L Akers - Fight Like a Man

Seven five-gallon gas jugs stood sentry over the food as the final row.

“What’s all that for? You living here?” Jake nodded at the stuff.

“Trading here. At least until the last of the gas is gone. Two of us will be taking this stuff over to the house later,” Nick answered as he slid the part to Jake with a paper slip and pen for signing the receipt. Jake almost chuckled that he was still following office procedure when he and his staff were all outside, armed to the huckleberries, circling the wagons. Probably worried that Rena would have his hide if he skipped a step. Nick was the boss, but Rena ran a tight ship behind that counter.

Jake scribbled his name and slid the paper back to Nick. “You’ve been busy if you got all that in two days. So you’re not taking money at all?”

“I could have bought all that and more with the sale of one used car before the lights went out, and I wish like hell right now I would’ve. But no. I’m not taking cash. Ain’t nothing to buy with it. Stores are already bare bones. What good is it?”

Jake shrugged. “It looks like you’re all set for a while anyway.”

Nick shook his head. “Nope. That won’t last long. I didn’t have much at the house when the lights went out. Grocery store was wiped out the first day the power was gone. Gas stations aren’t pumping anymore. I got plenty of money and nowhere to spend it. I wish I’d listened to your brother-in-law when he’d talk about all that being prepared shit. I did get lucky. I got something people need right now. But hell, what I’ve gotten in return so far won’t last us a month. Rena and I are feeding my boy, too.” He shrugged his shoulders. “We need numbers, though. Can’t get no damn sleep if there’s only two of you, even if Rena is a hell of a shot.”

“You already had trouble out at the house, too?” Jake asked, concerned. Nick lived ten miles from him, but closer to town.

“Hell yeah we have. Bunch of damn rednecks came looking for food last night. They left rather quick-like, especially considering they probably had a bit of buckshot in their asses for their trouble. But they’ll be back, or more of ‘em. It ain’t safe nowhere near town.”

Jake nodded. He wouldn’t head back to the house. It would just be a waste of gas. If trouble had already found Nick’s neighborhood, it wouldn’t be long until it found his. He trusted Tucker would be on top of it. He was heading straight to Grayson’s place. He’d just have to get the 4-wheeler back later.

As though Nick read his mind, he said, “Say, how’s Grayson doing out at his place? I know he’s prepared. And he’s far enough out there it’ll take a while before he sees company. But when he does,” Nick shook his head again. “He got numbers to watch his six?”

Jake wasn’t positive, but felt pretty sure it was just Grayson there right now. However, it wasn’t his place to invite anyone, nor did he want anyone to know they might not have enough protection, even if it was Nick, whom they all knew and liked.

“Yeah. He’s got a house full. Bunch of buddies, plus Dusty. You know Dusty is a cop, right? He brought some of his crew with him, too.”

Nick sighed and Jake felt bad for the lie.

“Look, if there’s room for y’all, we’ll find a way to get back to you and tell you. Maybe you can load up what you got and come out there. But don’t come unless one of us comes to get you. Might not be room enough for y’all and those cops are trigger nervous. That work?”

Nick looked relieved at the possibility. “Yeah. You tell Grayson we’ll pull our weight and then some. We’ll be ready to go once all this gas is gone.” He waved at the gas tanks lined up behind him. “And I don’t think that’ll take more than a day or so.”

“I’ll tell him.” Jake gave him a nod and turned to go.

“Hey, Jake,” Nick said, “What color is your Chevy?”

“Red. Ruby red. Why?”

Nick shook his head. “I thought so. We had a group of bikers in here yesterday looking for bike parts. One of them saw this box and asked about it and asked where you live. He was looking for a red one. I know you work on it out at Grayson’s but I told him I didn’t know where you lived.”

“You tell him the color?”

Nick scoffed. “Yeah, I did. But I told him it was yellow . I’m not stupid.”

“Thanks, man. Why was he asking?”

“State-wide Biker-Scavenger hunt. Those things are big deals for bikers and it was on their list. You should have seen that convoy. Beat all I ever saw. One biker had a pig—a live pig in a purple skirt—strapped to the back of his bike.”

“No shit?”

“Yeah, apparently a red ’57 Chevy was on the list too. But they moved on, headed south toward the beach.”

Jake’s blood ran cold. “You know which beach?”

Nick shook his head. “I wasn’t asking any questions. That crew wasn’t too friendly. I gave them all the bike parts I had on the house and sent them on their way. I was just glad I didn’t have all this food and stuff sitting out here when they came through. They’re part of the baddest biker gang in the Carolinas. Looking for trouble. You be careful out there, you hear?”

“Will do,” Jake answered. “And you might want to stack that stuff in the back until you get it hauled out of here.”

Nick stepped forward and shook his hand. He glanced around, giving the area outside the gate where Jake was parked a once-over, nodded a final goodbye and turned to head back into the shop.

Jake looked around him for any signs of trouble. All was quiet next door at the shopping strip mall and drugstore. But for the first time he noticed the windows of all those businesses had been broken out and the drugstore was now boarded up and closed for business.

His heart fell. That was his next stop, and the most important.

Loose items littered the parking lot; clothes, empty boxes, bits and pieces of something or the other. They were probably cleaned out before they were boarded up. Other than the part for Ruby, this was a wasted run and wasted gas.

On the other side of the shopping strip was a run-down residential property that was well-known to be frequented by drunks and rednecks squatting there for days on end. Piles of beer cans littered the yard most Mondays when he passed by on his way to work.

Lots of activity over there. It was a small crowd of probably ten or fifteen people and Jake could hear them yelling, although he couldn’t make out the words. Probably just drunk and rowdy.

He shoved the part for Ruby into the saddle-bag on the back and climbed onto the 4-wheeler feeling nervous about the ride to Grayson’s. He fired up the engine, getting the attention of the crowd.

“Hey!” someone yelled. Two men broke away from the group and walked toward him. Jake squinted, trying to determine if he knew the men. It’d be nice to talk to someone. Trade information at the very least, maybe find out what anyone was saying about the power being out.

Jake threw his hand up in a friendly wave. “Hey.”

One of the men shoved the other, viciously pushing him to the ground and broke into a brisk run. “I saw it first!” he yelled.

The 4-wheeler. They want it.

A handful of others split from the crowd and ran toward Jake, mere seconds behind the first two. Soon, they’d all be on him.

He quickly put the ATV in reverse.

The engine died.

He tried to start it again.

It turned over, over, and over… but didn’t fire.

Oh shit. Jake had no idea how old the battery was. Hell, where’s a mechanic when you need one , he thought in panic, looking up to see if Nick had heard the problem and come back out—hopefully carrying his gun.

No sign of Nick.