Chapter 35. Alice
ALICE
With the passenger-side window blown out, the evening air rushed through the truck, grabbing at Alice’s hair, and whipping it across her face. She rolled up the driver’s window to block some of the wind, but it was still loud inside the truck. The tires were a relentless hum on the highway.
She was so thirsty. She thought of the others, with only half a pitcher of water remaining from breakfast. How long could they make it last?
Tom must be so worried. She didn’t believe that Simon would get help for him.
She didn’t believe that he was going to let her go soon either.
What if she drove into a ditch? Could she do it without killing them all?
Best bet would be to wait for the next red light and jump out.
She’d run—to a house, to another car. She’d scream and draw attention, and Simon would only want to get himself and Jenny away before help came.
This time, with Simon reading the map, they found their way through Fernie and back onto the Crowsnest Highway. The sun slipped below the mountains and dusk fell. The old truck’s headlights were low and didn’t shine far ahead. The forest on either side was dark.
Alice kept glancing at the rearview mirror, but there were no police lights chasing them. No sirens. There’d been so many shots fired. She swallowed against the lump in her throat and forced her hands to loosen on the wheel.
When they came into a small community, Alice sat straight, her heart beating faster, but it turned out to be more of a stopping point, with a general store, a gas station, and a roadside hotel and bar. There wasn’t a single streetlight and within minutes they’d passed through.
The highway was dark for a long stretch, only the occasional car passing them, until they reached a town called Sparwood, this one with more homes and businesses. She slowed the truck. There was an intersection coming up, and past that, the glowing lights of a gas station.
Alice stole a glance over at Simon, who was still checking the road behind them. Good. She wanted him distracted.
The light changed to red. Was it the right moment? Alice hesitated. She didn’t want to hurt herself on the pavement. Or get shot. Then Simon turned to look behind them again.
Alice slammed the gear shift on the wheel column into park and pushed the door open with her other hand. She leaped out, stumbled into a run, and aimed for the closest building.
Another door opened behind her.
“Hey!”
Heavy steps, harsh breathing, and a body slammed into her. She fell forward, the ground rushing up. All the air was pushed out of her chest. She slid. Her chin scraped along the pavement, elbows, palms. She gasped and wheezed.
“What the fuck, Alice!”
She couldn’t take a breath. Maybe he’d broken her ribs. She was close to panic when she was finally able to get a lungful, but Simon was dragging her up with one arm around her waist. Then his hand gripped the back of her neck, and they were walking toward the truck.
She tried to pull away, twisting, and hitting. If she could buy a little time. A car would appear. Someone would see what was going on. She elbowed him, kicked, but Simon was so much stronger, and he dragged her along. They were at the open truck door.
“Get in!” He lifted and shoved her inside. She latched onto the steering wheel for leverage, then turned, and kicked him in the chest. He swore and grabbed her ankles, twisting her legs. He leaned his elbow into her thigh and punched the bicep of her outstretched arm.
She screamed and let go of the wheel.
Simon pushed Alice across the seat, almost to the floor. She could hear Jenny sobbing. Simon was partway into the truck. Jenny had moved over to the passenger’s seat.
Alice was forced to sit straight. Her arm and thigh throbbed.
Simon slammed the driver’s door shut, gripped the steering wheel. He struggled with the shifter, found the gear, the engine screaming as they pulled away. He cursed as he tried to shift again, grinding the gears until they clunked into place, and Alice and Jenny jolted forward.
Alice tentatively ran her fingers over her chin, felt each palm of her hand. Bits of grit were pressed into her skin. She tried to pick them out. Her kneecaps burned. She thought about Tom, tears filling her eyes. How was she ever going to get them help now?
“You shouldn’t have run.” Jenny’s voice was scolding, angry.
Alice snapped her head toward her. “Why wouldn’t I? You can’t honestly think we’re going to live through this, Jenny. The cops are going to shoot all of us. You and your baby!”
