by McNeil, Nick
“Fair point.” Abe nodded. “I think it’ll be easier to waste them here and say we killed all four of them in the exchange.”
Amelia aimed her AR-15. “That sounds good to me.”
“Since when are you two so buddy-buddy?” Levi snapped.
“My father is a veterinarian,” the girl squeezed out. “He’s a vet. A lot can transfer to people. He could be really useful.”
“Well, there we go. That is useful.” Levi stopped aiming his rifle at the girl and her father. “Maybe we can take them with us.”
“Settle down there, lover boy.” Amelia pushed her brother’s shoulder, turning him in her direction. “Let’s make sure you’re thinking with the right head right now.”
Levi slapped her hand away. “What are you even talking about?” His cheeks turned red.
“She’s obviously a total babe.” Amelia fumed, dropping her aim.
“Hey.” Abe scratched the back of his throat, yelling, “What the hell is this?” Mr. Jones continued to hold the young woman and her father hostage. The man’s face continued to bleed from his tooth being knocked out. He held his cheek in misery.
“Levi’s fault.” Amelia snarled her lip and took aim once more.
“This is how it is going to happen.” Abraham cracked his neck. “The girl here is going to siphon the gas from her vehicle into ours. Then she and her old man are going to get into the way back with Levi. Jay and Dinesh will ride in the middle row with my smokin’ hot wife.”
Amelia groaned and grabbed the girl by the sleeve of her shirt and tugged her violently to her feet. She kicked the man on the ground. “Get up.” She drove the barrel of her gun in the old man’s back and led them to the Jeep.
“Hang back for a second, Levi,” Mr. Jones requested. Levi hung around until Amelia and the others were far enough away to not hear the conversation. “Dinesh, Jay, this girl, and her father,” Abe continued, “they are all with us because of you. Four of them, three of us. I just want you to think about that.”
Levi put his hand on his father’s shoulder. “Why do what others can do for you?” He winked. “I think you told me that.”
Buckley, Washington
8:00 p.m.
The leather on the steering wheel squeaked from Amelia squeezing it so tight. Her frown could be felt from behind her. Abraham rode shotgun, with his wife in the middle row, accompanied by Dinesh and his younger brother. Dinesh and his younger brother held each other as they mourned the loss of their mother. Dinesh sat emotionless and without reaction, holding his whimpering brother. Levi, the girl, and her father sat crammed in the back with the supplies and unused firearms.
“Here, take this.” Levi handed a cough drop to the girl. “It should help take away some of the gasoline taste.”
“Thanks.” She chuckled. “I’m Clementine, by the way. And this is my father, Randal.”
“I’m really sorry about what happened back there.” Levi looked down. “I—we never intended to kill anyone in your family. We aren’t horrible people or anything.” He wanted to smile when he looked at Clementine, but he knew it wasn’t an appropriate time. “Our first impression was just awful.”
“I’m not gonna lie, we are pretty terrified of you guys. You come across as some psychopath villains from The Walking Dead or something.” Clementine lowered her head and twirled a strand of her hair. “In regard to those people though, we actually just met them today.”
“Oh, thank baby Jesus.” Levi let out a huge breath and leaned back. “I was worried I killed your mom or something.”
“Nah, my mom died, like, ten years ago. You’re fine.”
Levi’s eyes widened and his stomach hurt from holding a laugh in. Clementine held her hand to her mouth and tried not to giggle.
Levi placed his hand on Clementine’s knee. “Well, I hope we didn’t scare you too much.”
“It’s okay. The Walking Dead is my favorite show.” Clementine raised her eyebrows and shrugged.
“Well, you scared the living shit out of me.” Randal moaned, pinching the part of his gum where his tooth used to be. Levi had forgotten Clementine’s father was even in the car.
“We have a problem.” Amelia shuddered.
Mr. Jones rolled up his window. “Someone is trying to pull the same move we did.”
“Karma is a bitch.” Blood dribbled from Randal’s mouth when he laughed.
Amelia used her rearview mirror to look at Randal in the back of the Jeep. “I’ll knock your other teeth out, old man!”
