by Jason Brant
“I guess. Ralph went to get him back, I suspect. Tony is a goddamn psychopath. And he’ll do anything that Ralph tells him to do. You see him, I suggest you haul ass in the other direction. He buys Ralph’s bullshit, hook, line, and sinker.”
“How do you know all of this?” Cass asked.
Nathaniel sighed. “Cause they live right down the road.”
A barrage of distant gunfire rang through the trees, punctuating Nathaniel’s statement.
Lance prayed those shots weren’t meant for Brown and Eifort. If they were killed while he stood beside the road and talked to Nathaniel, he’d never forgive himself.
Cass grabbed his forearm, giving it a slight squeeze. “We need to go.”
They climbed back into their car. Nathaniel leaned over, resting his forearms on Lance’s door.
“Yinz can’t win against ‘em. Ralph is gonna execute anyone who doesn’t kneel down when he walks by.”
“If he knows that you hate him so much, how come you’re still alive?” Lance asked as he turned the Corvette on.
“They came for me yesterday. A few of his goons. Tony wasn’t with ‘em. The wife and I hid in my bunker while those fucks ransacked my house.”
“So they think you’re dead?”
“Yah. I think so.”
Lance put the car in gear. “How do we get to Ralph’s Palace of Love?”
Nathaniel cocked his head, eyebrows arching. “What?”
“Ignore him,” Cass said. “He’s a dumbass.”
“City folks is still weird, I see.” Nathaniel pointed down the road to their left. “Go about a mile down that ways and stop when you see a pine tree on the right. The entrance to Ralph’s driveway is hidden behind some bushes across from that. I wouldn’t go that way though. He’s got cameras and gates blocking the path.”
Lance winced at the directions. It was common for people in western PA to give directions using landmarks instead of road names. The area was called Pennsyltucky for a reason.
How the hell were they supposed to spot a pine tree in the middle of the woods?
“Thanks, Nathaniel. Keep your head down, will you?” Lance backed into the road, aiming the front end in the proper direction.
“When they get yinz, make sure you don’t tell ‘em I’m still alive.” Nathaniel gave them a half-salute before stepping away from the car. “And like I told ya, your friends is probably already dead.”
“If Ralph is half as smart as you say, he won’t kill them. One is a doctor and he won’t do a damn thing for them if they hurt the other.” Lance took his foot off the brake.
“Wait, what?” Nathaniel grabbed at the door. “He’s a doctor?”
Lance looked at Nathaniel, his patience growing thin. “Yeah. Why?”
“It’s my nephew, he’s sick. We need a doc in the worst way.”
“Well, Ralph has him, so—”
“Lance?” A small, female voice came from the driveway behind them. “Lance!”
Cass and Lance twisted around, looking into the passenger-side mirror. A short, young, brown-haired woman jogged down the driveway, her arms waving over her head as she tried to get their attention.
“Do you know her?” Cass asked.
“Holy shit,” Lance muttered to himself, unable to believe who he was staring at. “That’s Ashlee.”
Chapter 9
“Lance!” Ashlee ran around the back of the car.
Cass turned back to him. “Jesus Christ, do you know everyone? Who is she?”
“I can’t believe it’s her.”
“You can’t believe it’s who?”
“A girl I helped escape Pittsburgh. She had a newborn with her.”
“Lance!” Ashlee reached through the open window and wrapped her arms around his neck. She squeezed him so hard that he felt the blood flow to his head slow.
He tapped her arm. “OK, I give up! Loosen up a bit.”
“Sorry!” Ashlee released him and backed out of the window. She beamed at him as he shut the Vette off and stepped out of it. “You made it! I was afraid that those monsters had got you.”
“Nope, I’m still kicking.” Lance gave her another hug before holding her at arm’s length and taking her appearance in.
Her clothes were clean and didn’t look as though she’d been through the hell that Lance and his friends had. Only her eyes hinted at anything being wrong—they were red with dark circles under them.
