Chapter 7 - The Ticking Clock
I grabbed my children by their hands and sprinted toward the back door.
The smell of gas was completely overwhelming, burning my throat with every breath.
I violently kicked the screen door open and dragged them out into the fresh air.
We ran all the way to the edge of the property line, gasping for clean oxygen.
I looked back at the house, expecting it to explode into a massive fireball at any second.
But nothing happened.
The silent threat was a clear message that they could reach us anytime, anywhere.
I knew we could not spend another single night in that compromised house.
I pulled out my cell phone and called the only person in the world I could trust.
It was my brother, Mark, who lived three hours away in the city.
He answered on the first ring, and I quickly explained the terrifying situation.
"I am leaving right now, I will be there as fast as I can drive," Mark promised.
I told him to bring his truck and his old military gear.
We sat huddled in the cold grass for hours, entirely too terrified to move.
Finally, the familiar headlights of Mark's heavy pickup truck illuminated the gravel driveway.
He jumped out, threw his arms around us, and immediately started packing our essential belongings.
He went into the gas-filled house wearing a heavy respirator mask and turned off the main valve.
By sunrise, we were driving away from the only home my children had ever known.
I watched Daniel's empty apple trees fade away in the rearview mirror with a broken heart.
We arrived at Mark's secure apartment building in the city later that afternoon.
I finally felt a tiny shred of safety behind his heavy steel doors.
I laid the children down to sleep in the guest room and went to the kitchen.
Mark was sitting at the table, examining the metal lockbox and the bag of seeds.
"We need to go to the FBI with all of this," Mark said seriously.
I nodded in agreement, completely exhausted by the endless fighting.
I turned on the television to catch the local evening news.
The screen flashed with a breaking news alert that made my blood run completely cold.
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The reporter was standing live in front of the smoldering ruins of a burned building.
It was the local bank, and the corrupt manager's body had been found inside.
