The ATV shot forward, bouncing over the terrain as if she were driving a jet ski.
Frenchie moaned after they skimmed over the top of a boulder. Her body slumped to the side as she grabbed her leg.
They slowed while Shinal pulled Frenchie upright, and then Lola inched the vehicle over to a small river to smooth out the ride.
A few miles upriver Shinal tapped Lola on the shoulder. “Slow down,” she said while holding the police walkie-talkie to her ear.
Lola slowed. The wind stopped buzzing in her ears and then she heard the voices on the receiver. It had only been ten minutes since they left, but someone had already found the officers. The sheriff had come to, and although he was groggy, he was coherent enough to explain that they’d been hijacked by Teen Wolf and an acrobatic gorilla.
“Unbelievable,” the dispatcher said. “Do they still have their ATVs? What about their weapons and equipment?”
“We found their guns and Tasers in the bushes, but their ATVs are missing. The sheriff recalls pulling over and parking right here.”
“Crap. Slow down. Pul…”
Lola glanced back at the radio. The engine seized and the ATV plummeted into the water.
The splash created a four-foot wave that engulfed all three girls and washed them off the vehicle.
“Help, I can’t swim,” Shinal screamed, grabbing onto both Frenchie and Lola forcing them underwater.
The stream felt like it should have frozen over months ago. Lola’s clothes were soaked and her brain nearly frozen solid. Her chest felt like it wouldn’t be able to expand more than a quarter inch and her lungs burned and begged her to breathe.
Her feet found the ground. She planted them, slipped an arm around Frenchie, and forced them both to the surface.
The river was only three feet deep. With her free hand, Lola grabbed a four-foot-long branch that was floating downstream and held it out to Shinal. “Grab hold and stand up.”
Shinal seized the log and pulled herself to her feet. After she caught her breath, the three of them huddled together and clambered out of the river.
Up the shoreline, Jared shoved his ATV into the water. Caroline stood next to him clapping and smiling and waving goodbye
All five of them watched for a moment as the current struggled to take the vehicles downstream.
Lola put her back against a tree and slid down until her body crunched against the ground. The fabric in her clothes was nearly frozen. Her numb body no longer recognized the cold and she knew that no matter how much hair Frenchie could layer them with, it was too late. In a little while frostbite would follow, then warmth, and finally death. She felt her bulging stomach. Her numb fingers couldn’t feel a thing. Soon she would be with her husband.
Frenchie and Shinal were nearby. Neither looked like they would ever get up.
Lola closed her eyes and envisioned her husband. Memories from the last few years danced in her head.
“Move, mommy. I need you to move.”
Her eyes flew open. She threw the bottom of her shirt up and tried to feel through the mounds of hair that coated her. But it felt like a frozen boulder. There was motion. No heartbeat. “No,” she screamed. “Help me. Help my baby.”
Jared rushed to her side, his little cheerleader next to him.
Holding onto his hands, Lola struggled to her feet and lurched forward. Her body moved like a rusted-out tin man, but still she moved forward.
Jared removed his jacket and wrapped it around her. “Keep moving. You need to move.”
Together they walked two-dozen feet. Shinal was trying to follow, but Frenchie still lay on her side.
“Frenchie needs this more than me.” Lola took the coat off and handed it back to Jared. “Help her.”
Jared ran back and helped Frenchie to her feet.
Her feet were thawing, the numbness starting to fade. Each step felt like she was walking on knives. She pushed on through the thick trees, refusing to stay near the river. Limbs and bushes made her wish she had a machete. Instead, each of the branches flipped back into place after she passed. Occasionally the brittle wood would snap in half.
She’d traveled for nearly 20 minutes without talking, without looking back. The others were still with her as evidenced by their footsteps and their occasional mumblings.
A horse snorted and whinnied.
Lola slid behind a tree.
No other noise or movement occurred. Straight ahead stood a barn not more than 100 feet away.
The sun was nearly down and everything was covered in dusk’s shadows. No lights were left on, no person was present and the barn doors still remained open.
“What are you waiting for?” Shinal asked.
Lola’s hands were still trembling from the cold. The setting sun took with it any semblance of heat. The baby kicked her in the bladder and although it caused her to pee a little, the sensation gave her pride and hope. “Just making sure that the coast is clear,” she said.
Jared ventured out of the forest and into the barn. Two minutes later he waved them forward.
Dairy cows, horses, and farming equipment from the 1800s filled the barn. Everything in pristine working order. Handmade clothing and blankets lined one of the cabinets.
Lola’s soaked clothes fell to the floor. She slid into one of the unflattering dresses, and wrapped a blanket around herself. Shinal did the same and then the two of them helped Frenchie.
Jared passed out five mugs of milk straight from the udder. Warm milk never tasted so good. And everybody’s hair went back to its original approximate length.
“The house is quiet,” Jared said as he sat down.
“How are you, Frenchie?” Lola asked.
Some of the color had come back to her face, but she still looked like an albino. “I’ve, ah. I’ve been better. Though I wish one of you had the power to heal.”
“Any powers at all would be nice,” Lola said. “Though I guess I could bless you in Latin if you think that would help.”
