The Road Trip At The End (Book 2): Border

by Wood, J N

  Richard sniffed, and said, ‘Sorry Maya.’

  A loud explosion of noise filled the aisles. Almost immediately, something incredibly hot seemed to splatter across my face, like someone had thrown acid at me. I turned away, holding my face. The sudden sharp pain was unbelievable. For a very brief moment, I caught sight of Maya, lying face down on the floor. A pool of dark liquid quickly spreading out on the tiles under her head.

  I could hear people screaming and shouting at each other. I turned back around, fully expecting the rifle guy to finish me off.

  Had I been shot in the face? Why is it my fucking face all the time? Fuck. It can’t be good to get shot in the face.

  I could at least see. I still had my sight.

  Richard was now aiming his gun at me, shouting something unintelligible and crying. Ali was closer to him now, screaming for him to put the gun down.

  ‘He has it now!’ Richard shouted, after regaining his composure slightly. ‘The bullet went through Maya and into him. He has it now!’ The gun in his hand looked like it was shaking uncontrollably.

  What? Have I been shot in the face?

  One moment, Richard was shouting and pointing his gun at me. Then, in a blink of an eye, he’d released his grip on the gun, and his arm hung limply by his side. At the same time, the gun seemed to fall to the floor in slow motion, loudly clattering when it hit the tiles. Richard however, was completely silent. Once the gun was still, everything became eerily quiet. Richard’s mouth became slack and gaped open. Blood started to drip from his chin. I followed the trail of blood back up his face, to see an arrowhead protruding out of his now empty right eye socket.

  Where the fuck had his eye ball gone?

  He collapsed forward onto Maya’s prone body.

  A crunching noise drew my attention to the right. Big Gee was holding a rifle in his left hand, and seemed to be lifting the former owner of the rifle into the air. He was stood behind him, with his closed fist under the squirming man’s chin. I was very confused as to how he was managing this bizarre balancing act. The man was now twitching uncontrollably, his eyes almost popping out of his head.

  Behind them, Sandra’s mouth was covered with her hands. Her uncle Gilberto was now stood behind her, looking shocked, his hands on her shoulders.

  With another clattering noise, Gee dropped the rifle to the floor and gripped the man’s throat with his left hand. With a sickening squelch, he wrenched his right hand away from under the man’s chin. In Gee’s hand was a huge knife, dripping with blood. He let go of the man’s neck, and the now lifeless body collapsed to the floor in a heap.

  Ah right, okay then, that explains the balancing act.

  Gee was walking towards me. Ali didn’t know what to do. Her gun was wavering between Richard, who was now lying motionless on the floor, and Gee.

  ‘Chris,’ Gee said, with obvious concern in his voice. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘Dunno mate,’ I replied. ‘I think something hit me in the face.’

  ‘Is anybody else hurt?’ Shannon asked from behind me.

  ‘Chris, who are these people?’ Ali asked, sounding panicked, now pointing her gun at something behind me.

  ‘Friends, they’re all friends, they’re alright,’ I quickly replied.

  Gee moved my hands away from my face and pointed his torch at me. The blinding light made me clamp my eyes shut. I could feel people closing in around me.

  Gilberto was asking Ali to come to him.

  ‘Was he shot?’ Jack asked.

  ‘No,’ Gee said. ‘I think it just shrapnel.’

  ‘Shrapnel?’ I asked. ‘Like bullet shrapnel?’

  The blinding white light from Gee’s torch left my face, so I opened my eyes and tried to blink away the yellow spots in my vision. Jack, Michael, Gee and Shannon were stood in front of me, all with concerned expressions. Ali, Sandra and Gilberto stood by the guy Gee had killed with his knife, eyeing us suspiciously.

  ‘No, not bullet,’ Gee said. ‘Shrapnel from woman’s head.’

  ‘You fucking what?’ I asked.

  Did I hear that right?

  ‘Bits of bone. They leave woman’s head,’ Gee said, pointing down to Maya on the floor. ‘And hit Chris in face.’

  Yep, turns out I did.

  Everyone looked disgusted, but nowhere near as much as I felt.

  ‘Jesus fucking Christ,’ I said. ‘I need to get it out of my face.’

