Chapter 88 Section 19

A strong gust of air pushed me into the bushes.The draft wasn't from the shotgun, it was from the house.When the house exploded, the shock lifted me and threw me into the bushes.Debris flew, snapped branches and shredded leaves. Dimly, I was distinctly aware of the smell of smoke and the crackling of flames.In pain, I slowly sat up, feeling dizzy and nauseous.The roar in the ears was unbearable. I was thrown into a pit, which is the only reason I survived the debris from the explosion. Smoldering chunks of debris were all around me, and the bushes were on fire.The wind carried the flames from tree to tree.

The smoke made me cough, and I stood up unsteadily, looking around, looking for Patty. The house I faced became a burning pit.He's not where we last stood.He must have been thrown into the bushes like me. The flames came to me.Kate and Jason, I have to find them.I stumbled into the woods, and I prayed they kept running, that they were out of the way of the fire. However, Patty doesn't think so.He will do everything in his power to get them back. Unless he died, unless the explosion killed him. Where is his body then?After the explosion, there was nothing covering the ground, and I should be able to see his body.Where is he?As I staggered through the trees, the wind swirled around me with smoke, making my cough worse.While I was unconscious, the fire spread rapidly, from tree to tree.The bushes caught fire.I turned left and right to avoid the flames on the right, and watched for a piece on the left that suddenly lit up.

I wanted to yell "Kate, Jason!" but they were so scared of me in the house that I doubted they would say yes.If so, I'd throw them into a bigger panic.And in case they answered my shout, Patty would hear them and find them. Plus, if I called out to Kate and Jason, Patty would hear me and know where I was. The fire roared all around me.The smoke swirls and is blown away by the wind.Struggling to breathe, I stumbled into an open field.Tongues of flame rushed to the tree in front of me again. How far did Kate and Jason run?I remembered that I had walked into the woods along a stream.If I got there, if Kate and Jason could get there, we'd have a chance of surviving.

Go there?how to get to?The constant need to dodge the flames and the constant distraction made me impatient.The same goes for Kate and Jason, who may be going in circles. I fumbled in my shirt pocket and found the compass.Squinting through the smoke I identified to myself northwest, as opposed to southeast as I approached the house.I put the compass back in my shirt, dodged a fallen burning branch, and ran to the unburned tree to the northwest of me. The flames of the burning wood crackled and clicked now and then.The dry stumps were bursting with heat.A chunk of bark and wood fell from the tree to my right, and I threw myself to the ground, realizing that one of the explosions was from Patty's shotgun.

I took out my gun, and the violent shaking of my hand made me panic.In Denver, my instructor warned that no matter how good a shooter was at the target, he was ill-prepared for gun control in a kill-and-be-kill situation.When fear gets the upper hand, technology fails. The fire was getting closer, and I couldn't stay here, but if I moved, Patty would shoot again.I think about everything Kate and Jason have been through, everything I've been through trying to find them.I thought about Patty wanting me to die in the mountains.I tensed my muscles in anger, and my hands stopped shaking.

I ran to another tree and a shot knocked a piece of wood from the tree.Immediately I did what Patty least expected, and rushed back toward the flames, toward the tree where I was hiding.I felt where he fired and I fired three times into the bushes in that direction.The smoke enveloped me, and I held my breath, and under the cover of the smoke, I rushed towards the bushes and fired three more shots in that direction angrily.But when I dashed past, I found no body, only an empty shell casing. I squatted down, breathing hoarsely, observing the movement in the bushes.But the heat of the flames combined with the strength of the wind set everything in motion.Empty shotgun shells.How many times did Patty shoot me?I know of two.How many rounds can a shotgun hold?I recall that lesson at the arms store where I was told that there was a maximum of four rounds in the clip and one round in the chamber.Patty's shirt pockets showed no sign of being bulging with bullets.As far as I know, he only has three rounds left.

