Annie on the run! With Buffy. Did you think I’d leave Linc’s dog there when I had no idea who or what I was up against? I really didn’t think they’d care about hurting a dog when they were murdering people right and left.

I’m at the old Hulver place. It’s abandoned, but there’s a semi-roof and there’s a kitchen and don’t ask me why or how, but the propane tank still has juice so I fry up some eggs that I took from Linc’s house.

Buffy seems to think that this is a great treat. I keep it in the back of my mind to tell Linc to spend more time with his dog.

The nice thing about the Hulver place is that it’s on the ridge above Linc’s place so I can sit on the front porch (or what’s left of it) and have a clear view of Linc’s.

It took Buffy and me thirty minutes to hike here. I cooked for five. The telephone rang forty minutes ago at Linc’s.

I wish I had binoculars because when a vehicle pulls up at Linc’s I have no idea what it is except it’s dark, which pretty much matches most SUVs in Carderiff County, you know, except for mine because I don’t freaking drive an SUV. Two people emerge from the SUV, one goes to the door, the other circles around back.

Huh.

I am too far away to see who they are. I thought hiking up here was a good idea, and it was to the extent that Buffy and I are safe, but I can’t make out who these people are. Then suddenly flames erupt around the house and the two figures dart back to the SUV. Dust rises as the tires roar and the SUV skitters onto the road and vanishes. The house roars with flames that I almost think I can feel here, almost a mile away.

I sit with Buffy at my side, my mouth open because two people who I may or may not know just thought they’d killed me. Buffy licks my chin. Yeah, I’m glad I didn’t leave you behind either.

end 4/21/2017

S. Darlington