by Dale Mayer
Doris's protests were ignored. Reid looked at Gemma. "I'll get water and flashlights."
"I'm going to fuel up and grab a few granola bars." As they walked across the living room, she looked over at Doris. "Sorry, but this is something we have to do. Where's Stephen? I know he'd want to come"
Outrage flashed on the older woman's face. "He was taken back to juvie until this mess is sorted out."
Gem gasped. "What? Why? And who took him?"
Reid's hand fisted. Anger settled onto his lean features. Gem placed a warning hand on his back.
It was John who spoke up first. "Apparently the sheriff called to inform Mr. Crompton, Creepers as you call him, of the problems. Mr. Cromptom decided that removing Stephen, was the best thing to do in the circumstances. He wanted you all to go back in fact – until this problem is solved. We fought to keep you all here. At least until you give your statements and identify the perpetrators - you're staying with us."
Gem studied John's face and realized frustration was the reason for his sharp tone of voice. Yeah, he wasn't happy about this scenario either. Well neither was she. But she gave a short nod, deciding that despite the fact she wanted answers about Stephen, Mark had to be the priority now.
Reid walked out at her side. "Don't forget to grab your sweater. No, forget that. You eat and I'll grab hoodies for both of us."
Gemma raced to the kitchen and sat down to her waiting plate of spaghetti. At least she had food. Mark had already had a hard day. He must be exhausted and hungry… She could only imagine how he felt.
***
Mark sat down on a rock and swore. There wasn't even a decent-sized tree that he could climb to get a better look around. Who'd have thought a guy like him would get lost? How friggin' embarrassing. The others would rib him for days over this. Then again, maybe not. Maybe they weren't in any shape to bug him. Stephen was really laid back, but he could get some great zinger insults in over this mess.
Fear for Reid and Gem's safety rose along with his fatigue.
Surely, they'd managed to get away like he had. Reid was crafty. Gem was smart. They all were. Survival required it. The stupid ones didn't make it.
For all he knew, Reid was hiding out here in the bush too.
Too bad his cell phone hadn't liked the swim in the creek. Figures. All four of the kids in the home had gotten their own phones when they'd arrived – safety being the prime reason. They'd joked about it at the time. They'd been cocky, thinking nothing would happen to them. They were too smart to get into that much trouble in this small town.
He laughed. A lonely hollow sound echoed by the cooling evening air.
Not even a bird answered him. Weren't the woods supposed to be full of animals? Why were the only critters in his life the two-legged kind?
He shifted on the large rock. Should I stay or keep moving?
He'd heard stories of how people did both to survive against the odds. He didn't know which was smarter in this case. At a guess, he figured he'd come at least ten miles. But hardly in a straight line. In fact, if he found out now that he'd been going in a circle he wouldn't be surprised and couldn't be happier. At least the creek would offer him a drink and he could find his way from there.
He frowned, looking back the way he'd come. Maybe he should try to follow his trail back.
He'd left a visible line. And he did know his way home from the creek. Maybe. He could at least follow it to a road.
"Stupid," he berated himself. "I should have turned back a long time ago." He stood up and followed his tracks, wondering how far he could go before he lost the signs of his own passing. And before darkness set in and blurred what little visibility he had.
Hopeful for the first time, he picked up the pace and half ran back the way he'd come.
CHAPTER TEN
Gem grabbed the hoodie from Reid and raced out behind him. They needed to get going while they still had some light. Gem thought most searches were called off at dark and that meant, at best they had an hour. Still, she and Reid would have a better chance than the others would – they had John, who'd spent his entire life in this area.
According to him there was an old farm in the back of the property, with roads crossing the area. He wanted to head there first.
He'd insisted they both take flares in case anyone got separated – even though they were under strict orders to stay together. Gem planned to stick close to the others.
She'd always been a fast learner and enough was enough.
They took a road Gem hadn't known existed, one most people, even the locals, wouldn't have known about. The weeds were several feet high over the tracks but had been flattened recently by a vehicle. The creek flowed along beside it. She figured this must have been where the assholes had driven earlier that day.
But they had.
How had they known? She leaned forward as the world flashed by. If she didn't keep her eyes peeled, they could miss Mark at this speed and in the half light.
John had been driving for so many years, he did it with casual ease, even in rough conditions. The road didn't have much to commend it, except it headed in the right direction.
"Up there." Reid pointed off to the left of the driver's side. "Mark crossed the creek and disappeared somewhere close to that clump of bushes."
