The Burnout Chapter Twenty Nine

Patty would give Lamar credit later on; what he lacked in skill he made up for with ferocity.

After Lamar tackled their wild hillbilly attacker, he ended up on top of the man with his knee directly on top of the shoulder wound caused by Patty's gun. This put their unnamed filthy belligerent in tremendous, blood curdling screaming pain. Paying no attention to his protests, Lamar began landing wild, wild windmill punches to the man's head and upper body.

All the while, Lamar yelled into the man's face.

"I have had enough of this &%#! Enough of you !&%#! of &%!#! in my face!"

Eventually, his diatribe turned into a nonsensical barrage of gibberish as if he were in a religious fervor and speaking in tongues.

The bloodied man stopped screaming and eventually his struggling beneath Lamar's large frame ceased as well. Yet, Lamar failed to stop his tantrum or his punishing beating of the still body beneath him. Catelyn sat on the ground, her shotgun empty in her hands and her mouth in a disbelieving "O" shape. Patty moved forward but Lamar lashed out, pushed her to the ground and continued his rampage.

"Lamar. Lamar, stop" said Patty quietly. "It's okay, it's over."

Lamar appeared to slow down and his chest began to hitch as a tide of adrenaline fueled emotion receded within. His angry tirade turned to tears and he began to cry in a deep wail. Patty went to him and put her arms around the big man's shoulders.

"It's not supposed to be this way! I had a career, a home, a wife! We are not supposed to do this! We are not .. I am not an animal!" he cried before falling off the lifeless body and landing on the ground.

"Catelyn. Catelyn. I need you to get up and help Brad up as well. Then I want both of you to go back to where the bikes are and check on Candace, okay?" said Patty quietly.

Catelyn broke from her trance, nodded and helped Brad, now awake, to his feet. Brad pulled away from her and grabbed his discarded jeans from the ground and shamefully turned away from everyone and put them on. He then grabbed his shoes, which were tied together and left on the ground, unknotted them and put them on as well. Then he stomped off through the woods with Catelyn hurrying to catch up with him.

"Great" thought Patty. "I have to deal with Lamar and now Brad as well. And all I want to do is just get home."

Lamar slowly sat up and looked briefly at the crazed attacker's body before turning away and standing up. He   did not bother to sweep off the leaves, twigs or dirt on his body, he simply turned and walked back towards where the bikes were through the woods.

Patty stood and collected her things, checking the Glock carefully. Then she fired two rounds into the lifeless body of the man on the ground. Just to be sure.

----------

Back at the road, Patty found the group standing around with the exception of Candace who was asking everyone "What happened?" and being roundly ignored.

Patty walked up and put her hand on Candace's arm,

"Don't worry about it right now. Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine. I heard the shooting and yelling and now nobody will talk to me." Cassie pouted.

"I need everyone to get their stuff together and follow me. We are going to go back the road a mile or so and cut through there. I want everyone to be on their guard and stay together." Patty announced.

Brad ignored Patty and picked up his .243 rifle which there were only four rounds left for after the battle in Winona.

"I need another gun," he said to nobody in particular holding up the rifle. "This one only has four bullets left and I am going to need more. Give me that .22 Patty, you can't use both guns at the same time."

"No, Brad, I won't. You need to calm down and get on your bike and do what I say." Patty replied.

"YOU WERE'NT THERE! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO TO ME!" Brad shouted.

"It's okay, Brad. He's dead and you can't kill him again. No, I won't give you the .22 or any other gun until you calm down. Now get on your bike and let's get out of here, he may have had friends or family around who might not look kindly on his death." Patty said slowly and deliberately.

Brad looked down at the ground and then the rifle in hands, then put the strap over his shoulder and mounted his bike. With that, the group started off and followed Patty down the empty county road.

-------------

A few hours later, they had successfully, and wordlessly, circumnavigated Mineola and were back on the state highway heading west. Patty had to keep looking back at Lamar who simply stared off into the distance and said nothing, but followed her directions without question or comment. His hands were scraped, scratched and starting to swell from the beating, but he said nothing.

Patty kept her eyes peeled and soon found a small dirt track leading off the road which she cautiously took and found it led to another clearing, but well off the highway. The next town on the map was Grand Saline, but it was several miles away and the road between the two towns was dominated by open fields, small forested sections and farms. There were nothing of any size between the two small towns other than single dwellings or abandoned buildings.

After they stopped, Patty ended up having to do most of the work of setting up camp and getting dinner going. Brad went off by himself at the edge of the camp and sat cross legged and cradled his rifle staring off into the woods. Lamar parked his bike, took his back pack, changed his clothes and then washed his hands liberally with soap and water. Then he came to Patty.

"I am going to strike out on my own in the morning. I don't want to be held up any longer by the kids, you or all these delays. I need to get back to my wife and this is taking too long. Let's split up the gear you and I bought and I will be on my way at first light." he said.

"Lamar, wait.." Patty implored.

"This isn't open for discussion, Patty. If you push me, I'll just leave tonight, I really don't care any longer. So let's get this straightened out now or I'll just take what I need and go, got it?" he said.

"Okay, Lamar, if that's what you want to do. Please bear in mind that I have to get these kids home so take that into account when we divvy up the supplies." said Patty coldly.

"Not my problem, Patty. I won't go into how much this joyride has cost me and what a disaster this has been. I don't blame you. You had to deal with the same animals and pieces of cr*p lowlifes I had to, but it was your decision to rescue these kids and slow us down. It was your decision to stop in Winona and help those people. It was your decision to let Brad lead us into that mess this afternoon. It has been your decisions that have led us to one tragedy after another.

"You have a daughter to get home to and if you would stop for one moment, we would not be doing all this stopping and thinking and talking, but instead, you and I would be riding full force for Dallas/Fort Worth to our families. No more. I am getting out of here and getting home." he said forcefully.

"Do whatever you want Lamar," said Patty. "We'll manage."

For the next hour, they divided the freeze dried and remaining food they had acquired in Shreveport. After some consternation, Patty conceded the shotgun to Lamar, but took back the derringer she found he had stowed in his pocket. Seeing no reason to keep the extra shotgun shells, she handed them over and he in turn, gave her the extra .22 and 9mm ammunition he was carrying.

"Hey, if you going, I am too." said Brad getting his things together.

"Sorry, kid, you'll just slow me down. Stay here and take care of your friends. It's the least you can do considering how much we have done for you and your two girlfriends." said Lamar abruptly.

"Lamar, what's going to happen to us? We need to stick together." whined Candace.

"Will you just grow up? I am sick of your non-stop whining and crying. Did you get the memo? The world ended, you brat. It's grow up or die time." said Lamar.

"Lamar, why don't you just go now?" said Patty forcefully. "I don't care what you are going through, you are acting like a world class jerk. Just get on your bike and go, we don't need you here anymore." She then went to Candace and put her arm around her shoulders.

"Fine," huffed Lamar. "Look, I don't want to be a jerk, just, I can't stay here anymore. Everyday I am losing more of ... who I was. That guy, or someone like him, might be trying to get my wife. I can't stay and do this anymore.. just... good luck."

And then he wheeled his bike and trailer back down the dirt path to the highway and disappeared. Patty turned and looked at the three teens. What was she going to do now?


Please support this website by visiting my other websites!

Junk Silver  Tips To Survive the End of the World  One Year Food Supply  72 Hour Bag