by Hunt, Jack
“You could have died back there.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“But perhaps that’s what you wanted.”
He chuckled and wiped sweat from his brow with the sleeve on his forearm. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She stepped away from the truck and narrowed her gaze as she sucked on her cancer stick.
“Brad told me you weren’t seeing that therapist.”
“And?”
“He also said that you were taking risks on rescues.”
“And?”
She tossed her cigarette and looked down at him. “If you want to play at death’s door, do it on your own time, but I won’t have you act like that around me or Ryan.”
“Oh so it’s you and Ryan now, is it?” He chuckled. “Tell me, Sophie, have you told Ryan about Michael?”
Ryan looked uncomfortable, his hand against the truck, looking down as Alex prepared to change the tire.
“Don’t shift the conversation away,” she said.
“I’m not, I’m continuing one we never finished.”
There was a pause as he cranked on the jack and got the vehicle raised enough to where he could remove the tire.
“I’m just saying that I don’t appreciate you placing our lives at risk.”
“Then why did you come back, Sophie, huh?” he asked rising to his feet to collect the tire iron. He gazed down the long road full of traffic that was bumper to bumper. Smoke drifted across the wide-open terrain like some aberration. “Huh?” She shrugged and folded her arms then walked a short distance away. He smiled and nodded as he began undoing the wheel studs. The truck shifted ever so slightly as he used his foot to get them to move, then he cranked on it and removed each one while looking toward Sophie.
“Michael your son?” Ryan asked.
He nodded and glanced up at him.
“She never told me about him.”
“And she won’t. She thinks I have problems, trust me, at least I don’t act like it never happened. Hey Sophie, isn’t that right?”
She looked his way. “What?”
Alex scoffed. “I’d be glad to tell you, Ryan, but I think right now we have bigger things to deal with,” he said. “You mind handing me the tire iron? The sooner we get this on, the sooner we get out of here.”
Ryan twisted and retrieved it. “What happened back in the woodland?”
“Oh, you know, tempers flared, accusations were made, guns were pointed.”
“Then how did you get the gas?”
He continued working away. “They gave it to me.”
“Gave?”
Alex stopped tightening the nut and his mind flashed to the past, to a ball game he’d taken Michael and Tommy to. He was a very different kid back then. Sure, he didn’t exactly have the best upbringing or stepfather for that matter, but he never imagined him heading down the path he had. Then again, everyone was affected by Michael in some way. He looked at Sophie and shook his head before continuing.
It didn’t take long to get the new tire on and within minutes they were back inside and had merged back into the line of vehicles and were inching forward with the rest of the traffic. “This will take forever. What’s holding this up?” Alex cracked his window and looked down the road to where he could see a military convoy redirecting traffic, away from the main highway. Behind them the sky was covered with smoke. “Looks like they’re preventing anyone from going any farther. Great. When it rains, it pours. What else?”
“Maybe they can tell us what’s happening?” Sophie said.
“Seems pretty obvious to me.”
“Does it, Alex?”
He caught the tone of her voice, there was an edge to it.
“Will we be going anywhere near Asheville?” Ryan asked
He looked in his rearview mirror at him. “Yeah, we pass through it, why?”
“A brother of mine lives there.”
Sophie turned in her seat. “They told me you didn’t have any siblings?”
“They told you a lot of things.”
She shot back a puzzled look. “No, they clearly said you had no family.”
“No foster family. I’ve got family, they just don’t acknowledge me.”
Alex’s eyes bounced between them. “Well if we don’t continue on this road it will take far longer before we reach Asheville.”
It would take roughly six and a half hours to reach Asheville but with all the vehicles clogging up the road, it was liable to take longer if they didn’t change the route. Sophie took out a map and looked for an alternate to Petaluma. Back roads would be far slower but it didn’t look like they had much choice.
“We can run parallel to Highway 64 if we go this way,” he said running his finger over the map. “It will be dark soon but—”
“I’m not driving through the night,” Sophie said. “You know I suffer from night blindness.”
“Then I’ll take the nights and you take over now.”
“Sure. But I need you to stick to the agreed route while I get some shut-eye. No going off a tangent anywhere else.”
He laughed. “Oh like I’m liable to do that.”
“You did when we took that trip to Florida.”
“That’s right, let’s bring up the past.”
He chuckled and made another comment as he got out and she heard it.
“You know, I’m beginning to regret going with you.”
“Well we’re only an hour from Elizabeth City if you want to hike back.”
“Asshole,” she said as she came around and brushed past him.
Ryan sat in the back just taking it all in. He had this grin on his face as if finding their banter amusing.
As he got in the passenger side, Alex said, “Now remember—”
“Alex. I’m not a teenager. I know. Just close your eyes, and more specifically shut your trap.”
He grinned. “Glad to see things haven’t changed,” he remarked before asking Ryan to hand over a blanket from the back. Sleep had never been an issue for him. In all his years, he could fall asleep on a dime, even more so with the motion of a vehicle.
