Hunted (18 page)

“Left front pants pocket. Sorry, but I can't reach it at the moment.”

Judd smiled. That Lionel still had a sense of humor was a good sign. Judd found the knife and spent several minutes jabbing a hole in the belt. “This isn't going to feel good, but it's necessary.”

“Whatever,” Lionel said.

Judd took a breath, then pulled the belt as tight as he could around Lionel's arm. Lionel's scream echoed through the woods, and Judd nearly let go, but he knew this was Lionel's best chance of getting out alive.

Lionel wiped his forehead with his right hand. “Sorry I yelled like that.”

“Don't be,” Judd said, putting the knife in Lionel's right pocket. He pulled out the cell phone and dialed the safe house in Salem again. No answer. Judd handed the phone to Lionel. “Keep this and call Vicki if you need someone to talk to.”

“But you might need it.”

Judd shook his head and opened Lionel's backpack. He sorted the food and made sure Lionel could get to it, then gave Lionel all but one bottle of water. “I'll be back before sunup. Sundown tonight at the latest. Can you hang in there that long?”

“Only one way to find out,” Lionel said. “Don't take any chances back there.”

Judd nodded and checked Lionel's arm to make sure the bleeding had stopped.

“There'll be a lot of people praying for you. Concentrate on staying alive.”

“That's been my full-time job since the disappearances.” Judd grabbed his flashlight from the backpack, headed into the night, and took a final look back. Lionel waved and tried to smile.

17

VICKI
held Cheryl's hand and looked out the window. How could they have been so wrong about the due date? Was the baby in danger? Maybe it had already died.

Vicki shook her head. She couldn't think that way. They had to assume it was alive and work as hard as they could.

Cheryl squeezed Vicki's arm. Her breathing was short and her hands shook. “Something's wrong, isn't it?” Cheryl panted. “Am I going to lose the baby?”

Vicki patted her shoulder. “This just took us by surprise. You're a little early, but Marshall will get help. As soon as he gets back we'll all feel a lot better.”

Cheryl put her head on the pillow and grimaced. Her breathing came rapidly, along with short moans of pain.

“Where does it hurt?” Vicki said.

Cheryl grabbed low on her stomach. “There's a lot of pressure. It feels like my stomach's going to explode.”

The girl leaned forward, and Vicki noticed wetness on Cheryl's pants. Cheryl gasped.

Josey rushed to them. “Don't be scared. That was just your water breaking.”

“What water?”

“A sac of fluid protects the baby. If it breaks, it usually means the baby is moving further down. We're going to see that little one tonight.”

When Josey moved in to help Cheryl, Vicki stepped out of the way. Vicki wasn't ready for this. The baby couldn't be born tonight, could it? In the last few months Vicki had read lots on the Internet about giving birth. She had walked Cheryl through a class on how to breathe during labor, but now, all her reading and coaching seemed worthless. She felt helpless, without a clue about what would happen next.

She whispered the only prayer she could think of. “God, help us.”

Judd went as fast as he could toward the stream, pointing his flashlight at the bank and making sure of his footing. It would take extra time going around the hill this way, but he wouldn't risk climbing up and sending more rocks onto Lionel.

Judd talked as he walked, trying to keep himself moving. His words became prayers as he asked God for wisdom. He prayed for Cheryl, the baby, and that Vicki would be able to help. He asked God to bring Marshall and the midwife back quickly and to spare the life of this child.

But Judd's thoughts kept coming back to Lionel. Had he checked the bleeding well enough? If the tourniquet wasn't tight, Lionel could die. Judd cringed as he imagined getting back to the rock and finding Lionel's body.

Judd stepped onto a rock jutting out over the stream. “God, I've got to trust you to take care of Lionel. You have to show yourself mighty in this, because I'm too weak to do anything else.”

Judd moved through the darkened woods as quickly as he could. Someone at the safe house had to help.

Lionel wanted to scream for Judd to turn around. He didn't want to be left alone, but he knew it was his only chance. Every breath sent pain pulsing and throbbing through his arm.

Lying on his back in the rocks and dirt was the most uncomfortable position he could think of.
This is where I'll spend the next few hours, so I'd better get used to it
.

Lionel mustered the strength to pull the backpack closer with his right hand. Judd had emptied the contents on the ground so it would be easier to grab the cell phone, his flashlight, or something to eat. He bunched the backpack up and put his head back, out of breath. Pain shot through his arm and shoulder.

