Ties to the Blood Moon 2nd Edition (16 page)

“You had a cell phone this whole time and didn’t tell me?” I narrowed my eyes, glaring. “I thought we couldn’t have our phones because they could be tracked,” I snapped.

“Sorry, Gen. It wasn’t my idea. Grandfather told us Zane would know you’d try to call William and he’d be waiting to intercept it.” His tone said that he was being sincere.

“Uh … Joshua? I hope you already took out your phone and just forgot.” Joseph’s face contorted, sweat started to bead up on his forehead.

“Joseph, go to the back and grab the map. Put it in my bag and hand it to me. Everybody else, get your bags on your backs, and buckle up.”

I didn’t see them put the fuel in, because I went inside to get Mr. Green,” James muttered. When we came out, the fuel truck was driving away from our plane.”

I felt the nose of the plane dip downward. I gasped and Luna screamed. Joseph was in the seat next to mine and took my hand, squeezing it tightly. I glanced at him, and he was peering at me. There was something comforting about his eyes. He leaned in close to me and I thought he was going to try to kiss me. I closed my eyes.

“If anyone can land this plane, it’s Joshua. He’s awesome with the flight simulator game at the arcade,” Joseph whispered, proudly, and his chest swelled. “He’s held the high score for three years running,” he said, matter-of-fact while holding up three fingers.

If I hadn’t been so terrified, I’d have probably laughed. Instead, I squeezed his hand and forced a smile.

One thing we had going in our favor, I think, was that the sun had risen. I looked out my window and saw nothing but dry, desolate, desert all around. I hope landing on the desert was like landing on the water, because James and Joshua were in a panic up front. They couldn’t figure out how to drop the wheels. We had the big ski thingies, but no wheels. The last I heard wheels worked better than water skis on the ground.

When I glanced at Luna, her faced was soaked with tears. Joseph kept telling her everything was going to be just fine, because of Joshua’s high score. Somehow, I just wasn’t finding that comforting at all.

When I glanced out my window again I figured we were in trouble. We were headed straight toward the ground, and James was screaming for Joshua to pull up. “Are you sure you can do this?” I shouted, and squeezed my eyes shut tightly. I had my answer when Joshua didn’t respond.

My eyes were still closed tightly when I felt us level off. I let out a deep sigh, and realized I’d been holding my breath. I cracked open my eyes for just a second, but slammed them shut again when Luna screamed and the plane hit the ground hard, bouncing all over the place. I heard a loud thud just before James screamed, then fell silent. The nose dug down in the sand causing the plane to flip forward at first, then side over side.

Chapter 24

I guess I had been in shock, because it took me a minute to respond to Joseph shaking the crap out of me. If the plane crash didn’t give me whiplash, Joseph definitely would.

We were tilted up on our side, and Joseph kept me from slamming against Luna when I unlatched my seat belt.

“Is everybody okay?” I asked earnestly, then looked around. Joshua was standing on the top of the plane trying to drag James’ limp body up through the open door. “Go help your brother. I’ll get Luna,” I told Joseph.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” He stared hard into my eyes.

“I’m fine, really. Go, your brother needs you.” I waved him off.

When I reached Luna, she didn’t have any obvious signs of injury, so I figured she must have just fainted, but I couldn’t wake her.

I kept smelling something, but I was worried about Luna so I ignored it at first. But it continued getting stronger. When I finally glanced around, I saw what it was. The back of the plane was on fire.

“Joseph! The plane is on fire and I can’t get Luna to wake up,” I shouted frantically before I unlatched Luna’s seatbelt and started jerking her toward the front of the plane.

After Joseph helped to get James to the ground, he jumped back in and threw Luna over his shoulder with ease. I watched him climb over the front seats and up through the door. Her head flopped around and her arms dangled like a little rag doll.

I don’t know why, but instead of climbing out behind Joseph, I climbed over the seat toward the back, and grabbed the fire extinguisher. The fire seemed small enough to put out easily.

