Wings From Ashes Trilogy

by Linda Nelson

  It was another three miles before they were in a populated area.

  “Who’s gonna pick the next car,” asked Carol. “Rod shouldn’t have to do everything.” She walked holding on to her man’s arm.

  Max spoke up. He as sure he knew what Rod had done to hotwire the last car. “Karla and I will get the next car.”

  “Are you sure,” asked Rod. “You might want Carol to help you instead. Miss Goody two Shoes here might screw things up.”

  That was it. Rod managed to tick Karla off one more time with his Goody two Shoe remark. “No, we can do this,” Karla reassured them.

  “Okay, you’re on then. Good luck – we will wait here for you to pick us up.”

  Karla and Max continued to walk off hand in hand until they came to a driveway off the main street. There appeared to be no one around. Max motioned for Karla to stand off to the side and keep watch.

  They were almost home free when Max started the car and opened the car door for Karla to get in. Just as she slid in on the seat and closed the car door the homeowner came out of the house to see his car driving away. He stood there in the driveway shaking his fists at them and ran back inside the house to call the police.

  Rod had a strange feeling that Max and Karla were going to screw things up. It was almost an unnerving feeling. It was like something was about to go wrong.

  Max pulled in to where Rod said to meet them and let Rod and Carol take the front seats once again.

  Carol looked suspiciously at Karla. She could tell that something might be wrong by the look on her face. Karla would never win at Poker, that’s for sure.

  Carol asked, “What happened?”

  “Nothing,” replied Max.

  Karla couldn’t lie. “The owner came out of the house as we were pulling out of the driveway.”

  Max glared at Karla for saying something.

  “Shit,” said Rod. “I’m not driving this.”

  He found a car dealership that apparently was not open on a Sunday afternoon and parked the car among the many there for sale. Along the way there, Carol lectured the two apparent car thief rookies about the ins and outs of stealing cars. She couldn’t believe that someone could be that stupid. But then again, this was Karla she was talking to. She was smart in school but dumber than an Ox on the street.

  “Are we going to take one of these,” asked Karla.

  “No,” fumed Rod, “That would be just as stupid as taking a car from someone’s driveway where the owner is home and can hear the car start. Idiot…

  We will have to walk to the other side of town before we can take another car.”

  The whole time they walked across town, Carol did nothing but bitch at Karla for how stupid she was for thinking they could steal a car from a person’s driveway or the car dealership. Karla was almost reduced to tears. She didn’t know any better it was her first time being on a road trip and her first time for stealing a car or anything illegal for that matter.

  It actually wasn’t her fault, but Carol didn’t care. She was irritable, and she too just like the guys needed something to calm her nerves down about now, and to top it off, there was just too much walking for her liking.

  As soon as they found their next car, Carol decided she would have to resort to a bit of car hopping so they would have some extra cash to buy food and stuff. She knew that Max had a pocket full of pot, but that was not what she truly wanted. What she actually needed was a little bit of coke to shake the chill she was beginning to feel even though it was much warmer out than it had been the other day when they were still in Brantwood. She hated to resort to this practice, but she had no other choice.

  The feeling of need irritated Carol, making her want to kill Karla for her pure stupidity.

  Chapter 11 – Means to Feed the Need

  Karla begged to stop walking one more time so she could rest. The others wanted to rest too, but they didn’t give in. They were almost to the other side of town. The sooner they got there the sooner they would have another set of wheels.

  Max was tired of listening to Karla say how sore her feet were. Every time she stopped to rest he would yank on her arm dragging her along. This time when she stopped he raised his hand to her threatening to smack if she didn’t stop complaining and start walking.

  Carol was surprised by Max’s threat but said nothing. She too was getting mad enough to want to do the same exact thing, even if it was the wrong way to be toward Karla.

  After that, there was no more whining coming from Karla. She said nothing. A few tears streamed down her cheek, but no one seemed to notice. Max downright scared her, and the last thing she wanted to do was to piss him off some more.

  She felt sorry that she had agreed to join them on this road trip. Max was turning out to be not the kind of guy she had expected him to be. Gone was his tenderness. It was only replaced by anger and it scared her.

  On the other side of town, they found another shopping mall full of parked cars. Carol took Karla with her while she worked about the cars scoping them out for loose change left behind by the car’s owner.

  Karla had no idea what Carol was up to. She just kept looking around in watch to see if anyone was looking at them. If they were, she was supposed to let Carol know so she could stop what she was doing.

  Carol looked up in time to see a car pull into the parking lot. She pretended to insert a key into lock of the car she was standing next to, opening the driver’s side door.

  Karla didn’t see how she did this. It didn’t matter, she knew it was all illegal anyway, and Karla didn’t honestly want any part of it since she had screwed up with the carjacking, but she still hated the fact that Rod had called her a Goody Two Shoes. She was surprised to see Carol not only shut the door when she was done, but she also locked it.

  The car that had just pulled into the parking lot parked a few cars away from where they stood. Carol watched as the driver, an elderly woman, got out of the car and set her purse on the roof. The woman then fumbled around inside the car for a few moments only to close the car door and walk away into the store forgetting the purse sitting on the car roof.