“No. No. No. No last rites for me.” Frenchie gave a weak smile.
Shinal glanced at Frenchie’s leg, wiped her forehead, and gave her a few more pills.
“We have to move her. The wound’s infected and she’s running a fever.”
“Does the family have a car?”
“Not so much. The closest the Amish got is a horse and buggy.”
Lola smiled. The Amish, how did they exist in such a digital world? She closed her eyes and tried to imagine life without computers, without cars or electricity.
“Who’s in there?” a rough voice said from outside.
Lola sprang up in her seat.
An older man held his lantern into the barn. He had an old-fashioned revolver big enough to take down a Titan. A teenaged boy and girl were in tow, their shotguns aimed at the group.
Lola’s hands flew up above her head, with everyone else’s.
“What business have you here?” His gun hand seemed to tighten.
Lola flinched and closed her eyes. When the weapon didn’t discharge she returned her gaze to the old man, shocked that no one had attempted to speak. “We got washed down the river,” she said.
When no one else chimed in, she gestured to Frenchie’s bare, elevated leg, whose dressing was crimson with blood. “And my friend needed help. This was the first place we found.”
The old man did a double take and stared at Frenchie as if she were a prostitute on Sunset Strip. Red-faced, he dropped the aim of his weapon and glanced at his teenaged son.
The boy stood there smiling and practically drooling.
“Sven, avert your eyes,” he said as he collected his son’s shotgun, and made him turn around. “Go inside and tell your mother to re-heat the leftovers.” He pushed the boy out of the barn.
The young woman, however, readjusted the grip and aim of her shotgun.
The old man’s eyes went to the soggy clothes near the cabinet, to Jared, and then to Caroline. He put down his gun and made the young woman
lower hers as well, apparently deciding that an autistic child, pregnant woman, and an injured young woman weren’t a threat.
The old man and his daughter walked into the barn. “Does she need a doctor?” He motioned to Frenchie.
Shinal nodded. “She lost a good amount of blood and it looks like it could be infected.”
“Anyone else injured?”
The rest of the group shook their heads, with the exception of Caroline, who just sat there smiling.
The old man walked over to Frenchie and eyed her leg. “That’s a nasty gunshot wound.”
Lola swallowed, wishing that she could lie with the guile of Frenchie, that her friend would speak up, but she was silent. “Someone’s after us.”
“Who?”
“Seems like everyone,” Shinal said.
“Do you know why?”
Shinal looked at the ground and then continued, “Because the four of us are different. We have a few special talents and as such they want to lock us up.”
“What? You have super powers or something?” the young woman asked, smiling and laughing.
The girl’s red hair grew an extra three feet and turned jet black. Her father’s beard grew full and dark, all grey removed.
“Something like that,” Shinal said, smiling at the timing of her ill friend.
“How, what,” the young woman said before glancing at her father. “How did you do that?”
“Like I said. We have powers, they may not be like the ones you read about in comic books, but they’ve made us wanted by nearly everyone.”
“And where are you heading?” the old man asked.
“North,” Lola chimed in. “Towards the great lakes. We heard there’s a camp up there. Some people who can protect us.”
“I hope it’s close. I’ve seen a few gunshot wounds, even dug some of them out of a few animals, and your girl’s there, it’s a doosey.”
“Can you help her?” Jared asked.
“I may be able to save the leg, but not the girl. I don’t have the equipment to replace the blood she’s lost. She needs to see someone soon. Probably within the next six hours.”
A deep quiet settled across the group.
Lola glanced at Frenchie and then at the nasty wound. Six hours. It would take at least two hours to get to Detroit and they still had no idea where the base was. If they didn’t find the base fast, Frenchie wouldn’t make it.
Shinal wiped her eyes.
The old man placed his hand on her shoulder. “I’m not sure how else we can help. It’ll take the better part of a day to get to the great lakes, by buggy.”
“Do you know anyone with a car?”
The old man looked at his teenaged daughter. She smiled, blushed, and then ran to the house.
“Serge, a young man Gia’s taken an interest in, has an old van. We’ll give you all a lift to his house; it’s a good 20 miles up the road. Hopefully, he can help, and if Gia has anything to do with it, I’m sure that he will.” He walked over and opened a cabinet next to the horse saddles. His calloused fingers opened a safe and withdrew a cell phone. “This is the only piece of technology we have and it’s reserved strictly for emergencies.” He handed it to Shinal with an UltraLast battery charger. ”And right now I don’t think anyone needs it more than you.”
CHAPTER 12
The carriage wasn’t heated but the cramped cabin, extra blankets, and hot food made it more than comfortable. They slowed and the horse’s footsteps became more distinct.
Rotating red, white, and blue lights made it through the dense curtains.
Shinal glanced around the cabin. There was nowhere to hide. They were packed like sardines.
“Whoa there. Whoa,” the policeman said. “Where are you guys going? It’s a little late for a late night ride isn’t it?”
Shinal piled the blankets over Frenchie’s outstretched leg and then pulled the blankets over herself, Caroline, and her injured friend. Thankfully the cabin was dark and didn’t contain a glimmer of interior lighting.
