The Glooming (Wrath of the Old Gods Book 1) (22 page)

Tara glanced at the little Chihuahua that lay curled up in the front seat. The second night they spent was behind a small hill on the side of the highway; she had decided to just sleep on a blanket alongside the vehicle. Even though Larry had offered her the back of the van so they could doze side by side, she had refused. The dog woke her in the middle of the night when it jumped on top of her while Tara lay curled up on the dry grass and started barking. When she woke up, she realized Larry was standing over her and was just staring at the both of them in the dark. When she asked what was going on, he just turned around and went back to sleep in the back of the van. She got a little bit scared then, but her drowsiness won out and she soon fell asleep again. The next morning, Larry allowed her to drive the vehicle for the first time.

As she drove on and kept thinking about last night, the van soon moved into a built-up area of nearby houses and strip malls as Tara was lost in thought. She didn’t notice that an old sign that formerly said Albuquerque City Limits had been torn down and replaced with a handwritten sign that simply said “Defiance.” She drove into a street that was now in a developed area of abandoned warehouses and sand-colored buildings. That was when the shouting and the ringing of bells could suddenly be heard.

Tara’s eyes opened wide as she saw an improvised barricade ahead. As she began to put on the brakes, she saw from the rearview mirror that half a dozen people with hoods and ski masks ran into the street that they had just passed and started throwing caltrops on the road behind them. Tara shrieked as she noticed the iron spikes on the boulevard as the small crowd at the rear of the van started moving forward while brandishing baseball bats and steel rods.

“What the hell is going on?” Larry said as he sat up.

“We’re trapped!” Tara cried as she slowed the van almost to a halt just a few meters from the barricades. There were people milling around in front of them and they started shouting at them to get out of the vehicle.

The dog growled and leapt into the back of the van. Larry jumped into the front seat beside her and stomped his boot on top of her foot that was on the gas pedal. “Go, go, go!”

As the van accelerated forward, one of the people behind the barricade lit up and threw a Molotov cocktail, but it missed as it exploded just a few feet away on the side of the pavement. The van quickly careened into a side street as Larry twisted the steering wheel to the left, but they noticed that the avenue was blocked off as well. Tara screamed. Larry noticed that part of the section that seemed to be walled up at the edge of the sidewalk was composed of an upturned sofa and a couple of wooden chairs piled on it. He kept the steering wheel angled right for it. The van rammed through the side of the barricade and sent some broken furniture flying to the street as it continued on. He kept an iron grip on the wheel and pushed the weight of his boot on the accelerator as the van drove past the town and back onto the open road again. Larry’s steel-toed boot on the top of her foot was pretty painful, but Tara just bit her lip and tried to fight through the pain as a single tear rolled down her flushed cheek.

Larry finally took his foot off of hers when they realized that there would be no pursuit. There weren’t any cars following them as the van slowly pulled to a stop. He turned until his face was inches away from hers and shouted. “Get out of the driver’s seat!”

Tara didn’t look at him as she opened the driver’s side door and limped out. She wore light sneakers and she was sure there would be a bruise on the top of her foot when she got the chance to examine it. She kept staring down at the dusty concrete pavement as he slid into the driver’s seat and closed the door. Tara was sure he was going to leave her behind but instead he just sat there and stared out into the front of the van.

After a few minutes, Larry finally turned his head and looked at her. “Get in.”

Tara meekly walked over to the passenger side door, opened it, and got inside. Within seconds they were moving again.

For almost an hour, nobody said anything until Larry glanced at her again as he maneuvered the van around a pileup of smashed cars along the highway.

“I told you to keep an eye out. Don’t go into any built-up area. I told you that like fifty times,” he said as he kept his eyes on the road.

She started to cry a little. “I’m sorry.”

“They could have taken us down you know. We could have been killed.”

“I’m sorry,” she repeated.

He shook his head slowly. “Alright, just be more mindful next time. Okay?”

“Okay.”

