by Mark Gordon
Chapter 30
A Plan
“Hey fat boy! Wake up and get these cuffs off me!”
The corpulent figure of Brock, who had been snoring happily, jerked out of his slumber and sat up as quickly as his pudgy frame allowed.
“What? What?” he blurted, still befuddled. Then he saw what was happening. “You motherfucker!" he shrieked. "What do you think you’re doing? Are you stupid?”
Matt could tell that this insane, fat man wanted to come over and beat him badly for this unexpected sign of rebelliousness, but Matt just smiled and pointed at Montana, who was sitting calmly on her bed pointing a shotgun at him. Brock swung around in her direction, “Montana! What the fuck? Don’t point that thing at me. Are you fucking stupid?”
“Sit down!” Matt ordered. “Now!”
“The fuck I will! Who the fuck do you think you are?” Brock bellowed, as his face turned red with rage.
“Shoot him Montana,” Matt ordered calmly.
She aimed the gun at Brock’s crimson, acne-scarred face and cocked the hammer. The anger in his face quickly turned to fear as he realised he had been outsmarted.
“Wait! Wait!” he screamed. “Don’t shoot! I’ll sit down! Fuck, what is wrong with you two?”
Brock flopped down onto the single bed as he glowered at his betrayer. “Montana?” he pleaded.
She didn’t move. The gun was still trained squarely on his face, which was now sweating profusely.
Matt spoke. “Brock! Forget her. You need to listen to me, okay? Don’t say a fucking word until I’m finished. Okay?”
The fat man nodded his head.
“Good. Now listen. Montana and I are leaving. This place is very bad, and I also happen to think that Montana needs someone better than you. So I’m taking her back to Millfield with me and she’s happy with that. But, if you want to come with us, that’s fine too, only I’ll be in charge. If you do come, you'll have to change your ways and work. There’s no free ride for anyone anymore. I don’t particularly like you, but in this new situation we’re all in, people are going to have to help each other. So it will be your choice.”
Brock started to speak, but Matt cut him off.
“Shut up! I haven’t finished. Listen! Whatever your decision is, you’re going to let me out of these handcuffs when I say so, and then you’re going to go back and sit on your bed. If you try anything silly, Montana will shoot you, and that won’t really bother either of us. It’s going to be hard enough to survive these feeders without having to worry about you as well.” Matt paused and turned to Montana. “Don’t hesitate. If he tries anything, shoot him. We don’t need him.”
Montana nodded and smiled, “No problem.”
“Okay Brock,” Matt asked, “What’s it going to be? Start a new life with us in Millfield or stay here and try to survive on your own?”
Matt honestly had no clue as to how this half-assed kidnapper would answer, because his behaviour was so erratic. Brock sat on the bed silently, with his pudgy hands balled up into fat greasy fists. When he answered it was with barely controlled rage through clenched teeth.
“You think I want to come with you? Fuck you! You think you’re so fucking great, don’t you? Coming into my town and stealing my girl! You can fuck off to Millfield and take that slut with you. I hope those feeders kill you before you get home, you cunt!”
“Okay,” Matt replied, trying to maintain his cool, despite his heart hammering his ribcage like there was a monkey playing a drum in there. “That’s good. You’ve made your choice. Now I need you to get the key for these cuffs so that we can leave.”
Brock stood up and awkwardly stuffed his hand into the front pocket of his jeans to retrieve the tiny key. Matt needed him to stay cool so he continued giving him calm, simple instructions. “Good. You’ve got the key. Now come over here and release me, then we’ll get out of your hair and you can get on with things. But don’t forget! Montana will shoot you if she has to. I don’t think she’d enjoy it, but I reckon she’d do it.”
The big man went over to Matt and released him as requested. Then he walked back over and sat on the bed, glaring furiously at his betrayers. Matt stood up and stretched, trying to get the kinks out of his back from sitting cuffed to the heater for so long.
“Now Montana and I are getting out of this town. You will not leave this room until you can’t hear my car any more. If I see you in my rearview mirror, I will come back and shoot you myself. Okay?”
“Fuck you!” barked Brock, before slumping back onto his bed and staring up at the ceiling.
“Okay Montana, grab your bag and let’s get going.”
She handed the shotgun to Matt, who kept it trained on the prostrate, and somewhat tragic, figure of Brock, who was sulking like a big deranged baby. She went quickly around the room, gathering a few possessions, and after she’d stuffed them into her bag, came over and stood by Matt. Together they backed out of the room, then turned and headed to Matt’s truck as quickly as they could. Brock didn’t try to follow them.
As they approached the truck, Matt was almost frantic with anxiety. What if Gabby wasn’t in the car? It had been almost two hours now, and she was only a child. Would she have run away? He honestly didn’t know. Matt got to the car with Montana close behind, and hurriedly unlocked the passenger’s door and there she was, curled up on the floor, sound asleep under his jacket, just as he left her. He leaned down and shook her gently.
“Gabby. It’s Matt. Wake up honey. It’s time to go home.”
She looked up at him with red, tired eyes through her scruffy blonde hair. “Hi Matt. I went to sleep. You were gone a long time. Did you find my mummy?”
“Sorry sweetheart. Not today. We’ll keep looking though. This is Montana. She’s my friend. Climb up in the middle so she can get in.”
Gabby did as she was asked and Montana climbed in beside her, throwing her bag on the floor and smiling at her new companion. Matt lifted Elvis up into the back of the truck, then raced around to the driver’s door and climbed in. He turned the car around, put his foot to the floor and gunned out of Carswell with his two new travelling partners. He looked at the sky and even though it was darkening slightly as the afternoon encroached, he thought they would still be able make it back to the farm before it got dark. Matt took a deep breath. Today had been an ordeal that could have turned out much worse, but they were all safe and heading home. As he zoomed past the corpses scattered on the road here and there, he noticed that Montana had taken a children’s book out of her bag and was distracting Gabby with it so she wouldn’t see the horrors around them. He smiled at her and made a silent vow that he would never set foot in this godforsaken town again.
