Hide and Shriek

by Alison Hughes

  I could imagine the dog tracking us right to this tree, barking his head off. And then what would we do when the Scumbags came straight over to us? What would they do? They wouldn’t kill us, would they? Of course they wouldn’t. They weren’t murderers. Were they? Murdering us would be a very dumb thing to do. Four kids would be a lot of bodies to hide. That horrible giggle bubbled up again in my throat. I choked it down.

  I tried to think of what to do, tried to calm my mind enough to think.

  I strained my ears to figure out exactly where they were. Back on the path that we’d left, heading down, almost parallel to where we were right now.

  The big dog snuffled off the path, panting and sniffing, moving in our direction.

  “Think he’s got something,” Kev said, sounding way too close. The beam of a flashlight danced along the trees beyond our tree. “Maybe just a rabbit though.”

  Four rabbits, Kev. Four.

  I felt Dylan’s shoulder beside me move. I felt him reach for something, coil up and throw it hard. A sharp snap broke the silence, down the hill nearer to the river.

  He’d thrown a rock! I practically laughed out loud. It was one of the most basic hide-and-seek decoy moves. Hide-and-Seek 101. And yet only Dylan had thought of doing it.

  “That way! Move,” snarled the Boss. “Diablo!” He and Kev started crashing down the path.

  But the dog didn’t move. He was growling now, getting closer and closer to our tree.

  “Hey, buddy,” I said in the low, cooing voice I used whenever I smuggled food over to Diablo. “Who’s a good dog?” I reached across Dylan and held out the last few bites of a peanut-butter granola bar I had stuffed in my pocket. I chucked it a little way from the tree. “Treat? Want a treat?”

  The other three had the good sense to stay as still as possible.

  The growling stopped. More snuffling. Then the sound of the dog wolfing down the treat.

  “DIABLO!” The voice shouting from the path sounded furious. “GET OVER HERE!”

  The dog turned and crashed through the forest, down to the river.

  Chapter Seven

  Cam started to laugh. Apparently I’m not the only stress-giggler in the group.

  “Good thing we brought a frickin’ dog whisperer,” he said unsteadily, still shuddering with laughter. “Good job, kid. Almost cancels out your stupid rockslide that got us into this mess in the first place.”

  “Shut up, Cam,” I said. He totally ignored me.

  “So what now?” he asked. “Should we wait or—”

  “We get the hell out of here,” Tess said, cutting him off.

  She followed Dylan, who was already moving toward the path.

  “Let’s go,” he said urgently. “They won’t be down there long.”

  “There’s no other way out?” I whispered. I didn’t like the idea of getting back on that path. That path was a direct link—them to us.

  “Not from here. Not that I know of. C’mon.”

  We scrambled back to the path. We tried to be quiet, to make as little sound as we could. But it’s hard to stop tree branches from snapping underfoot. Or leaves from rustling.

  Diablo started barking again. It sounded farther away. I was grateful for the sound. It covered the sound of us panic-running.

  Once on the path, we sprinted for the exit like our lives depended on it. Maybe they did. As we ran, I comforted myself with the thought that, for once, Cam was at the back of the line.

  And then another thought struck me. What if one of them, someone we didn’t even know about, had stayed in the car? What if he was sitting there right now? Waiting and watching? It was a horrible thought. It made me feel cold right through.

  There was no option. One path, one exit. We’d have to risk it.

  We made it to the street. Their car was parked a little ways down. I knew it was theirs. I’d seen it parked on our street. A black Infiniti with blacked-out windows front and back. Blacked-out windows are always suspicious, Dad says, and he would know.

  There didn’t seem to be anyone sitting in the car, but we didn’t exactly tap on the windows to find out.

  My heart was pounding out of my chest, and we were all gasping from the uphill sprint. After the inky-black ravine, the streetlight seemed so bright it almost hurt. It was too bright. We felt exposed, spotlighted.

  “Should we split up or—” Dylan gasped, then held up a warning hand. He paused.