John smiled, a thin serious line that barely curled. He drove past the spot Reid had pointed out. A protest clogged Gemma's throat. Why hadn't they stopped? Mark could have collapsed close to the creek, or be lying there injured. Just because he'd been able to get away, didn't mean he'd been able to keep going. She was opening her mouth to ask, when she saw the bridge. Oh.
She'd never seen that one before. John crossed it and kept driving, his gaze focused on the surrounding terrain.
Gem exchanged glances with Reid. It was now evident, Mark could be anywhere.
Anywhere could be in a lot of nowhere. John seemed to have some kind of plan as he continued along the road then took a left onto another road.
He came to a small rise where he pulled up and stopped. "Let's get out and take a look."
It wasn't much of a hill, but it certainly provided a fair vantage point. They scrambled out of the truck and walked around. They really could see for miles. Now where the hell was Mark?
"Spread out a little so we're all looking in different directions. Literally. Start close to this knoll, then let your gaze move further out, then come back in again almost to the same line but off ever so slightly. If he's not moving then your eyes will need to land on him in order to see him. If he's moving, the movement will catch your attention." John took several steps to the side and stared off at the horizon.
Gem studied the field. Nothing moved. She figured Mark was probably lying down. She tried to follow John's instructions…and almost succeeded. She ended up doing horizontal sweeps instead of vertical. Still she made sure to cover as much area and as slowly as she could.
"I don't see him," Reid muttered.
"Neither do I." There was nothing to see. Only miles and miles of long grass interspersed with dry rocky areas. The heat still beat down on the area. The cooler air from the creek added little relief.
"Be patient. It can take time for your eyes to get used to scanning this way, and to see anything." John never took his eyes off the terrain. "Hmmm."
"What?" Gem asked, staring in the direction John was looking. Outside of a few more trees, it looked the same. "Did you see something?"
"Maybe. It's a might too far off to be sure yet."
"Is it moving?" Reid raced over to join them.
"Yep. Only not very quickly."
"He's going to be tired," Gem suggested. "Especially if he's been going all this time."
"Hmmph."
Gem didn't know how to decipher that. She let her gaze follow the general direction. "I don't see anything."
"It's a mile or so off."
She gulped. "A mile away? I don't think I can see that far." She ignored the sharp look directed her way.
/>
"Then tell me what the furthest thing you can see is?"
She pointed out the series of boulders off to the one side. "I can see the rocks but they're fuzzy."
"Harrumph."
She grimaced. Once again, how did one interpret that?
"I can see past the rocks but can't see anything moving."
John changed his stance but never moved his head. "Whatever it is, it's still moving."
"Shouldn't we drive over there and see what it is?"
"Have you searched your area to make sure he's not lying down somewhere?" John kept his eye on the movement that only he could see.
"If he is, we won't be able to see him in the long grass, then will we?" Gem asked reasonably.
Reid nudged her shoulder. "True enough. But he's right, we have to try." Gem and Reid returned to their positions until they'd scanned everything they could. "Okay, now can we go check this out?"
"Not sure we need to."
"Huh?"
John walked to the open truck window and hit the horn three short bursts. He never took his gaze off the movement in the distance. After a moment, he repeated the three blasts.
Gemma clapped her hands over her ears the second time he did it.
When John tapped her on the shoulder, she realized she'd squeezed her eyes shut too. She opened them to find John pointing off in the same direction.
She stared. "Oh my God. Is it Mark?"
"Is it?" Reid asked doubtfully.
Just then the person starting running, waving his arms wildly.
"That's got to be him." She grinned and started waving back.
"Let's go find out." John hopped into the truck while the others dashed around the side and jumped into the box. John backed down off the knoll and drove slowly forward.
Gem was standing with Reid in the back of the truck, leaning over the top of the cab when she saw him.
"Mark!" she screamed, waving her arms wildly as they truck bounced toward him. "It's Mark!"
Reid started screaming beside her.
The figure stopped moving and swayed in place. They reached him within minutes.
John hopped out but Gem jumped over the side of the truck and reached Mark first. "Oh thank heavens, we found you." She wrapped her arms around him in a big hug.
She pulled back slightly and stared at him. "God, you look awful." And boy did he ever. There was streaked blood from a scratch on his face and he swayed in place from exhaustion. And his hands... Her joy fell away at the reminder of her own ordeal…
His hands were locked in handcuffs.
He grinned, a tired, lopsided grin that had never looked better.
"Thanks. You look pretty good yourself," he said.
"We couldn't believe it was you. Do you know how many people are out looking for you?"
His face lit up. "Really? A search party. Cool. I figured no one would bother."
Gem caught John's sharp look but didn't understand it. She reassured Mark. "Yeah, well, that ain't happening. Reid here went to the cops and got help for both of us."
