Glen Tate - 299 Days - The 17th Irregulars

Nothing.

Then she got brave. She had her gun in her right hand. She used her left hand to open the door and opened the door fully. She then used her left hand to flip on the light in the garage.

Nothing.

Maybe he was hiding behind the car. She slowly walked around pointing her gun at whatever was in front of her. She would stop and look behind her.

No one was in the garage. She was getting more confident. She started to walk at a normal pace and had lowered her gun so it was pointed down at the ground. Her hands were hurting, as squeezing that thing was painful.

Sheila stopped. This was what happened in the movies right before the axe, she thought again. She raised her gun back up and felt the pain in her right hand again. She resumed the rhythm of searching each nook and cranny for Ethan. She opened the door from the garage to the outside. It was locked. Thank God. She swore she would never leave a door unlocked again.

She looked outside. Nothing. Finally, she realized Ethan wasn’t there. She felt a little silly taking so long to check each room, like she was overreacting. Then she realized it wasn’t overreacting. It was smart.

She ran inside to get Kellie.

“We have to go now,” she said to Kellie, who was still huddled in the bedroom. “He might come back.”

That was all Kellie needed to hear to become motivated. She jumped up and started running to the garage to get into the car. She expected Ethan to jump out of a doorway and stab her as she ran down the hall.

Kellie was in the car. Alone. Where was her mom? Sheila came running to the car with keys in her hand. It had been so long since she’d driven—over two months—that she forgot where her keys were.

Sheila jumped in the car, hit the garage door button, and backed out. Fast. Too fast. She almost hit the garage door, which hadn’t gone up yet. She hit the brakes and waited for the garage door to go up, which seemed to move in slow motion. Once she cleared it, she zoomed out. Fast. She forgot to close the garage door. Now he could get in and burn the place down, she thought as she sped down the road. But she didn’t care. She had Kellie and they were safe in the car. They were getting the hell out of there.

“Keep your eyes out for him,” Sheila said to Kellie, who had stopped crying by now.

“Wes. We need to go to Wes,” Kellie said.

“Where is he?” Sheila asked.

Kellie thought. “He’s at the Richardson house. Training or whatever.”

Sheila knew where that was. She drove there like someone was chasing them.

Sheila and Kellie raced up to the Richardson house. The dog team started barking at them. The Crew looked around and wondered who they were. One of them raised a rifle at their car.

Kellie didn’t care. She wanted to be with Wes. She got out of the car and started running toward the house.

“You’ll get shot!” Sheila yelled from the car. She couldn’t watch. Her daughter shot by mistake. Sheila shut her eyes.

Nothing. No shot. Sheila opened her eyes and saw Kellie hugging Wes and sobbing. Pretty soon, men started coming out to the car to see if Sheila was OK.

Sheila told the Team and Crew what had happened. The Team was getting their gear to go out and find Ethan. Sheila had the distinct feeling that the Team would kill Ethan if they found him. Good.

A truck came screaming down the road and bolted into the Richardson drive way. It was Ethan’s truck. Sheila cringed as low as possible in her car seat. This was it. Ethan was about to die. And Kellie would have to see it.

The truck stopped and Ethan jumped out. He was out of his mind with anger; yelling and screaming. He started walking toward them. He must have seen Kellie and Wes hugging and went insane. He started running toward them.

Ethan didn’t have a gun. There was no pistol in his holster. The Team and Crew realized that he was seemingly unarmed. They wouldn’t shoot him unless he was a threat.

Ethan got a few yards from the front porch where Kellie and Wes were and he stopped. He had about ten rifles pointed at his head and was noticing it for the first time He put his hands up and just stood there.

Ethan looked around and sized up the situation. He was powerless. Weak. He was humiliated. He had guns pointed at him and his girlfriend was in the arms of another man. He was weak and pathetic. He could never show his face in Pierce Point again. Never. He had nothing left to lose.

“Shoot me!” Ethan yelled out. “Go ahead! Get it over with!” Then he started crying. Like a little baby. More humiliation. Ethan wanted to leave. He wanted to get in his truck and go, but he knew he’d be shot if he went back to it, so he just stood there. Humiliated.

Wes let Kellie go and started walking toward Ethan. Quickly. And gaining speed. In an instant, Wes was closing in on Ethan at a full run. He looked like a cougar pouncing on prey.

Wes tackled Ethan and started punching him wherever he could. Wes felt some of the punches land. A couple went into the ground and hurt his fists, but he kept going. He was an animal. Unstoppable.

After a few seconds, Wes felt arms pulling him up. He realized it was the Team and Crew pulling him off of Ethan.

When he got to his feet, he realized his hands hurt and he had blood on him. Ethan was standing, too and also had blood on him. Wes wondered if the blood on Ethan was his. He checked his face. No blood there. He saw blood coming out of Ethan’s nose, however. Wes smiled. He must have landed at least one on Ethan’s face. Hopefully he broke the bastard’s nose.

“Want some more, bitch?” Wes yelled out to Ethan.

“Shut up,” Rich said. “Both of you shut up.”

“Fuck you!” Ethan yelled to Wes.

“Shut up,” Ryan said as he pulled his pistol out and pointed it directly in Ethan’s face. “Shut up,” he repeated slowly.

“Cuff both of them,” Rich said.

“What?” Wes yelled. Why him? He was the hero here. Ethan was the bad guy.

“Shut up and calm down,” Rich said.

Bobby cuffed Ethan with the plastic cable zip ties they carried. No one on the Team would cuff Wes, a fellow member, so Rich cuffed him.

Kellie came running up and tried to hug Wes.

“Get her out of here,” Rich said. He pointed to Kellie and motioned for someone to take her into the house where she wouldn’t spark another fight.

Rich was in cop mode. It was his job to restore the peace.

Rich went over to Sheila to find out what she knew. Sheila told Rich about how she thought Ethan might down their door.

“Get Dan up here,” Rich said. He pointed to Ethan and said, “This is one of his guards.” Someone ran off to a radio.

Grant went up to Rich and whispered, “What the hell are you doing?” He whispered because Rich was in charge and he didn’t want to contradict him.

“Fighting isn’t allowed,” Rich said. “Troop discipline. We can’t have our guys fighting, especially over a girl.”

Grant couldn’t believe it. Ethan was the bad guy. Wes was just defending Kellie. “Wes didn’t do anything wrong,” Grant said in a whisper.

“Yes, he did,” Rich said. “He attacked an unarmed man.” Rich looked at Grant as if to say, “Duh.”

Grant wanted to help one of his guys. Then it hit him. “One of his guys.” Grant was taking Wes’s side because they were both on the Team. Wes had crossed the line by attacking an unarmed man. As understandable as it was, it still crossed the line.

“What are you going to do?” Grant asked Rich.

“Discipline both of them,” Rich said. “A couple days in the jail.”

“What?” Grant asked. That sounded preposterous. Jail? For Wes?