Chapter 13 Ana
Ana
The reception area had become their de facto meeting place. The blinds were pulled down all the way and the large room had taken on the appearance of a battle HQ—chairs pushed to the side, the desk from the office dragged into the center of the room with various papers strewn across the surface.
Ana sat quietly, watching the others.
Ellis was pacing. Jade was whining. Jax was filming.
Benny and Caden had gone outside and were sitting by the window in the shade of the carport roof, smoking.
Alex had followed them, looking grateful for an excuse to leave.
The mood was foul. No one had eaten anything since Ellis had deposited all their snacks on the far side of the line in his suitcase.
They were hangry and scared—not a winning combination.
Every corner of the motel had been searched for anything that might help them escape, but they had come up empty-handed.
Other than the motel itself, there were just piles of junk and discarded furniture, the rusty windmill, some random sheds, a handful of old farm vehicles with no engines, and three large, corrugated metal outbuildings, each of which was firmly chained and padlocked and would take some time to break into.
Right now, time was not something they could spare. The clock was ticking.
Figures moved outside the window, their shadows catching the light through the blinds. Ana recognized Alex’s outline, his distinctive hair, his slight slouch.
No matter how hard she tried not to, Ana kept picturing Jade on Alex’s lap.
It had caught her by surprise, to be honest. She could see why Jade might be interested in Alex since his glow-up.
What surprised her was that Alex would feel the same.
The Alex she knew wouldn’t have liked someone as shallow as Jade.
Then again, maybe he’d secretly wanted that all along but thought that Jade was out of his league.
Maybe Jade was exactly his type. Wasn’t she everyone’s type?
Not to mention the fact that Jade already had a boyfriend. Jax was easily the hottest guy at St. Francis and high-school famous—perfect for Jade. So why was she moving in on Alex?
Ana stood up and started pacing.
This was pointless. Why did she care who Alex hooked up with?
It had nothing to do with her. They weren’t together; they weren’t even friends anymore.
Alex was free to do whatever he wanted. Alex deserved to be happy.
He was good and kind and gentle. If Jade was his type, then good for him.
If that’s what he really wanted, then fine.
Even if Jade would shamelessly use him, posting photos of them together with his guitar strategically placed next to them, bathed in golden light and fake tan and—
Gah! Snap out of it.
They were in a potentially life-or-death situation. Why was her brain spiraling on something so inconsequential? The stress was getting to her. She had to pull herself together and focus.
She chewed on her lip and walked herself through the situation mentally for the hundredth time.
Twenty minutes left. When the hour was up, it came down to two choices: go or stay.
No one wanted to cross the white line and risk being shot at, like Ellis.
But if they stayed, the message said they would all die.
Great choices, if they could even be called that.
At the rate they were going, they would still be sitting in the reception area staring sadly at their phone screens when the timer ran out.
A tapping at the door startled her. Benny was outside, waving at them. He seemed uncharacteristically excited, a red flush on his smiling face.
Ellis pushed open the creaky door.
“What?”
“Y’all need to see this,” Benny puffed breathlessly. “Caden and I, we reckon we got ourselves an escape plan.” He checked around for a response, but no one moved.
Clearly disappointed that his words hadn’t had the impact he’d expected, Benny hoisted his pants by the waistband, pulling them up high, in what was likely intended as a manly gesture.
“Didn’t y’all hear me? I said we got an escape plan! Y’all coming, or you gonna sit around and wait to die?”
He had a point.
Ellis made an expansive, eye-rolling gesture but headed out after Benny. Ana quickly followed. Anything was better than sitting in this stuffy room. One by one the others came too.
It was already baking hot. Ana blinked, her eyes adjusting to the glaring light. Benny jogged ahead of them, waving them on, heading behind the motel strip to the outbuildings around the back.
He stopped by a small pile of debris—an old mattress with ungodly stains, a fridge door, several bits of broken cabinetry. Caden was already there, collecting more bits and pieces to add to the pile.
“So, Caden here knows about guns and military and stuff. He had an idea. Why don’t you tell ’em, Caden?”
Caden looked like the ground had better eat him up and spit him out before he would volunteer to talk in front of his peers. But Benny kept nodding and nudging him until he finally spoke.
“High-velocity rifle, range would be three hundred, maybe four hundred yards, and that would be a decent shot. I reckon, if there’s one shooter, they’d be over there.” He pointed out past the road sign to a small cluster of rocks in the middle distance.
“So’s if there’s one shooter over there, and y’all make a big hoo-hah out front, then while they’re distracted, one of us can escape around back and go get help!” Benny threw his hands up, clearly satisfied with his own plan.
There were so many holes in the plan, Ana didn’t know where to start. If there was one shooter. If they were hiding in those rocks. If they didn’t see this coming. She glanced at Ellis to see what their defacto leader was making of all this.
He was silent, his hand stroking his chin in thought, watching Benny and Caden.
“Look, I know it ain’t risk-free, which is why we make ourselves some armor, see! Like this,” Benny said as the two of them launched onto the pile of junk at their feet.
Caden picked up the old mattress and tried to wrap it around Benny, who had dug out an old rusty bucket and was wearing it as a makeshift helmet. Despite their situation, Ana almost laughed. It was like watching Mario and Luigi play dress-up.
“Who would go?” Ellis said quietly. He was still stroking his chin.
Benny and Caden looked at each other as though they hadn’t made it this far in the conversation.
“It’s a decent plan. Of course, it only works if someone is brave enough to volunteer,” Ellis said smoothly.
Ana knew exactly where this was going. This was not a good plan. If the shooter was hiding out there waiting to kill someone, then anyone streaking across the desert dressed in a mattress and a tin bucket was volunteering to die.
Ellis knew. It was obvious. He was too smart to think otherwise.
But this was a way out. The inescapable clock was ticking the minutes of the hour away.
If one of them was stupid enough to volunteer, it would kill two birds with one bullet; they would test if the shooter was serious, and if they were, it would reduce the competition by one.
Win-win.
Of course, Ana thought, no one would be foolish enough to actually do it. Would they?
“I’ll go,” Benny said, trying and failing to look heroic. “Seems only right, me being the only responsible adult and all.”
“Wait, Benny, are you sure?” Ana blurted out.
It really seemed like Benny was operating on half a tank and it would be wrong to take advantage of him.
Ellis turned his full attention to her, and she withered a little under his icy stare.
“I’m just… I mean. We should really think about it, you know?
It’s just, if the shooter’s serious, you could… ”
“Benny knows what he’s volunteering for,” Ellis cut in sharply.
“Benny, you are quite right, your plan is fucking genius, and you, as the only adult, are a hero. When we get out of this, we will make sure everyone knows what you did here. You can start a GoFundMe, probably make a fortune, and never need to work again.”
“Yeah, my mama always said I’d be good for something,” Benny said, laughing. He actually seemed to be enjoying himself.
“Are you sure, Benny?” Ana asked again, stepping to the edge of the pile of junk, nervously kicking at an old piece of a toilet bowl.
“Abso-effing-lutely,” Benny said. “Caden, my man, pick up that mattress. We’re gettin’ outta here.”