Foolish Games

by Leah Spiegel

  A slow Honda caused me to have to jerk the van over into the passing lane. Looking in the rearview mirror, I noticed a side door had been pulled back along the truck. He had said that his friends were going to “pick” him up. Realizing they were going to pull him to safety, I couldn’t let Cyrus get away.

  “What’s the tie breaker?” I asked while shock started to take over.

  “Oh, we have a live one,” he exclaimed. “This next question is for you just to ponder. Do you think Hawkins kept the real Lizzie to himself because he wanted to protect her secret or because he was ashamed of her?”

  Fuming, I just ignored the side comment.

  “This may hurt your feelings a little bit.” He made a smidge mark. “As much as I’ve enjoyed our little talk, it’s time for me to go,” he pursed his lips together, “and for you to die.” The truck drove so close to the back of the van that all I could see was its silver grill in the rearview mirror. I threw a look over my shoulder when Cyrus looked back as well.

  “That would be for me.” Cyrus perked up in his seat. “Could you be a dear and pull into the passing lane?”

  Although I didn’t want to be helpful, he aimed the gun at me. “I asked nicely,” he said.

  I pulled the van over into the passing lane and the truck sped up beside us. Cyrus went to prop open the door when I caught a glimpse of the driver. Kosic! I couldn’t believe he would help Cyrus kill me! Startled, I nearly ran us off the road into the grass divider between the highways. Cyrus leaned over so that our faces were barely inches apart.

  “I will rip,” he said, losing all his psycho playfulness, “you to shreds if you do that again! Do we understand each other?” His eyes were threatening and I nodded to show I understood.

  “Now, pull up beside the truck!” he yelled.

  Wrapping my hands around the wheel, I tried to stay even with the truck. A side door was pulled back along the white rig. The inside was empty. Where was Lizzie? The equipment cases that Riley and I saw this morning were gone, too. This meant the stage was already assembled, I realized with a feeling of dread. Cyrus propped open the door to the van again. A strong muscular man, probably from the crew, motioned for Cyrus to come to him. With Cyrus’s hand on the handle, he balanced himself on the edge of the van.

  He was getting ready to jump. Taking a quick glimpse out at the road again, I noticed we were quickly approaching the car in front of us. Obviously, I couldn’t slow down without brakes as the space between my van and the car became smaller and smaller.

  The man from the rig held his arms out preparing to catch him. Cyrus was going to be freed just in time for my death. There was a patch of grass in between the two highways. I could pull away just in time or make my own lane, but an overpass was coming up ahead. The concrete support pillars of the bridge were blocking my path. I was going to wreck into something eventually.

  Wrapping my hands around the steering wheel, I thought, if I had to lose it all so would Cyrus. He rocked his body back and forth, but before I could reach the overpass he pushed off the ledge and jumped towards the crew member. The man caught him with a firm grip under his armpits. He was being pulled into the rig when Kosic suddenly slammed on his breaks. The van rushed forward, but I kept my eyes on the truck through the rearview mirror.

  As the momentum of the rig jerked, the crew member who was helping Cyrus fell forward onto his knees. He was still in the process of pulling him in, but lost his grip when he fell. Cyrus’s arms and chest were hanging on the ledge of the truck’s floor, but his legs and lower torso were hanging outside. Cyrus panicked and grabbed onto the crew member. The man hadn’t yet regained his balance and when Cyrus pulled on him and the momentum carried them both over the edge. Just like that, they were both sucked under the truck. The semi bounced up and down while crushing them both under its tires. I snapped my eyes back to the road in front of me.

  “AHHH!” I screamed out while almost driving up on top of the car’s bumper in front of me. I quickly swerved out around the slow line of cars. Looking back in the rearview mirror, Kosic waved and I exhaled in relief. He had killed Cyrus to save me.

