Do You Want to Go to Jail Today?

by Paige Weaver

  The beams of the truck cut a narrow path through the parking lot, highlighting the cars and trucks that were now just big pieces of scrap metal.

  Ryder pulled to a stop near Brody’s apartment. “Remember, pack what you can carry and make it quick — ten minutes top."

  Brody and Eva started to climb out of the truck when Ryder spoke again. "And Brody, you got any weapons, get them."

  His words sent a shiver up my spine.

  As Eva and Brody ran to his apartment, Ryder kept watch out the window, ignoring me for the most part. As we waited, I expected to see a raging mob storming us, demanding to have the truck. Obviously, I had watched too many movies.

  Sitting up straighter, I tried to take some pressure off of my cracked rib and at the same time force myself to stay awake. The need to close my eyes and sleep was overwhelming me, thanks to the pain pill.

  “You doing okay?” Ryder asked as he watched the parking lot.

  “I’ll survive,” I said, touching my fingers. The pain that shot up my arm was excruciating. It wasn’t the first time I broke a bone. When I was ten, I had been climbing a tree, trying to go as high as possible, when it happened. Ryder had been standing at the bottom, yelling at me to get down before I broke my neck. I broke my arm in two places instead. But the pain this time was different, made worse by my other injuries.

  I felt the gash on my forehead. It was about an inch and a half long and not very deep. A scab seemed to be already forming. Yes, I would survive but maybe with a new scar.

  A few tense moments of silence stretched between us. Despite my pain, I remembered what happened between us before the blackout and what he had said since.

  “Ryder, I know this is not the time but we still need to talk about us.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  A tiny bit of hurt wove around my heart.

  “So are we just going to play like nothing happened?”

  Ryder sighed deeply with resignation then turned to look down at me. His eyes were bleak.

  “Your dad made me promise to bring you home if something happened. He told me to take care of you and that’s what I’m going to do.”

  “He called you?”

  The light from the dashboard made shadows play across his features.

  “Yeah, you were in the shower. Hard talking to him after having mind–blowing sex with you.”

  My pain was forgotten. He thought it was mind–blowing? I didn’t know how to respond.

  “And my father threatened me within an inch of my life if I didn’t get home in one piece with you,” he said with a gruff laugh that held no humor.

  “I hope my dad’s safe,” I said, troubled to think otherwise.

  Ryder scanned the parking lot carefully. “He knows my parents are prepared for disasters. When he realizes what happened, he’ll head to their place. I’m sure he’s more worried about you right now, anyway," he said, distracted. Leaning forward, he stared across the parking lot. “Oh, crap!”

  “What?” Terror spread through me quickly.

  “Two guys walking toward us. Shit!”

  My heart threatened to jump out of my chest. I remembered Ryder’s father saying that if society fell, it would be man against man. Survival of the fittest. Were these two the beginning of that struggle?

  Ryder laid his arm across my lap, urging me closer to him. His hand rested on my bare knee, reminding me of how short my skirt was.

  “Just relax, Maddie. I’ve got you,” Ryder whispered as the men passed in front of the truck and over to the driver’s side window. One of the men rapped on the glass with large, meaty knuckles.

  Ryder cranked down the window but never removed his hand from me.

  “Help you?” he asked in a friendly, Texas drawl.

  “You know what’s going on around here?” the guy asked. He was beefy with flat brown eyes void of life. He leaned his large arm against the door as the guy behind him sniffed loudly and stared at me with a glassy, faraway look.

  “No clue, man. My girlfriend and I were driving home when the electricity kicked off. Must be a problem with the transformer or something,” Ryder said, casually.

  The leader turned those empty eyes on me. He glanced at Ryder’s hand in my lap then slowly ran his eyes up my body. Ryder gripped my knee tighter, warning me to stay silent.

  “She okay?” the man asked, motioning to the blood on my dress.

  “Yeah. She had too much to drink and tripped over her own feet. She’s a clumsy drunk,” Ryder smirked, like it was funny.

