I was shaking my head, too scared to get any words out, when he smacked me across the face so hard all I could see was white. As things started coming back into focus, I saw him raise his hand to hit me again. I tried to pull myself from underneath him—tried to get away or hide—but there was nowhere to go. I squeezed my eyes shut, preparing for the blow, but it never came. Instead, I felt the weight of Jay's body leave my legs as Dev threw him halfway across the gym.
"If you ever touch her again, I swear to you Jay, I'll kill you!"
"You think I'm scared of you?" Jay was back on his feet and charging back at Dev like something out of some action movie. This just didn't seem like real life.
Sonya came up behind me placing her arm around my shoulders and examining my throbbing cheek. Gary and several other guys from the football team were circling Jay.
Dev was back in Jay's face. "You'd better be." Dev's voice had the same edge it had when he yelled at me earlier in the evening. It was hard and low and something out of a nightmare.
"I'll kill her, and all you'll be able to do is watch!"
The words didn't sink into my head, just kind of rattled around in there trying to find a place to settle. Dev punched Jay so hard that he flew back into the crowd of guys. They dragged him outside as a few teachers finally showed up to make threats and "talk it out."
Dev rushed to my side, pulling me into his arms tightly.
"I'm sorry." He was shaking. "I'm so sorry. I should have stopped him in time. God, Evie, I'm so sorry."
I tried to tell him it was okay, that he did stop Jay before he hit me again, but my jaw hurt so badly I couldn't do anything except sit there with tears streaming down my face.
"I think we should get home, Devlin," Sonya said as Gary came back into the gym.
The lights came on, and Dev pulled back enough to look at me. I watched as his eyes left mine and travelled down to my cheek bringing back the viciously angry look in his eyes. His jaw clenched, and I could feel him tense up. I shook my head and threw myself back into his arms crying softly. I was so afraid he wasn't going to be able to control his temper, and I really needed him to be my strength.
A fraction of a moment later, he let out a very loud and very long sigh. "Shhh," he whispered gently in my ear. "I've got you. It's okay. I won't let anything happen to you, baby." He picked me up into his arms and carried me out of the gym past the watchful, but ultimately useless eyes of the chaperones.
And So It Begins
"Did you hear him, Vaughn? He was freaking serious! I'm not leaving them alone here. I can't believe you're just gonna leave."
Yes, I was eavesdropping, but I heard Gary and Dev trying to argue quietly in the living room while Sonya was in the kitchen getting me ice and examining my injury more closely. She titled my head into the light and shook her head, letting air out through her teeth.
"I'm not really leaving, Gary." Dev was speaking just barely loud enough for me to hear. "I'm just gonna go sleep in my car outside."
I tried to speak to Sonya through my eyes since my cheek hurt too much to talk. She seemed to understand and smiled at me. "We’ve got good guys, you know that?"
I nodded at her as she placed a package of frozen peas on my jaw. I winced sharply—still unable to move my jaw without a lot of pain, but at least I was home safe. Butcher whined as he looked up at me.
"He knows you're hurt," Sonya said. I nodded again. "How on earth did he hit you this hard? Not to be mean—oh what am I saying, the ass hit you; I can be as mean as I want. But he's always been a weakling. I have more muscles than he does. How did he throw you across the gym or Devlin for that matter? How did he throw Devlin that far?"
I shrugged. My brain thought it was a darn good thing that Dev seemed to have more strength when Jay had somehow gained more as well.
I still couldn't move my jaw, but I managed to get the words, "Can't-sleep-in-car," out of my mouth.
Sonya nodded. "Don’t worry. I'll take care of it."
She took my hand and pulled me out into the living room.
She had that no-nonsense tone going that so closely resembled Evelyn's. "So here's the deal since it's obvious from our conversation moments ago that you're both planning on staying the night. Evie and I will stay in my parents' room, and you guys can have our rooms. That way, no one will be sleeping in their cars." She grinned proudly when she'd finished her instructions.
"I told you you weren't as quiet as you thought you were," Gary teased Devlin.
"No, I told you that you had to be quieter. I was quiet as a freaking mouse."
