The Rising(27)
Sam did, screeching off and bleeding more remnants of rubber from her nearly bald tires.
“This car reminds me of the Love Bug,” Alex said, his voice settling. “You know, from those movies we watched as kids.”
“Seems like a long time ago now.”
“Disney, I think,” he continued, running his hand across the plastic over the glove compartment. He cocked his gaze behind him again, out the sloped rear window crusted over with dust and grime. “I think we’re safe. No one’s following us.”
“Who would be following us?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know who they are, what they are,” Alex said, his eyes dull with shock as he regarded her from the passenger seat.
How was she going to tell him?
“Alex,” Sam started.
He’d turned away, gazing emptily forward. “A funeral home, can you believe it?”
“Believe what?”
“Never mind. Just take me home. My parents aren’t answering the phone. I’m afraid … I think something may be … wrong.” That final word emerging with a mouthful of air. “I just have this feeling.…”
Sam clenched the wheel tighter as she drove on, afraid to let Alex see the fear, the sadness, in her eyes over what she had to tell him. “What happened at the hospital?” she asked instead.
“I don’t know. My doctor’s dead.”
“What?”
“Somebody killed him.”
“Did you call the police?” she said, focusing on the road so as not to meet his stare.
“I couldn’t find a phone. And when I finally did, I called you. Whoever killed him was after me too. That’s why I ran.” His eyes tightened their focus, chasing her down. “What’s wrong, Sam? You’re scared, I can tell.”
“Well, you scared me,” she said, without looking at him.
“No, you were already scared when I called,” Alex said, as if realizing that himself for the first time. “I could hear it in your voice.”
She could feel him still staring across the seat at her.
“What’s wrong, Sam?”
She swallowed hard. “I need to tell you something.”
“So tell me.”
“It’s not so easy.” Trying to look at him now. “It’s about your parents.”
“My parents?”
She squeezed the steering wheel so tight, her fingers ached. “You’re right, somebody did hurt them. I was at your house, waiting for you, and I saw…”
Sam’s voice trailed off and she couldn’t get the words back.
“What? What happened?”
“I came in through the back. Your mother, your father…”
He snapped a hand out, fastening on her shoulder so hard she nearly lost control of the Beetle, just managed to hold it straight, its worn tires humming atop the pavement.
“Sorry,” he said, pulling his hand away. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. Things are very far from okay.” Then, locking his unblinking stare upon her: “Aren’t they?”
“I…”
“What happened to my parents?”
“Someone hurt them.”
“Hurt,” Alex repeated. “But they’re okay, right? They’re alive.”
He watched Sam squeeze the steering wheel tighter. “I don’t know. We should go to my house. My parents will—”
“No, get me home. Drive faster,” Alex said, his gaze going blank and fixing forward as he settled stiffly into the passenger seat.
“The men who did…” Sam twisted his way, the spray of oncoming headlights making her face look shiny and reflecting off her glasses. “I think it was about you, Alex.”
“Why?”
“Your mother, something she said.”
“You spoke to her? I thought you said—”
He was struck suddenly by a wrenching agony centered directly behind his forehead.
“Alex?”
“I’m okay,” he said, grimacing.
“No, you’re not. And we shouldn’t go to your house.”
He was massaging his temples now, features starting to relax. “Why?”
“Because they could still be there.”
“Who?”
Sam didn’t know what to say.
“Who, Sam, who?”
“Your mother,” Sam said, instead of answering, “she told me to get you, to run.”
“Run?”
“That’s what she wrote.”
“Wrote?”
“I … can’t explain now. You need to see for yourself.”
“Give me your phone. I should call the police.”
“No!” Sam blared, remembering. “Your mother said no police!”
“But I’m supposed to run. Like someone’s after me?”
“There were these … men,” Sam said, not bothering to elaborate further. “They were still at the house when I left. They could be waiting for you, probably are.”
“Then let’s go meet them.”
“What?”