It took them a little over two hours, but they were able to maneuver around the Albuquerque city limits to the point where they could just skirt the edges of Santa Fe. Every time they would get close to any of the big cities, they noticed there were more piled up cars along the road. Tara grimaced as she noticed that there were burned out bodies in a few of them as they passed them by. By mid-afternoon, they were on a deserted stretch of highway on Interstate-25. Larry spotted an abandoned gas station and there were handwritten signs saying “NO GAS” that were nailed to the front of the store. Larry would have none of it as he tried the pumps, but the electricity was off so he took out a manual hand pump from the back of the van. It took an hour but he was able to get a full tank for it, plus he was also able to fill up the spare plastic jerry can he had in the back. By now, he was in a good mood as they drove out with the sun begging to set. Tara figured they probably had enough fuel to get to Kansas without having to stop for gas again.

Tara said nothing as they drove on for a few more hours until night finally fell. She had expected Larry to tell her to go ahead and drive while he would go to sleep in the back, but he didn’t as he just hummed a tune instead while turning on the headlights as the desert moon began to shine its luminescence over the horizon.

Tara looked at him. “Are we gonna stop soon?”

He didn’t look back at her but instead just smiled. “Soon.”

“When?”

“A few more miles. Then we bed down.”

Tara stared out into the twilit night. It was starting to get chilly. “Have you been here before?”

“Yes, there’s a place where we can stay, it’s just up ahead.”

“A place? What is it?”

“You’ll see.”

Within a few minutes, she saw a cluster of darkened buildings along the side of the road just a few miles ahead of them. It was evidently an abandoned motel. Its elevated vintage sign post wasn’t working, but she could plainly see the words Petrie Motel in the outlines of the deactivated neon billboard as they got close. Larry brought the van into the graveled driveway and stopped in front of the manager’s office.

“How did you know there wouldn’t be anybody here?” Tara said as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

Larry turned off the engine, got out and then stretched his legs on the tarmac. “I didn’t. But I figured there was a good chance the owners left.”

Tara had gotten out and started looking around. The little dog jumped out from the van and started to take a piss near a concrete column. “You stayed here before?”

Larry grinned at her as he turned on a flashlight with his left hand while taking out a set of keys with his right. “Sweetpea, I used to work here.”

“Oh yeah, as what?”

“I used to be the night manager,” Larry said as he unlocked the door to the office and went in.

Tara followed. When she got inside, she noticed the brown wooden counter and a sofa for waiting guests. Larry opened up the manager’s office, walked in, and then looked out the window at the back to see a large metal box just in the outside of the building. No rust, so it looked to be in good shape, but he wasn’t sure if it had any fuel in it. Hoping for the best, Larry located the electrical switch and flipped it on. Within minutes, a loud humming noise began as the generator started and the lights in and around the motel instantly came on. Tara was blinded for a bit, but she quickly readjusted her eyes to the now bright as daylight illumination. Larry began to manually deactivate the exterior lights of the buildings as well as the flashing neon motel sign right beside the highway.

Leaning over the counter and grabbing a few keys from the side wall, Tara grinned and looked at Larry as he stepped out from the manager’s office. “Can I use any room I want?” she said.

“You sure can, Sweetpea,” Larry said. “Which room would you like this evening?”

Tara looked closely at the set of keys she took. Each one had a number emblazoned on its plastic tab which attached to the keychain. “I think I’ll take room twenty-one, sir.”

Larry smirked. “Well, you’ve already got the keys so enjoy your evening, lady. Don’t forget to checkout by noon tomorrow.”

Tara took the keys, went out and headed to her room. The dog noticed and quickly followed as she unlocked her room door and went in after turning on the lights. It was a stereotypical lodge style interior, with brown wood paneling, two single beds side by side and the door leading to the bathroom at the opposite end. Tara closed and locked the door behind her, then threw her backpack on the other bed before throwing herself on top of the nearest one. It was her first time ever in a motel room. She felt a certain sense of accomplishment that she had at least experienced this in her short life. Her dog just jumped up on top of the other bed and started to get comfortable on it.

After resting for bit, she got up and walked into the bathroom. Tara noticed some small plastic packets of soap and shampoo, as well as some fresh white towels that had been left hanging on the racks. Grinning with excitement, she turned the tap on the sink and was immediately rewarded with gushing wet steam; Larry’s generator trick was able to get some hot water too. Within minutes, Tara took the first hot shower she had in a week and then stopped the drain on the tub as she let it rise, then doubled down with a bubble bath that wrinkled her fingertips and toes as she relaxed in the warm, sudsy water. She felt like she could just stay in the nice, clean bathtub all night.

