Empty Bodies (Book 5): Damnation (5 page)

“It’s fine,” Gabriel said. “I understand why he wants to stop and look. You never know if we’ll find something.”

Glass shattered behind them, and Jessica turned. Thomas had taken the butt-end of his rifle and slammed it through the front door. It had been one of the only windows still in tact. Thomas and Claire ducked through the new opening in the door and headed inside.

“I’m gonna go check the pumps for gas,” Jessica said.

She walked back over to the SUV and opened the driver’s side door. She bent over and popped the gas tank, then inserted the nozzle into it. Nothing happened. She withdrew her knife and sawed through the rubber hose. When she’d sliced a hole in it, she looked inside.

Bone dry.

Jessica replaced the fuel pump, closed the gas tank, and then walked to the backside of the SUV. She checked the clouds again in the eastern sky, which had grown darker and moved closer. They were possibly only a short drive away from hitting the storm head-on. Hopefully, the roads would be mostly clear of debris and of Empties.

A gleam of light stung her eye and drew her attention.

She looked off the way they’d come from, and saw a speck growing larger. The glare of light had come off of the headlights or hood of a fast-approaching vehicle. And there wasn’t only one. It was a small pack of vehicles. The one leading was a pickup, and she could’ve sworn, even from far away, that someone was standing in the bed of it. Behind the truck was a camper, and two sedans flanked it.

“Gabriel,” Jessica said. She heard feet punishing the gravel beneath, and within a few moments, Gabriel was at her side.

“Get in the truck,” Gabriel said. “Now!”

Jessica didn’t hesitate. She turned and loaded into her spot in the back seat of the SUV.

“Thomas!” Gabriel shouted. “Claire!”

Claire looked out through the window, confusion covering her face.

“Get out here, now!” Gabriel said.

Claire disappeared from the window, and soon emerged outside with her brother.

“What is it?” Thomas asked. “We think we may have found some food in the back that we can take with us.”

“We’ve gotta go, now,” Gabriel said.

“Gabriel, wh—”

Gabriel pointed down the highway. Thomas and Claire followed the direction of his finger toward the oncoming vehicles, which were now less than a mile away.

“Shit,” Thomas said, and grabbed his sister’s hand and ran to the car.

Jessica’s heart raced as she loaded back inside.

***

Gabriel jumped into the driver’s seat and cranked the SUV. 

Thomas joined Gabriel up front, and Claire hopped into the back next to Jessica. Before they could even shut the doors, Gabriel punched the gas. The tires squealed as he raced out of the parking lot.

Now only about a quarter of a mile behind them, the men held their weapons in the air like warriors. Gabriel floored the SUV, its V-8 engine creating distance between them and their followers.

Jessica looked out the back window and watched the two vehicles flanking the camper pull away from it. 

“They’re gaining on us,” Jessica said.

Thomas checked his gun to make sure it was loaded. It was.

The first gunshot went off, and Claire screamed. It hadn’t come from Thomas’ gun, but from one of the vehicles behind them. A second bullet hit the back window, creating a spiderweb-type crack.

“Get down!” Thomas demanded of his sister and of Jessica.

Gabriel had to shout over Claire’s hysterics, as the woman continued to cry. “Jessica! When Thomas starts shooting, be ready to reload his weapon!”

“Got it,” Jessica said. She said it with a calmness that put Gabriel at ease. One panicking passenger inside the vehicle was enough.

The oncoming group fired their weapons again, this time shattering the back window completely. Claire cried out again as glass spilled down upon her. Gabriel swerved, the shot having startled him.

Gabriel glanced into the rearview mirror again. The two oncoming vehicles had gained on them.

“I’m gonna go back there,” Thomas said. “I can fire out the back window. We can’t just keep driving and do nothing else.”

“All right,” Gabriel said. “Be careful.”

“You just keep your damn foot on the gas,” Thomas said. He unbuckled his seatbelt and squeezed between the two front seats.

The convoy fired another round of shots, and Thomas dived into the back seat. His sister screamed again, and so did Jessica.

“You okay?” Gabriel asked. “Did you get hit?”

“I’m good,” Thomas said.

Thomas had just poked his head up when another shot rang through the air. The bullet zipped through the vehicle, just missing Thomas, as it shattered the front windshield.

Gabriel ducked out of the way, swerving again. He was now unable to see out the front window.

Thinking quickly, Jessica leaned between the front seats and hit the windshield with a shotgun, knocking it out.

"Thanks," Gabriel said.

He glanced down at the speedometer, which read 100 miles per hour. He looked in the mirror and watched Thomas jump all the way into the cargo area.

Gunshots went off again, and Gabriel ducked his head.

The next round of gunfire came from within the SUV. The caravan behind them had stopped shooting, and Thomas was finally able to fire off a few shots. Gabriel looked into his side mirror and saw one of the vehicles swerve, nearly going off the road completely.

Thomas stopped firing and ducked down. “Give me another round!”

Jessica handed him ammunition and he reloaded.

Gabriel had now accelerated the SUV to 120 miles per hour. The highway ahead was free and clear of Empties. Most vehicles that had been left abandoned were off the side of the road., giving them a clear path.

The pursuing caravan didn’t return fire until Thomas poked his head up to shoot the rifle again.

Thomas screamed.

