“I promise to start treating you better,” Jake said earnestly. Megan gave him a curt nod.
“Good. That’s a start.”
They fell silent then. They both knew that they needed to be a united front for their plan to work. Even if Megan was still angry with him and Jake was still processing his guilt, they had to put their feelings aside. Robbing from the gang wouldn’t be easy. They needed to be ready.
It took them around twenty minutes more to find the gang. It wasn’t hard when they’d lit a campfire like a beacon, leading them right to them. Jake shook his head. What fools they were. He exchanged a glance with Megan and saw her smirking at them too. The word was unspoken, but they were both thinking it.
Amateurs.
“They don’t have guns, from what I could tell,” Jake whispered to Megan. “But I saw one with a hammer...another with a knife…”
“If we can outrun them, then their weapons will be pretty useless,” Megan whispered. Jake didn’t like their odds. Running in their battered state wouldn’t be easy. The men certainly had the advantage, even if they were still recovering from the fire. But Jake had agreed to go along with the plan and he didn’t want to back out now. He had to put his trust in Megan for once.
“What now?”
“They’re sleeping...hopefully we can just find where they’re keeping their supplies and get in and out,” Megan said. “I know it’s a loose plan...but it’s all we’ve got.”
Jake nodded. He didn’t see how they could plan any further ahead either. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
The two of them moved as silently as they could toward the campfire. Every crunch of leaves beneath their feet seemed as loud as a scream in the dark, but none of the men stirred from their sleep. Jake suspected the smoke in their lungs had exhausted them. He was suddenly grateful for his own resilience. He was glad that Megan hadn’t let him give up…
The campfire crackled as they drew closer. Jake could see that their supplies were piled on the far side of the fire and he looked at Megan. She smiled and reached in her pocket. She brought out a crumpled plastic bag. It seemed she had come prepared. He followed her quietly to the other side of the fire and she quietly opened the bag, loading in the hammer, several bottles of water and cans of food. Jake couldn’t deny that the sight of it all gave him a new lease of life. The idea that they might finally be back on track was an exciting one…
But then he heard someone stir behind him. Whipping his head around, he saw the young man he’d saved from the fire staring at him with drugged up eyes. They stared at one another for a long moment before the man let out a warcry, waking the others.
“Run!” Jake cried to Megan. She didn’t need to be told twice. Clutching the bag of supplies to her chest, she began to race away from the campfire with Jake on her tail. He knew better than to look over his shoulder, knowing it would slow him down, but he couldn’t tell if they were being chased until he heard the thudding of feet behind him. He pushed his body to the limits and ran harder, faster. His muscles cried out in agony, but he didn’t stop. He kept running, knowing his life depended on it. He wasn’t going to try and give up this time. He was going to keep going.
The chase was on.
Fifteen
Aby
Aby couldn’t stop shaking as the car came to a complete stop and Tex turned around in his seat with a sinister smile. Before Aby could think to pull out her knife, Tex produced a gun from down the side of his seat and pointed it directly at Aby.
“Don’t think of trying anything or I’ll shoot you in the head,” he said pleasantly. Peaches gasped, but Aby wasn’t shocked in the slightest. Her gut instinct about him had been bad. She’d been a fool to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“You don’t have to do this,” Aby murmured. “If it’s supplies you need...if you’re in some kind of trouble, we can come to an arrangement…”
“I’m not interested in any of that,” Tex said. “I want you to get out of the car. Right now.”
Aby glanced at Peaches and saw how quickly she had come undone. She was whimpering, clearly terrified of what Tex might be capable of. He certainly seemed familiar with the gun in his hand, and Aby didn’t plan to stick around to see how desperate he was to use it. She did as he asked, opening the car door and stepping out, moving slowly away from the car.
In her head, she was plotting escape routes. She thought she could maybe get away if she ran into the trees, but that would mean leaving Peaches at Tex’s mercy. Sure, it was her fault that they were in this position in the first place, but she wasn’t going to leave her behind. They were in this mess together and they’d get out of it together.
