Andrew Klavan - The long way home

"Run! To your left, Josh!" I shouted. "Run to your left and don't look back!"

And that was all I could see-all any of us could see on the monitor as Josh took off as fast as he could and the picture became a jumping blur of grass and pavement and buildings all leaping around to the tune of Josh's hectic, squeaking, panting breaths.

"Oh, run, Josh!" Beth shouted at the screen, as if he needed the advice.

My hope was that when Brown and Hunt went over- when Josh cut around behind them by running to his left-their fallen forms would block the path of the other thugs, if only for a moment, giving Josh the head start he needed to make his getaway. That-and the absolute shock of being attacked by a geek like Josh-might give him just enough time to get to his car.

So far, it seemed to be working. Because now, the jouncing, blurred, crazy scene was all pavement and cars.

"He's in the parking lot!" said Miler.

But at the same moment, under the sound of Josh's breathing, we could hear grunts and footsteps growing louder behind him. The thugs had gotten out of their traffic jam. They were chasing him. And by the sound of it, they were closing in fast.

"Don't look back," I barked into the two-way.

"There's the Camry!" Rick shouted.

"Come on, Josh, come on!" Miler shouted at the screen, pumping his fist.

The black car loomed large on the monitor until it filled the screen. Over the sound of Josh's breathless gasps, we heard the beep of the door unlocking. Josh must've managed to press the button on his key as he ran.

Then we heard a thud and the screen went blank. Josh had crashed right into the side of the car. But the next moment, we saw his hands scrabbling at the door handle.

"Come on!" said Miler again.

"Hurry!" said Beth.

The door came open. We saw the inside of the car. Josh got in. We heard the car door slam.

"Yes!" said Rick.

"Lock the doors!" I shouted.

We saw the dashboard as Josh jammed his key into the ignition. We saw the windshield as he faced forward and put the car in gear.

Then Beth let out a scream that nearly made me jump through the ceiling.

One of the thugs had thrown himself onto the hood of the car, his face pressed against the windshield-and pressed terrifyingly close on our laptop screen.

Josh also let out a scream.

"Go, go, go!" I shouted.

We lost sight of the windshield as Josh turned in his seat-he had to reverse to get out of the parking space. We heard the screech of tires.

When Josh turned back, the thug on the windshield was gone-no, wait, there he was, thrown off the car by the sudden motion, spilled onto the pavement and rolling over and over.

We saw the other thugs now-Brown and Hunt and one other. They were trying to block Josh's path, trying to stand in front of the car so he'd have to stop or else run them over.

But Josh hit the gas and spun the wheel hard and we saw the thugs disappear from view as the Camry swung sharply around before they could seal it off completely.

Josh let out a wild-and kind of stupid-sounding- shriek and hit the gas. The tires shrieked back at him once more and the car shot forward.

Our faces tense, our fists clenched, we all leaned toward the monitor, eagerly staring at the images there. We saw the parking lot exit. We saw the street. We saw the scenery blur as the car went into its turn.

Josh was out. He was away.

"Yay! Yay! Yay!" we heard him screaming.

I slumped there on the floor, so relieved. I covered my eyes with my hand. I heard Beth and Rick and Miler groaning and sighing with relief all around me.

"Did you see that?" Josh shouted in a cracking voice. "Did you see what I did? Did you see me take them! I took them all! Hahahahahaha!"

I looked up, shaking my head in wonder.

Miler reached over and squeezed my arm. "Nice going, Charlie."

"Yeah, good one, West," said Rick.

I looked at Beth and she looked back at me with her eyes shining-which was somehow better than anything.

"Did you guys see that?" Josh was still screaming. "That was, like… it was like kung fu or Jackie Chan or something. Did you see that? Pow! Ha! Wha! They went over like bowling pins. Were you watching that?"

Miler laughed. "You gotta love him. He is such a moron."

I finally calmed down enough to be able to talk again. I lifted the two-way to my lips.

"We saw it, Josh."

"Did you see it? Was I monster or what?"

"You were monster, pal."

"I was monster. Wasn't I? I was Batman practically."

"Yeah," I said. "You practically were. Now get on back here, all right? And by the way, if you ever try anything like that again, so help me I will break every single bone in your body."

I snapped the two-way shut. I handed it to Miler.

"That's it," I told him-told all of them. "No more."

Nightfall I stood at the window of the Ghost Mansion parlor. I gazed out through the gap between the last shards of glass, down at the gravestones under the trees. A chill wind blew and the leaves tumbled past the headstones. The statue of the cowled, mourning woman sent its eerie stare out over the scene.

My friends' voices came from behind me. Josh was still reliving his adventure. "Did you see that?" he asked again and again. Beth, of course, was really nice about it. She kept telling Josh how wonderful he'd been and what a good fighter he was and how scared he must've been and how much courage it took to do what he did.

Rick and Miler took a slightly different approach.

"You are such an idiot," Rick explained to him. "If there was any justice in the world, you would be so incredibly dead by now."

"Plus, you scrim lak wooman," said Miler in his ridiculous Russian accent. " 'Eeeeee.' I speet on you. Ptui."

"You guys are so mean," said Beth.

I gazed out the window and watched as the light in the cemetery shifted, the sun angling overhead as afternoon came on.

Finally, I turned around and faced them. Rick was sitting on a sleeping bag, his back against the wall, one leg stretched out, the other bent so he could rest his arm across the knee. Miler lay on his back on Beth's blanket, his hands behind his head, as if he were outdoors at a picnic watching the clouds roll by above.

Josh sat Indian-style with his legs crossed, his hands moving as he described his harrowing escape.

Beth was kneeling on the blanket. She was loading what little was left of the lunch she'd brought me back into her carryall.

In a powerful burst of feeling, it came to me again how glad I was to have them here, how glad I was to see them after being on the run for so long, after being alone for so long. I'd never realized before how much my friends meant to me. I never knew how wonderful my life was until I lost it.

"Listen," I said. The word came out hoarsely. I could feel the old loneliness and sadness coming over me again, like clouds gathering.

Josh was still gabbing away. "I mean, you should've seen the look on their faces. This one guy? He looked like…"

"Hey, guys," I said, forcing myself to raise my voice. "Listen."

Josh's words trailed off. He and the others looked up at me.

I licked my dry lips. "You've got to go now," I told them. "You've got to. You can't stay here anymore."

For a long second, no one answered. They just sat there, staring at me, as if they hadn't heard.

"You mean, like, take off for a while, let you get some sleep?" Miler said then.

"No. I mean, like, go. Like get out of here. Leave me alone and let me do what I came here to do."

Another silence. It was as if they were a long way off and it was taking awhile for my words to reach them.

"But… that's all we want," said Rick. "That's why we came here-to help you do that."