“Is anyone here?” he called out.
She clapped a hand over his mouth. “What are you doing?”
“I’m back here.” Aaron’s voice called from deeper in the building.
“See, it worked,” Nick mumbled.
Pulling her hand away, she walked in the direction of Aaron’s voice. Light spilled from a room at the end of the dark hallway. Aaron slumped against the wall of a jail cell with his legs stretched in front of him.
“Rochelle, Nick, I didn’t think you’d come.” Blood covered his face and matted his hair. His hands gripped the bars of his cell tightly, and he used them to pull himself to his feet. “They’ve been questioning me for hours. Then they got a call about a riot.”
“You’re welcome,” Nick exclaimed from the desk chair he rested in.
“I think they took the key,” Aaron groaned.
Lareina picked up two paper clips off the only desk and straightened them between her fingers. “No worries, we don’t need keys.” She focused on unlocking the door, feeling time scurry away, pulling the train along with it.
Nick buried his face in his hands and coughed. Aaron rested his forehead against his arm, and Lareina didn’t dare glance up at the blood. She worried that between Nick’s fever and Aaron’s injuries, she would never get both of them out of Oak Creek.
“Your medicine is in that bag on the desk,” Aaron told Nick. “I almost got out with it but they caught me at the door.”
She moved the pins carefully until one slid forward and the door pulled open. “Well Aaron Swanson, it looks like you’re free once again.”
He scrambled out of the cell and gave her a one-armed hug. “Thanks, I owe you.”
Nick hovered near the door shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He held the bag of medicine tightly in his right hand. “Can we get out of here before they come back?”
Ignoring him, she pulled the top drawer of the desk open. A key remained stuck in the lock indicating that it held something important. Inside she found a handgun shoved to the back.
“Nick’s right, we should get going, Rochelle,” Aaron urged.
She picked up the gun, ejected the magazine, and, satisfied that it was loaded, clicked it back into place.
“What are you doing? Put that back,” Nick ordered from halfway out the door.
“There’s not a chance I’m going back out into the world with no way to defend myself.”
Nick stood in her way as if he wouldn’t let her pass until she returned it. Aaron put a hand on Nick’s shoulder and guided him through the doorway.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Aaron decided. “Right now let’s get out of here.”
Lareina followed her friends back out into the darkness, three shadows jogging across the lawn. At the shed, she put the gun and Nick’s medicine into her bag before replacing it on her shoulders. Using a neglected flower pot for a stepping stool, she pulled herself up onto the roof then helped a lethargic Nick as Aaron gave him a leg up from below.
She walked across the top of the wall, one foot in front of the other, like a tightrope walker, arms straight out for balance. Behind her Aaron slowly stumbled forward, stopping every few minutes to regain his balance. Between them, Nick crawled along the wall, unable to keep his balance at all. Finally reaching the safety of the large tree, she tossed her bag down and pulled herself into its sturdy branches. For the first time since being discovered by the guards, she touched something outside of Oak Creek.
The boys followed more slowly, but all three of them made it safely to the ground, although Nick stumbled forward and collapsed into the grass.
Aaron helped him up and sat next to him against the wall. “Maybe we should rest for just a second.
Too anxious to sit, Lareina rifled through her bag until she felt the jeans she packed and slipped them on under her dress. Careful not to lose anything in the dark, she pulled socks and tennis shoes back onto her feet. While the boys rested, she went to the other side of the tree, pulled off her dress, and slipped into a t-shirt and jacket.
She held her beautiful dress draped across her hands. As much as she lamented leaving it behind, she couldn’t justify carrying an item unnecessary to her survival that would only take up precious space in her bag. Holding it in front of her one last time, believing it would be the only beautiful dress she would ever own in her life, she tossed it over the wall.
“Are you guys ready to go?”
Nick and Aaron both looked up but remained still, as if just moving their eyes was exhausting enough. Nick, pale and listless, sat with his head back against the wall. Aaron leaned forward with his head in his hands.
“How are we going to get tickets for the train?” Nick groaned.
She felt the pinch in her forehead that always accompanied his questions. “We don’t need tickets. This train doesn’t exactly stop here.”
Aaron, always calm and logical, sat up straight and gaped in panic. “You said we could board a train.”
“We can . . . we will,” she assured. “It’ll slow down as it passes the town and then we just have to jump on.” She had imagined it a thousand times during the past week. Run along the train and dive inside without being swept under. Barring desperation, she would never attempt it, but they had no other options. She could run fast enough, but what about Aaron and Nick?
“We can’t do that.” Nick propped his head up on his hands. “Stowing away is how we ended up here in the first place.”
“This time will be different because I’ll be with you.” She picked up one bag and secured it around her shoulders.
The boys didn’t disagree but didn’t jump up to join her either. They became two statues decorating the wall’s exterior. A train whistle blared in the distance.
“I’m not making you guys do anything. Stay here, come with me, it’s up to you.” She pushed her way through the knee-high grass, knowing they would follow her. A rustling snap of feet moving confirmed her prediction and she smiled. Periodically she turned to encourage them and make sure Aaron still had the other backpack.
