Hunted (36 page)

Still, hardly a day went by that she didn't think of her family, her friends who had died, and the way things could have been. Vicki's nineteenth birthday had come and gone without anyone remembering. Not even Judd. She didn't blame anyone, but she still ached for things to return to normal. Before the disappearances, she had dreamed of going away to school. She thought a college degree might help her get a good job, and who knew, maybe she would find some rich guy and settle down in a Chicago suburb in a real house instead of a trailer. But her parents didn't have the money to send her, and Vicki wasn't scholarship material, at least back then.

Vicki wasn't proud of the way she had lived before the disappearances. She had made bad choices in friends and in the way she lived. She had put partying above everything, and she knew she had to tell Judd about some of those things. Maybe he had skeletons too.

Before the vanishings, Vicki hadn't thought of her life in the long term. If something sounded fun, she did it. If she thought something would make her happy, she'd try it. If someone suggested a tattoo or a piercing, she only thought of what people would say the next day at school.

The vanishings and Vicki's new belief in God had changed all that. Suddenly, the truth about Jesus and what he had done for her, the reality that God wanted her to dedicate her life to him, and the fact that there were only seven years until the return of Jesus made her want to change. God himself transformed the hopes and dreams of a normal teenager.

Vicki could never have dreamed what God would do in those first few years. She recalled a quote that summed up her feelings: “The world has not yet seen what God can do with one person who is totally committed to him.” As Vicki became more aware of God, his power and love and how much he wanted to help Vicki, she had grown more confident. In spite of her weaknesses, God was using Vicki.

She mulled these things over as they drove into the night, knowing the others at the hideout would be praying. She wondered about Judd's e-mail and felt sad she hadn't asked Conrad to read it to her. It couldn't be anything embarrassing because Judd and Vicki had agreed they wouldn't use e-mails to talk about things that were too personal. When they were on the phone, they discussed their feelings, but in e-mails they stuck to the latest news and happenings. If one or the other did want to say something personal they wrote
private
in the subject line.

Mark handed Vicki a stick of gum, and she thanked him. Vicki couldn't remember the last time she had had a mint or gum. Mark had kept a stash of candy from their trip to the GC warehouse and doled it out at appropriate times. Mark loved giving Ryan candy, and he had become one of the child's favorites.

Vicki stuffed the gum in her mouth and thought of her parents. Her dad had chewed this type of gum on Sunday mornings. She remembered him walking into her bedroom with a fresh minty smell on his breath, asking, pleading with her to come with them to church.

“Sun will be coming up in another hour or so,” Marshall said, breaking the silence in the car.

“How much farther to Wanda's place?” Vicki said.

Tom studied Mark's notes. “Wanda didn't give mileage, but from where her place used to be, we have to be close.”

“What's our plan?” Mark said.

Tom turned. “We find my boy and—” He squinted out the back window. Something flickered in his eyes.

“What is it?” Vicki said, turning.

“We've got company,” Tom said.

Lights flashed in the distance, and a GC squad car approached.

“You think they've seen us?” Vicki said.

“Everybody, hang on,” Marshall said. “We're pulling into this field, but I won't be able to use my brakes.”

When the squad car came over a hill and reached a dip in the road, Marshall took his foot off the accelerator and turned the wheel sharply, sending them into a field. Mark gripped Vicki's shoulder and pulled her down as the car plunged over an embankment.

After the car came to a stop a few yards into the field, Marshall turned off the engine. “Everybody all right?”

Everyone said they were, then watched breathlessly as the GC squad car approached. Vicki closed her eyes and breathed a brief prayer as the squad car sped past and continued east. When it turned a corner, Marshall started the car and pulled back onto the road.

“Wonder where that guy was going in such a hurry,” Mark said.

“Call Conrad and ask if he's heard from Wanda,” Marshall said. “I don't like seeing the GC on the prowl.”

Tom shook his head a few minutes later. “No return message yet.”

Mark groaned and put a hand to his forehead. “Why would Cheryl do this? She knows she's putting us in danger.”

“Sounds like she's had kind of a meltdown,” Marshall said. “Having the baby, then placing it in the Fogartys' house did her in. She's not thinking rationally.”

“Does that mean she's not a believer anymore?” Mark said.

No one spoke.

Finally, Vicki broke the silence. “God hasn't abandoned her. Cheryl's turned her back on what she knows is true and good. I think she'll come around—”

“When the GC catch her and chop her head off?” Tom said. His face was red. “And what about my son? What happens when they give him one of those Nicolae tattoos? What's God going to do with that?”

The thought of little Ryan getting the mark of Carpathia frightened Vicki. Judd had told her about Chang Wong and how he had been drugged and given the mark against his will. Surely God wouldn't hold a little one like Ryan responsible for getting the mark. But the GC would make an example of him, parading him in front of the cameras, pleased that they had taken him from the clutches of the evil Judah-ites.

“We're going to get to her before they do anything to him,” Vicki said. “Trust me.”

“I hope you're right,” Tom said.

“And what do we do with Cheryl after we catch her?” Mark said. “She's a threat to the whole group.”

“We just have to keep praying for her,” Vicki said. “That's all we can do.”

Tom settled in his seat. “As far as I'm concerned, I don't want that girl within a hundred miles of my family.”

The group drove toward glimmers of flashing lights ahead. Finally, they slowed near a decaying gas station on the outskirts of a town. Two sets of lights flickered against a building in the distance, but Vicki couldn't see the GC car.

“From these directions,” Tom said, “it looks like we can turn left here and take the back road to Wanda's.”

Marshall stroked his stubbly beard and glanced in the rear-view mirror. “I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to see what those GC caught.”

