by Harley Vex
I hadn’t turned the car on yet, but I believed Jerome that it was a guzzler. They didn’t make cars for fuel mileage back in the forties.
“Okay,” I said. I was the leader now. “Our next step is to get gas. I hope we haven’t made too much noise coming into town. We can get to the station, figure out how the pumps work, or find some canisters that someone was filling. I’d raid some sheds, but no one has a gas lawnmower around here.”
No grass, no lawnmowers. It was simple. No one needed to mow rocks. So we had to go to the gas station.
“I suppose you’re right.” Jerome’s tone sunk to the bottom of the world.
“But there has to be a way to get gas, if David’s crew fueled up those tractors,” I said. “Manual pumps, maybe.” I thought. There was that hole in the ground where gas tankers put the fuel for the station, right? There had to be a way to get the fuel back out of that without power.
“We could wait for daytime,” Alana said, her voice hoarse. “David might be back down in the mine by then, if that’s where they went. Or they could hide somewhere else. Or, could we siphon gas out of all the vehicles sitting around?”
I thought. “How do we do that?” I looked between Alana and Jerome. Maybe that was how David and the others filled up at the station. They could have siphoned fuel from any diesel truck sitting there. Like that food truck at Happy’s Gas.
Jerome didn’t answer at first. He was still in shock. “We still need other things. Like food and water. Laney, look.”
I turned.
And he was right.
With horror, I realized we had one left in the box that he was holding open. “What the hell?”
“We rode bikes for fifteen miles,” he said without humor. “We’re going to need food even if we do siphon gas. That’s going to be the hard part. With gas, I think you just need a couple of plastic tubes.”
I swallowed. This car might move okay, but would it get us across the country before we starved? We’d need days, and we couldn’t risk eating radioactive food. It might not even be safe to eat until we got to the East Coast, depending on how the radiation had fallen.
More silence fell over the vehicle. David had beaten us here by a full day. He would have had time to make sure things would be bad for us when we followed. If we followed. He had shown his true colors enough for me to know that he wanted a confrontation.
And the longer we waited, the hungrier we would get.
I eyed our plastic bag. One more energy bar. We had guns, but David would, too. They outnumbered us.
But David had a weakness.
He was a coward who beat others down to look good.
I’d use that against him. I was getting Jerome and Alana out of here alive. We were going to reach those underground supplies and better yet, the others.
And I might have a trick up my sleeve.
I looked through the rearview mirror at Alana and Jerome. “We need a plan. I might need to finish David before he can do any more damage. And we’ve got something he’ll never expect.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The entrance to the Connors mine looked darker than normal as I slowly drove the car, headlights off, towards the gas station on Iron Road.
Iron Road looped around the north side of Colton, and it was unfortunate that the gas station had been built up this way. Everyone said the station was here to fuel the workers’ vehicles, and no one had bothered to move it once the mine had closed. Old Mr. Connors still owned it, as well as half the town, so what he said, went.
The base of the small mountain sloped upward on the left side of me as I drove up the dusty, paved road and towards the station, which was far too close to the mine entrance for comfort. We closed the last half mile between us and the station. My heart sank when I saw that both industrial tractors, still towing Dr. Shetlin’s minivan and one of the other cars from the Center, sat in the side lot.
My pistol felt heavy on my lap, and my shotgun, now loaded, lay barrel down against the passenger seat. A nasty taste rose in my mouth as I thought about the horror of what I might have to do. And most of all, what mental state the others who had stayed with David for far too long had devolved into. Would he be like a cult leader? A dictator, with everyone too scared to go against him? The three of us had been his examples. Someone in the group had to have known that David didn’t blow up that propane tank just to dispose of some bodies.
And that was probably his intent.
Let the quiet parts spread through the group like a disease, and maintain control.
“I don’t see anyone,” Alana said from the backseat.
I slowed the car to a crawl. The mine entrance came into clearer view as we reached the driveway of the gas station and the road curved. Yellow signs warned everyone to stay out and not to trespass. But the metal chain that had always been across the entrance now lay on the ground, reflecting the last of the day’s ruddy light.
Jerome whistled. “Here we go.”
I pulled into the gas station, searching for that cover where the fuel trucks filled the underground tanks. And I found it, close to where the tractors had parked. Keeping the headlights off, I did the hardest thing I had ever done.
I cut the ignition.
We needed to lure David out of the mine if we were going to have any chance of avoiding starvation or radiation poisoning. There was no way around it.
The three of us sat there in silence, and I watched the entrance. David, of course, wouldn’t emerge right away. He would wait.
And once he was sure we were out of the getaway vehicle, he would launch his trap.
I eyed my phone, now on the passenger seat, and I slipped out of the plastic coverings and laid them on the seat, over the phone. “Okay. I’ll go out first.” Then I took the shotgun, the most intimidating weapon I had.
“Let me,” Jerome said, just as I predicted. “I’ll see if there are any hand pumps around here. They must have found one at Happy’s Gas and brought it here. That’ll take time.”
