Cindy’s mouth dropped open. “That’s gross.”
“Yeah.” Tina wiped her hands on her jacket. “Where did you learn that?”
“I’ve taken some self-defense classes.” Daddy had insisted when she’d moved out to the wilds of Arizona. Then when she’d slummed in the middle-class suburbs, her father hired a personal coach to teach her a combat system that focused on maiming and killing.
No one messed with a Silvestre.
Becky raised her hand. “I don’t think I can do that, Missus S.”
Tina shrugged. “It’s moot anyway. I can’t get the stupid nail out.”
Audra ran her fingers through her hair, winced as she pulled through the knots. Maybe that was a blessing. Assaulting a dummy or a man in padding wasn’t the same as the real thing. “Okay, what else do we have to work with?”
“There’s another door back here.”
Everyone stepped aside until nothing stood between her and the door. Another door. Wood creaked as she walked toward it.
Tina materialized at her shoulder. “I really wish I had my bat right about now.”
“You and me both.” Audra wished Eddie and his shotgun were handy too. She sucked in a breath. Eddie. Was he okay? The bastards had beat the tar out of him. Blood had dripped down his face and he hadn’t even looked at her as Mrs. Rodriquez helped him onto the bus. She hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye.
“There’s no locks.” Tina raised her fists. “Do you think it’s a trap?”
“Of course.” Audra licked her lips. Her hand shook when she reached for the handle. Cold metal sweated against her palm. “Everyone stay back.”
She heard the others footsteps as they obeyed.
Tina bounced on the balls of her feet. “I don’t suppose you learned any offensive skills in those classes.”
Audra twisted the knob. The clearing of the latch bounced like a shot around the room. “All defense.”
And Daddy never thought it proper for a girl to learn hunting. How he justified twisting a man’s scrotum in her hands or ramming a nail into his brain, she’ll never know.
“Ready?”
“No.” Tina squeaked.
The door swung open on silent hinges, revealing a short hallway. She heard the drip of water then the stench hit her. Fecal matter. The smell of death. Her lungs seized. Is this where they stored the women when they were done with them?
“Ohmygod.” Tina buried her nose in her collar.
Audra fought the urge to slam it closed. Black spots danced on her peripheral vision and she forced herself to breathe. If she had to walk through a cesspit to escape, she would. Releasing the knob she crept inside. The wood floors creaked underfoot. One step. Two. Three. At five she pulled abreast of two closed six-paneled doors. The divot in the white painted wood indicated they were sliders. She slipped her fingers inside the handle.
“Listen first.” Tina hissed.
Audra pressed her ear against the clammy door. Buzzing overrode the pounding of her heart. “I think it’s the generator.”
Tina assumed a boxer’s stance.
“You know how to fight?”
Her friend shrugged. “Tai bow.”
Great. Maybe they could aerobicize them to death. Audra eased the panels apart. They stuck halfway in the pocket. Flies buzzed out. She batted them away. Blankets and sheets covered bodies. They filled the sofa and carpeted the floor. She slammed the doors shut and leaned against them. That would not be their fate.
Bending over at the waist, Tina panted. “Oh, God. I hope the rest of the house isn’t a fricking morgue.”
“Yeah.” Audra closed her eyes, ignored the images of the corpses and tried to recall the windows. Digging her nails into the door, she sighed. The picture window in the front of the parlor had been barred. No way out. They had to go forward. She pushed away from the door. “Come on.”
Tina slowly straightened.
Ten baby steps later, Audra reached the end of the hallway. Weak light cut rectangles on the wall. After a wide opening, the left turn dead ended in a linen closet. On the right, there was another opening and a door with shiny keyed dead bolts.
She turned left and crept forward.
Tina clawed at her arm. “Did you hear something?”
It was hard to hear anything above her own breathing. Still, she paused near the opening, ears straining. Then she heard it. A soft moan and a low whistle of air leaving congested lungs.
“Not everyone is dead.”
Tina shook her head. “Do you think it’s them?”
Them. Such a benign word for the bastards who kidnapped them. “Why would they be quiet?”
Audra peered around the corner. Six beds filled the twenty-by-twenty foot space. Each one occupied by a shivering figure. She scanned the room. Hopelessness washed through her. Each window had bars on it. “Let’s check the other room.”
“What did you see?”
“Sick people.” Was it possible that they’d been kidnapped to nurse and not… breed? Eddie would probably scoff at her naïvety. Actually, he’d bust a gut laughing at it then tease her unmercifully.
But Eddie wasn’t here.
Please, Lord, let him be somewhere safe. Audra strode to the other room. Soiled linens covered the warped linoleum floor. Bare shelves lined the kitchen in an L-shape. A small door appeared in a bump out. She passed the dripping sink, the barred window in front of it and yanked open the door. Rust ringed the bowl of the commode within.
Deflating like a balloon, she sunk to the floor and stared at the only unbarred glass in the place—six inserts of four by four inch frosted glass in the yellowing walls.
They were well and truly stuck.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“I’ve had enough.” Trent peered through windshield at the drifting snow. The highway had disappeared under the interstate nearly an hour ago and they weren’t through Flagstaff. At this rate, the military would beat them to the stash of supplies and he would be stuck with the leftovers. “Pull over.”
Ernest raised his eyes at the cars and trucks cramming the interstate and stopped in the middle of the road.
Trent twitched. How could he expect his people to follow him when his hand-selected minions were willfully disobedient? “Tell them to unload the trucks.”
Ernest diddled with the keys in the ignition. “Boss?”
“Get everyone out of the trucks.” Trent bit off each word. Was the cretin deaf as well as inbred?
After turning off the personnel carrier, Ernest shoved open the door and jumped to the ground.
Trent shivered in the draft then raised his bare hands to the vent. The fucker had turned off the heat. He heard men yelling. A woman screamed. That bitch had to go. She was messing up his happy empire. He watched in his rearview mirror as his people stood on the side of the road.
Scrawny boys shivered in lightweight jackets and jeans. The girls wore similar clothing but he detected a few curves here and there. Of course, they’d be more than willing to flaunt their wares once he explained the rules. The engine ticked as it cooled. Still, the world really was at an end if this was the pick of the litter.
All the more reason to set up along the official exodus routes. He could choose the worthy from the dregs.
Hunching his shoulders, Ernest trudged through the snow. His footprints punched holes in the pristine whiteness. He rapped twice on the door but made no more to open it.
Trent counted to ten then pushed it open.
“Everyone’s out.”
“Good.” Trent climbed down and stepped onto the road. Snow dribbled icy fingers into his boots. The cold soon soaked his jacket. He’d have to do a little shopping. These clothes wouldn’t do for a man in his position.