Ivy
Josh looked pale, his little hands clutched hard to mine. I wasn’t sure if it was the scene at the clubhouse that had him so shaken or if it was all of those zombie movies that Bax no doubt subjected him to. Perhaps it was a combination of the two. I had to work not to grind my teeth in anger at Bax for bringing Josh around. I was even angrier at Creed.
But Josh had to come first, at least for now. “I have a good idea; you want to go to the Burger Busters and get some fries?” I dug through my pockets, finding a ten, a five, and a handful of change. “We can probably get something pretty yummy with the money your dad gave me.”
A little spark lit up Josh’s eyes, glittering in the depths of those coffee-colored eyes. “You mean it?”
“Sure. Just as long as you don’t go crazy. Come on; it’ll be fun.”
A genuine smile spread across Josh’s adorable, dirty little face. “Awesome! I want two burgers!”
“Two burgers it is then.” I chuckled, glancing down at him. “I’m pretty sure you can’t eat two whole burgers by yourself, though.”
“I can too!”
It was a short, ten-minute bus ride to the closest Burger Busters, leaving us plenty of time to argue over who could eat more from the value menu. By the time we reached the restaurant, Josh looked much more relaxed. He even smiled a few times, most of the tension seeping from his body. Hopefully, Creed does something about all this, before it gets worse.
We sat at one of the plastic tables, ignoring the rest of the patrons and the profanity scratched into the cheap laminate of the chairs. Josh took too big bites of his sandwiches, his tiny cheeks puffed up and looking like a chipmunk’s. After a moment, he paused, setting down his burger and wiping the ketchup from his mouth with the back of his hand. “So,” he said finally, his chocolate eyes locked with the table. He fidgeted in his seat, bringing his feet up underneath him before standing, then sitting properly. He repeated that process a few more times, his eyes never once coming to rest on my face. “Do you think Pearl will be okay?”
“Pearl is a very tough lady. I’m pretty sure she’d survive almost anything.” I smiled down at him, dipping a chicken nugget into one of the little plastic containers of honey. “Pearl will be just fine, Josh.”
Frowning, Josh pulled apart his sandwich, eating each layer individually. “Do you think my dad will be okay?”
I sighed, wiping my hands on the scruffy jeans I was wearing. “I think your dad is caught in the middle of a lot of other people’s problems. But he’s a tough guy; I believe he’s going to be okay.” Josh didn’t quite look convinced, so I smiled as brightly as I could manage at him. “But no matter what happens, you can stick with me, okay? We’ll figure it out together.”
“Thanks, Ivy,” he whispered. After a moment’s hesitation, he dug back into his burgers, that ravenous hunger returning after I laid whatever worries in his young mind to rest. I wish I could be convinced of things so easily. “Can we go home now?”
I gaped at him in mock horror. “But you haven’t finished your two whole burgers yet!”
He giggled, his little chocolate eyes lighting up like fireworks. “I’ll bring them and eat them, promise. I just want to go home.”
My heart crumbled into little pieces as he looked up at me pleading. He danced in place, his sneakers squeaking on the dirty linoleum floor. “Sure thing, kiddo. Anything you want.”
So we bundled up our food and headed back to the bus station. Josh filled me in on all of the horrifying details of the horror movies he watched the night before, and I didn’t have to pretend to be disgusted. Horror movies, especially horror movies where people eat other people, had never been my favorite genre of the movies.
Josh was mostly himself again, if still a little subdued, on the bus ride home. No matter what Creed says, I can’t leave him alone like this. I’ll just stick with him until he’s not so spooked anymore. I’ll take whatever screaming Creed dishes out; this is more important than whatever is going on with him.
The walk back to the motel was long from the last bus stop, but Josh didn’t complain. He seemed to like being outside better than inside. It was no wonder; out here, he could run and fidget and play, all things he had no room for inside that stuffy motel room. Even though the sky was overcast and the world a little monochromatic under the dense carpet of clouds, Josh found what little color there was to be seen in the smog and the industrial dust of the poorer part of town. I envied him a little; there was nothing here I found beautiful. No, all of the beautiful things in life had disappeared when Janice took my shop.
We started across the parking lot, hand in hand, when something strange caught my eye. There was one of those nondescript white vans in the parking lot. Which was odd; who would be here this time of day? Most of the residents here didn’t own a car, and those who did didn’t park it in front. That was a surefire way to have your car end up on blocks with the muffler removed.
With a quick glance, I noticed two things that bothered me: the van was full of men, and those men seemed to be watching us walk across the pavement. My heart hammered in my chest. Oh, calm down; now you’re acting paranoid. What would anyone want with me? Or even Josh, no matter who his father is?
So I forced myself to take a deep breath, ignoring the niggling feeling in my belly that I was making a horrible mistake.
“Ivy,” Josh whispered urgently as we started up the stairs. “Those men are following us.”
Panicked, I started to run up the stairs, nearly dragging Josh along by the arm. I could see over the railing of the motel’s hallway that he was right. They had all gotten out of the van the moment we walked by. A few carried rope. All of them looked incredibly mean.
