The van’s windows were tinted, but sunlight poured in through the windshield. All three of us exchanged glances with sloppy grins and vague grunts of satisfaction. I didn't even care that it burnt my eyes; I basked in it. I have a job to do.
The driver was barely watching us. One of the girls kept nodding, waking herself back up as her head dropped, falling partway asleep again. The other kept her eyes out the window. What job? I scratched my head. My hair. I fumbled with my ponytail. I felt like I was moving through molasses, like my fingers were wrapped in cotton. I’ve been drunker than this. Twelve watered-down shots made me feel worse than this.
I must have looked like I was concentrating too hard. The driver glanced back and asked, “What are you doing?”
I froze. It took me a long moment to process his question. It took a longer moment to formulate an answer. “Spiders,” I whispered. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the road.
My hair fell loose as I pulled the watch free. Quickly bringing it down to my lap, I stared at the numbers and the options surrounding the face. Lying in bed at night with just a dim lightbulb shining in the hall, I’d memorized the sequence of buttons I’d need to hit. I was prepared to operate it in the dark, or blindfolded, or behind my back. I wasn’t counting on my brain and body operating so slowly. I took a deep breath and pressed the first button.
Beep! I jumped. I’d forgotten to muffle it. I looked up with alarm. The driver was still staring straight ahead. Thank God. Sweat tickled my forehead, and I’m sure my heart would have been racing if I was sober. I held my shirt around the back of the device and pressed in the rest of the sequence.
It flashed the screen confirming that the information had been sent. Okay. Again in five minutes. And again and again until they find me. Assuming anything went right at all. There’s something else I’m supposed to remember. Thinking made me tired. If I just close my eyes for a second…
My head jerked back, slamming against the headrest and waking me back up. “You can lean the seat back if you want to sleep,” the driver said. “Though you probably shouldn’t sleep right now.”
I shook my head very slowly, pressing the sequence onto the watch again. Maybe it had only been a minute. Maybe it was taking me five just to press through the entire sequence anyway, sluggish as I was.
But what else was I supposed to remember?
I must have nodded off again. One moment I was pushing buttons on the watch. The next, the watch was on the floor in front of me and the van was still rolling on down the road. We weren’t on the main highway or the freeway, but we were speeding at a good clip from what I could tell. We passed little garages and shops, and lots and lots of trees. Is he taking a back way out of the state for a reason? Are they coming?
I didn't comprehend what I was seeing at first. I glanced at the driver as I prepared to bend and pick up the watch. Out the front windshield, I saw fire approaching from the woods.
"What the fuck?" He slammed on the brakes as the fireball blazed out from between the trees and came to a crashing halt right in front of the van. Not a fireball - a torched motorcycle. The flaming bike blocked the entire lane. The abrupt stop woke the other two girls from their dazes. They repeated his curses as they squinted at the flames.
The driver put the van in reverse and twisted around in his seat. He'd have to go around the obstruction. But I know what this is. Move. Move! I felt like I was moving in slow motion as I balled my hand into a fist. Summoning all the will I could, imagining Theo just off in the woods, on his way into danger, I exploded into action. I punched the driver directly on the nose. With a sickening crack, blood spurted from his nostrils and across my knuckles. He recoiled with a shout.
The two girls, borderline corpses just a moment before, became a tornado of screams and flying fists and gouging nails. They practically leapt over me in their frenzy to attack the guy. He shifted into park and fumbled with the door handle but their fury was inhuman - they were squeezing into the front seats and on top of him faster than I would have guessed they were physically able.
The roars of multiple engines speeding by surrounded the van. I jumped at a knock on the window on one side and then the other. I looked out the back in time to see bikers - Devils - climbing from their bikes and approaching the second van from one side, just as its driver jumped from the seat and ran out towards the woods in the opposite direction.
The explosives.
Too fast.
I have to warn them!
Hands shaking, I unlocked the side door and slid it open.
A Devil stood there with a big, heavy device - jaws of life? - preparing to pry his way in.
Theo.