In Hiding (Published!)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next morning Jess was still trying to convince me to steal a car.

  "But why not, Casey? I don't see the trouble. If we can find a car that's.. not being used at the moment... they won't even notice!" Jess smiled as he spoke.

 We were sitting in a pile of hay we piled up for sleeping. It wasn't the worst sleep I had in my life, but it wasn't the best either. I sighed to myself, and Jess thought I meant it to what he said, and sighed too.

  Then his eyes lit up, and his smiled wider.

 "Would you rather walk the rest of the way to Cali?" He smiled mischievously, as he thought there was no getting out of this one.

  "Yes, Jess. I would. I promise you, if he catches up to us again, while driving this car," I pointed to the destroyed car, "then we'll steal one. But unless that happens, there's no way I'm stealing one. We are taking this car right --" a massive explosion rocked the barn, and caused us to fly back into the far wall.

  I opened my eyes to the smell of smoke and burning wood. I coughed loudly, and sat up. A sharp pain in my leg caused me to rethink that, and stay on the ground. I coughed again, and called Jess' name. A cough sounded in response.

  "Jess! Where are you?" I squinted my eyes and tried to see in the smoke filling the barn. Who closed the barn door? I was sure it was open last night when we fell asleep.

 "I'm under here, Casey! Help me!" He sounded really close to me, I turned my head, and saw his arm reaching out from under a pile of wood not too far away from me. I started dragging my body over to him. I used one arm to balance myself, and the other to lift the piece of debris off of him. He coughed again as I pulled him out.

 "Come on! Let's get out of here! But where the opening? Who closed the barn door, Jess?" I sprinted out all my questions at once.

  "I don't know, he must have found us! Come on! Over there, look!" He pointed to a few pieces of wood falling to the ground, leaving an opening just big enough for us to squeeze though.

  "Can you stand, Casey?" He asked, as he stood to his own feet, and tried to help me up. I stood on my left leg, and tried my best to stand on my right, a line of pain shot up my leg, and I fell toward the ground again.

  "I don't think so, go on without me, I'll find another way out of here!" I shoved him weakly toward the opening, and looked around to find another.

 "There's no way that's happening." His voice was right beside my ear, and I soon found myself in his arms, being carried across the barn, and through the small opening. Just as he hobbled away from the barn, another explosion rocked under our feet, and he fell to the ground again, taking me with him. He pulled me close and we stayed down, covering our heads from the flying shards of wood and metal.

   *****

"You kids okay?" Officer Samuel said. We met Officer Sam when the explosion took place. He came to our rescue about 15 minutes later. Along with an ambulance, and 2 more cop cars. Thank god for Officer Sam.

 "Yes, Officer, thank you so much for saving our lives." Jess said with deep gratitude for the friendly officer. I wrapped the towel tighter around myself as the beautiful nurse with long, shiny brown hair  worked on my leg. It wasn't broken, so no cast for me, it wasn't even sprained. I twisted it the wrong way when I landed. She said it should be back to normal in a few hours.

  "Oh, just call me Sam, kids. Everyone does." He chuckled to himself.

  "Will do, Sam. Say, how did you know the barn exploded? I feel like we're in the middle of nowhere."

  "Oh, the towns police station is just a few miles down the road, we felt the explosion. We came as fast as we could, kids. Are you sure y'all are okay?" He ran his hand through his hair as he looked us down. I guess he had the right to ask. We've been on the road for a day and a half, so we must look pretty filthy. I took a look at myself, and gasped at what I saw. My hair was full of glass, metal, dirt and other various unidentified objects. My clothes were torn and ripped in random places, and they, too, were full of dirt, glass, and shards of metal. My left boot was coming apart at the seams. Jess looked no different.

  "Yes, Sam. Thank you again." I coughed, and saw Sams face turn into a worried parent's face.

 "You have kids, Sam?" Jess asked, he must have seen the same thing I did.

  "Why, yes I do. Two. A boy and a girl. Love 'em to pieces. Sammy is 10, while Elsa is only 8. You can see 'em one day." He smiled as he talked about his kids. They seemed beautiful.

  "Say, what are you two doing down here anyways? It's pretty far out from any civilization." 

He didn't sound suspicious, just curious.

 I looked at Jess. What should we tell him? Jess looked back at me, and nodded. Was it safe to tell him?

  The nurse finally stood up, and looked me in the eye, "You don't be pushing yourself too hard, girl. That's one hell of a twist. Be careful, you hear?" she didn't walk away until I nodded. I pushed myself up further on the ambulance back, and paid attention to what Jess was telling Sam.

  "He found us, I don't know how, since we're so far from home, but he did, and now we're heading back to our mom. It's far, but we'll get there soon enough." Jess sighed.

  "Say, what's this guys name?" He pulled out a notepad. He was Officer Samuel now.

 "Well, we know him as Michael Avrey. But who knows, that might not even be his real name." I spoke up, and Jess nodded in agreement.

"I see. Well kids, I'll tell you what, I'll put some money into it, and I'll get you as far as Texas. There, you'll just have to get a job or two, and get yourselves the rest of the way to California. You're very far from home.. er..." he trailed off.

  "Oh, I'm Jess, and this is my sister, Casey." Jess chuckled.

  "Right, Jess, Casey," he nodded at us, "here, take my card, if you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to call me." He handed us his card. It read Samuel Francis: Head Officer in KentVille, Louisiana.

  "I knew I reconized an accent on you, Sam! We're in Louisiana?" I said, joy already in my voice. We were so close to home, it felt like we were already there.

  Sam shook his head, "No, I wish I was in Louisiana, I miss my dear children. We're in Alabama. I'm here on official business."

 The smile left my face, and Jess wrapped his arm tightly around my shoulders.

 Turns out, we're farther away from home. We've traveled for a long time, probably more then the day and a half I thought we traveled. But Alabama? I really thought we were farther. I sighed, and laid my head on Jess' shoulder.

  "Sorry, kids. I know you want to be home soon, but don't worry, you'll be there before you know it. Come on, now. We've got a long ride ahead of us to the airport." Sam wrapped his long arms around us, as we headed toward his police cruiser.

   A movement in the woods about 15 feet away caught my eye. Cold eyes stared back at me. I gulped. Avrey wasn't giving up now, nor was he ever. He would kill us if it was the last thing he would ever do.

  I jumped in the cruiser, and was so glad to be away from the flames of the barn, still burning strong, and the cold eyes staring at the back of my head, as we cruised away from the place I used to call 'home'.