All Is Silence - Deserted Lands #1

Chapter 12 - Part I

LIZZIE SCREAMED AND SHOVED THE door closed. “Leave me alone!”

“Lizzie, right?”

His voice was calm, but Lizzie heard menace. How’d he know her name? Shit. The stupid sign at the school. The doorknob turned. Lizzie grabbed it, trying to shove the deadbolt. The door shoved her back and the deadbolt popped out.

He stepped in.

Lizzie heaved herself at the door, slamming it with her shoulder.

It caught on his foot. She shoved again as he pulled his foot back. The door closed to where the deadbolt stuck out. She got the safety chain hooked, but he rammed his shoulder into the door and she couldn’t get the deadbolt retracted. She gave up and ran toward the back of the house.

She heard heavy thuds and then tearing. The chain gave way.

He crashed through the front door, and shouted after her. She didn’t hear his words over the string of curse words she was screaming at him.

She slipped on the kitchen floor and landed on her mother’s box. It broke. Her pictures flew. She shoveled the contents back in and stumbled through the back door as he came toward her.

He grabbed her around the waist as she tried to get out to the back deck. She swung backwards with her hand trying to claw his face. Her feet kicked out.

“Hold it!” He yelled as they fell into the screen door.

She scrambled up and got out the door. He dove, catching her around the legs. Then someone was between them, snarling, punching, kicking—Spike.

Lizzie jerked her legs from her attacker’s grasp and she struggled to her feet clutching Mama’s box. Spike was big, but clumsy. He was losing ground to C.J.’s brother. She ran for the car, slamming the gate behind her.

Lizzie flung the door open, tossed the box in the passenger seat, and twisted the key. It started; she threw it into drive and stepped on the gas. The tires spit gravel. To her amazement she drove in a straight line down the alley and didn’t hit anything.

He appeared running alongside the car. Lizzie screamed and jammed the lock button. She slammed the gas to the floor, and swerved sideways into him. He jumped out of the way.

“Almost hit your damn brother, too. Should have!” She gripped the steering wheel tightly as the CRV careened forward. In the rear view mirror she could see him coming, still running. “I can lose you in town.” She swerved sharply onto Iowa Street, fighting to keep the car from barreling out of control into a storefront.

Her pursuer followed her around the corner and then stopped, watching as Lizzie pulled away. “You’re stupid, Lizzie. What’d you tell everyone your address for?”

He turned around and walked back the way he’d come.

She needed to be on the other side of the freeway, but didn’t want to be followed. Turning another sharp corner onto Franklin Street, she held the steering wheel tight and slowed. Visions of her mangled body in a wreck flashed in her head. Behind her, she couldn’t see anyone. But he must have a vehicle.

“Shit, shit, shit.” She let the car glide forward.

When she reached James Street, she rolled down all the windows, listening for any sign of pursuit. She coasted through the intersection, her eyes darting in every direction. No sign.

In front of the Trader Joe’s building she saw Spike hunched over and limping. Her foot slammed the brake and she pitched forward into the steering wheel. Should she pick him up?

It was the right thing to do. She drove into the parking lot. He saw her approach. His face had been bloodied, his large nose redder than usual, but he didn’t look very hurt. She jumped out and opened the back door. “Come on, Spike. Get in the car. Lizzie’s gonna try and help you now.”

Spike obediently climbed into the back seat.

Lizzie jumped back in the front seat. “Breathe, Lizzie.”

She popped it into drive and turned around, then drove across the freeway. She was amazed at how much control she had driving when she didn’t stop to be afraid of it. She kept off main streets, zig-zagging forward, like she remembered from ninth grade English what Theseus had done in the Labyrinth.

Spike cowered. “We’ll clean you up in a bit, Spike.” His head popped up. “How much can you understand?”

His head tilted to one side, staring in confusion.

When she reached the house she honked like a maniac.

Zach came running out. “What happened?”

She jumped out, wired. “C.J.’s brother. I think he wants to kill me,” she babbled and collapsed in Zach’s arms.

He held her. “It’s ok. You’re safe.”

Nev hurried out carrying Saj. She looked Lizzie up and down. “What happened?”

Lizzie saw her relax when she didn’t see any injuries.

“C.J.’s brother. You were right, Nev. We should have done something with the body.”