CHAPTER 20

 

 

 

The camp was still a mess from the helicopter attack the night before. Several tents had been blown over, and everyone visible was either trying to set up a tent or repair something. Nerves were frayed.

 

Some people were crying out loud or yelling at others. Only one person, Mike, had been shot by the people in the helicopter. But Mike had been shot in the back of his upper left arm, and the bullet had gone all the way through, so there was nothing for Lois to do but stitch the wound close and give Mike some antibiotics from the fish antibiotics that had been stored by Jesse and Mary.

 

The first people Wallace, Kathy and Bill came across were Beth and one of her daughters. Beth was a tall, fair-skinned woman with short blond hair. She was comforting her teenage daughter, Keira, who was crying.

 

Keira was taking their situation pretty hard. “I can’t stand it here,” she sobbed. Beth hugged Keira as she cried. “Every morning I wake up and can’t believe I’m still here,” she cried. “I don’t want to be here. Now we’re getting shot at! What’s that about? What did we do to deserve getting shot at?”

 

“Keira, this place is our only hope.” She hugged Keira. “Try to stay strong.”

 

Beth looked behind Keira and saw Wallace quickly walking as he carried Bill, with Kathy pressing Bill’s head to stop the bleeding. Beth stood up and turned around, looking behind her, towards the main part of the camp.

 

“Lois!” Beth yelled.

 

“Where’s the nurse?” Wallace asked Beth.

 

“Beth, where is Lois?” Kathy asked.

 

“Probably working on Mike,” Beth answered. “Mike got shot.”

 

Jesse was nearby, helping to set up a tent. “What happened to him?” Jesse yelled, louder than necessary. His hearing was still compromised. “I was just talking to him a few minutes ago and he was fine. What happened?”

 

“He got shot,” Kathy answered. “We need to get him to Lois.”

 

“Jesse,” Wallace stopped walking near Jesse. One of the men’s dogs, a German Shepard, approached and sniffed Wallace. “Apparently one guy from the helicopter fell out up the road. He shot at us and hit Bill when we were walking nearby.”

 

Sean approached, alerted from the excited sounds nearby. “What happened to him?”

 

“Look,” Wallace yelled at both Jesse and Sean. “What I’m trying to say is that there might be another scumbag or two in the woods here. I don’t know. The guy who shot Bill fell out of that helicopter and he was waiting in the woods next to the road up there. I killed him but there might be another one or two who fell out of the chopper.”

 

“Oh come on …” Jesse sounded like he was complaining. “More killers out here?” He turned to Sean. “Sean, we need you. Can you go with someone and check around to see if anyone else fell out of that chopper? They might be hanging around in the woods here to kill us.”

 

“Yeah.” Sean looked around. “Anyone know where Peter is?” Sean hurriedly walked back towards the campfire area.

 

“This really sucks,” Jesse complained.

 

“I’ll take you to where Lois is,” Beth volunteered to Wallace. “Come on.” They followed Sean into the main part of the camp.

 

 

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