Jenny’s eyes grew wide. “Shut up!”
Alice felt cold hard metal pressing into her temple.
“Don’t talk about the baby,” Simon said.
Alice had gone too far. She didn’t dare move. She closed her eyes, and felt movement beside her, a weight pressing on her side, the warmth of Jenny.
“Stop!” Jenny yelled. The truck swerved, and the gun slid away.
“Jesus Christ, Jenny! My finger was on the trigger.”
“Just stop, Simon! Leave her alone. She’s scared. I’m scared!”
They were quiet after that. Simon was focused on driving, taking corners too sharp or too slow. Alice gripped the edge of the dashboard. Simon overcorrected around a bend and crossed the center line, toward an oncoming car. The driver honked, shouted something out the window.
Alice eyed Simon from the side. Even in the dim dashboard light, she could see that his arm was covered in rust-colored streaks, and there was a darker circle in the middle of the bandage. His face was shiny with sweat, his eyes flicking to the rearview and side mirrors.
Not long after they had left Sparwood, there was another sign. They’d crossed into Alberta. Simon seemed to calm down after that. He leaned back in the seat, his grip loosening.
They drove through Coleman and as soon as the town’s lights were in their rearview mirror, a loud grating, clunking noise came from underneath the floorboards.
“Shit!” Simon slowed until the headlights showed an area ahead on the right where the shoulder of the road widened into a dirt clearing. He wrestled with the shifter, grinding the gears, and when he turned in to the clearing, Alice saw a flash of railroad tracks in the headlights.
Just as they rolled to a stop, there was a loud bang, and it felt as though the entire back end of the truck had collapsed.
“Goddamn!” Simon punched the wheel, then turned the truck and headlights off. He yanked the keys out. “Jenny, pass me the flashlight.”
Alice heard noises, like Jenny was feeling along the dash.
“Come on,” Simon said.
“I’m trying to find it.” A relieved exhale, and movement in front of Alice. Jenny’s arm as she passed the flashlight to Simon.
He opened the door, triggering the interior light, and slammed it behind himself, pointing his finger through the open window. “Don’t move.” He flicked on the flashlight.
Alice watched through the back window as he walked around to the rear end of the truck, the flashlight beam jostling. Jenny turned as well. She was gripping the back of the seat.
The light moved lower, then dropped out of sight, but Alice could still see the glow. Simon was under the truck. She glanced ahead. The road was dead quiet.
When she heard sounds of thudding metal, she looked back again. Simon was now on his feet and kicking the side panel. The flashlight lit up his face.
“Oh no,” Jenny breathed out.
He stalked back to them. “Get out. We’re walking.”
Jenny got out of the passenger side. Alice went to follow, but Simon reached in and gripped her wrist, dragging her out the driver’s side. He kept his hand locked on her and held the flashlight between his teeth as he lifted Jenny’s backpack from the truck.
When Jenny came around the rear, he passed it to her. Then he lifted his pack and dropped it onto the ground. The pillowcases and rifles were next. When everything was out, he rummaged in his pack, still holding Alice with one hand, and pulled out the roll of twine.
“You don’t have to do that,” Alice said. “I won’t run.”
“Bullshit,” he muttered around the flashlight. He quickly tied her wrists, then left her and Jenny by the truck while he laid the rifles under the lower branches of a fir tree.
Headlights showed in the distance, coming down the highway. Simon turned off the flashlight and jogged back to them. “Get down.”
Jenny and Alice crouched by the back tire. Alice hoped the vehicle would slow to check out the truck, maybe offer assistance, but it drove past.
“Okay. Jenny, stand to the side. Alice, you’re helping me.”
Simon put the truck in neutral while Alice waited a few steps away. Then he got behind the truck, placed his hands on the tailgate, and leaned forward.
“Come on, get over here, Alice.”
“My hands are tied!”
“Use your shoulder.”