Gem stepped back and slung her arm though Reid's and her other arm through Mark's. "He's a real hero."
Reid snorted. "Chicken, you mean. I ran before trouble started."
"That just makes you smart. And sure beats what I went through." Mark looked back the way he'd come and shook his head.
"And me," Gemma said in a small voice. Mark stopped and turned to look down at her. "Oh, no, Gem… Did they get you too?"
"Yeah, just after you escaped… But I managed to get away in town." She smiled at those words. "Those assholes have taken off to who knows where."
"Good riddance, I say." Reid snorted. "I'm happy if I never lay eyes on them again."
Gem agreed. "Yeah, except while we're all out trying to survive, they're getting away."
"They'll be back." Mark said, the dead certainty in his voice sneaking through his exhaustion.
John had been quiet since he'd assured himself that Mark was relatively unharmed. Finally, he spoke up. "Mark, what makes you so sure?"
"Just something they said." Mark shrugged tiredly. "I'm wet and sore in places I don't even want to think about after that hike. But I'm just glad I'm not still wandering around out there. Water, food and a shower sound perfect right about now."
He looked at her backpack and Gem understood. She handed him her water bottle. He upended it and gulped it down until he'd drained it.
"Let's go home. We need to let the others know Mark's safe." John shepherded the group to his vehicle.
They climbed back into the truck, although all three of them wanted to sit in the box. But John wasn't having any of it on the return trip. He made the calls on the way.
The sheriff would meet them at the hospital.
***
"So even the big kid, Mark, has been found safe and sound?" Fixer slammed his fist on the cheap table. A screw popped from underneath. Cheap hotel with cheaper furnishings.
"Talk about things blowing up." He glared at his hapless cousins. "Well, at least now they all should be returned to juvie – no thanks to you idiots. You weren't supposed to be seen. Did you think about that? Talk about making things ten times worse. Both kids outsmarted you. And the third one…you never even got your hands on him."
"It wasn't my fault. Fatso here, didn't check her ropes before she went into bathroom," the older one argued.
The glare Fixer blazed at the two idiots should have shut them up but instead the two idiots continued to bicker and play the blame game.
Damn. If they'd just snatched the kids, knocked them out, he could have had them picked up and carted to juvie. Creepers would have booked them into the medical clinic and kept them there while the investigation stalled out. Now his cousins could be identified. Sure the juvie kids were liars, but someone was bound to listen to their stories now. Things had gone from doable to stupid.
He walked to the window and glared out at the one-horse hick town. This was ridiculous. Even worse, his uncle at the waste disposal company had called, asking what the hell was going on. The company did many things well. They didn't do screw ups.
And he'd gotten another call from his aunt. She'd been vetting the check up calls from the sheriff's office. Apparently the sheriff was getting pissed. She'd fed him the line Fixer had given her earlier and she was sure the sheriff believed her .
He doubted it. But as long as it bought him more time to make this all go away.
And how the hell was he going to do that? And do it fast? Especially now that he had to ditch his cousins. And those two needed to disappear.
He was really starting to hate those kids.
***
Mark almost lost it when the cuts on his wrists and ankles were cleaned and salved. If it weren't for Reid laughingly telling him not to be a baby and saying even Gemma had withstood her treatment better, he'd have let the nurses know what he thought of their rough treatment, and run out of there. These people might be pissed off at the extra work the three kids had brought them, but it wasn't his fault, and they didn't need to take it out on him.
Besides, the emergency room was calm. Almost empty. They should be happy they had someone to look after. Weren't these people wanting patients to care for? Wasn't that what they did?
"How's the pain?" the nurse asked.
"What?" Half dazed from the stinging and the effort it took not to cry, he didn't understand the question the first time.
"Do you want a shot for the pain?"
Hi eyes widened. "No, I'm good," he said hurriedly. Needles. God, no. He was more than good. He'd not whimper again. He hopped off the bed and closed his eyes as shudders went through him. His swollen feet screamed at him.
"Sure?"
"Sure. No needles. I'm fine."
He peered suspiciously at the doctor who wasn't even bothering to hide her grin as she wrote something on a pad of paper. "Get these for the pain instead. I'll give you a pain pill right now to get you through."
The relief on his face had her laughing. She walked over to medicine cart then returned after a moment with a small pill in a plastic cup. She held it out alongside a glass of water.
"Thanks." He swallowed the pill. As she was holding out a prescription, he accepted the paper then hobbled out to the waiting room and the others.
Gem raced to his side and gave him a big hug. He was kinda getting used to those. Nice to have a girl like her care. She might not be all into the makeup stuff and prancing around in short shorts but she could dress up his arm anytime.