Thirty minutes later and I’m starting to freak out. We’re almost to the edge of town and if these two join up with others in their gang then the rescue is going to get a lot harder. My head shoots up from the road disappearing under my feet when I catch the faint sound of voices ahead. We’re on a curve in the road and as we come out of it I see a group of six men walking towards us. My whole body droops. Too late, eight men instead of two will be very dangerous.
When the group meets up with ours, I shuffle closer to Sasha and put an arm around her. We keep our heads down and try and stay on our feet as the new group pushes and pokes at us while making it clear exactly what’s going to happen to us when we get into town. I clench my teeth and try not to look around desperately for the help I’m starting to think isn’t coming. Sasha finally can’t take anymore and she buries her face against my chest as she wails.
The men think this is hilarious but finally stop taunting us and instead push us down the road. We shuffle along as fast as we can with me practically supporting all of Sasha’s weight and I try and listen to their conversation to get as much information as I can.
“You guys are lucky you caught some game! Jerod sent us to come bring you back to add to the menu. There’s only three meals left in the pantry and Gail’s starting to froth at the mouth! You know how nasty she gets when she’s hungry so these two should calm her down a bit, especially if there’s more where they came from.”
Popper bounces around the group and lets out his god awful laugh.
“HAW, HAW, HAW, I’m too stringy for you guys to eat!”
There’s a unanimous roar from the men. “SHUT UP!”
Popper’s partner shakes his head. “Even if they tell us everything that’s in their hideout, we might need a bomb to get that door open. I can’t see the people inside just opening it up for us to raid.”
One of the newcomers speaks up. “No problem! We found a couple of crates of dynamite at a construction site. We’ll have that door open with one big BOOM!”
A shiver wracks my body as cold sweat runs down my back. I don’t want to die and be a meal for these freaks but I’m ok with it if I know my family and friends will be safe. I’m pretty sure those bunker doors are meant to withstand a nuclear blast but I don’t know for sure.
The road breaks out of the trees and onto an overpass so I’ve got a good view of the town below. Everything looks the same as the last time I was here but I don’t want to think of the misery that awaits us. The overpass we stand on goes over the main highway that bisects the town. Standing here looking east, I can see quite a ways in the distance. Above are a few black and dark-grey clouds against the blue sky but far to the east covering the horizon is a solid line of blackness. It almost looks like dirty smoke but the wind is blowing in the wrong direction for me to smell anything.
Popper points towards the horizon and asks, “Is that a storm coming?”
One of the men shakes his head. “No moron, storms don’t come from the east here. They come from the west or north! We don’t know what it is but it started yesterday and it’s growing and getting closer. Some of us think it’s a wildfire.”
The men don’t really seem all that concerned as they shove us deeper into town and closer to the hotel they’ve taken over, but my eyes stay on the blackness. Something’s coming and in this world we now live in, it’s usually not good.
Chapter Twenty-Six … Skylar
“On three, then heave. One, two, three!” Lance grunts out before heaving his end of the dead tree to the side of the road.
I grit my teeth to stop myself from screaming in frustrated rage. I left it up to Lance and Ethan to decide if they wanted to take my Dad’s truck or the ATV’s and they had chosen the truck. Lance wanted us to stay together and keep the engine noise to just one. Everything was fine until we made it half way down the overgrown track and came to the first downed tree across it. Six more trees blocked the way and Ethan guessed that the rain had weakened the soil enough for the dead trees to finally fall.
I turn my back to them and try and take a deep breath. The amazing feel of the sun on my face has lost its charm with how long this has taken. We all know we will never catch up with Rex and Sasha before they are taken into town. Our only hope is that they aren’t killed right away because of the information the gang will want from them about the bunker. This rescue has now become much, much more dangerous. Even with all the firepower we’ve brought, we will still be greatly outnumbered and we’ll have to go right into the lion’s den to get our people back.
With the track finally cleared and the pavement in sight we all move to load back into the truck. Just as I’m about to open the truck door, I hear something out of place. I look at Marsh and see he’s got his head cocked to the side with a frown.
“Do you hear that too?” I ask him. He looks over at Lance who starts nodding.
“Engines and more than one but not close by. They could be anywhere. Sound travels further now with no background noise. I didn’t see any vehicles up at the resort when I scouted it out but they may have had some I didn’t see. We’re going to have to be very careful once we hit the main road.” He gives us all a grim look. “Be ready to shoot if we run into any of them.”
We keep the truck's windows down with our eyes and ears open but see nothing as we get closer to town. Just before we come to the end of the tree line and the overpass, Lance turns down a rutted overgrown siding and edges the truck in under the trees as far as he can. We spread a grey tarp over it and pile as much brush as we can find overtop of it. From here on out, we go by foot.
We stay off the roads and parallel the town inside the tree line until we start to hear noises. Using the binoculars from the Go bags we all crawl right to the edge of the trees and scan the buildings in front of us. I haven’t been in this town since my Dad drove us through the day the bombs dropped but the others have lived here for the last seven years and know what they’re looking for.
“Looks like they took over the hotel and made it their base,” Lance grunts out.
