Chapter Eleven
In the main room, Ben is savvy enough and manipulative enough to make almost everyone comfortable, but this is not the case with the other Burne boys; even on their best behavior, their true selves seep out like pus. The air in the room is unstable with growing unease. Hank taps Jimmy’s hand and says, “Let’s go back to the cabin and finish unpacking.”
“Okay, one sec.” Jimmy lays out a napkin and reaches to put some brown bread in it to take back to his mom.
Kent turns to Dan and Mike and brags, “I caught a storm like this once off the coast of Guava.”
“Guava is a f*cking fruit,” Gravel tells him derisively. The language is oddly harsh and suspicion crawls around the table. For Hank, dread settles like a fist in his throat. Gravel looks to Jimmy and says, “Uh, excuse my French there, kiddo.” Hank slides to the edge of his seat as tension rises in his body. He doesn’t want to spark anything but he knows bad when he sees it. His eyes roam as he considers his best move. He considers the brothers. The one with the carburetor seems reasonable, intelligent, calm. The mute one seems only interested in food. The other two - they are several clicks from normal - something is very wrong. Ed Hutchinson moves his chair a little closer to his new wife. Ben doesn’t want to waste energy, time, or ammo dealing with these people. Gravel is oblivious to the atmospheric shift in the room. He doesn’t have an empathetic antenna and wouldn’t care if he did. Bella has caught his attention and he can’t ignore the rise in his pants. Bella takes a small step backwards.
Ben speaks a little too calmly to Hobbs, “So, where’s that toolbox?”
“Porch.”
Gravel leans into Bella inches from her shoulder; he smells her like an animal would. “You’re a mighty attractive woman, there, honey.”
Kent interjects, “Jesus, you got weird taste.”
Bella doesn’t know how to react. Her instincts are screaming. Hank sees the alarm on her face.
He says, “I think the lady wants to be left alone.”
“Who asked you?” Gravel practically spits at him.
With a warning in his tone, Ben says to his brother, “Gravel, we’re guests here.”
Not taking his predatory stare from Bella, he responds, “Guests hoping for a little hospitality is all.” Dan, Mike, and Bruce stand. They feel confident. There are only four Burne brothers and they are seven strong men.
“Look man,” Mike says feeling his way, “we’re on vacation. No one wants any trouble.”
Dan’s bristling middle-class macho adds, “But if you’re looking for trouble.”
Gravel snaps and turns on them with inappropriate fury. “Hey, you dicks find your own slot. I’m workin’ this hole.” The pretense of civility disintegrates. Dan takes a swing at Gravel. Bella jumps back out of the way. Gravel wrenches Dan’s arm and snaps his wrist. Dan yells in pain. Mike jumps on Gravel.
“Aw shit.” Ben says disappointed and annoyed by the ruckus. He exposes his handgun and shoots once into the ceiling. Everyone freezes. Jimmy jumps toward his dad who grabs him! He wraps his arms around his frightened son. Ben speaks calmly, “Okay, let’s have a little order here.” Terror is written on all of their faces. No one moves. Dan is holding his broken wrist and clearly in pain. “Okay,” Ben says, “Better.” Patiently he chides Gravel, “Jesus, Gravel.”
“What? These guys jumped me! Didn’t you see that? They jumped me.”
Ben turns to Grant and asks calmly, “Is everyone here?”
Hank’s eye catches Alison standing confused in the recess of the doorway to the kitchen. She is unnoticed. Ever so slightly, Hank indicates for her to step back. Bella sees her recede back into the kitchen.
With a raised voice, “You” indicating Grant, “I’m talking to you. Is everyone here?” Grant is too scared to speak. He manages a nod. Ben looks around. He wants to be sure. “Take your dinner seats. Everyone! Sit down in your chairs.”
Jimmy says, “Mom?” Hank and Bella exchange an understanding. She walks over and takes Alison’s seat.
“Right here, honey,” she says to Jimmy as she sits. Acknowledgment passes silently between everyone at the table. They all agree.
Ben looks at the table. Since originally a place had not been set for Bella there are ten seats - ten people. Everyone looks accounted for but Ben is a careful man. He nods at Gravel.
Gravel says, “I’ll check around.”
No one at the table moves. No one breathes. In silent pain, Dan holds his wrist. Julie hides her face in Ed’s chest. He has his hand on her head. Bruce and Grant look much younger than their twenty years right now. Hobbs’ eyes trail Gravel. Gravel heads for the kitchen and Hank swallows hard scared for Alison. He squeezes his son’s hand. It says be quiet, be calm.