Three hazy flashlight beams wavered near the wall. “Check over there. They’ll probably go for the tracks,” a gruff voice ordered.
Chapter 30
All three of them froze in place. Nick’s half-closed eyes glanced at Lareina while he tried to muffle his scratchy breathing. Instinctively she reached for his hand and squeezed. He replied with a weak press.
“We have to go,” she whispered.
None of them moved.
After one last calming breath, she darted forward, pulling Nick along with her through the undesirable open area and across the tracks. They dove into a ditch and flattened themselves in the grass. Aaron slid down next to them. The approaching train light sent shadows dancing through overgrown pastures, and shook the ground beneath them with increasingly violent intensity.
“We’ll get on a car toward the back,” she shouted over the deafening roar. Chilly air rushed by her face as she watched open doors pass in slow motion. Standing, she took a step toward the train. “That’s the one.”
She jogged along the tracks, caught the side of the train, and pulled herself inside. Immediately turning around, she gripped the doorframe for leverage, caught Aaron’s hand, and helped him into the empty box on wheels. Nick staggered through the grass, struggling to keep up. All three of them shouted at the same time but couldn’t hear a thing over the clamor of their transportation. Lareina and Aaron each caught one of Nick’s hands and hauled him inside.
They landed in a heap on the floor. All three of them breathed heavily but Nick coughed so desperately he could barely breathe at all.
Aaron put an arm behind him and helped him sit upright, and Lareina rummaged through her bag until she found a bottle of water. It took a few tries for him to swallow any, but the water seemed to chase his cough away for a while. Pulling a sleeve of crackers out of his bag, Aaron held two out to Nick.
“No way.” Nick shook his head. “Anything I ea
t makes me sick.”
“This is going to help,” Aaron assured. “You only have to eat two.”
He took them, stared at them in his hand, and began nibbling at the edges. Aaron dispensed one of the pills to Nick when both crackers were gone.
“How long are we on this train, Rochelle?”
Folding her legs under her, she pictured the schedule. “We’ll be in Dallas within a half hour, but we have to jump before the train gets into the city.”
Aaron nodded in response, offered his bag to Nick so he had something to lay his head on, and joined Lareina where she sat looking out at the dark landscape.
“Is he going to be okay?” she asked without turning around.
Aaron pressed his fingers against his own forehead, massaging in small circles. “He’ll be just fine. Give him a few days and you won’t believe he was ever sick.”
“Are you all right?” she asked. With the immediate worries of escape resolved, hundreds of others climbed up to take their place.
His smile exuded its usual assurance and confidence. He splashed water from his bottle onto his face and wiped it away with the bottom of his shirt. “Is that better?”
Lareina looked at him without her peripheral vision for the first time that night. Even in the pale light she could see darker spots on his forehead and along the left side of his face. “It’s going to bruise really bad.”
“Bruises won’t last forever, but I’m beginning to think this headache will.”
She nodded sympathetically. “Close your eyes for a few minutes. I’ll keep watch.”
He didn’t move from his spot beside her. “Rochelle, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you when you first told me about Nick. I guess I just wanted to believe Oak Creek was the place I’d been looking for.”
“For a while, I wanted to believe it too.” She turned back to the dark sky dotted with stars.
Aaron’s hand touched her shoulder then slid away. Resting her chin on her knees, she watched darkness speed by until houses slid across a conveyor belt—some abandoned and rundown, others kept up with lights shining inside. The train slowed, and she leaned out of the car to see the tracks curve to the left where a city sparkled with light in the near distance.
“Aaron . . . Nick,” she yelled over the clacking train as she crossed the car to where Nick slept.
Aaron sat up, blinking groggily. “Are we there?”
She touched Nick’s arm. He opened his eyes but didn’t move.
“Yeah, there’s a big curve coming up. We’re slowing way down. Come on, Nick.” She shook his shoulder until he sat up.
“I’m too tired,” he groaned.
“You’ll be able to sleep again soon,” Aaron promised. “We just have to get off the train.”
They slipped backpack straps over their shoulders, then pulled Nick to his feet as the train pitched and slowed. Holding onto each other for balance, they crossed the car and stood in the doorway, watching dark outlines pass against the horizon.
“You want to jump out as far as you can then roll on the ground. Don’t try to stay on your feet,” she shouted through the air swishing around them.
Aaron nodded.
Nick watched the ground rush by.
“On three,” Aaron shouted. “One.”
Lareina tightened her grip on the backpack strap.
“Two.”
She set her feet and looked out for a good landing point.
“Three.”
She jumped and floated weightlessly on the air for a breathless moment before crashing to the ground. Two thuds joined her a little farther along the tracks as she rolled then sprang to her feet. The train rumbled away with its whistle blaring, warning Dallas of its arrival. Aaron popped up out of the grass and together they found Nick and pried him off the ground.
“Everyone okay?” Aaron asked casually as if jumping from trains was a part of their normal, daily routine.
“Yeah,” Lareina and Nick responded at the same time.
“Now what?” Nick asked.
“Now we find an abandoned house.” She pointed across the railroad tracks toward a sprawling neighborhood down a steep embankment.