I scan the buildings until I see an old faded sign for what used to be a higher end hotel. The parking lot has been cleared of cars and they used them to form a crappy barricade along the perimeter of the property. It’s not going to stop anyone on foot from going over and that’s exactly what we are going to do because being shoved across the parking lot, past a blazing bonfire is Rex and Sasha. My eyes follow them to one corner where they’re pushed into the back of a cargo van. When the overhead door slams down, I can’t help but track back to the oily smoke floating up over the fire and to the “thing” that’s being turned slowly on a spit over it. When I get a clear look at exactly what is being cooked I drop my binoculars to the ground, lurch backward on my hands and knees until I can’t control it anymore. The hot acidic vomit sprays out of me while rage fills me and tears slide down my face.
When my body stops heaving and I catch my breath, I wipe my mouth with the sleeve of my jacket and turn to see that the other guys have pulled back too. I meet each one of their gazes and feel my expression harden.
“We are going to kill them all!”
No one disagrees with me. We pull back from the tree line and discuss our options. The only real plan we can come up with is to wait for dark, create a distraction and then sneak in and try to free Rex and Sasha. The main thing we all agree on is to kill as many of them as we can while we’re at it.
Lance draws a rough outline of the hotel and grounds with both Ethan and Marsh filling in details. He taps on one section of the map.
“This is the generator room. We know Ted was abandoning ship because there wasn’t any gas left to pump the water, but these guys must have gas or they wouldn’t have set up shop here. It would be too far to haul water for that many people. If we can get into that room and cause it to blow up or start a fire, they should all come running.”
Marsh makes a humming noise in his throat and shakes his head.
“No way, that�
�s under the main lobby. There’s going to be way too much activity in that area to sneak in and then out undetected and it’s pretty close to where they put Rex and Sasha.” He taps on a different area of the map. “No one but us was using this wing of the hotel so most likely the gang would have settled in the area where the rooms were already set up from before. There’s a better chance of that wing still being empty. Ted pulled a lot of our supplies from our rooms after he kidnapped Ethan and Belle, but there was still a lot left when I was sneaking around before we all evacuated for the mountain. All the batteries and some of the gas cans were still in the janitor’s closet we used for our storage. If these guys haven’t found them yet we can use that stuff to set the wing on fire. It’ll pull people further away from the front and we have a better chance of getting in and out without getting caught.”
Lance rubs his chin and nods. “Yeah, I like that better. As long as the fire is big enough, all eyes will be on it or they’ll be racing inside to pull out and save whatever supplies they have in the main hotel. Once it gets dark enough, we’ll all move up and find cover at the back of the hotel. Marsh, you and I will go in and start the fire. Ethan, you and Skylar will stay outside and make sure no one decides to come into that wing from outside. Once the fire’s set, we all meet back up and circle around to the side the kids are being kept. Two things worry me though; one - getting the cargo van door open, it looked like they put a padlock on it and two - we have no way of knowing if there are people living in that wing. We could be walking into a hornet's nest completely outnumbered. If we start firing our weapons the element of surprise goes right out the window.”
I lean over the drawing and make a curved arrow with my finger. “If we come around this area we would be at the end of the wing we need to get into. It would give us a better view of both side’s windows. We’d have to wait until it’s dark but anyone in there would have some kind of light source we could see from the outside. No light, plan’s a go. If there are lights, we think of something else. What’s on that side of the hotel we could use for cover while we wait for it to get dark?”
The others lean back and think about the area around that wing before Ethan answers. “I remember there was a fast food restaurant and a gas station on that side but that’s it for me. Marsh?”
His son points to the area on the drawing. “Yup, burger shack, gas and go and then offices. Across from that is a strip mall with a ski rental place, hair salon and I think a real estate office.”
Lance nods. “Ok, we go to the strip mall for the best view.” He glances up and looks at the setting sun and I follow his look.
This is the first sunset I’ve seen in seven years. It should be momentous but the danger we are about to walk into makes me think it also might be the last one I ever see.
“We should go now and start circling around to the other side. We need to get this done early enough that they aren’t inside getting ready for bed. The more of them out in the courtyard we can see the better. After they go in, anyone can just look out those windows and see us. We wouldn’t even know we’ve been spotted. It’ll also mean more of them distracted by the fire. Let’s get back to the truck and dump our bags. The faster we can move the better and the bags will just slow us down.”
We reach the truck quickly and pull what we need from them before leaving our bags in the bed. I spot the tool box and remember Lance’s other concern. He sports a grin when he pulls a pair of bolt cutters from the box. Goodbye padlock!
I try and stay focused as I follow Lance and Marsh, with Ethan behind me bringing up the rear, but my mind won’t stop thinking. There’s a very good possibility that I won’t make it back up the mountain tonight. This isn’t a TV show or a movie where the good guys always win. This is real life and in this life, a lot of people have died and are still dying. I know Belle will watch over Ben and keep him safe inside but it breaks my heart that I might not be around to see him grow up into a man.
