Chapter 39. Alice
ALICE
The Buick had more power than Alice expected, and she accidentally pressed them all back against their seats as she accelerated out of the motel parking lot, the bumper bouncing against the pavement. When they reached the highway, the big car floated all over the road.
It took Alice miles before she stopped gripping the steering wheel, her back rigid, but she still wasn’t comfortable. She hadn’t had a chance to adjust the side mirrors or the seat, and she had to sit forward like a child to reach the pedals. At least the car was an automatic.
The interior smelled of cologne and cigarettes, the ashtray full.
The bench seats were covered in red velvet, matching the red dashboard, door panels, steering wheel, and carpeted floorboards.
A pair of black-and-white felt dice hung from the rearview mirror and slowly swung back and forth.
Alice didn’t know exactly what Simon had done to the man who owned the Buick, but she hoped his fate hadn’t been as brutal as it had been for the man at the church.
Alice looked up at Jenny in the back. Her face was pale, her eyes blank. In the passenger’s seat, Simon was smoking cigarettes with the same-colored butts as the ones in the ashtray.
The car had a full tank of gas, but they stopped at a gas station ten minutes later in the town of Bellevue, where Jenny got everyone coffees. Donuts too. Sugary powder fell onto Simon’s bare legs. Only a couple of feet away from hers. Alice despised this forced intimacy.
In the hours that Alice had been stuck in a motel room with Simon and Jenny, she’d done a lot of thinking. She was ready to risk everything. She wasn’t going to spend one more minute helping them get away and ruining lives. She’d tried to get through to Jenny, but that had failed.
The land beside the highway was mostly forested, but through gaps in the trees she’d seen train tracks running parallel. If she could get to them, she could run back to the last town. Simon wouldn’t bother chasing her. It would waste time. They’d take the car and leave.
When Alice thought that they’d driven enough miles since they’d drunk their coffees to explain her sudden need to stop, she said, “I have to go to the bathroom.”
Simon shot her a look, the dark circles under his eyes more prominent. She wondered if he’d slept at all the night before. She’d slept, but restless, and each time she’d woken up, he was standing by the window, a dark shadow smoking a cigarette, just like he was now.
“No. You had a chance in the hotel room.”
“I drank a large coffee since then.”
“We have to get farther.”
“My bladder hurts!”
“You can wait a few more miles.”
Up ahead, a truck pulled out from a side road and turned onto the highway, a cloud of dust billowing behind. The road had to be dirt, and she bet it crossed over the train tracks.
“We can stop where that truck pulled out.”
He was already shaking his head. “No.”
“Let her stop,” Jenny said from the back, startling both Alice and Simon. He looked over his shoulder at Jenny like he was going to argue, but she said, “It’ll only take a moment.”
Simon straightened around. “Fine.”
Alice made the turn and slowed as they drove the rough dirt road, fighting to keep the car from bottoming out in the deep potholes or fishtailing on the loose gravel.
“Where are you going?” Simon said. “Pull over.”
“I want to be away from the highway.”
“This is far enough.”
She stopped the car on the side. Simon took the keys out of the ignition.
“Let’s go.”
Alice opened her door. The moment her feet touched gravel she felt her nerves give out. If this didn’t go well, if Simon caught up to her, he’d dump her body in those woods.
Simon slid out behind her. “Come on. Hurry up.”
“I need privacy.”
“Pick a spot and I’ll turn my back.”
As they walked away, Alice heard the rear door of the car open and close. Jenny was out. Alice had hoped she’d wait in the car. Alice swallowed, trying to ease the tension in her throat.
She looked around. There was a stump set not far back from the road.
She moved in that direction, scanning the ground near it for a stick.
A big, heavy one. The forest was so dense with trees, shrubs, and slash, she wouldn’t be able to cut through quickly.
She’d have to run down the road and find the railway tracks.
That plan would only work if she was able to distract Simon.
And by distract, she meant incapacitate.
She was almost at the stump and beginning to worry that she’d picked a bad spot. There was too much grass. Simon’s footsteps crunched on gravel behind her. She had to see this through. He’d get suspicious if she wanted to keep looking.
Her eyes landed on a fallen tree close to the stump. A limb had broken off and was lying nearby. It looked sturdy and long enough.
“I’m going over there.” She pointed to the stump.
“Fine. Go.”
She waded through the long grass, pleased that Simon was staying nearby at the edge of the road. It would have infuriated her previously, but now, the closer the better.
“I’m going to go too,” Jenny said. “In these bushes.”
Alice looked over her shoulder, relieved to see Jenny walking into an area on the opposite side of the road, partially blocked by the car. She hoped that meant Jenny couldn’t see her either.
When Alice was in position behind the stump, she glared at Simon.
“Some privacy?”
He rolled his eyes, then turned around.
Alice crouched behind the stump, reached for the stick, and tried to quietly tug it free of vines. Now she had to move without Simon hearing her. He was only a couple of feet away.
She took a breath, said a fervent mental prayer, and, in one smooth motion, stood up and stepped through the grass. She raised the stick over her shoulder like a baseball bat.
She started to swing.
Jenny screamed, “Simon! Watch out!”
Simon turned, and instead of hitting him in the back of the head, Alice smacked him across his face. He yelled out and cupped his nose.
Alice dropped the stick and ran through the grass, parallel to the road for a few steps, then leaped back onto the gravel. Simon had stumbled after her. He grabbed her shirt.
She spun and kicked him between his legs. He yelled out again as he dropped to his knees, while grabbing at himself with one hand. His other was still twisted in her shirt.
She kicked his already bloodied face, wrenched free, and sprinted down the road.