by Lukens, Mark
Frank turned to Cole—they locked eyes. Cole’s muscles tensed; he was ready for anything right now. He’d seen Frank angry before, but never this angry.
Finally, Frank stepped away. He paced through the snow for a moment, breathing out a long slow breath that misted up in front of his face.
Cole watched Frank, still a little unsure about him for a moment. “What now, boss?”
Frank looked at Cole, then at the others. “Change of plans.”
“Change of plans?” Jose yelled.
“Yes, a change of plans,” Frank growled at Jose. “Since that psycho motherfucker over there decided to kill someone, every cop in the state is going to be looking for us now.”
A silence blanketed them for a moment. Frank glanced at Trevor, a pale but athletic-looking man who looked more like a grad student than a bank robber. Trevor pulled out a pair of glasses from his coat pocket, completing the look. He took a folded paper out of his jacket, unfolded it, and studied it for a moment. It was a hand-drawn map. He looked up and pointed at the dark woods. “If we go through those woods for about half a mile, there will be a road.”
*
Stella’s rusty Chevy Suburban rumbled down the lonely, snow-covered road. Unending evergreens lined both sides of the road and it made her feel like she was driving through a gigantic maze, a white path that twisted through big green walls. She concentrated on the road, gripping the steering wheel as the windshield wipers struggled to push the falling snow out of the way.
The heater blasted warm air at Stella and David as the radio played classic rock-and-roll. The song ended.
“That was Fleetwood Mac,” the DJ on the radio said. “Looks like there’s no end in sight for the big series of snowstorms moving through. Some areas can expect at least another foot of snow and possible whiteout conditions.”
“Yeah, we know,” Stella muttered at the radio.
Stella watched the road, slowing down a little as they rounded a curve which revealed more trees. More and more trees. Unending trees. No buildings. No other cars in sight. No signs of human life. She hadn’t seen another vehicle for the last twenty minutes. That was probably because everybody else knew about the snowstorm; they were already tucked safely inside their homes, ready to ride out the storm. They weren’t driving through it like idiots.
She glanced at David who stared out the windshield, his body rigid, his face tense. He looked out the passenger window and watched the dark green blur of trees whip by. He turned around and stared out the back window of the Suburban, watching the road and dark trees disappear into a mist of white snow behind them.
Stella forced a smile on her face—hopefully a reassuring smile. “David, don’t worry. It didn’t follow us.”
David turned back around in his seat and stared at Stella, searching her eyes for the truth.
Stella changed the subject. “Don’t you want to know where we’re going?”
David nodded. “Where?” he whispered.
“My aunt’s house. She lives in northern Colorado. We’ll be safe up there. I promise. Then we’ll figure out what to do next. We’ll call someone for you.”
David looked down at his coat and toyed with one of the buttons.
Stella watched the road for a moment as she rounded a bend. She glanced back at David as she talked to him. “There has to be someone I can call for you.”
No answer from David.
“David, why won’t you tell me?”
Still no answer from David.
“You need to talk to me,” she said a little louder and sharper than she had intended.
David looked at Stella. His eyes drilled into hers, they seemed to burn into her mind for a split second. “My parents aren’t here anymore.”
The words shocked Stella. “What do you mean? What happened to them?”
David looked out the windshield, his eyes widened in shock. “Look out!!”
Stella looked back at the road and saw a man dressed in a dark coat standing in the middle of the snow-covered road; he waved his arms, trying to flag her down. She stomped her foot on the brake. Too hard. The tires locked up; the Suburban skidded along the snow and ice, sliding helplessly.
“Hold on!” Stella shouted at David as she muscled the steering wheel, trying to turn the truck, watching in horror as the man only stood there, perhaps frozen with fear. The truck got closer and closer to the man, and then it slid right past him, barely missing him.
Her truck slid off the side of the road and ran down through a ditch where it crashed through snow drifts and shrubs, running some of the shrubs over, crunching them to the ground, before finally coming to a stop with a jolt.
