Without warning, Gabby aimed and shot straight through the men. The women all flinched and covered their ears. The men hit the ground, screaming. Gabby shot twice more and her shots rang true. All that practice at the range was worth every hour.
All three bikes spewed air from their tires.
She pushed Emma and Olivia, shoving them back the way she’d come in. “Split up! You two go that way and get to the car. Drive south. We’ll meet you a few miles down on the highway,” she frantically whispered to her sisters. Grabbing the one available hand of the young woman, she took off the other way.
Gabby’s legs were jittery, her heart pumped wildly, and her backpack jiggled angrily against her spine, but they couldn’t stop. If they did, they’d be found and there was no telling what kind of punishment would be doled out for not only stranding the bikers at the rest area, but robbing them of two—three? —of their winning prizes for their stupid scavenger hunt.
At least she’d left them the pig.
The young woman, who said her name was Mei, had tightly held her purse and run straight onto a deer trail that threaded through the woods on the backside of the rest area. Gabby had followed, but soon took the lead. They’d ran on the trail as far as it took them until it had ended with an army of tall trees, each looking dark and sinister, their trunks blocking out the sun.
They fought with every step, as gnarled and twisted branches caught at their clothes. Gabby felt like if they could cut through the dense woods, they’d be able to easily circle back to the interstate, where hopefully Larry and her sisters would find them.
If they were going the right way.
She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard at least one of the bikers somewhere behind them. This had turned into a very long game of hide-and-seek, and she was tired of playing.
What to do with Mei when we find Larry?
That question had been flipping and flopping around in her mind, along with false starts to a dozen different plans. They could probably squeeze Mei into the car, but did she really want to take her home? The girl looked like a prostitute, and had tell-tale marks of drug use.
Gabby couldn’t stand drugs. When it came to drug users, she gave no quarter. Everyone had choices and she gave no sympathy to people who made that particular choice.
Mei was probably high now. That would explain why she paid the seeping burn on her arm no attention. Gabby’s stomach rolled every time she looked at it. Grayson wouldn’t be too happy at them dragging this one in; one more mouth to feed and probably nothing but trouble.
But she couldn’t just leave her with the bikers. The girl was barely older than Grayson and Olivia’s daughter, Graysie. Hardly more than a child. She needed their help in more ways than one. What if the drugs came after the abuse she was enduring? What if it was the bikers who’d given her the drugs? Maybe she wasn’t a regular user. Women in abusive situations did crazy things.
Gabby and her sisters had all been through hell at one time. Before meeting their forever husbands, each of them had dealt with some sort of abuse in their lives. They were stronger now, and one thing they’d all learned was to never believe someone wanted to be in the bad position that they were in. Sometimes a person just didn’t know how to take the first step to change their own journey. They needed support and a hand up. Most of the time if you gave them that hand, they’d grab it.
Gabby laughed out loud.
Mei needed more than one hand.
Stop it, she chided herself.
She was sliding into a terror-fueled hysteria. She was tired, afraid, and possibly lost. Her legs were nearly give out, twitchy and rubbery.
“Let’s slow down, Mei.” Gabby slowed to a fast walk and continued to plod along, her feet feeling heavier and heavier.
Mei gave her a grateful look. She’d been dragging, too, barely keeping up with Gabby.
Gabby was panting. I’d kill for a cold bottle of water, she thought and then shivered, realizing that wasn’t even funny in these circumstances, even if she hadn’t said it out loud.
She had thought about killing those men. She realized that somewhere deep inside of her, she was capable of it, too. For a moment, she wasn’t looking at the biker in the woods. She was looking at a man from her past. A man who’d nearly forced her to take her own life. He was a monster, just like the bikers. Did killing a monster make her a monster, too?
She hoped she’d never find out.
They stopped to lean against a tree to rest. Mei stared worriedly behind them.
Gabby breathed silently, although it was an effort, and her lungs were seriously getting pissed from the abuse. She didn’t want Mei to know just how worn out—and scared—she really was. Sweat dripped off her nose, hitting the dry leaves with an exaggerated plop. There were no other sounds, other than the distant tree frogs and cicadas. She listened harder. A breeze rustled up some leaves, but when it quieted, she heard nothing again.
The near silence was deafening.
She waved a hand at Mei and they slowly trudged forward another fifty feet.
Finally, through the trees she, she saw daylight and a glimpse of the highway covered in cars that had given up their fight and now lay haphazardly parked in two sleeping lines. There wasn’t a person to be seen.
Until there was.
Larry’s car came into sight, barreling down a clear gap and then swerving to zoom down the shoulder of the highway. He slid to a stop beside the two rows of gridlocked stalled cars, throwing up loose asphalt.
Gabby’s heart leapt. They’d found them!
But how? Can they see us? Through the trees?
She watched him jump out of the car and stomp to the other side.
What is he doing?
“Hey! We’re here!” she screamed, pushing the brush and branches out of her way, trying to break free of the forest to step out onto the road.
She heard Olivia and Emma yelling, but couldn’t make out their words.
Why is no one looking at me and Mei? Maybe they haven’t seen us?
Starting to panic, she hurried, walking faster and trying to break into a run. Maybe they were out of gas, too? Maybe the bikers were coming? Had they found a way to fix their tires? Were they right behind them?
Gabby looked to the left but could only see more stranded cars and now, a small group of people were walking a few miles back, no bigger than toy soldiers from this distance.
A stitch in her side struck her suddenly and she bent over in pain. “Run, Mei! Catch them!”
She stared through the trees as Mei pushed harder, opening a bigger space through the limbs and leaves. Now Gabby could see Larry. H was in a rage, throwing their make-shift T-shirt bags out of his car.
He was dumping them.
Asshole!
All other thoughts flew from her mind as the belief planted itself firmly that they’d be stranded, hours and hours away from home, on foot. The bikers would find them soon. They’d be taken to some Sons of Anarchy-type clubhouse and forced to be Old Ladies.
She may never see Jake again.
Or worse.
She stood stooped over, with one hand clutching her side, paralyzed with fear. It all caught up with her. She was tired of being the one always in charge. Tired of Olivia being so flaky and undependable. Tired of Emma being so invisibly quiet except when she was being the peacemaker. She couldn’t handle the pressure. All she wanted was to get herself and her sisters home safely. But she’d screwed up everything so far.