Chapter 30 chapter Five

Triton Heck was awake for a while, and unconscious for a while.Liz put her ear against his chest and could hear his heart beating, but couldn't feel his pulse. "Hear me?" she called out to him. Heike let out a sleepwalking raving.There was a blackened hole in his abdomen, Liz squeezed the towel stuffed there hard, Heike should have been in unbearable pain, but at this moment he didn't respond. Portia sat in the corner of the living room, with her hands folded on her knees and her head bowed.Liz walked past her.Standing in the dark kitchen looking out into the yard, she didn't see Hurubek, and she never saw him calling her name again.But the blood-curdling cry still echoed in her mind.Liz felt tainted.Oh, she thought desperately, don't pester me, please.

Liz stood a lot in front of the window.She turned to her sister and said, "Portia." Portia looked at her, then shook her head: "No." "Put this on," Liz handed her the jacket. "No, Liz, I'm not going." "You go find someone." "I don't want to go out." "You have to go to the Governor's Office, which is at—" "The car is stuck in the mud." "Take that police car." Portia said nervously, "No. He's still in there." "you go." "No. Stop talking." "Turn left after exiting the driveway. Follow Cedar Road for a mile and a half to North Street, then turn right for about six miles. Superintendent's office is on the right side of the road. Cedar Road must be flooded. Slow down before going into town .”

"No!" Portia's face was full of tears. Liz's fingers, whitened by the rain, were stained with the blood of the injured.She grabbed Portia's shoulder and said, "I'll take you to the car, and you drive to the director." Portia glanced at the dark red blood on the sweater.She yelled, "You put his—" "Portia." "You got his blood on me! No!" Liz took out the black-and-blue pistol from her pocket, and said to her surprised sister, "Stop rambling. Get in the car and set off right away! Let's go!" She grabbed Portia by the collar and dragged her into the rain.

The two sisters hugged each other and moved towards the police car with difficulty.The ground was muddy, and it took them five minutes to get to their Acura.Muddy water was four feet deep around the garage.Fast forward to the top of the driveway, and the police car will soon be submerged. "I can't see," Portia whispered. Liz left her on the edge of the driveway and walked toward the police car alone.It was still raining hard, but there seemed to be a faint light somewhere in the sky—though it was not yet dawn. She glanced back at her sister as she reached for the car door.what is that?She looked over her sister's shoulder.A dozen or so steps away, it seemed that a group of dark clouds had gathered. In the hazy rain curtain, the color of the dark clouds was getting darker and darker, and it was dancing and slowly swimming towards them.

The cloud finally took shape: Mike Hurubek was shambling toward them, one hand outstretched, the other dangling, apparently injured.The gun was held in the wounded hand, and the pistol looked very short in his thick palm. He stared blankly at Portia. "Liz... Liz..." Turning her head, the young woman screamed in terror, and fell onto her back into the mud. Liz froze.Oh, God, he took Portia for me. Hurubek reached out to Portia. "Eve..." Liz raised the pistol, held it in both hands, and pulled the trigger once, twice, maybe several times.She pushed so hard that the sharp trigger almost cut her finger.The bullet flew into the night sky, passing just inches from Hurubek.

He howled, covered his ears, and fled into the woods.Liz ran to her sister. Portia was so frightened that her whole body went limp, and her head hung down.Liz thrust the gun into her hand.With the gun in both hands, she watched as Liz walked up to the police car, grabbed the policeman by the shoulders, dragged him out, threw him disrespectfully into the mud, reached into the car again, and started the car.She took the pistol from Portia's hand, and Portia stepped back.Liz grabbed her sister's arm and pushed her into the front seat of the car.Portia crouched as though the pool of blood might burn her thigh.She wept and trembled all over.Liz slammed the car door shut. "Walk."

"I...will run over his legs...get him out of the way!" Portia pointed to the policeman under the car, his legs stretched out in front of the rear wheels. "Go!" Liz yelled, reaching in through the car window, turning on the headlights, and pushing the gear lever to the drive position.The police car slowly passed the policeman's body and drove up the driveway.Portia stepped on the gas pedal.The car rushed forward, kicking up a cloud of muddy water and gravel. Liz was dazzled by the mud splashed by the police car, she turned her face up to let the rain wash her cheeks and eyes.When she regained her vision, she saw Mike Hurubek running towards her again, dripping cautiously with muddy water, and had reached the middle of the yard.

Liz fumbled beside her, but the gun was gone.Just now I fell down and the pistol slipped out of the torn pocket.She dropped to her knees and groped in the mud, but couldn't find the pistol. "Where is it?" she called. "Where did it go?" Hrubek was only thirty feet away from her, walking through waist-deep water beside the garage.Unable to delay any longer, she ran into the house and slammed the door behind her. Liz locked the door and picked up a long kitchen knife from the wooden desk.She turned to face the door. But he has gone. Liz quietly walked to the window and looked carefully at the backyard.There was no sign of him.She stepped back, worried that he would suddenly appear.

