarrow as a blast of hot air hit his face. Emmett’s pointy-toed cowboy boot caught the door frame on the way through and nearly tipped the wheelbarrow over.

  Ben steadied the makeshift gurney and muscled it the rest of the way through the opening. “Far enough.”

  He gave the wheelbarrow one final shove and sent it skidding across the concrete a few more feet ahead of him. When it stopped, Amelia’s body rolled off the top and landed with a dull thud on the floor, sending a white box tumbling out of her shirt pocket.

  Ben scooped it up and read the label. These were the pills she used to drug the kids. At least Emmitt had told the truth about what she’d used to knock them out. But Emmett’s honesty in his last moments fell far short of making up for what he and his wife had done.

  Ben felt some relief knowing that it was in fact an over-the-counter sleep aid, not some type of poison or narcotic. Of course, Amelia wouldn’t have poisoned them if her plan was to eventually feed them to her dogs. Just the thought of how things could have ended here soured his stomach. That and the smell of the place, especially now that he knew the stench in here was not caused by dead and rotting plants, like he’d originally speculated.

  He did his best to breathe as little as possible and hurried to the back near the kennels and the jerry can. He grabbed the can and turned to head out, trying not to look at the bloody workbench, stained concrete, or chest freezer.

  There was a lot of good food in the freezer, and for a split second, he contemplated taking some of it, but he quickly remembered the frozen hand poking up through the iced goods. He wanted nothing to do with anything in there.

  He jogged the last couple of yards to the double doors and made sure they closed when he was through. Counting the aisles, he found the right one and gathered up the can of heat-reflective paint and accessories. On his way back to the loading dock, he considered the store full of goods. If they weren’t already loaded down, they could have used a lot of this stuff. It was a shame, really, but the trucks were already too heavy.

  This place was like an oasis in the desert, but that was why the people outside were willing to die to get inside. Ben imagined this store would be empty in a matter of days—or even a matter of hours—once they left. When word spread that the old couple and their killer dogs were dead, it wouldn’t take long for the survivors around here to take advantage.

  That didn’t matter, though. Ben and his crew had what they needed to make it home. This had been an unplanned stop from hell, one that none of them would ever forget. But one that they would all try to.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  When Ben reached the loading dock, the kids had all the water containers gathered and were loading the trucks. Sandy was trying to coax Gunner into the Scrambler without much success. The big brown dog probably felt like the rest of them did. Getting back on the road in this heat was a daunting prospect at best.

  “What’s that?” Joel eyed the can of paint Ben was carrying.

  “Heat-reflective paint for the trucks. Well, the roofs and hoods, anyways.” Ben set down the jerry can and looked the one-gallon can over before handing it to his son.

  Joel inspected it and shrugged. “Worth a try, I guess. Should we do it now, before we leave?”

  “No, we can do it next time we stop. Right now, I just want to put some distance between us and this place.” When he first found the thermal barrier, Ben had considered painting the vehicles here, but in light of all that had transpired, he thought it best to wait and do it somewhere else. He wasn’t sure how long the people outside had been trying to gain access to the hardware store, but he was sure their patience was wearing thin, if it wasn’t already exhausted.