Confessions of a Lab Rat

Chapter 22

Towards the middle of the day, Beech starts to get uneasy. He veers the van off of the main road and onto a back road, winding around a tall mountain.

"Is everything okay?" I ask.

"Yeah," Beech says. "I'm just gonna stick to the back roads for now."

This road isn't smooth like the other one we were on. It's bumpy and icy and Beech is going much slower than before.

There are pine trees all around, dusted in snow and reaching high up into the clouds.

Eventually the radio flickers out into a dull static, then vanishes completely. The only sound in the car is Kat's low snoring.

I'm glad she's fallen asleep so I don't have to listen to her voice anymore.

I hum a tune that I must've learned from Lillian, just to break the silence.

The sun is gone completely now, vanished behind huge, gray clouds and the snow falls at a snail-like pace.

Suddenly the van sputters.

"Oh, hell no," Beech exclaims.

"What?! What's wrong?" I demand.

The car stops, the engine is silent.

"Shit," Beech says.

Kat wakes up suddenly, looking around at our remote location.

"Where the hell are we?"

"In trouble," Beech groans. "As usual."

"What the- ... Why aren't we on the highway?"

"We took a short-cut," he says.

"The highway is the short-cut," Kat's voice raises. "Where are we?"

Beech doesn't answer.

"Whoa," Kat exclaims. "No way. No way did I come this far just to be abducted by some pedophiles with strange names, going to see their 'family' in South Dakota! Is that even true?"

Beech sighs.

"Not exactly."

"Oh my word," She huffs. "This is not happening."

Then she grabs her bag, opens the door, and walks out into the cold.

"Where are you going?" I shout out the open door.

"To the nearest train station," she shouts without looking back.

"You'll die," I say.

She doesn't answer.

Beech gets out of the car and follows after her. I do the same.

"Kat, could you wait for a second?" Beech huffs. "Pepper's right. If you go out here alone, you'll die. We need to stick together."

Kat rolls her eyes, but she stops and turns around.

"I don't even know you guys. All I know is you've kidnapped me, brought me to this remote location, and clearly didn't think about getting extra gas. And your little brother totally needs mental help."

"Paprika is not our little brother and he does not need mental help!" I emphasize with a stomp of my foot.

"Pepper, calm down," Beech commands. "Kat, I swear we are not kidnapping you. Could you please come back to the van so we can all figure this out together?"

She growls frustratedly.

"Fine," she says shortly.

We all walk back to the car, but before we can get back in, Paprika comes running out.

There's blood across the front of his shirt.

"Paprika!" I nearly scream. "What's wrong?"

I kneel down to check under his shirt.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"It's not me," he says, shoving my hands away, then very quietly, "I think she's dead."