42 L’ENFER
Monday afternoon
“Open the door, Julie! It’s me!” Jack yelled.
Julie came out of her hiding place in the back of the truck and opened the driver’s door. Then her jaw dropped and she looked disconcerted.
“Who is she?”
Jack glanced at the face of the young woman in his arms. “She doesn’t talk. At first, I thought she was dead.”
“Why is she naked?”
“She was strapped to the bed. She didn’t have any sheets on the bed, just a plastic tarp,” Jack responded. “But I think I saw a jumpsuit in the barn.”
Jack climbed into the truck, now carrying the young woman over his shoulder, and then he laid her down on the mattress in the back of the truck.
“Can we leave now, Jack?”
“I’m just going to get the jumpsuit. It won’t take long.”
Jack returned a minute later with a large green jumpsuit.
“Can we go now, Jack?”
“Yes.” Jack sounded baffled.
Jack handed Julie the jumpsuit, and she helped the young woman dress. Jack started the truck, and this time he didn’t hesitate. He maneuvered the large semi-trailer perfectly down the narrow dirt road until it came to a complete and sudden stop, no more than a minute later.
“Why are you stopping?” Julie yelled from the back of the truck.
Jack didn’t respond. He simply kept staring at the road in front of him.
“What the hell is…” Julie froze as she looked at the gate.
A man stood in front of the massive steel gate, which blocked the road. He had a leather strap across his chest. A shotgun barrel was pointing upward behind the man’s back.
“Can you run him over?” Julie’s eyes fixed on the target.
“That steel gate looks pretty solid,” Jack responded. “It could damage the truck, or make me lose control and drive into the ditch.”
“Why is he just standing there?”
Julie got the baseball cap from the back of the truck, and put it on Jack’s head.
“Open the window and wave your arm. Perhaps he’ll open the gate for us,” Julie said. “But make sure he doesn’t see your face.”
Jack did as instructed, and lowered the window and waved his arm. The man waved back at Jack. However, the gesture didn’t appear to be a sign of confirmation, it rather seemed a childish version of greeting someone. The man kept waving his hand for quite some time before he eventually made his way toward the truck.
“Hide, Julie,” Jack said and lowered the cap all the way down to his eyebrows and held his left hand up to his face, seemingly to hide his profile.
The man, who appeared to be in his early twenties, approached the truck with a huge smile on his face. But then, suddenly, the man stopped and his smile vanished.
“You’re not uncle Adam,” the young man said in an English accent, but with a heavy stutter. “Does Adam know you’re driving his truck?” The young man kept stuttering. “He will slap you!”
Jack took his hand away and looked the young man up and down. The man’s legs appeared shorter than normal, and the distance between his eyes was unusually far.
“I bought the truck from Adam. Can you open the gate for me?” Jack asked.
The young man shook his head. “No, I’m not allowed to open the gate. I don’t want to get slapped.”
“Is that rifle loaded?” Jack’s voice had an authoritarian ring to it.
“No, sir,” the young man quickly responded without a stutter, then he took the rifle off his shoulder and opened the bolt. “See, no bullets. I’m just a pretender.”
“You mean you pretend to hunt?”
“I pretended a deer yesterday,” the young man stuttered, and smiled. “It was a difficult shot. The sun was in my eyes.”
Jack leaned out of the window. “Listen… Adam’s dead.”
The young man filled his mouth with air, then blew it out and created a large noise. “How did that happen?”
“I killed him, and I killed his brother too.”
The young man stared intensely at the truck’s cabin, as Julie emerged through the curtains from the back of the truck.
“Because of them girls?” The young man sounded guilty and sad.
Jack frowned. “How many girls were there?”
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t let me talk to them.” Now the young man sounded rebellious, much as one could expect from a reluctant child.
“Where did they come from?”
“They can trick me with their love.”
“Where did they come from?” Jack kept his voice firm.
“From Quebec. They moved here a long time ago. Took the furniture and everything. I don’t remember much from back then.”
“No, the girls.” Jack sounded annoyed. “Where did the girls come from?”
“Adam brought them back trucking.”
Jack frowned. “You want to take a ride with us. We can get something to eat. Would you like that?”
“I don’t want him in the truck, Jack.”
Jack looked at Julie. “He’s not in his right mind, Julie. He’s not his age.”
“I don’t care,” Julie responded harshly. “I don’t want him in the truck.”
Jack leaned closer to Julie. “I just thought with all that blood…”
“No, I got chores to do!” the young man yelled, and then peered up the road. “I have to go now. I don’t want to get slapped.”
The young man walked up the road, then Jack got out and opened the massive steel gate.
They drove for about half-an-hour, the truck moving slowly on the narrow road. There were no other roads, or any houses on the horizon. Julie kept looking over her shoulder.
“She keeps staring at me,” Julie said.
The young woman lay on her back with her head barely brushed up against the wall in the sleeping cabin. She kept staring at Julie and hardly ever blinked.
“She looks pissed off, like she could scratch my eyes out any second.”
“You better keep an eye on her. She might attack you.”
“Why?” Julie looked over her shoulder. “I helped her.”
“I think she’s psychotic, or catatonic, or something. Like she’s dreaming, and she can’t tell, if this is real or not.”
“Either way, she has no reason to be angry at me.” Julie looked over her shoulder once more. “I helped you get dressed.”
Jack’s eyes grew wider, and he looked as though he’d just had an epiphany. He leaned in toward Julie, and then whispered, “You’re wearing her clothes.”
Julie glanced over her shoulder once more. “You can have your clothes back. They don’t fit me anyway.”
A few minutes later, Julie emerged from the back of the truck. Now, she wore the green jumpsuit. Once in the passenger seat, she sniffed repeatedly.
“It was hanging next to a slaughtered moose,” Jack said. “The jumpsuit, I mean. That’s why it smells so bad.”
“It smells like him,” Julie said. “But you’re right. It smells like an animal.”
“A dead animal.” Jack’s voice was deep and aggressive.
Julie suddenly flinched. “My jacket!”
Julie lost her balance, and almost fell on the floor. Her face twisted, and her breathing accelerated as she appeared to be having a panic attack.
“I forgot my jacket back at the house. We have to go back for it.”