  Shannon quickly took charge of the situation. ‘Gee, you get Chris back to the bus,’ she instructed. ‘Michael and I will go to the pharmacy. Jack, you get clothes for Gee and Chris.’ She leaned in closer to me, before whispering, ‘What about those three? We did just kill two of them.’

  ‘I’ve never seen the three dead people before. The ones left alive are friends, or were friends,’ I whispered. ‘Shall we tell them to meet us at the bus?’

  Shannon and Michael shared a glance. I had no idea what the look was meant to convey.

  ‘Up to you,’ Shannon said to me. ‘You know them.’

  I nodded, before looking over to Ali. ‘Our bus is over by the petrol station, the gas station, you know what I mean. Meet us over there?’

  ‘Okay,’ Ali replied, her voice sounding calmer than she looked. ‘Ten minutes?’

  The sound of running footsteps echoed through the building, making everyone take cover behind the aisles.

  ‘Dad…Sandra…Alison,’ a voice hissed out.

  Ali quickly turned towards us, gesturing with her hands for everyone to calm down. ‘It’s just Pete,’ she said. ‘Pete,’ she called out to him. ‘We’re okay, stay there, we’ll come to you.’

  Ali grabbed a hold of Gilberto and Sandra and walked them down one of the aisles closest to them.

  ‘Right okay,’ Shannon said. ‘Everyone get going. Gee, let us know if anything heard the gunshot and is heading our way.’

  Gee nodded.

  ‘No sweat pants Jack,’ I said. ‘For me that is. You wear whatever you want.’

  ‘Thanks Dad,’ he replied, before spinning around to look for the clothing department.

  ‘But make sure you get me proper pants, English pants. I need some underwear,’ I called out. ‘That makes it sound like I just shit myself,’ I quickly added. ‘I haven’t shit myself.’

  ‘Yes I know what you mean,’ he called back. ‘Now shut up.’

  Outside, it all looked clear. Gee walked alongside me as we headed back to the bus. Blood dripped from my chin, so I needlessly leaned forward to stop it falling onto my already dirty clothes.

  I lifted my face up slightly. ‘How bad does my face look Gee?’

  He shrugged his shoulders. ‘It look okay,’ he answered. His voice had become very high pitched.

  ‘I thought you’d be a better liar than that,’ I said.

  ‘No,’ he almost squeaked. ‘It look okay.’

  Chapter 4: Good Shit

  It did not look okay. I looked in the rear view mirror on the bus, and counted nine puncture wounds on my face. I was lucky they’d all missed my eyes.

  Just to even things up, somehow it was only the right side of my face this time.

  Jack, Shannon and Michael piled onto the bus almost at the same time, all carrying full bags. Shannon lifted one of her bags into the air. The sound of glass clinking together came from the bag.

  ‘Whiskey or vodka?’ she asked me.

  ‘Erm…whiskey,’ I replied.

  Shannon smiled. ‘Good choice.’

  Michael started laying out plastic sheets on one of the seats, while Shannon emptied her bags. I sat on the other side of the bus. She took out two bottles. One was vodka and one whiskey. I expected her to hand me one, but she placed them both on the floor. Next out was a little plastic container with a red label. She twisted the cap off and shook a couple of tablets into her hand.

  ‘Here, take two of these,’ she said, handing them to me. ‘Actually, make it three.’

  ‘Do I get any whiskey?’ I asked.

  ‘No, that
’s for me when I’ve finished,’ she replied. ‘Now lie down here.’ She was pointing at the plastic covered seat. ‘We can clean up the blood on your face while the painkillers take effect.’

  I laid down on my back.

  ‘Jack, you hold the flashlight,’ Shannon said. ‘Keep it on Chris’s face at all times.’

  Jack immediately shone his torch into my eyes, almost blinding me.

  ‘Fuck’s sake Jack. Just give me a couple of seconds warning.’

  ‘Michael, you disinfect these with the vodka,’ she said. ‘Just soak them in a clean cup and leave it down here.’

  I tried to open my eyes but the light was too bright.

  ‘What are you disinfecting?’ I asked. ‘Tweezers?’

  ‘Yes,’ Shannon replied. ‘And the razor blades.’

  I lifted my hand to block the torch light, and looked at Shannon. ‘What?’ I asked her.

  Jack moved the torch so the light was back in my eyes, making me quickly close them again.

  ‘Jack,’ I yelled. ‘For fuck’s sake.’

