An Excerpt from My Book, "Where Once Was Peace."

Tam finished his beer and looked out on the dance floor for Al and Chap. He could see Chap snuggled up to a chubby, dark - haired woman. Chap had his eyes closed and a big smile on his face. Tam was glad to see his friend was enjoying himself. Then Tam realized Al wasn’t on the dance floor. At the same time, he realized the redheaded woman wasn’t either. Unfortunately, it looked like her husband had noticed she was missing too. Tam could hear her husband asking some buddies clustered around the bar in a very loud voice, “Any you guys see where Sherry went?”

Tam had a bad feeling he knew where Sherry was. He didn’t like what he was thinking either. He wished he hadn’t drunk so many beers. He sensed trouble brewing and figured he was about to need fuller control of all his faculties.

The redhead’s husband strode out to the middle of the dance floor and started pulling couples apart, peering drunkenly into their faces to see if he recognized anybody familiar. Something told Tam to find Al quickly and get him back to camp. But the husband was two steps ahead of Tam. He was headed for the tavern parking lot mad as a hornet.

“He must know something,” Tam thought. Tam tore Chap away from the chubby woman, who looked like she was twice Chap’s age, and the two boys followed the redhead’s husband outside.

“Wha’s goin’ on?” Chap inquired.

“Al’s gone off somewhere with that redhead and her husband’s looking for them. We gotta’ find Al fast, before the husband does.”

“Holy cow,” Chap said.

“Al’s probably got the woman in his truck,” Tam said. “We gotta’ get to them before that husband does or there’s no tellin’ what might happen.”

Tam could see the redhead’s husband looking in car windows trying to find his wayward wife. Tam and Chap slunk quietly between rows of vehicles, trying to keep low and out of sight of the angry avenger.

“Aw crap,” Tam whispered when the two boys reached Al’s truck.

The driver’s door of the truck was wide open. The interior of the truck was illuminated by the dome light and the lights of the parking lot. Two partially naked bodies, stretched out across the seat, one on top of the other, were plainly visible for all the world to see.

The redhead was on the bottom moaning in frenzied delight. Al was humping away wildly on top. Neither Al nor the redhead seemed to feel the biting cold in the least. Tam hated to break the two rutting lovers up. On the other hand, the redhead’s husband might arrive on the scene any second and pump several rounds of lead into the two copulating bodies.

Tam was afraid he might have to do something stupidly noble then, like stepping in front of the husband’s gun. He did not relish the idea of dying a virgin just to save his stepfather.

Angry and scared to death as he was though, Tam also was fascinated by what was happening in Al’s truck. Al’s hairy buttocks were slapping frantically against the redhead’s stark white thighs and Tam couldn’t help thinking about how many times he’d wanted to do that same thing to Katie.

Tam remained fascinated too long. The redhead’s husband located Al’s truck and with a bellow of rage, knocked Chap and Tam out of the way, then hooked a huge forearm around Al’s throat, pulling him part of the way off the woman. Tam was thankful to see that there was no gun in the husband’s hand. There was a hunting knife in a sheath on his hip, however. Tam and Chap jumped on the back of the redhead’s husband and for a moment pulled him off Al.

But the husband’s vengeance was not to be denied. With another bellow, the man sprang back at Al who was awkwardly zipping up his pants and trying to scramble out of his pickup. The two men fell to the ground then quickly sprang back to their feet.

“I’ll kill you,” the husband snarled at Al.

“Not if I kill you first,” Al snarled back.

Tam signaled to Chap.

Chap lunged for the husband’s feet and knocked him back to the ground. Tam collared Al and threw him against the side of his truck. The two older men recovered quickly, shoved the boys aside and rushed each other, swinging their fists wildly to see who could land the first punch.

Tam and Chap grabbed Al and the husband’s arms and all four men went down. Next thing he knew, Tam found himself locked in combat with his stepfather. Al got a fist in Tam’s face and bloodied his nose. Tam writhed on the ground holding his hands to his face, struggling not to pass out because of the excruciating pain. Al tore Chap away from the redhead’s husband and began pummeling the man.

The enraged husband struggled to his feet, dodging Al’s blows. He landed Al a blow that knocked Al back against the seat of his pickup truck then pulled the long, gleaming hunting knife from the sheath on his hip. Al’s eyes quickly filled with deadly malice. He lunged at the husband, grabbing the wrist that held the knife and struggled to keep the husband from plunging the knife into his chest.

Tam had regained his footing only to realize with horror that Al was now in serious danger. Chap, standing near the tail of Al’s truck looked terrified by the life-and-death struggle that was playing out before him. His feet seemed riveted to one spot.

Tam ran around the passenger side of Al’s truck where the redhead was cowering in her nakedness and yanked the door open. The woman’s husband had become a crazed madman. He wrenched his wrist free from Al’s grip and slashed wildly at Al, ripping a deep gash in Al’s right arm. Tam groped frantically behind the seat of Al’s truck for the .44 caliber pistol he knew Al kept there. Tam felt the leather holster, loosened the leather thong looped over the pistol’s hammer, pulled the gun free and aimed the barrel of the gun through the interior of the truck.

“Stop!” Tam yelled to the redhead’s husband. “Stop or so help me I’ll blow your head off!”

The husband, momentarily surprised, stopped his attack on Al. Taking advantage of the moment Al lunged at the husband again and toppled him back to the ground. The two men rolled around in the parking lot dirt and Al got his hands around the man’s neck. Then Tam saw the blade of the husband’s knife flash in an upward curve and Al let out a gasp of pain. The redhead’s husband had stabbed Al.

Al groaned in wounded disbelief. The redhead’s husband let his knife fall to the ground then he pushed Al away and staggered to his feet. When the redhead’s husband attempted to pick up his knife, Tam was afraid the man might stab Al another time. Believing that Al was in imminent danger of being stabbed again and possibly killed, Tam pulled the trigger on Al’s pistol again and again and again.

This book is available for sale on my website at: greatfictionbyjimperkins.blogspot.com or at Amazon.com