Doomed (37 page)

As for Eli, I still haven’t decided if he’s just along for the ride or if he really wants to save the world. I don’t suppose it matters, as the end result is the same. The two of them are in this with me. I’m so grateful I don’t have to do it alone.

“When we get to Hugoton, how are we going to find the right ethanol plant?” I ask.

Eli’s too busy slamming on the brakes to answer.

Despite my seat belt, I nearly roll into the seat in front of me. “What’s going on?”

“Cars are backed up heading into town,” Theo answers.

“I can see that.”

Both Eli and Theo grow more alert, which makes me nervous. “What’s wrong?” I ask, poking my head up.

“Stay down, Pandora.” Theo reaches a hand back and actually shoves my head down to the seat.

I stay down.

“Homeland Security?” I whisper, afraid to even say the words out loud in case it conjures them up. They’re the bogeyman in this new story of my life.

“I think Homeland Security would be an improvement,” is Eli’s cryptic reply as he hits the locks.

“What do you want to do?” he asks Theo.

“About what?” I demand.

“I’m not sure. We could try to turn around, but you need to get into the other lane—”

“Damn it, I’m here, too, you know. Tell me what’s going on!” I sit up to look for myself, and both Eli and Theo curse. This time it’s Eli who shoves me down, and he’s nowhere near as gentle about it as Theo was.

“There’s a motorcycle gang outside, okay?” Theo tells me in a furious whisper. “They’re working their way down the cars, robbing people. The last thing we need them to do is catch sight of you.”

“Why? What’s wrong with me?”

He and Eli exchange another look, and I’m beginning to feel stupid, not to mention left out of the good old boys’ club they’ve got going on in the front seat. Nice that they’ve gone from hating each other to being bonded together in silence against me.

A woman’s scream splits the air around us. Theo stiffens even more, and I can sense Eli’s growing alarm as Theo reaches for the door handle.

“Stay in the car, man!” Eli says from between clenched
teeth, his hand grabbing on to Theo’s biceps like he plans to physically hold him in place.

“Goddamnit, Eli, they’re going to rape that woman!”

“And if you get out of this car, they’ll kill you and me and then rape and kill Pandora. Do
not
draw attention to us.” Eli glances at me in the rearview mirror. “Can you find a blanket back there, Pandora? Cover yourself up?”

“Are you serious? They’re really—”

Another scream splits the air, more high-pitched and terrified than the last. “We have to help them, Theo. We can’t let them do this—”

“They’re already doing it, Pandora. There’s ten of them and they’re armed. Judging by the way they’re working their way through the line, they’ve got this down to a science.”

The car next to us pulls out of line and starts to make a U-turn over the center divider. But the road is just as packed going in the other direction—more proof that no one knows where to go in the middle of this nightmare, only that they don’t want to be where they are.

The next thing I know, two motorcycles zoom past us, zipping between the rows of cars. They stop when they get to the car that made a break for it. I peer through the side window and watch as one of them smashes the window in with a baseball bat. Then they’re yanking the driver out.

She’s young and pretty, and I can hear her baby screaming from the backseat even through the rolled-up windows of our truck. Eli shifts uncomfortably, and Theo’s hands clench the dashboard so hard that I’m afraid he’s going to rip it off.

Eli glances to the right, tries to look past the cars in
front of us. “The next turnoff isn’t that far up, right? Can we drive on the grass and get off there?”

“If we could, wouldn’t other people be doing that?” Despite his words, Theo risks putting down his window and sticking his head out to try to see around the cars. When he turns back to us, his face is even more grim. “There’s a lot more of them. They’ve got all the avenues of escape shut down in every direction I can see.”

Even so, more people are starting to make a run for it. The car two spots in front of us tries to pull out of line, but gets its tires shot for the attempt.

“We’ve got to do something. We can’t just sit here!” I whisper loudly.

The mother screams again, and I’m out of the car before I can think twice about it. But then, so is Theo. Even as I do it, I know it’s a bad move, know we’re probably going to end up getting hurt, but I can’t just sit here and do nothing while those bastards hurt whoever they want.

