Planet Urth Boxed Set

by Jennifer Martucci

  “Where’s the ammo?” Gabriel asked.

  “I don’t see any! Gabriel, I can’t find it!” she panicked.

  As he turned to her to speak, Yoshi called out.

  “We have a problem people; A big problem!”

  “Eugene?” Gabriel asked.

  “No. Two patrol cars just pulled into the driveway, lights on and everything. We need to go, now!”

  “Cops? Why would the cops be here?” Melissa whispered.

  “We have to leave,” Gabriel ordered. “Now!”

  “But what about the gun and the ammo?” she asked.

  “Forget it! We don’t have time,” he replied and replaced the Remington shotgun to its mount.

  “Let’s go!” Alexandra said and dashed down the steps. Melissa and Gabriel followed.

  The doorbell sounded followed by pounding at the front door.

  “Quick, out the back,” Yoshi said quietly.

  As they opened the backdoor and stepped onto the porch, another series of knocks at the door made Melissa jump. She knew that in no time, the police officers would make their way to the back of the house, searching for whatever or whoever they were after. She could not be certain, but felt intuited that the police pursued her and her friends. They needed to leave, unseen by the officers. Such an endeavor would be tricky, near impossible. Gabriel’s car was parked farther down the road; to get to it, they would encounter the cops. Running back to Miss Harriet’s house posed the same problem. Melissa could not think of an acceptable escape route.

  Shafts of light, approaching purposefully, distracted her from her escape route rumination. Sweeping from side to side, the beams sliced through the murkiness, illuminated the land at the side of her house.

  Gabriel grabbed her arm and half-dragged her straight across her backyard and into the wooded area bordering her property.

  “Run!” he commanded in a hoarse whisper.

  Melissa’s feet moved faster than she ever imagined they possibly could. Alexandra kept pace with her while Gabriel and Yoshi remained to their rear. Melissa was sure they could both outrun she and Alexandra easily, but stayed back to ensure their safety.

  Rain-soaked leaves canopied their pathway, sent water cascading at every stir. Wet and tangled brush underfoot made running next to impossible. Melissa struggled to keep her footing. The deeper they moved into the woods the darker it became, more dangerous. Branches lashed at her face. Undergrowth tugged at her ankles and feet. The air was heavy with moisture and smelled vaguely of fungus and decay. Melissa’s lungs burned as she pressed forward reluctant to inhale the thickening scent of rotted mushroom and tree bark. The scent, dank and dense, mixed with animal spoor, became overwhelming.

  A thump beside her followed by a whispered profanity indicated that her friend had fallen. She halted her feet and was forced to gulp the putrid air.

  “Ouch! Shit, I think I twisted my ankle,” Alexandra whispered. “Go! Go without me!”

  “Just be quiet a minute,” Yoshi ordered her. “I’ll lead them away from you.”

  Yoshi, who previously moved with the stealth and sense of direction of a nocturnal jungle cat, began running clumsily with his arms at his sides rustling and disturbing everything in his path. He crunched down hard on felled branches and twigs created a commotion. Distracted by the noise, the police officers traced their rays after him.

  “Damn it! Why did he do that? They’re going to catch him for sure,” Alexandra said as she stood and faltered on her ankle.

  “Not a chance,” Gabriel assured her. “There’s no way those town cops will be able to navigate the woods like him. Put one arm around Melissa’s shoulder and one around mine. We’ll get you out of here.”

  “And go where?” Melissa heard herself ask.

  “My car is still parked at the lot behind the school,” Alexandra offered.

  “All right, that could work. We’re close to the edge of the woods where they open to the street,” Melissa said.

  “How far from the school would we be then?” Gabriel asked.

  “A few blocks, two maybe three,” Melissa replied.

  “I say we go for it,” Alexandra said and began hobbling quickly with Melissa and Gabriel’s assistance.

  “Let’s go,” Gabriel rallied and picked up their pace by nearly carrying Alexandra to the border of the woods.