He got out and stood there, eyeing the gas station as if trying to get his bearings. And he was. We all were. I eyed the mine. With luck, David would think that we were trying to sneak around him, grab supplies, and get out while we could.
I hoped he wanted a confrontation, though I knew how it would go.
I emerged, and so did Alana. We needed all three of us on deck, even if Alana and Jerome had only fired their guns once before, on the side of the road before we arrived in Colton.
Hopefully, they wouldn’t need that knowledge.
I slammed the door, not too loudly, and I followed Jerome towards the gas station and under its red awning. I saw no movement inside. Just gray and indistinct shapes that could be anything. Jerome pulled open the door, and–
“On the ground!”
Tony and Eric burst out, and before Jerome could jump back, the two bigger guys tackled him and threw him down, back first, to the pavement.
My heart thumped as I raised my shotgun. Jerome grunted and barely held onto his own weapon, but with Eric pinning his wrist down, he couldn’t use it.
“Let go of him, you two!” I shouted, keeping the gun trained on them.
Tony looked up and swore. “Laney.” I couldn’t read his expression.
“I said, let go of him,” I ordered. “We don’t want to hurt anyone.”
Eric and Tony both had rifles slung over their backs. Yes. David had made his group arm themselves.
“They’re coming,” Alana said beside me.
She was right. Five more figures ran from the mine, emerging one by one, and bolting towards us. David had also had his crew wait in ambush. They had been expecting us, somehow.
I hoped I had set things up right.
“We heard you driving into town earlier. Here to take our supplies?” David asked, stopping near the edge of the lot and close to our ride. “I knew the three of you were a danger.” He stood there, another rifle on his back. And I knew instantly that he had raided his own ho
me for one of his father’s military-grade assault weapons. David had even changed his clothes to military fatigues and a bulletproof vest.
And the others?
They had stopped behind David. David hadn’t outfitted them with any protective gear, of course. Mina, Bethany, Christina, and Gina carried pistols, but nothing else. And Tony and Eric wore no protection, either. Maybe they had to earn their privileges. Once again, David had put himself in a seat of power.
“So that’s true,” David said.
I struggled to find my words. Alana and Jerome needed me. From the side of my vision, Jerome struggled against Eric and Tony, who still pinned him down, while Alana slowly raised her pistol beside me. But she trembled.
The spotlight had fallen on me.
“We’re not here to steal from anybody,” I said. “We were hoping you could share, actually. And that you wouldn’t want to have full control of the supplies.”
To my shock, he didn’t reach for his weapon. But there was just enough light left for me to see his cheeks flush.
“What do we do?” Eric asked his master.
“Hold him there. We’ll figure it out, and I won’t let anybody take our supplies,” David said. Then he snapped his fingers. “You girls. Surround the two of them.”
“Oh, so you’re going to stand there all safe while you have others do your work?” I asked. But as I spoke, the four girls ran to stand behind us, and I heard weapons cocking. David had shown everyone how to use them, then.
My heart pounded. Any of them could shoot me and Alana in the backs while Jerome watched. And then what? Would David torture Jerome to death? Had he really brainwashed everyone that badly? “I can’t believe this.” I looked back at Mina, and then Bethany, who held her pistol up, shaking. And I let the words fly, because they were my best weapon. “Do you really believe the three of us were plotting against the group? We had to escape from this psycho over here, who, you know, tried to blow us up.”
Bethany flinched.
But before anyone could react, David lost it.
“You delayed us! You knew about another exit, and went off on your own without telling the rest of us that there were protective suits, and then you made it so that we couldn’t follow you and find more supplies! What was I supposed to do?” He eyed Alana, who still wore her plastic suit with the hood down.
I faced him.
While I had been looking away, David had grabbed his assault rifle. And now its barrel pointed at my heart.
Were those tears in his eyes?
He was playing the victim.
And ice spread through me. I had one bullet in this shotgun.
David had a literal string of ammo hanging out of his weapon, as well as a higher firing speed.
I would die, and so would Alana, before I could fire a second round.
I still had time to burn down. The best bet was to get the others on our side.
“Did you know David was trying to kill us with poisoned food?” I asked everyone at once. “And he knew we were behind the gas station and tried to blow us up? That’s why we had to leave.” Please, Bethany, say something.
But she wouldn’t. Bethany didn’t want to get shot, and I didn’t blame her. Everyone feared David, but no one would stand up. If everyone turned against him, this would be over in seconds. No one wanted to be the next one to draw his wrath.
“She’s lying,” David said, lowering his voice. He was shaking as his hand curled over the trigger of the assault rifle.
But it was Jerome who spoke. “You know, she’s got a point. David’s had it out for me and Laney ever since this started. I guess we’re so awesome that we threatened his enormous ego?”
Dead silence fell.
And David turned towards Jerome. And I knew what Jerome was doing. He was drawing the worst out of David and taking his attention off me, trying to help me survive.
“Tony. Eric. Pull him up and disarm him, before he pulls something.” Dangerous and quiet, David stalked towards Jerome, lowering his weapon. Even from the side, I spotted the savage glint in David’s eyes. He had played the victim and failed. Now he would morph into the predator.