  The relief of Cyrus’s death would have felt better if I wasn’t going seventy miles an hour without brakes. Where were those emergency pull offs when you needed them. Kosic merged over into the passing lane and around the sluggish cars behind me and sped up the truck alongside of me. The passenger side window was now sprayed with blood. I guess whoever was “documenting” the show from the front of the truck was dead now, too. The truck continued to steadily pass me by before it pulled over into the lane in front of my van. The red tail lights flashed as he tapped the brakes again and again. The van came dangerously close to the back of the semi when I understood that he was attempting to slow down the van by using the truck as a buffer.

  If I was scared before, then I was terrified now since I could easily lose control of the van in the dangerous stunt. Kosic tapped the breaks again. Grinding my teeth, I cocked my head back. Saying a silent prayer, I let the van ram hard into the back of the truck. Our vehicles broke away for a second and I fought the van’s wheel from fishtailing into the oncoming traffic behind us. The rig swerved from side to side a little from the collision. We both gained control again before he started to tap his breaks again. The bright red tail lights made me feel anxious as we made contact again. Sparks flew from the front of the van as I fought for control over the steering wheel, but this time the van had considerably slowed down. We broke away again, but I hit a deep pot hole and the van swerved over to the warning tracks.

  My eyes flashed up to the small hill of the next exit. Going thirty miles an hour now, I turned the wheel up the ramp and into the grass. The resistance continued to slow the van down, but I was heading straight for a patch of trees. Propping the side door open, I watched the blur of grass below. It was still too fast for me to jump. At the last minute, I jerked the steering wheel and held on to my seat belt as the van lost some more momentum before ramming into a tree. The seat belt dug into me, saving my life. Lifting my head, I realized that I had a serious case of whiplash. I’d definitely be feeling that in the morning.

  Frantically, I looked out the window at the semi-truck that had pulled off on the side of the highway. Forcing myself, I unfastened my seat belt to retrieve Cyrus’s gun that had skidded to the floor. I waited to catch my breath with the gun in my hand since I didn’t know if there were any more unwanted survivors left in the semi-truck.

  After taking a moment to catch my breath, I hobbled out of the van wincing in pain. Tears welled up in my eyes at the sight of my van destroyed by the tree. Judging by the damage to the van, I was just lucky to be alive. Limping my way down to the semi, I staggered with the gun in my hand. A tall figure with dark hair and green eyes came around the side and smiled at me.

  “Nathan Kosic,” I said in a rush of relief and lowered the gun. Before he could answer, Lizzie popped up behind him with mascara running down her face.

  “Hawkins over me, really?” Lizzie tried to make a joke out of the near death experience.

  “Oh, thank god.” I grabbed my side, to catch my breath. “You’re alive.”

  “Yeah, but if we don’t hurry the band might not be so lucky,” Kosic said grimly while slamming the other side of the truck shut before coming closer.

  “What do you mean?” Instant terror froze me to the spot. Lizzie looked at Kosic then started to cry again.

  “Warren’s in danger,” she confessed.

  “What?” I wrapped an arm around her as she trembled beside me.

  “We don’t have time to explain.” Kosic swiftly walked towards the front of the truck.

  “We’re not going anywhere with you, until you start doing some explaining.” I tightened my grip around Lizzie. “Like for starters, what are you doing here in the first place?”

  “They knew that I was close to you. They thought I would be helpful,” he said as his face fell. “So when I accidentally saw them move Monroe’s bod
y, they threatened to kill me if I didn’t help them.” He pleaded for me to understand. “I was at the wrong frigging place at the wrong frigging time,” he confessed.

  “Please, Joie, we don’t have a lot of time to talk,” he muttered while opening the side door. I gasped when a body fell out of the passenger side seat and into Kosic’s arms. Lizzie turned to bury her face in my shoulder while crying even harder. He quickly dragged the body down to the side of the truck.

  Covering Lizzie’s eyes, I looked away from the gruesome scene as well. Kosic was moving the corpse in broad daylight, but the big rig must have blocked what he was doing from the highway because not one vehicle driving by seemed to notice us along the bend of the road. After a few more grunts and a heavy thud noise, he loaded the body into the back. Finally shoving the side door closed, he locked it. Kosic hiked his shirt up over his head while walking back to the passenger side again. He quickly wiped down any remaining blood from the front seat.