  Once on pavement, Melissa felt heartened but only slightly. The Harbingers Falls Police Department was unlikely to relent. The reason they had for pursuing so doggedly, though unknown to Melissa as of yet, was clearly deemed sufficient enough to warrant two patrol cars and four officers. She did not slow for fear of being caught. She worried for Yoshi, imagined the only reason the police hadn’t bust through the trees after them was because they had caught him.

  She ran, assisting her friend, across the street until headlights sent them searching for cover. Long beams of blue-tinted light carved through the murkiness and warned of an approaching vehicle. Fearful of another patrol car, or worse, Eugene, they found refuge behind a large, rectangular trash receptacle dropped in a driveway and filled with construction debris. They hunkered down along the length of the massive metal receptacle and waited for the rays to fan out as the car drew closer.

  A flash in Melissa’s peripheral field of vision distracted her from her vigil. An animal or person darted from the woods. Low and crouched, it moved too quickly to be human, too stealthily.

  “Did you see that?” she whispered to Gabriel.

  “See what?” he responded.

  “Something shot out of the woods, an animal or something.”

  “Right now I’m more worried about Eugene catching us, or the police.”

  Melissa, returned to reality, realized her misstep. She felt her cheeks burn with shame. Gabriel reached his hand out and took hers, gave it a gentle squeeze. She never understood how someone designed to be devoid of emotions managed to be so in tune with hers.

  A rustling behind her, however, proved her earlier observation was neither worthy of shame nor a blunder. Gabriel turned immediately to see what approached. Footsteps advanced quickly.

  “What the hell?” Alexandra said as she twisted her upper body to face the sound.

  Melissa touched Gabriel’s arm, felt the tension in his formidable muscles. He was poised to strike, alert and vigilant, no doubt employing each of his heightened senses to ascertain what loomed in their midst.

  Without warning, Yoshi materialized from behind a shrub of the neighboring property.

  “Shit, little man! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Alexandra whispered her admonishment.

  “Sorry,” Yoshi apologized with sincerity.

  “Good to see you in one piece,” Gabriel said. “Would have liked to see you coming and not been ready to kill you, but good to see you anyway.”

  Yoshi smiled, his teeth a striking bright white against the darkness.

  Melissa did not bother whisper-scolding Yoshi. She was too relieved to see him and not a mountain lion, lion-man or half-formed human descending upon them.

  “Why are we hiding behind this big smelly thing?” Yoshi asked.

  “A car, right there,” Gabriel pointed to where a vehicle drove with infinitesimal slowness. “There’s no floodlight on, so maybe it’s not the police.”

  “Maybe the driver is lost, looking for an address or something. He’s going really slowly,” Alexandra offered.

  “With our luck, that’s unlikely,” Melissa said and rose to look around the corner of the trash receptacle. She felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck raise as, upon closer inspection, she determined the car to be a police cruiser; a state police cruiser.

  “Eugene,” she murmured. “That’s Eugene.”

  “Where?” Gabriel asked.

  “That car, the driver is Eugene.”

  “You see him?”

  “No, but that’s a state police car just like the one from my driveway. I know it’s him. We have to go, now!”

  Gabrie
l looked at her, and despite the darkness, conveyed a look of understanding.

  “We have to move quickly and stay out of the light. If he catches even a glimpse of us, it’ll be too late,” Gabriel said and led the way.

  Melissa, Alexandra and Yoshi followed moving quickly but cautiously. They traversed several yards in the neighborhood and skirted the perimeter of a playground before they reached the rear parking lot of Harbingers High School. Alexandra’s car was still parked exactly where she’d left it. Dozens of other cars surrounded it as the school hosted a rival town’s wrestling team. With the match under way, Melissa guessed they did not stand out among others milling about talking on their cell phones and smoking.

  Gabriel elected to drive. Alexandra did not object. Instead, she climbed into the back seat of her own car beside Melissa.

  “Now what?” Alexandra asked.

  “We have to figure out what the hell is going on, why the cops are after us,” Melissa said.

