Sandy volunteered to keep an eye out for any possible activity on the highway while Ben and Joel set about unpacking what they needed. It had been a few days since they’d been through the refueling process, but they effortlessly fell into the familiar routine. The only difference now was that no matter how efficiently they performed the task, it would still take them twice as long.
Allie headed off toward the vending machines with the kids and Sam. Gunner noticed their group and quickly joined them, anxious to be a part of whatever was going on. Ben was about to call out to Allie—he didn’t want them wandering too far—but he stopped himself. Allie knew better than that, and he needed to start trusting her and Joel a little more when it came to stuff like that. The last thing Ben wanted was to micromanage them, especially when they didn’t need it.
Chapter Three
In no time, they had the Blazer’s tank topped off and were about halfway done filling the Jeep. Ben talked to Joel about leaving the jerry cans for last, and he agreed. If something were to happen and they needed to make a hasty exit from the gas station, at least the vehicles would have fuel. That was Ben’s line of thinking, anyway. Top off the vehicles first, and they’d be covered.
As they started filling the jerry cans, Allie and the kids returned. Of course, Ben knew they were headed back long before they appeared, thanks to Gunner and Sam; the two dogs had emerged from around the side of the Jeep, panting heavily and wagging their tails as they searched for water. Gunner nosed at the door on the Blazer, apparently forgetting he was riding in the Jeep. Either that or he was looking for water. Allie and the kids showed up a few seconds later, looking worse for wear.
Joel must have noticed it, too. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
Allie was breathing heavily and looked pale. She took a moment before answering Joel and glanced back at the vending machines. Ben was starting to get worried.
“You guys okay?” Ben directed his question at Bradley and Emma, who looked equally shaken by whatever they had seen.
“There’s a…a…um…a body over by the vending machine,” Allie stuttered. She swallowed hard as some of the color returned to her face. “Just startled me. That’s all. I didn’t expect that.”
“We’re fine.” Emma looked at her brother quickly, then back at Ben. “Can we get back in the truck now?”
“Yeah, sure, but can you get the dogs a little water first?” Ben asked. The kids nodded, and Allie offered to help them out but let them go ahead of her and get started. When they were around the other side of the truck, she took a few steps toward Ben and Joel.
“We need to leave here as soon as possible,” she mumbled under her breath and then took off after the kids.
“Hey!” Joel called after her. “What happened?”
“Nothing, we just need to finish up and move on. We shouldn’t be here.” Allie scanned the surrounding fields nervously. “We’re not welcome here.”
“We’re just about done. After the dogs drink some water, get everybody loaded up and ready to head out.”
Allie nodded and was gone around the side of the truck. Ben wasn’t sure what was going on, but something sure had spooked her, although he wasn’t sure why finding a body, even unexpectedly, would put her in such a state. A dead body wasn’t anything new, and at this point, it was maybe even a little expected.
As he and Joel lashed the jerry cans down on the vehicles, Ben’s curiosity got the better of him. “Finish this up, will you? I want to take a look at something.” He felt Joel’s eyes on him as he headed toward the vending machines. He was sure Joel was curious as well, but he was riding with Allie, and eventually she would tell him. Ben wanted to know what the fuss was about right now. What if they were in danger? He wasn’t sure what kind of threat a dead body could pose to them, though.
As Ben rounded the smashed and battered vending machines, he noticed the body right away. But it wasn’t until he had come around to the front that he saw what had no doubt upset Allie and the kids. The body was that of a young man, probably no older than his mid-twenties. He’d been shot through the throat with what looked like a crossbow bolt. The bolt impaled his neck all the way through and stuck into the metal panel of the vending machine.
The body was badly decayed, but it wasn’t that old, not as old as the bodies they had grown accustomed to seeing tangled in with the countless wrecks they passed. No, this poor kid hadn’t been dead for more than a week or so, if Ben had to guess. Maybe he was scavenging the machines in hopes of finding some overlooked morsel of food, something the kid regretted, judging by the ghastly look baked onto his sun-dried and leathery face. His left hand, shriveled and looking more like bone than skin, was frozen in place, clutching at the aluminum shaft that protruded from his neck.
To help mitigate the rotten smell, Ben pulled his shirt over his nose as he cleared the air of flies in front of his face. No wonder Allie looked a little green; this wasn’t a scene for the faint of heart. But then Ben noticed something. In spite of the smell and swarming flies, he crouched down and leaned in for a closer look. At first, he thought that the markings on the chest were the result of an animal clawing at the body. But then he saw it: the real reason for Allie’s distress and by far the most disturbing thing about this horrific scene. His shirt had been torn away, and a message was carved into his bare chest.
The birds had been picking at the body over the past few days—that much was obvious—but Ben had no problem making out the words. He read them out loud: WE R WATCHING U.
Cold chills ran down his spine as his mind raced. His head darted back and forth, checking his surroundings. When he glanced back at the crudely carved message, the lower part of the torso moved. Startled, he instinctively pulled back and ended up falling on his butt, staring at the corpse from a closer distance than he would have liked. That’s impossible, he thought. There was no way this person was alive. His heart raced, but he regained his composure and got back into a crouched position a few feet farther back.
