Three Sides of the Tracks by Mike Addington

Author:Mike Addington [Addington, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Crime, Thriller & Suspense, Romance, Contemporary, Thriller, Teen & Young Adult
Amazon: B00K0QR7PU
Publisher: Snowbird Publishing
Published: 2014-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

21

Foraging

“Y’all get back in the car and don’t be moving around,” Slink said. “Sweet Cheeks and me are gonna see what we can find to eat.”

“No, no, you can’t leave me,” Brandy wailed and grabbed Caroline.

“Stop your whining. Nothin’s gonna happen to you. Make sure of that, Smurf. If I come back and that gal’s messed up, it’s gonna be me and you. You hear me?” Slink looked first at Whitey then Smurf, who both mumbled their replies.

“Get’r in the car, Smurf.”

Smurf pried Brandy’s arms loose and dragged her toward the car.

“Ready for a field trip, Sweet Cheeks?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Come on.”

Slink took the tire iron from the trunk and walked east through the tall pines. He looked back to make sure Caroline followed.

The pine straw deadened their steps, and the spaces between the huge pine trees made for easy walking. They’d walked half a mile when Slink put up his hand and crouched. Caroline did the same.

“Get up here,” he said.

Caroline crawled the 10 yards on her hands and knees until she was next to Slink. “There’s a house over there. We’re gonna see what kind of groceries they keep.”

“In broad daylight?”

“Of course. Everybody’ll be at work. Or most likely be anyways. We’ll have to see. Watch the house and see who comes and goes in the next little while.”

“You have it all figured out, huh?”

“Don’t get smart. Forgot the last time so quick?”

Caroline lowered her eyes.

The air in the woods was almost motionless, only a brief waft rippling over their skin without moving a leaf or flower.

Caroline felt herself flush when a tendril of air carried Slink’s masculinity. For a moment, she forgot who he was. Then she remembered and was ashamed at the impulses flashing through her mind. The discovery was new. A man’s smell had never affected her until now.

“When I run, you run. Got that?”

Caroline nodded.

Slink’s lithe body streamed through the undergrowth and across the yard, flattened against the house as he snuck peeks through two of the windows.

“I don’t see nobody. No TV going. Don’t hear anything either. Let’s try the door.” He grabbed Caroline’s hand and jerked her along until he reached a door leading into the carport. The door opened at his touch. A tarp covered one car and the other space was empty. The doorknob from the carport to the kitchen didn’t turn, so he jammed the tire iron between the door and doorframe and levered it until the bolt popped out. “After you, my lady,” he said, sweeping his arm across the threshold in a grand manner.

Caroline shivered when she walked into the kitchen, feeling the invasion of another’s life.

“Look in that closet for plastic bags. Big ones.”

Caroline looked in the pantry and stripped three 50-gallon bags off the roll. She thrust them toward Slink.

“Hell, don’t hand ‘em to me. Start filling them up. I’m gonna see what else is in here.”

“Please . . .” Caroline blurted out.

Slink turned. “What?”

“Don’t take anything from these people. Nothing personal. Please. You don’t need it.

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