Promise Me Darkness (17 page)

I smiled weakly at her. She was always joking with me that I could handle whatever Fate threw at me. I wasn’t so sure anymore.

I hissed with pain when Eva picked up one of my fingers. She looked at Ryder.

“Hold her tight.”

I felt him nod and tighten his arms around me. Eva took a deep breath and yanked.

I screamed. Then there was only blackness.

~~~~

I woke up slowly, feeling groggy and sore. The bumpy road jarred my cheek against a firm muscle. Opening my eyes, I saw a jean–covered leg beneath me. I blushed, realizing that my head was in Ryder’s lap and his large hand was on my hip.

He was asleep, his head resting on the worn headrest. When we hit another bump in the road, his hand tightened on my hip, holding me securely against him.

I sat up slowly, brushing the hair out of my eyes. The sun was now high in the sky, bringing with it the sweltering heat that made the inside of the truck feel like an oven despite the open windows.

Looking around, I recognized the area immediately. I had traveled on this particular road many times before. A few miles back, we would have passed a beer joint and a strip club, sitting unsuspectingly on an old country road. Also near here was a prison, set miles off of the road, hiding it from most people.

I glanced over when Eva whimpered softly in her sleep. She had her head in Brody’s lap while he kept both hands on the wheel.

For one blissful moment, I forgot about my injured hand. Forgot about the electricity going off, the plane going down, or the scene at the hospital. Then the pain hit me again, reminding me why we were traveling down this lonely road, desperate to get home.

A stick now protruded from my bandaged fingers. The makeshift splint would help stabilize the broken finger but without proper medical care, the broken bone may never heal correctly. I pushed the thought out of my mind when Ryder stirred beside me.

“Maddie, you okay?” he asked, groggy.

When I nodded yes, he sat up straighter and removed his hand from my hip.

“You scared the crap out of me passing out like that,” he said, rubbing the growing stubble on his jaw.

“Sorry,” I said, peevishly. “Setting a broken bone will do that to a person.”

His eyes ran over me, making me aware of every brush of his leg against mine.

“Shit, Maddie. I’m sorry. I should have been standing outside that bathroom. Waiting on you.”

“You can’t be with me 24/7, Ryder. Don’t beat yourself up about it,” I said with annoyance. I was sore and hungry. It was not the best time to have this discussion.

“I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight. You would’ve been safe if I had been thinking straight instead of thinking with my dick.”

“True, but I made the choice to walk away because your dick is the only thing that wants me,” I snapped in anger.

Grinding his teeth in frustration, he glared at me. “Damn it, Maddie! You really want to go there now?”

I opened my mouth, planning to tell him what I wanted, when Brody interrupted.

“Shit, guys. We’ve got a problem.”

About three hundred feet in front of us were two stalled vehicles blocking the lanes of Business 265.

Squinting against the sun, I tried to see what had made Brody and Ryder suddenly uneasy.
We had passed numerous stalled cars, so why were these a problem?

Then I saw him.

Heat waves rose around the unconscious man. He was lying between an old Chevy truck and a dusty minivan.

Apprehension made my heart thump harder. Something about this scene bothered me. Something was off.

“Brody, take the ditch around them.” Ryder said, never taking his eyes off the man.

“Someone’s hurt,” Eva said, now wide–awake. “We need to stop.”

“No, we need to keep driving,” Ryder said, each word clipped.

“We can’t just drive past if someone is hurt!” Eva countered. “We have to help.”

Ryder shot Eva a frustrated look. “The world changed when that EMP went off, Eva. It’s every man for himself…”

“And screw everyone else? Is that your answer for everything, Ryder?” Eva asked, annoyed. “And what if it was Maddie lying there hurt? Wouldn’t you want someone to stop and help her?”

We were almost to the vehicles now. Someone needed to make a decision. Quick.

“You can’t save the world, Eva,” Ryder said, trying to reason with her.

“But at least I’m willing to try," she muttered, her meaning obvious. She turned to Brody and laid a hand on his arm. "Brody, please.”

When I heard the seductive tone in her voice, I knew we were stopping.

“Your girlfriend is going to get us killed, Brody,” Ryder mumbled in anger as he put the hunting knife into the back of his jeans and pulled his shirt over it.

“Just keep your eyes open, Ryder,” Brody said, stopping the truck a few feet from the stalled vehicles.

