It was when he didn’t scream that she’d have to worry.
Matt stepped away and went to help John in the living room, who from the sounds of it was destroying the crappy furniture to make a stretcher out of.
“Hey, nice TV,” she heard her husband comment and she just shook her head and went back to work.
Chapter 20
Man Down
Saint
Black Hills, AZ
She had no real clue where they were, she had to trust that Todd’s parents knew the way, and paid little attention to where they were actually going. She had grown up in Sahuarita, a small town south of Tucson, and had rarely gone anywhere other than the occasional trip to Vegas or California.
Because let’s face it—there just ain’t shit to do in Arizona.
The Grand Canyon? It was a large fucking ditch and she saw enough of that just driving to work every day. She knew that people traveled from across the country to look at it, but she was more impressed with the site of the Pacific and such a large body of water that a big canyon held no sense of wonder for her.
That didn’t mean she was ignorant of town names; she had heard of them through coworkers and the occasional friend who visited those places, but she had never been there herself. Places like Benson and Tombstone; those were hard to avoid when living in Tucson. But Morenci and Clifton? She had no fucking clue.
The only reason she even knew there was a Safford came from the bitching the Wal-Mart drivers made about having to drive out there. So, at the moment she was in uncharted territory, and the unfamiliar ground made her nervous. She had no clue about the terrain ahead or where trouble might come from. She was having to blindly trust the old couple leading the way, praying that they would steer away from danger and not get them all killed.
The lack of control she felt at having to give herself over to them was beyond irritating.
They had searched the glove compartment once they noticed that their internet connection had gone down and found nothing. It had been so long since she had seen a paper map; did they even make them anymore?
“Where the hell are we going?” Manny asked from the backseat, and not for the first time. He was getting as bad as a little kid asking if they had gotten there yet. She wanted to answer, but she didn’t know if she could fully trust them yet.
That text earlier had said that Robert was coming, who sent it? How did he even know where she was, where she was going? She hadn’t told anyone anything, other than that there was a compound that Todd was hiding in; and she had only told that one fact to Caesar. Then again, he wasn’t with her anymore. Could he have been the one to text her? Had something happened to him?
She let out a heavy breath; she was going to have to trust someone. If they had any chance of doing this, of surviving, they would all have to put their cards on the table and just let things get some air. “Erik, are you getting cellphone service?”
Her companion flipped open his phone. “Nah,” he said, closing it again and laying it on his leg. He gave her a curious look and she knew that he had no idea where she was going with this. If he was the one sending messages, it had to be blindly through his pocket because this was the first time she’d seen it since their trip began.
She used the button on the door to lower the passenger window. A gust of air filled the car making her hair strike her neck like an annoying fly. “Throw your phone out the window,” she told him.
His eyes grew bigger as he asked “what the fuck?” His hand had not even twitched towards his phone.
She knew it couldn’t be him; Robert wanted to kill him almost as much as her. There was no way they could be working together, she knew it in her heart, yet she wasn’t willing to stake her life on it.
“You heard me. Both of you, phones out the window,” she stated firmly, making it clear that this was not a topic for discussion. It was going to happen or she was going to pull over and let them out. There was a line quickly approaching, one of no turning back, and before they crossed it she wanted to make sure that there was no chance of their location becoming compromised.
She had a lengthy discussion with Todd about that at the rest stop outside Benson; and it was going to happen whether they liked it or not. “I’m serious. You want to know where we’re going?” she asked Manny, making sure she could see the stern look she was giving him, “then you need to throw your phone out the window or I will pull over and you can get the fuck out.”
“I’m still waiting to hear from my folks,” Manny replied, gripping the seat and pulling himself forward, “and you want me to toss my phone out the window?”
Alicia spoke up. “If you’re not getting signal now, then you probably won’t be getting any signal where we’re going. I’m guessing its deep in the mountains, probably far away from civilization, and there won’t be a cell tower within a hundred miles of the place. Basically, you’re holding a useless piece of plastic,” she told him, speaking for the first time in hours.
Alicia had kept to herself in the back, far to the left on the seat, staring at the window at the landscape passing by. Yet, she had stated things so well that Sabrina was stunned by the comprehension and intelligence she was displaying. She was thirteen and had more insight on where they were heading than even she did.
Yeah, she knew it was out there in the middle of nowhere, but it seemed like the girl actually understood the strategy behind building in a place like that. She’d have to remember to ask her about it later, when she wasn’t trying to convince herself that one of these two guys were betraying her to Robert.
Manny turned and stared at her, pissed that she had intervened. Why was he so unwilling to just give in, was he hiding something?
“Then why does it matter if we throw them out the window?” Erik returned. “If they won’t work, then what differences will a worthless piece of plastic make in my pocket or on the side of this road?”