Thrilled that she could move in any direction without being trapped by a wall, she jogged down the hill and found herself in the backyard of a blue house with white shutters and well-kept landscaping. A hose lay stretched across the grass as if the owners had just watered the lawn.
Next door, a deteriorated fence introduced an overgrown yard. Momentarily forgetting about the boys, who still struggled down the embankment, she slipped through an open space in the fence and waded through the waist-high grass to a cobblestone patio that jutted halfway into the yard and was surrounded by bushes. Overturned patio furniture and a half-rotted umbrella flapping in the wind were the only evidence of any enjoyable evenings and peaceful mornings that once occurred there.
“You could’ve waited for us, you know.”
Nick’s voice startled her and she spun around. Aaron shrugged. Nick righted a lawn chair and sat down.
“I’m sorry. I just want to find us some shelter.” She walked up to the sliding patio doors. A curtain covered the window, but through a sliver of space she could see drawers dumped and strewn across gray linoleum.
“The place has been looted.” She set her bag down and pulled out the gun. “You two stay here and I’ll make sure it’s empty.”
She braced herself for an argument, but it didn’t come. Perhaps her companions were too tired to continually protest. Taking her time, she walked around the house where she found a shattered window leading into the two-car garage. She pulled herself up and inside where one car remained. Any tools that once hung above a bench had been carried off.
Grasping the gun in her hand, she found the door leading inside and crept into the kitchen she’d observed from outside. Every cupboard hung open, revealing dishes and empty shelves. Open drawers hung lopsided beneath countertops. Paper clips, refrigerator magnets, and papers littered the floor. She flipped a switch on the wall. No electricity. She tried the sink. No running water.
Continuing her tour, she checked the living room, two bathrooms, four bedrooms, and dining room, all equally torn apart by looters and empty of people. Feeling confident they were safe, she returned to the dining room and slid the patio door open.
Aaron jumped up, but Nick remained seated on the lawn chair.
“Aren’t you coming?” Aaron asked him.
“No, I’m done with breaking into people’s houses and using their stuff. We’re going to get caught and I’ll end up right back in prison.”
Lareina noticed Nick cringe as she slipped the gun back into her bag. “We aren’t going to get caught. Someone else has already stolen everything valuable.”
“I suppose there’s no running water,” he continued. “The only thing that could possibly convince me to enter that house is a warm shower.”
She groaned and turned away, ready to leave Nick outside, but Aaron caught her arm. “We can’t leave him out here. It’s cold.”
“You once told me that I’m old enough to make my own decisions.” Nick pulled his chair against a wall that sheltered him from the wind. “I’ll just stay outside where I still have my freedom.”
Focusing on breathing, she kept her expression neutral, remaining tolerant of his impractical notions. “You’re sick and it’s freezing out here. I thought you were starting to understand that we need shelter for survival.”
Slouching into the chair, Nick blinked up at her. “I thought you figured out the difference between right and wrong. It was around the time you kissed me.”
Aaron stared at each of them in turn, switching his attention from one to the other.
“You mean when you kissed me.” Annoyance twisted through her voice. “And gave me the flu.”
“You said it was the only option we had.” Nick sat up straighter. “I told you it was a bad idea.”
“Yeah, well, I thought getting you out of that
prison to somewhere warm was the right thing to do.” What more could he want? “But I guess I was wrong, because here you are, free and perfectly content to sit out in the cold.”
With one hand flat against the back of his neck, Aaron took a few steps toward the house. “You know, you two aren’t so fun to be around when I have a headache.”
Nick’s eyes remained locked with Lareina’s. “You saved us by lying and stealing. You’re a real hero.”
“Why do you always have to be so stubborn?”
“Why do you always have to get your way?” He crumpled into an intense fit of coughing.
She waited for it to stop, but even after it did, he stayed hunched over. Shaking her head, she turned and walked into the house. Aaron followed and flopped down on the couch.
“Why did I bring him along again?” She rubbed her forehead.
Aaron rested his head against the couch pillow. “It must have been for the twenty-five percent of the time you two actually get along. It was only yesterday you were worried about him.”
She sank into a chair, feeling guilty for arguing with Nick and leaving him outside when she was well and he was sick. His cough sounded worse, and the temperature outside continued to drop. There had to be some way to trick him into coming inside.
After Aaron fell asleep, she explored the house, finding blankets and some clothes. Despite her attempts to distract herself, her mind continually returned to Nick: cold, sick, and alone outside. Then she remembered the hose in the neighbor’s yard. The lawn next door was trimmed and the house kept up. It appeared that someone lived there, so maybe they had running water.
Lareina walked onto the patio carrying a blanket and a bar of soap she’d stolen from Oak Creek. She dropped the blanket onto an empty patio chair and tossed the soap at a sleeping Nick. It slammed into his chin.
“Ow, what are you doing?” he groaned, looking at her through watery eyes, trying to clear his throat.
“I know a way you can take a shower, but I’ll only help you if you’ll agree to come inside after.”
He shivered and picked at a patch of dirt on the back of his hand. “You just said this house doesn’t have running water. Is this some kind of trick?”
Hope for the Best Page 24