Stranded Box Set

by Theresa Shaver

  Quinn looked at Alex and the others and everyone nodded. They needed information and now was as good a time as any to start getting it. Dara leaned her bike against the truck, and Josh jumped down. All together they entered the trees and moved south towards the road. They were only ten feet from the edge of the trees, and they could see glimpses of the pavement when the sound of multiple engines drowned out the first ones they’d heard. Alex moved a few more feet forward and dropped down into a crouch before moving right to the edge of the trees. All that separated her from the road was a grass-filled ditch. Scanning right and left she saw two ATVs slow down to a stop while two old trucks and four motorcycles blocked the road ahead of them. The teens were behind the trucks by about fifteen feet and it was clear to Alex that they were part of the outlaws holding her town. She scooted back into the woods that paralleled the road to get a better look at who was on the ATVs. When she got a good look at the girl with long blond hair climbing off the lead four-wheeler, she almost gave them away. Alex rocked to her feet and opened her mouth to shout. Before any sound came out, Quinn had her by the arm and was covering her mouth. She turned horror-filled eyes towards him and he gave a grim nod.

  The hand he had covering her mouth pulled away and he gently stroked her face before turning to the others.

  “It’s Emily and the other group. We’re not letting those bastards take them into town! Josh, Cooper, go back down the road and cut across to the other side. They’re all looking ahead so they shouldn’t see you. As soon as you get across, book it back this way and get ahead of them but stay under cover. Alex, Dara and I will move up on this side. Be ready. We’re going to have to take these guys out. We can’t let them get back to town or they will all be hunting for us. Watch where you’re shooting, we don’t want to get caught in the crossfire and shoot each other. Go!”

  Josh and Cooper took off without a word and Quinn pulled Alex down into a crouch. Dara joined them and they moved quickly back into the woods and then forwards until they were opposite Emily and the others on the road. Quinn patted Dara on the shoulder and pointed where he wanted her. She gave a brief nod and squeezed Alex’s hand before belly-crawling into position. Quinn pointed out where he wanted Alex and then pointed to himself and showed her where he would be. She nodded with grim determination and crawled away.

  When she got to the edge of the trees, she glanced over to the road before she was going to crawl into the tall grass of the ditch. What she saw froze her. A man with long dirty hair was standing in front of Emily and pointing a gun at her.

  “Get into the truck!” he roared at Emily.

  Alex could only hope that everyone was in position and ready because she wasn’t going to wait for a second longer.

  “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to go anywhere with someone as ugly as you!” she taunted as she stood up and swung her rifle towards him.

  All heads turned and stared at her. She stood tall and glared fiercely at him. His gun swung towards her and he gave her a creepy smile before calling out to his men.

  “Well, what do you know? Look, guys, we got another pretty little girl to join the party!” He gave a nasty laugh as he scanned Alex’s body up and down.

  His smile turned grim when a voice called out from the other side of the road.

  “Hey! It’s really stupid to tease a redhead with a big gun, mister. If I was you, I’d duck and cover ‘cause she looks pissed!”

  Alex could see the calculation in the long-haired man’s eyes. She took a quick glimpse behind him and saw the other men were spreading out. Looking back at the long-haired man, she saw his confidence bloom and he called out,

  “Don’t worry, buddy. She’ll be playing with my big gun soon enough!”

  Alex’s body tensed and she tightened her finger on the trigger. They were out of time. She hoped everyone was ready. She opened her mouth to yell but before she had time, she caught movement from the corner of her eye. Her mouth dropped open in shock as she watched her sweet-natured best friend raise her arm and shoot the man threatening them.

  Everything seemed to slow down in that moment. She saw Emily drop the gun on the ground before being tackled by David. Alex heard the sound of Emily’s head hitting the pavement in the split second before the explosive sound of multiple guns started firing. She turned her head and saw the long-haired man frozen with a look of disbelief on his face before crumpling to the road. With him down, she had a clear view of what was happening with the others. The bad guys were firing at both sides of the road into the forest and she saw them fall one by one until there was only one man left hiding between the trucks. She had a straight shot at him so she lined up the rifle and took him out.