She felt like slamming on the brakes and kicking them out of the truck anyways. “Why does it matter if you do? Take it as a show of trust. You want to make a phone call?” she asked, turning on Manny. “My phone actually works out here; some network connection Todd is giving me. So, if you want to quit staring at your screen praying for a bar to show up and actually talk to someone, my phone is right here. Call your families, give them my number—I don’t care. But this was a stipulation Todd gave me and I agreed to see it through.”
Erik reached out the window, opened his hand, and let go of his phone. The entire time his eyes stayed on her and they never once strayed as the plastic device struck the asphalt and splintered into pieces behind them. She knew that they were depending on her, that they had a measure of trust between them, and it felt wrong to force this issue but it had to be done. She could take no chances.
Todd had stressed secrecy and she was going to respect his wishes.
“I just don’t see how it matters,” Manny grumbled as he tossed the phone towards the window. It hit the top of the door frame and rebounded into Erik’s head.
“Man, what the fuck?” Erik shouted, rubbing his head where it had impacted. He grabbed the iPhone from around his neck and chucked it out the window. “Fucking hurt—you bastard.” Manny laughed and that drew a very dark look from Erik. “Now, are you going to tell us what is going on?” he asked her. He looked like he was looking for something to throw back at Manny, but there wasn’t much in the front seat for him to lay his hands on.
“I got a text this morning saying that Robert was coming after me. Todd and I believe that it was probably Caesar that told him where we were going, that he somehow got a look at my phone while we were at his apartment. That maybe he was ashamed by it and that’s why the fucktard didn’t want to go with us—or even face us when we left. That he’s the one that sent the warning. We don’t know if he’s still with Robert or if he’s talking with anyone else, and we would both feel better if we knew for sure that there was only one phone in this truck being used to communicate with. There shouldn�
�t be any service between here and where we’re going, but we didn’t want to take any chances,” she told them, trying to lay it all out there and test their responses.
“Are you out of your mind? That fucker wants to kill me and you think I’m telling him where we are?” Erik responded just as she thought he would—but was it an act?
Manny shook his head and leaned back. “I’ve been texting Nikki, my girlfriend, hoping that she might answer one. I don’t know, I thought if I kept telling her where I was, that we were heading to somewhere safe, that if she saw them, she’d be able to make it there too. But I have not once texted Robert; even if I had his number I wouldn’t talk to that sick fuck. And Caesar? I don’t understand that shit. He didn’t seem all into the man, hard to believe they were working together.”
“Maybe Robert threatened his kid, promised to leave them alone if they caught up to us,” Erik observed and Sabrina nodded.
She figured it had to be something like that.
Most people could be loyal but if you threatened their kids in just the right way, they’d break and do whatever it took to keep them safe.
“I haven’t texted anyone other than Nikki, I swear,” Manny told her as sincerely as he could manage. She felt that he was telling the truth, but then she thought her boyfriend would be by her side no matter what too.
Erik nodded as well, having already given his denial.
She took a deep breath, maybe they were telling the truth. She prayed that they were, she had to be able to trust them with her life.
“I don’t have a phone to throw out,” Alicia spoke up from the back seat and even though it felt like she was trying to lighten the mood, there still seemed to be tension in the air.
Her phone rang and the timing of it seemed too coincidental. They couldn’t be listening to their conversation, could they?
She hit the talk button, listened for a few minutes, then noticed that the truck ahead was pulling over. She eased up behind it and turned to look at Erik, then lowered her phone and hit the speaker button.
“Hey guys,” Todd said over the speaker phone.
“Uh, hi,” Erik managed. They hadn’t directly talked to their former coworker since all this shit began. Most of the communication had been through her and she knew that they understood the importance of the conversation they were about to have.
“What’s up?” Manny asked from behind her, trying to sound somewhat cheerier than he had been only moments before. “Dude, your timing is scarily spooky.”
“Spooky Mulder, that’s me,” he answered with a slight chuckle. “I’m sorry for the phone thing guys, afraid things are just a bit tense right now and we have to be sure. There are more than just your guys’ lives at stake here. Can we agree that it’s clean slate time?”
The two men spoke at the same time and she kept quiet. The man on the phone was the one person she could trust outside of the young teen in the back. She knew that he wouldn’t hurt her; he had saved her when others would have just left her to fend for herself.
“Listen,” Todd continued, “I have a friend in Queen Creek that could use a pick up. I’m not asking you to do something you’re unwilling to do. If you choose not to, my parents will bring you the rest of the way and I’ll try to figure something else out; but she’s my best friend and she’s trapped in the attic of her house with her little girl and husband. They could really use a hand and at the moment, I have nobody else I can ask.”
“You actually want us to drive back into this thing? Do you have any idea what’s going on out here?” Erik responded; stunned.
She was pursing her lips, her own thoughts she would keep to herself. This was Todd’s show; how could she say no? She knew that he wouldn’t turn them away, but would she feel as welcomed? Hell, it was maybe an hour and a half drive from where they were; maybe they could get in and out quickly. It was stupid to think that way, but she could hope, right?
