Chapter Seventeen
1444 Words
"Now put your hands on your head. Slowly!" the man continued to yell.
Max could now get a good look at the man confronting them, looking past the barrel of the shotgun aimed towards his face. He was short, with his back slightly hunched over. He had to be into his seventies. His bushy, jet white beard covered most of his wrinkled face and matched his wavy hair. His sharp, green eyes were fixed on Max's, full of conviction. Max dared not make a move.
The man wore loose blue jeans, held up with braces over the top of a red checked shirt. He certainly looked like a farmer, and the shape of his garden did nothing to dispel the thought.
"Okay, okay, let's not do anything stupid. I have a kid with me," Max urged desperately.
"I'll be doing the talking thank you, bub," the man snapped back, shooting a glance towards Lizzie after he did so.
Max nodded.
"I don't take kindly to people breaking into my property, screaming and shouting their heads off," the man continued.
"You do realise they'll be coming from far and wide now. Your little performance is like a meals on wheels advert for them!"
"Look, we're sorry okay, we just need somewhere to stay!" Lizzie piped up.
"I thought I said I didn't want to hear a peep from either of you!" the man shouted back.
"Oh get f****d, if you're gunna shoot us then do it, old man," Lizzie said frostily, her attitude taking over once again.
Max looked across angrily at Lizzie, his eyes like a pair of snipers. She didn't meet his gaze. She knew that she had spoken before thinking, again.
"A very good point little girl," the man smiled. "I'm sorry, you have to believe me, it's nothing personal," he carried on, walking closer to Max.
He got within five feet and slowly raised the shotgun once more to Max's head.
"I'm sorry," he repeated simply.
"Look, wait, let's talk about this-" Max stammered in a complete panic.
The man pushed the barrel of the gun hard into Max's head, a non-verbal instruction to be quiet.
Max's heart was beating out of his chest. He looked across at Lizzie, trying to seem as reassuring as possible, but how confident could he look with a shotgun pressed to his head? Maybe he was right after all, anyone who got close to him died. Sweat began to pour from his forehead, down the bridge of his nose and over his lips. The drips were salty, and Max couldn't help but be annoyed that the last thing he tasted would be his own sweat.
He averted his gaze from Lizzie, unable to hold the burden of her death as well as his own.
The man's fingers softly pressed against the trigger, ready to fire. Max shut his eyes and tensed his body. The man's finger clenched around the trigger to fire.
Click.
Silence.
Max opened his eyes once more. In front of him stood not the frightening, chilling, old man he had seen a moment ago, but a warm, smiling face. The green eyes looked somehow friendly and welcoming now.
The man was doubled over, his hands pressed against his knees, letting out an uncontrollable wheezing laugh.
"Your faces!" he exhaled in between laughs. "Such a picture!" he wheezed again.
Max and Lizzie exchanged looks of both relief and confusion.
"C'mon folks, don't stand out here in the cold, come on in," the old man said, making his way back towards the front door.
"Hang on," Max mumbled in a state of confusion. "What just happened?"
The man turned back to face them.
"Oh please bub, I knew you were good people as soon as I saw you climb over that fence. Running to your daughter's aid to check tha..."
"She's not my daughter," Max corrected immediately.
"Okay, my apologies, running to check that your young companion was okay. You don't really see too many men travelling with kids nowadays. Don't really see too many men travelling at all to be honest. I'm sure the family would love some new company; I know the girls would love a new friend," the man chuckled.
Max tried to form words in his mouth, still perplexed by what had just happened.
"But...the gun?" he managed to blurt out.
"This old thing?" the old man laughed. "This is just some family ornament that's been sat over our fireplace for years. It's not loaded, doubt it even fires."
"Okay, even for me that joke was too far," Lizzie smirked, bouncing off to follow their new friend into the house.
Max followed suit, sticking close to Lizzie as they neared the front door. The old man then turned around suddenly.
"How rude of me," he said. "The name's Henry, Henry Jennings," he smiled, warmly extending a hand to first Max then Lizzie.
"I'm Max Dalton, this here is Lizzie," Max replied as he shook Henry's hand.
"Well, Max and Lizzie, come on in out of the cold and let's put the kettle on, ay?" Henry suggested, wiping his feet on the brown 'welcome' mat as he entered the house.
He slipped off his shoes before asking the two guests to do the same. The thought of this made Max laugh; not wearing shoes in the house seemed so trivial in this new world, but it was kind of refreshing. Henry led them into the kitchen, in which four people were already congregated.
"Ah, I see the entire welcome party is here then," Henry joked. "Let me introduce you all," he continued.
"This is my wife Jenny," he started, extending his hand to point out the nearest woman on his left. She too had bright, white hair but hers was tied neatly in a bun behind her head. She had a friendly face, with a wide grin stretched across its entirety.
She looked to be a similar age to Henry, with similar wrinkles covering her face. She couldn't have been much taller than five foot, wearing a knitted jumper and a long skirt with slippers on her feet. A loose blue apron hung around her, covered in flour.
"Jenny Jennings ay?" Max smiled as he shook her hand.
"Oh, I've heard it all already," she blushed as she then brought Lizzie into a hug.
Lizzie looked taken aback but begrudgingly hugged back. Max laughed at how uncomfortable she looked.
"Then this is our daughter Emily, and her two daughters Megan and Sophia," Henry continued down the line.
Max and Lizzie greeted them in turn, starting with the beautiful Emily who couldn't have been much over 30. Her long brown hair glistened down her shoulders, and she had her father's deep green eyes, hidden behind a thin set of black glasses. She had smooth, young looking skin, and a smile as wide as Jenny's.
They all seemed genuinely happy to see new faces amongst them. Emily's two daughters were carbon copies of her, from the hair to the facial features. Henry explained that they were twelve and ten, but you wouldn't have questioned it if they were introduced as twins.
"The girls are really excited to have a new friend to play with, aren't you, guys?" Emily beamed.
The young girls merely giggled and blushed, clearly shy in the presence of these two new strangers. Max glanced again at Lizzie, stifling a laugh as he did so. She looked less than thrilled at this proposition of playing with the children.
"And this is Max and his friend Lizzie; they're going to be staying with us for a while, I hope?" he asked, looking at Max.
Max was met with a sea of smiling Jennings and couldn't do anything but agree. In truth he didn't plan to spend a minute longer here than he had to. He would get Lizzie settled and then be on his way. He wasn't really sure where he was going, or if he even wanted to carry on after this, but he knew he didn't want to stay. Too much could go wrong.
"Right then, tea?" Henry grinned.
The seven of them exchanged pleasantries and drank tea for the next hour in the family kitchen, before Emily announced that it was the girls' bedtime. The youngsters said goodnight before trotting up the stairs with their mother.
"On that note, I think I'm ready for my bed too," Henry announced.
"Would you like me to show you to the spare room?" Jenny asked politely. "I'm afraid you will have to share, I hope that's okay?"
"For f**k sake," Lizzie mumbled under her breath.
Max heard this and smirked, bending down to whisper in Lizzie's ear, "I'm sure Megan and Sophia would love for you to stay in their room instead?"
"You know what, sharing sounds great," Lizzie beamed at Jenny immediately, before shooting daggers at Max after Jenny's back was turned.
The two newcomers were shown to their room, before the house plunged into the darkness and silence of night.
- Writer