Gary shoved Dev in the arm. "Sure, if that mouse was the size of a big-ass football player who thought he was shouting out plays instead of having a quiet conversation."
"Oh yeah, like you should—"
"Shut up!" Sonya yelled. "I'm tired, Evie's tired. Go to your separate rooms, or I'll make you both sleep on the porch!"
"Yes ma'am," Dev said, looking at the ground.
"Yes ma'am," Gary mimicked. "Can I at least have a kiss good night?"
"Don't push it, Mister!" she countered, wagging her finger in the air.
Around 3am, I woke up and could not get back to sleep. I successfully climbed out of bed without waking Sonya and made my way to the kitchen for something to drink. Of course, Butcher was right beside me, never leaving me alone. I patted his head for that as I pulled a glass from the cabinet.
"Evie?"
I swear I nearly passed out at the sound of Dev's voice behind me. He was sitting at the kitchen table, his hand on a glass of water wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts he must have had in his car. Butcher was wagging his tail happily as Dev rubbed behind his ears.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
"It—" pain shot through my jaw, and I brought my hand up in some useless attempt to stop it. I scrunched my eyes together as the pain throbbed in my jaw.
Dev got up from the table and went to the freezer. He took out a bag of string beans—the peas had run out—and handed them to me. "You couldn't sleep either?"
I shook my head and put the string beans to my face, wincing at the pain.
"I, uh, I don't know if I should tell you this."
I put my hand on my hip and narrowed my eyes at him in an attempt to appear stern.
"Jay—he—his group of guys—" He glanced down at his hands and stopped talking.
I walked over to him, leaning against the counter and put my fingers underneath his chin to guide his eyes back to me.
He seemed very sad, very confused, and very worried. "He—they burned down a big portion of the school, baby. He, they—" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "They killed Nina's mom. I don't—I just—she was the last chaperone to leave and they…" He didn't say anything more.
My brain felt stunted. I felt frozen there. Maybe I was still dreaming? Maybe this was all my subconscious trying to work out what had happened at the dance. This just couldn't be really happening.
"They—" I said, trying to work it out in my mind. "They killed—no." I didn’t want to believe it, but Dev's tight eyes and grimace told me it had to be true. "It… Jay?" It couldn't have been Jay? It had to have been the others. I tried to imagine it was one of the other guys in his group, but I knew. I knew it was Jay leading them, just like I'd known he wasn't Jay anymore at the dance when he hit me. His face stuck stubbornly in my mind, his eyes flashing with pure hatred. I couldn’t deny it, couldn’t talk myself into not believing it, all I could do was shake my head and wrap my arms around Dev. Silent tears streamed down my face.
I don't know how long I tried to hide in the safety of Dev's arms, but eventually I pulled him back to my room where I curled up close to him. Nothing inappropriate happened, not even a kiss on the top of my head, but I did finally fall peacefully asleep to the steady sound of Dev's breathing.
The next day was so quiet. Dev had been in touch with everyone through text messages, which is how he knew about the school and Nina's mom. Bef
ore lunch, we all went for a drive to Gary's house and Dev's so they could get some things. Gary's dad thought we should all stay there, but Gary convinced him that he and Dev had it all under control. It was a similar experience at Dev's except that Dev's dad was much more difficult to persuade. He didn't think it was safe or right for a bunch of kids to protect themselves. Dev finally pulled him outside. When they came back, his dad wouldn't meet anyone's eyes, but he didn't argue anymore.
When we left, his mom pulled me into a hug I wasn't expecting. She whispered in my ear, "I'm just so glad he finally met a nice girl. Things may be tough right now, but I can see how happy he is with you."
I smiled at her warmly and squeezed her upper arm as Dev pulled me away with him.
After resting my jaw all night and all morning, I was able to move it a bit without pain. It was at least enough to talk as long as I didn't open my mouth too wide.
When we got back to Sonya's, Sonya and Gary sat on the couch flipping through channels on the TV. Dev and I were on the floor trying to annoy Butcher. Typically, he would sprawl out across my lap and let me poke him, pull on his ears, blow on his nose—all the annoying things you can do to pester your dog—and he wouldn't budge an inch. It had become our own version of the staring contest to see who got annoyed with it faster, me or him. Usually, he won, but with Dev's help attacking his paws, Butcher was swatting at us in no time. There are few things more rewarding in life than pestering your pooch. Cuddling with him was definitely one of them, which is why I pulled Butchie into my arms and gave him a strong squeeze.