“Yes, I do,” the voice said over the speaker. “I have lost friends already, people that were trying to get here and didn’t make it. I have family out there that I haven’t been able to get ahold of. And I have seen videos and heard conversations that will forever be burned into my mind. Its horrible out there; a nightmare come to life. That is why I need you to go get my best friend out of it, bring her here with you. If we can save the lives of her and her family, maybe it will help give some of these deaths meaning. I need your help.”
Erik looked at her and maybe he could tell from her face that she was already decided, because he nodded and shrugged, “okay dude. Just show us the way.”
An app was downloading on her phone and once it installed, a map came up on her screen with a route leading back the way they came. “I know things have got to be tight in there, so if two of you want to go with my parents, they’ll bring you the rest of the way here.”
He must have already told them to expect this because his mother was standing by the side of the truck with the rear door open.
“Oh no, I’m not leaving you,” Alicia said from behind her and she felt a hand on her right arm. She was afraid that this would happen the moment Todd had asked them to go back. As much as she wanted to keep the young teen with her, this was not a road trip; it was life and death and she’d feel better if she knew that the girl was safe.
“Yes, you are,” she said, turning to face her. “I need to move fast if I’m going to be able to get in and out quickly. I won’t be able to do that if I have to worry about you as well. Go with them, I’ll catch up with you soon enough.”
“I don’t want to go,” the young girl pleaded. “We can make room.”
She shook her head and the girl got even more upset.
Manny was leaning across the seat trying to comfort the young girl, but she shook off his efforts and he lowered his hand, then turned his gaze towards her. “You mean you are going to take gimpy over here over the two of us?”
“Hey!” Erik responded. “I’ll show you gimpy.”
“Time’s wasting guys,” she told them grimly.
Manny sighed, reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, then motioned for Erik to open the door.
“Go with him. I’ll see you soon, I promise,” she told the teen, but Alicia was already climbing out of the truck, making it known how angry she was at being told to leave. Well, that was fine; she could be angry as much as she wanted as long as she was alive while doing it.
“Thank you,” her friend said over the speakers right before the line went dead.
“Well, you ready for this?” she asked her remaining companion.
“Do we have a choice?” he returned, voicing her own reservations. “As much as I hate going back, the idea of a little girl in an attic hiding from one of those things—”
He didn’t have to finish, because it was something she had already thought of.
Nodding at him, she turned the truck around. She eased it up to speed and watched as the truck and trailer disappeared from sight. Fully committing herself to the task at hand, she studied the route outlined on her phone and saw that it went through downtown Safford.
Her stomach lurched.
There hadn’t been much of Benson and Wilcox to see, but Safford was a lot larger than those two towns had been. They had skirted it by taking a side road and she had no idea what it was going to be like driving through the center of town. She had to believe that if it were too dangerous, Todd wouldn’t be sending them back that way.
Then again, his best friend was in trouble and did anyone think clearly when facing something like that?
“Well, this should be fun,” she commented to no one in particular as they raced west.
Chapter 21
Suicide
Todd
Compound 3
He was getting off the phone just as his wife was coming towards him. “You’re not going to like this,” she said, tears on her face. They had been there for twenty minutes and she had gone ahead with Sam while he had stayed behind to call Saint.
<
br /> The two of them had only met once and she wasn’t as emotionally involved with his friend’s progress as he was. She had only asked about where they were or how they were doing because they had been traveling with his parents.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, welcoming her into his arms, knowing that with those kinds of tears, she needed the embrace to help calm her down. “Where’s Sam?
“Oh, honey,” she said, a sob breaking lose. He stroked her hair and wondered what had happened to make her so upset. Things should be shut down and quiet over there; what could upset her so badly? Had there been a zombie within the walls? How would it get in there?
The familiarity of the area they were standing in made him suddenly aware of where they were in the compound. The layout was an exact replica of the one they were currently residing in and he knew that just down the hall on the right would be the entertainment room; the same room he had found Sean in the night before. There would be a bar set up in it as well, stocked with most of Sean’s favorite drinks; and a sick feeling began to settle upon him.
Monica had come from that direction and her sudden grief made him painfully aware of what she must have found.
“You left Sam over there by herself?” he asked stunned.
She shook her head, “she had to go use the restroom. I may need to as well.”
Trying to brace himself; he left her standing there and began walking down the quiet hallway. There was no music blasting this time—no noise coming from the room whatsoever. Looking back at his wife, he saw that she had gone to the wall and was leaning against it with her hands hiding her face.
Steadying his breath, he grasped the door handle and gave it a twist.
Sean was sitting in a chair by a fireplace. A bottle of scotch was on the table to his left, a bottle of pills to his right. There was a note on a table in front of him and a gun on the floor by his feet. He had probably taken the pills with the alcohol to numb him to whatever he was feeling; then put a gun in his mouth. Well, at least they didn’t walk into a reanimated version of his friend; he had spared them that much at least. But what if someone else had found him like this? What if it had been one of his kids sent to check on him?
The Rotting Souls Series (Book 2): Charon's Blight: Day Two Page 13
