Home: A Stranded Novel (3 page)

Alex’s body tensed and she tightened her finger on the trigger. They were out of time. She hoped everyone was ready. She opened her mouth to yell but before she had time
, she caught movement from the corner of her eye. Her mouth dropped open in shock as she watched her sweet natured best friend raise her arm and shoot the man threatening them.

Everything seemed to slow down in that moment. She saw Emily drop the gun on the ground before being tackled by David. Alex heard the sound of Emily’s head hitting the pavement in the split second before the explosive sound of multiple guns started firing.
She turned her head and saw the long haired man frozen with a look of disbelief on his face before crumpling to the road. With him down, she had a clear view of what was happening with the others. The bad guys were firing at both sides of the road into the forest and she saw them fall one by one until there was only one man left hiding between the trucks. She had a straight shot at him so she lined up the rifle and took him out.

A screech of pain had her whipping her head to the side. Mason was on the ground holding his face. Blood was gushing in between his fingers to drip onto the road. Lisa was the one screeching. She was clawing at a man who was pulling her towards the ditch by her long chestnut
brown hair. She was being dragged on her bottom across the road and couldn’t get a purchase with her feet. The man’s face was filled with desperation and he was frantic to make it to the ditch with his prize to use as a shield.

Alex turned the rest of her body to face them and brought her rifl
e to bear. She screamed at Lisa.

“DROP FLAT!!!”

Lisa went limp and the man was left exposed with nothing but her long hair in his hand. Alex didn’t even have time for a shot before three bullets from three different guns struck him in the chest. His hand spasmed open and her head dropped to the pavement with a thunk before he toppled backwards.

There was dead silence for a few seconds
. Even nature had held her breath while the birds and insects had disappeared. Quinn suddenly called out,

“How many down?”

Alex had the best view of the carnage they had created and she started to shake as she counted the fallen men. Her voice was shaky as she called out,

“Seven.”

Quinn launched himself from the tall grass and started to scan his friends frantically.

“Was anyone hit?!”

Everyone called out as they moved on to the road. Josh was bleeding from his arm but it was a shallow graze and he waved it off with a grimace. Dara had two nicks on her face from tree bark fragments that had ricocheted. Mason seemed to be the most damaged. He had taken a hard punch to the face from the man who had grabbed Lisa and it looked like his nose was broken. Lisa was laying on the road in a ball, sobbing, and Emily was also down. It looked like she was unconscious. David had rolled off of her and was scanning around for any other danger. When he saw that they were safe, he turned back to Emily and started to feel the back of her head. His face was filled with relief, when all he found was a goose egg from her fall.

Alex was about to rush to her when Quinn grabbed her arm.

“David, is she okay?”

“Yeah
, but she’s going to have a huge headache when she wakes up.”

Quinn nodded. “Ok
ay, we need to get this cleaned up and get out of here! Anyone could have heard those shots. If we want to stay hidden from town, then we need to move fast!” He turned to Josh, Dara and Cooper, “We need to pull the bodies into the woods and dump the motorcycles in there too. We can drive the trucks and ditch them somewhere else. If we can clean this up like it never happened then maybe the gang in town will just think these guys took off or something and it’s seven less bad guys we have to worry about later. Let’s get to work. I don’t want to be standing out here if anyone else shows up!”

Josh and Cooper went straight to the first body and grabbed it by the arms and feet before staggering down into the ditch and into the trees. Dara went to the motorcycles and started pushing one into the woods as well.

David was looking at them in confusion and the other three were still out of it.

“What’s going on
, Quinn?”

Alex and Quinn had just picked up a body and he grunted out,
“No time right now, David. Just get the others into one of the trucks and then help us!”

They staggered down into the ditch and moved into the trees.

David didn’t know what was happening but he had just witnessed his lifelong friends kill seven men. He got Emily up over his shoulder and carried her to the first truck he came to. Once he had her inside and buckled up he went back for Lisa and Mason.

Mason was still on his knees clutching his face so David stripped off his shirt and balled it up.

“Mason, Mason look at me!”

When Mason lifted his head David saw the tears streaming down the boy’s face. He
offered his balled up shirt to him to press against his nose but Mason just shook his head.

“I dink my
ose is oken.”

He grabbed his nose and gave
it a yank. The sound it made straightening out made David want to gag. Mason took David’s proffered shirt and held it against his nose while looking around at the bodies on the road.

