Lonnie was quiet. Too quiet. Drew hoped he'd passed out. Please don't let him die. Not like this. Naked and alone … and scared.
He just didn't know who he prayed for. Lonnie. Or himself.
Chapter Twenty-One
Dark was falling quickly. Quinn tried to tamp down the horrible feeling of déjà vu as he drove along the quiet roadway. The sound of crickets just starting their evening song mixed with the louder, shriller sound of cicadas to creep him the hell out.
"I have no phone signal," Natalie whispered as he slowed to a crawl. "I drive by here every day and there is no signal. Why are we stopping, Quinn? There's no one out here. Everything is closed."
"Shh," Quinn hissed at her. He pulled off the road across from the seemingly abandoned old shopping center. The old arcade still stood at the far end. He'd heard it had burned to the ground. It looked fine in the fading light. "There was a butcher shop in the center store wasn't there?" His memory was playing tricks on him. He shivered thinking about snow that shouldn't be falling in June.
Natalie was silent. He could sense unease and confusion coming from her. He reached for her hand just as a distant crack of gunfire echoed through the valley. She jumped and squeezed his hand.
"I think so. The Wal-Mart and Kroger on the other side of town put it out of business. This whole place has been empty for years. Until the gas station reopened late last year."
"I thought the arcade burned down." The night grew so quiet he had to fight the urge to hightail it back to town.
"It did. The façade is all that's left. The county left it alone. I guess they felt the brick would hold up. I don't know. I was still in high school when it happened."
"But the gas station, when exactly did it reopen? Do you remember?" The windows were dark. A couple of neon beer signs on either side of the door and the lights on the gas pumps were the only indication that they weren't lost in the middle of some ghost town that time had forgotten.
"About six months, maybe seven. I wasn't paying attention. It has been nice having them out here. We're becoming increasingly isolated as the town grows away from the plant."
Quinn nodded. Her palm was sweaty in his hand. They hadn't passed a single car since they left the city limits. "The night guard said they left the plant a couple of hours ago, right?"
Natalie checked her phone again. The dim glow illuminating her face. He released her hand and started the engine again. He hit the button to close the convertible top, as if that would somehow protect them if something ran out of the woods that surrounded them.
A second gunshot sounded in the distance. "That was a rifle," Natalie said. "The first one was a semi-automatic handgun."
Quinn leaned over the console, reaching for the glove box. "I'm going with you," Natalie said as if she could read his mind.
He shook his head and pulled out the black Sheriff's Department ball cap Nathan had left in the box the last time he'd ridden with Quinn. He opened the inner box where he kept his gun. "I need you to drive back to town. As soon as you get a signal on the phone, you call the station. Tell them … I don't care what you tell them. Just get someone out here."
He didn't have to ask her if she could drive a stick. Natalie could drive a goddamned tank if she had to. Same as Nathan. She'd been raised the same as her brother. The same as Quinn. Gender didn't hold the Truman kids back. She knew her way around a firearm as well as Nathan. Maybe not as well as Nathan. Nathan knew shit about guns that Quinn never would. Natalie knew as much as Quinn did, that was for sure. Quinn's dad had been their teacher.
"What about you? I'm not leaving you here alone. Come with me, Quinn."
He shook his head again. "That was Nathan's gun." He didn't know how he knew. He'd never heard Nathan fire his weapon anywhere but at the range. But he knew that was Nathan returning fire. "And that wasn't Drew with the rifle." He put the cap on his head, the bill turned backward. He didn't need it to shield his eyes. He needed it to hide his hair in the moonlight. Maybe he shouldn't be skulking around private property dressed all in black. Maybe he should drive back with her and wait for the authorities.
If he had waited for backup that Christmas, Nathan would be dead now.
"When I get out, slide over and get the hell out of here. Don't open the door for anyone you don't know … " The full horror of that Christmas flashed before his eyes making him stop to catch his breath. He shook it off to focus on Natalie. "Even if he's a wearing a badge. Make sure it's a badge you know. And even then … be careful."
Quinn clicked the door handle as she grabbed the hand he held the gun in. She didn't try to take it. She seemed to want the contact for comfort. "You, too, Quinn. Please … just be careful. I'll be back in … " She checked the time on her phone. "Twenty minutes. It should take five to get back into phone range and then I'm coming right back."