Or die trying.
It took Tex longer to get Peaches out of the car. She was sobbing on the backseat, desperate to stay there, but Tex got out of the car and grabbed her by her hair, dragging her to stand with Aby as she whimpered pitifully.
“What are you going to do with us?” Aby asked. She might not have trusted Tex, but she had no idea what he wanted with them. If he was interested in supplies, then what was his game?
“You don’t even want to know,” Tex said, smiling. He never stopped smiling. It made Aby feel sick to her stomach. Her mind was running wild, wondering what the hell he might try and pull on them. She wanted to reach for her knife, but his gun was trained right over her heart. Clearly, he saw her as the bigger threat of the two. He cocked his head at her with a smile.
“I bet you wished you listened to your gut about me, don’t you?” he asked her. “But what’s done is done now...let’s make this easier for everyone and comply with my plans, okay? I’m going to tie you both up now. One wrong move and I’ll shoot you through the head...and that’ll ruin the fun for all of us.”
Peaches wept as Tex tied Aby up first, binding her arms behind her back and tying her feet together. Then he tipped her over, allowing her to fall to the ground with a hard thump. Pain shot up Aby’s spine from the fall and she was forced to lie on the hard ground, watching Peaches struggle against Tex. She wished she wouldn’t, knowing that a man like Tex would only want to hurt her more if she struggled. It turned out her theory was right when Tex whacked Peaches around the face with his pistol, knocking her to the ground. Aby felt desperate to protect the older woman suddenly. She struggled into a sitting position.
“Let her go,” Aby pleaded. “She doesn’t deserve this. Let her go and just take me.”
“Sorry, no can do,” Tex said, tightening the bindings around Peaches’ wrists. “I can’t have her leaving and telling someone about what I’m up to. Besides...why not have my cake and eat it too? Two victims are better than ones…”
Aby swallowed hard. She couldn’t believe that she was at the hands of such a psychopath. As he bent down to continue binding Peaches up, something fell from his pocket. An orange prescription bottle. She tilted her head to the side, trying to read the label, but she couldn’t make out what it said.
“You’re sick?” Aby asked, nodding to the empty prescription bottle. She thought if she could keep him talking, it might give her some time to figure out an escape plan. He chuckled to himself, picking up the empty bottle and shaking his head.
“So they tell me,” he tutted. “Sick in the head, apparently. I’ve been drugged up on these things for years...they made me feel so...numb. And now I feel everything again. I feel so free, so alive. And I have these...these urges. They’re coming back to me now...oh yes.”
Aby felt sick. She had no idea what those urges could be. Tex grinned at her.
“Oh, don’t you worry, ladies. I’m not a pervert...I’m not going to do anything sexual to you. No...I don’t go after women in particular. I just want someone to play with. All this time...all my therapists have spent so much time trying to fix me...telling me that I’m the problem...well, they’re all gone now. There are no cops around to arrest me...no one to decide what’s right and what’s wrong anymore...I can do what I want.”
“What are you going to do to
us?” Aby asked for a second time. This time, though, she really wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Tex approached her and crouched beside her, his mouth close to her ear. She could smell how stale his breath was and she tried to wriggle away, but he pinned her down.
“Everyone has their vices,” he murmured. “Mine? I like to cause pain...and that’s what I’m going to do to you. I’m going to show you all my toys...my drills...my knives...my tweezers...and then I’m going to use every single one of them on you.”
Aby felt sick to her stomach. She wished he would just shoot her there. Anything was better than the torture he wanted to inflict on her and Peaches. Tex pulled away from her ear and cupped her cheek in his hand. When she looked up at him, she couldn’t believe how trustworthy he still looked. He had one of those faces that seemed kind. It was as though she’d imagined all of the things he just whispered to her. But when he smiled, she knew she hadn’t imagined a thing.
