The Way Back (Book 2): The Way Back, Part II

by Giancioppo, Danny

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so, but… I don’t know,” Luke replied. “I was scared as hell that whole time, but I think we came off strong, and if we did that well enough, then maybe we scared them off. They don’t know how many of us are in this house, and even if they do have an army of people, they might at least think we have a small army as well.”

  “That said though, they might see us as a threat too, right?” Cody said. “Maybe they’ll be afraid we could come for them, or that we’re just lying about having Snow. If they come back– and, what is it… I mean they might– we have to be ready.”

  “We will be,” Adam said. “We are. We’ve got weapons, and ammo, and enough food to keep us fed for at least a couple weeks without having to go out. We can just block ourselves in if we have to.”

  “Not really,” Derrick said. “What about the Goliaths? They’re still on their way, right? Who knows how long it’ll take them to get here. We can’t wait that out, no matter what we’ve got. Plus, I can’t just whip up food out of nothing; what happens if we run out and still have to stay inside?”

  “So wait, let’s just say we do follow these guys,” Jeremy planned aloud, writing his thoughts into his notebook, “and we get to see their base, maybe even take a few of them out. That would work, right?”

  “How the shit would that work? What would that solve, even if we could manage that– which we can’t,” Adam argued.

  “Well… If the Goliaths are following Luke, and if he hides in their base, he could lead them right to those people, right? And so long as we got out, then it would hopefully take care of at least one of our problems,” Jeremy explained, showcasing his notes and a sloppily drawn diagram of his idea.

  It honestly wasn’t terrible, but there were a lot of flaws. Would Luke go alone? How? How could he manage that without being incredibly suspicious? And what if they killed him? What if the Goliaths did?

  “It’s not a bad idea, I’ll give you that Jer, but it needs a lot more time and planning than that,” Luke said.

  “I think we should just leave,” Chris said. “I mean, it wouldn’t be easy in the van, but if we found– or maybe just made our own plow– we could push through the snow, and make our way out of Maine. At least we’d be away from those guys; not to mention the god damn cold.”

  “Yeah, but not the Goliaths,” Cody insisted. “We don’t know if they’re going to follow us to the ends of the Earth, or if this was a one time thing. But if they do, then we’re totally screwed.”

  “What if we go out into the ocean? Find a boat or something and just live off the sea?” Chris said.

  “First of all, you want to live off of fish and sea water?” Nolan asked, Chris cringing at the very thought. “Besides, we hardly know what’s on the land, in the U.S.,” he stressed. “God only knows what’s in the waters. That could be a dangerously stupid idea.”

  “Well newsflash, dude, these are all dangerously stupid ideas!” Chris lashed. “I’m sorry, but you know what I mean; we have to do something, and personally I think staying here is the wrong call. Whatever we do with this girl involved, we’re at risk.”

  “It’s worth the risk,” Luke said.

  “Is it?” Derrick asked, Luke giving him an annoyed glance.

  “I’m not saying I totally disagree with you, Chris, but we can’t just up and go,” Adam said. “Like you said, if we did leave, we’d need to make or find a plow to put on the van in order to drive through the snow, and that in itself would take Derry days.”

  “Why would I have to do it!?” Derrick asked. “Why alone!?”

  “I think we need to weigh our options out a little better before we do something stupid,” Adam said, ignoring Derrick, and making some of the others smile amusedly.

  “Look, why don’t we all just rest and figure this out later,” Cody said. “It’s late enough as is.” Everyone agreed, and cleaned up the kitchen. They eventually all made their way to their respective rooms, except for Luke and Jeremy, who both stayed seated at the table. Jeremy continued to write in his notes.

  “Why aren’t you going to bed?” Luke asked.

  “Because Cody’s not my father, that’s why,” Jeremy joked, Luke smiling at the comment. “I’m just not that tired; too preoccupied planning. I assume you’re feeling the same way?”

  “You know me all too well,” Luke said, grabbing two of only about five beers from the fridge, and handing Jeremy one. “I think you made a good point– hiding me in their base; if it comes to it, anyway.”

