Emily Devenport - The Long Ride

Elayne woke up on the driver’s side of her old Honda to see a man who looked just like Tor Johnson in Plan Nine From Outer Space reaching for the handle on the passenger’s side. She screamed and quickly pushed the lock in before he could get to it.

“Don’t touch that!” someone shouted from her side of the car, and she saw her dad through the window, yelling at the Tor look-alike.

“Dad!” She unlocked her own door so her dad could get in and away from the monster. But a tall young man in a suit shoved him aside and yanked her door open, then grabbed her and pulled her out of the car, ignoring her kicks and scratches.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she screamed into his cold, hard face. “Dad!”

Her dad plucked at the young man’s sleeve, ineffectually, until the Tor monster rushed around the car and grabbed him too. Elayne and her dad were dragged across the parking lot toward a ’62 Chevy with a white top and a sky-blue body.

“Stop!” Elayne told the young man. “That monster’s got something in his head! Can’t you see it?” But he didn’t listen; he just continued to drag her through a parking lot full of sixties cars that were in surprisingly good condition (except for some big, chunky models from the fifties that looked kind of dusty and used) toward the sky-blue Chevy that was like something out of George Jetson’s wet dreams. He pulled the back door open and tossed her in.

The monster pushed her dad into the front seat; but it was funny, her dad got behind the steering wheel and started the car up. She gaped at him in horror, realizing that he had something inside his head too, something that was forcing him to drive where he didn’t want to go.

Elayne sat very still and tried to figure things out. They were leaving the parking lot now, and it occurred to her she didn’t know where she was. She had gone to Target for something; it should have been the Target parking lot. But the street was too narrow and the buildings were big and chunky, like in the old part of Phoenix when she was growing up. “Dad,” she said, “what’s happening?”

“Don’t fight them,” he said, his voice hardly sounding like his own. “They’ll hurt you.”

The monster laughed, a strangled sound.

“Knock it off,” said the young man. “No one has to get hurt.”

Elayne tore her eyes away from the monster long enough to study the young man. She decided that he didn’t have something inside his head, and wondered why he was helping the monster, if that was the case. He was studying her, too.

“My name’s Terry Cole,” he said. “What’s yours?”

“Don’t you know?”

“No, I don’t know. Why would I know?”

“You’re the ones who kidnapped us. You ought to know.”

He glanced at her dad, then back at her. “You sure don’t look much like your dad—what was your name again?”

“Elayne West.”

“Elayne.” He looked her over. “How come you dress like a man, Elayne?”

“What?” She was wearing her Lee’s Easy Fit jeans that were supposed to look feminine. And she had on her favorite flannel shirt, all soft and broken-in. Her blond hair was French-braided; it was her attractive-but-casual look. She decided to ignore him for the moment and look at the monster. She shivered as she wondered if the thing in his head could get out and come after her.

He turned around and grinned at her, as if he had read her mind. “We’ll stop for something to eat,” he said.

“Ross—” said her dad, warningly.

“Kal!” snapped the monster. “Now! My cravings!”

Her dad sighed and pulled the car into the parking lot of a liquor store with signs that read “CIGARETTES! CANDY! MAGAZINES!” in the window.

“Watch her,” Elayne’s dad, who was now Kal, told Terry. The young man nodded, lazily. Kal and Ross got out of the car, sparing Elayne one glance over their shoulders, and went into the store.

Now’s my chance, Elayne thought to herself. If I’m going to get away, it has to be now. She sneaked a look at Terry out of the corner of her eyes, then turned to look at him openly when she noticed that he was staring at her. She had seen the look plenty of times in her life. She knew that she was beautiful.

Terry was rather handsome himself with slicked-back brown hair and dark brown eyes. His mouth was cynical, hard in a way that made her think gangster. Only he wasn’t old enough to be totally corrupted. He was maybe twenty-five.

He smiled at her with white teeth. She thought she saw the tip of his tongue slide over the sharp edges. “You’re thinking of running,” he said. “Don’t try it. Don’t make me deck you.”

He turned to a woman who was suddenly sitting between them, an attractive brunette in a sleeveless dress. “You too,” he said. “Just sit tight.”

Elayne blinked at the woman. Had she been in the car all along? She looked out of place in an odd sort of way. Her hair was short and curled around her face, sort of a Marilyn Monroe style. Well, that look was coming back, wasn’t it?

The woman looked at Elayne, her eyes full of terror. She felt the same way Elayne did, that was obvious. Elayne looked back, trying to judge whether the woman would be tough enough to make a break with her. The two of them might be able to overcome Terry, if they could just work together.

Another car pulled in next to theirs on Terry’s side. Elayne glanced at it just as the boys inside looked back at her. She caught the eye of a big young man with long, greased-back hair and a white T-shirt, and a better idea occurred to her.

As she stared at the kid, she let her face go soft and dreamy, then wet her lips, giving the gesture an erotic little flick at the end. His mouth dropped open.

“Stop that, you little maniac!” said Terry. She looked at him and let all of the terror she felt for him creep into her face. Then she looked back at the kid, imploringly.

“I said, knock it off.” Terry’s voice was threatening but almost amused.

Keeping her eyes on the kid’s, Elayne yanked open her door and grabbed the brunette’s arm, hauling the woman out of the car with all of her strength. Terry reached for the woman, but she kicked at him with tiny, sharp heels and skittered out onto the pavement after Elayne.

“Leave us alone!” Elayne shouted at Terry. “You can’t tell us what to do!”

“Yeah, go to hell!” said the brunette, catching on. The two of them edged around the front of the car, where the boys would be able to see them.

Terry climbed out of his side, deliberately ignoring the five boys who were climbing out of the other car behind him. “Get back inside,” he told the women.

“No,” said Elayne.

He shook his head. “They can find you anywhere, you know. You can’t get away for long.”

“That’s what you say,” said Elayne.

“You in trouble, baby?” asked the kid, who was as big as Terry but a little less certain of himself.

“Yes!” screamed Elayne. “For God’s sake, help us!” And she made a dash across the parking lot, pulling the brunette behind her. She could see Terry starting to follow out of the corner of her eye, and the kid just behind him. Then she lost sight of them as she and the brunette started across the street toward some fields and some neat little houses.

“Hey, you—!” she could hear the kid yelling, and then “Goddammit!” from Terry and the sound of men punching each other. She didn’t look back. She and the brunette ran as hard and fast as they could, into the fields and out of sight.