  A screech of pain had her whipping her head to the side. Mason was on the ground holding his face. Blood was gushing in between his fingers to drip onto the road. Lisa was the one screeching. She was clawing at a man who was pulling her towards the ditch by her long chestnut brown hair. She was being dragged on her bottom across the road and couldn’t get a purchase with her feet. The man’s face was filled with desperation and he was frantic to make it to the ditch with his prize to use as a shield.

  Alex turned the rest of her body to face them and brought her rifle to bear. She screamed at Lisa, “DROP FLAT!!!”

  Lisa went limp and the man was left exposed with nothing but her long hair in his hand. Alex didn’t even have time for a shot before three bullets from three different guns struck him in the chest. His hand spasmed open and her head dropped to the pavement with a thunk before he toppled backwards.

  There was dead silence for a few seconds. Even nature had held her breath while the birds and insects had disappeared.

  Quinn suddenly called out, “How many down?”

  Alex had the best view of the carnage they’d created and she started to shake as she counted the fallen men. Her voice was shaky as she called out, “Seven.”

  Quinn launched himself from the tall grass and started to scan his friends frantically.

  “Was anyone hit?!”

  Everyone called out as they moved on to the road. Josh was bleeding from his arm but it was a shallow graze and he waved it off with a grimace. Dara had two nicks on her face from tree bark fragments that had ricocheted. Mason seemed to be the most damaged. He had taken a hard punch to the face from the man who had grabbed Lisa and it looked like his nose was broken. Lisa was lying on the road in a ball, sobbing, and Emily was also down. It looked like she was unconscious. David had rolled off her and was scanning around for any other danger. When he saw that they were safe, he turned back to Emily and started to feel the back of her head. His face was filled with relief when all he found was a goose egg from her fall.

  Alex was about to rush to her when Quinn grabbed her arm.

  “David, is she okay?”

  “Yeah, but she’s going to have a huge headache when she wakes up.”

  Quinn nodded. “Okay, we need to get this cleaned up and get out of here! Anyone could have heard those shots. If we want to stay hidden from town, then we need to move fast!” He turned to Josh, Dara, and Cooper. “We need to pull the bodies into the woods and dump the motorcycles in there too. We can drive the trucks and ditch them somewhere else. If we can clean this up like it never happened then maybe the gang in town will just think these guys took off or something and now there’s seven less bad guys we have to worry about later. Let’s get to work. I don’t want to be standing out here if anyone else shows up!”

  Josh and Cooper went straight to the first body and grabbed it by the arms and feet before staggering down into the ditch and into the trees. Dara went to the motorcycles and started pushing one into the woods as well.

  David was looking at them in confusion and the other three were still out of it.

  “What’s going on, Quinn?”

  Alex and Quinn had just picked up a body and he grunted out, “No time right now, David. Just get the others into one of the trucks and then help us!”

  They s
taggered down into the ditch and moved into the trees.

  David didn’t know what was happening but he had just witnessed his lifelong friends kill seven men. He got Emily up over his shoulder and carried her to the first truck he came to. Once he had her inside and buckled up he went back for Lisa and Mason.

  Mason was still on his knees clutching his face so David stripped off his shirt and balled it up.

  “Mason, Mason look at me!”

  When Mason lifted his head David saw the tears streaming down the boy’s face. He offered his balled-up shirt to him to press against his nose but Mason just shook his head.

  “I dink my ose is oken.”

  He grabbed his nose and gave it a yank. The sound it made straightening out made David want to gag. Mason took David’s proffered shirt and held it against his nose while looking around at the bodies on the road.

  “What just appened?” he asked.

  David shook his head and headed over to get Lisa up and moving. She was still rolled up in a ball, crying on the pavement.

