by S E Lunsford
“Is that what your shirt really says?” I asked leaning over to try and see if there were words on the other side of him.
Glancing down he half smiled, looked over and just nodded.
“Not live free or die? Just die to live free?”
“Yep, that’s what it says,” he glanced at the fuel gauge which was a lot lower than when we started out. “Don’t you think it’s odd that we haven't encountered any cars?”
I followed his gaze out the windshield and realized he was right. There were no cars abandoned in the middle of the road or even on the side of the road, which was definitely not something that any of us were used to. Cars were great for providing cover from whatever could fly or even a quick climb through when creepers were coming for you. They never seemed to figure out how you got to the other side of the car. I couldn't count how many times Cassie and I had actually gotten away from a creeper or two by just diving into a parked car, slamming the door behind us then crawling out the other side and running as fast as we could, while the creepers continued to banging on the window of the car trying to figure out where we had gone. Usually by the time they figured out we were no longer in the car, we were far enough away that they couldn't catch us, or we had enough time to take them down from a safe distance. We usually took them down just to be safe, but if we didn't have ammo, then we just ran.
The silence in the car told me that both Edward and Carlisle were listening.
“It’s kind of weird,” Edward said. “I’ve been noticing how clear the woods are. Birds are actually singing out there.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed that too,” Chris said.
“It gets creepy quiet when the zombies are around,” Edward continued.
“So, the question is what cleared the road and is it keeping the woods clear too?” Carlisle joined the conversation.
I felt myself begin to twist the ring around my finger again, flipping the pearl first down and then back up.
“Not what,” I said. “Who.”
“We may just be about to find out,” Chris said pointing a finger at a black dot that sat in the middle of the road on the horizon.
As we got closer we saw that is was a sparkling clean black Suburban. Four men in fatigues stood in front of it, loosely holding guns in their hands.
“Give me your ring,” Chris said holding out his hand carefully so it was below the dashboard as we drove closer.
“What?” Reflexively I curled my hands in on themselves protecting it.
“If you want to keep that ring, and want to keep it safe, which I assume you do because it seems to mean something to you, you need to hand it to me now,” his voice didn’t leave room for an argument.
Looking through the front window at the men I made a split-second decision to trust Chris. I pulled the ring off my finger and handed it to him. He took it quickly from me, squirreling it away somewhere on his person before throwing the station wagon into park. Silence descended in the car as Chris looked over at the rest of us.
“You all need to stay here,” he said before pushing open the door. The men began to walk on either side of the car with military precision raising their guns as they did so.
“Stay in the car,” one of the men barked.
Chris slid back into the car, but left the door slightly open.
“Turn off the engine,” the man closest to Chris said.
“Well, that’s slightly problematic,” Chris replied in a friendly tone all the while keeping his hands on the steering wheel. “If I turn it off, I may not get it back on.”
“Turn it off anyway,” the man said.
Shrugging Chris turned the key and the station wagon seemed to sag under the weight of the silence. I wondered if it would ever start again.
“Now, get out of the car very slowly and no one inside do anything, don’t move a muscle or say a word.” He looked at each of us in turn before turning his full attention back to Chris.
The other men had planted themselves next to every window of the car, pointing their guns inside. From the looks of them I had no doubt that if any of us did move, they wouldn’t hesitate to shoot. I glanced at the man standing next to my windowless window and stiffened when I saw his lips curve into a slight smile as he nodded at me slightly. Taking in a deep breath and summoning up the coolest glance I could I looked right back at him. He continued to stare at me his slight smile turned into a full grin. He turned to the man who was standing next to Edward’s window.
“This one’s an ice queen,” he said laughing as he gestured at me.
“Shut up Robert and pay attention,” his companion said, not even glancing at him.
Robert looked back at me and shrugged.
I didn’t much like looking down the barrel of a gun, but there wasn't much I could do. Chris had walked to the front of the station wagon with the man who appeared to be the spokesman for the group. They were talking intently to each other, but try I might I couldn't figure out what they were saying. Sensing everyone in the car straining to see too, I wondered if they could figure out what was being said better than I could.
Movement and hitching sobs from the backseat made me whirl around. Rosalie was sitting with her head in her hands crying with abandon, her shoulders moving up and down frantically as Carlisle put his arms around her whispering to her that it would be okay.
Instinctively I reached back to put my hand on her head to try and comfort her when I heard the door open behind me. A hand grabbed the back of my shirts, as Robert dragged me backwards until I hit the hard asphalt. The impact jarred my spine as I scrambled to try and stand up hitting my head on the metal of the door behind me as Edward was pulled out and thrown onto the road face first.
“Don’t,” Robert said through gritted teeth as he pushed me back down with his black boot.
Rosalie began to wail even louder as Carlisle was ripped from her.
“What’re you doing?” Chris said barely keeping the note of anger out of his voice. “I told you we’re just traveling through.”
“Yes, I heard you,” the man who spoke to him turned to others. “Is this really how we want to treat our guests?” He asked them a smile curling up his mouth while his icy blue eyes stayed frigid.
