THREE DAYS to DIE by John Avery Read Free Book Online Page B

it was quiet, it wasn't unusual to hear strange sounds. He gripped the bat with both hands and slowly descended the dark stairs.
          Souther was ascending the same stairs from below.
          They met halfway.
          Tom cried out and swung wildly. He heard a sickening thud, and the bat torqued in his hands as he connected with the side of Souther's head. Souther tumbled backward down the steps and lay motionless at the bottom of the dark stairwell. Tom's heart pounded the breath from his lungs.
          Ashley hadn't slept since Aaron ran away, and when she heard the fighting she grabbed her eyeglasses off the night table, jumped out of bed, and threw on her poly satin robe. She hesitated, then ran to Tom's dresser and retrieved his .22, a compact yet lethal weapon of which she had always disapproved. Then she clicked on the hall light and ran to the top of the stairs.
          She saw her husband, Aaron's baseball bat, and the shadowed stranger sprawled across the bottom steps.
          " Thomas? " she cried.
          Tom looked up and saw her holding the gun.
          "Shoot the bastard!" he shouted.
          " What? I –"
          "Kill the son-of-a-bitch!"
          Ashley pointed the gun at Souther, but hesitated.
          Souther came to and scrabbled around for his pistol.
          "Oh, God!" Tom cried. "Shoot him, Ashley! Kill him! "
          Ashley closed her eyes, fired and missed – the feel of the lethal round exiting the barrel sickened her.
          Souther found his gun, whipped it up and fired. The bullet smacked Tom in the chest, slamming him against the wall and sending the bat flying.
          Ashley screamed, fired again, and missed. Souther looked up at her, and for an instant their eyes met. Then she ran back upstairs, knowing her husband was dead.
          Souther stood and started up the stairs after her. Tom was sprawled on the steps, blood soaking into the carpet beneath him. Souther heard him groan, so he shot him again. Then he stepped over the body and continued up the stairs, reloading as he went.
    ---
          Ashley ran into her son at the top of the stairs. He had seen everything.
          "Aaron!" she cried, surprised, delighted, and terrified to discover that he had returned home.
          "Follow me," he said, snatching some car keys, a credit card, and a cell phone from the hall table. They ducked into his bedroom and he dead-bolted the door behind them.
          He slid the window open and climbed out onto the flat roof over the garage. "Give me your hand," he said, holding out his. "Hurry!" Ashley took his hand and stepped quickly through the window onto sharp gravel that cut into her bare feet.
          Aaron lead the way across the rooftop to the fire ladder, then motioned for her to wait as he peered over the edge of the low parapet. In the dark alley below he saw the huge black man from the cannery standing guard a few feet from the bottom of the ladder – he had his gun in his hand.
          Ashley shivered in her thin robe and nightgown. "I-I let Tom d-die tonight," she said.
          "What? No you didn't."
          "I c-couldn't shoot."
          Aaron huddled closer to her, not knowing what to say. He was struggling with his own feelings regarding Tom's death. He noticed the bruise under her eye, and he didn't have to ask her how she got it.
          He refocused his attention on his plan. "Mom, listen to me," he said. "We're going to use the fire escape and make a run for the garage. I'll go first ... then I'll help you, okay?"
          Ashley looked at him, clutching the neck of her nightgown. The plan terrified her.
          Aaron sensed her trepidation. "We have no other choice," he said. "If we don't move fast they'll find us and kill us." He placed the keys, credit card, and phone in her hands and squeezed them. "Take these ... you've got bigger pockets than I do." The pockets in