Moving as quickly as I could, while still ducked down, I slipped over to the driver’s seat.
Okay, now may be a good time to mention that I’ve never driven a car. I know I’m the oldest of the kids, but I just never had cause to learn to drive. Besides, it was easier to let the boys do it so I could boss them around with both hands. I was wishing I’d made them teach me, but there was nothing I could do about, now.
I didn’t let myself think, I turned the key just as I’d seen the boys do dozens of times and felt the truck roar to life. Peeking over the dashboard just enough to see where I was going, I grabbed the truck’s handle thingy and forced it to move so the red line pointed to “D” which I hoped stood for drive and not self-“D”estruct.
The truck lurched forward as I tried the pedals. Okay, I’m a fast learner and all, but when I guessed the correct pedal to move me forward, I didn’t gauge how hard to step on it. Suffice it to say, I now understood the expression “burned rubber.”
In a matter of two seconds, I’d closed the distance between where the truck had been parked and the restrooms where my brothers were already hurrying out. Apparently, they heard some idiot peeling out in the parking lot (rolling eyes).
Positioning myself between the guns and my brothers, I slammed on the break, and started screaming, “Alik, Evan…get in the car! They’re shooting at us! Quick! Jump!”
Alik grabbed the passenger side door and yanked it open just in time to hear a bullet shatter the back glass. He threw Evan in the truck then slammed the door shut. I could feel him seething with anger and boy, I could relate. He opened the door to the back seat and jumped in yelling, “Drive, go, Meg! Go! GOooooo!”
He didn’t have to say it because I was already doing it!
Bullets from at least three separate guns riddled the left side and back of the SUV. I prayed that none of them made contact with any of my family or the tires…or the gas tank. Running out of specifics to pray for or the sensibility to think at all, I just found myself begging God, oh, please, oh please…over and over.
I guess he heard me because only a few minutes had passed between when I first felt something was wrong and our escape through a rain of bullets. Somehow we were able to get away unscathed, except Evan who was nursing a headache from being slammed into the center console of the truck by his overprotective brother.
Now we were cruising down the highway in a Swiss-cheese looking vehicle, with no back glass. But we were alive. For now.
“What happened, Meg! Who was that?” Alik had finally found his voice.
“Wait, before you answer. Pull over and let me drive. No offense Meg, but you look pretty shaken,” said Alik.
“Gladly,” I breathed.
Evan was still quiet. “You okay, Ev?” I asked.
“We’ve got some acetaminophen in here somewhere, don’t we?” he moaned.
“You’re alive…how about a ‘thank you’?” Alik smiled at his brother, just happy to see he was okay.
After we played musical chairs and were back on the road, I explained what happened to my brothers.
“You sensed him? You could feel his thoughts? Wow, Meg, you gotta know how cool that is!” Alik kept looking over at me like he was seeing me for the first time.
“He was aiming for your ankle. He wasn’t shooting to kill. Just maim. Williams is still trying to bring us in to The Institute his way. He wants us injured and unable to fight. He wants us to plead for our mother’s safety.” Evan’s way of viewing the world was always so clear-cut, unclouded by all these erratic emotions that not only tied me down but gave me wings. I admired him.
“He’s in for one heck of a surprise tomorrow.” Alik’s voice had an angry edge I completely understood.
Tomorrow needed to end well.
Chapter 41 So What Were You Doing at 2am?
We drove till we were too anxious to drive anymore and decided to park behind a quiet church surrounded by middle class homes in an unassuming neighborhood. The shattered back window let all the California night’s chill into the truck, so my brothers layered on as much of their clothes as possible. We found that the doctor had a large comforter folded neatly under the far back seats, so the boys used that.
I didn’t need anything besides my Maze. He instinctively knew to snuggle up to me and share his fur. We rested like this for a few hours, though I don’t think any of us slept. We were not only terrified for mom, but worried the thugs would jump out of the dark and start shooting.