Chapter 14
It was odd how running in the creek bed was so much easier than walking in it. Kevin found that he was leaping from stone to stone and not caring too much about what he might be stepping on. The goal was only to get away from the impending blast as fast as possible.
“Hey!” a voice cried out, and a lantern swung into view. “There are people in the creek!”
“Stop!” another voice shouted.
From both sides of the creek, the noises of people being roused from sleep by the shouting filled the air. There were more folks yelling now and the odd crack of gunfire.
Something zipped into the wet ground close to Kevin and he jumped to the side.
They were still in darkness, probably just moving shadows to the folks who were blinded by their lanterns.
Another bullet zipped into the ground a little ahead of Kevin. They were either terrible shots, or they were firing blindly. But even folks who fired blindly would eventually hit a target. A bullet flew over Kevin’s head, ruffling his hair. He swore. That was too close for comfort.
Anita was a little behind him, with Troy slightly in front. Lizzy was off to the side, running in a funny zigzag pattern. Kevin thought she was just giving herself more opportunity to slip and fall. But she’d had enough experience running from these same bandits that he figured she knew best.
As Troy reached the spot where they had climbed down into the creek, a place where the steep sides had some rocks perfectly placed for a person to climb out, he turned and waved them on.
“Not long now,” he said.
As the words left his lips, there was a terrific boom. It sent a shock wave of air through them, and the noise was so loud that Anita stopped running and covered her ears. Kevin did the same, feeling that his eardrums had rattled in his head.
He went back a few paces and gently ushered Anita forward. He wanted her out of the creek bed before the water came rushing down at them.
She gave him a startled look and ran to Troy. He was out and on the bank. He reached down to help Anita up.
Kevin saw the shadow appear behind him. He cried out. “Troy! Behind you!”
Troy let go of Anita. She slipped in the mud, and Kevin only just managed to catch her. He slipped but somehow kept his feet.
Bullets were still flying in their direction now, and Troy was tussling with an assailant on the bank. Kevin couldn’t do anything to help his friend. Perhaps if he climbed up the side, he could be of some help.
He moved to the side and stopped as a bullet hit the wall of the creek bed right where his hand would have been.
“Kevin!” Anita cried in shock as she also reeled back.
There was a gunshot close by, and the shadow that had fallen on and attacked Troy rolled off him, groaning. Troy got up on his hands and knees and, a moment later, reached down for his friends once more.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three more sticks of dynamite ignited, and the ground shook. Troy grabbed Anita’s hand and pulled her up and out of the creek bed.
There was a creaking, groaning sound. A few cracks and snaps rang loudly through the air.
“The dam is breaking!” Troy said. “Lizzy, give me your hand.”
She did, and Troy helped her up and out of the creek bed. Now it was just Kevin. He went to the stones and began to climb. There was another loud boom and the ground shook. He slipped and landed hard in the creek bed, his knee cracking on one of the stones.
“Kevin!” Anita cried.
There were sounds of fighting above him, and Kevin hauled himself up despite the sharp pain in his knee and forced himself to climb up the stones.
As he crested the small rise, a shadow lashed out at him, and Kevin rolled on the ground as, behind him, the rushing grew louder and louder.
There was a rush of air as the water that had been held back by the dam reclaimed its rightful place in the world.
Someone sailed over Kevin as he lay on the ground and landed in the creek with a splash.
Troy was standing over him and pulled Kevin to his feet. “No time to lie around,” he said, and they began to run.
Kevin found Anita right beside him, and they ran into the darkness together.
For a while, shouts and bullets followed them, but soon they were swallowed by the darkness.
It was the impenetrable darkness that always gripped the world just before the gray light of dawn would begin to bring color and hope back into the world.
The sounds of pursuit grew fainter and fainter, and Kevin ran slower and slower. He was winded, and his heart had been beating so fast he was amazed it hadn’t just stopped.
When they reached the abandoned barn, they all flopped down on the grass and panted. Anita was clutching her side. Kevin’s heart jumped to his throat, and he rushed to check on her.
“I’m fine,” she said, gasping for air. “It’s just a stitch.”
Kevin nodded, unable to form words. His mouth was dry, his head ached, and his ears were ringing still from the blasts. He felt as though he had been put through the wringer, and he hadn’t come out the other end in one solid piece.
“We did it!” Troy said, the excitement thick in his voice. “We really did it.”
He was filthy. In the golden dawn light that was sweeping over the world, Kevin looked at them all and sighed. Not one of them wasn’t covered in mud and grass and bits of who knew what.
Troy was sporting a heck of a black eye, and his lip was split. Lizzy had bruises on her jaw, and Anita had cuts and bruises on her arms and face. Kevin suspected that he also looked terrible.
“Okay,” Kevin said. “We should be heading home now.”
“Yes, before those maniacs find us,” Anita said.
They hitched the horse to the cart, and soon they were riding down beside the creek to the mine.
“I’m going to have a bath when we get home,” Anita said, snuggling up to Kevin on the driver’s seat of the cart.
“Definitely,” Kevin said. “I could soak in our tin tub for days.” He smiled at her. “I’m glad we all made it out of there without too much trouble.”
When she leaned up and kissed him even though Troy and Lizzy were right there, Kevin knew, once and for all—as if he hadn’t known already—that this was the woman God had made just for him.
He wrapped an arm around her muddy waist and pulled her close, not caring that Troy was chuckling or that they both stank to high heaven.