“You two stay in the truck while we check it out,” Ryder said, looking at Eva and me.

The man on the ground appeared to be in his early thirties. He was big and muscular, wearing black jeans and a blue shirt with heavy combat boots. From where we were, he didn’t appear injured. There was no blood, no sign of struggle, and nothing that could explain why he was unconscious. All the more reason why I felt uneasy.

“Leave the keys,” Ryder told Brody, watching the van closely. He looked at me, his eyes hard. “If something happens, Maddie, take off. Don’t do anything stupid like get out of the truck.”

I nodded in agreement but knew I would never leave him behind.

Brody handed the keys to Eva before both him and Ryder jumped out of the truck. As they walked away, I wanted to cover my eyes, afraid to look but afraid not to. I waited for the inevitable to happen.

My heart felt like it would leap out of my chest.
Something wasn’t right!
I couldn’t take my eyes off Ryder as he crept closer to the unconscious man. He kept an eye on the truck and minivan as he bent down to check the man’s pulse.

Suddenly, all hell broke loose.

The doors of the minivan swung open and three large men jumped out, shouting and surrounding Brody and Ryder. The man on the ground was no longer unconscious. He was now on his feet in a fighting stance. But what frightened me the most was the sight of the guns.

The now conscious man had a semi–automatic pistol aimed at Ryder’s chest. The other men carried various weapons; a shotgun, a hunting rifle, and a revolver. We were no match for the deadly power.

“Holy shit!” Eva screeched with terror.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Eva scrambled into the driver’s seat and attempted to insert the key in the ignition but her hands were shaking too badly. She tried again, cursing when the keys dropped to the floorboard.

As she bent down to find them, I watched, frozen in fear, as Ryder and Brody raised their hands above their heads. Four guns were now aimed at their chests and heads, waiting on them to make one wrong move.

Oh, God!
I quickly scooted over to the passenger door and pushed the door open, planning to jump out of the truck and run to Ryder. I had no idea what I was going to do once I reached him. I just knew I had to be next to him.

But my plan was short–lived.

Two men approached the truck with menace. Both had guns. The barrels were pointed directly at Eva and me despite the windshield.

My eyes quickly snapped to Ryder. He was watching the men with murderous rage but then his eyes moved to me. Making the smallest movement, he shook his head. That was my cue to sit still and not make any sudden moves.

The biggest man walked over to the driver’s side while the other headed for the passenger door, blocking my escape route.

“Out!” the bigger man yelled with authority. He yanked opened the heavy metal door easily, still keeping his gun aimed at us.

The guy was scary. He was large with ruthlessness written all over him. His sweaty face was covered in old knife scars and pockmarks. There were tattoos on the entire lower half of his jaw, making him appear nonhuman. His hair was shaved off, revealing a dented and imperfectly shaped skull.

And he had on prison garb.

“I said get the fuck out of the car!” he roared.

I looked down the barrel of the gun and felt my stomach drop. These were prison inmates. We were as good as dead.

Eva scrambled out of the truck, edging away from the gun pointed at her face. I could tell she was barely holding it together.

I winced as I climbed out after her. My ribs ached from sitting for so long but that wasn’t my biggest problem right now.

The second, smaller man walked around the truck to join his partner. They were both aiming at our heads like they were going to use us for target practice.

“Move away from the door, girlies,” the small man said with a high–pitched and overly excited voice. This was obviously a game for him.

Eva and I moved to the back of the truck. Coming to a stop at the tailgate, I glanced back over my shoulder when someone shouted, “MOVE IT!”

Ryder and Brody were slowly walking toward us with their hands above their heads and guns aimed inches away from their spines.

As soon as I was within his reach, Ryder yanked me behind him, shielding me from danger. I peeked around his tall frame at the weasel–like man in front of us. He was greasy and unkempt. I could actually smell him from a few feet away. His beady eyes peered at me but his weapon of choice, a pistol, was pointed steadily at Ryder’s stomach.

“Open the fucking tailgate!” the leader yelled as he kept his gun trained on us.

