You and Me against the World: The Creepers Saga Book 1 (33 page)

It had sounded like a dream come true. This, however, was a little outside of Randy’s league, and by the expression on Jack’s face, his too. A little sexual coercion was one thing. The drunken girls they had taken may not have gone along with the games sober, but hell, it wasn’t exactly rape. At least none of the girls had ever gone to the police. Now Bart had them ready to kill a bunch of kids. Kids who had proved a lot more resilient than anyone had expected. Randy wasn’t necessarily opposed to the idea, but waiting around made it worse. It gave him too much time to think about it. He didn’t like to think, and he didn’t like being exposed to a possible bullet of his own.

He considered just taking off and then shit broke bad and Bart went insane with rage.

Bart grew impatient. Exactly what were Kyle and Josh waiting for? His instructions were simple and clear. He considered sending Crew Cut around back to check things out, and then the bomb flew through the air and landed in the street. As it rolled, a second bomb took flight and landed next to the first. That was all wrong. Kyle was supposed to carry the bomb and press the detonator at the last moment. Also, there was only a single bomb, so there could not be two rolling in the street. As the bombs came to rest, Bart studied them with confusion. The bombs had eyes and hair.

A woman from the congregation screamed. Bart looked at the bombs and saw that they were Kyle’s and Josh’s severed heads. A small pang of fear threatened to take hold in his gut. He didn’t like fear. He didn’t like losing. It made him angry.

The young girl with blonde hair walked out of the alley. She had his bomb in her hand. She looked directly at him and held up her middle finger.

The rage took him.

“Kill them!” he screamed. “Kill them fucking all!”

His congregation fired at the Tahoe. The blonde girl slipped behind it before they could kill her.

Bart screamed again.

Vengeance is mine

Bart’s entire congregation did not share his lunacy. When the gunfire began, more than a few decided they had seen enough. Most ran into the alley behind the garage and took shelter in their homes. Several others either forgot the dangers outside the fort’s walls or decided the risk was no greater than remaining in Bart’s company. They fled to the back gates and ran into the woods.

More than half remained by Bart’s side. They clustered near the van for added protection and fired at the Tahoe. The bullets shattered windows and punched holes in the metal, but none of their weapons carried a high enough caliber to reach the targets behind the SUV. The man who held the Creeper struggled to maintain control. The noise and the proximity of warm flesh drove the thing to a frenzied state, and the man had to work hard to prevent the Creeper’s escape.

Devin and his friends huddled behind the vehicle.

“Nick!” Devin yelled. He grabbed Nick by the shirt.

“Where is she?” he asked over the noise of the gunfire.

“Who?” Nick asked.

“Golden. You screamed she is alive; where is she?”

“Yeah, bro, you screamed it pretty damn loud, too,” Brandon added.

“I-I—it’s hard to explain,” Nick stammered.

“Hard? What the hell does that mean? You either saw her or didn’t.”

“Dev, this sounds crazy, but … but it was like—I don’t know, a vision or something.”

Devin stared at him and then released his friend’s shirt.

“Hmm,” Brandon said and then changed the subject. “Well, out of the frying pan and into the fire. What now?”

“I can get a shot on a couple of them,” Austin called out.

Devin shook his head.

“Can’t risk it, bro. We might hit one of the kids.”

“Can we use this?” Annie asked and held up the football-sized bomb.

“It’s got a three-second fuse. Are you volunteering?” Brandon asked and smiled.

“Doesn’t matter,” Devin answered. “Same problem; we risk injuring the kids.”

A bullet pierced the window above them and they covered their heads as safety glass fell in gummy chunks.

“We can’t just sit here and wait to die,” Austin said.

“Brad,” Devin called. “Go behind the dining hall and make sure they don’t flank us.”

Brad nodded and looked to Annie.

Devin looked from Brad to Annie and then back again.

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead, keep him company, Annie.”

The couple stayed low as they sprinted away toward the alley.

“Do you want me to go to the other side?” Austin asked, pointing to the alley near the weapons depot.

Devin looked at the open street between the safety of the Tahoe and the buildings.

“No, just keep an eye in that direction.”