“I can’t believe you remembered the address I gave you.”
“What? You gave out my address?” Nathaniel grunted from beside them. “Holy shit, girl. How many other people have you told where I live?”
“Oh, stop, Uncle Nate. I only told Lance because he saved me back at the hospital. I owed him.” Ashlee rolled her eyes with an extreme exaggeration, which reminded Lance of just how young she was.
“This is the man who got you out of the city?” Nathaniel’s face softened as he looked at Lance. “I guess I owe you a debt of gratitude.”
He extended a hand to Lance, which he promptly shook.
“I hate to break up this little reunion, but we still have to go after our friends.” Cass stood by her door, lips pursed.
Ashlee’s head rocked back as she looked at Cass. She whispered to Lance. “Who’s she? Why does she dress like that?”
“She’s a pain in my ass. God only knows why she’s dressed like that.” Lance could practically feel the daggers flying into his back from Cass’ eyes. “Where’s the little man? Teddy?”
Ashlee’s face fell. “He’s inside.”
“That’s who’s sick.” Nathaniel stuffed his hands in his pockets. “He got ill a few days ago and I’ll be damned if I know what’s wrong with him.”
More gunfire came from somewhere in the woods.
Lance peered up the driveway at the trailer, thinking about the ill infant inside.
As if I don’t have enough on my mind right now, he thought.
“That’s why I stopped you when you said your friend is a doctor. We could use the help.”
“You just got done telling us that our friends are dead, and now you’re saying that we need to rescue them and bring them back here. Nice.” Cass crossed her arms over chest. “Considering you had a gun pointed at us about three minutes ago, I’d say that’s a rather large request.”
“She isn’t very nice,” Ashlee whispered.
“I’m awful sorry about that. I can’t be too careful nowadays though, you know?” Nathaniel’s shoulders dropped. “I’m just doin’ the best I can to protect my family. Between those damn things running around at night and Ralph breaking into my house during the day, it ain’t easy.”
Lance gave the camouflaged man a short nod. “I understand.” He turned back to Ashlee. “What’s wrong with Teddy?”
“He won’t stop crying! He cries and cries until he turns red in the face. No matter what I do, I can’t get him to stop for hours at a time. We can’t get any sleep because of it.”
The woods grew eerily silent as the gunfire subsided. Lance stared at the trees before them.
“We’re going to get our friends and then we’ll bring Doc Brown back here to check on Teddy. OK?”
Ashlee wiped a tear from her cheek. “Why do you keep helping me?”
“Because you need it.” Lance gave her a small hug before turning around and getting back into the Corvette. “We’ll be back before you know it.”
“I’ll come with you.” Nathaniel leaned into the window. “Yinz are going to need all the help you can get to break into that place. I weren’t lyin’ when I said he’s got a goddamn arsenal over there.”
“What about your heart? You can’t go running around in the—”
Nathaniel cut her off with a wave of his hand. “My heart’s fine.”
Lance knew they could use Nathaniel’s help. He was a grizzled man who clearly had a lot of experience with firearms and hunting. He could be invaluable to them as they tried to find Brown and Eifort.
But
if the man had a heart condition, what would they do if he had an attack in the middle of the woods? Could they risk taking him along?
Cass cleared her throat beside him. “You need to stay here with the girl and her baby. We can take care of ourselves.”
“You don’t know the lay of the land. I could—”
“She’s right.” Lance turned the car on. “You should stay here and protect your family.”
“You think I’ll slow you down.”
Lance didn’t see a point in lying to the man, so he stayed quiet.
Nathaniel grunted. “Hell, I probably would at this point. Listen, you need to go in through the woods. Ralph had cameras set up there, but I don’t know how much they’re paying attention to them. If I had to guess, they aren’t even turned on right now so they can save the wear and tear on the generators. But the driveway ain’t safe. I know for a fact he’s got some men guarding it.”