Then he saw what had caused the movement and fought the urge to throw up his still undigested breakfast: a few maggots fell from one of the open wounds. He’d seen enough, and like Allie, all he wanted to do was put some distance between them and this place.
He glanced at the body again and couldn’t help but wonder if the ominous warning was carved before or after the young man was killed. For the victim’s sake, he hoped the latter. But mostly he hoped that they hadn’t been here too long already. He scanned the area for any signs of activity, but all was quiet.
Ben headed for the vehicles and stopped Joel, who was headed toward the machines.
“What?” Joel asked. “I want to see.”
He stopped and reluctantly allowed his dad to turn him around.
“It’s a body with a message on it,” Ben said. There was no need to elaborate on the details right now. “We’re being watched, it says. We need to get out of here now.” Ben felt stupid for not heeding Allie’s warning and also felt a little silly for being startled and falling back onto his butt. He didn’t feel that way for long, though, as his concern for their safety far outweighed his embarrassment.
He should have just helped Joel finish strapping down the jerry cans. They could have been on the road already if he hadn’t gone to investigate. Allie could have shared a little more information, but it didn’t matter anymore. Now it was time to go.
Through the Blazer’s open back window, Ben could see that Sandy was in the passenger seat, waiting, and the kids were settled back in the rear seat with Sam. Had Emma and Bradley seen the body? Ben paused at the passenger side window as he passed the Jeep. Allie was seated and buckled in, clearly more than ready to put some distance between them and this place.
“Did the kids see it?” Ben asked.
“No. I mean, I don’t think so. I tried to stop them as soon as I realized.” Allie closed her eyes and put her shaking hand over her face.
“It’s okay. We’re leaving right now. Everything’s going
to be all right.” Ben briefly put his hand on the part of her arm that was protruding from the window. “Stay a little farther back. I’m going to try and pick up the pace a bit, at least until we’re down the road a ways.”
“Got it.” Joel situated himself in the driver’s seat and buckled up while pushing Gunner to the back with his other hand; he looked at his dad and nodded as he started the engine. Ben nodded back and jogged over to the Blazer. He didn’t waste any time jumping in and fastening his seat belt. There was no point in looking around anymore. Even if he had seen someone coming, it wouldn’t have changed the plan.
“Seat belts, everybody, please,” he added. Taking a deep breath, he started the engine while trying to steady himself. It wouldn’t do any good to get the kids any more worked up than they already were. If he stayed calm, everyone else would, too. For all he knew, the people who did that to the poor kid were long gone.
He was going to pull out of here calm and collected. There couldn’t be any problems, not yet. They had just started their trip less than an hour ago. It was too soon to run into any trouble. He kept repeating those thoughts in his head, but it didn’t make him feel any better.
By the looks Sandy was giving him, he could tell that she desperately wanted to know what was going on, but he was grateful for her silence.
“Are we going to be okay, Dad?” Ben barely heard his daughter over the throaty exhaust note as he pushed the pedal toward the floor. He was careful to keep an eye out behind them and make sure that he saw Joel and Allie pull out. Only when he saw them in the rearview mirror did he answer Emma.
“It’s going to be okay.” Ben wished he knew how much of the grizzly scene his kids had witnessed, but he figured it was best to assume the worst. The next time he checked the rearview mirror, it wasn’t only to verify that the Jeep was still there, but to search farther back and see if they were being followed. It felt good to be back on the road, and he felt more in control now that they were moving again, but he was far from comfortable.
He thought about the guy and the message carved into his chest. It was one thing to kill another person over food—he’d come to expect that type of thing, unfortunately—but cutting him up like that was a step beyond sick. What type of person would do that? Whoever was responsible had problems predating the EMPs. This harsh new world had brought out the worst in a lot of people, but apparently, it had spawned pure evil in some.
Chapter Four
With each passing mile, Ben’s hope of escaping any possible confrontation with whoever had left the macabre note etched into the body grew. He was far from relaxed, but the fresh air flowing through the Blazer and the sudden chatter of his kids gave him confidence that they really were in the clear. He was surprised to see Emma and Bradley talking to each other, and unless he was mistaken, he saw the trace of a smile on Bradley’s face. Maybe they hadn’t seen the body, or maybe they were a lot more resilient than he gave them credit for.
“Do you guys want any?” Emma stuck her hand up between the two front seats, followed by Sam’s nose.
“Gum?” Sandy said loudly. “Where did you find that?” Ben smelled the fruity aroma and glanced away from the road just long enough to catch a glimpse of the bright-pink packaging.
“I found it under one of the machines at the gas station,” Bradley answered proudly.
“Yeah, we were going to look for more, but Allie wouldn’t let us,” Emma added.
Ben followed up. “She had good reason to do that.”
“Did you see the body, Dad?” Bradley leaned forward and hung his arm around Sam’s neck; the dog was now standing on the seat, trying to get at Emma’s closed fist for a closer look at the gum. Emma was also looking at Ben, awaiting his answer.