“Sooner or later,” Brandon said, “someone over there is gonna be smart enough to lie on the ground and shoot under the Tahoe.”

They all looked down at the empty space between the Tahoe and the pavement. They quickly shuffled behind the protection of the wheels.

“Devin,” Brandon said, “we might want to head inside. Can you walk on that leg?”

“Not fast enough to avoid the bullets,” Devin answered.

Brandon nodded and said, “Okay, then we’ll wait here for a miracle.”

“Hey,” Austin called. “Do you hear that?”

They shook their heads.

“It’s music. You can’t hear that?” He looked at each of them.

“What kind of music?” Nick asked.

“I think”—Austin paused and listened—“I think its disco.”

A few seconds later, the fort’s big wooden entrance doors began to slide open.

She’d only had one close call with the Escalade, which was acceptable considering the speed she’d maintained along the curving roads. She reached the fort and pulled the Escalade up to the main gate. When she left the vehicle, she heard the sounds of gunshots over the Escalade’s stereo. Gunshots meant trouble, but it also meant that someone was still alive to cause trouble.

She found the silver lock exactly where Bob had said it would be. She removed the key from her pocket. She had made a promise, and she was about to make good on it. She slid the key into the lock and turned it. An engine whirred, chains rattled, and then the big wooden doors began to slide open. She grabbed the exposed part of the key. She pushed down hard and it snapped off, leaving half of it jammed deep inside the lock mechanism. The doors would open, but the destroyed lock would make them difficult, if not impossible, to close. This had been Bob’s final wish. Leave Fort New Hope exposed to the outside world. Let the Creepers get them. She tossed the remains of the key into the woods.

She slid back into the driver’s seat. The doors weren’t completely open, but there was ample space for the Escalade to pass. She could see the chain-link fence on the far side of the foyer. Beyond that, she saw the parked Tahoe. Her brothers squatted behind it with Brandon and Nick. She rolled down the windows, she turned up the music, she dropped the SUV into gear, and then she gunned the engine.

The four of them watched the rumbling twenty-foot-high wooden doors. The emergency batteries were still operational but the low power caused the doors to hitch and squeal along their tracks.

“Damn, I do hear disco now,” Brandon said. “Is that—”

“Yep, KC and the Sunshine Band,” Devin finished.

“Well, you know what that means?”

At the same time, all four said, “Golden.”

The black SUV tore through the chain-link fence. The gate and several feet of fence on both sides crashed to the ground, and the SUV drove over it. The vehicle sped the distance between the Tahoe and the entrance and then turned to form a second barrier. Golden leapt out, gave them a stoic look, and then went to the back hatch. She opened it, reached in, and threw Nick a rifle. She took one for herself and began feeding bullets into the chamber.

“Good to see you too, sis,” Austin said. He hurried to the Escalade’s open hatch to grab his own ammunition.

Golden saw Devin’s leg. She went to her brother, knelt, and gave him a hug. She whispered, and then she sat back on her knees.

“It’s okay, sis, nothing to be sorry about,” he told her. “This will heal, and you did great.”

She seemed satisfied with that, got up, and took a firing position behind the Tahoe.

“Brandon, help me up,” Devin said.

“What’s the plan, bro?”

“We can’t shoot straight at them without the risk of hitting the van,” Devin said. “But now we have enough weapons to take the two alleys and flank them.”

“About time,” Austin said. “Can you walk?”

“Vengeance is a powerful motivator,” Devin answered as he fed shells into his shotgun and looked at his sister.

Kira lay in a warm open field with her eyes closed. The green grass was soft and sweet. She opened her eyes and stared up at the deep blue sky and its orange sun. A shadow fell over her, but she didn’t need to look to see the owner.

“Hello, Dani.”

“Hi, Kira,” Dani said. “I’m sorry I had to leave you.”

“It’s okay. I think I did fine.”

“You did, but we have one more thing to do,” Dani said.

Kira chuckled.

“Dani, we’re dead. We can’t do any more,” Kira said but didn’t think that would suffice.

“You’d be surprised what a dead girl can accomplish and what a few seconds can mean.”

Dani placed her hand over Kira’s blue-gray eyes.