Stella sat there for a moment in shock; her fingers gripped the steering wheel like she was still driving. The windshield wipers thumped back and forth, the headlights stabbed through the murky daylight, one of the headlight beams pointed at a crazy angle now.
For a moment Stella’s mind buzzed with panic. It was him, her mind whispered. It was the person she’d seen standing in the road when they’d left the dig site. But her rational mind fought back. It wasn’t the same person. She’d seen the man’s face for a split second as they slid past him.
She turned to David. “Are you okay?”
David nodded as a shudder of breath escaped him, his eyes still wide with shock.
Stella looked back out the windshield as she exhaled a long breath. “What … who was—”
A knocking at her driver’s window cut her words off, a small scream escaped her throat. She turned and stared straight into Cole’s ruggedly handsome face.
“Are you okay?” Cole called through the driver’s window. He bent down, his face close to the glass, his breath coming out in plumes, fogging the glass a little.
Stella nodded as she rolled down the window. The freezing air invaded the truck immediately. “Yeah, we’re okay,” she answered. “What were you doing in the middle of the road? Is something wrong?”
Cole winced as he pulled his pistol out from his coat pocket. “I’m sorry, lady.” He pointed the gun at her. “We need your vehicle.”
CHAPTER 5
Stella couldn’t move or respond; she could only stare at the barrel of Cole’s gun pointed at her face.
Cole backed up a few steps, his boots sinking down into the snow piled up on the side of the road. He looked across the road, but his pistol was still aimed right at Stella.
Stella’s eyes darted to the other robbers who emerged from the trees, crossing the empty road. They looked like black blurry shapes at first in the snowy mist, but in a moment they crystallized into human beings, criminals with scowls on their faces, metal briefcases and guns clutched in their gloved hands.
Cole looked back at Stella. “Just take it easy. We’re not going to hurt you. We just need a ride.”
Stella nodded, her hands still on the steering wheel, still gripping it without realizing it.
“Slide over,” Cole told her.
Stella pried her hands loose and slid across the bench seat without a word; she slid right up next to David.
Cole looked at Frank. “We need to get this thing back up on the road.” He shoved his gun inside his coat pocket and plopped down in the driver’s seat, he adjusted the seat back quickly. He shifted the Suburban into drive, his foot down on the brake, snow dripping all over the floorboard.
Frank opened the back door and threw one of the metal cases of money inside. He turned to Jose who held the other metal case. “Throw it inside, Jose,” Frank told him.
Jose tossed the metal case inside, it clunked against the other case.
“Get back there and help them push,” Frank ordered.
Jose sighed, but he hurried to the back of the truck, joining Trevor and Needles.
Frank waited by the open back door, his hands on the door and the frame of the truck, ready to help push. “We’re ready!” he called out to Cole.
Cole closed the driver’s door and lifted his foot from the brake and pressed
gently on the gas pedal.
The tires spun; snow spit out of the back, pelting Trevor, Jose, and Needles as they pushed. They dug their boots into the snow, trying to find a purchase.
The tires spun and spun as the men strained, grunting and growling, muscles burning. Cole gave it a little more gas. The engine revved, and the tires suddenly grabbed and gained traction. The Suburban inched its way out of the shallow ditch. The three men let go of the truck as it climbed all the way back onto the road. They were breathing hard with their hands on their hips.
A crashing noise through the trees caught their attention. All three men reached for their guns, ready to aim and fire. They stared into the thick woods but they couldn’t see anything moving among the trees.
“What the hell was that?” Needles asked.
The noise was gone now.
“Maybe it was a bear,” Jose said.
“Bears should be hibernating this time of year,” Trevor said as he shoved his gun down into his coat pocket.
“Then it was a deer,” Jose said. “How the fuck do I know?”
