Chapter 18
We had been out for a relatively short hike of just a few miles and came home to have lunch in the house. We both just walked in the front door and were taking off our small day packs when the two men stepped through the kitchen doorway with guns pointed at both of us.
“You can also very, very slowly remove those pistols and drop them on top of those packs. Whether you live or die will be determined by just how well you can follow my orders. So slowly drop those pistols now.”
I was cursing myself out in my mind for being so very careless and allowing this to happen. Our safety was totally my responsibility and I had let both of us down. And now Jan would very likely pay a terrible price for my actions. I wanted to draw and shoot but I knew I would have no chance what-so-ever against the already the drawn and aimed guns of the two men. I took a different tack.
“Please don’t hurt me. We will do anything you want but just don’t hurt me. We have food. Lots of food. You can take it. There is good meat in the freezer too. Take it all just don’t hurt me.”
“What a pathetic loser. How could someone like you have that good looking woman? Yes we will take all your food and maybe if this woman plays her cards right we may just take her along too. You, I don’t know if I will even waste a bullet on. Get over in the living room both of you.”
Both Jan and I walked into the living room after dropping our pistols. The men stepped much closer to us now that we had no guns. Jan I think suspected I was just waiting for any opportunity and she took her jacket off then her hat and shook out her long hair. Jan was a beautiful woman and as I think she suspected the two men both turned and looked directly at her. They also allowed their guns to droop down so they were no longer pointed directly at us.
When one of the men took another step closer to Jan and opened his mouth to speak I struck. When I saw their attention was on her I had slowly moved my hand to one of my knives. When I made my move to attack I drew the knife and threw it in one smooth motion. The throw was not a very strong one but should be adequate for the intended soft tissue target. The knife struck the victim in the throat but while the knife was still in the air I was moving in on the other man.
Reaching out with my long arms I grabbed the man’s gun and just tipped it up enough to be pointed at his head. As soon as I thought any bullet shot may strike him I pushed down on his finger that was on the trigger. The gun went off two times and at least one of the shots entered the man’s chin and passed into his likely small brain cavity. The bullet did its job very well.
As that man was falling to the floor I turned back to the man I stuck with my knife. He was still alive and making gurgling noises through all the blood coming from his throat. One glance at him and I knew the noises would cease momentarily with no further action from me.
When I looked at Jan she had drawn her knife and was in a fighting stance but had a shocked look on her face. I took the two or three steps over to her and wrapped my arms around her. When I did so I turned her body so she was facing away from the dead and dying men lying on the floor.
“I’m so sorry. I should have been much more vigilant and should never have put us in this danger. Did you get hurt?”
“It happened so fast.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No I am not hurt. You were so fast.”
“Thank goodness that you are OK. I am so sorry to let this happen.”
“No, you saved us. You are not at fault. You saved us both. Are you hurt?”
“No I’m fine. But I should have been much more watchful. I am so thankful that my screw up did not get you hurt.”
“Stop that. You did not do anything wrong. You saved our lives. I would have helped but you were so fast there was nothing for me to do. I knew you would act when you thought we had a chance and that is why I put on the little show. But then you were so fast that I hardly had time to get my knife out.”
“You did great. You knew just what to do. I am so lucky to have you with me.”
All this time I had been holding Jan tight to me. I did not want to let go. I had heard the last wheeze of breath leaving the man I used the knife on and knew he was now dead. I led Jan out of the living room and into the kitchen. I had her sit at the table where she could not see into the room with the dead men. I then quickly retrieved our handguns and gave hers to her. Then I made a quick cup of instant coffee and set in front of her. I noticed two rifles that must have belonged to the two men leaning up against one cabinet. After again making sure Jan was alright I went back to the two men.
They were both dead and I went through their pockets and took everything that we could possibly ever use. They did not have much stuff and only a little money. I did make sure I got the holsters and belts the men wore. That done I drug the two out the front door. There was a big area rug in the living room and it had soaked up most all of the blood. I rolled that up and threw that outside also before going back to check on Janet.
She seemed pretty calm now and was sipping the hot coffee. I told her I was going to make a quick sweep and make sure it was just the two men. I would also look for their car or how they came here. She said she would be fine and I grabbed my rifle from where it was kept and left the house.
Once outside I scanned the whole area looking for someone or anything out of place. Then I walked a big loop around the area. At the first house that was closest to the road I found two bikes. One had a make-shift trailer attached to it. There were also two big backpacks leaning against the two bicycles. I hooked the two packs on the handlebars of the bike with the trailer and wheeled it up to our house.
I went back inside to check on Jan.
“Are you OK?”
“Yes. Things just happened so fast; I guess it took me a little bit to catch up. I’m sorry I was not more help to you in taking care of those two.”
“You did a great job. The little act you did to get and hold their attention was perfect. It was what allowed me to act.”
“Did you find their car outside somewhere?”
“They came on bicycles apparently. One of the bikes had a trailer attached to it. They also had two big backpacks.”
“I’ll go clean up in the living room if you want to do something with the bodies.”
“I can do the clean up.”
“No, I’m fine now and I can handle it.”
“OK if you’re sure. If it bothers you just leave it and I’ll finish. I will throw away that big rug that was in there. I don’t think we could ever get it cleaned up enough to use again. I’ll get rid of the rug and bodies now and then help with the clean up when I get back.”
I left the house and got my little truck. I used that to haul the bodies down the highway a couple miles and I just tossed them in the ditch. I was going to toss the rug there too but it just didn’t feel right to me. It bothered me not at all throwing the two dead guys out but the rug seemed like littering or a waste or something and I just couldn’t do it. I brought the rug back with me and burned it in the middle of the dirt road past our house a little ways a couple days later.
When I got back inside Janet had the living room all clean. She looked a little pale but seemed fine. I asked if she wanted to go through the stuff the bad guys had brought with them. She said yes just to keep busy I think.
The trailer had two sleeping bags and a tent along with a little food and some water. I was surprised at how little food was there. The backpacks contained a little more food and extra clothes for each man. One of the guys had been about my size and I kept some of the better looking of his clothes out to be washed so I might wear them. One pack had a cloth bag with some silver coins inside. There was not that many of them but were the only silver we had, at least as far as I knew (maybe Janet had some).
We brought the food in and added it to ours. I put the bikes and the trailer in a neighboring garage. The two empty backpacks we put in a spare room in our house along with the guns and ammunition the two had. One of the rifles was a scoped bolt action hunting rifle and I would use that for any more deer or elk hunting I would do. The 223 caliber rifles that Jan and I had were really too light for the big game hunting. The scoped rifle was a 30/06 which was a much better choice for big game hunting. There were only 24 cartridges for it but they should last me quite awhile if I was careful.
We did get what supplies the two bandits had with them but I would be feeling much better if we had never laid eyes on the two men.