My back felt like it was scorching, and I had to rush to further cover.I ducked down, took advantage of the smoke, got to more bushes, and sprinted for another tree stump. Crack! The top of the stump cracked.My left shoulder ached like I'd been stung with extreme speed by a wasp.I staggered, and the bullets from the gun fired as I fell.I hit the ground, thinking that what hit me was a piece of wood that had fallen from a tree stump.However, the blood on my shoulder reminds me that it was a metal bullet that hit me.The only reason my arm didn't come off the shoulder was because Patty was too far away.In a chaos of smoke and flames, he missed his target.Just a piece of shrapnel hit me.

The wound was throbbing, and it was difficult to move the arm.However, the rest of my body still has no problem moving.Fueled by fear and adrenaline, I rolled toward a fallen tree, knowing I wouldn't dare stay where it fell.The flames scorched my back again.The windblown smoke surrounded me and must have surrounded Patty, making him invisible to me. I took the compass out of my shirt and checked it again.I tried to hold back my cough, lest Patty know where I was.I calibrated to the northwest and ran through the fast-moving smoke.I couldn't see five feet ahead.I checked the compass frequently as I prepared to shoot at the sight of suspicious, threatening shadows.

Blood dripped from my left shoulder.I feel dizzy.The fire was probably right in front of me.The heat pushes me, prompting me to run faster. I was so busy watching for Patty's shadow in the windblown smoke that I didn't notice the ground.The slope beside the creek was about six feet deep.If it wasn't for a deer rushing out of the flames to my right, I'd have to fall.It startled me, rushed past me, ran down, splashed, and scrambled onto the opposite bank. I moved down step by step towards the water's edge, feeling the cool air.The creek is not deep, so I wade across it.Concentrating on where Patty might be, I forgot my wet hiking boots and socks.

To my right, looking far away along the creek, a dark figure moved through the smoke.I was about to shoot, but resisted the urge when I realized that the shadows could be Kate and Jason. I keep aiming.The smoke choked tears out of my eyes as I aimed hard along the barrel.I stared at the smoke, waiting for the shadows to become clearer. The shadow disappeared.Whoever it was, was climbing over the creek and continuing through the woods.I followed its footsteps, climbed the slope, walked through the smoke-shrouded bushes, and observed the dark figure that appeared again in my field of vision.

