Edge of Survival Box Set 1

by William Oday

  “Mama, what did you see?”

  She whispered something. Her voice cracked and the faint words got lost in the muted background of music from downstairs.

  Cesar leaned closer.

  “What?”

  Her body convulsed and went deathly still.

  “Mama?”

  Her fingers fluttered in his wide palm.

  “Tell me.”

  She swallowed hard. The effort almost too much. Cesar turned his head and placed his ear by her mouth.

  The faintest whisper escaped her lips and then she died.

  Elio wondered at how her body somehow felt empty where a second before it felt occupied. As weak as she was, she was still there, animating it. Now, it felt like a vacated home. Shabby and dark without the light of the soul inside.

  Cesar stood and kissed the top of her head. He tenderly laid her hands to rest on her chest. He reached across her body and squeezed his sister’s hand.

  “Take care of her, Julia.”

  His sister nodded and dropped her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she returned her heavy gaze to their mother.

  Elio never expected this. That Cesar had a heart. That he was vulnerable. That he loved and could experience loss. The two pictures in his head wouldn’t line up.

  “I’m sorry, Jefe,” Evil said. “Your mother was a saint.”

  “She was.”

  Cesar turned to face them. Whatever warmth or softness might have animated his eyes seconds ago was gone. Cold fury burned in them now.

  “What’d she see, Jefe?” Evil asked.

  “Sangre. Por todos lados.”

  Blood. Everywhere.

  52

  They filed out and returned to the war room. Evil awkwardly patted Cesar on the back. The shot caller batted his hand away.

  “What do you think happened?” Evil said.

  “Don’t know, but I bet her boss does.”

  “We gonna pay him a visit?”

  “Si. I’m gonna find out what happened. And then I’m gonna murder him.”

  “What can I do?”

  “Round up some trigger pullers,” he said to Evil. He then turned to Cuts. “Two rides.” He pointed at Theresa and Holly. “Those two with me. Maybe we party after.” He reached over, grabbed Holly’s jaw and yanked her close. He leaned down and shoved his tongue into her mouth.

  She didn’t flinch. She barely remained standing. She was messed up.

  Elio didn’t want to think about what kind of party Cesar had in mind. He was sure Holly and Theresa wouldn’t willingly do it. He was just as sure they wouldn’t have a choice.

  Cesar yanked her top up over her breasts and then Cuts pushed them out the door.

  Elio picked up a heavy shotgun and wondered if it was loaded. He could turn it on Cesar and pull the trigger. He should do it. It might be loaded. But what if it wasn’t?

  Cesar would kill him. And then what would happen to the girls? To Theresa?

  If only he could think of a way to save them. Like a traffic accident that you see just in time and swerve around at the very last second. But he couldn’t. He wasn’t the one driving.

  Cesar took the shotgun out of his hands and loaded a shell into the tube.

  SHUCK-SHUCK.

  “Gotta load it if you want to do some damage.”

  Elio couldn’t let them go alone. They’d have no chance if he got left behind.

  “Let me go with you.”

  “You?” Cesar laughed. “You got it in you to kill somebody? It ain’t like a video game.”

  “I want in. I’m ready.”

  Cesar narrowed his eyes, measuring the words. He clicked off the safety and turned the gun on Elio. The barrel came to rest on his chest.

  Elio watched as Cesar’s finger curled inside the trigger guard and rested on the trigger. Half an inch of a curled finger stood between him and his heart and lungs painting the bedroom wall. A cold sweat broke out all across his body. He shivered and bit down to stop his teeth from chattering.

  The shot caller was going to murder him and then rape Theresa and Holly. So much for a brilliant rescue. Like so much of his life, Elio’s final act would be a disappointment too.

  “You know what you’re saying?” Cesar asked. He pushed the barrel forward, pinning Elio to the wall.

  Elio nodded, the signal subtle to avoid causing Cesar to accidentally pull the trigger.