  “Lizzie.” He motioned for her to come to him.

  “No way am I sitting there,” Lizzie murmured while recoiling even more into me.

  “Okay, maybe the seriousness of the situation isn’t enough incentive,” Kosic growled. “Then how about this, they rigged the stage to collapse on the band.”

  “What?” I asked in horror.

  “Yeah, they’ve been planning it for weeks.” He put his hands on his hips. “So either you get up in the seat or Hawkins and Warren go bye, bye.” He motioned for Lizzie again who had a death grip on me, but I broke away while taking her hand in mine. Walking past him, I jumped up into the cab. Lizzie looked up at the bloodstained window and whimpered before he helped her up inside and slammed the door shut behind her.

  Lizzie and I crawled in the back where there was more seating and frankly, less blood. Lizzie molded into my side again while trembling even harder. Kosic opened the driver’s side door and jumped up behind the wheel before shutting it behind him. He turned the ignition and I felt the diesel engine roar to life as the seat hummed underneath me.

  I looked outside the window one last time at the van. “Goodbye, dad,” I whispered. “I will miss you.”

  Kosic shifted the gears of the truck and accelerated down the side of the road before he pulled over onto the highway. The scenery picked up around us and the van quickly went out of view. I tightened my grip around Lizzie who was still crying and rested my head on hers while tears streamed down my face.

  “You okay?” Kosic looked over his shoulder at me.

  Wiping away a few tears, I nodded. “I will be,”

  “We need to make a quick stop,” I added. “Riley kind of got left behind.”

  “Good,” Kosic exhaled, obviously relieved. “He’s a good kid. For a moment I thought maybe…” he drifted off. “But I’m glad he’s alive so where to?”

  “At a McDonald’s a couple miles away,” I explained.

  Pulling out my phone, I realized Riley had texted a dozen or so messages while it was on silent. “Cyrus abducted me and the van. Everything is fine now. We’re on our way back to pick you up,” I texted before snapping my phone shut.

  “I’m so sorry, Joie,” Lizzie murmured while breaking away from my shoulder. Her blonde hair was matted against her wet cheeks. “Hawkins,” she gasped in between tears. “Hawkins isn’t my type. You were right. You’ve always been right.” Her wide, blue eyes looked up at me filled with tears.

  “I’m so sorry I called your mom. It was low,” she continued. “I have felt so alone these last couple weeks,” she confessed. “I can’t believe that this might have been my last day alive and I never got to tell Ryan how much I still love him.”

  “I know you do.” I brushed back the hair from her face.

  “But he isn’t going anywhere,” she squealed.

  “Lizzie, where are any of us going, really? Huh? At least with Ryan you won’t have to go through it alone.”

  “You’re a good friend.” She started to cry again. “And I’ve been horrible,” she gasped. “It was how I knew that you would pick Hawkins over me.” She fiddled nervously with a hangnail.

  Instantly, I felt ashamed by the memory. “Cyrus was going to kill me,” I tried to explain.

  “It’s okay, I would have picked Ryan, too.” She rested her head on my shoulder again.

  Wrapping my arm around her, I said, “You know I love you like family, right?”

  “Like family?” She sniffed.

  “Just like it.” I rested my head on hers again.

  Looking at the back of Kosic, I knew that I wouldn’t be alive right now if it hadn’t been for him. Sensing that I was watching him, he smiled at me through the rearview mirror. Though he was smiling, it was obvious the stress had taken a toll on him, too. He looked like he hadn’t slept for days. Just then my cell phone went off and I snapped it open.

  “What happened? Are you okay? I came outside, but the van was gone. I didn’t know what to think at first. So he was waiting for you?” Riley texted, clearly worried for me.

  “Yes, but Lizzie and I are safe now.” I tried to ease his fears. “We’re almost at your exit. I’ll see you in a few.”