I kept thinking, if that was Kate, why didn't I see a little shadow with her, Jason?He is not by her side. I have to be sure before I pull the trigger.Walking slowly through the woods, I squeezed the tears from my eyes choked by the smoke, and looked to the blurred woods to the right.Something is moving.For a split second, I caught sight of Patty's beard.He was raising the shotgun and I pulled the trigger. A gust of wind blew the flames over my head and nearly blinded me.The trees and bushes in front of me suddenly turned into a sea of ​​flames.I felt the heat sear my hair, and I fell back, off balance this time.I rolled off the bank of the creek.My injured shoulder hit the ground, and I tried my best not to cry out, rolled into the water, and stopped in pain. I stood up with all my strength.I dropped my compass and can't find it.Now I don't need its help so much.With the fire in front of me and behind me, and since Patty was probably on my right, the only safe direction was to follow the creek to the left.I don't know if I hit him, but if I didn't he must have been taking cover in the creek, that is to say, stalking me along the creek.All I had to do was find a pebble in the creek, hide, and ambush him. I can't remember how many shots I've fired.My gun is almost out of bullets.Trying to keep my hand steady, I pressed the button next to it, and the clip dropped.I grabbed the remaining fifteen rounds from the ammunition pouch at my waist, mounted them on the butt of my gun, and was ready to fire again. My vision was gray.The smoke was thicker, and it was hard to breathe, and I realized it was the fire sucking the oxygen.The flames got closer, and I feared I'd pass out.I walked along the creek, trying to stay on the bank so as not to make a splash.But the blood loss exacerbated my dizziness.I couldn't control where my feet in my hiking boots landed, sometimes splashing water, sometimes slipping through the mud. The heat scorched my nostrils.I rounded a rock whose slope blocked the flames above me to my right.I staggered around another stone, and the cool air hit my face.The coolness was the most luxurious thing I've ever felt, and I took deep breaths of cool air into my lungs, hoping to clear my mind and get rid of the flickering white spots before my eyes. The fresh air drove away the grayness in front of my eyes, and I staggered to a stop in front of the footprints in the mud.Two lines, one for adults and one for children.They walked along the creek just like me. Kate! Jason! I turned around when I heard hurried footsteps behind me.But when I took aim, it wasn't Patty, it was a panicked dog that ran into view.It ran away along the creek.The air was hot again, and the flames were nearer again. I ran in the direction of the footprints.A fallen tree trunk lay between the banks of the creek.I slipped under and got to the other side.Something hit me hard on the forehead and I moaned, the force of the blow pushed me back against the tree.Drowsy, I fell to my knees in the water.Blood was running down my face, and I tried to make my blurry vision clearer. Kate's eyes were wild with drugs.She stood on top of me and hit me again with a stick like a bludgeon.Jason curled up behind her. "No, Kate." I shuddered at how weak my voice sounded. "No, it's me." "fraud!" I tried to raise my right hand before she hit me again.The bludgeon slammed under my elbow, deflecting it, but my arm hurt so badly that I feared she had broken it. My gun fell to the shore with a thud. "No, Kate, it's really me! Brad!" "Brad!" Kate screamed, raising the bludgeon again. I jumped to the right, dodged, and the club hit the water.She swung the stick again.She continued to swing the stick and I continued to roll. She stared at something behind me.I followed her gaze. Patty's face appeared on top of a tree trunk straddling the creek.His forehead was covered with soot, his hair and beard were charred, his shirt was black with smoke, and blood was running down his left shoulder.Apparently I hit him the last time I pulled the trigger. His shotgun was leaning against a tree, its muzzle pointed at us. Jason stepped back. "If you know what to do is good for you, son, don't take the next step," Patty said to Jason. I lay in the creek and couldn't lift my right arm, probably Kate broke it.My left arm from the buckshot was just as painful, but at least it was still moving.I secretly took out the knife from my waist, and I was sweating because of the effort. Jason was still backing away. "Listen to your father," Patty said, "don't move." Jason wept silently with his mouth open. I rolled under the tree and stuck the knife in Patty's thigh, and he grunted.The blade scraped the bone.As he fell back, the shotgun dropped.Bullets whizzed past my head.No! I was worried about the bullets hitting Kate and Jason, so I stabbed Patty in the thigh again.As his blood spattered me, I changed my aim and stabbed him in the side. But he jabbed hard with the butt of his shotgun, and it hit me in the injured shoulder.I nearly passed out and the only thing I could do was put my full weight on his legs and bring him under me in the water.I climbed on top of him and stabbed him in the face, but he pushed me aside and choked my throat.I was holding back so badly that I was worried that my throat would be cut off by him. The smoke was blowing over us.The flames grew closer.I stabbed the knife into his injured shoulder.In agony, he collapsed, where the shotgun had fallen.He grabbed the shotgun and spewed out an empty shell. Then, the trigger was pulled. I fell