  “Well hold on, that was just spitballing,” Jeremy cautioned. “Adam’s right, don’t do anything stupid, even if it is your specialty.”

  “Well seriously, Jeremy, we need to think about this,” Luke persisted. “The Goliaths are coming– I know what I saw, what I felt. Maybe it only happened once, or maybe it’ll happen again, but either way, they’re coming. Meanwhile, we’ve got a girl who’s wanted by some seriously tapped individuals, that may or may not now want us dead as well. Maybe if I tried to slink in and just… wait it out, I could kill two birds with one stone.”

  “Yeah, or you’ll be killed by two birds and the stone will fall on your head,” Jeremy countered. “I know you love playing hero, but don’t try to sacrifice yourself over something you may not have to even sacrifice yourself over.”

  “I’ll always put you guys first,” Luke said. “And I’ll always put Snow first now, too. If I need to throw myself into the fire for you guys to stay warm, I’m doing it. You can’t stop me, Jer.”

  “No, we never could, could we?” Jeremy said.

  Jeremy both smiled and grimaced a bit. It was true, and they all knew it; they loved each other like family, but Luke was always putting himself second. Not even that, he was like a thousandth on his list of who came first. Still, they weren’t losing him, not again.

  “Not that I’m not for her staying, but why are you so pro-Snow?” Jeremy asked. “You just trying to fill the void? Fulfill that parent trap you always wanted?” Luke scoffed, and took a sip of his beer.

  “Maybe a little,” he said. “I mean, this is probably as close as I’m gonna ever get, you know?”

  “You don’t know that,” Jeremy said. “We go back to Cyrus’s, you meet a nice lady, and boom, you’re a father of four.”

  “I’m not finding another nice lady, Jer. I already did,” Luke waved off. Jeremy knew not to push it, so he just gave in. “Besides, even if it’s not for me… she doesn’t have anyone else, you know? She was raised by a bunch of lunatics, she’s probably never really known what it was like to have a family. We can give her that, you know?”

  “I… yeah, I guess so,” Jeremy said. Luke knew he didn’t really get it as much, but still, Jeremy was a soft-hearted guy, behind all the scruff and grime.

  For a while longer, they just sat there, drinking and talking about what may come next, when suddenly, Cody bounded back down stairs. He seemed to be in a panic.

  “Hey, did you guys see Snow come down here?” he asked, looking all around. Jeremy and Luke both stood up immediately, and glanced all around.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Jeremy said. Luke shook his head.

  “She never came downstairs, no,” he agreed. “Was the window open?”

  “Yeah, but it’s on the second floor, you don’t really think–?” Cody asked.

  “When there’s something like two feet of thick snow on the ground, yeah, I do,” Luke grimaced.

  “You think she’s going to track those guys down and try to do something?” Jeremy asked.

  “She seemed pretty scared of them before, why would she change her mind on that now?” Cody argued.

  “If that is the case, then maybe after seeing and hearing what we did, she wants to make a stand herself,” Luke thought aloud.

  “With what? She didn’t come downstairs, so she’s got no… weapon…” Jeremy said. He looked over to Luke, as did Cody, as Luke stared out into space disappointedly, and let out a deep, heavy sigh.

 
“You seriously put it back in your room? After she already tried to kill you with it once?” Cody asked.

  “She’s on our side now! I figured it wouldn’t be a problem anymore!” Luke defended.

  “Find another spot, man!” Jeremy said, running over to grab his coat and put on boots. The other two followed.

  “I don’t like re-memorizing where I put my things– I’m crippled for God’s sake, excuse the hell out of me,” Luke argued.

  “Where could she go? It’s not like she had any idea where they could have gone, right?” Cody wondered.

  “One of their guys was bleeding, and it hasn’t been snowing all day. She’ll follow the blood trail,” Luke said. They ran over to grab weapons: a pistol and knife for Luke, another pistol for Jeremy, and a rifle for Cody.

  “Should we get the others?” Cody asked. He hopped around as he tried to tie his boot, leaning against the wall for stability.

  “No, they need to stay here. We just need to grab her before she gets to them. Besides, if we’re too late, we need our numbers back here; just go,” Luke said, making his way to the door.