  “Okay. Blood in. Blood out. One way in. No way out.”

  Cesar let the weight of the barrel dig an impression into Elio’s chest.

  The gun clicked and his knees almost collapsed. He wondered what his heart looked like on the wall.

  It was just the safety, he realized with a start.

  The barrel pulled back. The hole at the end looked big enough to drive a car through. Cesar set the shotgun on the table.

  “This one’s too big for you.”

  He picked up another gun and slammed a long magazine into it. A flick of the wrist and a 9mm round fed into the chamber. He rotated it, looked it over with appreciation, and then handed it to Elio. “TEC 9. Thirty-two round magazine. Fully automatic. Sprays like a water hose.”

  Not like any water hose Elio had ever used.

  “You gonna kill somebody tonight, ese.”

  Elio’s knees went weak again. His legs buckled backward, locking out and keeping him up against the wall.

  There was only one way to become a member of the Venice 10. Blood in. You had to kill somebody. Once you committed, there was no going back. If you failed or changed your mind, you were a dead man.

  In trying to save Theresa and Holly, Elio had signed up to become a murderer.

  53

  THERESA noticed the dark tunnel strangling her world starting to open. The black edges around her vision shrank as the inner core of color expanded to closer encompass her normal vision. Sound still echoed in a disturbing way, like everything was on a time-delayed, fading loop. Her head spun and her stomach reeled.

  She knew it was weed that Cesar had forced her to smoke. But there must have been something else in it. Her limbs felt like they were only half-connected to her body. She stumbled as Cuts shoved her forward.

  “Guests of honor, tonight,” he said as he marched her and Holly through the living room. His words seemed to play in her head, then play back and play back. Three or four times before fading away. Like echoes traveling through a canyon. Maybe it was the music dropping sledgehammer bass notes on her brain.

  Everything was familiar in a distant and not totally significant way.

  Everything but Elio. He was there. He’d come for her. But then warned her away. She didn’t know what to think of it.

  They exited the house and walked down the concrete path. The guys she’d seen hanging out earlier in the front yard were nowhere to be seen.

  Holly pitched forward and Theresa caught her before she planted face first.

  “Are you okay?” she asked in a whisper.

  Holly didn’t respond.

  She wrapped Holly’s arm around her shoulder, partly to steady her and partly so she could whisper in her ear.

  “Holly, are you okay?”

  Holly turned her head as if hearing a sound she once knew, her eyes unfocused and jaw loose. Cesar had filled her lungs many times. The first time was more than enough to shut her down.

  Theresa had choked on the puffs that Cesar forced her to take. Partly because it burned her throat and lungs. And partly because choking and coughing got it out faster.

  Two four-door cars waited in the street. The one in front was sky blue. The one in back was the same red one in which she’d ridden earlier. Both were classics with shimmering paint and polished chrome. The frames inches off the pavement. Dark windows hid whoever was inside. The back door of the second car flew open and a cloud of smoke wafted out.

  Cuts shoved them both toward it. As they neared the dark opening, Theresa leaned back, not wanting to go inside.

  “Get in,” Cuts said.

>   She grabbed the doorframe and braced herself to resist.

  SCHWICK.

  A knife appeared at her throat. The hard line of the blade bit into her skin.

  “Don’t make me tell you again.”

  She dropped her head and climbed in.

  The same black leather bench seat. Empty beer cans on the floor. The driver looked at her in the rear view mirror. Holly fell in on top of her and Theresa scooted and pulled until she got them both up and seated. The door slammed shut.

  Theresa glanced at the door on the opposite side. She had a vision of throwing it open and running away before anyone could catch her. That would still leave Holly in trouble. Holly could barely walk, much less run.

  Theresa couldn’t leave her.

  Cesar had already violated her best friend. The disgusting pig wasn’t going to do it again if Theresa could help it.

  The only problem was, she didn’t know if she could help it. She wasn’t her dad. She had no weapons. No training in how to use them, even if she did. She’d never killed anyone. She’d never even fought anyone.

