Haunted by the Past (Original)

Chapter 49

The trek back to the car had been an uneventful one, which was a nice change of pace. I couldn't handle any more surprises. We drove until we found the first payphone, which happened to be outside a truck stop and food court. Eli insisted on making the call himself, claiming I wouldn't know how to keep it short and to the point. The less that was said about what happened, the better. He planned to tell them about the horrific screams coming from the property and leave it at that. As far as we knew, it was the closest payphone so if we had no reception or our phones had run out of battery while we were camping, it was the first point of call. Hopefully it would be enough to have someone do a welfare check on Dr. Higgins. Sure, with the recent attention in the news, the '666' on the door would automatically have certain assumptions being made about us and Dr. Higgins, so in a way it felt like we were revealing ourselves, but the thought of her being left for days or weeks before being found was far worse.

While Eli made the call, I went into the food court to buy some drinks and subs before we hit the road again. We didn't know where we were going yet, we just knew we couldn't stay anywhere near Potsdam. Heading across the border into Canada illegally was tempting I had to admit, but I was done running. I had more than a few grievances with Triple-6 I wanted to sort out.

As I stood up to the counter to order our subs, I could feel eyes staring at the back of my head. I glanced up and saw the news talking about us again, then pulled down my baseball cap a little lower, hoping that no one would two and two together. The last thing I needed was for someone to recognize me. My only saving grace was the photo being used in the news depicted someone made up and I wasn't the least bit made. Still, as soon as the subs were finished I grabbed the bag and our tray of drinks, and got the hell out of there.

Even for a truck stop outside Potsdam, it was packed for the lunch time rush, which meant Eli had to park at the furthest end of the parking lot. With speed in my step, I headed for it, but as I started to pass the row of eighteen-wheelers, I realized the man behind me wasn't heading for any of the trucks. Hoping it was just irrational paranoia, I darted between two semis, but sure enough the man who was easily twice my size followed.

"Hey, hold up!" he called out to me. "I just want ask you a question!"

Not interested, buddy. Having reached the back of the trailers, my eyes searched for Eli, but I couldn't see him anywhere. The car was still a distance away, but maybe Eli was waiting for me inside it. In that brief moment where I took my eyes off the guy, he had dashed forwards to close the distance between us. I freaked out and jumped away, losing one of our drinks in the process.

"It's ok, I won't tell anyone I saw you," the guy insisted with a smile. "So long as you make it worth my while."

Part of me wanted to take the two subs in the bag and shove them down the guy's throat, but he would've overpowered me with ease. I quickly considered my options. I could try running back to the food court, but it would draw the wrong kind of attention to me. I could try running to the car in the vain hope of finding Eli there. But if he wasn't there, what the fuck was I to do? I had left my gun inside the car. Yeah, I know, big mistake. I would get an earful from Eli about it later.

"How about no?" I glared, stepping backwards.

"Oh come on, just fifteen minutes, that's all I'm asking," he pressured. "My trailer's just over there. No one's gotta know you were here."

Suddenly the man charged at me, but before he could reach me, his body jerked to the side was thrown against the back of the trailer with his arm pinned behind his back.

"Funny, no one's gotta know you were here either," Eli hissed threateningly. He had his hood pulled over his head and face mask covering his lower face. Relief washed over me momentarily, until it occurred to me that he too was half the size of this guy.