“Yeah, I did.” Ben sighed. Both kids remained fixated on him and said nothing. Clearly, they expected him to elaborate on what had happened. Even Sandy was silent in the hope of learning the truth about why they had left in such a hurry.
“It was just a badly decayed body. Someone who died trying to get food from the machines, I guess.” Ben began to beat himself up over what he had told them even before the words finished leaving his lips. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the truth, either. The young man had died looking for food around the machines, no doubt just not in the way he was trying to sell to the kids and Sandy. Bradley and Emma sat back, and for a moment, Ben felt relief that they were content to leave it at that, but it was short-lived.
Emma leaned forward, and the fruity smell returned as she chomped on a piece of gum that seemed too large to fit in her mouth.
“But why did we have to leave so quickly? I don’t get it.” She chewed through the words.
“There was a note on the body. It said that we were being watched.” Again, Ben had given only a half-truth and left out the gory details. But it was an answer he could live with for now.
“It’s okay. You know, Dad, we’ve seen dead people before. We went out with grandpa in the Jeep once after it happened.” Bradley was now chewing on a large piece of pink gum as he looked at Ben in the rearview mirror. The matter-of-factness to his voice threw Ben off for a second. His ten-year-old son was talking about seeing dead bodies like it was no big deal. It was scary and surreal all at the same time.
“And how does that make you feel? Do you want to talk about it? It’s okay to have questions, you know.” Sandy spoke softly as she turned sideways in her seat and tried to face the kids. But Emma had already checked out of the conversation and was staring off into the distance through her window. If it weren’t for the EMPs, she would have had her headphones on. “Zoning out,” as Ben liked to call it, was her nonconfrontational way of avoiding something she was uncomfortable with. Ben recognized the routine. Ignoring reality and hoping it went away wouldn’t work for Emma out here, though, and he hoped she would learn to open up soon. He knew firsthand how dangerous it could be to keep things bottled up inside.
Ben was glad Sandy had chimed in and joined the conversation. He’d drawn a blank after Bradley’s bold statement, but what she offered to his son sounded good to him. And it also reminded him how lucky he was to have another level-headed adult riding along with them.
“I’m good,” Bradley finally answered. He, too, had now focused his attention on the world outside and seemed uninterested in taking the conversation any further.
“Well, we’re both here for you guys,” Ben said. Sandy took the hints the kids were giving and repositioned herself to face forward again. He glanced over at her and smiled. “Thanks.”
Sandy nodded and smiled back. He hoped she didn’t take their silence to heart, but he was sure she understood. It wasn’t her; they’d been through a lot—they all had. Everyone deserved time to be quiet and think.
He hated to think about the potentially irreparable long-term damage this was going to do to the kids’ personalities. Their innocence was fading fast, and whatever was left of it—if there was anything left of it—would certainly be swallowed up over the long miles ahead. He’d been reunited with his kids, and for that he was thankful, but they weren’t the kids they used to be. They were acting far too old to be in bodies so small and frail.
Once again, the feeling of helplessness came over him. It was a feeling that had haunted him since the bombs hit. Compared to the emotional chaos they were forced to navigate, physical survival seemed easy at times. No amount of training could truly prepare you for this way of living. It was adapt and overcome or give up and die. There were no participation trophies being handed out for this game they were playing, and the first-place prize was the chance to get up and do it all over again the next day.
Ben could do everything in his power to bring them to Colorado, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not shield them from the unsavory things he would have to do to get them there.
Chapter Five
They were a few hours into the drive, and while Ben was happy with the progress they’d made so far, he was concerned about the heat. The storm la
st night brought some much-needed relief in the way of cooler temperatures and rain, but it was quickly returning to pre-storm conditions. Wherever puddles remained, steam rose from the road as the unforgiving sun began its assault on the day.
The familiar but unwanted thoughts of a possible breakdown crept back to the forefront of Ben’s mind. Dogged by visions of mechanical failure, he had spent much of the drive to Maryland waiting for something to go wrong with the truck. The trip back would be no different. In fact, it would be worse; there were two old vehicles to worry about now.
He wanted to give the Jeep a quick going-over at the last fuel stop, but being forced to make a hasty exit changed those plans. At the time, they were about forty-five minutes from Jack’s. Not much of a test for the Jeep, but considering Jack rarely drove farther than into town and back, Ben was nervous. This was the first real workout for the Jeep, and all the repairs and upgrades Jack had done to the Scrambler would be put to the test.
With any luck, the rest of the day would go smoothly and he could get under the hood at their next stop, whenever that was. The way the sun was glaring down and beginning to bake the landscape, they might need to stop sooner rather than later.
At least the kids seemed content for the time being. The wrecks they passed by over the last couple of hours hadn’t been anything of note. At least Ben didn’t think so. Then again, he felt like he’d grown numb when it came to avoiding the burnt-out vehicles scattered along the highway. Most of them seemed to be nothing more than black and gray blobs floating by as he steered the heavy Blazer through this never-ending obstacle course of days past.
Dark Road (Book 7): Deception Page 2