“What just
appened?” he asked.

David shook his head and headed
over to get Lisa up and moving. She was still rolled up in a ball, crying on the pavement.

“I have no idea except they seem to think that more bad guys might be coming
, so let’s help them clear the road.”

Lisa staggered against him as he led
her over to the truck and helped her slide in next to Emily. After everything that had happened on the way home, it seemed she had finally broken down. He shut the door and joined Mason at the closest body. They heaved him up and carried him into the trees and dumped him. David knew he should be appalled by this but his emotions seemed to be flat at the moment. Twenty minutes ago he was so excited and hopeful that they had almost made it home and now he wasn’t sure if there was a home to go to.

When they return
to the road, he saw Quinn and Cooper carrying the second last body into the trees, and Dara and Josh are each pushing a motorcycle down into the ditch. He looked over toward the last body and saw it was the man that Emily shot lying facedown on the road. Rage filled him. This disgusting man ruined the happy homecoming that he thought they would have so he used his boot to roughly flip him over. The burning, hateful eyes were all the warning David needed to dive to one side as the long haired man pulled the trigger of the gun he had been holding under his body. The minute he landed on the gravel on the side of the road, his hands started patting the ground looking for something to defend himself with. He came up with a fist-sized rock, and with all his adrenaline-fueled rage, brought it down on the weakened man’s head. David was mindless with fury and kept hitting the man until strong hands pulled him off.

“David, David! Stop, STOP!!!” Josh was shaking him and when he saw David’s eyes focus
, he let go and stepped back. “He’s dead, David.”

David’s chest heaved as he tried to calm down. He looked down at the mangled mess of the long haired man’s face and staggered away to
vomit into the ditch. He just killed a man with his bare hands. He held his hands in front of his face and saw they were covered in blood. He wasn’t sure they would ever be clean again.

Alex’s voice had him turning around.

“Oh my God! Oh no, NO!”

David looked at her crumpled face and followed her line of sight. Lying on the road with his arms thrown wide was Mason. If the small blot of blood directly over his heart wasn’t enough evidence then his
wide open, empty eyes were. Mason was dead.

David’s face drained of colour and he looked away. They had come so far, they were steps from home and their families and Mason was dead. He shot a glance over at the truck and saw that Lisa and Emily were still oblivious to what was happening. His mind couldn’t process how this had happened. He looked to his friends for help but they all stood staring down at Mason. Quinn finally shook his head.

“We have to go. We can’t stay here. Josh, will you help me get Mason into the back of one of the trucks? We can give
him a proper burial somewhere else.”

The two boys picked Mason up and when David made to follow them, Alex grabbed his arm.

“I’m so sorry, David.”

He looked at her blankly.

“I don’t understand this. What’s going on? Why are you guys out here with those guns? Where are all the adults?”

She rubbed his arm while guiding him to an empty truck.

“I know you’re confused right now, but something has happened in town, and it’s not safe for us to go there. We’ll explain everything when we get back to our campsite. We need to get this road cleaned up and get out of here before more bad guys show up. Just get in. Dara will drive this truck and I’ll drive the other one back. Quinn and Cooper will bring the ATV’s you guys were riding on and Josh is going to go get our truck that we left on the other side of those trees. I promise we will explain everything when we get to safety.”

David let himself be led
as he climbed into the truck and stared out at the empty road. All he knew was that he wanted to go home.

Alex ran over to the last body and helped Quinn drag it into the trees. When they came out, Cooper was dumping a huge jug of water over the
bloodstains on the road. She looked at Quinn with a question.

“There were two water jugs in the back of the truck so we’re trying to wash some of the blood off of the road. It won’t clean it all but it might dilute it enough that once it d
ries, no one will notice it right away. Anything we can do to keep the bad guys from knowing we took out their men will help keep us hidden.” He scanned the road and nodded, “Okay, I think that’s about all we can do so let’s head back to the campsite. We need to regroup and make a new plan.”

He pulled her close for a brief hug and then walked over to the ATV that David had been driving when they had run into trouble.

Alex jumped into the truck with the girls and was relieved to see the peaceful face of her best friend. The longer Emily was out, the longer it was until she had to tell her that her boyfriend was dead. Alex knew it was an awful thing to think, but she was a little bit surprised that Lisa and Mason had made it home at all. That thought made her realize that Mark was missing. She wondered what had happened to him and glanced over at Lisa. The girl had her eyes closed and she was leaning against Emily. Alex wondered what their journey home had been like and if they had faced as many hardships as her group had. Movement caught her eye and she saw Josh run down the ditch and disappear into the trees towards the service road they had parked on. Dara moved ahead in the other truck and flipped a U-turn so Alex followed and they quickly headed back to the campsite.