Jose and Trevor ran to catch up to the Suburban as it waited on the road. The truck’s powerful motor rumbled and exhaust plumed up from the tailpipe. The taillights were bright red dots in the murky day, and the increasing clouds made the day even darker and drearier.
Needles stared into the dark woods as fear crept into his body like the numbing cold. That wasn’t a deer in the woods, he was sure of that. It was something bad in there. Something bad coming for all of them.
“Needles!” Frank yelled from the Suburban. “Hurry the fuck up, or I swear to God we’re going to leave you here!”
Needles tore his eyes away from the trees and hurried to the waiting truck.
As Needles got in the backseat of the truck, Frank blocked Jose from getting in the other side. “No room in here,” Frank told him. “Get in the back.”
“Why the hell do I have to get in the back? Tell Needles to—”
“Just get in the fucking back,” Frank growled at him.
“Alright. Fuck, man.”
Cole found the latch for the hatch and pulled on it, He heard the clunk of a latch in the back opening.
Frank sat down in the backseat and slammed the door shut as Jose hurried to the back of the truck.
As Jose ran to the back of the truck, a moment of panic seized him—he was sure that Cole was going to stomp down on the gas pedal and take off, leaving him here alone on this desolate road in the middle of a blizzard. But the truck waited. Jose pulled the hatch up and crawled inside, and then he pulled the hatch door closed against the snow and biting wind. It wasn’t exactly warm inside the Suburban, but it was a lot warmer than outside.
Jose tried to get comfortable on top of the piles of tools scattered around the back of the Suburban; there were tarps, shovels, picks and other digging tools. He moved to the back seat and propped his hands and head over the back of the seat in between Trevor and Needles, but he stared at the front of the truck.
“What are you?” Jose asked Stella. “A gravedigger?”
Stella glanced back at Jose, and then she turned back around and stared out the windshield. “Something like that,” she muttered.
Cole gave Stella an odd look, but he didn’t say anything.
Trevor looked at Jose who was right beside his face now. “You mind sitting back a little?”
Jose smiled at him, inches away from his face. “Why? Is this bothering you?”
“Your breath is bothering me.”
Cole shifted into drive, and then stomped down on the gas pedal; the truck slid sideways on the road before finally gaining traction.
Jose wasn’t ready for the sudden jolt forward; he fell over in the back of the truck and smacked his elbow on a shovel. “What the fuck?” he called out. “You trying to run us off the road again?”
Cole just smiled.
“Shut the fuck up back there,” Frank said. He glanced back at Jose, but then he watched Needles. Needles stared straight ahead, but it was like he wasn’t seeing anything, like he was lost in some different world. There was something wrong with Needles, Frank was sure of that now. But he couldn’t worry about that at this moment. Right now, they had more pressing issues. Like this woman and this child.
Cole concentrated on the road. He was an expert driver, and he maneuvered the large truck around the bends and curves of the road much faster than Stella would’ve dared. “This storm is getting worse,” Cole said to no one in particular.
The music on the radio was interrupted by an announcement from the DJ. “We’ve received some breaking news. Police are on the lookout for five men wanted for a bank robbery earlier today in Cody’s Pass where one man was shot and killed. Police are asking—”
Cole clicked off the radio.
The truck was silent except for the rumbling engine, thumping windshield wipers, and howling wind.
Cole looked at Stella as he drove.
Stella looked right back at Cole, matching his stare, holding it, showing no fear of him.
David stared out the passenger window, lost in thought, watching the unending trees whip by in a blur. It was like he never even heard the radio broadcast. But he’d heard it, Stella was sure of that.
Frank leaned forward from the backseat and tapped Stella on the shoulder.
Stella jumped from the touch, like a current of electricity had just jolted her. She spun around and stared at Frank.
“What’s your name?” Frank asked, trying what he thought was a reassuring smile—but it wasn’t working.
“Stella.”
“Okay, Stella. Don’t worry about anything. Nothing’s going to happen as long as you stay cool. We just need to get to the state line, find another vehicle. Then you can have your truck back and be on your way.”