  “Hell, dude, can’t complain about a drunk girlfriend,” the guy said with a chuckle. "They don’t put up a fight, if you get my meaning."

  Ryder’s body tensed with animosity.

  "She may not but I do," he snarled.

  A minute ticked by while Ryder and the man stared at each other, both unwilling to back down.

  My heart pounded. My hands were shaking. Any second, I expected the man to jerk the truck door open and haul us out.

  The guy must have recognized the deathly threat on Ryder’s face because he finally backed down.

  “So…my damn car ain’t running either,” the man said suspiciously as he glanced around the cab of the truck.

  “Bad luck, man,” Ryder said with a cutting edge in his voice. "Hope nothing else shitty happens to you tonight."

  The threat was there, just beneath the surface of Ryder’s words, challenging the man to push him further. The stranger heard it too. I thought I saw a tiny flicker of fear in his eyes.

  "Hey, let’s go," the second guy said nervously, yanking on his friend’s arm.

  With one more hostile look, they walked away, dismissing us without a backward glance.

  Ryder watched them until they disappeared in an apartment.

  I let out a breath that I didn’t know I had been holding. I knew then that we were sitting ducks in this truck. People would figure out soon that cars were useless. A running truck would be a great commodity when the only other form of transportation was walking. Since we had no way to defend ourselves, fighting off would–be carjackers might be a problem. And without the truck, how would we get home?

  Ryder removed his arm from my lap to grip the steering wheel tightly. I didn’t want to admit it, even to myself, but I wanted to pull his arm back to me. It gave me a sense of security. Always had. I just needed it now more than ever.

  “Come on. Come on,” he muttered, scanning the darkness for any other threats.

  A few more tension filled minutes passed. I held my breath. What if something had happened to Eva and Brody?

  Suddenly the passenger door flew open, making me jump in fright. Eva and Brody climbed inside quickly, hauling a backpack with them.

  Before Brody could close the truck door, we were driving away. The tires squealed in the silence of the night as the truck took off.

  “I got all the food and water that I could carry and some clothes. I also have this. A hunting knife,” Brody said. A large steel knife gleamed in his hand. It was around seven inches in length, black, and looked razor sharp.

  “Keep it handy,” Ryder said, keeping his eyes on the road.

  The streets were still quiet when we pulled into our apartment complex ten minutes later. The parking lot was dark but there were a few people lingering outside. They looked at us briefly before turning away, rejoining their conversations.

  I wondered how long it would take before the reality of the situation set in with the public. I had to agree with Ryder. I didn’t want to be in a large city when that occurred.

  We pulled into an empty parking spot and Ryder turned off the ignition. Eva and Brody immediately jumped out and ran up the cement steps to our third floor apartment.

  Ryder studied me under the moonlight. “Can you walk?”

  “I’m fine. Let’s do this,” I answered with more strength in my voice than I really felt.

  I placed my good hand in his and tried to hold back a wince as he helped me out of th
e truck. My hand throbbed and my ribs ached. Each step sent pain radiating through my skull and body but I had to do it on my own.

  Brody handed Ryder a small flashlight as soon as we walked into the dark apartment. Thank goodness our fathers had insisted we have flashlights when we moved to college. At the time, Eva and I rolled our eyes at their overprotectiveness. Now I was thankful.

  Seeing my home in utter darkness was upsetting. A few hours without electricity was not a foreign concept for me. In the country, electricity was spotty during storms but this was different. If Ryder was correct, this was an evil set upon us by an enemy.

  “Let’s get you bandaged up, Maddie,” Eva said as she walked out of the kitchen carrying a flickering candle.

  “I’ll start gathering supplies,” Ryder said from behind me.

  I followed Eva to her room, the candlelight guiding our way. I gingerly sat on the edge of her unmade bed and watched as she rummaged around in her closet.

  The heat was already unbearable in the apartment. After a few hours in here without air conditioning, I think we would all be ready to leave.

