Mark Lukens: Ancient Enemy

Stella nodded as she rolled down the window; the freezing air invaded the truck immediately. “Yeah, we’re okay. What were you doing in the middle of the road? Is something wrong?”

Cole winced as he pulled his pistol out from his coat pocket. “I’m sorry, lady.” He pointed the gun at her. “We need your vehicle.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Stella couldn’t move or respond; she could only stare at the barrel of Cole’s gun pointed at her face.

Cole backed up a few steps, his boots sinking down into the snow piled up on the side of the road. He looked across the road, but his pistol was still aimed right at Stella.

Stella’s eyes darted to the other robbers who emerged from the trees; they crossed the empty road, they looked like black blurry shapes at first in the snowy mist, but in a moment they crystallized into human beings, criminals with scowls on their faces, metal briefcases and guns clutched in their gloved hands.

Cole looked back at Stella. “Just take it easy. We’re not going to hurt you. We just need a ride.”

Stella nodded, her hands still on the steering wheel, still gripping it without realizing it.

“Slide over,” Cole told her.

Stella pried her hands loose and slid across the bench seat without a word; she slid right up next to David.

Cole looked at Frank. “We need to get this thing back up on the road.” He shoved his gun inside his coat pocket and plopped down in the driver’s seat, he adjusted the seat back quickly. He shifted the Suburban into drive, his foot down on the brake, snow dripping all over the floorboard.

Frank opened the back door and threw one of the metal cases of money inside. He turned to Jose who held the other metal case. “Throw it inside, Jose,” Frank growled at him.

Jose threw the metal case inside, it clunked against the other case.

“Get back there and help them push,” Frank told Jose.

Jose sighed, but he hurried to the back of the truck, joining Trevor and Needles.

Frank waited by the open back door, his hands on the door and the frame of the truck, ready to help push. “We’re ready!” he called out to Cole.

Cole closed the driver’s door and lifted his foot from the brake and pressed gently on the gas pedal.

The tires spun; snow spit out of the back, pelting Trevor, Jose, and Needles as they pushed. They dug their boots into the snow, trying to find a purchase in the snow.

The tires spun and spun as the men strained, grunting and growling, muscles burning. Cole gave it a little more gas. The engine revved, and the tires suddenly grabbed, gained traction, and inched back up onto the road. The three men let go of the Suburban as it climbed back onto the road. They were breathing hard, hands on their hips.

A crashing noise through the trees caught their attention. All three men reached for their guns, ready to aim and fire. All three men stared into the thick woods – but they couldn’t see anything moving among the trees.

“What the hell was that?” Needles asked with true fear in his voice.

The noise was gone now.

“Maybe it was a bear,” Jose said.

“Bears should be hibernating this time of year,” Trevor informed him as he put his gun away.

“Then some deer,” Jose said. “How the fuck do I know?”

Jose and Trevor ran to catch up to the Suburban as it waited on the road, its powerful motor rumbling, exhaust pluming up from the tailpipe, the tail lights bright red dots in the murky day, the increasing clouds making the day even darker and drearier.

Needles stared into the dark woods as fear crept into his body. That wasn’t a deer in the woods, he knew that. It was something bad in there. Something bad coming for all of them.

“Needles!” Frank yelled from the Suburban. “Hurry the fuck up, or I swear to God we’re going to leave you here.”

Needles tore his eyes away from the trees and hurried to the waiting truck.

As Needles got in the backseat of the truck, Frank blocked Jose from getting in the other side. “No room in here,” Frank told him. “Get in the back.”

“Why the hell do I have to get in the back? Tell Needles to – ”

“Just get in the fucking back,” Frank growled at him and stared daggers at him.

“Alright. Fuck, man.”

Cole found the latch for the hatch and pulled on it, and he heard the clunk of a latch in the back opening.

Frank sat down in the backseat and slammed the door shut as Jose hurried to the back of the truck.

As Jose ran to the back of the truck, a moment of panic seized him – he was sure that Cole was going to stomp the gas pedal and take off, leaving him here alone on this desolate road in the middle of a blizzard. But the truck waited. Jose pulled the hatch up and crawled inside, and then he pulled the hatch door closed against the snow and biting wind. It wasn’t exactly warm inside the Suburban, but it was a lot warmer than outside.

Jose tried to get comfortable on top of the piles of tools scattered around the back of the Suburban; there were tarps, shovels, picks and other digging tools. He moved to the back seat and propped his hands and head over the back of the seat in between Trevor and Needles, but he stared at the front of the truck. “What are you?” Jose asked Stella. “A gravedigger?”

Stella glanced back at Jose, and then she turned back around and stared out the windshield. “Something like that,” she muttered.

Cole gave Stella an odd look, but he didn’t say anything.

Trevor looked at Jose who was right beside his face now. “You mind sitting back a little?”

Jose smiled at him, inches away from his face. “Why? Is this bothering you?”

“Your breath is bothering me.”

Cole shifted into drive, and then stomped down on the gas pedal; the truck slid sideways on the road before finally gaining traction.

Jose, not ready for the sudden jolt forward, fell over in the back of the truck and smacked his elbow on a shovel. “What the fuck?” he called out. “You trying to run us off the road again?”

Cole just smiled.

“Shut the fuck up back there,” Frank growled. He glanced back at Jose, but then he watched Needles. Needles stared straight ahead, but it was like he wasn’t seeing anything, like he was lost in some different world. There was something wrong with Needles, Frank was sure of that now. But he couldn’t worry about that at this moment. Right now, they had more pressing issues. Like this woman and this child.

Cole concentrated on the road. He was an expert driver, and he maneuvered the large truck around the bends and curves of the road much faster than Stella would’ve dared. “This storm is getting worse,” Cole said to no one in particular.

The music on the radio was interrupted by the DJ, back with an announcement. “We’ve received some breaking news. Police are on the lookout for five men wanted for a bank robbery earlier today in Cody’s Pass where one man was shot and killed. Police are asking – ”

Cole clicked off the radio.

The truck was silent except for the growling engine, thumping windshield wipers, and howling wind.

Cole looked at Stella as he drove. Stella looked right back at Cole, matching his stare, holding it, showing no fear of him.

David stared out the passenger window, lost in thought, watching the unending trees whip by in a blur. It was like he never even heard the radio broadcast. But he’d heard it, Stella was sure of that.

Frank leaned forward from the backseat and tapped Stella on the shoulder.

Stella jumped from the touch, like a current of electricity had just jolted her. She spun around and stared at Frank.

“What’s your name?” Frank asked, trying what he thought was a reassuring smile – but it wasn’t working.