I looked around frantically, terrified. All four men were now aiming at us with itchy trigger fingers. We were overpowered and unarmed. There was nothing we could do.

Ryder lowered the tailgate but continued to stand in front of me, practically stepping on my toes. He wasn’t going to leave me exposed to these men.

The leader motioned behind Ryder to me. “You there, crawl in the back and throw everything on the ground. NOW.”

My hands shook and my rib screamed with pain but I managed to throw one leg up onto the tailgate.

Ryder stopped me with a hand on my waist. “She’s hurt, I’ll do it.”

“Don’t fucking move, boy, unless you have a death wish,” the leader snarled, taking a step closer. “Back away from the truck before I fill you full of lead!”

Ryder took a step away, reaching out to grab my hand and pull me along with him. I tried to follow, wanting to stay as close as possible to him.

“Oh, no, sweetheart, don’t you move a pretty little muscle. I want only your boyfriend to move away,” the leader said, cocking the gun pointed at Ryder. He thrust his chin at Brody. “You too, pretty boy. Move over next to him.”

The leader studied the two of them for a second. “That ain’t goin’ to do it. I don’t trust you two fuckers. Move over there on the grass,” he said, motioning with his head toward the side of the road.

Ryder glared at the leader before slowly following Brody to the ditch. Two homicidal looking inmates followed them with guns pointed. Greasy (my new name for the smaller man) snickered. The sound made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

The leader and Greasy moved closer, now fixated on Eva and me. The hot metal of the tailgate was pushing painfully against my spine but there was nowhere else to go. The temperature was climbing and the sun was burning high in the sky. Another hour and this heat would be deadly to anyone standing outside.
Maybe these guys would keel over from heat stroke
.

I managed to hide my fright when Greasy stepped in front of me and grinned. His body odor was revolting. The whites of his eyes were yellow and a drop of drool hovered in the corner of his mouth. His breath reeked of decay and the teeth he had left were yellow and rotten. I tried not to gag with disgust.

“I ain’t never seen such a pretty girl before, Elrod,” Greasy said, leaning closer to sniff my hair. “Ain’t she a tiny little thing? And look at all that dark hair! I always had me a thing for girls with black hair!”

I turned my face away, repulsed. My eyes instantly found Ryder’s. He looked ready to kill with nothing but his bare hands. I prayed he would keep his hot temper in check and not do something stupid.

“Can I touch, Elrod? I’ve always wanted me a college girl. And look at all this perfect skin,” Greasy said, reaching out a finger and running it up my arm.

A shiver ran through me. As he leaned closer, I felt bile rise in my throat. I had to do something before Ryder exploded and all hell broke loose.

Somewhere deep within me, the strength rose to stand up to this slime ball. My survival instincts kicked in.

“Back off,” I said in my best kick–ass voice, glaring at him with hate.

Greasy started giggling like a little girl. The sound was terrifying.

I thought I had put him in his place when the laugh suddenly died on his lips, replaced with an evil look that could’ve killed. He raised the pistol and aimed it within inches of my forehead. The sound him cocking the gun made my blood run cold.

Terror had me frozen in place. The kick–ass girl in me was long gone.

“Leave them alone!” Brody yelled.

He got a gun butt to the stomach for his outcry. Eva and I watched with horror as he doubled over in pain. She reached out to grasp my hand tightly, panic behind her grip.

“She has some spunk, don’t she, Robbie?” the leader chuckled, looking me up and down. “I ain’t saying I ain’t interested but we just want their shit for now.”

He motioned to Eva with his gun. “You don’t look hurt, sweetie. Crawl up in there and get that stuff out. Now.”

Eva dropped my hand and hurried to crawl into the bed of the truck. Maybe the faster we handed over our supplies, the faster we could leave.

I took a chance and glanced at Ryder. His hands were balled into fists as he stared at Greasy with pure rage. His eyes flickered over to me once before moving back to Greasy.

One by one our bags were dropped to the dusty ground at my feet. Eva climbed out of the truck bed as Greasy bent down to open the bags and backpacks.

“Clothes.” He pushed one backpack out of the way and moved on to a duffle bag. “Shitload of food and bottled water in this one,” he said, tossing the hefty bag to the leader. He went through the other backpacks, finding only our clothes.