Chapter 6. Alice
ALICE
Tom pulled the gun out and aimed it at Jenny and Simon. “Back away from my wife.”
“Tom!” Alice said. “What are you doing?” Tom didn’t answer—or even turn to look at her. His gaze was focused on the couple. Simon still had the flashlight pointed at the ground. They were all standing in the soft circle of light, the woods dark around them.
“Simon and Jenny, right?” Tom said. “Those are your real names.”
“You don’t understand—” Jenny started to say but Simon put up his hand. Alice couldn’t comprehend how quickly everything had changed. Her husband was holding a gun on two people. She looked around. They needed help. The campground was quiet.
“Sit at the picnic table where I can see you,” Tom said.
“Let us go,” Simon said, “and you never have to see us again.”
“Sit your asses down!”
Simon grabbed Jenny’s hand and drew her toward the table.
She was crying in loud heaving gulps. Alice felt strangely lightheaded, her breathing too fast. She tried to move closer to Tom, but the tip of her sandal caught on the lawn chair, and she stumbled into him, knocking him off-balance.
The gun swung with his body—pointing toward the woods.
Simon rushed toward them, a blur in the dark, heavy footsteps, and then an oof sound as he tackled Tom. The flashlight dropped and the men rolled out of the yellow beam, but Alice could hear fists smacking into flesh. Grunts. Swearing. They wrestled back into view.
The gun was no longer in Tom’s hands—it wasn’t in Simon’s either.
Alice pounced on the flashlight and shone it around.
Where had the gun gone? Tom was astride Simon, pinning his arms. Simon was twisting and heaving.
Alice had lost sight of Jenny in the chaos—she only noticed her as she stepped through the beam of light.
Something was in her hand—a block of wood.
She hit Tom’s back with it, then lifted it up to hit him again.
Alice rushed at her, circling her arm around her chest, and yanked her backward. Simon had broken free and was crawling toward the RV steps. The gun was lying nearby.
Tom chased after him. Simon rolled onto his side and kicked at Tom’s feet, tripping him. He landed with a hard thud. They were fighting on the ground again.
Simon had Tom’s arm twisted behind his body. A strange sound. A snap, and Tom screamed. Alice wanted to run to him, but she was holding Jenny back.
Simon had the gun. Now he was standing over Tom, kicking him—in the nose, mouth, head.
Tom rolled over and was crawling away. Simon kicked him so hard in the rib cage that it lifted Tom partly up and knocked him onto his side.
Then he kicked him in the groin. Tom gagged and curled into a ball.
Simon was now kicking his legs, the thuds loud.
Alice let go of Jenny and ran for Simon, jumping onto his back. He shook her free and she fell to the ground, knocking the breath out of her lungs.
“Simon!” Jenny’s voice was shrill. “Stop!”
Simon finally stopped. His breath was ragged as he looked back and forth between Alice and Tom, the gun moving each time he inhaled. Alice stayed still, gasping for her own breath.
“That was stupid,” Simon said. “We would have left you alone. Now we can’t.”
Ice shot through Alice’s chest, freezing the air in her lungs. Dread slithered down her spine. He was going to kill them. They would take them somewhere. Somewhere remote.
Simon turned to Jenny. “Toss that flashlight over here.”
Jenny bent over and picked up the flashlight. As she passed it to Simon, it shone on Tom, who was crumpled into a ball. His face glistened with blood.
“My shoulder…” Tom’s voice was strained like he was gritting his teeth and trying not to scream. He might pass out. She’d never be able to lift him.
“I have to help him!”
“Do anything stupid and I’ll kick the shit out of him again.”
Alice crawled over and tried to help Tom roll into a sitting position. He groaned with each movement, panting hard, and made an agonized gasp when she touched his ribs. Finally, he was able to get to his knees. She put her shoulder under his good arm to support him as he stood.
Simon swung the gun back and forth between Alice and Tom.
“Point that at the ground,” Tom hissed.
“You aren’t giving the orders anymore, man,” Simon said. “Get in the RV.”
Tom climbed the steps, one arm dangling. Alice helped him to the bed and eased him onto the mattress. His face was ashen, his skin clammy. Was he going into shock? She didn’t know what to do. Simon and Jenny hovered in the doorway.
Alice lifted Tom’s shirt up. Angry red marks covered his stomach and ribs. Some were splotchy and round, like badly drawn islands on a map. On Tom’s arm, she could make out tread marks from when Simon was kicking him. Did he stand on his arm? Trying to break it?
Alice couldn’t tell if any ribs were broken, but Tom’s breath sounded so labored she was scared he could be bleeding internally.