“Thanks,” Cass said. “We’ll avoid the main way in.” She put her hand on Lance’s forearm. “We need to go. Now.”
“Please be careful,” Ashlee said. She leaned in and kissed Lance on the cheek. “And thanks. You’re amazing.”
Lance felt his face heat with a blush. He wasn’t sure anyone had ever said anything like that to him before. “We’ll be back.”
“Don’t let them catch you—they’re sadists.” Nathaniel stepped back and put his arm around Ashlee, holding her tight against him.
Lance took a deep breath and started the Vette forward. The pressure upon them kept rising. Every hour of the day added another level of stress. Now they had a sick baby to worry about.
They drove away, watching the uncle and niece disappear in their mirrors.
Cass ran her finger along the blade of her axe. “Let’s kill this son of a bitch.”
“If we can. We might not have a chance. Getting the doc and Eifort out is the top priority.”
Cass huffed.
The pine tree proved easier to find than Lance expected. It stood in stark contrast to the maple and spruce.
A driveway, veiled by a camouflaged net, wound through the forest just beyond the pine.
More gunshots cracked in the distance as they drove by the entrance. Lance found a soft shoulder a few hundred yards away and pulled into it, backing as far into the trees as possible. He didn’t know how long it would take them to find Ralph’s place, and he hoped that the car wouldn’t be discovered in the meantime.
Cass tore a few branches of leafy underbrush away from the ground and placed it on the hood of the Corvette. It didn’t cover much.
“Good enough,” she said.
Lance stared at the car. “Good enough for what? Government work?”
“Stop complaining and start walking.” Cass secured her axe on her back and looped the quiver of arrows over her shoulder. She held the bow in her left hand.
The .44 was lodged in Lance’s waistband. He held the nail-infused baseball bat. “We’re going to get killed, you realize that? I have a baseball bat and a gun with limited ammo. You have an axe and a bow. We’re screwed.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Cass plunged into the woods, moving at a fast walk. Her eyes darted from the ground to the area ahead of them. She moved with a practiced silence, her feet finding bare patches of earth more often than not.
Lance fumbled along behind her. He tried to walk as quietly as possible, but found it more difficult than he would have imagined.
“You sound like an elephant,” Cass whispered after several minutes. “They’re going to hear you.”
“I’m trying.”
“Try harder, numb nuts. The element of surprise is all we have going for us.”
They continued on, their progress slowing so Lance could move with more stealth.
The occasional blast of a rifle confirmed they were heading in the right direction. The afternoon crept away as they snaked between the trees.
Cass stopped suddenly, dropping down to her haunches. Lance knelt beside her, his eyes scanning the forest ahead.
“What?”
Cass held a finger to her lips. She nodded straight ahead.
And then he saw it—a fence post, chest high, with thin wires wrapped around it. The wires connected to another post ten yards away. The fencing ran to a tree where it changed direction, forming a makeshift corner.
“Stay low.” Cass crept forward. She pulled an arrow from the quiver and notched it on the bowstring.
They slinked to the tree with wires wrapped around it and stopped. Cass leaned against it and peered around for several seconds.
Two more gunshots rang out, much closer than before.
Lance whispered, “What exactly is the plan here?”
“Go in, find our friends, kill Ralph if possible, and get the hell out.”
“Is that all?” Lance bobbed his head down. “How have we stayed alive this long?”
Cass ignored him. She grabbed a small stick from the ground and touched the wires a few times. “It isn’t electrified.”
“Are you sure that’s a good way to detect electricity? That’s wood.”
“No.”
“Great.”
Throwing her leg between two of the wires, she climbed inside the fenced-off area. Lance followed, his quads burning from hunching so low for too long. Sweat trickled down his back.
His rear leg brushed one of the wires and he winced, expecting a jolt. None came. He blew the air out of his lungs and wiped the sweat from his brow. This had to be the worst plan he’d ever been involved with.
