How It All Ended

Chapter 25

"Well, I'm fucked," I thought to myself. I held my hands out to my sides and slowly turned around.

"Please don't tell me, 'You don't want any problems.' I'm so sick of that crap," The person in the yard told me.

"Okay then. How about, 'Please don't kill me.' Will that work? Yeah, I guess I'll go with that one."

"Don't try anything stupid, and I won't."

"I don't plan on it."

"So who's chasing you? You sure jumped into this yard in a hurry."

"These two assholes out there. They're part of a larger crew."

"Are they still out there?"

"Most likely. I think I might have ditched them, though."

Then, there was silence for a few seconds. I tried to listen for the crew members but heard nothing.

"Look, I'll leave here in a second," I said. "I just want to make sure the people that were after me are gone. I'm unarmed."

"So am I. Gun's in the house. Wanna come inside for a bit? Lay low?" The person asked. Then they walked right past me and up the back steps, opening the back door and entering the home.

I stood there in the doorway. The man walked over to the kitchen table and lit a few candles in the center. He was tall and lanky. In the dimly lit room, I could see that he had a large, gray beard, he was wearing a black skull cap and a loose-fitting flannel shirt. Resting on the kitchen table was some kind of a scoped rifle.

He sat down on a beat-up old chair, and then he motioned for me to do the same and sit across from him.

I sat down, "Can't anyone outside see the light?"

"No. Look around," He replied.

The man had taped or nailed blankets, sheets, and towels over the windows of the kitchen and living room.

"Not a bad idea," I said. "I'm Dominik by the way. Dominik Mason."

"Nice to meet you, Dominik. Can I call you Dom?"

"Go for it."

"I'm Nick."

"Thanks for taking me in, Nick."

"No problem."

"Is this your place?"

"No. I'm just laying low here for the time being. I was just looking for anything useful in the garage when you showed up. What about you, Dom? Why were you being chased?"

"I was actually chasing after someone from my group. Her name's Amber. She tried to take off, and I was trying to stop her. I caught up to Amber, and we ran into some other people from a

'less friendly' group." I started to think about her. I was worried about whether or not Amber made it back to the others safely.

"Well, I'll be gone in the morning," said Nick. "So you can lay low here for as long as you'd like."

"I don't know how long I'll be here. Could just be for five minutes. But with my luck, it could be five months." I noticed a tightly packed backpack resting up against one of the kitchen walls. "Where are you headed?"

"Few miles from here. I'm trying to get to my daughter and son-in-law. See if they're okay."

"Oh. Alright."

"Is your group far from here?" Nick inquired.

"I don't know exactly where they are, but I'm sure I'm in the right area. I got turned around a bit out there."