The shapes and bodies of the people standing in the middle of the road could not be made out; only silhouettes revealed themselves as the headlights of the Jeep grew closer to them. The first row appeared to only be a handful of individuals; however, the closer the group drove up, the more people they saw.
“Wait,” Clementine cried out. “We can just turn around.”
Dinesh’s lost voice was found. “Wait, we literally can just turn around.”
“Yeah,” Mrs. Jones agreed. “Why don’t we just turn around?”
“I told the last group the same thing, and no one listened to me,” Clementine explained. “They wanted to try to talk things out, but I told them to just turn around.” She cleared her throat. “And then you killed half of us and kidnapped me and my father. So it may be worth turning around.”
Amelia stopped the car. The group was no more than fifty yards away from the people in the street. The group was close enough now to confirm that the mysterious people were armed.
“How fast can your Jeep go from zero to sixty-five?” Dinesh’s palms sweat.
“It can go zero to sixty-five.” Amelia stared into space. She put the Jeep in reverse and backed away from the approaching group. Their walk turned into jogging. Amelia gunned it. The Jeep swerved a little side to side but stayed on the road. Amelia spun the wheel, turning the car around. Everyone in the car flew to the side of the top-heavy SUV. Amelia shifted into drive and accelerated as fast as the car would let her.
“Okay, time to go,” Dinesh said, looking back. Sets of lights appeared from the darkness. “We really need to pick up speed. They just fired up their engines.”
“The Jeep goes Jeep speed, Dinesh.” Amelia leaned forward over the steering wheel. The nighttime provided little vision, and the windy roads were hard to keep track of. “The speedometer maxes at eighty-five. This thing starts death rattling well before then, so don’t expect this beautiful, perfectly crafted piece of American automotive to even make it to sixty.”
“They’re gaining on us.” Mr. Jones peered at the side-view mirror. “Babe, I’m going to need your help. It’ll be just like ’92.”
Mrs. Jones smiled and unbuckled her seat belt and climbed between Amelia and her husband, over the middle console.
Abraham rolled down the window. “Ready? I see at least four of them trailing us.”
“Always.” Mrs. Jones pressed her back against the side of Amelia’s driver seat and her legs against the front passenger door, wedging herself in nicely. Mr. Jones sat in the opening of the window, sticking half of his body out of the car. Mrs. Jones leaned in and grabbed his belt with both hands. Abraham leaned further out of the vehicle and opened fire.
“Dinesh, hand him my mother’s M4 when his mag empties.” Levi’s best friend leaned forward and held it in preparation. Levi opened his backpack and pulled out the 5.56mm bullets his father had taken from Mr. C. “Dinesh, when his AUGy is out, hand it over.”
“I’m being useful!” Dinesh cheered.
“Shut up, Dinesh,” Amelia scolded. The way she leaned forward and squinted at nighttime made her look like a senior citizen driving.
Mr. Jones handed his assault rifle back into the car for anyone to grab. Mrs. Jones quickly snatched it and handed it over for Levi to reload.
Dinesh filled Abe’s empty hand with a new firearm. “Wait. There are still all four cars.” Incoming bullets sprayed past the group. No one heard or felt any hit the Jeep, but the guns were heard f
iring in the background.
“Yeah, no shit, Dinesh.” Mr. Jones opened fire once more. In the darkness he couldn’t tell how close he was getting or whether he connected a shot. On occasion he could hear the bullet connecting with the metal of the cars chasing them, but his own shooting drowned a lot out. Abe blasted a hole through the chest of one of the drivers. His car swerved, smashing each vehicle on either side of him. The vehicle in the middle rolled after clipping both cars, taking out another one next to it. “Happy now? Two birds, one bullet.”
“That was a lot more than one bullet,” Clementine mumbled.
“We are going to end up back in West Pines at this rate,” Amelia cried out.
“Keep driving.” Mr. Jones treated his full autos like semis in the moving car.
“No, this ends now.” Amelia leaned over, grabbed her father’s jacket, and yanked him back into the car. She slammed on the brakes.