As she wrapped a towel over her wet hair, Tara noticed that the dog walked into the bathroom and stared at her.

“Whatchu looking at?” she said playfully.

The dog lay down and began to rub its back on the bathroom mat.

“You want a bath too?” she said.

“No,” the dog said. “Just came to warn you.”

Tara’s brow furrowed. “Warn me? About what?”

“Something’s going to happen.”

Tara quickly stood up from the tub, grabbed another towel and began drying herself. “What’s gonna happen?”

“The future is cloudy, but I can sense possible danger.”

“Now you’re scaring me,” Tara said as she wrapped the long white towel around her body and opened the bathroom door.

Just as she walked back into the room, Tara gasped. Larry was standing in the middle of the place, staring at her intently, the door to the outside slightly open. Taken aback, she instantly retreated into the bathroom again. “Larry, what are you doing in here?” she demanded.

Larry had a blank look in his eyes as he twisted his head sideways as if to check if anyone was looking at them. “I let myself in since I’ve got the master keys to this place. Who were you talking to back there?”

“Nobody,” Tara said as she poked her head out of the door. “I was just talking to myself okay? Can you please leave?”

“Not just yet,” he said. “I wanted to talk. About us.”

Tara sighed. This was getting irritating. “Can’t it wait till dinner? I just got out of the bath and I’m half naked. Come on, Larry, this isn’t funny anymore.”

“Come out here, I wanna talk to you.”

“Larry, I told you…”

“Come out of there! Right now!”

His angry shout had startled her. When he was mad, he sounded like her father. Tara meekly stepped out of the bathroom and sat at the bottom edge of the nearest bed and looked down on the floor, knees firmly locked together. Tears welled in her eyes, but she fought to contain her own hurt feelings and to keep them from falling down.

Larry stood over her. “Look, we’ve been together for a few days now and we’ve gotten to know each other. I think I’m now starting to like you. As in really like you.”

She didn’t say anything.

“I’ve done a lot for you,” Larry said. “I’ve driven you around and I’ve saved your life. Many times over. So I think it’s only fair that I get a little bit of love back.”

She looked up at him in confusion. “I-I don’t get what you mean….”

Larry placed his right hand on her bare shoulder. She shuddered as his calloused hand touched her moist skin. “Just a little love is all I need, Sweetpea.”

“No!” Tara said as she shifted her shoulders so his hand fell off as she moved away from him and stood up. “I-I’m not ready for this, I’m only fifteen.”

This time Larry’s left hand grasped her arm and held it somewhat tightly. “The world’s changed, Sweetpea. Laws don’t matter anymore. Now it’s all about survival. I’m not a bad man, I just want a little thing in return. Consider it payment for my services.”

“No!” Tara shouted as she tried to twist away again. “Leave me alone!”

His backhanded slap caught her square in the jaw as she fell sideways, her head bouncing off the side of the mattress until she was down on her back, lying on the carpeted floor. Larry started to pull down his pants. As he knelt on top of her, his large hands pinned her arms to the ground while there was a slight air current near where the main door was.

Tara screamed. “No, please don’t do this!”

“Shut the hell up,” Larry said softly as his left hand started to pull away the towel that was wrapped around her body. She tried to twist away from his arm, but he was too strong for her. Tara grimaced and shrieked as Larry used his own forehead to keep her head down on the floor.

Just as he started running his tongue along her throat, Larry’s head jerked back all of a sudden, as a hand that was gloved in black leather appeared to be grasping the back of his throat. Larry started to choke as he got up, but was instantly thrown backwards and he smashed into a side table before lying in a heap on the floor. Tara opened her eyes, turned and saw a tall man with a grey crew cut. He was dressed in slacks and wore a hunting vest over a yellow-striped polo shirt as he stood over them. The man had a pistol belt with a holstered Glock 21 and several spare magazines dangled along its sides. The little dog had run out of the bathroom and was staring at all of them.