“Gen! what are you doing?” Joseph’s voice sounded panicked. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here before it blows up.”

“How’s it going to blow up if there isn’t any fuel?” The fire extinguisher ran out fast, and Joseph came from behind and tried to throw me over his shoulder, but I refused to play the part of the damsel in distress. “I’m coming.”

Joseph grabbed my hand and together we climbed to safety.

I stood on the ground with my hand cupped over my eyes. The sun was bright and burning hot. I quickly broke out in a sweat.

“What were you doing in there, other than trying to get yourself killed?” Joseph asked incredulously, while helping Joshua bandage the gash on James’ forehead.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking.” I didn’t look at him. I was too busy staring across the desert, worrying about the fast approaching vehicle I spotted off in the distance. “Um … you guys … we’ve got company coming.” I pointed in the direction of the tiny spot shooting up sand behind it on the horizon.

Joseph and Joshua Jumped to their feet and stared in the direction I was pointing.

“Shit,” Joshua shouted, and scrambled to lift James. “Get everybody behind the plane.” He promptly headed to the side facing away from the vehicle and laid James in the soft sand next to the plane. It also happened to be the side the sun was hitting, which made the sand hot to the touch.

The temperature was climbing quickly and all I could think about was the possibility of having to travel for miles on foot. I pushed up on my sleeves, but it actually made it worse by allowing the sun to beam directly onto my skin.

I walked back to help with Luna. She was already awake and slowly pushing herself up onto her knees. “My head,” she murmured, pressing her hand on the side of her head. Joseph helped her to her feet. “What’s going on?” she asked, appearing confused.

I took her arm from Joseph and put it around my neck while I helped her to the side of the plane. She sat down and I knelt between her and James. Joshua and Joseph moved around to the front of the plane.

“What happened, Gen?”

It was obvious she was still dazed, especially since she was leaned against a partially buried plane with a broken wing. “As you can see, we crashed.” I patted my hand on the plane. “But we all lived to tell about,” I smiled, trying to make Luna smile.

“Stop. You have a nasty cut on your head.” I was trying to keep my voice down, but I guess it still wasn’t enough, because Joshua scolded me.

“I’m fine. Why are we hiding?” he asked, but then his eyes got big, I’m guessing because he saw my eyes open wide. “What?” He rubbed his hand across his forehead, then brought it down. There was nothing on his hand.

I furrowed my brow. “I saw your forehead. It was all gashed and bleeding.” The wound had closed completely, and all that remained was a puffy red line. “What are you?”

“Oh, that.” He smiled. “Let’s just say we’re fast healers. So are you.” James’ tone was light and the way he talked was like everybody should know that.

Luna pursed her lips. “Shh. I can’t hear what they’re saying,” she whispered, her eyebrows scrunched.

Joshua stepped around the plane, and an old man with bushy, silver hair and a shaggy beard, wearing dirty blue jeans overalls, moved from behind him.

“Hey you guys. He saw our plane going down, and he came to check for survivors.” Joshua had this relieved smile on his face.

Joseph came around from the other direction and was elated when he saw James had awakened. “Hey, Bro.” I couldn’t help but grin, too, when I saw the huge smile stretch across Joseph’s face as he reached for James’ hand to help him to his feet.

“Let’s go,” Joshua called out. “He’s giving us a ride to a truck stop a few miles north of here.” He seemed relieved, but I sure didn’t have a good feeling about the whole thing.

Something told me we shouldn’t trust him. He was just too nice and insistent. The whole thing was also just a little too convenient and gave me the willies. I mean, who drives around in the desert picking up strangers? For all he knew we were a group of teenage killers waiting to rob and decapitate our next victim. Or worse, maybe he was the psycho about to kill us.

I tugged on the back of Joseph’s sweat-soaked shirt, and motioned for him to follow me. When we were out of earshot I stopped walking and turned to face him wrapping my arms around myself. “I don’t trust him,” I said with trepidation.