  I picked the sticky fabric of my dress away from my chest and watched as Eva retrieved a large container from the top of her closet. She placed it on the bed beside me with a grunt.

  “Practice equipment,” she said, explaining the wide assortment of bandages, ointments, and antiseptic wipes.

  “If someone had told us we would be using them for the end of the world, we would have laughed,” I said, sadly.

  Now that I was in my home, surrounded by my things, my tears started. They flowed down my face, unchecked, running from my eyes like a faucet turned on. The horror of the night was pressing down on me. I felt helpless, afraid, and desperate to forget it all.

  “Oh, Maddie, it will be okay! We’re safe,” Eva said when she saw me crying. Sitting beside me on the bed, she threw an arm around my shoulders and hugged me against her side. “We’ll get home.”

  “And what about school?” I sniffed. “We only have one year left of nursing school! How do we walk away from that?”

  “I don’t know. Let’s take it one day at a time,” she said, letting go of me to wrap my injured hand in a bandage.

  I brushed the tears away but they kept coming. Things were not going as planned. I was supposed to graduate in one year, not be on the run. Ben and I were supposed to stay together. And Ryder. God, Ryder. I loved him but we were supposed to remain friends, never to go into that forbidden zone of love and lust.

  “I’ll check your fingers later when we have more light but for now, keep them wrapped," Eva said, laying my bandaged hand gently down. "Your head wound will have to wait too.”

  She eyed me under the candlelight. “Take off your dress, Maddie. It’s covered in blood. Then I’ll wrap your ribs.”

  I unbuttoned my dress with one hand and slipped it off. Eva started to feel along my ribcage, gently pushing each rib and running her fingers along the bones. Tears rolled down my cheeks from the pain.

  “You’re going to be sore and have tons of bruises,” Eva said, searching the container for another roll of gauze. “Now where is that bandage? I know I have a large one,” Eva muttered to herself as she searched her container.

  Sitting on her bed, wearing only my bra and panties, I felt the darkness descend on me, suffocating me in its grasp. I felt as if I was falling and unable to grab something to hold on to.

  “I can’t do this, Eva,” I cried.

  “Yes, you can, Maddie. You’re the bravest person I know. Don’t prove me wrong now,” she said.

  But I couldn’t hold back the tears.

  As if he knew I needed him, Ryder was suddenly standing in the doorway, his tall frame outlined in the candlelight. With two strides, he was kneeling on the floor in front of me.

  “I can’t do this, Ryder,” I hiccuped.

  His blue eyes studied my face before skimming over my bra and panties. Through my tears, I saw him swallow hard.

  “Maddie, listen to me. I thought I had lost you in that club. When I couldn’t find you, I went berserk. Then to find out you were hurt…” He stopped and glanced away as pain crossed his face. “Hell, I can’t handle it.”

  Moving closer, he pushed my legs apart to kneel between them, bringing him closer. His large hands cupped my face.

  “Look at me, Maddie.”

  When I did, I saw the blue warmth in his eyes, the candlelight reflected off of them.

  “After sleeping with you, I vowed not to touch you again but when I thought I lost you tonight…my world collapsed,” he said, his voice husky. “All I wanted was to be able to kiss you one more time. And I did but I’m greedy. I want more.”

  He slowly lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me with a tenderness that made me ache.

  My tears dried up as he leaned into me. I was almost naked and he was between my legs. There was nowhere better I wanted to be.

  Eva cleared her throat from behind Ryder, reminding us that we were not alone. I blushed from my head to the tips of my bare toes as Ryder broke off our kiss.

  “Her ribs need to be wrapped,” Eva said, handing the bandage to Ryder. After he took it from her, she left, leaving the flickering candle behind.

  Without a word, Ryder started to wrap my ribs. His hand followed the bandage around me, below my bra, across my bare skin.

  “I need you with me, Maddie,” he whispered, making another sweep around me with the bandage. This time his hand moved even slower.

  “I need the girl who isn’t afraid of anything. The one that will put me in my place when I need it. You’re the only one that can do that to me. Just you.”