back, fearing the bullet would blast my chest.But the shotgun just clicked.The gun is empty.Patty snarled and swung the gun like a club, but the blood loss weakened him and the gun slipped from my leg.When I stabbed hard with the knife, my left arm was so painful that I couldn't move it, so I didn't stab him. A gunshot raised a cloud of dust. We turn around. It was Kate who climbed under the tree.She stood wobbly, holding my dropped gun, trying to keep it steady.She seemed to break free from her ordeal, and the sliver of consciousness that remained brought her back some sanity, enough to remind her of the vengeance she had fantasized about.Under normal circumstances, at such a short distance, no shooting skills are required.Even if she didn't know anything about guns, all she had to do was look down the barrel and pull the trigger. But she took the medicine and had already missed once, yet she was focused again now, with sad eyes above her sunken cheeks.The presence of two shadows in her nightmares—two Pattys, two Brads—must have tested what was left of her sane mind. "Help me," Patty said. "I'm here to save you. Shoot him." She hesitated, and turned the gun on me. "Please, Kate, no," I said. I watched her finger tighten on the trigger. "Shoot him," Patty said. "I love you, Kate." "I'm your husband. Do as I tell you," Patty said. She turned to Patty and shot him in the face. She took a step closer, pulled the trigger, and missed this time.So she came closer, until she was on top of his head.At direct range, she shot him in the chest.A second bullet hit him in the throat.She wasn't aiming at those places, the muzzle just happened to wobble there.She kept firing, too close to see where, his shoulders, his knees, his groin, his body was riddled with holes.She didn't stop until all fifteen rounds were gone and the bolt was slid to the top. Tears rolled down her face.I tried to stand up. But as soon as I approached her and tried to hold her up, she backed away in fear.She raised the gun again and kept pulling the trigger.Nothing, the barrel is empty.But if there is a bullet in it, she will kill me too. I tried to make a negotiable gesture. "Okay, you're safe now. I won't hurt you." But the cold sadness in her eyes told me she didn't believe me. "I won't touch you," I said, "but let me help you." I felt the heat behind me, heard the click, and looked back to see the flames. "We have to get out of here." I took another step forward.Her response was to back away, leaning against the horizontal tree trunk. "Where's Jason?" I asked. "Where's Jason? God, did he get shot?" I looked frantically from under the tree trunk to where I had last seen Jason, and Kate crawled under the tree trunk too, trying to stay away from me.I followed her, ducked to the other side, and lifted myself up.I was worried that since Patty's last shot had hit Jason, I'd see Jason's body blown away.I breathed a sigh of relief when I found him standing by the creek. He threw a stone. It hit me in the chest, but I couldn't care less about the pain.All I can think about is how to get them out of here. "Okay, Jason. You don't have to worry about it now." I took a step towards him.I must have looked hard to tell from Patty, with all the blood and burnt places on my body. Screaming, he climbed ashore and ran into the woods. My wound made it hard to keep my balance and I struggled to run after him.The heat and smoke nearly pushed me back as I staggered through the bushes. I saw a faint flicker of fire in the smoke.It's getting hotter.A tree exploded in flames.The wall of fire has burned down to the bushes. "Jason!" The smoke clogged my throat, and I bent over and coughed, forcing myself to keep going, through more trees. The wind blows the smoke away quickly.Ahead, Jason was blocked by the approaching flames.He turned and ran away, stopping when he saw me.To him, I must be more of a threat than the firewall on the other side.He dodged to my left, heading for an open field in the flames.As the wind blew the flames toward him, I jumped, pushing him down before the flames passed over our writhing bodies.With the last remaining strength of my injured arm, I pulled him back from the flames.He kicked me.Then Kate hit me too. "Let him go!" she screamed. The three of us rolled off the bank and into the water.They continued to kick and beat, and I didn't fight back.Their kicking gradually died down.Finally, they stopped and stared at me, panting with their thin chests falling together. "I love you guys," I said. They look at me.Their eyes slowly changed their focus, and they seemed to vaguely recall the days when they were so familiar with this sentence. "Hold on. I have something to do," I said. The fire approached the shore and water splashed on me.I climbed through the tree trunks that spanned the creek to where Patty lay.He had been shot so much that his body was almost covered in blood. But not enough.He came back once.I need to be absolutely sure he's dead and never coming back, not even in my nightmares. I grabbed his foot, but the injured arm wouldn't bend, and it hurt too much to pull him ashore. I tried as hard as I could, and just as I was about to give up, Kate's hand appeared in front of my eyes.I looked at her for a start, but she didn't say anything, just helped me pull Patty up the ramp. We threw him into the fire.His body burst into flames.Then we staggered back to the creek and walked down.At the bottom of the slope, Kate fell, but she wouldn't let me touch her or help her up.She and Jason ran, keeping a careful distance from me.