The gurgling in my stomach was making me weak in my knees, but I had to push through this for the guys. They were counting on me. I just had to get to the van Dash left idling by the back door and wait for them. Then we would all head to the cabin to regroup. It was our final checkpoint before hitting the road. If we got separated, we’d all agreed to meet there. Plan was to switch out vehicles at random spots along the way, use cash, and stay under the radar. No big moves, no drama.
And for the first time, I felt it in my soul. This could actually work.
I was racing through the halls in Dash’s scrubs when all of a sudden the lights flashed and the sirens began to blare in my ears.
Darn it! Did they catch Dash? The others?
I couldn’t think like that. I had to keep running. My heart rate picking up the moment the exit sign came into view. I pushed out the unlocked double doors just like in all our trial runs, and spotted the van right where he’d said it’d be. That final rush of adrenaline hit my veins and I sprinted forward, only to skid to a stop when our designated getaway car backed up and sped off.
Something was wrong.Why were they leaving without me?
I glanced down at the watch Dash had sneaked into my cell. I was right on time. It didn’t make sense.
“Wait!” I hollered, taking off after the van, my shoes kicking up gravel as I bolted down the prison driveway and out the employee gates. “Stop! Guys! It’s me!”
They weren’t stopping. If anything, they were speeding up and I was falling behind. My chest heaved as I tried to remember the layout of the woods from the prior runs. I knew what I was doing. I’d done it before. I just wasn’t thinking straight.
I told myself they must have been heading for the cabin, and I knew exactly where that was. How to get there in the dark and do it quietly. I thought Rudy was being overcautious when he kept insisting we play it out again. And again. And again. Now, I was glad he did.
So instead of worrying about where the van was going, I focused on making my way to the cabin. Not stopping until I could see the smoke billowing out of the old chimney. That was a good sign, right? That meant someone had started a fire. Someone was in there. It’d had always looked abandoned before.
I glanced around. I didn’t see the van, but that didn’t mean they weren’t smart enough to stash it somewhere.
I slid down the little snow-covered hill on the heels of my boots, waiting until I was steady on my feet, and approached the door. Clearing my throat, lifting my arm, and finally mustering the courage to knock. A few moments later, the door creaked open and a little old lady about half my height appeared on the other side.
Oh no…
I looked down at her but she didn’t seem inclined to look up at me. Instead, she smiled and started fussing with my scrubs. “Oh, hello!”
“Uh… hi?” I replied, trying out the voice I’d heard Que use on anything that walked over the years. A mix between soft, sweet, and sultry.
“You came to see me?” she asked, her glassy eyes finally drawing up towards my face. But it was clear she couldn’tsee me.
Was she blind?
“Daryl? That’s you, right, dear?”
I swallowed, feeling the chill eat my ass and hell’s gates open up behind me from what I was about to do. “Yeah… it’s me.”
The more cookiesthis old lady shoved into my face, the more my stomach soured with the guilt. She kept going on and on about how much she’d missed me, how she hadn’t seen any of her other grandbabies since the death of their parents. This woman had no one. And here I was, pretending to be some long-lostdirtbaggrandson,who didn’t have enough time in his day to come out and check on his elderly grandmother.
Guess he and I had that in common. We were both dirtbags now.
Gertrude never stopped knitting, her hands moving of their own accord while she chatted away. Almost as if she could sense me watching her, she smiled. “The devil’s lettuce.”
My head shot up to look at her. “Hm?”
“It’s good for these old hands, helps with the pain.”
“Right,” I replied before mindlessly plopping another cookie into my mouth.
“Oh, you sure can eat, dearie. Just like when you were little. Do you remember? I still make your favorites every Christmas weekend just in case you happen to stop by.”
“Yeah… Gran. I sure do love 'em. And, uh, the others do too. They’ll be here soon, ya know? We all came back to spend the holidays with you.”
Hell. That’s where I was going. The cross swinging around her neck was like a metronome counting my sins, damning me the longer I sat here and fed her lies while she fed me cookies.
I kept glancing out the frosted window, waiting for the rest of the guys to appear. Praying no one got caught up and realizing how ironic that was. No one was listening to my prayers anymore. Not after this.
