Page 22 of The Hitchhikers
She stayed facing forward, as if not looking at him might make the problem go away. He was getting closer to her window. The metal bar hit the side of her door.
She screamed and jerked the wheel away from him. The tires slipped on the loose gravel on the shoulder. She had to slow down so that they didn’t go into a spin. The biker cut in front of her, forcing her to a complete stop. Her neck jerked forward with a painful snap. Bodies tumbled to the floor behind her. Jenny or Simon or both. She heard Tom’s pained groan. He must be in agony, but she couldn’t rush back to check. The man was off the bike, metal rod in hand, and heading straight for her. The RV had a flat front. No hood for protection. If he was tall enough,he could hit the windshield. He could smash the glass and hit Alice’s face.
Alice popped her seat belt free, leaped over the engine cover, and dove for the floor, just as the man slammed the rod into the chrome grille. The sound was loud and close.
Simon stepped over Alice, trying to get to the driver’s seat. Alice scrambled on her hands and knees down the center of the RV.
“Gimme my shit!” The biker was beating on the RV. The sound moved across the front of the RV. Was he going to break through the door? “Come out and fight, you pussy.”
Alice made it to the rear of the RV. She got to her feet to check on Tom, but then the engine roared as Simon stepped on the gas. The RV sped forward. She grabbed at the wall.
A male scream, a thud, then the sickening rise and fall of the tires going over something. The screech of metal being dragged.
“Stop, stop!” Jenny’s voice.
Alice turned to look.
The RV braked, hard, and Alice was sent sprawling into the aisle beside the dinette. Her chin hit the carpeted floor, teeth snapping together. She lay still.
The biker had gone under the RV. She’d never heard a scream like that before.
“Alice?” Tom’s voice, loud and urgent.
“I’m fine.” She got to her knees, too wobbly to stand. Jenny was pressed into the corner of the dinette and the wall, like she’d been trying to brace herself. She was crying.
Simon had his hands in his hair and was staring out the windshield. After a second, he dropped his hands and yanked the keys out of the ignition. He got up and looked at Jenny.
“Come here, babe.”
Jenny slowly slid off the bench seat, still crying, and trying towipe the tears from her face. When she reached Simon, he put the knife in her palm.
“Keep an eye on them.”
Jenny turned to stare at Alice, the knife down by her leg, tears wet on her cheeks. She looked like a doll from a horror movie. Simon opened the door, pausing to listen before he pushed it the rest of the way. He was outside for a few minutes. Alice couldn’t hear anything.
No yelling. No more screaming. Just that terrifying silence.
Simon stepped back into the RV. His face was pale, his hair hanging limp and sweaty on his forehead. Dark splotches circled under his armpits and at the neckline of his shirt. He gripped the side of the doorframe with one hand, the other holding the gun down by his leg.
His gaze skimmed over the still-crying Jenny and landed on Alice.
“I need you to come outside.”
CHAPTER 9ALICE
Alice didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to see what was out there. Simon raised his arm and aimed the gun at her. “Get up!”
Jenny’s sobs increased and she buried her face in her hands, but she didn’t stop him, didn’t say,Put the gun away, this has gone too far!
Alice used the counter to pull herself up. Simon backed out and then waited for her at the bottom of the steps. He gestured that she was to go in front.
They walked down the shoulder of the road. Behind her, Simon’s sneakers made a scuffing sound on the dirt. Alice looked at her sandaled feet, the fine layer of dust that coated her toes. She didn’t want to lift her head. Heat radiated off the side of the RV. The engine ticked. The air reeked of tire rubber.
Alice halted. The bike lay on the shoulder of the road where it had been pushed, the RV’s shadow draped over it. The biker’s legs were visible just past the RV’s rear tire. The rest of his body was underneath. She didn’t crouch down. She didn’t peer under. He’d been driven over twice. His legs were twisted, broken. His boots were dusty and worn, with silver buckles. One of them was undone. She didn’t know why this mattered, why she wanted to fix it.
“Grab one of his legs,” Simon said in a rush, his voice high and tight like he was barely holding himself together. “We have to drag him.”
Alice couldn’t stop looking at those broken legs. How could she touch him?