  She needed her dad. Now more than ever. If anyone could save them, he could. But he had no idea she was taken, or where to go even if he knew. It was hopeless.

  Or was it?

  Wait. The app. The app on her phone!

  The tracker, big-brother app that she’d fumed over. Activating it would send an alert to his phone showing her phone’s location on a map.

  Tracker 911, or something.

  Hope sparked in her breast. Her dad might save them. That was his job.

  She dug in her back pocket and pulled out the phone. She thumbed it on and the screen flashed in the dark interior. Her fingers trembled as she raced to turn down the brightness. She peered up into the rear view mirror just as the guy in the driver’s seat looked back. She smiled and he looked away with a snarl.

  Evil, Cuts, and three other guys piled into the blue car in front.

  Theresa looked back down and swiped through screens packed with apps. She was terrible at clearing out the old junk and enthusiastic about adding whatever new thing sparked her interest. She swiped all the way to the last screen and saw nothing that looked like Tracker 911.

  Movement to her left caught her attention. Cesar and Elio walked through the open gate and toward the car.

  She swiped through again. It had to be there.

  Cesar opened the car door.

  Then she remembered. It was in the Junk group. She found the group and tapped it to open the contents.

  Cesar slid in next to Holly, shoving her and Theresa over as he entered.

  There it was. Tracker 911. A little red cross with antennae waves coming off. Her finger shot toward it and smacked into Cesar’s rough hand as he ripped the phone out of her grasp.

  “Don’t need this tonight,” he said and passed it to the guy driving. The driver dropped it on the bench front seat.

  Elio opened the passenger front door and slid in. The dark silhouette of a pistol-machine-gun-thing with a long magazine in his hand.

  What was he going to do with that?

  Elio slammed the door shut and caught Theresa’s eye before looking away.

  Cesar pounded on the back of the driver’s seat.

  “We going down the rabbit hole tonight! Vamos!”

  The driver kicked up the music and speakers somewhere behind the seat shook Theresa’s insides.

  Holly’s head lolled back on the seat. She stared at the ceiling like it was playing a silent movie.

  Theresa wondered if this evening would turn out to be a horror flick.

  54

  The blue car in front pulled off with a screech. Theresa slid back into the seat as theirs did the same. Headlights came on as they rolled down the street.

  Cesar pulled out a walkie-talkie and clicked it on.

  “Hey, we’re going to the Milagro Building downtown. Head up Lincoln and over on Pico. Stay on surface streets.”

  He leaned forward and smacked Elio’s shoulder.

  “Our boy Elio is gonna smoke somebody tonight.”

  The walkie-talkie screeched and then a blast of incoherent howls and yells responded.

  “Pinche animales,” Cesar said with something like love in his voice.

  They continued on, leaving behind the seedier streets of Venice, and took a left, going north on Lincoln. They threaded through heavy traffic and entered Santa Monica as Theresa tried to think of something. Her brain moved thoughts like cars through waist deep mud.

  What could she do?

  She had to get her phone back. Her dad was their only hope. He could save them. And he had to do it before Elio did something he could never take back.

  But it wasn’t like she could just reach over and grab it. How then?

  The cars continued east and passed Santa Monica College on the right. Theresa figured her plans for going there for two years to help bring down the cost of a degree were meaningless now. Dreams for the distant future were meaningless when your life wouldn’t extend much beyond the present.

  They pulled up to a red light and stopped. Next to them, a police car eased to a stop. Two troopers looked over in their direction.

  She doubted they could see much through the dark tinted windows.

  The music in their car dropped to silence.

  Would they hear if she yelled?

  The urge to throw the door open and scream her head off contracted her muscles. Then something cold and hard touched her arm. She looked down.

  Cesar’s chromed pistol touched her arm.

  “Want to live?”

  She nodded, her eyes glued to the light reflecting off the side of the gun.