“Sorry boss,” Robert said. “We weren’t sure if they’re guests or not.”
The boss looked at the sky before glancing towards the woods, then shrugged.
“They’re guests until I say otherwise,” he commented.
The way he was looking at the sky made my stomach drop. I scanned the sky too, but it was just as clear as it had been the whole drive up the coast.
“Looking for something Paul?” Chris asked, his eyes narrowing as he watched the boss who apparently he had gotten on a first name basis with fast.
“We need to roll up and out,” was Paul’s only response.
The others moved into action, yanking the rest of us up and forcing us into the Suburban and another one that was hidden behind it. They split us up so Rosalie, Carlisle and I rode in one SUV, while Chris, Edward and Jasper were in the other.
I rubbed the back of my head as I heard Paul tell the others to put Cassie in the back of our Suburban. Robert brought her around as the hatchback was opened. I twisted around to see how she was, surprised to see how gently Robert carried her and laid her down in the back.
His eyes met mine.
“We may be able to help her,” he said as he closed the hatchback, leaving me in confusion as to how quickly he figured out what may have happened to her and trying to figure out why he would help.
The station wagon was hitched up to yet another vehicle, a tow truck that pulled out of the woods as they started up the vehicles waiting until it was totally hitched up and ready to go before moving forward.
“Prepared,” Carlisle commented, as I couldn't help but nod in agreement. They did seem to be prepared. Almost too prepared, like they’d done this many times before.
The interior was thick with silence that was only br
oken when Cassie would murmur in pain. I turned around to look at her again, seeing that she seemed to be looking a little better even after the fall and the long drive. I wondered what the salve Chris put on her wounds was made of because it seemed to be working.
Little fingers touched the back of my head making me whirl around and grab the wrist they were attached to only to find Rosalie's eyes round with surprise staring back at me. I gently released my hold on her as she continued to stare.
“Sorry,” Carlisle whispered. “We keep telling her not to touch any of us without telling us first.” He shrugged apologetically.
“No, I’m sorry,” I patted her hand. “I didn’t mean to scare you, it’s just….” my voice trailed off. How do you tell someone that if you don't react that way you could be dead at any minute?
“You have an egg,” Rosalie's voice came out not much louder than a vapor.
“An egg?” I reached up to the back of my head and felt what she was talking about. Somehow underneath all the dirt, grime and dried creeper blood that was intertwined in my hair, she had seen the swelling on the back of my head, which did seem to be about the size of an egg.
“If I put my hand on it and push it, it will go away,” she said with a little more substance to her voice.
Robert’s eyes looked at us with interest from the rearview mirror.
Carlisle glanced up at the driver’s seat worry creasing the sides of his mouth. He patted Rosalie’s hand carefully to not draw attention to us.
“Oh Rosalie,” he said beginning to laugh. “You have such a vivid imagination.”
“No I don’t,” she replied irritation coloring her voice. “You know…,”
“Rosalie,” I said cutting her off and glanced towards the front myself. “You know what Carlisle said about making up stories, I know you want to help my egg, but….,” I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at her.
“What do you know…,” she began when Carlisle ground his foot onto her foot keeping his face like stone as he tried to get her to be quiet.
Rosalie pushed back against the seat seeming to take in her surroundings for the first time. Glancing up at the driver’s seat, she narrowed her eyes as she saw how Robert and the other man were hanging on to every word we said. Pulling her lower lip under her teeth, she seemed to be deep in thought before she reached out and wound her fingers through mine.
“You’re right,” she whispered. “I just wanted to help.”
“I know,” I said putting my arm around her shoulders and pulling her into my side to give her a hug. Leaning down, I whispered in her ear so the men up front couldn’t possibly know I was saying anything at all.
“We have to be careful,” I whispered.
Her arms wound around my waist. “I know,” she whispered back.
“Hey you two, no talking,” the dark haired man sitting in the passenger side next to Robert twisted around, and I found myself staring straight down the barrel of his pistol. I vaguely wondered how many times today I would be in the same situation. Usually if I was staring down the barrel of a gun, the other person was staring straight down the barrel of mine. I sighed, something told me I wouldn’t have that luxury for a little while.
Just because I was gunless didn’t mean I was weaponless. Cassie and I would always joke that when in need anything could be a weapon, even a wet noodle. We’d never actually tried the wet noodle, but we did use a whole lot of spaghetti noodles to try and stop creepers once.
It was in the beginning, and all we had was a carton full of boxes and boxes of noodles. So, we threw the boxes at the couple of creepers that were heading towards us meaning to trip them up. As they fell headlong over the cartons, hard spaghetti noodles flew everywhere skewering one of them in the eye, which he completely ignored as he still tried to get to us. The other fell down so hard that by the time he flayed around for a bit and got back up, he’d lost an arm. The noodles had stuck to the sticky mucousy blood and gore that dripped and oozed all over him making him look like a crazed preschool art project gone horribly wrong.
