The Wild Ones, page 8
Exhaustion took over and my eyes closed. I’m not sure how many hours I remained inside, only that when I heard the door unlock, I figured it was Sean or the police. I was wrong.
“Alexa?”
“Ready to get the hell out of here?”
I smiled, as stepping into view behind her was Eli, and then Jamal.
No Way Out
That night under the cover of darkness we made our escape. It shouldn’t have been this way. If they had just listened, or even gone and seen for themselves, they would have understood. Outside, waiting by Alexa’s 4 x 4 red truck were Ryland and Tobias. They were looking around nervously. Ryland motioned for us to come quickly.
“What’s Tobias doing here?” I asked as we crammed into the vehicle. I assumed he would have told Sean or the others. Alexa said he was just as concerned about his father as I was about my brother. I glanced into the back and saw they’d filled up the truck bed with multiple weapons, some of which were handguns and rifles.
It was quiet in the campgrounds. There were no lights on and it was a little after midnight. As the truck rumbled to life and pulled out of the shadows heading towards the mouth of the campground, I rubbed my wrists, allowing the blood to flow back to my hands.
“What about the others?” Eli asked. “Shouldn’t we—?”
“They had their opportunity.”
Alexa drove while the rest of us settled in for what would be a short thirty-minute journey to Long Lake. As we came around a tight bend heading for the gate, I breathed a sigh of relief, pleased that it was over and yet anxious about what lay ahead. We hadn’t made it halfway down the driveway when a big floodlight came on, blinding us and causing Alexa to slam on the brakes. We all jerked forward, and I raised a hand to block the glare. I squinted to try and make out what was going on, and as my eyes adjusted, I saw the silhouette of two figures approaching. I didn’t even need to see their faces to know who it was.
Rob and Sean.
Sean jerked his thumb. “Get out of the vehicle.”
“The gate is locked,” Rob said. “So you aren’t going anywhere.”
“You must be real stupid to think we weren’t expecting you to try something.”
Eli cracked the door and was about to get out when Jamal told him to keep it closed. “Don’t open it.”
“But…”
“I said don’t open it.”
The windows were down just a little to let air in.
They held up flashlights as they got closer. Rob stood in front of the truck while Sean came around the side. Jogging up to us from the rear were Adam and Brooke. Sean tapped on the driver’s side window. “Alexa. Open up.”
She didn’t even look at him but kept her eyes fixed ahead.
“You’re only going to make this worse. Once your parents find out and I promise they will, you are going to wish you had remained at the camp.” He shone the bright light over all our faces.
“Tobias? Oh you have got to be kidding me. I would have expected more from you,” Sean said.
“My father is out there.”
“And we’ll find out what happened but until the police arrive, you are our responsibility.”
“You can’t stop us, Sean,” I said.
“We have rights,” Jamal added.
“You gave up those rights when you chose to come here. You see, what you guys don’t understand is that when your parents signed off on the paperwork for this place, the terms and conditions stated very clearly what you can and cannot do while under our supervision.”
“Yeah, well I think this kind of situation overrules whatever fine print was in that paperwork,” I said.
Sean tried the handle on the door but it was locked. “If you don’t open that door now, this is not going to end well.”
“What are you going to do, Sean? Shoot us? Arrest us? Get the hell out of the way,” Tobias said. “My father owns this place.”
Sean turned towards Brooke and motioned for her to come and have a word with her brother. Brooke’s expression was pinched when she appeared at the driver’s side. “Tobias, do you really want to deal with dad when he gets back?”
“Brooke, he’s out there.”
“And he’ll come back.”
“And what if he doesn’t?”
She chuckled. “Please. Have you all lost your minds?” Her eyes scanned us. “You can’t believe what he’s saying. It’s madness.”
“Brooke, tell Rob to get out of the way or I’m going to run him over,” Alexa said, she revved the engine and Rob took a few steps back. He had one hand out but none of them were carrying any weapons. Adam and Sean fanned to either side of the vehicle to prevent us from going around Rob.
“Alexa, this is not you. I know you.”
“You don’t know me.”
“Why are you doing this?” Brooke asked.
Alexa didn’t reply. When Sean could see that Brooke wasn’t making any headway he walked over to the vehicle and tried one last time to get through to us.
“You have ten seconds to shut off the vehicle and exit or…”
“Or what?” Ryland said. “Huh? What are you going to do?”
Sean got this smirk on his face as if he found this amusing. The guy probably got off on it. He reminded me of a mall security guard who thought he was a cop, except this guy thought he was some tactical black ops soldier.
“Are you really going to make me count down?” Sean replied. None of us moved. “Fine. Ten, nine, eight…” As he began counting he walked back towards the rear of the truck. I cast a glance over my shoulder to see what he was doing. “Six, five…”
Just as he got to five I saw him crouch down, and then I heard a sharp hissing.