Lionel felt something move on his neck, and he smacked it. Whether it was a spider or some other insect he didn't know. The warmth of his skin probably attracted it, he thought.
And if I attract spiders, what else will I find out here?

The stream caught his attention, and he tried to concentrate on it instead of the pain. His mom had bought a noise reducer for his room when he was young, so growing up he had gone to sleep to electronic crickets, a heartbeat, or a babbling brook. The only problem with the water sound was that it made his younger brother, Ronnie, want to go to the bathroom. His mom would kiss them good night, turn on the device, and leave. As soon as she was out the door, so was Ronnie, hopping sideways to the bathroom.

The thought made Lionel laugh, which also made his arm hurt. He listened to the water running over the smooth rocks and tried to imagine what it looked like in the moonlight. Such a peaceful sound. He could go to sleep so easily listening to that.

No!
He couldn't go to sleep. If he went to sleep, he might never wake up. He put a finger on his arm just below the belt Judd had tightened. There was blood, he was sure of it. No way was he going to sleep.

Lionel grabbed a peanut-butter sandwich with his free hand and unwrapped it. Supplies at the Salem safe house had dwindled, but the people had given them enough food for two days. Lionel didn't know how long it had been since he had eaten a cheeseburger or any meat.

Without the mark of the beast, those hiding had to settle for any food they could scrounge up or what the Commodity Co-op could provide. That usually meant something out of a can and stale bread. Lionel pretended the sandwich was a juicy burger from his favorite restaurant.

How long had it been since he had eaten at a restaurant, walked through a mall, shopped for clothes, or listened to music on the radio? How long since he had done anything
normal?
The disappearances of his family had been a little more than four years ago, but it seemed like a lifetime.

Four years. Lionel was now seventeen. He should have been looking for his first car, stashing cash to buy some old beater he could call his own.

He winced as another wave of pain hit. Lionel thought of his father. Charles had been a heavy-equipment operator. If he were here, he'd have this rock off in no time. But he wasn't, and Lionel wouldn't see him again until …

Lionel reached for his sandwich but dropped it. He started to blow away the dust and tiny rocks stuck to the jelly, but he wasn't hungry anymore. He put the sandwich back on the wrapper and pushed it aside.

Lionel closed his eyes and imagined his father sitting in a crane, lifting the huge rock. His dad could always fix things, and Lionel couldn't remember him ever failing at mechanical work. The only thing that threw him was dealing with Lionel's older sister, Clarice. She knew how to push his buttons and get him flustered. A two-ton rock would have been a piece of cake, but an argument with Clarice, that was something else.

The pain returned, and Lionel reached for a bottle of water. Judd had forgotten to loosen the top, so Lionel struggled to unscrew it. He tried holding it under his arm, but the bottle slipped. Finally, he put the cap in his mouth and cracked the seal, sending a dribble of water down his neck. Lionel took a drink and screwed the cap back on.

Something moved in the bushes by the stream, and Lionel instinctively tried to sit up, sending a new wave of pain through his left arm. He cried out, then lay back and turned toward the bushes. “Judd?”

No answer.

“Hey, no fair trying to scare me!”

Crickets and frogs and the stream.
Is it my imagination?
He found the flashlight and flicked it on. Just before the flurry and scurry of feet, Lionel saw two eyes.

Vicki tried to calm Cheryl as she prepared to deliver the baby. Shelly helped Cheryl get into a clean nightshirt while Josey put new sheets on the bed. Tom Fogarty, the former cop, offered to help. Josey thanked him, and Vicki noticed Charlie pacing outside the door of the cabin.

When Cheryl was settled, Conrad pulled Vicki outside and showed her a printout of responses to the prayer alert. “We've had more than a hundred notes so far, and it's only been on the Web site a few minutes.”

“We're going to need the support,” Vicki said.

“How close is she?”

“Josey thinks it could be soon. I hope Marshall hurries.”

“Mark's with him. He'll call as soon as they find the midwife.”

When Cheryl screamed again, Vicki rushed to the door. Charlie grabbed her arm. “If there's anything I can do, let me know.”

Vicki nodded and ran into the cabin.

Lionel couldn't breathe for a few seconds as the animal disappeared into the bushes. He couldn't tell what or how large it was.
Great
, he thought,
now I'm being stalked
.

Lionel picked up the ant-covered sandwich.
Did the food attract the animal? Maybe it was my blood
.

Throughout their trip from South Carolina, Judd and Lionel had seen animals. Moving mostly at night, the two had run across opossums and skunks, but they had also seen several coyotes and what looked like wolves.