While the car came to a screeching halt, Levi snagged the two semiautomatic rifles and handed them over to his mother, who gave one to her husband. Levi climbed over the middle seat and wedged himself in the middle row.
“What are you doing?” Abraham checked to ensure his rifle was fully loaded. “We were going to get away.”
“Amelia, please keep driving,” Mrs. Jones emphasized, checking her firearm as well.
Levi turned the safety off of his trigger. “Amelia, who is to say they don’t shoot us up right now while we are sitting ducks.”
Amelia opened her driver door. “Then let’s not be sitting ducks.” She discharged her rifle before she fully turned around, pulling the trigger as fast as an automatic felt.
Simultaneously, Mr. and Mrs. Jones opened their doors as well and opened fire. Levi climbed out after his mother and fired his pistol from within the car, leaning just a small portion of his body out the window. The two cars that remained swerved all over the road, one jetting sideways and smashing into the first tree it came in contact with, the other heading straight for them.
“He isn’t going to turn.” Levi leaped out of the Jeep to dodge the oncoming accident.
Mr. Jones sprinted away from the car. “He’s shot. He’s going to hit us.”
Mrs. Jones and Amelia bolted toward the end of the street to avoid the oncoming wreck. Just as the truck chasing them was about to ram into the back of their car, the Jeep pulled forward, the force closing all the open doors in the process. The Jeep’s wheels burned rubber and left skid marks on the road. The truck clipped the back bumper of the Jeep and deflected into the forest.
The Jones family slowly and skeptically walked back to their car. Dinesh poked his head out the driver’s window. “What was that again, Mr. Jones?” He scratched his beard. “Something about dead weight?”
“Alright, settle down.” Abraham waved his hand in a sitting-down motion. “We still need to get the hell out of here. Great work, Dinesh, but get out of the driver’s seat.”
Dinesh tripped over the middle console climbing into the back seat. Levi popped open the trunk to avoid climbing over anything. He climbed in and sat next to Clementine. Levi looked for a way to close the trunk from the inside. “Amelia, how do I close this thing?”
“You can’t close it from the inside, Einstein.” Amelia strutted to the back of the vehicle. “I’ll close it for you.”
Mrs. Jones climbed into the back seat. Abe closed her door and walked to the passenger’s seat, passing in front of the Jeep.
Inches in front of Amelia’s face, a bullet pierced through the back window, puncturing Randal’s skull. It went straight through and into the side of the Jeep—drilling just between Clementine and Levi. Randal’s brains and blood sprayed onto Levi’s and Clementine’s bodies and faces. Levi spit out a sip of Randal’s blood. Clementine shook in place while remaining stiff as a board. Her mouth was partially open, with her eyes locked in place. Blood dripped off her and dribbled down her face, but she did nothing to wipe it off.
Many sprays of oncoming bullets surrounded the SUV. Some of the bullets punctured the car’s frame. Everyone in the car ducked, the windows’ glass mostly dropped to the ground, but several glass shards still managed to spray inside the car with each penetrating bullet.
“Some of the people must have survived the car accidents.” Levi crawled out of the trunk, grabbed Clementine’s wrist, and dragged her around to the front of the car.
Amelia trailed just behind her brother. “Why are they so persistent?” She looked over her shoulder in hopes of catching a glimpse of how many people were pursuing them or who was chasing them.
Abraham was already covered from bullet fire, placing himself behind the front of the Jeep. He balanced his assault rifle on the hood of the car and leaned his weight forward for balancing since his legs were shaking from fatigue. “I only have a few bullets left in my mag, and I can’t see where the gunfire is coming from.” Mr. Jones waited for his eyes to adjust to the night, but they let him down.
The back door, facing away from the gunfire, opened. Jay and Dinesh fell out of the car, eating dirt. Mrs. Jones was just behind them with her foot in the air—clearly having just pushed both boys out of the vehicle. She climbed out and shut the door behind her. The gunfire was consistent, but not frequent.
Levi’s chest puffed in and out, partly due to being out of breath, and partly from adrenaline. “Did anyone grab the ammunition?” He checked his magazine—only two rounds left plus the cartridge in the chamber.