Tony hesitated. “What are you going to do, man?”
“That’s an order.”
“David,” I shouted, trying anything I could to stop him.
“Keep the girls there. We’ll find another way to deal with them,” David ordered the four behind us.
“David!” Alana shouted.
Eric and Tony pulled Jerome up. He had lost his gun. It lay on the ground, useless. Jerome’s eyes widened as he looked at me, perhaps for the last time, and David, now shaking, raised his rifle–
“Take your daddy issues somewhere else. You’re a coward, and everyone knows it,” I shouted. “You helped with nothing. All you did was boss us around so you could look good. You know what? You’re just like your father.”
I got what I wanted.
David whirled. The fury in his eyes burned as he approached, rifle trained right on me–
“Laney!” Alana shouted.
And then something buzzed, and the words blasted from the passenger seat of the car.
“Countdown activated. Ten...nine...eight...”
The surrounding girls shouted and backpedaled from the car, leaving me and Alana alone.
And David turned his head to the car in the critical moment I’d been hoping for.
I raised my gun at his vest and fired.
A deafening gunshot split the air, and David lurched back and dropped his rifle as the bullet struck his vest. The sparks from the gunshot danced in my vision, leaving angry pink streaks as I bolted towards David, who lay on his back, stunned.
“...four...three...two...”
I dropped the empty shotgun and grabbed the rifle from the ground as people moved and shouted. I could die. One of David’s followers could shoot me.
I could kill him.
David ran his hand along the pavement as I raised the rifle. The strap hit me in the face as I turned it around and raised the butt in the air.
No. I wouldn’t kill.
But I would show David who was boss.
But I brought it down on his face as he rose, reaching for my legs to pull them out from under me.
And I struck his face with a sickening, hollow thud.
David wobbled there, sitting in place for a moment, his arms turning to noodles.
Someone screamed.
Otherwise, silence fell.
Blood poured out of David’s nose.
And then he flopped back, unconscious, as my phone alarm continued to blare from the passenger seat of the car, screaming at everyone who would listen.
“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The phone blared, louder and louder, as I blinked.
David continued to lie there, blood leaking from his nose, which was now misshapen. I had broken it.
And I didn’t even feel bad anymore. He was a monster.
But what about the others?
“Laney,” Alana breathed, drawing close to me.
Christina, Gina, Bethany, and Mina stood there in shock while Eric and Tony slowly let go of Jerome, staring at the form of David on the ground. Jerome stepped away from the two and stared at them as if they’d just stolen cash out of his pockets. Tony swallowed. Eric just turned away and cussed, mostly under his breath.
Everyone was in shock, and no one knew what to do. I had attacked David. And now–
“I suppose you all want to kill me?” I blurted.
Bethany swallowed. She looked at the others as if she didn’t know what they were going to do.
And I didn’t, either.
“Is he dead?” she asked.
Gina looked down at David, pale, and shook her head. “I don’t know.” Then she left a pause hanging at the end of her sentence.
I slowly turned the shotgun around and held it, barrel pointed at the concrete near David’s feet. “Are you mad?�
� I blurted that out, too.
Gina looked at me and bit her lip. She waited for someone else to speak as Jerome walked over and joined us, and no one stopped him. Where did the others stand?
“Man, that’s a relief,” Tony said. “I was hoping someone would do something about David. He was scaring me.”
“Me, too,” Eric admitted.
“Obviously, he didn’t scare you enough,” Jerome bit out. “He was going to commit murder right in front of us all. And that murder was going to be me.”
I swallowed as Alana shot me a warning glance. I knew what was happening—again—and we couldn’t let the fighting and tension ruin this delicate balance.
My phone alarm stopped as the timer ran out, and I knew I needed to turn it off to save the power, but I couldn’t. Not when we had this tenuous platform to build on, or else.
“Everyone. Disarm David and tie him up,” I said. “We have to get him under control. And I know everyone was scared to stand up to the guy. We’ll work everything out later. Right now, we need to make sure we’re all safe for the night, and that means no fighting. Jerome, that goes for you, too.”
He looked at me, anger and hurt burning in his eyes. I didn’t discount his experience. I never would. But right now, we had to make sure the danger had passed. Then we would chew out Tony, Eric, and everyone else for following this piece of crap now lying on the pavement.
* * * * *
After I grabbed my phone and powered it down, Bethany and Jerome helped me to search David, still unconscious, for weapons. He had a handgun on his hip that I hadn’t seen in the near-darkness, and he also had a knife strapped to each hip. I pocketed them both, because knives would come in handy not just for fighting, but for any other survival activity we had to do.
“You know,” Bethany told Jerome, “Thank you for standing up to him. I thought I was alone, and I think the others did, too.”
Jerome just nodded. He kept sneaking glances at Tony and Eric, who stayed away from him as they vanished back into the mine entrance and walked down the ramp, turning on flashlights as they did so. There were supplies down there, then.