  Looking at my phone, I went to scroll down to Hawkins number. “Someone has got to warn Hawkins.”

  “NO! Joie, stop!” Kosic shouted frantically. “Hawkins doesn’t have his phone, Wayne or Harrison—whatever you like to call him—took all the phones. He warned the band that the stalker might try to reach any one of them to negotiate a deal, so he took the phones claiming that he would handle any incoming calls.”

  “How are we going to stop Hawkins then?!” I shrieked.

  “I’m working on a plan.”

  Feeling helpless, I suddenly felt like crying again, but someone had to be strong for Lizzie. I really needed my best friend so I was oddly relieved to see the McDonald’s parking lot again. Riley was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk when we pulled up beside him. He continued to scan the road behind us, probably still looking for the van.

  Kosic rolled down his window, and asked, “Are you lost, son?”

  Lizzie and I were already up on our feet, popping our heads out around him.

  Riley beamed up at us and stood up. “Yeah, I kind of got left behind. You wouldn’t happen to be heading to West Palm Beach, Florida, would you?”

  “I think we can arrange that.” Kosic grinned down at Riley as he came around the front of the truck. He opened the passenger side door and hopped in. The smile disappeared from his face when he looked over at the bloodstained window.

  “You might want to roll that down for me,” Kosic advised with a grim expression.

  Riley sat down and did what he was told to do. He turned to look back at us with a fearful expression. “What the hell happened? And where’s the van?”

  As we raced down the highway, I filled him in on everything he had missed.

  “So that sick bastard is finally dead,” Riley said triumphantly. “How did Hawkins react when you told him about the stage?”

  “We didn’t,” I murmured sullenly. “He’s in on it and has Hawkins’ phone.”

  “Who does?” Riley asked.

  “Harrison,” I muttered.

  “Hawkins’ bodyguard?!”

  “Yeah,” I groaned, “My sentiments exactly.”

  “We can do this,” Kosic assured me. “If we separate, I’m sure one of us can reach the band or the people who can. I’ll head in first, so that Harrison thinks everything went according to plan. It should make it easier for the rest of you guys to get in.”

  “Who else can we trust who works for the band?” I asked.

  “I think that we can trust Harlow,” Riley spoke up.

  “Okay, you try to find Harlow,” Kosic continued. “It’s his stage in a way. If the lights don’t go up then the band can’t play. Maybe he could even find whatever triggers the stage to collapse and stop it.”

  “How are we going to convince him?” I asked.

  “We have the video Cyrus w
as planning to air on the internet later tonight,” Kosic informed us. “You can give him that, it should be enough.”

  “If we get close enough, I can try to get a message to Warren through the venue crew in front of the stage,” Lizzie offered. “Since Hawkins is unreachable.”

  “But to do that I’m going to need a distraction so I can approach the stage.” She nervously bit her lip. “I don’t know how much time I’ll have without one.”

  “I’m a pretty big target. I’m sure to stand out.” I spoke up. “I’ll make sure they see me when the time is right.”

  “Besides, Hawkins won’t play if he sees Joie flagging him down,” Kosic reasoned.

  “Warren either,” Lizzie added.

  “Okay, so the girls are going to stay together.” Kosic nodded. “You’re going to need to make some friends beforehand or you’ll both stick out.”

  “That shouldn’t be too hard to do.” Lizzie smirked. “I’m sure the right group of guys would love to pick up a couple of girls whose car just happens to be broken down a few miles back.”

  “Really hook them because you’ll need your new ‘friends’ to help get you past security at the gates,” Kosic cautioned. “He’ll still have the staff on the lookout for you guys, just in case.”

  “Are they all in on it?” I asked in astonishment.

  “No, but they think you guys were behind the bombing of the tour bus and then fled before you could be questioned,” Kosic explained. “They think that because he lied.”

  “Hawkins would never believe that we did that,” I interrupted.

  “Harrison is an ex-FBI agent. He’s no amateur, so don’t put anything past him,” Kosic continued. “Do whatever you need to do to give me time to head in first, tailgate, whatever.”