“You should be keeping track of your shots fired, big brother,” Amelia replied. Her hair was messy, more falling out than held back. “Not to mention, you were the one in the back with the ammo. You should have grabbed it.”
“I was helping Clementine out of the car.” Levi just noticed he was still gripping the girl’s wrist for dear life; he eased up. He looked at her in slight embarrassment; however, she was too distraught to give him a passing glance. “You were right behind us. Why didn’t you grab it?”
“Why did you grab her before the ammunition?” Amelia stopped looking for where the oncoming gunfire was coming from and focused on her brother. “You should have been thinking about us and not her.”
“Holy shit, you two are annoying.” Dinesh squeezed his hair with both of his fists and tensed his body. “Can we please get out of here?”
“I actually—” Abraham cocked his head and considered his next words “—agree with Dinesh. I think we should run.”
“What? Let’s just get back in the car,” Amelia replied, already scooting toward her Jeep.
Dinesh put his hands out. “There is no way this thing is going to run. It barely did before.”
“We can seeeeee you,” a man called out ominously. The group looked for a body to go with the voice, but spotted nothing within the darkness. Clouds covered the moonlight, taking away the little light the nighttime allowed. “Can you see me?”
“Into the forest.” Abraham grabbed his wife by the arm. “Let’s go.”
Levi looked at Clementine and took a deep breath. He opened the back door and reached over the seat, into the trunk. Bullets ricocheted throughout the Jeep’s interior. Levi ducked and grabbed the backpack strap closest to him. He threw himself out of the car, grabbed Clementine’s arm, threw the backpack over his shoulder, and trailed after the rest of the group into the woods. Incoming bullets chased them into the forest. Chunks of tree bark scattered in all directions. Levi held out his arm to stop wooden shards from getting into his eyes. His family was out of his sight. He could barely see the oncoming trees, and he tried so hard not to crash into something, he couldn’t track which direction he was heading. The gunfire ceased, but in his panic, Levi couldn’t tell how long it had been. He stopped and looked around. Clementine was still too traumatized to speak or react, but well enough to run.
“Are you hurt?” Levi asked.
“No,” Clementine answered.
Levi heard a twig snap. He looked around but didn’t see anyone. Another cracked, this time louder and it felt clos
er.
“Click, click.” A barrel touched the back of Levi’s head. “And you’re dead.”
The gun stopped pressing against Levi’s skull. He turned around. “Goddammit, Amelia.”
Levi’s sister chuckled. “I can see you got lost too.”
“Unfortunately.” Levi sighed and let go of Clementine’s arm. “Do you think we should stay here and wait for them to find us, or should we look for them?”
“I think we should look for them. Normally I’d say we should try to cook something since we haven’t eaten in a long-ass time, but we can’t draw that type of attention with the flames and smoke,” Amelia answered.
“Or maybe we can.” Clementine rubbed her father’s blood off her face with the bottom of her shirt. “We can take a slight gamble.” She looked mostly to Amelia for permission. “We can set up a camp, get whatever is in Levi’s backpack cooking, and then hide out. We either draw in those people or your family.”
“And if it’s those people?” Amelia inquired.
Clementine used her sleeve to get the final touches of blood out from under her eyes and from inside her ears. “Then we have a trap set up.”
“There are actually some 5.56s in here.” Levi poked his head inside the bag. “About twentyish rounds left.”
“They only had two cars that were in walking range of us. Worst-case scenario, there were fourteen of them if they have SUVs and they were full,” Amelia thought out loud. “I doubt their group was that large, and I’m sure some of them are dead now. I couldn’t really imagine more than six or so people showing up.”
“Let’s not downplay half a dozen armed people,” Levi interposed.
“I’m not, but I actually agree with the girl.” Amelia punched her brother in the arm. “Okay, Gordon Ramsay, fire up that grill.”
“About that.” Levi scratched the back of his head; his rifle rested at his side on the ground. “We have two dehydrated meals, a bottle of water, some fire starter, which is good.” He looked up. “But nothing to cook it in.”
“Well, shit.” Amelia smiled to the side with her lips pressed. “I guess we can just start a fire to try to lure them in anyway.”