We make it to the back of the strip mall without being seen and as soon as the sun dips behind the mountains in the west we slink around the side and slip into the middle business that was once a hair salon. There’s still a faint smell of hair chemicals and perfume in the air and when I see the row of stylist chairs in front of shattered mirrors, I raise my hand and touch my hair. It’s completely surreal to me that a few hours ago I was having my own hair styled for the first time in my life and now I’m getting ready to kill a bunch of strangers. My fingers find the yellow ribbons that are still weaved into the waves of my hair. As we hunker down and wait for full dark, I can’t help but smirk. If I die tonight, I’ll die with kickass hair!
Chapter Twenty-Seven … Rex
The biggest shock I get when we are pushed through the crowd in front of the hotel is the way these people look. I was expecting maniac psychopaths with crazy tattoos and piercings. Instead, they all just look like normal people. Dirty, oily, smelly people with major dental issues but still just normal people. A few in the crowd cheer and taunt us but most just stare with blank looks as we are shoved past. I try and meet every gaze to see if there’s anyone here who might regret their choices and help us. The best I get is a few who drop their eyes and turn away. We’re on our own unless someone comes to rescue us.
We get pushed through the main doors into the dim lobby and I scan around to see what’s changed since I was last here. Except for a few piles of boxes and bins, it’s the same. Right down to the hopeless worn down expressions on the new residents. We get led through the corridors and up a few flights of stairs until we come to a set of double doors. A brisk knock has them opening and when we step through I see a fancier version of all the other hotel rooms I’ve been in.
There are two people lounging on a couch and I’m amazed when the woman stands and greets us with a smile. I take a quick look at Sasha to see if she’s seeing the same thing as me and her expression tells me she is. This woman is absolutely gorgeous and she looks like she’s just stepped off of a fashion runway. Her long black hair shines and bounces with health and cleanliness. Expertly applied makeup makes her face glow and her lipstick perfectly matches the rose coloured silk dress she’s wearing paired with high heels. I can’t remember ever seeing someone who looks this perfect even before the bombs dropped.
The other person in the room is a man who looks just as clean and put together but he stays seated and studies us with hard eyes. I flinch when the woman gets close enough to me to reach out and take my chin between two fingers that have shiny nail polish on them. Her green eyes sparkle with amusement at my flinch and she murmurs in a cultivated voice, “So young. So handsome!”
I wrench my face from her grasp and try and step back but one of our guards shoves me back into place. The woman’s laugh comes out like a child’s and she claps her hands in glee.
“I LOVE young!”
Her gaze leaves me and she turns to Sasha where her expression changes from glee to admiration.
“Oh my! Will you look at that gorgeous hair! I’ve always wanted to be a redhead and that pale creamy skin, so…delicious!”
Sasha chokes out a sob at the last word and tries to move closer to me but is held firmly in place by another guard.
“Stop messing with them, Gail.” The man on the couch says before pushing to his feet and addressing the men holding us.
“Where’d you find them?”
Popper slides around from behind the guards and launches into his routine.
“HAW, HAW, HAW, we got em Jerod! Me and Malcolm, just like you told us too. We waited forever but the can finally opened and out came these treats!”
Jerod shakes his head in annoyance but the woman, Gail’s face transforms into a scowl of disgust and disdain, showing the lines and wrinkles of wear that she’s hiding under her mask of cosmetics.
Jerod points an angry sharp finger at Popper and orders, “Out!”
“HAW, HAW, HAW, sure, sure boss!” Before he skitters back around us and out of the door. Malcolm takes his pla
ce and holds out his hand to Jerod. Resting on his palm is the communicator he took from me.
“The boy was wearing it when we grabbed him. He talked into it and it answered him.”
Jerod’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise and he takes it from Malcolm and turns it over in his hands until he touches the screen and it lights up.
“Ooooh, pretty! What’s it do?” asks Gail while leaning over his shoulder.
Malcolm shrugs, “Nothing since I took it from him. It’ll light up but that’s all. You’ll have to persuade the kid to explain it.”
Jerod gives me a penetrating look. “This is a fancy piece of tech to still be working when everything else died years ago. Do you want to tell me what it does?”
I just shake my head “no”. I’m not telling these people anything.
He smirks knowingly and looks back down at the communicator in his hand.
“I wonder what else you’ve got hiding behind that big steel door. You both look well fed and clean so I’ll assume you have food and water but what else?” Sasha and I stay silent so he looks up at us and raises his eyebrows as if waiting for a reply and when we still don’t speak, a grin splits his face. “I think you have a lot behind that door and I think it will soon belong to me!”
Before he has a chance to say anything else, Gail interrupts him.
“Yes, yes, beating, starving, torturing and blah, blah, blah! Your fun will have to wait, darling. Did you forget? We’re hosting a dinner party tonight and we must make ourselves more presentable!” she sang in a sing-song voice while patting at her hair. “Whatever am I going to do with this hair? I’ll need the stylist sent up!”
Jerod glances away from us to Gail before rubbing wearily at his eyes.
“Gail, sweetheart, we’ve talked about this. No one’s coming for a party.”
Endless Winter Box Set: Books 1 - 4 Page 33