I ran the rest of the way to Creed’s room, locking the door the moment we were inside. Out of breath and panicking, I pressed my back against the door. Josh fumbled around under the bed as I took a deep breath. The darkness of a full-blown panic pressed in around my edges, quivering in all of my muscles. I tried to think, but couldn’t think of anything to do.
Given who lives here, I can’t even call the police.
So it was up to us.
“Josh, we’re going to climb out of the window onto the fire escape.” I ran over to where he was still digging under the bed, pulling on his shoulder. “We need to go now.”
“It’s okay, Ivy,” he said, his voice muffled by the mattress. He stood up suddenly, his tiny hands filled with the black, cold metal of some sort of handgun. I gulped as he rather expertly loaded the gun.
“No, Josh. You’ll hurt yourself, or me. There are more of those guys than you have bullets. We need to run!”
Josh turned back to me, keeping the gun steadily pointed away from me and toward the ceiling. “Don’t worry, Ivy; we’ll take care of all of them.”
I didn’t like how steady his voice sounded. The kid spoke like he’d killed someone before. His little hands didn’t even tremble around the loaded gun. Panic spilled up over my calm facade. My screaming brain cursed Creed in the most colorful of terms. “We can’t! We can’t! We have to run!” I grabbed for the gun, my hand closing around his hands. I yanked back hard on the firearm, hoping to dislodge it enough to get Josh to drop it.
Noise clamored up the stairs outside, and both of us froze. Josh let go of the gun and I dropped it, praying it wouldn’t go off and hit one of us in the feet. My heart trembled in my chest as I stooped, grabbing Josh and the gun from the floor as I spun toward the window. Swinging my arm hard, I smashed the gun into the window, glass shattering out onto the fire escape outside. Someone fumbled with the door handle as I pushed Josh out of the gaping hole where the window once was.
Pushing myself up onto the ledge, I cried out as glass stuck into my hands, but I managed to scramble out of the window anyway. Josh was already booking it down the stairs as fast as his little legs could manage, sliding around the rails with the liquid grace I couldn’t hope to manage. I heard the door shatter behind me but was too scared to turn around and look. I tumbled down the first flight of stairs, tripping over my own feet and slamming hard into the railing. Blood spilled down my hands as I glanced behind; no one was on the railing just yet.
But there would be someone soon.
Careening down the stairs, I caught up with Josh. He was pushing all of his weight against the drop-down safety ladder at the top, slamming his little fists and feet against it with all of his might. He didn’t possess the leverage or the weight to dislodge it. “Josh!” I said urgently.
He stepped aside, his face filled with disappointment at his inability to help. His eyes grew wide as he glanced above us, his eyes darkening with real, tangible fear. So I wasted no time in slamming my boots down onto the ladder as hard as I could manage.
The ladder slammed down into place with a sound like a shotgun blast. A few heads poked out of open windows, eyes wide, only to duck back inside. They were smart to keep away from us. I hoped against hope that someone would help us, but a quick look up as we climbed down the stairs made it pretty clear that everyone else in this rotting shithole was never going to do anything to help any of us.
And who stuck their necks out for anyone anymore?
But it didn’t matter. We had to get out of here, with or without help. Several men were climbing down the escape after us. Josh stumbled away from the parking lot as his feet hit the pavement. I followed, my breath short and my heart thundering. “Which way should I go?” Josh yelled over his shoulder, his voice already breathless.
“Head towards the main road!” I called after him, my lungs on fire as I tried not look behind me. I’d only fall over my own feet trying to see how close they were behind me. So I ran blindly, the gun in my fingers.
But I couldn’t shoot it at them; I just couldn’t. Even in my panicked state, the thought of shooting someone else made me nauseous.
Creed is right. You are weak and useless.
Unable to stand it anymore, I turned to glance behind myself. The men were slowly gaining on us from behind, murder in their eyes. Bile rose in my throat. But before I could turn around, I slammed into a brick wall.
Thrown to the ground, all of the air fled my lungs, leaving me breathless and empty. The gun flew from my hands, skidding across the pavement as Josh screamed at the top of his little lungs. In front of me, there was a man. He was built like a mountain; he was the wall I’d run into. I couldn’t catch my breath and none of my muscles appeared to be working. Josh flew to one side, evading the mountain man’s grasp.
I couldn’t catch my breath to tell him to run, but my mind screamed it so loud that it drowned out all of the other sounds around me.
Josh dove for the gun, but the mountain man was too fast. He batted it away, grabbing hold of the back of Josh’s shirt and lifting him off of the ground. The world went a little black around the edges as I continued to gasp for air.
But we had been taken, and there was nothing I could do to save us.
The men finally caught up, and the seven of them threw us into the back of the van. Pain lanced through my side as I felt the world fade in and out. But where was Josh? Panic, panic, and pain. But no, he was there. I could hear him breathing beside me. I could feel the pounding of his little sneakers against the metal walls. “Let us out!” he demanded. But no one was listening.
Whatever happened, at least we were in this together.