  “I have no idea except they seem to think that more bad guys might be coming, so let’s help them clear the road.”

  Lisa staggered against him as he led her over to the truck and helped her slide in next to Emily. After everything that had happened on the way home, it seemed she’d finally broken down. He shut the door and joined Mason at the closest body. They heaved him up and carried him into the trees and dumped him. David knew he should be appalled by this but his emotions seemed to be flat at the moment. Twenty minutes ago he was so excited and hopeful that they’d almost made it home and now he wasn’t sure if there was a home to go to.

  When they return to the road, he saw Quinn and Cooper carrying the second last body into the trees, and Dara and Josh are each pushing a motorcycle down into the ditch. He looked over toward the last body and saw it was the man that Emily had shot, lying face down on the road. Rage filled him. This disgusting man ruined the happy homecoming that he thought they would have, so he used his boot to roughly flip him over. The burning, hateful eyes were all the warning David needed to dive to one side as the long-haired man pulled the trigger of the gun he had been holding under his body. The minute he landed on the gravel on the side of the road, his hands started patting the ground looking for something to defend himself with. He came up with a fist-sized rock, and with all his adrenaline-fueled rage, brought it down on the weakened man’s head. David was mindless with fury and kept hitting the man until strong hands pulled him off.

  “David, David! Stop, STOP!!!” Josh was shaking him and when he saw David’s eyes focus, he let go and stepped back. “He’s dead, David.”

  David’s chest heaved as he tried to calm down. He looked down at the mangled mess of the long- haired man’s face and staggered away to vomit into the ditch. He just killed a man with his bare hands. He held his hands in front of his face and saw they were covered in blood. He wasn’t sure they would ever be clean again.

  Alex’s voice had him turning around.

  “Oh my God! Oh no, NO!”

  David looked at her crumpled face and followed her line of sight. Lying on the road with his arms thrown wide was Mason. If the small blot of blood directly over his heart wasn’t enough evidence then his wide open, empty eyes were. Mason was dead.

  Chapter Two

  David’s face drained of colour and he looked away. They had come so far, they were steps from home and their families and Mason was dead. He shot a glance over at the truck and saw that Lisa and Emily were still oblivious to what was happening. His mind couldn’t process how this had happened. He looked to his friends for help but they all stood staring down at Mason. Quinn finally shook his head.

  “We have to go. We can’t stay here. Josh, will you help me get Mason into the back of one of the trucks? We can give him a proper burial somewhere else.”

  The two boys picked Mason up and when David went to follow them, Alex grabbed his arm.

  “I’m so sorry, David.”

  He looked at her blankly.

  “I don’t understand this. What’s going on? Why are you guys out here with those guns? Where are all the adults?”

  She rubbed his arm while guiding him to an empty truck.

  “I know you’re confused right now, but something has happened in town, and it’s not safe for us to go there. We’ll explain everything when we get back to our campsite. We need to get this road cleaned up and get out of here before more bad guys show up. Just get in. Dara will drive this truck and I’ll drive the other one back. Quinn and Cooper will bring the ATVs you guys were riding on and Josh is going to go get our truck that we left on the other side of those trees. I promise we’ll explain everything when we get to safety.”

  David let himself be led as he climbed into the truck and stared out at the empty road. All he knew was that he wanted to go home.

  Alex ran over to the last body and helped Quinn drag it into the trees. When they came out, Cooper was dumping a huge jug of water over the bloodstains on the road. She looked at Quinn with a question.

  “There were two water jugs in the back of the truck so we’re trying to wash some of the blood off the road. It won’t clean it all but it might dilute it enough that once it dries, no one will notice it right away. Anything we can do to keep the bad guys from knowing we took out their men will help keep us hidden.” He scanned the road and nodded, “Okay, I think that’s about all we can do so let’s head back to the campsite. We need to regroup and make a new plan.”