She pulled the strap of Tom’s tank top away from his neck—and started to cry at the sight of the bulging bone.
It was nearly poking through the skin and swelling rapidly.
She tried to blink back the tears—she didn’t want to scare Tom.
“Collarbone?” Tom wheezed between shallow breaths.
She nodded and looked at Simon. “Please. Tylenol. It’s in the bathroom—and ice.”
He hesitated, his mouth a hard line.
“I’m begging you,” Alice said.
“Why should we do anything for you?”
“Please—he’s in so much pain.”
“And whose fault is that?” He stared at Alice, daring her to answer, but she had no words. After a moment he called out to Jenny, “Babe, can you bring some Tylenol?”
She didn’t answer, but Alice heard water running and cupboards opening. A moment later, Jenny showed up with a bag of frozen peas, a glass, and two tablets in her hand.
Alice carefully lifted Tom’s neck, supporting the weight so he could swallow a little water and the pills. Then she helped him back down and folded his arm across his body. She gently rested the frozen vegetables over the top of his shirt, along his collarbone, but he still cried out.
“He needs a hospital,” Alice said. “You can drop us off. Take the RV.”
“You’ll call the police.”
“Just…” Tom groaned, struggling for words. “Leave us here.”
“You can tie us up. You’ll be far away before anyone finds us,” Alice said. But what if they tied them too tight? What if Tom did have internal bleeding?
“How did you know who we are?”
Alice hesitated. “Your photos were in the paper.”
“What paper?” Simon sounded both scared and angry.
She leaned over and pulled it out from under the mattress, handing it to him. There didn’t seem to be any reason to hide it now.
Simon unfolded the article. Jenny moved closer to read it with him, her eyes growing wider as they scanned the page.
“Everyone’s looking for us!” Jenny said.
“Stop. Don’t say anything else.” Simon folded the article back up, shoved it into his pocket, then pointed to Alice. “You’re staying here with Tom.”
Simon searched the drawers in the kitchen, and when he didn’t find what he was looking for, he began going through the small closet near the bed. Alice was confused and embarrassed when he pulled out two of her bras and a couple of sets of pantyhose. What did he need them for?
“Get in beside Tom.”
“Please don’t hurt us,” Alice said.
“I’m tying you up so you can’t do anything to us,” Simon said, and even in her panic, Alice heard the indignation in his voice. Like somehow, they had betrayed him.
Alice shifted her body up against Tom’s, trying not to bump him. His forehead was dotted with sweat, and he seemed to be getting paler. He needed medical attention.
“What are you going to do to us?”
“Nothing if you listen to what I say.” Simon wrapped the bras around her ankles, and then Tom’s, stretching the straps and tying them into complicated knots. He did it fast, with confidence, and Alice remembered how much he knew about boats and fishing.
He lashed both of Alice’s wrists and Tom’s bad arm together with the pantyhose, tying them off with another intricate-looking knot. If she moved even an inch, she would hurt Tom.
Jenny was still hovering nearby, almost as pale as Tom, her blue eyes darting between them all. When her gaze landed on Alice’s, she got that pleading expression. Did she want Alice to tell her that everything was okay? That she didn’t mind what was happening?
“You can have our cash,” Alice said. “We won’t tell anyone.” One of Tom’s fingers looped over her pinky, tensing.
“Bullshit. You’ll call the cops.”
“We won’t!”
“Stop talking.” Simon made sure all the curtains on the windows were closed, snapping them into place. Then he slid the privacy curtain across and sealed them into the dark. Simon and Jenny moved up into the front of the RV, where Alice could hear them whispering. Planning.
She rolled her head slowly to the side and met Tom’s eyes. Blood still trickled from his nose, and she couldn’t even wipe his face for him. His bottom lip was puffy and split. He smelled of sweat and dirt. She looked down at their bound hands. His knuckles were swollen too.
“I’m so sorry.” Tom’s voice was weak, his ragged breathing breaking up the words. “I should’ve listened to you. You had all those doubts.” She’d only heard him cry once before, when he’d held their son’s body. She couldn’t bear it if he broke down now.
“We’re going to be okay. We just have to stay calm,” she whispered. She thought about telling him she’d hidden a knife under them, but she was too worried that Simon might hear.
“I wanted to protect you, but I messed up.”
“Your shoulder will heal. Everything will heal.”
They held gazes, and she knew he was trying to make his expression reassuring, but behind that she saw the pain and anger. The fear. She was sure her face echoed it all.
“Try to rest,” she said. “We don’t know what the morning will bring.”