The rain was cold as it hit me like a thousand beads of ice and seeped right through my clothes and into my bones, it seemed.  I hunched and crept forward slowly to the front of the rig, and peered around it to take a quick peek at The Beak to see if I could spot any sort of movement inside or out.  I held my breath and stood as still as I could, but all I saw was darkness inside; I squinted a bit and a few icy droplets of rain caught the creases that cornered my eyes and slipped down my face like a stream of tears.  I slipped around the front of the rig and darted to one of the small trees out in front of the place, and with my back to it, peered again to make sure I was still the only one out there.  I was facing the truck now, and it felt good to know that Sally was in there, holding down the fort and watching my back.

I’ve gotta say again that I was nervous as shit, but at that point, I was so jumped up on adrenaline that I didn’t have the time to be afraid.  I was just determined to get inside, check on Sam and get him out if need be, and head back out to the rig to make sure Sally was safe and sound.  Lightning lit up the sky and the thunder roared like God was ripping the sky open, but it was pure instinct and adrenaline flowing through me, man.  A few deep breaths, a quick prayer, and a glance at Sally as encouragement, and I pushed off of the tree and made the break for the front door of the joint.  The rain pounded my face and flooded my eyes like somebody dumped a bucket of water in my face, but I made it to the door and jiggled the handle.  It didn’t give.  Whatever else happened, Sam must have locked himself in…if it was even Sam in there.  I crouched to the right of the door to stay out of sight, and figured I’d run around and try the back.  It’s the only way that I could leave the place feeling like I did everything I could.  I tried to motion to Sally by waving my arms…I had to try to let her know that I was going to slip out of sight briefly and head to the rear.  Being perched out front like a sitting duck, ripe for a plucking, seemed like a plan that was destined to fail.  I don’t know if she saw me or not, but the longer I was out in the open, the longer she had to be in the cab by herself; I had to move, and I had to move with quickness.  I reached for my phone to try to send her a text; couldn’t have her worrying about me, so I figured I’d shield the phone from the rain with my jacket, rattle off a quick text, and then head to the back.  The only thing is, somebody was already back there…I heard the racket of footsteps stumbling around and knew then that I wasn’t alone anymore.