  “I… can we hold it just a second, though?” Cody asked.

  “Dude, come on!” Jeremy protested. Cody sighed, and tucked his laces into the boot, and rolling his pant leg over it as best he could.

  In a few moments, they were at the front gate, and Luke pulled up the already cracked open door, seeing small footprints following a now dark patch of blood that trailed off into the woods.

  “She found it,” Jeremy noticed, groaning as they made their way forward. “I swear, if we have to kill anyone, this girl is going to get on my bad side.”

  “So let’s be quick then,” Cody said. They ran as fast as they could through the snow, following the blood and footprints– which seemed to follow a cohesive path– and praying they were fast enough to find her before the others.

  “Christ, how far did they go? You’d think with a man wounded, they’d stop somewhere relatively close by,” Jeremy said, tired already from all the movement.

  “Unless they already had a checkpoint they knew to go to,” Luke said.

  “Well… would that mean more men?” Cody asked.

  “I think it could,” Luke replied. “Maybe not many, but probably more than we can handle.”

  The very thought put Jeremy and Cody in unease, but they knew they had to trudge on. Snow would most certainly be captured or killed if she tried to attack them.

  About a half hour later, they saw a light growing in the distance as they made their way closer. There were several, in fact; torches, by the looks of it. They were placed in a thickly tree-infested area in the forest, surrounding the tents and tables.

  A campfire sat extinguished, likely just a while ago seeing as the wood was still sizzling out in the pit; whoever was there had just recently stepped away.

  “Hey, look! Over there to the right!” Cody whispered, pointing out beyond the camp’s borders. “I think that’s her!”

  Luke and Jeremy looked over, and saw Snow creeping over toward the tents. Luke, immediately fretful for her safety, sprinted through the snow, as Jeremy and Cody tried to stop him.

  “Luke, slow down man, you’re going to get us caught!” Jeremy warned, though Luke wouldn’t listen. Cody and Jeremy just groaned, and tried to catch up to him as he made his way closer.

  “Dude, seriously, I’ve got so much snow in my shoe right now,” Cody moaned. “Why do we have to keep running!”

  “Snow!” Luke shouted through gritted teeth as he grew closer. “Snow, come here, now!” Once she could hear him, she looked over in fear, unsure who he was. She pulled out Luke’s knife and scowled at him, though Luke could see she shook violently, probably from both fear and the cold.

  He just picked up his pace even more, and as she started to make her way toward him, he tackled her, covering her mouth and holding her hand in his to stop her from stabbing at him. While mid-air, he maneuvered himself so he hit the ground and not her. He kept them low in the snow’s cover, hoping to not get caught by any eyes drawn to the noise of their ruckus.

  “Snow, it’s me! It’s Luke!” he whispered, and felt her calm down a little, though she still seemed on edge. “What are you doing?” he asked. “You’re going to get yourself killed!”

  The camp was maybe 20 feet away from them, and they had only a couple trees and the dark of the night to mask them from their enemy’s sight. Cody and Jeremy made their way over to her and Luke soon after he got there and caught their breath, crouching down to stay as unnoticed as possible.

  “What the hell was that, man!?” Jeremy scolded Luke, though staying as quiet as he could. “Maybe a warning next time!?”

  “My foot is soaked right now, Luke. Soaked!” Cody whined. “I hate to sound like Chris, man, but for real, this is some bullshit.”

  “I’m sorry, I had to make sure I got to her before she got to them,” Luke apologized, motioning toward the knife she still held. “Cody, take this?” Cody reached over and grabbed it from her, putting it in an open sheath he had on his belt.

  “I wanted to deal with them, like you did!” Snow protested.

  “We didn’t kill them, Snow! Any of them! They killed someone, and we told them to leave!” Luke explained. “You don’t just kill people!” He saw from her face that Snow realized her mistake, becoming horrifyingly aware of the error she’d made.

  “Okay look, we need to get out of here, now,” Cody said. “She shouted pretty loud, who knows who it might have woken up.”