“Same here,” Mark said.

Vicki nodded.

Tom pointed at the gas station and suggested they pull behind it. Quietly they all got out, but Tom told Mark and Vicki to wait.

Mark rolled his eyes and got back in the car. “I hate it when older people treat you like a kid.”

“They're both stressed about Ryan. It's nothing personal.”

“Yeah, well, I still liked it better when we called our own shots. The most exciting thing we've done since coming to Avery is go to that warehouse, and we had to sneak around to do that.”

Vicki noticed a lightening in the clouds peeking over the horizon. “We have to get to Wanda's quickly if we want to beat the daylight.”

Mark tapped his fingers against the armrest, and Vicki strained to see around the back of the gas station. Another GC squad car approached, then passed the station and turned down a street a few blocks away.

Minutes passed and their friends didn't return. “Maybe they found something,” Mark said.

The phone rang and Vicki answered. It was Conrad. “Hold on for this one, Vicki. You're not going to believe it. Zeke and I have been watching reports along the East Coast, and some weird stuff is going on. People are getting burned up. GC and anybody with the mark of Carpathia is at risk.”

“What do you mean, burned up?”

“Hang on—we're getting onto Dr. Ben-Judah's Web site. Okay, here it is.” He paused, reading through the material. “Does the fourth Bowl Judgment ring a bell?”

Vicki thought a moment. “Wait, isn't that the one where the angel is given power to burn people with fire?”

“Bingo. And it looks like it's happened everywhere the sun's shining. Do you realize what this means?”

“A lot of people are going to die.”

“Yeah, but if believers aren't affected, which is what I assume from what I've read of Dr. Ben-Judah's letter, we'll be able to move around during the day.”

“What's Conrad want?” Mark said.

“Conrad, thanks. I'll get back to you.”

Vicki explained what Conrad had told her and looked toward the horizon. For so long, the sun had caused fear among believers. Now they might not have to be scared of daylight.

“It's been twenty minutes,” Mark said. “I think we ought to see what's going on.”

“Let's wait another five minutes—”

“Fine, you can stay where you are, but I'm going.”

Vicki got out with Mark, switching the phone to vibrate. They stayed away from the street, walking in the same direction as Marshall and Tom, and cut through a hedge. A dog barked in the distance as they skirted a fence and crept through an open area. A few houses were scattered about—some abandoned, others well kept.

The squad-car lights became brighter, but there was still no sign of Marshall or Tom.

A two-story apartment building loomed before them. They walked to the right, stepping gingerly past old barbecues and gardening tools stacked at the end of the building. They stayed low, creeping onto the scene like two cats searching for prey. Mark dropped to his knees, and Vicki followed as they crawled to the top of a knoll and spotted the squad cars near a van.

A child cried out, and Vicki recognized Ryan. The officers had Cheryl against the front of the van, her hands cuffed behind her. A little farther up the street two officers laughed and pointed at something on the ground. Vicki crawled five feet to her left and gasped. Marshall and Tom lay facedown in the street, their hands behind them.

34

VICKI
focused on Ryan, who was still inside the van and being cared for by a female officer. The child cried for his mama and struggled with the officer.

“It's okay,” Cheryl yelled, tears streaming down her face. “We're going to be okay.”

One of the officers near Tom and Marshall keyed his radio. “Two males, one female, and one child. All unmarked.”

Vicki wondered if Tom or Marshall had IDs on them. If the GC found out Tom was a former GC officer, they'd take him in for questioning.

Vicki's heart wrenched every time Ryan cried out. She wanted to rush in and grab him but couldn't.

“They must have jumped Tom and Marshall,” Mark whispered. “What do you want to do?”

Vicki glanced at the sky. It would still be a few minutes before the sun rose. “Let me pull the car around. I'll get their attention and see if they take the bait.”

“What'll you do if they follow?”

“I'll try to lead them into the light. You see what you can do for Tom and the others.”

“Maybe I should take the car—”

“No. You'll be better at helping them. Let me go.” Vicki scooted backward quietly and ran to the car. The keys were still in the ignition, and Vicki started it and pulled onto the road. She had the sick feeling that perhaps the plague of burning fire wouldn't hit Wisconsin like it had the rest of the world. Could it be over? If so, Vicki and the others were in deep trouble.

Vicki pulled slowly onto the main road and looked at the surrounding hills. The town lay in a valley, so until the sun was higher, there would be patches of shade throughout the area. She stopped in the middle of the road and focused on trees on the ridge. A thin trail of smoke rose like a white snake. Was it some kind of illusion? or dust? The longer she looked, the more convinced she became that it was smoke.

Vicki rolled her window down, peering up at the eerie sight. A spark, then a flash of fire broke out at the tops of trees. As sunlight spread farther, more leaves and branches were caught in the blaze.

A voice brought Vicki back to reality. “You want to step out of the car, miss?”

A man in uniform stood a few feet in front and to the left of Vicki's car. She hadn't heard him approach, and her heart raced wildly when he took a step closer. “Keep your hands where I can see them and get out—”

Vicki punched the accelerator and threw herself flat on the seat. A gun fired and glass shattered, but she kept her foot down, one hand on the steering wheel. She peeked over the dashboard in time to see she was headed for the curb and swerved as another shot smashed the back windshield, the bullet crashing into the car radio.

As Vicki reached the street where the van was stopped, two GC officers pointed their guns and fired, the other rushing to his car. Vicki ducked again and floored it, hoping none of them would shoot her tires.

She made it past the first few houses and looked up. Before her stretched a wide-open road that led toward the hillside.