“Don’t you worry,” he said softly. “It won’t last long. Maybe just a few days each...and since you seemed so desperate for Peaches to be out of her misery...I’ll make sure she goes first. Okay?”
Aby screamed then, unable to contain the fear inside her for any longer. Tex clipped her across the face with his pistol and Aby was sure she felt one of her back teeth crack, but she kept screaming. She desperately needed someone to hear, to help her, to rescue her and Peaches from the hands of a truly evil man. This was the moment that Jake was supposed to leap from the shadows and do something about it. But when Tex clamped a hand over her mouth and pressed against it hard, she knew she was on her own.
“Your precious fiance isn’t coming for you,” Tex said darkly. “It’s just you, me and Peaches now...and we’re going on a little trip.”
Aby was powerless to do anything as he carried her bundled up body and threw her in the car. She landed hard at the bottom of the car and a few minutes later, Peaches landed on top of her. Aby could barely breathe, and it took all of her effort to focus on forcing oxygen in and out of her lungs. Tex got back in the car, whistling to himself cheerily. Aby expected him to start the engine, but he just sat for a while, whistling. He was clearly enjoying himself a lot. Aby felt tears stinging her eyes and she managed to shift so that she was sitting up, Peaches still awkwardly lying on her. She tried to think positively, but she couldn’t. She was tightly bound, unable to reach her weapons. With Peaches out of commission, she didn’t stand a chance against Tex. The only chance she had was to reason with him.
“You don’t want to do this,” Aby insisted. “We can work this out. We can find more pills for you. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Oh, but it does,” Tex said with a sigh. “What you don’t understand is...this is what I’ve always wanted. This isn’t a whim...this is my dream come true.”
And with that, he started up the engine and began to drive again. Aby’s pleading was drowned out by the sound of the car. There was no way anyone was going to help her now. She was losing hope. She closed her eyes to try and shut out the reality of the situation, but as she did, the tears were squeezed from her eyes and she was overwhelmed by the hopelessness of it all.
They drove for some time. When they finally stopped, Tex took Peaches from the car, kicking and screaming. Aby prayed that maybe they were somewhere where their cries might be heard, but when Tex came back for her, she could see that they were in the middle of nowhere. He handled her roughly, not caring that her head bashed the doorframe as he carried her inside. She watched dizzily as he carried her to the basement steps and descended into the darkness. She could hear the scratching and squeaking of rats in the dark and her breath quickened. She hated the damn things. Tex laughed right in her face.
“Oh, honey...when you hear what I’m going to be doing upstairs, you’ll wish for a thousand years with these little rodent friends,” he hissed. Then he threw her to the ground and headed back up the stairs.
Aby cried out for help, but of course, no one heard her. She felt a rat scurry over her leg and tried to kick out at it, but her bound legs weren’t cooperating with her. She sobbed loudly, wondering what the hell she’d done to deserve this. She should’ve killed Tex when she had the chance. She should’ve run as fast as she could when he let her out of the car…
But Peaches...poor Peaches. Was she going to die anyway, even though Aby stayed to try and save her? Above Aby’s head, she heard Peaches begin to scream and a shiver ran through her body. She had no idea what Tex was doing to her up there, but it couldn't be good. How long would it last? How long would it be until they died from the things he was doing to them?
Aby felt like he was going to make the horrors last a lifetime.
Sixteen
Megan
Megan was so out of breath from running that her already burning lungs felt like they were on fire. Between the smoke from the fire and the excessive exercise, her body was struggling to keep up. But when she finally dared to look over her shoulder, she saw that no one else was in sight.
She finally allowed herself to stop, bending over with her hands on her knees to try and catch her breath. Even the cold air didn’t feel like enough to help her breathing return to normal. They must’ve run for a couple of miles, which was pretty impressive to Megan considering their condition at the time. Jake surveyed the area.
