Page 67 of Burn

“We’ll take care of it,” Alphabet said, then the passenger door opened as the two back doors did. Bones slid into the passenger seat while Lunchbox climbed up to sit on one side of me and Voodoo on the other. “Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, sit back, and relax, we’ll be about seventy-five minutes to get to base.

Seventy-five minutes?

“You good?” Lunchbox asked. “I packed a cooler with sandwiches and wraps. I made a couple vegetarian in case you needed something lighter.”

I opened my mouth briefly, then closed it again. “Actually, that sounds great, but I don’t want to eat in the car. Do you have water though?”

“Water. Gatorade. Beer.” Lunchbox reached down and flipped open a cooler.

“Water. Please.”

He passed it to me after cracking it open with a twist. The area outside of the truck was just… raw and beautiful. It was wide open, there were areas of grassy fields and other areas where trees gathered together like they were gossiping.

Ahead of us though was a mountain.

Mountains. Plural.

I kept scanning the area around the truck as the ride lulled me. My eyes kept trying to drift closed, but I would force them back open. I needed to know where we were going.

The last thing I wanted was to be trapped somewhere I didn’t know where we were. Base was secure, I reminded myself. Secure was good.

The drive up the mountain was long and winding, we didn’t pass many places along the way but when we flattened out again, I was leaning forward to try to see more.

“Come here, Firecracker.” Voodoo unsnapped my seatbelt and lifted me, then he set me in his lap. “Better view from here.”

He wasn’t lying, the view was incredible. What I didn’t see any of were other houses, stores, or franklypeople. I didn’t even see other cars. What was up here?

“Dude, not safe,” Lunchbox muttered.

“We’re fine,” Voodoo said, dismissing him.

Then we were coming around a curb and my breath caught in my throat. It was a huge valley spread out below, but the land rippled with hills and more as it led to another mountain and another.

“Welcome to the Crazy Mountains, Gracie,” Lunchbox said and I swung my gaze back to the mountains again.

“Do I want to know why they are called that?”

“Maybe,” Lunchbox said. “We’ll tell you the story later.” The valley disappeared around another curb, then the road kind of flattened out, leading us straight to somewhere.

So weird, we hadn’t seen a single other car. Maybe it was some kind of military base. Didn’t they take huge tracts up? That seemed reasonable.

It wasn’t until they slowed that I realized there was a huge gate in front of us. Alphabet hit a remote that was pinned to the sun visor. The gate opened smoothly and then we were passing through.

The drive to get to “Base” was another eight minutes, but we weren’t racing up the road. A house appeared in the distance. It was a big sprawling rambler style with a fat porch, railings and an overhang. There were empty paddocks off to the side near a barn.

Everything was a cherry-colored red wood—maybe an oak. It was like the house itself had been constructed as a log mansion rather than a cabin. It was incredible. I didn’t get long to gawk at it before we were pulling into the garage.

It was one of the larger ones I’d ever seen. There were four other vehicles, not counting the one we were in already, parkedinside. A pair of motorcycles were parked at the front. A third one, maybe, but it was under a tarp. The sunlight vanished as the door closed behind us and left us in shadows. The overhead was a yellowy light.

“One sec,” Alphabet said and he had his phone out. No one moved to exit as he checked something on his phone. The light above us brightened and there was a panel on the wall that went from all red to all green.

The doors opened at once. Bones and Lunchbox were out. Lunchbox circled around to help me down. Voodoo handed me over like some damn package.

I could laugh or I could cry about it, so I just decided to laugh. Once I was on my feet again, I stretched my legs and fought the urge to stretch my arms and back. At the moment, that would just cause pain. Alphabet was out and he and Goblin were at the backdoor.

Bones, Lunchbox, and Voodoo had all grabbed bags and the cooler, then they were motioning me to follow Alphabet. It was two short steps up into the house.

The cherry wood extended to the interior floors. There were also fat, thick rugs in varying shades of browns, creams, and reds decorating the hall. I turned out from what had to be a mudroom to find a huge kitchen with a pair of double ovens, a massive farmhouse sink, and a bowl of fruit.

---