A lazy smile slid across her face, there and gone before the door opened.More light poured into the room and I saw she held her hands down at her lower abdomen, both wrists close together as though still bound.That was a great touch since I didn’t want Boyd or Campbell to know I had a knife.
Not yet, anyway.
Her eyes lit up and she grinned.“Tell me I smell bacon cheeseburgers.If it’s just bacon, that’s fine, but—”
“It’s hot dogs, bitch.Move so I can put this down.The cast iron is about to burn me through the potholder,” Campbell said.
That was all I needed to hear.I nodded at Ivy, she stepped back.Campbell stepped forward, the skillet in his right hand.
I grabbed his elbow and forced it toward his face.
Campbell overcame his surprise quicker than I expected and fought back.I stomped on his foot, and he howled so loud, I saw Ivy wince.He tried to throw the pan at me, but he missed.Four hot dogs skittered across the floor as the iron skillet landed two feet from my boot.
Ivy scrambled to the pan.
“Don’t touch it, you’ll burn yourself,” I said.
Her side-eye rivaled an eyeroll from my sister.Like Mickayla, she didn’t listen to me, and grabbed it anyway.
In the meantime, Campbell whirled on me, wrapping both hands around my throat.With my left hand, I brought my knife up and plunged it into his neck.
He let out a shocked cry and squeezed harder.
Suddenly, he lurched toward me at the same time I heard a dull thunk from behind him.Then like a cartoon character his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed.I moved out of the way right before he could fall on me.
I leaned over to pull my knife out of his neck.Blood seeped onto the floor.
Ivy gasped.“What’d you do that for?”
I almost chuckled.“It’s my only weapon.Boyd could be out there or someone else.Let’s go.”
We hurried out of the room.It quickly became clear that nobody else was in the house.As we crossed through the kitchen I saw there was a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs.
Ivy stopped, tilted her head back, looked up at the ceiling, and said, “Please let this be safe to eat.”
She grabbed a rasher of bacon and popped it in her mouth.
“Are you nuts?”I asked.
She swallowed.“No.Anyone who leaves bacon behind is nuts.Besides, I have no idea what time it is, or when I might get to eat again, and I’m starving.”
I recalled Boyd’s words about us having to walk and I grabbed one of the two remaining rashers.
“Screw it,” Ivy said, picking up a fork and shoveling eggs into her mouth.
She held the utensil out to me.My gut said we didn’t have time for this, but I needed my energy.I took the fork from her, loaded it up with eggs, and chowed down.
One step onto the wrap-around porch, and I saw the beat-up Nissan.
“You think the keys are in his pocket?”Ivy asked.
I did, and yet, I couldn’t imagine Boyd underestimating Campbell’s stupidity and sending him back here alone.
“Maybe.We need to stick together, so let’s go check his pockets.”
“I’m not arguing with you, but why do you say that?”
“If Boyd’s here, he’s twice as smart as Campbell, and that means he’s even more dangerous.I don’t want either of us to be blindsided.”