  “What?” Tess whirled around, but I squeezed her arm. I’d heard the snapping branches behind us on the ravine path just like Dylan had.

  “They’re coming,” I whimpered.

  Nobody needed any more words to get them running. Cam took off across the street, and we ran after him. Cam and Tess in the lead, Dylan and me behind, all of us sprinting as fast as we could in a line down the sidewalk.

  If we can get around a corner, if we can just avoid being seen, they’ll never know anyone was down there. Right now they just think someone was. They don’t know. If we can get far enough away, there’ll be nothing to link us with that ravine.

  We ran. Arms pumping, feet pounding. Halfway down the street, closing in on the corner at the end of the street. Almost there. Faster, faster!

  I heard a yell behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw one of the Scumbags run to the end of the street. I saw him. Just a black shadow, but I saw him. And if I saw him, I thought, panic bubbling up inside me, he saw me. No doubt about it.

  Now they know. They know we were down there.

  I heard two car doors slam.

  Distance, I thought in a blind panic. We have to put distance between us and them. Run, run…

  We whirled around the corner and down the next street. Right again, then straight.

  Despite running my hardest, I was still the slowest of the group. By far. Dylan was just ahead of me, but I had a sinking feeling that he was going slow so I didn’t get left behind.

  Tess must have realized that Dylan and I were a long ways back, because she pulled Cam to a stop.

  We caught up to them. My lungs were on fire. I could taste blood at the back of my raw throat.

  “We shouldn’t stop right under a streetlight,” Dylan panted. “We should get to the shadows, maybe the alleys.”

  “Nah, I think we’ve shaken them,” said Cam. “That was a close one.” He laughed, then yelled, “See ya, losers!”

  “Shhh, you idiot,” Tess said. She was leaning over, her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

  Car headlights swung onto the street in front of us. We panicked and scattered into the nearest front yard.

  It felt safe here in the dark, safer than it had felt on the street. I peeked out from behind a tree to see a blue car drive by slowly. In the front seat I could see two white-haired women talking and laughing. Country music drifted out into the night as the car passed.

  False alarm. My shoulders relaxed.

  I giggled nervously and said, “It’s okay. All clear.”

  You’d think I might have seen enough movies to know that whenever anyone says something like that, it’s not all clear. It’s never all clear.

  That is exactly the moment when bad things happen. It’s like a cue for the bad guys to reappear.

  We heard the car screech around the corner. Down the street a couple of blocks. Right behind us. This definitely wasn’t the old ladies.

  “Run!” Tess and Cam took off running. Those two never think.

  “Wait!” I called. “Tess! Let them go past. Just hide!”

  But they were sprinting up the street, two running figures lit by the oncoming headlights.

  Chapter Eight

  “Dylan,” I whispered.

  His voice floated out from behind a bush. “Here. Shhh. Hide.”

  I hunched my shoulders and pulled my arms in front of my body, so that the tree completely hid me. I leaned my forehead against the rough bark as the car sped past.

  “C’mon. I’ve got a plan.” Dylan slipped out from behind th
e bush and grabbed my arm. He pushed open the gate and led me into the dark backyard.

  “Good. A plan is good,” I babbled. I had nothing, only images of that menacing black car mowing down Tess and Cam. Run, you two idiots, run.

  “So,” he said, climbing the back fence, “I think we should circle up and back. Overshoot. Using the back alley two streets over from yours.”

  I scrambled over the fence and dropped into the alley behind the house.

  “What about Tess and Cam?”

  “They’re smart. They know how to hide. Probably not a bad thing that we split up. They’re looking for four people.”

  That gave me shivers down my spine. They’re looking for us.

  I slipped my hand in Dylan’s, not even caring if he didn’t want it there. His hand closed around mine, and we headed down the dark alley. It was so quiet. Dead. You’d think the curfew applied to everybody, not just kids.

  We’d run a couple of blocks and just left the shadows to cross the street. A black car came out of nowhere, turning the corner toward us. It cruised slowly down the street.

