Emily handed out some of the candy she had found back in the house they had searched and they all enjoyed the sugar rush. All the teens were feeling the effects of the food rationing. They were burning up a lot of calories walking all day but not replacing them. David was leaned over pulling wires from under the steering wheel and tossing them out onto the road. Once he had a small pile he climbed out and started to sort them by length. He wound them up into a ball and stuffed them into a side pocket of the backpack.
Mason was watching him with a frown. “What are you going to use those for?”
He smiled and looked at Emily. “Well, I can’t let her do all the work feeding us. She’d never let me forget it,” he said in a teasing way. “When we stop tonight I’ll strip the plastic off the wires and set them up as snares. We should be able to catch a few small animals to stretch our food supply.”
Mason was grinning in appreciation. “Wow, you really are a Boy Scout!”
David sent him a scowl. That was something that Mark had said as an insult and David didn’t find it funny. When Mason saw the look, he quickly backtracked.
“No, no, really, it’s awesome. You and Emily know all this…stuff to get food and water. It’s really great. I just wish I could help too. I’m a total dead weight and I don’t know anything that would help us.” he said, looking down in regret.
David studied him for a minute before nodding. “Well, there are lots of things we could teach you. Don’t feel bad, Mason. Emily and I have lived on farms our whole lives and we spent a lot of time camping and hunting. That wasn’t a part of your upbringing so it’s not your fault. Things are different now so watch and learn how to do these things and you will be just fine.”
Before Mason could reply, Lisa called out. She was standing at the back of the car looking into the open trunk.
“Hey, guys, come and look at this!” she called out excitedly.
The three of them went to the back of the car and looked into the trunk. There was nothing in it but a spare tire. They looked at a grinning Lisa and shrugged. She laughed in delight.
“Not in the trunk, under it!” And she pointed at the back end of the car.
It took Emily a minute to process what she was seeing but when she got it, she let out a whoop of joy. On the white rectangular licence plate were the words, Beautiful British Columbia. Somewhere, sometime, they had crossed into Canada. Even though they were still hundreds of miles from home, Emily felt a surge of hope. With a renewed determination, the group turned east and continued on their way.
They had no idea where exactly they were in the province but they were headed in the right direction. After an hour of walking, they came to some railway tracks that were headed north. The group decided to follow them and it made for easier walking. They followed the tracks through many fields with distant homes visible but kept walking. When they saw that the tracks were headed to a built-up area they left them and turned east. The mountains were in front of them and they got closer with every step.
Emily knew that they would have to hit a main highway to get over them. There was no way they could travel through the mountains unless they followed the highway. Traveling on the main roads meant towns and people. She knew there were a lot of good people in the world but after their previous experiences, she would rather just avoid everyone. They camped that night in another clearing and dinner was one granola bar and one strip of beef jerky each. David and Mason stripped the plastic from the wires and David showed him how to set them up. They all hoped for something to eat in the morning.
The next morning started off bad and went downhill from there. It had started raining in the night and they were all wet and cold. They had left their camp in the clearing and moved deeper into the woods but the rain came through and they huddled together for warmth. When David had checked his traps he was disappointed to find them empty, so breakfast was some water and the last of the jerky. It was too wet to try and start a fire so they just stayed under their meager shelter and waited for the cold spring rain to pass. Being under trees didn’t keep all the rain off of them but they needed any shelter they could find. After two hours, the rain became a drizzle and the dark clouds moved further away.
They came out from under the tree they had sheltered under and stretched their cramped muscles. It was time to move on and they could only hope that the sun would come out to dry their drenched clothes. Lisa and Emily headed deeper into the woods to find some privacy to go to the bathroom. They had only gone twenty feet when they stumbled out onto a wide trail. What shocked them the most was the two men who were also on the trail leaning against two quads. The men were just as surprised to see the girls and their mouths hung open in shock.
Emily eyed them warily and moved closer to Lisa. It didn’t take the men long to overcome their surprise and they both stood and looked the girls up and down with big grins. The first man to speak was big and rough looking. He had dirty greasy hair and a bushy beard.
“Well, looky here, Wayne. We’ve got ourselves some company!” He gave his friend a knowing leer. “I bet we could have some fun with them!”
Wayne was smaller than his friend but looked just as rough and his brown eyes were cold.
“What about the others? Should we take them back to camp?”
“Hell no! They’re at least ten miles from here. Why would we want to share? They don’t even have to know!”
Lisa clutched Emily’s arm while the two animals talked about them like they weren’t even there. Her face was bone white and her eyes held pure terror. Lisa knew exactly what these men planned to do to them. She took a step back and a whimper escaped her lips while Emily stood stock-still. The tall man glanced over at Lisa and his face split into an amused grin.
“That’s good, sweetheart, I like it when they cry.” He took a menacing step towards them and then flew backwards and toppled over his quad.
