A Family on the Run. 1st part

They walked towards the car, carrying their suitcases with them. Leaving in the middle of the night had not been what Allyn had intended. He needed a full nights sleep but this was not going to be that night. He shuffled Sherry and Tim along as quickly as he could without knocking them to the ground.Diana walked behind them, looking behind herself more than in front. Twenty more feet and they would be inside the van. Allyn pushed the auto unlock on his key ring. He watched to see the tail-lights flash and when they did not, he pushed the button again and again. He could feel his heart begin to race as his fingered pounded the button. Still... no lights.
"What is wrong Allyn? Unlock the doors, please!"
"I am trying to, Diana! The freaking thing isn't working! I'll just unlock them when we reach the van."
As they reached the van, the parking lot went dark. All of them froze in place. It took a moment for them to realize that it was not only the parking lot lights that had turned off. All the lights in the motel were now out. Twenty seven rooms do not turn their lights off at the same time. They all knew this.
"Dad", Sherry whispered..."What is going on? Please get us in the van."
"Just keep walking, honey. Daddy will get us inside."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Di." Allyn touched her hand and put the key in the lock. The lock went up and he quickly opened the other doors. The four of them climbed inside and Allyn locked the doors again. The only light now was the streaks of bright phosphorus given off by the lightening, giving warning to the impending storm.
In the darkness they sat silent for a minute. Allyn's heart was still racing and he felt little comfort in the van. Diana broke the silence.
"Can you tell us why we had to leave now, Allyn? I thought you checked this one out before we got here."
"I did Diana, I swear I did. I thought we were alright until I remembered something the desk clerk had said to me. I asked him if we could get a wake up call for 5a.m. His comment didn't strike me as odd until just a little bit ago."
"I didn't hear his comment, Allyn."
"I guess I didn't pay attention at the time either. He said they were having trouble with their services and that his men would make sure we got the call. He didn't say his People! He said specifically, his men. No body calls their workers that."
"How do they keep finding us, Dad? We watched for 100 miles before turning back onto the main road. There was no one behind us the entire way."
"I realize that Tim. Somehow, they know every place we go and I don't know how."
"Allyn, maybe we should trust someone and find a police station. We can not keep running this way. They are going to catch us one day and then what!?"
"If Sherry hadn't gotten snoopy, we wouldn't be doing this!"
"I wasn't being snoopy, damn you Tim! I was looking for a bathroom! I told you that a thousand times!"
"Stop it!! Stop this fighting right now! We do not have time for this!"
"He started Mom, not me!"
"Yes, and I am stopping it, right now!"
Both teens knew by her tone that Diana was not in the mood for any fighting. She made it very clear and they did not want to anger her right now. Allyn sat and listened to the chatter back and forth. He knew that Diana's tone would be more than enough to quiet the kids. He thought back to the event that had set their lives on the run. A normal day for them, they had gone to the circus that had come to Akron. Ohio, the place he had lived all of his life was now just a memory. It would probably remain so forever, now. Sherry had wandered behind one of the big tents. Whether she was searching for a bathroom or snooping mattered very little now. What she saw behind the tent was all that mattered. Two police officers, or at least two men dressed as police-men had a young girl and boy on their knees. She could hear the two pleading for their lives. One of the officers told the girl to shut up. As she turned to plead again, the officer shot her. She was dead in an instant. The other officer shot the boy. Sherry cried out, involuntarily and the two men turned and looked directly at her. She ran all the way back to where Allyn and Diana were. She told them what she had seen. They found a phone and called the police. Sherry took them to where it had all happened. The police found nothing. No blood, no bodies, no evidence that there had been any crime. They chastised Sherry for wasting their time with a false report and told Allyn he should take his over imaginative daughter home. Sherry insisted she saw what she told them. They threatened to take her in for trying to file a false report and Allyn and Diana took her home before that could happen.
Allyn's thoughts were interrupted by a huge flash of lightening. He heard Sherry scream and turned around just in time to see the faces of two men, illuminated in the window. He felt the van lunge as the men pulled ion the door. Allyn started the van and put it into gear. Headlights suddenly blinded him from the front and he drove on, not knowing where he was going. The front end of the van struck a parked car in the lot as all of the lights in the parking lot and motel came on at the same time. A man jumped out in front of the van with a gun aimed at the windshield. Allyn heard the shot and turned the wheel to the right. His side mirror exploded outside the van and next he felt a thump and knew he had struck the man that had shot at them.
"My god Allyn, you hit that man! You ran him over!!!!"
"Would you like for me to stop and see if he is alright, Diana?!?!?"
"Just keep driving Dad. Please don't stop!!! Just get us out of here, please!!"
He didn't need Sherry's pleading to drive on. He didn't know where they were going but he knew they were getting as far from this town as they could. The storm came full swing and Allyn and his family drove through fierce wind and rain without a word spoken. How many miles they had driven before they found a gas station Allyn did not know. He only knew that there were no other headlights on the road behind them the entire way. They would stop and get some food and gas before going any further.