  ‘Shannon told me,’ Jack said.

  ‘Twat,’ I replied.

  ‘Quiet Chris,’ Shannon softly said, gently laying a hand on my shoulder. ‘I thought I might have to shave some of your beard, but it looks like it’s just around your eye.’

  ‘Oh right, that’s okay then,’ I said.

  ‘Also, I might have to make the holes in your face a bit bigger, so I can get the bones, I mean shrapnel, out.’

  ‘Fuck’s sake,’ I said. ‘By the way, you can say bones. There are human fucking bones in my face.’

  We all heard two vehicles pulling up outside the bus.

  ‘Hey, your friends are here Chris,’ Michael called out, before I heard him exit the bus.

  ‘Okay Chris,’ Shannon said. ‘I’m just going to get rid of the blood to start with. No cutting just yet.’

  Shannon very gently started to wipe my face. It felt like she was using damp cotton pads. Sharp stinging pains shot through me every time she rubbed it over one of the wounds.

  At some point during the painful cleaning process, the bus moved slightly as someone climbed the steps.

  ‘I told them to wait for us outside,’ Michael said. ‘They seem okay.’

  ‘How many of them are there?’ I asked. ‘Do they all look Hispanic?’

  ‘Yeah I think so,’ Michael replied. ‘Six adults. The two women and the old guy from Costco were there, and three other guys, they looked like brothers. I think there were some kids but I couldn’t really see them in the back of the second car.’

  ‘Three young boys, one blond?’ I asked.

  ‘Sorry, couldn’t tell,’ Michael said. ‘I can go and have another look.’

  ‘No it’s okay. Looks like they never found Sandra’s husband and daughter.’

  ‘Hey Michael,’ Shannon said. ‘Make sure Gee is–.'

  ‘It’s okay. Gee is already keeping an eye on them. You know he doesn’t trust anybody.’

  ‘Good,’ she answered.

  I could barely open my eyes, so I squinted through the bright light to see what was happening.

  Shannon twisted her baseball cap around so it was on backwards. ‘So Chris, I’m going to try it with the tweezers first. Hopefully I won’t have to do any cutting.’

  ‘Yeah, go for it,’ I said, sighing and closing my eyes. ‘Although I don’t think those painkillers have done anything.’

  ‘I don’t think they’ll do a great deal,’ Shannon said. ‘They might take the edge off slightly.’

  ‘Great,’ I said flatly.

  She started prodding my face with her fingers, slowly moving around all the wounds.

  ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I’m going in.’

  I’m not going to lie, it was fucking painful.

  After rummaging around for what felt like an absolute fucking age, she pulled the tweezers out, triumphantly stating, ‘Got it. One down, eight to go.’

  ‘Fucking hell,’ I softly muttered.

  She quickly moved onto the next one. It only took a few seconds of stabbing with the tweezers, before she told me she was going to have to cut.

  ‘On three. One…two…three,’ Shannon said.

  I felt the blade slice through my skin. It wasn’t as painful as the tweezer rummaging.

  I realised once she’d stopped cutting, Shannon had been talking to me. ‘Sorry, you’re gonna have to repeat all of that,’ I said, through gritted teeth. ‘Didn’t get a single word.’

  ‘I said…’ She paused to pick up the tweezers to continue with the rummaging. ‘You know these people. What should we do? I’m assuming they’re heading north. Do you want to ask them to join us? Yes! Two down.’

  I’d been holding my breath, releasing it when I felt part of another person being plucked from my face. ‘Ow!’ I exclaimed, and then tried to compose myself. ‘I think they’re nice people. Most of them hated me and Jack–.’

  ‘They hated you,’ Jack interrupted.

  ‘They hated us because they were just trying to protect their family,’ I said. ‘I think you should definitely ask, but they’ll probably say no.’

  ‘Not in the bus though?’ Jack asked. ‘Do you mean in a convoy.’

  ‘Yes of course,’ Shannon replied. ‘We’d all fit in here but it’d be safer to have a few vehicles.’

  Shannon continued with her attempt at school bus surgery. I was desperate for it to end, and beginning to wish she would do more slicing, just to speed the process up.

  There was only one bit of the dead woman left to remove when Gee started talking to somebody outside. I could only hear Gee’s side of the conversation.

  ‘No,’ he said.

  Silence.