Emily had no memory of pulling the gun from her pocket but when the shot man’s friend bellowed in rage, she swung it towards him and pulled the trigger again. The shot caught him in the shoulder and twisted him sideways so he was leaning on his machine. Emily stood frozen, watching as he pushed himself up off of it and turned to her with hate-filled eyes. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could she pulled the trigger for the third time and his face disappeared.
Someone was screaming. Emily hadn’t moved and she stared straight ahead where the ugly man’s face had been. She was unaware of the rain and tears mixing and flowing down her face. She didn’t hear David and Mason’s frantic yells for them or feel the ache in her hand that continued to clutch the cold, heavy gun. It was only when David tried to take it from her that she finally came back into herself. She yanked her hand and the gun away from him and clutched it to her chest. The scream that came out of her made the others freeze and stare at her in horror. It contained all the fear, rage and hopelessness of a broken soul. She fell to her knees and rocked back and forth on the muddy trail.
“Why, why, why?” she wailed in a pitiful voice.
David looked down at the girl he loved and his heart broke. All he wanted was to gather her up in his arms and hold her and keep her safe but he was afraid to touch her. He looked around at the others and saw Lisa staring blankly at the ground. Both of the girls were in shock and he didn’t know what to do. Mason was checking the men’s bodies so David went to help him. They were both dead and he had to force the vomit back down when he saw the one man’s face. He helped Mason pull the bodies off the trail and into the woods. Both of the men were wearing camouflage rain slickers so their bodies weren’t visible after the boys threw some branches on top of them. It was grisly work but he knew that Emily wouldn’t have shot them if they were good people. He didn’t know what had happened on the trail but when they heard the gun going off in the direction the girls had gone, he tore through the trees with no thought but getting to Emily.
When the two boys made it back to the trail, Lisa had Emily up and was holding her tig
ht. The gun was gone. David didn’t know who had it but he was relieved that it was no longer clutched in her hand. David stepped towards them but Mason stopped him with a shake of his head. So they checked over the two machines and the supplies strapped onto the back of them. There was some food and water, but not a lot. Both had an extra fuel can, but what they didn’t find was any guns. David was sure that the men would have rifles or shotguns but other than a sharp hunting knife, there were no other weapons.
Lisa’s urgent voice had them both spinning around. “We have to get out of here, out of the woods! They said there are others in a camp. We need to get away from here in case they show up!”
Mason and David looked at each other in concern and they both tried to start the quads. When they started up right away they shut them off and Mason helped Lisa get Emily on one. David made a mad dash back to where they had left their things when they had bolted to find the girls. It didn’t take long to gather the backpacks and get back to the trail. Mason helped strap them down and when he went to get on the quad that Emily was sitting on, David grabbed his arm.
“No, she’s riding with me,” he said with fierceness.
Mason looked at him in confusion until understanding dawned. He slowly nodded his head.
“Okay, man. Take care of her.”
David nodded curtly and climbed on in front of Emily. He reached back and pulled her arms around him so she wouldn’t fall off. When he felt her hand grip his waist, he closed his eyes for a minute. He almost lost her. All this time he had been sitting back and waiting for her to figure it out and he almost lost her. No more. He wasn’t waiting anymore. He loved her and he was going to make sure that she knew it.
They started the machines up and drove down the trail. When they came to an opening in the forest they could see a road in the distance so they left the trail and headed for it. David and Mason had decided to travel the roads from now on. They would make much better time and distance and they would need to be close to abandoned cars to siphon gas along the way. Once they were on the road, they increased their speed and made twenty miles in the first hour. It was right about then that Emily started to sob into his back and he knew she was coming out of her shock. The only thing he could do was briefly squeeze her hand and keep going.
They eventually connected with a bigger road and turned north onto it. There were more and more cars and trucks abandoned on the road but nothing they couldn’t get around. To David, it felt like they were flying after walking for three days.
After two and a half hours and seventy miles, they stopped to refill the gas tanks from the spare cans. At the next group of abandoned cars, they stopped again and they took turns siphoning gas into the cans. They didn’t want to take a chance and lose the precious vehicles. By the time the sun was going down behind them, they had gone a huge distance and they started to look for somewhere they could stop for the night. It was almost dark when they came to an old gas station that had been abandoned even before the lights went out. After carefully checking that no one was around, they forced the garage door open and pushed the quads through.
It was dirty and dusty but it was dry and out of the wind. Emily hadn’t spoken all day but she was more alert and followed Lisa into the small bathroom where they changed into the dry clothes from their packs. When the girls came out Emily looked much better and she had some color in her face. She gave David a small smile as she passed him and settled down onto the floor. Lisa took one of the few dry blankets and wrapped it around her before hanging the wet ones to dry. As the boys changed into dryer clothing, she started to go through the men’s supplies.
Her hands had stopped shaking hours ago but she was chilled to the bone and she knew it wasn’t just from the rain. Emily had saved them from being used and murdered but the callous way the men had talked about it had damaged her. Is this what they had to look forward to in this new world? Women having only one value and then discarded? She remembered what Mark had said back on the boat. He had said that only the strong would survive and they would take what they wanted. She looked up as David came into the room in dry clothes. The look he sent Emily was so full of love and concern that it hurt her heart a little bit that no one had ever looked at her that way. She turned away so no one would see the tears in her eyes. Was she that unlovable? Even her own parents had only ever shown her approval, never love.
