stopping at his underwear until, that is, he saw the pinkish blotches all over them. Daniel scanned the area one more time and pulled those off, too. He put all of the hard-earned items, and his unwanted clothes, into the drying wagon and wheeled it back into the garage.
Keeping his pistol in his right hand, he walked, wearing nothing but shredded bandages on his feet, down to the shadowy forms heaped in the gutter. Daniel added the bundle of ruined clothes to the pile, tucking it under a splayed-out leg. He gingerly walked back to the house and ducked back into the garage. Looking one last time into the emptiness outside, he pushed down the garage door and locked it.
Daniel learned that the new shower did not wash away anything beyond the blood and grime.
Afterwards, Daniel’s stark form was again sitting on the edge of the bathtub, bandaging his feet a bit more permanently. He resolved within his core, the fact that he would not let any harm come to his family. This was, by far, the easy part. He removed the flashlight from his mouth, as the conflict over the best course of action to attain this goal grew heavier.
‘Should I make the home look abandoned and empty? Should I set early warning systems around the perimeter of the yard? Maybe out as far as several homes away? What else could warn against future intruders?’ Daniel pondered, while pouring hydrogen peroxide on his foot.
The only thing that he could make a decision on was that he was far too tired to come up with a conclusive decision. He had two last tasks to accomplish tonight before returning to his bed and family, and he shifted his focus back onto those.
Daniel limped down the stairs to where he could see his wife and daughter sleeping, or, at least, pretending to. He opened the door to the storeroom and closed it quietly behind after entering. A lantern was lit and sat on an old folding table. He grabbed a screwdriver and spun to face the opposite wall. Removing the small step ladder, extension cords, and clamps from their respective hooks allowed access to the bare drywall. Daniel rotated the two drywall screws that secured his father’s hidden compartment. A firm tug made the hook and loop strips undo as he swung open the panel to reveal the guns, ammunition, and accessories.
First, he removed his father’s AR-15. It had a flat top receiver, collapsible battle sights, and a dual-illuminated scope, which used ambient light gathered by a fiber-optic system to produce a red aiming dot during the day, while tritium glowed at night. The load bearing vest, which hung above the rifle, came out next. He loaded nine of the polymer thirty round magazines, putting eight of them in the carriers on the vest and one in the rifle, without chambering a cartridge. After securing the panel back in place and replacing the removed items back on their hooks, he went to take care of his last task for the night.
He placed the rifle and the now brimming vest beside the bed where it would give easy access if needed later. Daniel finished out his night by putting on clean underpants and a pair of maize and blue sweat pants. Then a pair of his hallowed new socks went on, mainly to hold the bandages on his feet firmly in place.
His mind went strangely blank as he laid his head back down on the pillow, like a familiar emotional protector had suddenly been called back into service. He was spent, emotionally and physically; sleep arrived mercifully fast.
Chapter 8
Even from the basement, Daniel could hear the heavy rain drumming on the roof. His watch hands said 7:30 in an eerie, wavering glow. He had slept very deeply and without dreams. Corinne and Rebecca remained slumbering as he got out of bed. Once he gathered up the rifle, vest, boots, and a pair of pants, all sitting next to the bed on the floor, he shuffled into the pantry. He shut the door behind him to keep the soon to be lit lantern from accosting the girls sleep.
Now in a light bright enough that it took almost a full minute of blinking to adjust himself to it, Daniel stepped out of the sweat pants. He pulled on a well-worn pair of tan cargo pants, which had black tape across the knees covering the constellations of small holes found there. Very carefully, he laced up