Chapter 14 third possibility

Before leaving the cemetery, he glanced back at the gray tombstone.The tombstone was surrounded by yellow chrysanthemums, which Joyner loved most during her lifetime.Then, dragging his tired body, he climbed into the dilapidated pickup truck and drove to his home.He and Joyner lived in that home for eight years. It was a cold April afternoon.It was almost dusk. He drove through open fields and sparse woods.Originally, the scenery in this area was beautiful, and Joyner liked it the most during her lifetime.But now it is messed up by quarrymen's piles of residual stones in the east and west.

When he got to the edge of town, he stopped at Old Tom's gas station.He felt a little better about his depression.Every time he entered the city, he felt very depressed, and he felt pretty good when he went out of the city.Old Tom walked up to the station and waved friendly.He drove the car to a fuel pipe, parked it, and got out of the car. At this time, a large black car also came up.He remembered the car following him the whole time. There were three people in the big car.As soon as he saw these three people, his mood immediately became bad again.All three of them are rough and arrogant guys in the city.

Two of the three were in their twenties, with long hair and colorful fashion clothes.The third person sat alone in the back seat. He was a little older, about forty years old, and dressed conservatively.They all had no smiles on their faces, with arrogant and cold faces.The two young men came down and stood side by side, looking at him and Tom with squinted eyes. The younger one twitched the corner of his mouth. "Fill up with the best gasoline." The attitude of speaking seems to disdain to speak at all, and it is better for others to take the initiative to serve him. Old Tom nodded, still walking towards his pickup truck. "There is another customer in front of you."

Seeing the young man's face darken, he said, "I'm not in a hurry today, Tom, let's cheer them on first." " Tom hesitated, glanced at him, turned and walked to the back of the big car and started to fill up the gas. The young man who spoke gave him a cold look, "Thank you, old sir." He emphasized that. The word "old" seems to mean that due to the age gap and the difference in physical ability, the old people have to be accommodated. The suppressed anger and strong disgust made the old man's fingers tremble slightly.When a few guys in the city saw his trembling hands, they misunderstood it as fear, and a hint of complacency and disdain flashed in their eyes.He turned his head away, ignoring them.

Tom finished filling and closed the hose.The young man who spoke checked the fuel-gauge, took out a roll of bills, took out two, and put them in Tom's hand.Without waiting for change, he got into the car and drove away. He fills up, pays, and says goodbye to Tom.He drove a few turns and through a valley to his farm where he had lived with Joyner for many years until she was killed by a stray bullet. That time she went shopping in the city and was robbed by robbers, and she was hit in the chest by a stray bullet.Later, the police told him that the criminal took only three dollars in cash.Three dollars!Just replace her wife's life.

He parked in front of the small shed and unloaded the sundries from the car.Get busy milking cows, feeding cows and pigs.It will be dark in another hour, and he is going to catch some fish to relax.He loaded his tackle into the car and drove to the pit. The mining rights to a large piece of land behind the farm have been sold.Those miners didn't consider preserving the natural beauty, they dug randomly, and the abandoned tunnels soon filled with water.Later, jealous fish were born out of nowhere, and there were a lot of them. He entered the pit on foot, stepped carefully down the steps, and put the tackle on the boat: in the cold silence, a voice was heard.So he climbed up the steps again and went up to watch.

He always drives away the little kids who come here.It's not because he doesn't like children, but because it's too dangerous here.This time he was about to call out, when he suddenly realized that it was not a child, but three people and a big black car that he saw at the gas station.He fell silent. They drove the car to a puddle.The older one directs the two younger ones to drag out a heavy humanoid canvas bag.The two dragged the doll bag to the edge of the water with great effort, and threw it into the water together.The water splashed and then sank quickly. He'd been standing there dumbfounded, watching them burn the bodies.He wanted to run, but couldn't move.The three waited until the body sank, then turned and walked back to the car.At this time, a person suddenly found him and shouted loudly.The cry woke him too, and he ran; he could not run back to the boat, for there was no place to hide in it.He was scurrying behind a pile of rocks when the first shots fired.The bullet whizzed by, only inches from his head.The sharp wind pierced his ears numb.

Running on the sharp rocks was extremely difficult for a person of his age. He felt his feet burning and his flesh was torn.He had to get back to the shed before them.He made his way through the rubble, ready to take a shortcut and run back.He climbed up a small hill, looked back, and saw one of the fellows jumping out of the pit, calling to his companions, and shooting him. He felt himself being punched hard in the leg before he heard the gunshot.He was shot in the knee and fell to the ground.He bent his head and saw his blood flow from the torn pants, but it didn't hurt very much. He lay down for only a moment, then rose with difficulty and continued to run.Dragging one injured leg, he managed to run the rest of the way back to the shed.He suddenly realized that he had made a fatal mistake-his pickup truck was parked at the mine pit, and he could not escape now.

He fled the shed again two minutes before they got there, hopping across the yard, around the barn, to a farther corner.The ground was muddy from the spring rains, and he climbed over a small plateau, sure to be out of their sight, before he fell. The sun was setting.If he could hide until dark, he would have a chance to escape. If he was caught by those three guys, he would definitely die. He tore off a piece of his shirt and bandaged the wound with a handkerchief.The pain eased a little, and the blood flow slowed a little, but it didn't stop. The sun was completely below the horizon, and it was getting colder.A few meters away is a small haystack that he put up last fall.There was a piece of canvas on top of the haystack.