"Butchie, where's baby?" I spoke carefully with my jaw, but kept the high-pitched excitement that I knew Butcher would react to. "Go find baby, Butch, go get him." At Dev's confused laughter, I explained while Butcher jumped up and trotted away. "He's had baby for forever. It's the only toy he ever left the stuffing in. He loves that thing."
From the kitchen, I could hear the low rumblings of Butcher's growling. Dev's smile dropped from his face, and he lithely pulled himself up off the floor as Butcher started barking deeply and viciously. I could hear him jumping up on the closed glass door that led to the patio.
"He probably just sees a cat or something," I commented, jumping up to calm him down. "What do you see, Butcher?" I yelled as I came around the kitchen corner. I patted Butcher on the head and looked in the direction he had been barking, searching for the cause. Dark, even though it was broad daylight, crouched on the ground, with nearly black eyes, was something partially resembling Jay. I jumped back and screamed the second I realized what I was seeing.
Dev put his hands on my arms, forcing my attention to his eyes. "Stay here," he commanded slowly. "I mean it, Evie. Stay right here!"
I nodded vaguely. I had no idea what was going on or what on earth had happened to Jay. My eyes wandered back to the patio.
"Butcher," Dev said sternly, and Butch stopped barking. "Stay with Evie, you understand." He pointed his finger at Butcher. "Stay with Evie."
I watched him slide the glass door open and step outside. I wanted to stop him, but I couldn't find my voice. I could hear Gary and Sonya behind me, but kept my eyes locked on Dev.
"Sonya," Gary's voice was filled with urgency as he spoke quickly. "Does Gabriel still keep his gun under the bed?" There was no answer behind me. "Sonya!" Gary shouted again, "Gun? Where is it?"
"I—yeah, under his bed, but I—I don't know where the bullets are. You're not going to…" her voice trailed off as I watched Dev say something to Jay.
Without warning, Jay shoved the patio table next to him into the pool. It was like watching someone swipe their arm across a table sending delicate crystal glasses crashing to the floor. The ease with which he pushed that heavy glass table into the pool just wasn't possible. It wasn't humanly possible. It weighed a ton. My mind flashed back to summertime when Evelyn had us all move it. Jay had joked with Gary about it being bolted to the ground when they tried to move it together. Sonya and I eventually had to help them, and even then, we did it very slowly.
Gary shoved his way past me and out the door with Gabriel's shotgun aimed at Jay. I didn't know how to feel or what to think. This was Jay—my Jay, well used to be my Jay. The faces of his parents came floating into my head. They would be devastated to lose him, but this wasn't Jay. What happened to him?
Thankfully, Jay saw the gun and backed away several feet before taking off. He looked like some kind of wild animal. When Dev and Gary came back into the house, Butcher stopped growling and sniffed them.
"Sonya, call your dad. I need to know where those bullets are right now," Gary sounded so organized, like a doctor arriving on the scene of a horrific car accident.
I sat down at the kitchen table, unable to focus and stand at the same time. "What's going on?" I asked the surface of the wooden table.
"I need to report an intruder…" Confused, I finally noticed that Devlin was on the phone hanging on the kitchen wall. "No, I understand that, but this is Jay Reeves, he just left 1032 St… But aren't you trying to arrest him? He was involved in the burning of Kennedy and he helped kill… But—" he sounded confused and angrier by the second. "Yeah, I got it," he said condescendingly then he slammed the phone down.
Gary walked closer to Dev. "That didn't sound good."
"They have bigger things going on." Dev gave a pointed glare at Gary, and Gary nodded knowingly.
"What the hell is going on?" I yelled, just noticing the strain on my jaw. Both Dev and Gary stared at me wide-eyed, but neither one of them said a word. "I'm not a baby, for crying out loud! You don't need to protect me from everything."