  “We’ll likely find out if we go back to my old house. I bet Kevin and those other morons know something or are involved somehow. They might have tried to pin Eric’s murder on us,” Gabriel suggested.

  “How are we going to get out of this?” Melissa asked.

  “I don’t know, but first we have to find out what we’re dealing with,” Gabriel replied.

  Chapter 28

  Gabriel turned Alexandra’s car key in the ignition of her red Mustang and the engine roared to life, eagerly awaiting his demand for speed. He depressed the gas pedal gingerly and the car responded with immediacy propelling them forward out of the parking space it rested in for several hours until a traffic light at the end of the long entrance path halted them. The engine rumbled anxiously as it idled, as if waiting patiently to be tested on an open road or highway. But Gabriel and his friends were not headed for a destination that required either. To the contrary, they would be traveling along back roads and side streets in hopes of remaining inconspicuous. The Mustang’s tight suspension and nimble handling hugged the narrow lanes and winding roads of Harbingers Falls. Gabriel obeyed each speed limit imposed, careful not to draw attention to them despite the showiness of the color and model option of their mode of transportation.

  He quickly arrived at the threshold of his former driveway thanks in part to minimal traffic and was stunned to see lights flashing in the distance. He slowed to a stop, turned off the headlights and squinted. At the end of the gravel-filled pathway red lights flickered incessantly from a multitude of vehicles. The colorful pulses of light, all blinking at different intervals, combined to form a visual discord so disorienting the effect was similar to that of a strobe light.

  “What’s going on?” Melissa asked.

  Gabriel could not be sure but he guessed Kevin, John and Chris were dead. The presence of several ambulances, a fire truck, three police cruisers and an SUV with the words County Coroner emblazoned on its doors suggested they were not just dead but that foul play was likely. He was reluctant to tell her what he figured, what he knew had happened, but saw lying as both futile and an insult to her integrity.

  “Eugene did this,” he admitted. “And we are being blamed.”

  “What? Why would anyone think we did anything?” she questioned.

  Before he could answer her, paramedics and a man wearing a jacket with reflective letters announcing his position as County Coroner exited his front door. They maneuvered a stretcher with a covered body atop it. Behind them, more emergency personnel followed with matching stretchers, four in all.

  “They’re dead, Melissa. Kevin, Chris and John are dead. Eugene was here, I’m sure of it,” Gabriel said.

  “They killed Eric and Eugene killed them and we’re being chased by the cops?” Alexandra asked incredulously. “This is beyond a nightmare!”

  “Why would Eugene kill them?” Melissa probed.

  “I don’t know for sure, but maybe he was unhappy that they weren’t able to stop us,” Gabriel offered.

  “Or for fun,” Yoshi said solemnly.

  Gabriel felt a shiver pass through him. His friend was likely right. Eugene did not merely kill for utilitarian purposes; he was not practical by any means. Whatever the reason for their death though, he and Melissa, along with their friends, had been indicated.

  “Regardless of his sick reasoning, aren’t we better off or safer in jail than being hunted by him?” Melissa stated.

  “He’s driving around in a cop car. I would imagine he’d get to us long before that happened,” Gabriel replied.

  “You think he’d try to kill us in front of a bunch of cops?” Melissa asked.

  “I wouldn’t doubt it. He could kill them just as easily as he could kill us from what you guys have told me,” Yoshi added.

  “Yoshi’s right. He’d probably get some sick thrill out of it,” Gabriel agreed.

  “But everyone would see,” Melissa said, her features twisted in shock.

  “If anyone lived to tell about what they saw, Eugene would disappear before a search for him even started. And with us dead, there would never be a reason for him to return,” Gabriel said solemnly.

  Silence blanketed the car. Gabriel regretted his candor but felt everyone deserved to know the unfiltered truth about their circumstances and what they were up against. He looked to Melissa. Her eyes were filled with tears, her face oddly placid. She stared at the scene in the distance and brushed back silent tears with her fingertips.

  Gabriel was mildly startled when Melissa leaned forward in her seat and pressed her face to the window.

  “What is it?” Gabriel asked.