“Bastard has slashed the tire. Hit the gas!” I shouted. Alexa slammed the truck into reverse and floored it. The truck flew back and spun around kicking up dirt. She slammed the gear into drive and took the truck across a small field, then turned and gunned the engine, causing the wheels to spin. We shot forward and in the distance we could see all four instructors trying to fan out and prevent us from getting by but Alexa jerked the wheel hard to the right, then to the left and floored it towards the gate.
“Uh, Alexa, I think you are going to want to slow down,” Eli said gripping the door handle and bracing himself for impact.
“Hold on tight,” she bellowed. Her foot was pressed hard against the accelerator. The engine growled loudly. Now I’d seen vehicles crash through gates in the movies numerous times and in theory it could work if the vehicle was strong, and the gate was made of wood but still, the chances of it going off without a hitch were slim. The only upside was the gate didn’t look too solid. It was made of nothing more than flimsy wood, which had become brittle and faded over time. At least it looked that way.
Now I would like to say when that Nissan Titan truck struck the gate, it was like a hot knife going through butter but it wasn’t. Wood exploded in every direction and the tires screeched as it jerked hard to the left. Somehow though, Alexa managed to keep control, and we blasted away into the night suffering only some mild whiplash, and a broken side mirror. Had that been the only problems we were facing it wouldn’t have been too bad but now we were dealing with a rear tire that was quickly deflating and being stuck out on the road in the middle of the night after what I’d witnessed wasn’t good. Then of course there was the fact that Sean wouldn’t be that far behind so stopping to repair it on the main road wouldn’t work.
Thump, thump, thump. It wouldn’t be long before the sound of metal grinding against concrete would be heard.
“We’ve got to pull off,” Alexa said.
“You got a spare?” I asked.
“Underneath the vehicle in the back.”
She continued driving for about another mile to put a little distance between the camp and us before veering off down a road and pulling into a rest stop. “Hopefully if they do decide to follow they won’t come down here.”
“Right, listen up,” Alexa said. “The jack and tire tools are under the back seat, so everyone is going to need to get out. Let’s make this quick.”
She killed the engine and shut off the lights. We were flooded in darkness as we got out and went about releasing the tire from underneath the truck. Tobias gave her a hand.
I ran a hand over my head. “Look, I really appreciate what you did back there. You didn’t have to.”
“Course we did. I would have gone out of my mind if I’d stayed another minute in that place,” Jamal said. Ryland hopped up onto the hood of the vehicle and was smoking a cigarette. Eli remained in the vehicle looking around nervously. I peered into the bed of the truck and reached for a rifle. “These aren’t going to be of much use until we get bullets.” I tossed it down and pulled out a Mossberg 500 Pump-Action Shotgun. “Holy cow.”
“That’s mine,” Tobias said looking over as he lowered the spare tire.
“Is anything not yours?” I asked. I cast my gaze around at the surrounding area. I had a bad feeling about being outside of the truck but we didn’t have much choice.
We hadn’t been out more than five minutes when the roar of a vehicle’s engine could be heard approaching at the mouth of the road.
“Shut off that flashlight,” I said. The light blinked out, and we all froze waiting for the vehicle to turn down our road but it didn’t. It shot by at a high rate of speed.
“You think that’s them?” Eli asked.
“If it is, they’ll soon figure out we must have pulled off.”
“Well let’s get this on fast.”
I continued looking inside the truck bed and pulled out a crossbow. Okay, now this could be of some use. “Anyone know how to use one of these?”
Ryland slid off the hood of the truck with his cigarette in the corner of his mouth; he squinted as he put his hand out. “I’ll show you,” he croaked. “Can’t beat the faithful crossbow. It’s quiet, unlike a gun, and you can reuse the ammo.” He began rattling on about putting your foot in the foot claw, then using a rope-cocking device or pulling the bow back by hand, engaging a safety and loading an arrow. Within seconds he had the thing ready to use.
“I think I’ll stick with an axe, a gun or a…” I reached into the back and pulled out a machete. It was surprisingly light and easy to toss from hand to hand.
“I can’t believe we are doing this,” Eli said from within the cab. Out of everyone he looked the most nervous. Ryland flicked the remainder of his cigarette to the asphalt, and hot orange ashes scattered.
“You having second thoughts? There is still time to run if you want,” Ryland muttered. “But be careful out there, you’re liable to get your ass chewed off.” He chuckled as he went to the back of the vehicle to check on how the tire change was coming along. I walked over to the passenger side and leaned against the window.
“You’re safer with us than you are back there.”
“But my mother is going to kill me.”
“Well better her than some campground female with a sunken face and milky white eyes.”
He shifted in his seat looking uncomfortable. “Is that really what they looked like?”
“There was worse.”
“Worse?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Three Musketeers candy, quickly unwrapped it and shoveled it away like he was taking pills for anxiety. “But how? How can any of this be real?”
“I’m still asking myself the same thing,” I mumbled.
I looked off down the road, squinting into the distance. There was a dense forest on either side of the road, just walls of darkness. Every second we were out there the more on edge I became.
“Where you from, Eli?”
“Newcomb.”
“So why did your mother send you here?”
“Long story.”
He didn’t seem too keen to get into it.