Stella nodded. But she didn’t believe a word Frank was saying. She turned back around without a word.
“Aw hell,” Cole said as he glanced down at the instrument panel.
Everyone in back leaned forward. “What is it?” Frank asked.
Cole shook his head in disbelief. “The engine’s overheating.”
CHAPTER 6
Everyone in the truck leaned forward—except David, who still seemed to be in his own world.
Frank gripped the back of the driver’s seat as he leaned his head forward. “What the fuck are you talking about, Cole?”
“The engine’s overheating. She must’ve punctured the radiator when she ran this truck off the road.”
“Yeah, to avoid hitting you,” Stella muttered.
Cole ignored Stella’s comment as he glanced down at the temperature gauge; the needle was already climbing into the red. He glanced out the windshield and he could see steam drifting up from under the hood, blending in with the swirling snow.
“We need to find somewhere to stop or this motor’s going to seize up,” Cole told everyone.
Trevor leaned forward even more and pointed at the windshield. “Look. I think I see a mailbox.”
Cole drove on for a few more seconds and he could see a mailbox on the side of the road materializing out of the snowstorm. He eased down on the brake pedal, slowing the large SUV down to make the turn. They turned at the mailbox onto a narrow drive that cut through the dense trees. The truck bumped along the rutted trail as tree branches scraped along the windows and sides of the truck.
Everyone was tense and quiet as Cole navigated the twists and turns of the driveway that seemed to be going on forever through these trees.
“How long is this driveway?” Jose asked from the back.
“If this is even a driveway,” Trevor muttered.
Cole kept glancing down at the temperature gauge; it was in the red now. The steam poured out of the front of the truck like a ghostly mist rushing at the windshield. They weren’t going to make it much farther, Cole thought, but he didn’t want to say the words aloud.
After one more bend in the drive, the trees gave way to a large o
pen field, acres of cleared land in the middle of the never-ending forest. And only a few hundred yards away was a log cabin.
Cole smiled as he drove across the field of snow (which he hoped was still a driveway) to the front of the cabin, he turned the truck so that the headlights shined on the dark cabin thirty yards away, and then he shut the motor off. Everything was quiet now except for the howling wind of the storm. Steam drifted up in a cloud in front of the truck for a few seconds, obscuring their view of the cabin, but then the wind blew the steam away and they could see the cabin in the glow of the headlights.
The cabin was dark, no lights on inside, no smoke drifting up from the chimney. To the right of the cabin was a large, free-standing garage with a pickup truck parked in front of it. The pickup truck sat under a blanket of snow—it looked like the truck hadn’t moved in a while.
“I don’t believe this. It’s fucking freezing out here and the engine’s overheating,” Jose said, and again he poked his head in between Trevor and Needles.
“Ironic, isn’t it?” Trevor smiled at Jose.
“Whatever you say, man.”
Cole stared at the cabin in the glow of the headlights. He watched the curtains in the two windows underneath the roof of the front porch which ran the length of the front of the cabin. There was no movement of the curtains, no one peeking out from the dark rooms of the cabin. His eyes flicked to the door. It remained shut.
“Can this truck be fixed?” Frank asked Cole.
“Maybe. If we’re lucky it’s just a hole in one of the hoses.”
They sat in silence for another moment, all of them staring at the dark cabin.
“Maybe no one’s home,” Trevor finally said.
“Only one way to find out,” Frank said and opened his door into the howling wind. He got out and ran through the snowstorm to the front porch of the cabin. Jose and Trevor didn’t waste any time, they followed Frank out into the storm—Jose had to crawl over the backseat to get out.
David opened the door, ready to get out. Stella touched his arm gently. They locked eyes for a moment, but David turned away and got out of the truck. Stella grabbed her purse. She was about to follow David, but Cole grabbed her arm. She turned and stared at Cole.