“What’re you smiling about?” Robert’s eyes were piercing as he looked at me in the rearview mirror.
“Spaghetti,” I answered.
The word hung in the air for a moment before Rosalie began to laugh and Carlisle joined in.
“They're guests?” The dark haired man asked Robert as he settled into the seat looking at the road in front of us.
“Yeah, guests,” Robert replied.
They both laughed.
“Until they’re not,” the dark-haired man said.
Wrapping my arm around Rosalie even more tightly, we looked out the window. She poked me in my side before she pointed over at Carlisle. I looked out his window where a military vehicle loaded with an anti-aircraft gun was crawling out of the forest. The men driving it waved at the vehicle in front of us, then our own before heading in the direction opposite of ours. Carlisle and I exchanged a glance.
“What’s up with the vehicle that just crawled out of the trees?” I asked.
“Didn’t I tell you not to say a word?” Robert drawled.
Glaring at the back of his head, I shook my own.
Rosalie poked me again, and when I looked over at her, this time she pointed straight up. My stomach churned as the realization of what she was telling me sunk in. For whatever reason these guys may be shooting not only the bioengineereds out of the way, but maybe creators, or angels as Chris says, as well. Leaning over, I looked up through the window to see if there was anything that might be flying above. The sky was clear blue like it had been all day as I settled back in my seat. I glanced around the backseat area to see what I could use to protect ourselves if we needed it.
Rosalie kicked my foot and I saw that Carlisle was working on getting some sort of rope from underneath the seat with his foot. He had spotted its frayed edge, and she carefully slid her foot over to help him. The two looked straight ahead the whole time their feet worked to get the rope out from underneath the seat.
Keeping half my attention focused on them, I looked out the window watching as the vehicle in front of us sped up. Glancing over to the side door mirror, the sky looked clear even as I watched a man from the passenger side of the vehicle lean out of his window and train his gun at the sky. The air was peppered with gunfire as the anti-aircraft guns began firing behind us.
All three of us in the backseat whirled around to look through the back window, but there was nothing there. It seemed like they were just shooting for the sake of shooting, but I knew that couldn't be the case. If they did that, I had the feeling that Edward and I might be dead by now. If nothing else, these guys were a well-oiled military machine.
A loud thunk on the top of our Suburban made the vehicle shudder as the interior roof pushed down from the weight of whatever was on the top of it. We scrambled down to the floorboards, as Robert began to zig-zag the SUV, yanking the steering wheel to the left then to the right. Carlisle, Rosalie and I became a tangle of legs and arms as we collided with every turn of the steering wheel.
Scratching noises came from the top of the roof as whatever was there tried to hold on, before talons curled around the edge of the top of the door as it found a way to keep from being thrown off. I looked at the door wondering if there was any way we could get out, but saw the talons acted like an exterior lock to my door.
“We’ve got to get out,” I said to Carlisle, pushing my way over Rosalie to reach for the door handle on the other side.
“No,” yelled the dark haired man as he grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me back. “It’ll kill you for sure if you get out of the vehicle.”
Jabbing my arm up, I dislodged his arm with a smile of satisfaction from the grunt of pain he made. That didn’t stop him though, he surged in between the seats gun in tow, bringing the butt of it down on the back of my head. I barely heard Rosalie scream as I sank into grayness sure I was going to vomit what little I had eaten as my stomach surged. I felt her little hand once
again on the back of my head, this time staying there until my mind cleared of its gray fog and my stomach settled.
I sat up as best I could as she looked at me with big blue eyes.
“Okay?” She whispered.
I carefully felt the back of my head, only partly surprised to feel that not only was I not bleeding, but the egg sized lump that was there before was gone.
I nodded and smiled at her, as she sighed.
“Good,” was all she said in response as her body sagged, and she sunk even further to the floor.
Suddenly the back window shattered, spraying little chunks of glass everywhere that embedded themselves into the seatbacks and whatever flesh they could find. I struggled to get up into the back seat flying into Carlisle who was doing the same thing, barely noticing the blood from the glass shards that ran down my arms and forehead. Specks of blood were appearing over Carlisle too.
An arm reached into the back of the Suburban from its roof just as I managed to dig my fingers into the top of the back seat. It felt around, swinging back and forth until it found Cassie who had rolled to one side of the cargo area, then slammed into the other as the vehicle moved.
“Oh, no you don’t,” I screamed as I launched myself as far as I could over the back seat clutching at Cassie, not caring whether I hurt her as long as I got a hold of her. Managing to latch on to one of her arms, I pulled her towards me just as the arm and its taloned fingers grasped her leg yanking her body back towards the window. I was pulled halfway over the seat as it dragged her towards the back. Carlisle’s arm latched onto my waist pulling me back. I wedged my ankle around the seatbelt base hanging on by my fingertips as they dug deeper into my friend’s arm. Carlisle let go of me, launching himself over the backseat and kicking the arm that held Cassie, managing to dislodge it for a second, which was enough for me to pull her back so she hit the backside of the seats.