  Bingo!

  That was just what Carol needed to find. Maybe there would be credit cards, checks or possibly cash inside that purse.

  Carol kept an eye out for the driver of the car as she walked quickly but nonchalantly over to it and snatched the purse off the roof top. She slipped the strap over the shoulder that was out of sight from the entrance to the store in case the owner realized that she was missing her purse.

  Karla could do nothing but follow. She saw the purse and had a feeling of what Carol was about to do, but she knew better than to say how wrong it was to do that to Carol. Being called a Goody Two Shoes certainly had gotten to her. She followed her to the other side of the parking lot. That was where the guys were waiting in an old four door Sunbird.

  The paint on the doors was peeled and rusted. A dent was on the front passenger panel, possibly caused by the driver hitting a shopping carriage. Max was already in the back seat waiting for Karla. He opened the door from the inside since the outside door handle was missing.

  Carol climbed inside and held the purse in her lap. As soon as they rounded the corner out onto the main drag she began her search inside the purse.

  Jackpot!

  She couldn’t have made a better score. It was hard to believe that the purse belonged to an old lady by what Carol found inside.

  A cellphone – a Joint – a bottle of oxycodone – a crack pipe – and a wallet full of cash.

  “What the hell do you have there,” asked Rod.

  She held up each item as she pulled them from the purse with each discovery.

  After opening up the wallet, she found inside it three hundred dollar bills, two fifties, and six twenties. Loose change was scattered about the bottom of the purse. This would be useful at soda and snack machines.

  “Look, we have gas money now.”

  “Great, but we are not filling thi
s tank. I don’t know how far we will be able to get in it. Its motor is not that great, and we are losing oil pressure.

  I think we will have to ditch it after we cross the state line.”

  “Can we stop and get some real food before we ditch this car?” Asked Max. He could see how distressed Karla was. She appeared distant from him ever since she got into the car. He simply needed to make things up to her for his behavior earlier. It’s just that she was getting on his nerves earlier, but now he felt much calmer after having that joint with Rod while they were waiting for the girls, and he saw it was apparent that she was still fretting about the whole episode.

  Carol asked, “How about a pizza?”

  A Little Dean’s Pizza appeared on their right just before the exit to get back onto the highway. Rod pulled into the parking lot and parked around the back of the lot out of sight from the main road. Carol ran inside and returned twenty minutes later with three large pizzas.

  The pizza brightened Karla’s mood. Carol had even remembered to get them each a soda to wash it down.

  Soon they were on their way to the Virginia State Line.

  Chapter 12 – Storm Warnings

  Once they crossed the state line they were once again on a highway. They followed it to the beach shore line. Karla loved seeing the waves crashing on the beach. She had never been to the ocean and seeing it lifted her spirits. If only they could stop for a while and she could get out and walk along it.

  It was like Carol read her mind.

  The weather was much warmer down here in contrast to the cold fall weather they had left behind back in Massachusetts. All the car windows were rolled down, and everyone could smell the salt air.

  “I think this will be a good place to stop for the night,” Rod announced.

  He had always wanted to spend the night on the beach with his woman. Now was his chance.

  “Just make sure to take all our things, we don’t want to leave anything behind. We won’t be using this car anymore.”

  The four teens took all their possessions, even the left over half eaten pizza. The empty boxes were left in the back seat of the car. They had no use for them.

  From there, they wandered along the beach until they came to the edge where the rocks met the beach sand. This was where they sat for the next hour and finished up the last of the pizza. Then they all agreed to wander along the main road where there were shops galore to check out, from T-shirt vendors to small clam shops.

  One of the shops they checked out was sort of like a joke shop. They all had a good laugh at the funny novelty items they found on the shelves inside the store.

  Max embarrassed Karla by showing her some rainbow colored condoms. The package said they were flavored and scented.

  Carol snickered when she saw them, but Karla turned beet red. Max laughed at her embarrassment.

  “Get ‘em,” Carol said. “You might need them in the next few days.”

  Max shook the package of condoms at Karla. She put her hand to her mouth to hide her smile and muffle a giggle.

  Carol followed him to the counter where Rod stood looking a packet hanging on a peg behind the counter. It was a packet of Cloud Nine. It was the stuff that made him feel real good. He remembered it all too well and decided to get a packet of it.

  “Hey Babe, can we afford a packet of that?” He asked, pointing to the Cloud Nine hanging on the rack behind the counter.

  “What’s that stuff for,” she asked.

  “It’s good stuff. You’ve never had it?”

  “What do you do with it?”

  The clerk winked at Rod and replied, “It is incense. You burn it in an incense pipe.”

  Carol agreed. She had never heard of the stuff before, but if Rod said it was good stuff then he probably knew what he was talking about.

  She paid the clerk for the condoms and packet and followed the others outside the shop.

  “Where do you want to lite for the night,” Max asked Rod.

  “I was thinking of staying on the beach tonight. What do you think?”

