Page 58 of Waves of Fury

The wind is relentless, gaining strength and dropping in temperature by the minute. My eyes won’t stop watering and I don’t know if it’s from the chilly air, pure exhaustion, or the absolute despondency of our situation. Hell, maybe it’s a little of all three.

When I hear the sound of something other than wind, I stumble to a stop and whip around to listen.

A vehicle engine.

It’s the only inorganic sound right now and sorely sticks out.

“I hear a car,” I belt out, earning a ripple of gasps of shock. “Holy shit. Maybe we can get the hell out of here.”

The sound continues to grow in volume. Everyone has stopped at this point, blocking the road and waiting to flag them down. Whoever they are, we’ll make them stop through whatever means necessary because Elise’s life is at stake. Kellen hands Elise over to Wayne while we all ready our weapons just in case they’re bad people. Headlights come into view around the bend and I shield my eyes against it. After having been in such absolute darkness now that the clouds are so thick, it’s blinding to see light.

“Are they slowing down?” Dan asks from behind me.

When they’re a hundred yards away, we all start yelling and waving frantically. The small sedan begins to slow down as though they might stop. Then, without warning, the driver cuts the wheel hard to the right and takes the basic car off-roading. Metal against rocky terrain screeches as the car flies over the rugged ground. Sparks glint out from beneath the vehicle, but whatever damage it may have received goes ignored. As soon as the car is past us, it veers back onto the road, accelerates, and barrels off into the night, the taillights disappearing around the next bend.

“Fucking assholes!” Kyle roars.

Defeat weighs down the entire group as we collectively understand no one is going to help us. Ever since we left that boat, it’s been every group for themselves. We were naive to think this would go differently.

Elise moans hoarsely, sending a quiver of fear down my spine. If we don’t get her help soon, she’ll develop an infection and die. Her fate is in our hands.

We’ve lost so many.

We can’t lose anyone else.

“Look! Tenaya Lake is in a quarter of a mile,” Jesse calls out. “I hope they have vending machines and cabins.”

Everyone picks up their speed now that there’s an end in sight for the night. Boots slapping pavement and huffing is a soothing cacophony working wonders to keep my mind clear. I’m holding onto hope that there’s more than vending machines and cabins. Maybe there’s a park ranger or nice people. Would an abandoned ambulance with the keys sitting on the dash be too much to ask for?

I find myself trotting past Kellen and the rest of the group, eager to see what’s at this lake. When I round the turn, I discover a parking lot and not much else aside from a few scattered picnic tables nearby. There’s a tiny restroom building with probably one toilet inside and a single car sitting in the lot.

In the darkness, I see two figures moving.

It’s the people who hauled ass past us.

“Hey!” I call out, running toward them. “We need help!”

As I near and swing my flashlight over their forms, I discover two women around my age, both terrified and crying.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I say as I come to a stop twenty feet away from them. “Someone in our group is badly injured. We need to get her medical attention immediately.”

The taller brunette scowls and angrily points at the tire. “Because of you people standing in the road, we got a flat tire!” Her lip trembles until she bites down on it. “Leave us alone.”

Kyle and Jesse show up next, halting next to me.

“Listen,” I say, voice calm. “I’m sure we can help each other. Maybe we can exchange fixing the tire for taking our friend to the nearest hospital.”

The short blonde crosses her arms over her chest and frowns at me. “Hospital? Have you listened to the news lately? Everything is in chaos.”

“We’ve been outrunning disaster after disaster for days now, so excuse us if we’ve missed the evening news,” Jesse deadpans, irritation in his tone.

I elbow him and shoot him a sour look. Being assholes won’t get us far.

“What do you mean?” I ask, gaze darting back and forth between the two girls. I realize they’re both shivering and severely underdressed for this weather in just their hoodies and pajama pants. “We have extra coats. Want to trade for information?”

The rest of our group approaches quietly behind us. The two girls take in our ragtag group and seem to calm a bit when they don’t sense an immediate threat. Having more women, a child, and a dog helps too.

“Coats for info,” the brunette snaps. “I’m Mallory and this is my college roommate Katie.”

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