“Stop it,” I yell, charging across the highway toward them. Maybe if we’re lucky, more people will step up. They can’t stand against all of us. “Leave her alone.”

The two men turn to glare at me, and I freeze under their stares. I can’t help it. I’ve never seen such dead eyes in my entire life. There will be no reasoning with them, no talking them out of leaving her alone. I don’t even have a weapon.

Their gazes rake me from top to bottom, and I feel the chill all the way down my spine. Eli was right. They’re not going to be content to just hurt me. Still, I won’t back down, won’t show fear. Like with any wild animal, that’s the kiss of death.

I know Theo’s right next to me. I can feel the warmth radiating from his body. Behind us, Eli is rummaging in the car for something—I don’t know what.

“Don’t worry, darlin’,” one of them says in a mockery of a southern drawl that makes my skin crawl. “There’ll be plenty left for you when we’re done with her.”

He comes closer, and Theo grows even tenser, though I didn’t know that was possible. He thrusts me behind him, stands up to his full height of six foot eight inches, and just watches, his face as blank and intimidating as ever. I know he’s scared, can feel the fine tremor shaking him, but he doesn’t back down an inch.

“Isn’t robbing her enough?” Theo asks. “Get what you need and move on.”

The second man points a pistol at Theo, cocks it. A scream wells up inside me, an apology for putting us in this situation. Already the other men have finished whatever they were doing up ahead, and are coming toward us. We need to get back in the car before they reach us, but it’s already too late. I know it is.

There’s no way they’re going to let us just walk out of here.

“Why don’t you get back in the car, son? You don’t want to tangle with us.” This from the man with the gun.

“I’m already tangling with you and you need to let that woman go.”

“What I need is to let Mike here shoot your oversized ass.”

An older man fumbles out of the car behind us. “Leave those kids alone!” he shouts.

“Really, Grandpa? Are you going to stop us?”

Two more men get out of their cars and join us. “You’ve got what you wanted. Now leave us alone,” the first one says.

The two bikers exchange a look, like they know things are getting out of hand. Eli’s behind me now, and he grabs my shoulder, tries to shove me back toward the truck. “Get in, Pandora.”

Believe me, I want to. But standing here, watching these assholes figure out that things aren’t going to be as easy as they expected them to be, makes me understand the power of numbers. And the power of speaking up. I’m not going to hide until they turn around and leave that woman, and these people, alone.

“Look, I’m going to give you one more chance,” the biker with the gun growls. “And then someone’s going to die.” He waves the gun around, pointing it at all of us in turn before focusing it on me. “My friends are almost here. Get back in your cars and you won’t be hurt.”

I know he’s right, can hear the other members of his gang running the last few feet toward us, cursing. I don’t look, though. I can’t. I’m spellbound as I stare down the barrel of the gun pointed right at my chest.

“Leave us alone!” someone else yells. And I can see it in the way the gun shifts, feel it in the hate emanating from the man pointing it at me. I’m about to die.

I start to drop to the ground at the same time Theo broadsides me, knocking me halfway to hell and back. I hit the ground hard, Theo on top of me, just as four shots ring out.

Theo goes limp on top of me at the third shot, and I
shove him out of the way, see that he’s bleeding from his arm. “Oh my God! He shot you!”

I turn to Eli for help, but he’s standing there, gun in his hand and face slack with shock. I look around wildly and realize what’s happened. Two of those shots weren’t from the bikers. They were from Eli. To save Theo, he’s shot them both. One in the head and the other in the chest.

Horror, terror, revulsion, relief, shock all tear through me at the same time. I look around, realize every single person here is as freaked out as I am. I also realize the other bikers will reach us in seconds. All hell breaks loose as the growing crowd surges to meet them, ready for battle now that first blood has been drawn.

The chaos is the best chance we’ve got to escape, as I have a feeling the biker gang is not going to take the murder of two of its members very well.

“Can you stand?” I ask Theo.

“Yeah, sure.” But he’s pale, and looks like he’s going into shock.

“Eli, can you help me?” I call urgently. He doesn’t move, doesn’t even acknowledge that I’m speaking to him. Just stares at the two men on the ground—one dead and one dying—in absolute horror.