Where are you?Where? His disappearance was as horrific as his presence. She hurried into the living room from the kitchen and knelt down to check on Triton Heck's injuries.He was still unconscious, but breathing evenly.Liz stood up and looked around.There was the sound of breaking glass outside.Hurubek is looking around the house.A figure flashed across a window in the living room.After a while his figure appeared on a curtain and disappeared again.There was a silence, an unbearable silence.Suddenly someone kicked hard on the front door.She held her breath.Another kick.A piece of wood cracked.He kicked again, and the wooden door stood firm.Liz saw Hurubek pass through the narrow window by the door.

Liz's head slowly turned in the direction he was heading.She heard Hurubek unscrew the tool room door and close it again. silence. From the guest room at the other end of the room came the sound of fists beating against the thick glass windows.Glass shattered, but no other noise was heard.She guessed the windows were too high and the mullions too strong for Hurubek to climb. There was another silence. Then he howled and beat the wall with his hands, ripping off the cedar wainscoting. Liz checked each room and her eyes fell on the basement door.God, it occurred to her—Owen's gun.His collection of various weapons is downstairs in the basement.She could go get a shotgun.

As soon as Liz took a step towards the basement, she heard a "tom" sound from outside.Then there were several more bangs—a violent crash that seemed to shake the foundations of the entire house.The wood was split.With a loud shout, Hurubek kicked down the door leading to the outside from the basement.The big lock on the door only resisted for thirty seconds before being kicked off.His footsteps hit the concrete floor in the basement.A moment later there was the creak of the stairs—the stairs were leading up to where Liz was standing. O Jesus! The door leading to the basement in the house is bolted, but the mortise lock is made of copper, not thick, just good-looking, not anti-thief.Liz wanted to find something to hold the door.Just as the doorknob was being turned, she moved a heavy oak chair against the door. The doorknob turned sharply, and Liz jumped back, fearing that Hurubek could still open the door and run in.But he didn't, and after fiddling with the doorknob, he walked back down the flight of stairs.The room fell silent again, and then there were strange laughter and the sound of his footsteps.Liz couldn't hear what he was muttering.After five minutes, these sounds all disappeared.is he still thereIs he going to set fire to the house?What is he doing? There was no sound from downstairs, and there was silence outside, only the sound of rain.Mike Hurubek has disappeared again.With a knife in one hand and Heike's dog in the other, Liz Eichlin walked into the conservatory, sat in a dark corner, and waited. Portia had been walking for twenty minutes as the rain fell like gravel on the roof of the conservatory.It was only eight miles to the governor's office, but the road was difficult, and it might take her an hour to make it.However, as time passed, and seeing that Hurubek's voice was not heard, Liz became less nervous.She even wondered if he had escaped. She began to worry about Owen.She doesn't want to imagine the worst.No, nothing will happen to him.It was raining so hard, maybe he was hiding somewhere to take shelter from the rain, and when the storm subsided, she would go home. She looked at the dark sky and prayed for the dawn—the opposite of what she usually prayed when she lay in bed and couldn't sleep. Liz sniffed a rose and waited another twenty minutes.Or nineteen minutes.Or fifteen minutes.Rescue will arrive, Mike Hurubek must be lost in the forest.He must have broken his leg. Liz scratched the dog's ears. "It's okay, your master will be fine soon," she said to the police dog when she saw her head tilted.Liz put her arm around its shoulders.Poor guy, the dog was just as nervous as she was—his ears were quivering, his neck was stiff.Liz leaned back, watching its wrinkled skin and tired eyes.It raised its nose and flapped its nostrils.Liz smiled. "You like roses too, my boy?" It stood up, shoulder muscles tensed. A deep growl rose from its throat. "Oh my God," Liz yelled, "Damn!" The police dog sniffed the air vigorously, its legs were about to move, and its head was raised and lowered for a while.It started walking up and down the floor.Liz jumped up and grabbed the kitchen knife, looking at the steamed glass of the conservatory.Where is he? Where? "Be quiet," Liz said to the police dog, but it was still walking around, sniffing the air, showing an increasingly agitated look.Liz's palms were sweating coldly. She wiped off the sweat and gripped the kitchen knife tightly. "Be quiet! He's gone! He's not here anymore. Don't bark!" She circled around looking for the enemy that only police dogs could detect.The dull whine of the police dog turned into a bark, and it was like the scream of a lost witch, shaking every window pane of the greenhouse. "Oh, please!" she said. "Stop barking!" The police dog stopped barking. It turned around silently, and ran straight for the front door of the awning - Liz remembered that Heike had come when she was inspecting the front door of the awning. Then she forgot to check the door. The door was knocked open, and the police dog was knocked down by the middle and blindfolded.Mike Hurubek walked into the conservatory and stood in the middle of the concrete floor, his tall, muddy body dripping with water.He turned his head to watch the animal-shaped drip nozzles in the conservatory, various flowers and trees, and the mist sprayed from the pipes——as calmly as a member of a sightseeing group.Hurubek held a pistol covered in mud in his hand.Seeing Liz, he whispered her name in surprise.There was a smile on his lips--neither sarcasm, nor smugness, nor a madman's sense of humor.This smile reveals the kind of serenity that can only be seen on the face of the dead.