Alice reluctantly, and slowly, walked over, hoping someone would drive past again. The night stayed frustratingly quiet.
“We need to push it behind those trees.”
Alice peered ahead into the shadows, finding the stand of trees he was talking about. She turned sideways, pressed her shoulder to the tailgate, and used her legs to push off, but she didn’t exert any extra energy. Her body hurt, and why should she help him?
The truck rolled slowly, with whatever metal part that had broken scraping against the gravel. Alice was hot and out of breath by the time they’d moved the truck out of sight.
Simon and Alice walked back to Jenny, who was waiting by their gear. Alice’s eyes had adjusted to the dark now that Simon was no longer using the flashlight.
“What are we going to do?” Jenny said.
Simon gestured in the direction of the railway tracks. “We’ll walk until we find a town.”
“What if it’s miles away?”
“There’ll be houses, something.” He opened the paper bags and pulled out what looked like food items that they’d taken from the farmhouse and shoved them into the pillowcases. When he was done, he swung his backpack onto his shoulder and picked up both pillowcases.
Jenny shrugged on her backpack.
They trudged through grass and low bushes until they reached the tracks.
Alice was in front, with Simon directly behind her, and Jenny in the rear.
Alice stumbled over one of the ties and, unable to balance herself, she slow-motion dropped onto her knees, then her stomach.
She stayed down for a moment, groaning and cursing, then shouted at Simon.
“Untie me!”
“No. You’ll run.”
“To where, Simon? We’re lost in the dark!”
He lifted her up from under her armpits. They kept walking. Alice was sore, thirsty, and exhausted. She was glad that Jenny was keeping a slower pace. Alice hadn’t eaten since breakfast and felt lightheaded. She concentrated on putting each foot down on a tie.
He finally let them stop for a break. Alice drank as much water as she could before Simon yanked the thermos away. They ate an apple each, Alice holding it awkwardly between her bound hands, a few crackers, and finished the berries. Simon tossed the garbage into the bushes.
They continued onward. Alice tried to remember the map.
If they’d passed through Coleman, then they were heading toward Blairmore.
It hadn’t looked far by vehicle, but she wasn’t sure how long it would take to walk.
They were somewhat parallel to the road, and the occasional vehicle passed by, their headlights tantalizingly close.
If the railway tracks began to head into the mountains, they might be in trouble, but so far, in the moonlight, the terrain looked flat, with scattered groups of trees.
They’d covered several miles, by Alice’s estimate, and crossed a bridge over a trickling creek when the shapes of large buildings appeared in the distance. Simon looped his arm through Alice’s, so that she was forced to walk beside him.
The tracks moved closer to the road. They seemed to be walking through an industrial area with buildings spaced far apart. One with silos, a wrecking yard with crushed vehicles, a tire store, some sort of shipping container storage place, and an automotive shop.
When they reached a plumbing store and a general hardware, Alice wondered if they were nearing the town. Then Alice spotted a motel down the road. Simon stopped walking, forcing Alice to stop. Jenny moved up beside them. They stood in silence, taking the sight in.
The neon-orange sign was in the shape of a teepee, with an arrow pointing below to the butter-yellow, chuck wagon–shaped office.
THE SLEEPEE TEEPEE MOTEL was written on the side in a flowy script.
Three large, teepee-shaped buildings lined up behind the office.
A portion of a fourth one was visible. Each teepee was a different pastel color.
Pink, blue, yellow. A huge statue of a bison grazed on the small front lawn.
“Can we stay there?” Jenny said. “I’m so tired.”
“Yeah.” Simon pulled cash out of his pocket and handed it to Jenny. “I’ll wait here with Alice. Ask for a room. Say our car broke down—not truck, okay?”
Jenny nodded, her face pale and pinched.
They hid in the shadows and watched as Jenny made her way across the road, then walked up the shoulder, her sandals loud in the silence, until she reached the motel office.
She glowed under the neon light for a moment, then disappeared.