With his eyes on his opponent, he scrambled across like a snake, climbed up the hay, untied the rope, tore off the canvas, and wrapped it around him.The canvas smelled of hay and musty, but it was somehow warmer. A young guy goes around the barn and turns across to where he's hiding.His cows used to spend the night there because the water and feed were kept there.Disturbed by strangers, a dozen cows were circling the corner of the barn and rushing toward where he was hiding.The young man waved a flashlight and followed the cattle to search. He squirmed on the wet ground, adjusting the angle so the herd was between them.

The young man was also very vigilant, turning his head from side to side quickly and seeing his opponent's nervousness, he felt a little more confident.He took off the oilcloth and grasped the corners with both hands. When his opponent looked away, he popped up, yelled, and swung the tarpaulin at the jittery herd.The cattle turned their heads and ran in panic, screaming and knocking the gunman to the ground.The guy only had time to scream twice before being drowned in the herd.The herd trampled over the guy. The flashlight fell to the ground and was still on.Another young guy, caught by the commotion, moved slowly this way, calling out the first guy's name.No one responded.The second guy's flashlight searched left and right, but the old man was on the ground again, covering himself with the tarpaulin.The guy backed away nervously. Now, the chances are a little bigger for him, but still not optimistic.There were two other people on the other side, and neither was injured.He grabbed the injured knee with both hands and pressed it desperately, feeling that the pain was a little less.This game of hide-and-seek must end as soon as possible, and he can't last long.He felt like a funnel, and there was not much blood left to bleed. The second guy runs back to the car to confer with the boss.He struggled to his feet and walked into the barn on his heels.It was much warmer and drier inside, and it was hard to lie on the muddy floor.He groped in the dark to the door on the other side of the barn, opened a crack, and could see the situation in the courtyard.The other two were standing by the car, holding flashlights.The enemy is clear and the enemy is dark, so he can see clearly. He untied the tarpaulin and picked up a large brick. They were chatting in low tones and shaking their heads, evidently disagreeing. He walked out the door cautiously, took a few steps forward, and stood still.Enduring the severe pain, he turned sideways, raised his left knee, and put his right leg independently, posing a standard baseball pitching posture.He was an excellent bowler in his youth.With all his strength, he threw the brick, which hit the boss right on the ear.The boss fell to the ground without saying a word. The remaining opponent reacted quickly and fired a shot in his direction.He had expected that as soon as the brick was thrown, the man rushed back to the barn and fell to the ground.Due to excessive force, his wound was bleeding again.He heard the opponent rushing towards him, quickly got up, hid behind the door, listened to the opponent's footsteps, when the opponent was about to enter through the door, he threw out a punch, hitting the opponent in the stomach.The guy screamed and bowed in pain.Before his opponent could straighten up, he focused almost all of his anger on his right fist, aiming at the opponent's jaw. He punched hard. The opponent fell obliquely, lying on the ground.He grabbed a rope from the sack, tied up his unconscious opponent, grabbed another rope, and went to check on the boss.The boss was struggling to stand up, he rushed over and kicked him down, and tied him firmly with a rope.He could no longer stand, and fell to the ground. After a few minutes, he stood up.Push the boss and the barn guy into the back of the big car and tie their feet with rope.He dragged the guy who was trampled to death by the cow and threw it into the suitcase. He gasped again for a long time.Then he carefully checked the ropes that bound the two of them.He didn't want to be wrestled away by them while driving.He got into the driver's seat, turned on the engine, backed up, and headed toward town. A few minutes later, the boss came fully awake, shouted and struggled desperately for a while, but found that it was useless, so he began to negotiate with him: if he let them go, he can make a lot of money.He didn't even bother to answer. The two guys who wanted to survive tried every means to negotiate with him, using both hard and soft tactics, and frequently lured and threatened, but he ignored them.until they threatened him like this: The boss said with a sneer: "Think carefully, country bumpkin, if you send us to the police, you and your whole family will be finished. You can believe this, someone will kill you one by one, I will let them Get rid of your wife first." He thought to himself: If the other party knew that Joyner had died in their hands, would they still threaten them like this? He had no doubt that the other party would do such a thing, even in prison he could order others to do so. He slammed on the brakes and turned the car around. A few minutes later, they came to the bend in the road—the road they had taken during the day.At first they looked happy, but when the big car started jumping on the rocky road, they realized it. He turned off his headlights and drove back to the pit, up a ramp.Below the slope is the deepest part of the pit.The two men in the back seat started screaming and wrestling with their limbs. He gets out of the car.Close the door.Reach in the window to release the brake while moving the manipulator. The big car lumberingly rolled over the rocky slope, faster and faster, rushed over the edge, and quietly fell fifty meters in the air, with a bang and splashes of water.He stood there, listening to the sound of splashing water. Their biggest mistake is to misunderstand the trading conditions.In their thinking, he has only two moves: one is to let them go; the other is not to let them go.It never occurred to them that he had a third trick. Their bigger mistake was not threatening him with his family.Even if Georgina were dead, he would not want her safety to be threatened.