  He pulled her close for a brief hug and then walked over to the ATV that David had been driving when they’d run into trouble.

  Alex jumped into the truck with the girls and was relieved to see the peaceful face of her best friend. The longer Emily was out, the longer it was until she had to tell her that her boyfriend was dead. Alex knew it was an awful thing to think, but she was a little bit surprised that Lisa and Mason had made it home at all. That thought made her realize that Mark was missing. She wondered what had happened to him and glanced over at Lisa. The girl had her eyes closed and she was leaning against Emily. Alex wondered what their journey home had been like and if they’d faced as many hardships as her group had. Movement caught her eye and she saw Josh run down the ditch and disappear into the trees towards the service road they’d parked on. Dara moved ahead in the other truck and flipped a U-turn so Alex followed and they quickly headed back to the campsite.

  The drive back was uneventful and Alex kept stealing glances at her best friend. She was so happy to see Emily and David but was filled with dread at having to tell them what was going on in their town. That news on top of Mason’s death was going to destroy her friend. She sneaked another peek and was surprised to see Lisa staring back. The girl was as beautiful as ever, but there seemed to be something different about her. The superior air and disdain that usually filled her eyes were gone. In its place was a deep sadness.

  “Are you okay?”

  Lisa slowly nodded her head before asking, “Are things just as bad here?”

  Alex tried to find the right words but came up blank so she just nodded. Lisa sighed and turned her head to look out at the trees passing by. As they came to the clearing where they had set up camp, Emily let out a groan and brought her hand up to her head. Alex brought the truck to a stop behind Dara and quickly turned to Emily.

  “It’s okay, you’re safe.”

  “What happened? My head is killing me!” Emily’s hazy eyes focused on Alex and grew wide. “Alex! Oh my God, Alex, I didn’t think I would ever see you again!” Tears started to flow down her face as the two girls embraced.

  Emily sobbed into Alex’s shoulder and Alex just held her tight. She saw Lisa sitting quietly, watching them, and the girl’s eyes were also filled with tears so Alex reached over and pulled Lisa into the hug as well. No matter what had happened before the pulse, they were all survivors and she deserved a hug too.

  The door behind Lisa was suddenly pulled open and David stood ther
e frantically looking Emily over. When he saw that she was fine, he stepped back and took a deep breath. The girls separated and wiped tears from their faces before getting out of the truck. Alex guided them over to the picnic table as Quinn, Cooper, and Josh pulled up behind the two stolen trucks.

  Josh swaggered over with a grin and slapped David into a one-armed hug. He looked around at the group and laughed.

  “Look at this! We made it! The world stopped and we made it across two countries and have a parking lot full of vehicles that work. Hot damn, we’re good!”

  Alex had to smile at his antics. He was right, they were so lucky to have made it this far and have some resources. Her smile widened at having her whole group of friends back together. She squeezed Emily’s hand and turned to David. The look on his face was enough to wipe the smile off her face. He stared back at them with incredulous anger before he launched into a rant.

  “We didn’t all make it!” he spat at Josh. “What the hell were you guys doing? The way you came out of the trees with your big guns blazing was insane! You killed all those people like it was nothing. You didn’t even try to talk to them! What happened to you guys? Is this who you’re now, pretend-soldiers who go around and gun people down?” His face was flushed red and filled with contempt.

  Quinn stepped forward and held up his hand. “Easy, David, you don’t know what’s happening here. I’m sorry about Mason but those men we killed would have really messed you guys up if we hadn’t stopped them!”

  “Mason? What happened to Mason? Where’s Mason?” Emily suddenly stood up and started to look around in confusion.

  David rushed to her and took her hands. “I’m so sorry, Emily. One of the men shot him. He didn’t make it.”

  Emily stared into David’s eyes and when she saw the compassion there, she made a small “oh” sound and crumpled back onto the bench. She pulled away from David and turned to pull Lisa into her arms.