  “I know that cop,” she said pointing to one of the many uniformed officers. “That’s the jerk cop Chucky Miller that’s been harassing me.”

  She pointed at him. Gabriel didn’t recognize him but suddenly felt the urge to punch him in his smug-looking face based solely on Melissa’s testimony.

  “I know that asshole too,” Alexandra chimed in. “I’ve actually been pulled over by him. What a prick! He gave me a ticket for doing thirty-five in a thirty-mile per hour speed zone. Can you believe it! Worst part is, he was in his glory doing it, like he was all puffed up by it. He also kept looking down my shirt; fucking pervert.”

  As Alexandra spoke, Gabriel watched as the officer looked up from his notebook and seemed to gaze in their direction. He felt certain Chucky Miller had noticed them and was looking right at them.

  “He pulled you over in this car?” Gabriel asked Alexandra.

  “Yeah, about a year ago. Why?”

  “It looks like he’s looking right at us.”

  “What? No way! I doubt he would remember,” Alexandra dismissed.

  Alexandra leaned across Melissa and looked out the window.

  “Holy shit! He is looking right at us. We need to leave right now!” Alexandra exclaimed.

  No sooner than the words were out of her mouth, Gabriel depressed the gas pedal. He did not turn on the headlights and he did not accelerate too quickly. He did not trust that the powerful engine would not accelerate beyond the ability of the tires to gain traction. Skidding on wet leaves would gain the attention of the entire group at his former house. As far as he could tell, Chucky Miller was the only officer who had spotted their car. He drove away slowly with Yoshi watching Officer Miller’s every move.

  “Okay, it looks like he’s walking toward his car,” Gabriel announced.

  “Shit!” Alexandra shouted.

  “Just keep driving slowly and don’t put on the headlights until we turn on to the next street,” Yoshi said calmly. “Once we turn, hit the gas.”

  Gabriel inched the car out of sight unhurriedly.

  “He’s getting in his car,” Yoshi said.

  “He can’t know it’s us,” Alexandra declared.

  “He obviously suspects something, but he’s not telling the others,” Melissa said.

  Gabriel felt a modicum of relief as he reached the stop sign at a near roll and made a left. He immediately turned on th
e headlights and stomped on the gas pedal. The Mustang sprung to life and launched forward with a rolling growl. He sped along weaving in and out of side streets until he reached a juncture in the road that would place them on one of two main thoroughfares.

  “Where do we go now?” Melissa called.

  Headlights rapidly approached from behind them. Alexandra twisted in her seat to get a better view.

  “Shit! It’s him! He’s behind us!” Alexandra cried.

  “He hasn’t turned his lights on yet,” Yoshi said referring to the fact that Officer Miler had not yet engaged his emergency overhead lights.

  “He’s probably calling in the plates. We’re screwed,” Melissa said to Alexandra.

  Within seconds of her statement, Gabriel noticed the light bar atop his cruiser illuminated and emanated short, electronic pulses in blue and red.

  “What the fuck do we do?” Alexandra yelled.

  “Try and get away. We have no choice,” Yoshi asserted.

  “We can’t outrun the cops,” Gabriel said. “He’s not stupid. I’m sure he already called it in. There will be a dozen cops here in about two minutes. We’re going to have to try to explain the situation.”

  “No one is going to believe us!” Melissa shouted.

  “What other choice do we have?” Gabriel reasoned.

  Three automated beeps sounded from their rear signaling them to pull over. Reluctantly, Gabriel slowed and pulled to the shoulder. He looked up into the rear-view mirror of the Mustang and saw Officer Miller approaching cautiously with his firearm drawn. Gabriel lowered the driver’s side window.

  “Get out of the car!” Officer Miller screamed. “And keep your hands where I can see them!”

  Gabriel opened the driver’s side door and stepped out. Yoshi, Alexandra and Melissa followed.

  “Well I’ll be damned!” Officer Miller bellowed. “If it isn’t Miss Melissa I-know-what-I-saw Martin. There are a whole lot of people looking for you right now.”