“It is,” Gia said. “But my sister’s pregnant and she started to bleed. We have to get her to the doctor.”
“Can you open it up so we can take a look?”
“We don’t have time. My sister needs help.”
“I’m afraid I have to insist,” the policeman said. “There’s been some kind of prison break. We’re looking for three teenage girls.”
The carriage door creaked open about halfway.
It was hard to see through the dense blanket, but Shinal could make out the two officers. One of their flashlights panned through the cabin.
“Owe,” Lola screamed throwing up her hands and knocking loose the flashlight. “The contractions are starting again.” She started blowing as if trying to put out a candle.
Jared leaned towards Lola and placed his hand on her belly. “Just a few more miles.”
The officers jumped back as a bloodstained rag fell out of the carriage.
“Satisfied? The old man asked.
The police waved them on.
The roads became smoother and streetlights lit up the night. An occasional car would pass by with its exhaust pipe smoking like an unkempt chimney. They turned into an older subdivision, and parked in front of a home coated in disintegrating aluminum siding from the 1980s.
Gia jumped down from the stage and sprinted to the front door.
“You’ll have to forgive her,” Sven, her brother, said. “It’s her first real crush. The two of them have been eyeballing each other at the market for months.”
Their father had a death grip on the reins as he watched his giddy daughter knock on the front door. That he’d be letting his kids drive into a big city in an automobile obviously wasn’t what he had gone to bed thinking a few hours ago.
Shinal had seen the look in his eyes before. It was the same look her parents had when she left home as a young girl to train in Colorado Springs at the Olympic training center. They too must have wondered if she would ever make it back to them or if they were doing the right thing.
Gia came running out to the carriage and introduced Serge. Five minutes later, everyone but her father piled into the van and pulled onto the highway.
The van was old and rusted. The original upholstery from the early part of the 21st century seemed to be full of more dust than fabric. But at least the van had a working heater. Lola quarantined herself to the back of the van, mesmerized by the old style holographic screen and her connection to the internet. Caroline sat next to her, peering over her shoulder at the tiny screen with the fascination of a four-year-old.
Shinal noted the phone’s 3D holographic images changing from time to time. But otherwise she stared forward, more interested in Gia’s infatuation with Serge and Sven’s constant attempts to stay between the two of them.
Despite Shinal’s attempts to keep her awake, Frenchie’s eyes appeared to be growing heavy and her skin clammy and hot enough to bring on febrile seizures. Shinal took off her own blanket and placed it around Frenchie. “Find anything yet, Lola? We’re going to be there soon.”
“How soon?”
“The last sign said we’re about 27 miles outside of Detroit.”
Lola glanced up, a bit cross-eyed and eyebrows furrowed. Her face said it all. Nothing.
A commercial voice rose form the back seat, “S.P.E.T., the pregnancy test you can trust. Testing for over 24 hormones and substances make us the most comprehensive pregnancy test in the world. Be sure of not just your pregnancy, but of the baby’s sex and malformations.”
“No, Caroline.” Lola ripped the phone away from her, but the commercial continued talking. She scrambled with the controls and finally it stopped.
Lola stared at the display, rotated the image, and then flipped screen after screen through the other 3D web pages. “You have to be kidding me,” she mumbled. “These same ads are on every page.” She looked up front. “Hey, Gia,” Lola shouted. “We need to stop at a drugstore, like now.”
Se
rge pulled the van off the road two exits later and pulled into a Waldor’s, a box chain drugstore.
“Jared, can you guys find a wheelchair and maybe some liquids for Frenchie, while Shinal and I pick up a few other things?”
Jared nodded as Lola jumped from the van and ran inside holding Shinal’s hand.
“What are we doing?” Shinal asked.
Lola didn’t comment. She scanned the shelves and then ran to the next aisle. They crossed nearly half the store when she threw a carton of fingernail polish remover in her basket. Then she collected some vaginal foam and several boxes of the same pregnancy test.
“I hate to be pointing this out,” Shinal said. “But I think it’s a little late for most of those items.”
Lola rolled her eyes and headed back up front.
At the cashier’s desk they gathered snacks, and drinks, and paid with the cash Gia had given them. Then Lola grabbed Shinal’s hand and headed for the back of the store.
“Where are we going now?” Shinal asked.
“To try these things out.”
Shinal skidded to a stop and whipped Lola back towards her. “I don’t think so. We don’t have time for this. Frenchie’s dying in the car and you want to stop and pee on a stick.”
“No, we both are.”
“We already know your status and mine too.” Shinal stopped short of sharing the fact that she was still a virgin before she was labeled with a bright, red, capital V. “We need to get back to the van and find the base.”
“One way or another these same products were on every single Shine webpage. It can’t be a coincidence. I think they are going to help us find the hidden base,” Lola said as she continued to the bathroom at the back of the store.
Four minutes later, Shinal was in a stall holding a padded off-white spatula between her legs. What had Lola found? Were Shines also known hermaphrodites capable of impregnating themselves? She pulled out the instructions and leafed through them. She still had another two minutes to wait for a result that had better be negative.
Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1) Page 56