The Seventh Seal Read Free Page A

at a steady rate, and John recognized the
military vehicle, not a weekend warrior’s Wrangler.  He crouched down low and
fixed his eyes as it slowed to a stop in front of Reggie’s house.

 
    Chapter 6
     
    Three soldiers, dressed in full camouflage, jumped out of
the jeep with weapons drawn.  The night-vision goggles made the warriors look
like astronauts, and they swung their machine guns in swooping arcs, daring
anyone to set foot in their path.  Muffled voices filtered through the
deteriorating leaded windows of Reggie’s living room.  John watched with relief
as the sergeant led the men to the house directly across the street and stopped
two feet in front of the door.  A flashlight mounted on top of his weapon
passed over the living-room window and through the glass panes of the door. 
Without a word of warning, the soldier smashed it with the butt end of his
weapon.  Crackling glass fell in tiny shards onto a weathered, leather sofa. 
He reached through the hole and unlocked the door.  John watched the trio of
flashlight beams popping up throughout the first floor.  After they entered,
the beams jumped in each room, eventually rising from the second floor to the
attic.
    The wind rustled the leaves and pitched them down South
Belvoir Road in a contained cyclone of color.  John held his breath, waiting
for action.  The house across the street remained still, the darkness returning
to snuff the flashlights.  John shuffled his feet and put a hand on the middle
of his back.  He did not take his eyes off the house.  He started to cramp from
the uncomfortable position he took underneath the living-room window.
    After what felt like hours, the three soldiers came out the
front door of the house across the street.  Without streetlamps, John saw just
eerie silhouettes moving through the lowering November darkness.  One of the
soldiers stopped and faced the brick to the right of the front door.  He made
erratic motions with his arm, and the three men climbed back into the jeep. 
The headlights once again cut through the late evening air and fell upon the
stray pit bull.  The dog barked at the jeep while backing away from it.  John
saw the fear and confusion in its eyes, even from a distance.  The driver of
the jeep revved the engine three times, a warning not heeded by the dog.  It
continued to bark until the front tires of the vehicle thumped the life from
it.  John observed the pit bull’s dying spasms through the red aura of the
jeep’s brake lights as it slowed to take the turn onto Arden.
    John sat back and took a deep breath as nicotine withdrawal
reared its ugly head.  He felt the burning itch to light up a cigarette and
considered searching his dead friends’ bodies for one.
    He moved across the living room toward the kitchen and
walked down the steps to the mud-room landing.  The side door to Reggie’s
driveway sat ajar.  The scent of moldy leaves drifted through the opening. 
John stepped over the broken glass of the screen door and crouched low against
the side of the house.
    As low as he could get on two feet, John sidled the length
of the driveway, stopping behind the trunk of a bare maple hanging over the
lawn.  He looked up and down South Belvoir and saw no movement for blocks in
each direction.  Not a single light shone from any streetlamp or deserted
window.
    With the tools and supplies clanging in the duffel bag, John
sprinted across South Belvoir and behind the overgrown bushes of the neighbor’s
house.  He held his breath and waited for the crack of a rifle or the accusing
beam of a soldier’s flashlight to find him.  His cheek brushed the coarse
mortar crumbling from the old, red brick.  John tasted fresh spray paint
hanging in the night air.  He craned his neck above the bush and examined the
front door without revealing his entire body.  Slow, red drops appeared on the
brick to the right of the door.  John reached out and let one of them fall into
his palm.  When