From inside the kitchen, Alison sees Gravel approach. She tears across the kitchen and back into the bathroom closing the door. She has no breath. Her brain stutters. Shock. Think. Think. The rain pours like an open faucet onto the roof. It is loud and her gasping cannot be heard. She peeks out and sees Gravel opening the door to the food pantry. She turns and climbs onto the top of the tank of the toilet bowl. She slips her fingers under the tiny opening of the bathroom window and presses with all her strength trying to open the humidity swollen window. Her face goes red and her arms shake as she forces open the double-hung glass.
In the main room, Kent has taken off his coat and stands by the fire warming. Theo has grabbed the stew pot from the table and is eating in one of the armchairs. Ben stands, gun out, watching the table with a pleasant look on his face. Everyone at the table waits. They exchange glances tense with meaning, all hoping Alison is well hidden. She may be all they have.
From the kitchen, “Lookie what I found!”
“No, oh, no,” Hank drops his head and pain drenches his expression. Gravel pops his head out holding a box of Oreos.
Kent holds his hands up for the pass, “All right!” Gravel chucks the bag over to him and turns back into the kitchen.
Inside the tiny bathroom, Alison’s face is bright red and her teeth clenched as she pushes and pulls the window a few more inches. This is as far as it is going. This will be tight, maybe too tight. Shifting her weight, the toilet tank wobbles a little, she goes for it.
Gravel sees the wooden door to the bathroom. He walks over. He pulls his gun. Alison crawls out into the driving rain and reaches up to close the window. It comes part way down when the bathroom light flips on! She hits the mud and rolls up against the lodge wall lying on her side with her back flat against the building. Mud and water in her nose and mouth, she chokes but does not move. Gravel’s pasty and distorted face appears in the window. She can see the outline from his head where it blocks the light coming from inside. He peers into the dark. She senses. He’s directly above her. She closes her eyes and bites her lips. A moment. The light goes off in the bathroom. She lies there submerged in mud.
Gravel enters the main room and tells Ben, “Nothing.” Covert glances are exchanged at the table. At least there is someone out there who knows what’s happening.
Ben says, “So, okay, listen up. I don’t particularly want to kill any of you. My brother Gravel wants to kill all of you because that’s his nature.” Gravel grins and shrugs as though Ben has said something charming. Ben continues, “So we’ve got a delicate balance here. You folks need to behave so as not to upset that balance. Now, you…” he speaks to Hobbs, “this your place?”
“Yeah.”
“Where’s your fishing boat? We’ll be taking that.”
“Storm like this, my partner drove it to safe harbor this morning.”
“How far is that?’
“About two miles by water.”
“F*ck.” Kent says. Theo looks up from his pot of stew. He offers Kent a piece of meat. Kent takes it from Theo’s fingers and pops it in his mouth.
Gravel asks, “Where’s the nearest town?”
Hobbs responds, “No town.”
“Fine.” Ben looks to Gravel. “Let’s just clean this carburetor and hope that will do it.”
Behind a tree, near the front of the lodge, she stands. She is barely recognizable through the mud and the contorted expression. Her feet are parted, her knees taut, her arms straight at her sides, her unblinking eyes stuck to the lodge front window. It is dark outside and the lights from the lodge illuminate the main room like a stage play. She feels as though she is in the middle of something unreal. She stands indifferent to the pounding rain, the thunderous noise, and the flashes of violent electricity.
Inside, Ben’s tone has taken on an eerie controlling calm. ”How about you all move to the far corner over there by the game table and take a seat together on the floor.”
“Why?” Gravel asks his brother.
“So you and Theo can tie them up.”
“Tie them up? Let’s just do ‘em and be done.”
Ben smiles nicely at the group at the table, “See, he’s so impulsive, ever since he was a little kid.” Then, back to Gravel, Ben explains, “Currently, they are assets. Humor me. Tie them.” Theo jumps up immediately. He pulls the table lamp from the wall and snaps apart its cord.
Kent stops him, “Theo, here.” He holds up a spool of fishing wire. Theo smiles.
Alison watches her husband and son get up from their dinner seats and move toward the game table. Over and over in her mind she hears, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening. She watches them all sit together on the floor.