A few minutes passed.
Instead of leaving the road, Sophie continued on.
Through slitted eyes he looked at her. “What are you doing?”
“What’s it look like? If anyone knows what’s happening, it’s the military.”
“They’re not going to tell you and besides, I already found out from the base before we left. They think it’s some kind of foreign attack.”
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t hurt to get a second opinion.”
“You are joking, right?” He snorted. “Of course not.” He looked out the window and sighed. “Don’t bother listening to me.”
“Well if I had we would probably be dead back there.”
“I told you I went for gas.”
“Yeah, from a group who held up a station. Real smart, Alex.”
He was beginning to remember why they separated, and to think, he would have to endure three thousand miles of this? It was going to be the road trip from hell. The truck crawled forward until a soldier waved them to a stop. Sophie brought down the window.
“Sorry, folks we’re redirecting traffic,” the soldier said. “You’ll have to swing around and take the next exit.”
“What’s happening?” Sophie asked.
“Some kind of attack.”
“Told you,” Alex muttered.
Soldiers were yelling, and several Humvees drove past them. The soldier wasn’t giving out any more information and instructed them to turn around. Sophie complied. Once they made their way back, she swerved off the road just north of Williamston and headed up NC Highway 125. He wanted to make a comment but figured he’d already said enough.
There wasn’t much to see — just miles of forest and old country homes separated by vast swaths of land. It was early evening when he let his eyes shut. The last thing he heard was Sophie peppering Ryan about his family and what he h
adn’t told her. Alex had warned her that getting a foster child wasn’t a good idea, not until she faced the past, but like everything he said, she brushed off the comment and went ahead regardless.
At some point the motion of the truck made him fall asleep.
When he awoke, a hand was clamped over his mouth and Sophie was leaning over him. “Shhh. Don’t say a word.”
8
California
A flap of bloodied skin hung from the skull, matted with hair. Four hours dead and the neighbor was already giving off a foul smell. Focusing on the only thing she could do, Elisha had rolled onto her left side and clawed down toward the leaking pipe. The flashlight between her teeth caused light to bounce off the rubble before her. She removed it and jammed it between some rocks so she could use her good hand.
“Be careful,” Liam said.
She didn’t respond. Every movement was sending a fiery pulse of pain up her arm. Tears welled in her eyes. The air was thick and humid, barely breathable. She wanted to get out so bad. She never knew she was claustrophobic until that moment. It felt like the rubble was closing in on her, threatening to crush her bones at any moment.
“Keep talking to me,” she said wanting to distract her mind.
“Did you know the woman?”
“Anything but that.”
He snorted. “Your family. Tell me about them.”
“You don’t want to know.”
“That bad?”
“Let’s just say it’s a messed-up situation.”
A piece of rebar scraped the side of her chest and she winced, clamped her teeth, and readjusted, all the while looking at her mother’s neighbor.
“Isn’t that always the case.”
“So yours is that good too?” she asked, stretching out her hand and initially letting the liquid drop on it so she could smell it. While she believed it was water, there was no way of knowing if it was clean without tasting it. Knowing her luck it was sewage. She brought her hand up to her nose and sniffed. It seemed fine. Though hesitant, she touched the tip of her tongue against the tiny droplets of water. Good. A bit metallic but bearable and right now all she cared about was not dying of thirst. “Liam?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“You went quiet on me.”
“Just thinking.”
She held out the empty Gatorade bottle and shifted forward, trying to shuffle onto her knees. There was slightly more room where the woman was, it felt like she was inside a cave except for all the rebar that was sticking out, and dangling wire.
“Where you from?” she asked.
“Petaluma.”
“A local boy. So, what made you join the Coast Guard?”
“Wasn’t exactly for the love of it.” He took a moment before he continued. She could hear him banging on something, perhaps trying to get the attention of anyone above them. “My old man threw me out of the house after high school. I got fired from a series of jobs, and college wasn’t working out for me. It was either this or the army and I didn’t like the idea of fighting in some war and forget flying planes. I decided to give this a shot. You?”
“My father. He’s an instructor at AST. You probably saw him. Alex Reid.”
“That was your father?”
“You didn’t know?”
“Well. Thinking about it now, I guess I can see the similarities.”
“Thanks.” Her lip curled.
“No, I didn’t mean that in a negative way. He’s a good-looking man.”
“I’m not sure how to take that either.”
He laughed. “You know what I mean. Anyway, how’s it going?”
“Oh, it’s filling up, one drop at a time. We might have the bottle filled by next summer.”
“Oh please, God.”
She laughed. “I’m joking but it’ll take a while. So… how about you tell me that long story of how you ended up outside my mom’s house?”
He cleared his throat and then returned to pushing up on that wood again.
“Liam.”
She heard him groan then he replied, “I swung by to see if you wanted to go for a drink.”