  “Right, let’s go,” Luke said, getting up a bit with Snow, and handing her to Cody. “Carry her? It’ll be easier than making her trudge through this again.” Cody nodded, and held her up against his torso.

  They turned around, when suddenly a bustling came from the camp, and the voices of many people from within the tents followed. They were waking up, and the guys assumed it was not for the better.

  “Shit!” Jeremy cussed under his breath. “What do we do now?”

  Luke’s jaw locked, and his eyes darted around in every direction they could in a very quick succession. He was thinking, and usually when he thought like that it meant he was going to do something stupid.

  “Cody, take Snow, and run. Now!” he ordered in a panicked whisper. The others glanced at one another in shock.

  “What!?” Cody asked, blown away at Luke’s poor decision making. He could be reckless sometimes, sure, but this was just idiotic.

  “What the about me!?” Jeremy yelled in a whisper, hurt that Luke decided to throw him under the bus with himself.

  “We’re gonna make a distraction, let them get away,” Luke explained.

  “How!? We gonna pretend to be wild animals!? They’re not morons, Luke! By the looks of it, that’s us!” Jeremy said.

  “No! No, I’ve got a plan, don’t worry,” Luke insisted. “Codes, just go already!” He motioned to the woods, and after a moment of hesitation, and a very heavy groan, Cody placed Snow in a better position against his body, and ran off.

  “So… what are we doing, Luke?” Jeremy asked, looking back to his friend. As scared as he seemed, this was normally when everyone used to look to Luke for some kind of a plan. Then again, Luke seemed like he was losing it a bit lately, so maybe this was going to be a terrible idea.

  “I’m going to use my vision-thing to scare the shit out of them,” Luke said.

  “Are you god damn serious!?” Jeremy burst out, his voice just a bit too loud. “You have no idea how to control that!”

  “Well, no…” Luke said. “But I’ve got an idea what brings it on. If I’m right, and I can get it to work, maybe we can use it to our advantage.”

  Jeremy glared at his friend with a massive frown struck across his face, but in the moment, he admittedly couldn’t come up with any plan of his own, and they were frantically running out of time. He had to trust Luke’s intuition. Which really, really sucked.

  “Fine,” Jeremy agreed. “But why do I need to be her
e?”

  “Because,” Luke explained, “I’m pretty sure that the thing that brings it on is stress, or anger– maybe any intense emotion, really.”

  “So?” Jeremy asked.

  “So, hit me,” Luke ordered.

  “What!? I’m not going to hit you!” Luke moved closer to Jeremy.

  “You’re going to hit me, now, or we’re almost certainly going to die.”

  Jeremy grimaced, and without any further warning swung at Luke’s face, knocking him to the ground.

  “Oh god, Luke!? You alright, man!?” Jeremy pleaded, picking his friend up from the snow he had fallen into. Luke groaned, and rubbed his head.

  “Yeah, I’m alright. I don’t think it did enough to–!” he was unable to finish, as Jeremy for some reason took that as an open invitation to hit him again, this time on the other side of the face, and quite a bit harder at that.

  Luke fell into the snow again, and turned his body to look at Jeremy in anger. Jeremy thought he saw Luke’s eyes flicker for a moment, but then they remained their normal silver hue.

  “Damn, sorry dude,” Jeremy apologized. “I thought it would help.”

  Luke just growled in protest, when they both heard footsteps getting closer and closer to them, and all too late they realized…

  They were surrounded.

  From what Luke could make out, there were at least 10 people encircling them, with more looking on cautiously from the safety of their camp. They definitely had guns, and they didn’t seem very happy.

  They at least for the moment had no intention of just shooting Luke and Jeremy on the spot– they were watching them. Waiting for some kind of a reaction, whether it be visceral or passive, and Luke honestly still wasn’t sure which would play off better with this group.

  “Who are you two? What are you doing here?” one man asked. That was good; he could have said more, but he didn’t– that meant they probably didn’t have any trace of Cody and Snow.

  Jeremy looked to Luke, trying to see if he had some other trick up his sleeve. It didn’t look like it though. Luke was just gazing around at all the faces surrounding them, almost like he was searching for someone in particular.