The drive back was uneventful and Alex kept stealing glances at her best friend. She was so happy to see Emily and David but was filled with dread at having to tell them what was going on
in their town. That news on top of Mason’s death was going to destroy her friend. She sneaked another peek and was surprised to see Lisa staring back. The girl was as beautiful as ever, but there seemed to be something different about her. The superior air and disdain that usually filled her eyes was gone. In its place was a deep sadness.

“Are you ok
ay?”

Lisa slowly nodded her head before asking,
“Are things just as bad here?”

Alex tried to find the right words but came up blank so she just nodded.
Lisa sighed and turned her head to look out at the trees passing by. As they came to the clearing where they had setup camp, Emily let out a groan and brought her hand up to her head. Alex brought the truck to a stop behind Dara and quickly turned to Emily.

“It’s ok
ay, you’re safe.”

“What happened? My head is killing me!” Emily’s hazy eyes
focused on Alex and grew wide, “Alex! Oh my God, Alex, I didn’t think I would ever see you again!” Tears started to flow down her face as the two girls embraced.

Emily sobbed into Alex’s shoulder and Alex just held her tight. She saw Lisa sitting quietly
, watching them, and the girl’s eyes were also filled with tears so Alex reached over and pulled Lisa into the hug as well. No matter what had happened before the pulse, they were all survivors and she deserved a hug too.

The door behind Lisa was suddenly pulled open and David stood there frantically looking Emily over. When he
saw that she was fine, he stepped back and took a deep breath. The girls separated and wiped tears from their faces before getting out of the truck. Alex guided them over to the picnic table as Quinn, Cooper and Josh pulled up behind the two stolen trucks.

Josh swaggered over with a grin and slapped David into a one
-armed hug. He looked around at the group and laughed.

“Look at this! We made it! The world stopped and we made it across two countries and have a parking lot full of vehicles that work. Hot damn, we’re good!”

Alex had to smile at his antics. He was right, they were so lucky to have made it this far and have some resources. Her smile widened at having her whole group of friends back together. She squeezed Emily’s hand and turned to David. The look on his face was enough to wipe the smile off of her face. He stared back at them with incredulous anger before he launched into a rant.

“We didn’t all make it!”
he spat at Josh. “What the hell were you guys doing? The way you came out of the trees with your big guns blazing was insane! You killed all those people like it was nothing. You didn’t even try to talk to them! What happened to you guys? Is this who you are now, pretend-soldiers who go around and gun people down?” His face was flushed red and filled with contempt.

Quinn stepped forward and held up his hand. “Easy
, David, you don’t know what’s happening here. I’m sorry about Mason but those men we killed would have really messed you guys up if we hadn’t stopped them!”

“M
ason? What happened to Mason? Where’s Mason?” Emily suddenly stood up and started to look around in confusion.

David r
ushed to her and took her hands. “I’m so sorry, Emily. One of the men shot him. He didn’t make it.”

Emily stared into David’s eyes and when she saw the compassion there
, she made a small “oh” sound and crumpled back onto the bench. She pulled away from David and turned to pull Lisa into her arms.

“So close, we were so close!” s
he cried.

Lisa held on to Emily but her eyes were clear of tears. There was only so much a person could take before they hardened and their emotions became blunted.
Part of her was sad that Mason had died, but mostly she felt a cold ball of anger in her core.

Davi
d spun back to the group. “This is your fault! We could have talked to them or you could have held your guns on them while we escaped! If you hadn’t just opened fire, Mason wouldn’t have been shot!”

Emily pulled back from Lisa and stood up
, placing her hand on David’s arm.

“David, it’s my fault
, not theirs. I fired the first shot when that man threatened Alex. This is all my fault,” she said sadly, looking at the ground.

Before he could respond, Quinn stepped in again.

“Listen, those men have taken over our town. They have our families as hostages and they are using them as slave labour. We will have to fight them anyway. This was just the first battle we’ll have to fight.”

David pulled away from Emily and paced away. His face was anguished and he was pulling on his hair.

