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“OK.”
With that, he moved into the passenger seat, setting himself up with a drink, a muesli bar, and his Nintendo DS, though his eyes seemed to be more on the plains around us than his game. I wound my chair back, turning on my side, and watched him.
As I lay there, feeling the chill on my skin and smelling the closed in, stale stink of the car, I listened to the wind wail and tried not to join in with it. Despite the ache in my face and throat, the huge pressure in my nose, I found myself drifting off a little. It was the quiet. We might be about to die in some semi-arid wasteland, but there was no one coming for me, no one likely to break down my door. The ever-present greyness I carried within me rose up, smothering me like smoke until it all fell away.
3
They’re here.
Knock-knock!
My head jerked up from the car seat, and I looked wildly about me. The first thing I saw was my son cringing back as far as he could go, the second was the biggest man I’d ever seen.
“Fuck!” I yelped as he peered inside the windshield, his brows creasing when he got a look at us. I slammed my hand down on the door lock, frantically doing the same with Kade’s and the back seats. Another man, not as big, approached my door, stopping for a moment, his hazel eyes widening. He had longish dirty blond hair tucked behind his ears and a serious beard going. I saw them look at each other, and some sort of secret men’s business passed between them before bearded dude walked closer and made a gesture to wind down the window.
“Mum, who are these men?” Kade’s voice was a reedy waver, his body curled tight.
Fear, like a moth in a jar inside my chest, fluttered faster, harder, wanting to get out, but I squashed that down. Somehow, I managed to keep my voice clear and even when I replied.
This is them. This is Sanctuary.
You’ve lead us to a couple of random truckers? As mental collapses go, this is pretty shit.
This is who we need.
My mouth filled with a weird acid taste, a little like bile, but I didn’t feel the need to throw up. I hurt everywhere in every way, but thankfully, I wasn’t nauseous.
“Not sure, baby. I’m going to open the window a crack and see if they can help us.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Of course, love,” I lied. “Who would want to hurt us?”
I wound the window down a little, just enough to let the whipping wind from outside in. I looked them over for…what? Signs that they were good people? That there was no blood on their knuckles, no weapons, no booze? I wished men were like those poison frogs, advertising their threat.
“Yes?” I said to the bearded man who had placed his hands on either side of the driver’s seat window.
“You alright out here, love? This is a shit of a place to break down.”
I didn’t want to answer. I wanted them to go the fuck away, even though as I looked out at the landscape we’d broken down in, there were no other more acceptable sources of help. It was just flat empty scrub as far as the eye could see. But because I was a woman, the social pressure to respond pressed down hard on me and the words came out.
“The car, it started making some funny noises and overheating. We’ve just been trying to cool it—”
The larger man moved in, shoving his mate out of the way. His brown eyes stared into mine, only shifting slightly to catalogue every damn mark Rick had left. He was huge, should have been terrifying, with his brows jerked down, his jaw working as he saw all of me.
Him. He is pack. Get out of the car.
Are you fucking insane?! These guys could be mass murdering, rapist, sex traffickers.
He is pack. Go to your mate.
The bile flooded my mouth, burning my tongue, making my teeth ache. My hand went to the door handle without me even consciously doing so. I watched in horror as I undid the lock and opened it.
What are you doing? I shrieked, feeling myself step out of the car. Stop!
“Mum?” Kade said, his voice high and thready.
“It’s OK, love,” someone said with my voice, my mouth. “Everything will be OK now.”