“Come on, Gen. Look at him and look at us. What’s he gonna do?” Joseph tried to make light of the situation.

“I’m telling you. There’s something more to it. I don’t know exactly what, but I just know there is. Please, let’s just tell him no thanks.”

“You kids a comin’?” The old man had snuck up on us and had this really creepy smile that sent chills down my spine.

I looked at Joseph, then at him. My heart suddenly fluttered when Joseph leaned in close.

“It’ll be all right, I promise,” he whispered in my ear. I felt his hot breath on my neck, which stirred feelings inside of me that I’d only felt with William. He put his arm on the small of my back, sending a spark of electricity through me. Something inside me awakened as we walked close together. He held my hand and gave me a gentle nudge, and helped me to climb into the back of the pickup truck.

Joshua rode up front and the rest of us rode in the back. The wind from the moving truck was a welcomed comfort even though the hot desert sun beat down on us.

I shifted my gaze from the sun to the cab of the truck and then back to the sun.

Joseph must have been watching me, because he soon got curious enough to try to see what it was that held my attention. “What are you looking at?”

“Um … correct me if I’m wrong. But if the truck stop is north and it’s ten-thirty in the morning, shouldn’t the sun be on the right side of the truck?” I asked, becoming more uneasy by the minute.

Chapter 25

I don’t know why I was worried. Luna and I were with three big strong guys who also just happened to be a special breed of giant werewolf. So if that man had any intentions of hurting us, he’d be sorry as hell he offered us a ride.

We pulled onto the highway, and drove several miles, before turning off again. I saw an old house ahead in the far distance. Joseph didn’t see it because his face was buried in his arms, propped up on his knees. Luna was facing me, so unless she had eyes in the back of her head, she couldn’t see it either. And James was asleep. I swear that guy could sleep through a hurricane.

When I tapped Joseph on the shoulder it startled him. He jerked and quickly raised his head, opening his eyes. I pointed at the house. “That doesn’t look anything like a truck stop to me. I’m just saying.” I threw my hands out, palm up, and shrugged.

I tried to down play it, like I wasn’t worried, but I’m sure Joseph saw right through me. He shook James awake and whispered something to him that I couldn’t hear. James didn’t say anything, he just simply nodded at Joseph.

We turned onto the path that led to the house. It was an old one story shack. Most of the paint had worn off the clapboards, and half of the railing was broken or missing on the front porch.

He and Joshua opened their doors, and stepped out. A three-legged dog came hopping from around back, barking and excited to see his master.

“You youngens get on out and stretch yer legs and get some water. I’ll only be a few minutes,” the old man said, and dropped open the tailgate. “There’s some fresh rain water in that barrel over there.” He pointed in the direction of a few large barrels sitting beside the house.

“Do you have a phone we can use?” I asked earnestly.

“Nope, ‘fraid not. I ain’t never had no one to call, so I couldn’t see payin’ for one.” He turned and started to walk in the direction of the back of his house. He walked like maybe one leg was a good two inches shorter than the other. “Sorry,” he called out without bothering to turn around.

As soon as the old man disappeared around the house, Joshua spoke up. “He’s just a harmless bootlegger. He said he saw our plane go down on his way back from one of his ‘customer’s’ houses.” He did air quotes for the word customer’s.

“I hear what you’re saying, Josh, but I just have a bad feeling about this ‘harmless’ guy.” I did air quotes for harmless, but I was really just mocking Joshua.

He looked at me severely. “My name is Joshua, not Josh.”

“Sor-ry. I had no idea you were so touchy about your name.” I spun on my heel and stomped off toward the rain barrel.

I scooped out a small handful of water and tasted it. It was surprisingly cool for such a hot day. When I picked up the ladle hanging on the side of the barrel, it was all grimy and nasty looking. I wasn’t about to stick that thing to my face without cleaning it first. I took it with me and went looking for a water hose. When I stepped around the back of the house, I saw wires going from the house to a telephone pole. I didn’t see the old man anywhere so I knocked on the back door.