  The stoplight turned green and the police car pulled off.

  Her stomach rolled over and died.

  That might have been their last chance. And she was too scared to take it.

  The music kicked back up and they continued east, following the blue car. The night was lit by a blur of neon business signs. Between buildings, the towering, illuminated skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles slipped into view.

  An old Bronco approached in the opposite lane. The silhouette exactly like her dad’s. Maybe he’d followed them. Maybe he was just waiting for the right moment.

  It drew closer and the white paint and the stranger at the wheel shattered the dream. How could it’ve been him? He had no idea where she was. She had to change that.

  But how?

  An idea popped into her head. Stupid, but she didn’t have any better ones trying to cut in line.

  She leaned forward and spoke across Holly’s immobile body. “Can I give Elio a lucky kiss? You know, put a little lead in his pistol?”

  She bit her lip and tried to look sexy. It wasn’t something she practiced so she had no idea how it came off. Probably ridiculous.

  “Pop his cherry, blanca. He’s gonna be a big boy tonight.”

  Theresa leaned over the front seat. She held his head forward and bit his jaw. He tasted salty and kind of good.

  She bit his earlobe and licked the curve of his ear. She whispered, “Tracker 911 on my phone. Open it.” She turned his head back toward hers and brought her lips to his. Her tongue slipped into his mouth. His teeth parted and she probed deeper.

  Her heart raced and her stomach clenched. From fear or desire, she wasn’t sure. She pulled back, praying the ruse worked. She fell back into the seat, licking his salt from her lips.

  Did he hear her?

  The music certainly covered her message. But did it drown it?

  Elio glanced back at her. His eyes wide with wonder.

  Cesar slapped his face forward. “Do it right tonight and maybe I’ll share a piece of her.”

  Elio’s back stiffened and his jaw twitched. “I’ll do what has to be done.” He looked back at Cesar. “How about a little more of that? I need to get my blood up, you know?”

  Cesar grinned like a hyena. “Nothing like panocha to get you up for capping pendejos.” He tur
ned to Theresa. “Hop up there and give the kid a taste.”

  Theresa couldn’t believe Elio would force her into this. She did it as a diversion. She didn’t not like it, but she definitely didn’t like being ordered around by this thug.

  She must not have moved fast enough because Cesar grabbed her arm and yanked her forward. She pitched over the seat and got a slap on the butt as she went.

  Her face landed in Elio’s lap. She looked up and Elio’s brown eyes were wide and white. She scrambled up and sat between him and the driver.

  In the back seat, Cesar roared. “Blanca can’t wait to get some!”

  “Jerk,” she muttered, only half-hoping the music muffled the comment.

  Something jabbed in her hip and she was about to look down when Elio encircled her neck and pulled her forward. He kissed her ear.

  “It’s fingerprint protected.”

  She’d totally spaced the fact that her phone only opened to her thumb print, or the four digit code that she’d never shared with anyone but Holly and her parents. And her parents only because she had to.

  Elio wasn’t forcing himself on her. He was helping her pull off her plan!

  He turned her to face him and his lips crushed into hers. Was it an act? His passion didn’t feel fake. His other hand found hers. The smooth surface of her phone landed in her fingers. His tongue slipped into her mouth. He was full of surprises. She held it down at her side, sandwiched between their bodies.

  “Get some, vato” Cesar shouted.

  Electric tingles shot to her toes. The current made it hard to think. Harder than it already was. Her heart beat wild and fast. An intoxicating brew of fear and longing.

  Still locking lips, she thumbed the phone on and the roof above her head caught the dim illumination. She tapped the tracker app. At least she hoped she did. She wasn’t about to blow it by staring directly down at the phone.

  She had to turn it off. They’d notice any second.

  Elio twisted her head to the side and bit her neck. Chills swept down her spine and prickled the hairs on her arms. A warmth in her belly spread lower. Her breath came in ragged pants.