  With one touch, he took away my fear and left desire in its place. My tears were now completely gone. The pain from my injuries was still there but somehow seemed more bearable. He did that to me. He just made everything better.

  “We’re doing this together,” he said, standing up and gently pulling me to my feet. "I’m not leaving without you."

  Leading me to my room, he pulled a pair of shorts and a t–shirt from my closet. I tried to protest when he started to help me put the shorts on but he insisted despite my embarrassment. Next came the shirt. His fingers seemed to linger a bit too long on me but I didn’t complain.

  “Where’s your backpack?” he asked after sternly telling me to sit on the bed.

  I pointed to the corner of the room.

  He emptied all the paper and pens from the bag. In my closet, he took clothes off of hangers and stuffed them in the backpack. I had no doubt that Ryder would know what I needed.

  “What if we can’t come back?” I asked.

  Ryder stopped to look down at me. Despite the events of the evening, he still looked good in his jeans and shirt. Very unruffled and sexy.

  “You can’t think that way, Maddie. We won’t get through this unless we stay focused and believe things will be fine. If we give up, the terrorists win.”

  Walking over to my dresser, he yanked open drawers and started pulling out underwear and bras, stuffing them into the backpack.

  “You stay here. I’m going to get stuff from the bathroom,” he said, his eyes moving over me once before leaving.

  After struggling to pull on a pair of socks and running shoes with only one hand, I sat in silence and looked around my room. I was leaving stuff here, pictures and history. Things that couldn’t be replaced.

  I carefully walked over to my dresser and picked up a picture of my dad. I prayed that he was safe at home, untouched by this nightmare.

  I sat the picture back down when Ryder walked in with my backpack slung over his shoulder. He glanced at the bed before looking at me. I blushed, remembering what we did under those twisted, wrinkled sheets. I wondered if he was thinking the same thing.

  “Let’s go home, Maddie,” he said, his voice sounding rough in the darkness of the room.

  It was time to leave. I couldn’t look back as we shut and locked the door. I didn’t want to say goodbye.
/>   Chapter Thirteen

  We remained silent as we left the city behind. Each of us was lost in our own thoughts, trying to come to terms with what was happening. Our worlds had just changed. We were confused and scared. Frightened.

  As I watched out the windshield, a sense of foreboding filled me. I knew I would never return here. I was now going home for good.

  Looking over at Eva, I was glad that she was with me. She had fallen asleep almost immediately. I envied her for that. Now that the medicine was making my pain tolerable, I was too terrified to close my eyes. Too haunted by the situation to sleep.

  We were now on the four–lane highway that would lead us further from the city. Cars sat abandoned on the road but no people lingered. If the EMP had hit during the day, chances were slim that we would have been able to leave town so easily. The roads would have been blocked with stalled cars. Panicked people would have been gathering everywhere, making traversing the city a problem if not impossible.

  For miles, Ryder kept his eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel. I felt his urgency to get home. We had food and water but not enough to last for days. If, for some reason, we couldn’t make it home, we would have a problem. Thirst and hunger would make traveling almost impossible if not deadly.

  Ryder looked down at me with worry etched around his eyes. “You okay? Are you in pain?”

  “I’m better. The medicine is helping,” I said. I felt the gash on my head and winced. It was a good–sized cut that would scar.

  “I should have been waiting for you outside the bathroom,” Ryder said with self–loathing.

  "You had no idea something was going to happen.”

  He put a hand on my bare leg and stroked his fingers over my skin in a gesture that spoke of more than just friendship.

  I studied his profile in the darkness. His eyes remained on the road while his hand stayed on me. Feeling a tiny bit brave, I ran my hand down to his. Without a word, his fingers intertwined through mine, holding my hand.

  The wind whipped through the open windows, chasing away the nighttime heat. I saw nothing but darkness outside the windshield. Homes were dark, businesses were dark, even the sky was void of stars tonight. It felt as if we were the only four people left in the world.