  “Sounds like a plan for me. We’ll be able to keep warm, I’m pretty sure.” Max put his arm around Karla’s shoulders and pulled her close to him in a gesture of warming her up.

  Karla laughed. She wasn’t cold at the moment as the sun was high in the sky. It was late afternoon.

  They stopped at one of the clam shacks along the way to buy some food to take with them. The sun now beginning to set, and the waves sounded peaceful as they lapped at the sand. The tide was on its way out.

  Small camp fires were starting up along the beach. For the rest of the night, the tide would keep going out. The next high tide wouldn’t be until six in the morning. Rod hoped to be long gone by then. But they did pick a spot that had some shelter from the outside eyes of the public.

  Max and Karla ate their fried clams and fries. Rod enjoyed a hot dog while Carol indulged herself in a lobster roll.

  When they were done eating, Max and Rod went about gathering up dried drift wood along the beach. They had enough to make a small camp fire to sit around for a few hours.

  During their time sitting about the fire, Karla began to warm back up to Max. Now that his mood was changed, and he appeared to be quite nice to her once again. She began to relax and started teasing him tit for tat. It wasn’t long before he began to arouse her with his teasing.

  “Want to take a walk with me?” Max took her hand, and she agreed to take a walk down the beach with him out of the sight of the others, with a pocket of condoms in the cooling night air.

  When they were sure they were alone, and no one could see them in the darkness he stopped her and slowly pulled her into his arms and whispered sweet nothings into her ear.

  He had a way of charming her.

  Each time he gently blew his breath across her neck tickling her earlobe.

  She let him kiss her, and he gently pulled her down to a kneeling position in the sand with him. From that position, he began kissing her on her neck and let his finger caress her bottom until one of his hands rested between her legs and began massaging the inside of her thigh.

  Back at the camp fire, Rod and Carol had their enjoyable moment.

  By the time Max and Karla returned with her hanging onto his arm, they found Carol and Rod relaxing together side by side next to the fire. The ocean air had cooled quite considerably. This was apparent to them as soon as they got close enough to feel the heat from the fire.

  “Did you do it?” Carol asked Karla.

  Karla didn’t say anything. Carol could tell, by the way, she smiled.

  While the other couple was gone, Rod was able to get his hands on to another bottle of liquor. This he passed around. Karla took care not to have as much of it this time. She wanted to remember this night.

  Chapter 13 – Motoring out the Storm

  By morning, the camp fire had gone out. Nothing remained except for spent ash, which blew away in the wind. The rising sun warmed up the morning air. This was the first sun rise any of the teens had seen from the shore looking out at the ocean. It was beautiful to see.

  Carol and Karla oohed and awed at the bright red sky. They both knew what it meant, but they figured it was only a warning for sailors, not land lubbers.

  They spent the next three hours following Rod along the Beach shore. He was looking for their next set of wheels. Every once in a while he would stop and take a seat in the sand and nonchalantly look at the parking area.

  Karla was grateful that she didn’t have to keep walking like they did the last time they were looking for a set of wheels. She just wished that they could spend a few more days at the beach before moving on. She even asked if they could stay. Max and Carol was all for it, but Rod kept shooting the idea down.

  He didn’t tell them why he wanted to keep moving on. He didn’t think that they needed to know that he was probably wanted for what had happened back home with the gas station and the safe.

  After they stopped for the fourth t
ime, they ate some more of the beach going food that they stopped for along the way.

  That was when Rod spotted the best set of wheels for a road tripper. It was a motor home.

  He watched the elderly couple exit their motor home and take their beach chairs along with a cooler to the beach. Rod waited for them to enter the water. This meant to him that they were not planning on returning back to their vehicle any time to soon.

  “Do you see that parking lot down there,” Rod said to Carol and the others. “You guys walk down there, I’ll meet up with you in few minutes. In fact, I will toot the horn at you when I pull into the parking lot.”

  “What are you going to do?” Asked Karla.

  “Karla, you don’t want to know,” replied Carol. “Come on,” she led the three of them away leaving Rod to do what he planned to do.

  By the time they got to their destination, Karla still didn’t have a clue as to what was going on. Max and Carol had their suspicions, and they were right.

  They knew immediately when they heard the horn of the motor home as it pulled into the parking lot where they stood waiting.

  Once inside, Rod drove off down the road and quickly turned off the highway. It was time to hit the road again. He was aiming to be in North Carolina by the next day or two.

  Rod figured he could avoid the cops by keeping to the back roads, and he probably would be able to find a suitable place to park the camper for the rest of the day, keeping it out of sight. Then later at night they could once again hit the road and park the camper when the sun began to come up.

  What a score he had made.

  Hopefully they would be able to hold on to this set of wheels for a while. It had beds, a bathroom – no more having to go to the bathroom on the side of the road. If they were able to stop at some sort of campground with water hookups they all would be able to take badly needed showers. It also had all sorts of food in the cabinets and fridge. A TV and stereo was built into the wall, a stove for cooking hot food and best of all clean clothes.