“No!” Claire yelled. She started to get up from the floorboard, but Jessica held her down.

“Thomas, are you all right?” Jessica asked.

“What happened?” Gabriel asked.

“My arm,” Thomas mumbled. “Son of a bitch.”

“He’s hit, Gabriel,” Jessica said.

“Just stay down!” Gabriel yelled back to Thomas.

Jessica poked her head between the seats.

“Is there any way you can get back there and help him?” Gabriel asked.

“I don’t think so,” Jessica said. “There isn’t enough room back there for me to duck out of harm’s way. I’d be an open target.”

Gabriel bit his lip as he looked into his side mirror again. Somehow, the vehicles had closed the gap even more. They were now only a hundred yards back or so. How the guy in the truck had hit Thomas from that distance was somewhat of a miracle. It had either been a lucky shot, or they were packing the proper artillery and skill for such a shot.

Another minute or so passed before the men fired again. After a few shots, each spaced wide apart, there was a loud pop. Gabriel’s control on the SUV dissipated, as one of the rear tires blew out.

“Shit!” Gabriel yelled. “They hit a tire!”

He looked down to the speedometer, and it had dropped from 120 all the way down to 95, and continued falling. He looked in the rearview mirror and saw that the truck was now between the two sedans. The man standing in the back pumped his fist, his rifle now pointed to the air.

But Gabriel wasn’t going to give up easily. These men would kill them, he was sure. He kept his foot down on the gas, all the way to the floor. In the rear, Thomas still groaned, and Gabriel’s control of the SUV continued to weaken.

“You two have to get up in your seats,” Gabriel said to Claire and Jessica. He was worried about a bad accident now. If that happened, the girls would be thrown around the SUV like clothes inside a dryer. When neither girl moved, he yelled, “Now!”

Jessica moved first, before she realized that Claire was remaining still in the floor. She went down and said something into the girl’s ear, and then Claire finally got up into the seat. No more gunshots came, and they were each able to make it into their seats and get buckled in.

“Duck your heads,” Gabriel said.

“What about Thomas?” Jessica asked.

Gabriel didn’t answer. He could only hope they didn’t get into an accident, tossing Thomas around the inside of the SUV.

Another round of gunfire came from the pursuing caravan. There were three shots before the other tire in the back of the SUV blew.

This shot was the fatal one.

Cruising at 90 miles per hour and losing another tire, Gabriel lost all control of the SUV. The back end got away from him, and by instinct, he slammed on the brakes.

The vehicle fishtailed, and then it flipped.

When the SUV finally stopped rolling, Gabriel groaned. Everything hurt. He clutched at his ribs as he tried to cough. Though the seat belt had saved his life, it had constricted his midsection. Gabriel now found it hard to take in even a single breath.

Outside, tires squealed and the smell of burning rubber permeated the air.

“Jessica?” Gabriel asked. “Claire?”

No one responded.

Car doors slammed and men laughed.

Gabriel reached around, trying to find a weapon. He looked for the shotgun Jessica had handed him, but he couldn’t even gauge in what way the SUV had landed.

One of the doors opened, and as he stretched to try and look, his side screamed at him and he cried out.

“We got one movin’ in here,” a man said.

Another said, “Get his ass out.”

A set of hands reached down, and Gabriel’s vision was too blurry for him to even see them clearly. He was on the verge of blacking out. As his seatbelt unbuckled, he slapped at the arms in front of him, but it was of no use.

“Get your ass up,” a man said, and began to lift.

Gabriel cried out as the man tried to pick him up, and his entire body fell limp. He now realized that the SUV had come to a stop on its side. He looked up, and the sun shined into the cab of the truck, blocking out the face of a man.

The man said something, which sounded muffled.

The last thing Gabriel saw before he was out cold was the man’s fist coming down into his face.

CHAPTER SIX

“Are we sure we can trust them?” Holly asked.

Will shook his head. “Let’s just wait it out and see what they have to say.”

Karl and Laurie had stepped away from the group to talk amongst themselves. A couple of minutes passed, and they finally returned to Will and the others.

“All right,” Karl began. “It’s clear that if that boy doesn’t get some attention soon, he’s going to be in serious trouble. We have a doctor back at our camp. It’s only a couple of miles down the road from here.”

“You can help him?” Holly asked.

Karl shook his head. “I didn’t say that. I’m not the doctor, and I’m not sure we even have the proper tools to do what needs to be done to help him. But we’re going to take you there to try.”

Will rubbed his forehead and then shook Karl’s hand. “Thank you. Thank you, so much.”

“Our group isn’t going to like us bringing someone else in,” Laurie said. “There’s no guarantee that they’re going to agree to let you stay, or that they’re going to help him.”

“How could they not help a child?” Charlie asked.

“Do you want us to try, or not?” Karl asked.

Will and Charlie looked at each other, and Will said, “Yes, of course.”

“Then get in your vehicle and follow us.”

***

Karl and Laurie led them through a rural area, passing nothing but trees on a country road. The group hardly spoke any words to each other. Holly sat in the back, cuddling up to Dylan and running her hands through his hair. Over and over again, she told him, “We’re getting you help.”

After several miles, Karl turned into a suburban neighborhood. The concrete sign outside the subdivision read: Lake Forest Estates. The entrance was blocked with a rod iron gate. Large slabs of wood covered the openings between each rod.