  ‘Have weapon?’

  Silence.

  ‘Okay,’ he said.

  A few seconds later, Ali called out, ‘Hello, coming aboard.’

  It doesn’t take much to get past Gee then.

  ‘Hello,’ Jack said. ‘Come in and see Chris’s face getting cut open. It’s delightful viewing.’

  ‘Hi Jack,’ Ali said. ‘You look…different.’

  ‘Oh yeah, Chris threw me into a dumpster.’

  ‘He’d already fucked his eye up before I threw him into the dumpster,’ I quickly said.

  ‘Oh fuck,’ Ali exclaimed.

  I’m guessing she just saw me.

  ‘Hi Chris,’ Ali said. ‘Are you two competing for the most fucked up face awards?’

  ‘So much cursing,’ Shannon said.

  ‘Yep,’ I replied. ‘And I think I just took the lead. Ali, this is Shannon. Shannon, this is Ali.’

  They greeted each other before Shannon introduced Ali to Michael. ‘The guy with his head between his legs over there is my husband, Michael. He’s just feeling a bit queasy.’

  ‘Hello,’ Michael wearily said. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have watched.’

  ‘You’ve been in here for a long time, and the big guy outside was staring at us,’ Ali said. ‘You know the one. He just killed two people in Costco. He’s really freaking the kids out.’

  ‘I killed one of them, sorry,’ Michael said. It sounded like his head was still between his legs.

  ‘That’s Gee,’ Jack said. ‘And don’t worry about him. He’s just looking after us.’

  ‘We barely knew those people really,’ Ali said. ‘But that doesn’t mean any of us wanted to witness what just happened.’

  ‘Last one is out,’ Shannon said, probably in an effort to diffuse the awkward moment. ‘Well done Chris. Just need to get you cleaned up.’

  ‘Thank fuck for that,’ I whispered. ‘How big are these holes? You’re not planning on stitching me up are you?’

  ‘No, they’re only small.’

  ‘Really?’ I asked. ‘It felt like you were cutting half my face off.’

  I lifted my hand to feel my face. Shannon slapped my hand away.

  ‘No!’ she scolded me. ‘No touching with your dirty hands. Infections Chris, we don’t want infectio
ns.’

  ‘What you said back there, about not catching the virus from bites. Is that true?’ Ali asked.

  ‘Yes, it was me that was bitten,’ Shannon said, very openly. ‘I’m fine. It was a few days ago.’

  Ali initial response was very similar to mine, silence.

  While Shannon was applying the final touches to my messed up face, we discussed both of our group’s future plans. We turned out to share exactly the same plans. Ali said they’d be happy to follow us in their vehicles. While waiting for us outside, her family had apparently been talking about the advantages of following a bus with a snow plough all the way up to Canada.

  Along with the gauze taped to my face, I also had nine circular plasters, or band aids as Shannon called them, dotted around the right side of my face.

  ‘Yep, you’re winning,’ Jack said, pointing at me, and then at his bandaged eye. ‘I thought I was ahead still, but you look fucking ridiculous.’

  Gee was back in the driver’s seat. Ali had gone back to her family, who were following us in two identical looking black Dodge Caravans.

  The Intersate-90 took us around the few towns and cities north of Yakima, so the roads were soon surrounded by trees. It was a shame it was dark, because we might have been able to see Mount Rainier during the day.

  ‘The black expanse of nothingness on our left is Keechelus Lake,’ Michael said, after looking up from the map.

  We all looked out through the windows, and saw darkness.

  ‘Thanks Tour Guide Michael,’ I said. ‘Gee, I think it might be poo o’clock.’

  ‘What the fuck is this?’ Gee replied.

  ‘Poo o’clock,’ I said. ‘You know? Time for a Poo.’

  ‘You need shit?’ he asked.

  ‘Yeah, I need a shit.’

  ‘Why not just say this?’

  ‘Because that annoys Shannon, and she’s already shouted at me enough today,’ I replied.

  ‘Please don’t make me the mother figure in this group,’ Shannon exclaimed.

  ‘Anyway Gee, yeah, I need a shit,’ I said. ‘Could you pull over please?’

  After we’d stopped, I stood in the open doorway, pointing my torch into the edge of the dark and very foreboding tree line. The torch light bouncing off the leaves made everything look like it was moving.