“Do you think we can afford to stop?” he asked. Megan didn’t feel able to talk yet, but she nodded. Jake collapsed on the ground next to her, wiping his brow with his shirt. Silence enveloped them for a while and relief washed over Megan for a moment. They’d been so close to death. So close to giving up. Now, they had a bag full of supplies and they’d managed to evade capture. They’d taken a rough road to get to that point, but they’d made it all the same.
“We should rehydrate,” Megan gasped. “There are only a couple of bottles of water...it won’t last us long. But we really need to drink now.”
“Alright. But don’t gulp it down. If we’re dehydrated, drinking it too fast will make us sick,” Jake said. He almost seemed like his old self for a second. But Megan hadn’t forgotten the look in his eyes back in the burning house, or when he’d just been beaten by the gang. His sanity was hanging in the balance. Every time they faced a hardship, he was on the verge of giving up. Megan knew that it was possible that she’d have to keep being strong for the both of us, but even though her exhilaration at their escape was keeping her going, she didn’t know how much longer she could last like this. They needed somewhere to stay, somewhere safe to settle down.
But Megan knew deep down that it was a pipedream. The lake they’d been told about seemed further away than ever. They’d been knocked off course now and Megan’s lack of directional skills meant she had no idea how to get back on track. Besides, she’d have to somehow persuade Jake that it was still the best place to aim for, and she could tell that he was heading back to having a one track mind. He was only interested in finding Aby, and she understood why.
He was looking for a reason to keep living.
Still, as the pair of them sat quietly, drinking water and trying to recover from their long running session, Megan couldn’t help thinking that looking for Aby was a wild goose chase. They’d ventured so far from where they woke up in the truck by now, and it was possible Aby had wandered off in the complete opposite direction. If they didn’t find the lake, they wouldn’t even have a landmark for Aby to head toward. Right now, they were just in the middle of some random forest. It didn’t seem likely that Aby was going to show up there.
But Megan figured she could speak to Jake about that later. They both desperately needed to rest, particularly Jake. Megan couldn’t imagine the things he’d been through that night. After she finished her water, she offered him a smile.
“You should sleep first,” she said. “Get a few hours in. I’ll keep watch.”
For once, Jake didn’t argue with her. He nodded tiredly and rested his head. While he slept, Megan took some time to survey the things she’d managed t
o grab from the gang. There was a lot of dried food, including a big packet of chips, a half drunk bottle of vodka and the empty water bottles. She’d also managed to pick up the hammer, which she tested in her hands. It felt heavy and deadly in her grasp. She wondered if she’d have the courage to use it if it came to a fight. It wasn’t the same as using a gun. It was so up close and personal. She didn’t want to imagine how it would feel to crack someone’s skull using it.
She let Jake sleep for almost five hours. She was on edge the whole time, wondering what would happen if the gang happened to show up again, but they were nowhere to be seen. They’d been so drunk and high that it didn’t surprise her that they’d fallen behind, but still, she feared that they’d show up sooner or later. When she swapped shifts with Jake, she managed to sleep for a while and then she woke up to Jake offering her a makeshift meal of apples he’d scavenged from nearby and hot dogs from a can. It was morning now and Megan let out a laugh as Jake cracked open a beer with his teeth.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? So early in the morning?” she asked. Jake shrugged without humour.
“It seems like the perfect time to become an alcoholic, right? Seemed to be working for those guys,” he muttered. Megan’s heart sank and she hung her head. She’d been trying to lighten the mood, but it seemed like it hadn’t really worked. Jake sighed.
“Sorry...yesterday was long.”
“It’s alright. There’s not much to laugh about, is there?” Megan replied solemnly. They ate the rest of their meal in silence and took turns swigging from the bottle. Megan had always hated the taste of beer, but it felt good to have some alcohol in her system. It made everything hurt a little less, even if only for a moment.
The End of the World Series | Book 3 | Survive The Destruction Page 9