El's POV
After waling for about two hours, we finally reached Edward and I'd truck. Doug, Bobby, and Brenda seemed extremely eager to get out of the desert, which I wasn't quite sure I understood. I mean, sure it was hot and dry and dusty…but what had they been through other than that?
What were they keeping from us?
Brenda and I both seemed equally tired, and I wanted so badly to sleep. I climbed into the back of the truck, Edward beside me. Brenda, Doug, and Bobby crowded into the front, Bobby behind the wheel. He turned the key just as I was laying my head over on Edward's shoulder.
Nothing.
He tried again, nothing.
"Shit." He cursed softly.
He jumped out again, slamming the door hard behind him and opening the hood.
Edward jumped back out and joined him, I followed, curious, but mostly wanting to see Bobby again.
"The battery cables have been snipped." Bobby said quietly.
"Wait, but…someone would have had to do that…" Edward said.
A drought of terror ran through me for a second, was it possible that the desert wasn't as deserted as we though?
Worse yet, was that a good or bad?
Bobby looked at Edward as though unsure of what to say, then closed the hood, looking anywhere but at us. I saw Brenda put her head in her hands. She seemed…distraught. There was no better word.
"I think we should just rest here for a while. Then, we can go back to that gas station and look for cables."
"Will you be able to put them in?" Edward asked, as though bobby were some small child or something who couldn't possibly have any idea what hew as doing. It made me angry for a second and I shot him a look. After all, Bobby and I were the same age.
"Yeah…" Bobby said absentmindedly, looking all around the surrounding landscape, as though he felt someone was watching.
Brenda climbed out of the cab, dragging Doug with her. "The sun is shining right in there, if we sleep on the other side, at least there'll be some shade."
Bobby nodded. Edward was still staring at him, waiting for an explanation I wasn't sure Bobby was ready to give.
Bobby's POV
The girls had just fallen asleep, Brenda beside me and El on her brother's shoulder. I caught myself staring at her again, but it was so hard not to. There were lots of girls back home in Florida, but none as pretty as her. And none so…mature. She seemed different, like she'd lived longer than she claimed.
After everything that had happened, I felt the same way.
She looked peaceful as she slept, her wavy hair blowing in the light wind that was thankfully passing through. It took me a second to realize that I was smiling.
Suddenly, her brother shot me a death glare, and I unwillingly forced my eyes away. I had been thinking, and it was time to tell them about the people, the freaks living in these hills.
I turned back, willing myself to look at Edward, and not El.
"Edward…can Doug and I talk to you?"
He looked suspicious, but carefully stood, laying El's head back against the truck gently. I got up, careful not to disturb my own sleeping sister, ad followed him around to the other side of the truck, Doug coming slowly.
El's POV
I was sleeping fitfully, but now, a touch startled me out of my slumber. Someone…or something, was lightly rubbing my face all over, my hair too. For one second, part of my heart hoped it was Bobby, but I quickly realized that it couldn't be.
I opened my eyes…and let out a scream of terror.
Bending over me, was a figure in a dark and tattered jacket. I could scarcely see his face for the hood that covered his head. But the short glance I got let me see that he was horribly deformed. And form the way he was holding me down…horribly strong.
Bobby's POV
I had just opened my mouth to start trying to explain when a shrill scream filled my ears.
I cursed aloud. How could I have been so stupid?! I should have known the minute we left them that they'd come. What scared me most now was finding out who had screamed.
I pulled the gun from my belt and sprinted back around the truck. One of those…things…was bent low over El…touching her.
I took aim…and shot.
El's POV
A gunshot rang through the air, and the creature over me fell to the side, bleeding form somewhere in his hood.
Breathing fast and scared out of my mind, I scrambled to my feet and ran to Edward, who stood in shock. He wrapped his arms protectively around me as Bobby went to check on Brenda, who was breathing as hard as I was just a few feet away.
Bobby put his arm around her shoulders as she closed her eyes, as though trying to repress some horrible memory.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Edward screamed, hugging me closer.
"There's a lot you don't know…" Bobby sighed.
"Well, obviously!"
"Just let us explain." Brenda said. "It's a long story."