She burst out laughing. “Was that what the Gatorade was for?”
He joined her with a chuckle. “No. I…”
“So you stalked me.”
“No, I asked Natalie. She gave me the address; said you were doing something for your mother. I figured it would be a good time to ask, you know when I was away from the rest of the crowd.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You don’t sound too impressed.”
Elisha checked how much water was in the bottle. It was barely anything, she desperately wanted to knock it back but she knew Liam was thirsty too and he’d been kind enough to let her have the remaining Gatorade.
“No offense but you have barely spoken a word to me since we’ve been in the program. Why now?”
“Just needed some time to work up the nerve I guess.”
Awkward silence followed.
“So your family,” he said shifting the conversation away. “You got any siblings?” More silence. “Elisha.”
“I’m here.” The thought of Michael came to mind. The loss. The grief of her parents and the eventual separation. A large reason why she went into the Coast Guard was to focus on something else, something positive; Michael would have wanted that. “No, it’s just me,” she replied.
“You must have enjoyed that. I had two older brothers. It was like war in our house. I always imagined it would have been nice to grow up without any siblings. You know, all that attention and whatnot.”
“Actually I had a brother but he’s gone.”
“Oh.” A pause. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, that’s what everyone says.” She shifted the conversation away. It wasn’t that she couldn’t talk about him, but it only weighed on her mind and right now, finding a way out, that was priority number one.
As Elisha shifted her weight, she felt herself slipping as the concrete below her started to give way. “Oh no.”
“What is it?”
With only one hand holding the bottle and the other incapacitated, she had to decide, drop the bottle or slip down into a crevice that was getting wider by the second. The flashlight was the first to go, she heard it slip and roll. Elisha tried to use a foot to block it but it went over the edge and disappeared into the abyss.
Suddenly they were engulfed by darkness.
Panic formed like a knot in her throat as she stuck the bottle between her legs and screwed the lid on, all the while slipping farther down the slab of concrete, toward God knows where. As soon as the lid was on, she tossed it as hard as she could back up to where she’d originally been laying and then clung to a piece of rebar.
The slab beneath didn’t break away but it wasn’t going to hold her much longer. Her breathing sped up, and she cried out in pain as she was forced to use her other arm. She thought it was painful before but now it was like someone taking a hot iron and searing her skin.
“Elisha! What’s going on?” Liam yelled into the dark.
“I’m slipping.”
Although he said he couldn’t reach her to help, she could hear him tossing pieces of rubble behind him trying to get through. “I’m coming. Hold on!” As hard as she tried to pull herself up she couldn’t. She didn’t realize how much she depended on that second arm until now. She was strong and could go head to head with any man when it came to pull-ups, but with one arm, all she could do was hold on as the slab below her inched its way down.
Her stomach caught in her throat, desperation taking over, her feet slipping.
She tried again to use her other arm but the pain was too intense.
With every cry Liam told her to hold on.
“I can’t.” She was losing her grip. “Liam. Liam!”
Then, in an instant the slab of concrete gave way. Dangling, holding on by her fingers, she was just about to let go when a hand gripped her wrist.
“I’ve got y
ou.”
9
North Carolina
The four men cursed as they emerged from the dome-shaped steel structure that housed the junkyard offices. With her hand still clamped over Alex’s mouth she peered through the windshield, past the various rust buckets that had once been someone’s pride and joy. The sun was beginning to dip behind the trees, spreading a warm glow across the horizon.
Minutes earlier, she’d seen a sign for a junkyard as they were heading north of Williamston. The place looked abandoned. The gate was wide open and she figured they might find a replacement tire for the truck.
In and out.
It wouldn’t take long.
Entering was a big mistake.
Ryan was outside the vehicle, somewhere in the steel graveyard searching for a comparable tire. There was a stack of tires nearby but they were badly worn and looked as if they were ready to be burned. She thought it would be easy, a quick search and either they’d find something or they would continue on their way. Minutes after they arrived, a group of men showed up, and what a knot of backcountry, dirty-looking individuals they were. They were clothed in greasy mechanic overalls, three of them were sporting disheveled beards, and the fourth a bald head that he kept running his hand over as he cursed loudly.
Baldy seemed to be in charge as he bellowed at one of them to close the gate.
“I don’t know, I saw them come in here,” one of them said.
“Yeah, because you didn’t lock the gate, numbnuts.”
“Bo, I did.”
“Whatever, just find them.”
Under any other conditions she would have approached them and said they were there to purchase a tire but with the countryside in flames, they didn’t look as if they were in the mood for business.
“Bo, I found one. Hey!” a voice shouted.
“No,” Sophie muttered as she watched Ryan wriggle in the man’s grasp. Ryan glanced her way but she stayed low. Alex tried to get up, he wanted answers. With the window partially down she could hear the conversation as they threw Ryan in front of the bald guy. His knees drove into the dirt and he looked up.
“What are you doing here?”
Ryan remained silent.