Page 57 of The Hitchhikers
Alice spun around and lifted the tray, finding the small silver key. Once she had it in her hand, Simon turned back to the kid. “You’re lucky you weren’t lying.”
Whatever smart-mouth thing the kid was about to say died in his mouth when Simon cracked him across the head with the butt of the gun. Twice. Hard blows. The kid would’ve landed face-first in the deep fryer if it weren’t for the fact that Simon was holding him up. Simon stepped back and let the kid sag to the floor, where he slumped to the side, unmoving.
Simon kicked him in the stomach. Then the ribs. Alice remembered him beating on Tom, how he wouldn’t stop. She felt that same helpless feeling now, the disconnect between what she was watching and how long it seemed to take her body and brain to catch up.
Without thinking, she grabbed one of the dirty cleaning cloths from the counter and threw it at Simon. It smacked the side of his face and dropped to the floor with a plop. Simonstopped kicking and frowned at her, panting as he tried to catch his breath.
“We have to empty the safe!” She held up the silver key.
He gave the kid one final parting kick, so hard that it moved his body a few inches, then he walked away. Alice followed him as he searched around the back of the restaurant and found a small office. He flicked on the lights. Alice blinked in the sudden brightness. Simon located the safe under the desk, and opened it with the key, laughing when he pulled out stacks of cash. He handed them to Alice, who shoved them into the pillowcase. It felt like they’d been in that restaurant for hours. Surely someone would come by. Did the teens have cars? Was a parent going to pick them up? Maybe there was a parent waiting in the parking lot right now, wondering why the lights were off. There’d be a knock on the glass door, a questioning shout.
When Simon got to his feet, she assumed he would run straight for the back door, but he was walking toward the front again, around the counter. Alice ran after him—praying he wasn’t going to finish the kids off. He stopped so fast that she bumped into his back. He grabbed one of the milkshake cups, fumbling with a machine, pressing levers and buttons. He held the cup under a nozzle and laughed as it filled with pink creamy liquid that spilled over the top. Then he found a long red plastic spoon in a tray beside the machine and stuck it in the middle of the drink.
Alice stared, dumbfounded. A milkshake. He’d stopped to make amilkshake.
Simon looked down at the small kid who remained sprawled on the floor, his head turned to the side. Alice’s eyes had adjusted to the dim light, so she could make out his features. The boy’s hair was sticking up wildly, and his face was damp with tears and sweat. The tape across his mouth pulled his skin taut. It looked painful and Alice wished she could remove it for him.
“Your friend’s an asshole,” Simon stated.
The kid blinked, then nodded cautiously, his cheek sliding on the floor.
“You should work somewhere else,” Simon added. The kid nodded faster this time. Alice would be surprised if the poor kid was willing to ever leave his house again after that night.
Alice followed Simon out into the dark. They moved fast through the alley, ran across the street, avoiding any patches of lights and staying in the shadows. The town was quiet. Unaware. They were up the steps and into the RV. Nothing but their shadows slipped in behind them.
Simon took the pillowcase from Alice. She sat in the driver’s seat, tugged the bandana and gloves off, tossed the costume glasses onto the dash, and turned the key. She looked into the rearview mirror. Simon was giving Jenny the milkshake. She smiled up at him, teeth flashing white in the dark RV. Her boyfriend had just robbed a restaurant and beat up a kid, and the girl was thrilled that he had brought her a milkshake. A thirty-five-cent milkshake. He leaned down to give her a kiss.
Alice jammed her foot onto the gas pedal, lurching the RV forward and sending Simon tumbling into Jenny. He disentangled himself and stood back up, glaring at Alice, while milkshake dripped down his shirt.
“What the hell was that?”
“Sorry,” she said. “My foot slipped.”
CHAPTER 22ALICE
The white lines of the highway blurred. Alice opened her window to get fresh air on her face, and rolled her head side to side, stretching her tight neck muscles. Their headlights shone on two sets of eyes on the side of the road. Racoons, probably. Whatever it had been was low to the ground, but elk, deer, and maybe mountain goats might cross the road at night. If they hit something big, she would for sure lose control of the RV. She needed to pay attention, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the boys at the Dairy Queen. The smaller one would be okay, physically at least, but what about the older boy? What if he died? Simon had ripped the phone out of the wall. How long until someone found them?
Alice peeked over at Simon, who still looked smug. While Alice had gotten them back onto the highway, he’d stowed their disguises, then sat with Jenny and counted his haul. Judging by his laughter, they’d done well, but not enough to pay for all the things they wanted. They’d talked about what kind of car they should buy and decided on a station wagon. They both wanted a big backyard and a TV. Simon wanted a dog. To Alice, they were children playing house. They had no idea how much their lives would change with a baby. They were stuck together now. Their secrets, their crimes, would always be there. Stronger than any marriage vows.
“I’m too tired,” Alice said. “I shouldn’t be driving.”
“It’s only been like twenty minutes.”
“Yeah, but it’s almost midnight.”
“I’m tired too,” Jenny said. Alice glanced up at the mirror, and, spotting the milkshake cup still in front of her at the table, felt a fresh wave of anger.
“Fine. We’ll look for a spot,” Simon said.
When they came upon a turnoff, they followed the road until rough pavement changed to gravel and then crossed over a small bridge and a creek. They parked on the shoulder, where the road widened for vehicles to wait if another vehicle—or a logging truck—was already crossing.
Alice and Tom were barely given enough time to use the bathroom before Simon was binding them back together. She wondered how full the gray-water tanks were getting, and if they would run out of clean water, but her thoughts drifted away as exhaustion, fear, and the adrenaline of the day caught up to her. She was blissfully saved from it all until morning, when a chorus of forest birds began to sing outside their window.
After they had taken turns using the bathroom, Tom asked to sit at the table.
“I need to move around.”
Simon thought it over, then allowed it, but Tom’s hands and ankles had to be tied together. Tom kept his anger in check and looked grateful to be sitting, though Alice knew he was still in agony. There were only a couple of Tylenol tablets left in the bottle. Jenny hadn’t gotten her vitamins yet. Maybe Alice would be able to convince Simon to stop at a drugstore.