“This is insane! This can’t be happening!” he muttered before swinging back to the group and zeroing in on Quinn and yelling, “What is wrong with you? This isn’t your job! Have you forgotten that we are just teenagers? We can’t just go wage war. We aren’t soldiers!” He paused and looked frantically at everyone’s faces. “I killed him! I KILLED THAT MAN!”

There was dead silence in the clearing as everyone watched the horror and pain on David’s face. Everyone knew exactly what he was feeling. They had all taken a life to get this far and they knew that they would carry that burden for the rest of their lives.

David was hunched over with his arms wrapped around his mid-section. Everyone could see the painful struggle he was going through but no one made a move to go to him. They knew it was something he needed to come to terms with on his own. Each and every one of them had taken a life and the consequences had come after the fact with nightmares and depression. It was finally Lisa who stood up and broke the silence.

“Quinn, is there any help at all?
Any police, military…adults that can help us?”

When he shook his head
, her face hardened and she turned to face David.

“This is it. We are it. If we want to go home
, we have to fight! David, you saw what things are like out there. I mean, we walked through it! Taking a life is a horrible thing. I almost ended mine after Mark, but Emily made me see that I did what I had to do to survive. We can fold up and collapse, or we can be soldiers and fight for our lives and our families lives! I know this is hard but I am going to fight and I hope you will help us.”

She turned back to Quinn and ignored the surprised look on his face. She knew what Alex and her friends thought of her
, but she wasn’t that shallow cheerleader anymore and they would have to figure that out for themselves.

“Do you have a shovel? I would like to bury Mason
,” she asked him.

Quinn was shocked at the difference in Lisa and had to wonder what she had meant about “after Mark”.
He noticed Mark hadn’t come home with them, but he didn’t know what had happened to him. Before he could answer her, Cooper stepped up and offered to help. She nodded and walked away from the group. Dara jumped up and went to the camper to get a sheet to wrap the body in.

Emily went to David and wrapped him in her arms
, trying to comfort him as best as she could. Alex watched them for a moment before meeting Quinn’s eyes.

She huffed out a breath. “We have a lot to talk about but I think we should take care of Mason and then put a meal together. We can share our stories after that and then make some plans.”

Quinn nodded his agreement and they left to help the others with Mason’s body. Josh was the only one left at the table and he watched David and Emily. He was a little surprised that Emily wasn’t more broken up about Mason’s death. The last time he had seen them at Disneyland she was the guy's girlfriend, but the way she was holding on to David and kissing his face showed him that things had changed.

Josh gave a small sad smile. Whatever they had faced on the way home had changed them and although he was happy his friend had gotten the girl he was in love with
, he knew that it would always be tainted with sadness from the event that had changed all their lives.

He walked over and patted David’s back. “Man, I’m really sorry about the crappy homecoming but it’s so good to have you guys here.”

When David just nodded, Josh turned and went to help the others.

Quinn, Josh and Cooper took turns digging the grave until they felt it was deep enough. Dara and Lisa wrapped Mason’s body in a bedsheet and Alex walked around the clearing they had chosen and picked early spring flowers. She kept stealing glances at Lisa. The girl moved mechanically and had not shed any tears for the boy she had been friends with. Alex didn’t know what they had gone through but it was clear that Lisa was not the same person that Alex had known before.

Once they were ready, Josh led Emily and David to the clearing and they lowered Mason down into the grave. Alex passed the flowers to Emily and Lisa and stood back waiting. David had gotten his emotions under control and he finally stepped forward.

“Mason Johnson was…” David began but ended just as quickly. He looked around at the group, at a loss for words. The silence began to drag until Lisa started to speak.

“Mason Johnson was a jerk! He was shallow and egotistical and selfish…but he was changing! He was learning what is important in life and he was trying to be a better person. I
’m so very sad that he didn’t get the chance to become the person that he wanted to be.” She looked at the others and sighed.

“Goodbye
, Mason.” Dropping the flowers down into the grave, she then turned and walked away.

Emily nodded slowly and then threw the flowers she was holding down to join Lisa’s.

“Goodbye, Mason. I’m sorry you didn’t make it and thank you for trying to be a better person.”

David tossed his flowers. “We weren’t friends but we could have been. I’m sorry.”

When he didn’t say anything else, the rest of the group added their flowers and Quinn started to refill the grave. David and Emily were numb from the day's events and they stood quietly watching until the grave was filled in. Then they walked back to the campsite with the others.