"Hey," Sonya jumped in, "I don't know jack either. Come on, these aren't the days of covered wagons—you don't need to shield the womenfolk."
Dev stepped closer to me. He looked like he was going to say something, but then he turned back to the patio door. "First, close the blinds and help me put this table up against the glass door. Sonya, call your dad and find out where the bullets are. Gary, go check all the windows and doors, and make sure they're locked. Is there a command to tell Butcher to be on guard?"
"He's always on guard," I said as if he'd just asked me to make sure Butcher keeps breathing. "He's a trained German Shepherd—he was born on guard."
All he did was nod as we followed the instructions he gave us. When the table was up against the door, I stared at him expectantly. But Sonya had just gotten through to her parents' cell phone, so Dev held his fingers to his lips pointing over at her.
"Mom… mom… mom!" she finally shouted. "Where does dad keep his bullets?" I walked over to the phone, and Sonya placed the phone between us so we could both hear what they were saying.
"Are you finally learning to shoot?" she asked with a smile in her voice. "Why do you need his bullets?"
"It's…" Sonya's voice shook. "Things are bad here mom. Jay—he's after Evie, and I'm scared, mom."
"Whoa, hold on." Evelyn's voice became hard. "What's going on, Sonya?"
"They burned down the school, Mom. They killed Nina's mom. She was chaperoning the dance, and they killed her. Jay hit Evie, and he just left here. He's—there's something wrong with him, like drugs or something."
In that moment, hearing Sonya say the word "drugs" and explain it all to her parents, I felt like a complete idiot. How did I not see it before? How could I be so completely wrapped up in my own drama not to see what I already knew was happening?
I took charge, finally knowing what to do. "Evelyn, it's Evie. I need to talk to Gabriel. Is he there?"
"Evie, I don't understand what's—" Evelyn's mom instincts had clearly kicked in, but I couldn't explain it all to her.
"Evelyn!" I lost all patience, "I need to talk to Gabriel, now!"
A second later, Gabriel's deep voice was on the line. "Evie?"
I kept my eyes on Dev to see if my assumptions were correct. "Gabriel. Do you remember when we were talking about Independence and the murders and the quarantine and all that?"
"Yes."
Gabriel was quiet for a moment, but then his voice became very clear and very urgent. "In Bishop? When? When did it start? How far is it?"
"I don't know. They burned down the gym, they killed Nina's mom, Jay—he—he's after me."
"Hold on." I could hear him pull the phone away from his mouth and urgently say to Evelyn, "Find out how we can get the hell off this boat right now and on a plane back home."
Gary pointed to the gun again.
I nodded. "Where are your bullets, Gabriel?"
"There are some wrapped in the pink socks in the back of my sock drawer, some in the right-hand drawer of the hutch in the kitchen, and several boxes inside the tampon boxes in the back of the cabinet in our bathroom. Harm taught you to shoot, right?"
"Yeah, I can shoot, but Gary and Dev are here with us. Gary's had a lot more practice than I have."
"There's a handgun, it's small and not as reliable if you aren't used to it, give it to Gary and take the shotgun. It's in the large rooster on top of the fridge. There are a few bullets with it, but several boxes out in the storage shed in a box labeled 'seeds' on the top shelf to the right. Did you get that, Evie?"
"Handgun, rooster, top of fridge." I pointed and watched Devlin pull it down. "Um, bullets: storage shed, shelf on right labeled 'seeds;' shotgun bullets: pink sock in sock drawer, hutch drawer, and tampon boxes in your bathroom. Is that right?"
Gary started pulling out the drawers and emptying them on the counter.
Gabriel's voice lightened a bit, but he didn't slow down. "Good girl. If it's still early, they haven't blocked the roads. Get in the car and go. Don't wait for the quarantine. Get out of town now. Take Butcher. Don’t let him leave your side."
"I'm scared, daddy," Sonya said as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"I know, sweetie, but you both can do this. You've got to be strong. Take the guns, get out of there. Take your cell phones and Sonya's car charger. Call us every hour. I need to know where you're at. We're on the first plane out of here. Stay with the guys. Listen to me, Evie. Get out of there now! You know what's coming. I love you both, now go."
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