She flinched when Mason came over and put his hand on her back. He quickly pulled away and his face reddened.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to see if you were okay,” he said quietly.
She nodded her head without looking at him and opened another bag from the back of the quad. It had six cans of chili and beef stew in it. At the bottom of the bag was a small folding camp stove with a can of steno oil. She glanced over at Emily but David had sat down beside her and she had her head on his chest while he smoothed her hair. It was so obvious that David was in love with her and the only person who didn’t seem to know was Emily.
Lisa turned away and carried the bag to a workbench. She studied the stove until she figured out how to set it up and then looked at Mason.
“Do you have any matches or a lighter?”
“Uh, no, but let me check in the other room and see if I can find something.”
It was dark and gloomy with the overcast sky so he took a flashlight and went over to the sales counter and started to look around behind it. While he searched, Lisa got the pan from her pack and dumped two cans of beef stew into it. She hoped Mason found something because the cold stew wasn’t very appetizing, looking like lumpy brown Jello in the bottom of the pot. She filled the other pot with water after she discovered a small jar of instant coffee in one of the other bags on the quad. Mason came over grinning and held up an old dried out book of matches. She waved him forward and he tried to light one of the matches. It was so old that it just crumbled, and it took four tries before one of them caught. Lisa sighed in relief and set the pan of stew on the stove.
The little stove warmed the pan quickly and the smell of the heating stew filled the garage. David and Emily stood up and came over. They found two bowls and spoon in the bags. They would have to take turns with them but they were just happy to have a hot meal. Once everyone had eaten and coffee had been made in the two travel mugs they found, they settled down and passed the hot drink back and forth between them.
David looked around the abandoned building. “Anyone know where we are?”
Mason perked up. “Yes, actually, I do. There’s still an old map taped on the front wall in the other room. Someone circled an area in red and wrote “you are here” on it. We somehow got around Hope and we are now on the Coquihalla Highway. It looks like we are about a hundred miles to Merritt.”
Emily jerked up and turned to David with a look of surprise. He slowly smiled and nodded.
Mason looked at Lisa in confusion but she just shrugged so he asked. “What, what’s so special about Merritt?”
Emily just closed her eyes and breathed out, “Peter.”
David laughed at her dramatics and explained, “Peter is Alex’s older brother. He’s an RCMP officer and that’s where he is stationed. It would be really nice to see a familiar face right about now.”
“Wow, that’s great! Do you think he will help us?” Lisa asked hopefully.
“Oh, yeah, Peter might as well be my big brother. I’ve been driving him nuts with Alex since we were five!” Emily told her.
Emily was looking so happy but suddenly the smile melted off her face and her eyes filled with tears.
“Oh, my God! What am I going to tell him? I… I just killed two men! What…how…?”
Lisa was the quickest to react. She slid over and grabbed Emily’s arm and shook it.
“Well, we better tell him about me too then! I killed Mark so he can deal with both of us!” she said fiercely.
Emily’s mouth dropped open in shock. “What? That was self-defence, Lisa. You saved us all!”
Lisa nodded and
loosened her hold on Emily’s arm. “So what do you think happened today? They talked about what they were going to do to us. We both know what would have happened if you hadn’t shot them. Emily…you once told me that I had done the right thing and that I was a hero. Now I’m telling you the same thing. You saved us this time.” Lisa sat back and let the tears fall. The tension went out of Emily and she reached out and pulled Lisa to her.
As the girls wept, David and Mason looked at each other. They didn’t know what had happened on the trail today but they were both grateful that the girls had made it out alive. Mason was surprised at how he felt at the possibility of losing Lisa. He was so ashamed of the hurt he had caused her and every day on the road, she impressed him with her new determination and attitude. He had never seen her as anything other than a shallow cheerleader but she was so much more. He wished he could change things between them. He wished she would give him another chance.
They settled down for the night in the cold garage. With most of their blankets wet, they all huddled together and tried to sleep hoping that the next day would bring them closer to home and family.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The sun was out to wake them the next morning and they were all happy to see clear skies. They decided to forego breakfast and just drank some hot coffee to start their day. Emily was anxious to get going. More than anything she wanted to find Peter, the closest thing she had to a brother. She wouldn’t let herself think of all the things that could have happened to him since the lights went out. He was a cop and he would have been in danger from the very start.
As they traveled the famous highway north, they saw a lot of wildlife. Deer and elk wandered freely across the road and weaved in between the stranded vehicles. The cars were spread out and there were a lot of transport trucks on this road. A huge dual-trailered Safeway truck had jackknifed into the ditch and they stopped to see if they could get into it. There were padlocks on both trailers and they were sealed up tight. David looked around until he found the mile marker and memorized it. The kids might not be able to get into the grocery truck but the people of Merritt could come and get it open.
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 39