  We froze. We were out in the open. Any move would attract their attention. I turned to run. It’s hard to fight that instinct to run when you’re terrified. It kicks right in. Fight or flight, they say. And who wants to fight?

  Dylan’s hand tightened on mine. In the glow of the streetlight, his face was fierce and tense.

  “Slow. Pretend like we’ve got nowhere to be. We’re not who they’re looking for.”

  This was smart. This was thinking.

  We wandered to the sidewalk, and he slid his arm around my waist. I slipped mine around him and snuggled in. We could hear the car coming down the street, cruising along the other side. I was so tense it was hard to even walk normally.

  “So we’re this nauseating couple, right, kid?” Dylan said, turning to me. “Just snuck out for a late-night whatever.”

  I forced a laugh. That would be natural, right? A couple talking, laughing, cuddling. The car slid up alongside us. The passenger-side window went down.

  I laughed again and said “Yeah, right. You wish,” in what I hoped was a flirty tone. My voice did not sound at all natural. High and nervous. Dylan forced a laughed too and caught me up in a tense hug.

  “You wish I wish,” he said. It was just the kind of stupid thing annoying couples might say to each other. It got me giggling for real. That stress-giggle again. Or it might have been fear. Fear-giggling.

  “Hey,” said a voice from the car. It was the guy called Kev. “You two seen anyone running by here?”

  We loosened the hug slightly.

  “What? No,” said Dylan, glancing over his shoulder, then looking back at me. Just the right amount of rudeness. Dylan shielded me from Kev, but I could see the dog, Diablo, panting away in the backseat.

  “Like, jogging?” I laughed in a confused way. I tried to sound completely clued out. I did a stupid, playful jog on the spot.

  “Running. Fast,” said Kev impatiently. “Three, maybe four people.”

  “Look, man, what don’t you understand about no? Piss off!” Dylan turned back to me. We locked eyes.

  I giggled. I couldn’t help it. It was either very brave or very risky. Maybe both.

  We froze.

  Please, oh please, go away, don’t get out of the car, don’t shoot Dylan in the back…

  “I think this kid needs to be taught some respect,” said Kev. I wondered how a whiny voice could sound so menacing.

  I squeezed Dylan closer.

  “On three we run,” I whispered. Dylan nodded and swung our clenched hands slightly to the right. Got it. We go that way.

  “One…” I breathed. I opened my mouth to say two, but a rough voice cut me off.

  “No time. Let’s go.” It was the Boss. There was no mistaking that voice. A deep, growling, smoker’s voice. The car revved and accelerated.

  “Hey, kids,” Kev called out of the window. “There’s a curfew, remember? Callin’ the cops right now.” They squealed off in a burst of laughter.

  Chapter Nine

  “I’m really starting to hate those jerks,” Dylan muttered. His arms dropped to his sides.

  I stepped away from him. Suddenly we were awkward with each other.

  If I needed another thing to hate those scumbags for, it was this—they made the only closeness Dylan and I had ever shared a total fake.

  “You’re only starting now?” I babbled. My voice sounded shrill. “I’ve been hating them for what seems like weeks now.”

  “At least we know they haven’t found Tess and Cam,” he said.

  I nodded. “Thank god.”

  “Hey, you did great back there when they stopped,” he said. “I didn’t know you were such an actor.”

  “You too. Look, we should get going.” I felt utterly miserable and tired beyond belief. Still scared but weak. My legs felt wobbly from all the running.

  What I wouldn’t have given for a piggyback ride. Not from Dylan. Like I would ever in this lifetime ask Dylan for a piggyback ride. From Tess or Dad or Mom. Just from them. I brushed a few tears away with the back of my hand.

  If I ever get home, I’m never leaving the house again. Ever. Especially at night.

  “Yeah,” Dylan said. “Tess will be worried sick about you. C’mon.”

  Tess. She and Cam would stick together, wouldn’t they? They weren’t still out in the open, were they? They wouldn’t try anything stupid. Worry gnawed away at me. We were still out in the open. Still on a dark street blocks away from home.