A few hundred feet in, Cass stopped again. She pointed at a dark spot on a tree trunk at head height.
Lance stared at it, not understanding what it was until it rotated to the left.
A security camera.
“Great,” he said, keeping his voice low. “How are we supposed to get by cameras?”
“It’s covering the entrance. We’ll probably be OK if we stay far enough into the trees.”
Off to their right, Lance spotted the driveway. He hadn’t realized how far in they’d come.
Two voices carried to them as they kneeled by a large spruce tree, taking a quick break. Lance held his breath, listening as the conversation drew closer. He lay down behind a rotting log, peering through a small gap under one of the ends.
A young couple walked toward them, hand in hand. They threw glances over their shoulders every couple of seconds. They whispered to each other as they walked, though their voices carried further than they probably thought.
The muscles in Lance’s arms tensed as the couple closed in on him, approaching the log.
He had a split second to decide whether he should attack them or hope they kept walking by. The thought of going after two twenty-year-old kids made him queasy. He lay motionless, watching as they walked around his hiding place.
“What the—?”
The young man stopped, his eyes growing wide. His girlfriend sucked in a breath, her hand going to her mouth.
“Uhh...” Lance struggled with what to do next. If they cried out, he and Cass would be in deep shit.
“Quiet, you fools!” Cass leaned away from the tree, her eyes narrowing in anger. “Are you trying to scare away all the game?”
“What?” The young man’s expression slid from fear to confusion.
“Yeah, what?” Lance stared at Cass.
“We’re trying to hunt out here. The hell do you think I have a bow and arrow for? Tony wants us to get a deer.”
Lance bit back a cry of joy. Cass was so quick on her feet that she’d saved their asses once again. He chewed on his lip to keep from grinning like a fool.
“Oh,” the girl said. The couple shared a worried glance. “We were, uh, going for a walk.”
The concern on their faces made Lance wonder what else they were doing.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“Just for a walk.”
“Bullshit. You were leaving.” Lance looked for the sun
through the tree canopy above. He guessed it was close to five or six in the evening. The night would come soon. “If you’re going to leave the camp, you need to do it earlier in the day.”
“We weren’t!” The girl’s face went a deep red, her voice rising an octave.
Their reactions told Lance all he needed to know. The two of them were trying to escape the camp. He could only hope that several of the other people ahead were as wary of Ralph, Tony, and the rest of the moronic Minutemen.
“I said to stay quiet.” Cass stepped away from the tree and stood before them. “You don’t even have guns. You wouldn’t last twenty minutes out there on your own.”
Tears welled in the girl’s eyes. “We can’t stay with them anymore. They’re doing such horrible things.”
“I understand, but what you’re doing right now is just stupid. What are your names?”
“Um,” the boy scratched his head as if the question confused him. “I’m Michael and this is Josie. Why?”
“Things will change for you soon, Michael and Josie. Really soon. I promise. Go back to the camp and keep your heads down.”
The boy looked at her exposed legs and stomach. “Why are you dressed like a prostitute?”
Lance choked on his own spit. Even people in the middle of the woods thought Cass looked ridiculous.
“Goddamn it,” Cass mumbled. She dismissed them with a wave. “Get the hell out of here.”
“You won’t tell anyone?” Josie asked. Her lower lip trembled.
“No. Now get moving. You’re scaring away our dinner.”
The couple went back the way they came. They wrapped their arms around each other as they clumsily walked back to camp.
Lance got up from behind the fallen tree and jogged after them. “Hold on a second.”
Cass called after him, but he ignored her.
Michael turned around, his hands kneading in front of him.
“We heard that Tony was bringing in some more prisoners. Are they here yet?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Where are they keeping them? I heard one of them is a doctor. I haven’t been feeling well, so I hoped he could check me out.” Lance wanted to pat himself on the back for how quickly he’d come up with the lie.
“The same place they keep all of them,” Josie said.