Theo and Kent unspool fishing line. Kent kneels down next to Jimmy who presses back against his dad’s chest.
Hank tries, “He’s just a kid. You don’t need to tie him.”
“Yeah? How old are you kid?”
“Nine.” Jimmy’s voice is barely a whisper.
To Hank, “What are you raising some kind of wimp for the world to shit on? When I was his age I’d already killed three dogs, five cats, and the annoying kid next door.”
Outside, Alison digs her nails into her head with terrified bewilderment. Her whole body bursts and shakes. Help. I need help. She turns around in a frenzy. What to do? What do I do? The instinct to find help engages and sends her running through the woods. The ground is muddy and hard to maneuver. She loses her footing, slips, and slides down a small embankment. She stops, looks ahead, realizes she is only a few feet from the edge of a cliff. She can barely see it in the darkness. A flash of lightning shows her its depth. She scoots back from the edge on her ass. Sitting there on the ground the near miss actually calms her. She talks to herself. Stop. Where are you going? What are you doing? Focus. Calm. What can I do? Think. Plan. Smart. Be smart.
The hostages are corralled uncomfortably in the corner. Theo has pulled over a chair and sits facing them with his weapon in his lap. Ben is surrounded by tools. He is taking apart the carburetor. Kent throws some logs on the fire. Gravel lies on one of the sofas with his feet up. He and Kent are in the middle of a discussion.
Gravel says, “It’s dandruff.”
Kent corrects him, “Doctor said it’s stress induced scalp flakes.”
“What kind of stress have you got?”
“Bein’ your brother mostly.” Kent laughs at himself.
“It’s dandruff.”
Theo stands suddenly and walks over to the hostages on the floor. He looks at them slowly. No one moves. No one breathes. His eyes stop on Mike. Theo bends down over Mike’s feet. He sizes them up. He unties and snatches Mike’s shoes. He takes them back to where he was sitting and puts them on.
Ben asks, “Is there any music in the glorious rustic hideaway?”
“Radio over there.” Hobbs uses his chin to indicate the bookshelf.
Ben signals to Gravel who gets up and turns on the radio. He flips through the dials.
“I can’t believe there’s no TV here,” Kent says and then to Ben, “Did you get to watch TV in the pen?”
“Not too much.” Ben concentrates on the carburetor.
“We were a Nielson family for a while.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Such a cool feeling. If I didn’t like something, I just cut it off. Bam! Gone.”
Gravel is nothing if not impatient. He walks over to Hobbs who sits on the outside of the circle of hostages, slits the wire around his hands, and says, “Find something good on this f*ckin’ radio!”
“Hard in a storm like this.” Hobbs gets up and walks over to the bookshelf. He puts his ear close and slowly starts to move the dial.
Kent continues, “The Nielson thing was kind of like being on a jury. You sit there and then if you don’t like the guy, bam, he’s history.”
“You’ve never been a juror,” Gravel says.
“They don’t take you if you’ve gone down for a felony. You’d think they’d be wetting their pants for a guy like me with experience. Some a*shole’s up for murder one. Hey, I’m your guy. I’d know it in an instant.”
Over in the corner, quietly, Dan whispers, “We have to do something.”
Bruce responds, “Lay low and stay alive.”
“Wait for help,” Hank adds.
“Help from where?” Mike asks.
“Alison’s out there,” Bella reminds them.
“Oh, great, we’re relying on mountain woman in the high heels?”
Hank lunges for him forgetting he’s tied. The wire secures him and he’s pulled back down.
The commotion gets Ben’s attention, “Now kids, let’s not fight over there. We don’t want to gag you.”
Hobbs has finally landed on a relatively clear station on the radio. He fine-tunes it. It’s a country station. Satisfied, he turns it up. Country music floods into the room. Gravel grabs his gun and fires repeatedly riddling Hobbs with bullets! Julie, Grant, Jimmy scream. Bella begins to cry. Hobbs, his eyes wide open in astonishment, collapses bloody to the floorboards. Jimmy buries his head in Hank’s lap. Even with his hands tied, Hank manages to cover Jimmy protectively with his body. And then silence. The kind of silence that accompanies sudden tragic shock. Brains pause. A deafening clap of thunder fills the soundless void.
Then a calm, inquiring voice, “Uh, bro?” Ben asks.
Gravel recognizes the criticism in Ben’s expression. He shrugs “I hate country music.”
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