  “You think those guys will ever give up? They’ll have to eventually, right? You heard them—we’re just kids! We aren’t worth their time, right?”

  “Depends on what they have to hide,” Dylan said grimly. “And what they thought we saw or heard.”

  “But we didn’t see much. Or hear much either.” I didn’t know who I was trying to convince.

  Dylan was getting impatient. “Look, Emily, these guys aren’t rookies. They’re legit criminals. The guy had a gun. They were doing a deal with someone about something ‘untraceable.’ What’s untraceable? Guns? Drugs? Counterfeit cash? No good options there. So sorry, but no, I think they’re still out there looking for us.”

  We turned down the dark alley and started walking. Fast. Then we broke into a run. We ran down back alley after back alley, only pausing when we came to a street crossing. Those were the really dangerous places, where the streetlights shone like spotlights. Where we could be seen from blocks away.

  Dylan and I put our heads down and ran.

  My brain skipped from thought to thought as I ran.

  Tess must have phoned Dad. She must have. Police cars would be circling our street probably. Dad would be there. He’d know what to do. Tess would’ve told him about the gun.

  On the street now. We had to get two streets over. Dylan was leading the way, cutting through front yards, sticking to the shadows.

  It was dead quiet. We made it one block. Then another.

  Finally I saw the green electrical box at the end of our street. The electrical box we’d always been warned not to play on. The box that hummed. I never thought I’d be weak with relief to see that ugly thing, but I was. Almost home, almost home…

  “Probably better to go in through the alley,” I whispered to Dylan. “Front door’s double-locked.”

  We turned the corner into the dark alley that ran behind the houses on our street. Familiar hide-and-seek-club territory. We skirted the wooden crate the old guy in the house at the end had built to keep the crows from ripping up his garbage. I’d hidden in there several times and come out smelling of rotten eggs.

  “Almost there,” Dylan said. Even though I couldn’t see him very well in the gloom, I could hear relief in his voice.

  I was relaxing. I’d be home soon. Tess would be there. Maybe even Mom and Dad would be home. Maybe this bad dream was fading.

  The roar of a car broke the silence.

  Blinding li
ght, car lights, coming right at us down the narrow alley.

  And between us and the car lights, someone was running toward us. The person was just a shadow, but I knew her immediately.

  It was my sister, Tess.

  Tess alone. Tess, hunched over and running for her life, her hair streaming out behind her.

  “Run!” she screamed, her voice strangled with fear. “Run!”

  Chapter Ten

  We ran.

  We spun around and tore back around the corner, bolting in panic. Scattering like birds chased by a dog.

  The awful thing about panic-running, other than the panic, is that you have no time to think. No time to plan. You just know something bad is behind you, so moving forward is the only idea in your head.

  I didn’t know where Dylan headed, but Tess and I both ran on instinct—we raced up our street, straight for home. Tess overtook me like she always does, and I struggled to keep up with her.

  Where’s Cam? Dylan? Don’t lead them straight to our house. Don’t want them to know where we live… My brain was sputtering out half thoughts and questions as I sprinted up the street after Tess.

  The car screeched around the corner and picked up speed, aiming right at us. As I glanced over my shoulder and looked straight into those headlights, I had a moment of sheer terror. They were gaining fast, coming up right behind us.

  Get off the road, get off the road! Go left, right, anywhere but straight!

  I grabbed Tess’s arm and pulled her in a sharp left into the McGregors’ front yard. Two doors down from our house. They were away, I remembered in a panic. I glanced up at the dark house. Hammering on their door would be useless.

  There was a short hedge in front of the house that gave us a little cover.

  Crouching, stumbling, panting, we headed for the path to the backyard. Tess yanked open the gate. The car screeched to a stop. A door opened.

  “They went in here,” said the Boss in a low voice. “I’ll corner them in the backyard.” The dog whined. “Keep Diablo quiet.”

  “Oh god,” breathed Tess, right into my ear. “Em, they have Cam.”