I climb to my feet, then help Theo up and to the truck. “Get in the back,” I tell him as I grab Eli. “We have to go.”

He doesn’t answer, so I shake him a little. “Eli, get in the truck!”

Still no response. I slap him across the face, hard. “Get in the fucking truck!” I shove him with all my strength.

It’s enough to get his attention. He drops the gun and
though he moves slowly, like he’s in a dream—or more accurately, a nightmare—Eli finally heads toward the truck. I think about picking up the gun but can’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I follow Eli as he climbs in the driver’s side, then scoots over as I shove against his shoulder and get behind the wheel.

“What are you going to do?” Theo demands from the backseat.

“Get the hell out of here. What do you think I’m going to do?”

I twist the steering wheel all the way to the right and hit the gas, just as one of the bikers reaches for the door handle. We scream onto the shoulder, taking out the bumper of the car in front of us. And then we’re flying down the pavement, and I’m twisting and turning the wheel to avoid obstacles. Thank God it’s a wide sidewalk.

I try to take the first right, but it’s blocked off by men with motorcycles and guns, so I keep my foot on the gas and blaze straight ahead. This bottleneck has to end somewhere.

Shots ring out behind me, but they don’t seem to hit anything vital and I’m not stopping to check. I plow ahead into town and onto a narrow sidewalk. I dodge a fire hydrant and mow down a small white picket fence and a bunch of patio tables and chairs that obviously belong to a sidewalk café.

Theo curses, but other than that keeps his mouth shut.

“Put pressure on the wound,” I snarl. “You have to stop the bleeding.”

“It’s just my arm. I don’t think it’s bad.”

“You got shot! That’s pretty much the definition of bad, you moron!”

Up ahead, I can see freedom. Open, unrestricted road. But there’s a huge line of motorcycles and men with guns between me and it. I glance in the rearview mirror—two motorcycles are closing in fast. They get a little distracted by the café debris, but I can’t outrun them forever.

“Hold on!” I yell.

“What are you going to do?” Theo demands, sitting up. “No, Pandora. Don’t!”

It’s too late. I’m committed now. “Get out of the way, get out of the way, get out of the way,” I murmur as I press the gas pedal all the way to the floor.

Two of the men level their guns at the truck. I grab Eli by the hair, shove him down. Duck low over the steering wheel and keep on driving, right through the makeshift barricade of men and machines.

The crunch of metal hitting metal rings through the cab, followed by the sickening
thud
of bodies that means they weren’t fast enough to get out of the way—or were too stupid to believe that I would go through with it.

The truck shudders and bucks, but it’s big and tough and going close to ninety miles an hour when it hits them. In the end, we make it through. I glance in the rearview mirror, see three or four men lying in the road. They’re moving, but that’s all I can say about them. I yank my gaze away, shove the horror down deep inside me. I can’t think about them, about what I’ve done, and still function. Not now. Eli and Theo are depending on me.

I take the first right way too fast, make an immediate left, followed by another right. I don’t know if they’re still following us or not, but my gut instinct says they are and we need to hide. Otherwise, we’re dead.

I drive about a quarter of a mile down what I think is a
main street in this small town, then make two quick lefts. “Where are you going?” Theo yells, hanging on to the back of the seat for all he’s worth.

“I have no idea. Look for someplace we can hide.”

I roll down the window, listen hard as I drive. From a couple of streets over, I can hear the roar of half a dozen motorcycles. I was right. They’re looking for us, and they’re nowhere near far enough away to make me comfortable.

I scan the streets even as I make another hairpin turn, going right this time. We’re on a suburban street and there are lots of houses with garages, but I don’t know if they’re still occupied or if the owners have evacuated like so many of the people in this area. Don’t know if I have the time to figure out how to open the doors, anyway.

Damn it, there’s nowhere to go.

I take another right, for a second heading back in the direction we’ve just come from, looking for something, someplace, where we might have a chance …

A three-level parking garage looms large on the left, and I swing into it at the last second. I race past the ticket booth and around corner after corner, climbing higher and higher. I narrowly miss plowing into a group of cars parked right on the corner of the second floor.