Jamal and Ryland stood guard, surveying our surroundings while bathing the area in a long flashlight beam. It was hard to know if there was anyone out there or if whatever was happening was confined to a few of the surrounding campgrounds. I didn’t even think about cities. I yawned, tiredness kicking in. I understood why Tobias and I were out here but the rest? They could have easily remained at the campground. Sure they didn’t get on with Sean or the other instructors but they were taking a big risk being with me. Was it really worth it? None of them had seen what we had. For all they knew we could have been making it up.
I looked over to Jamal who was holding a baseball bat. He kept swinging it around in his hand. The truck slowly lifted, the groan of the suspension was all that could be heard before Alexa went about loosening the wheel nuts.
“So why did you come along?” I asked Eli.
“My mother always said if one person says something outrageous, doubt them, if two agree, question it. If three are on the same page, you might want to believe it.”
I knew Ryland, and I had witnessed the attacks but no one else had, at least as far as I knew. Which meant only two. “Who was the third?”
“Tobias,” he said.
I shot a glance sideways. Tobias was busy helping Alexa. I strolled back there and watched them remove the wheel and shift the new one into place.
“When did you see it?” I asked.
Tobias lifted his head but continued to work away before he answered. “After that outburst of yours, I figured I would go back down to the shoreline and see for myself.”
“But you didn’t believe me the first time I told you.”
“Would you?” he said looking up. I guess he had a point. It was a little hard to swallow without witnessing it. Even after seeing Joe getting torn apart, I didn’t want to believe that it was happening. It seemed more like a nightmare that I couldn’t awaken from than real.
“Anyway, I stayed there for close to thirty minutes before I saw them through the FLIR. I headed back to the compound and told Sean but he wouldn’t listen to me. Said I was out of my mind like you.” He paused for a second, then continued. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
I returned to speak with Eli. I was going to pepper him with more questions when Alexa let everyone know that the new tire was on. Tobias tossed the ruined one into the back of the truck and everyone got back in.
“You might want to take a different route. I expect Sean or one of the other instructors is traveling up NY-28 north. If you cut through Sargent Pond Wild Forest, we can take North Point Road.”
“But that’s going to add on at least another forty minutes.”
“Up to you,” I said.
She fired up the engine, and we sat there for a few minutes throwing out ideas. There were no houses around, just thick woodland that stretched for miles. Without any lights coming from homes it was hard to tell where the threats were. Heading through the forest was an option but with the outbreak we’d be taking a huge risk.
A sound of a match striking, and the truck filled with a cloud of smoke.
“Put that out,” Alexa said to Ryland.
“You want to rob me of the one thing that is keeping me calm?”
She shook her head and let it go. All our nerves were on high alert. Ryland started coughing and asking if anyone had a bottle of water.
“Jamal, where did you put it?” Alexa asked.
“I thought Tobias was getting them.”
“Me?”
Roland tossed a hand up. “Oh great, so not only do we have no bullets, we have no food or water? Didn’t you learn anything at the camp?”
“Sorry. I was a little preoccupied by trying to sneak out.”
“Don’t you think we should just camp for the night?” Eli asked. “Go in the morning when we can see? It’s pitch-dark out here and besides they are going to be looking for us and if the police are out there, they will be too.”
“The police ain’t coming, buddy,” Ryland said staring out into the depths of the woods. “No one is coming.”
“You don’t know that.”
He shrugged, leaned back and closed his eyes.
“What do you want to do?” Alexa asked bringing the window down to let out the plume of smoke. The whole van reeked of tobacco, I could barely breathe. My eyes were stinging.
“Let’s keep moving.” I reached over and snatched the cigarette from his mouth and tossed it out.
“Hey!” He protested but there was little he could do. No one else smoked except for him and by the glares he was getting he must have known it was a losing battle.
“Guys. Up ahead. Do you see that?”
“What?”
“Movement in the woods.”
“Where?”
Jamal pointed but I couldn’t see a damn thing. It was too dark. Even the stars had been swallowed by the dark clouds drifting aimlessly across the sky. Alexa pressed a button to lock all the doors before firing up the engine and rolling out. We decided to stay on 28, and for the next fifteen minutes we didn’t say much to each other, not because we had nothing to say but because of exhaustion. It was close to one in the morning and the warmth of the heater wasn’t helping. It had already lulled Eli into a slumber. Ryland was snoring heavily in the back and Tobias gave him a jab in the stomach and it stopped for a minute or two before continuing again. Alexa kept the speed to around forty miles an hour. My head rocked back and forth with the steady rhythm of the road.
“You okay to drive?” I asked, wanting to make sure she wasn’t going to fall asleep at the wheel. I didn’t like the idea of waking up in a ditch.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She brought the window down a bit more to let the cool breeze flow over her and keep her awake. NY-28 weaved around near Utowana Lake and Blue Mountain Lake. We’d just passed Maple Lodge Road on our left and come up to a bend in the road when we saw smoke rising in the distance. Flames flickered up into the night.
Alexa eased off the gas as we came around the turn just in time to witness a grisly sight.
