a/n: Sorry I didn't get this out yesterday, guys! I forgot, then remembered, then forgot again, then remembered at like midnight, so I just decided to wait until today. To make up for it this is a long one with a LOT going on, so buckle up.
I just passed 100k words on this fic, which is...not what I was planning when I set out to write it. I've got a busy busy schedule rn with classwork, this fic, and another fic I'm working on, so hopefully I'll be able to continue my twice/week updates, but I've only got through ch20 written, so they might...slow down a little...and in fact this week, since I forgot to post yesterday, you're just getting 1. Sorry! But like I said, it's a big one.
Also a big THANK YOU to an anon on my blog (binickandros) for offering the headcanon that Nick teaches Tom some ASL while theyr'e on the road. The first little bit was inspired by that idea.
Also: please be aware the r-word and an abbreviation thereof is used in this chapter. Proceed with caution.
whether weather be the frost
or the violence of the dog days
i'm on waves, out being tossed
is there a line that i could just go cross?
Taylor Swift, "Evermore"
July 21 - OK - KS
They spent the next day and night in May, mostly because Nick and Tom were perfecting their chicken carrier, but the morning after they were back on the road. The ladies were tucked into their coop in the SUV's cargo area, and Nick had secured a blanket around them so that it was snug and dark. So far they seemed fine, but the day would tell.
Kai had Dolly Parton's Greatest Hits on her phone, and Tom sang along in a delighted, surprisingly sweet baritone. Sometimes Nick would twist in his seat so he could watch, and at the end of every song he waved his fingers in applause.
When the album finished Kai turned the radio down and signed something to Nick, who nodded and grinned. "Hey, Tommy," she said, "you wanna learn some sign language?"
Tom went still and his eyes grew wide. "Who, me?"
"Yeah, you. You're the only guy named Tommy in this car, aren't you?"
He laughed. "Yeah I am! M-O-O-N, that spells Tom Cullen! You think I could really learn to talk like you and Nick?"
"Sure, I bet you can. We can start out with something simple—like your name. Do you know your ABCs?"
He let out an impatient huff. "Tom isn't a baby, Kai! I can't read, but sure I know my ABCs." He sang the alphabet song, and when he got to z he clapped. "My mama taught me!"
"She did a wonderful job. Do you know how to spell your first name?"
"That's easy! It's T-O-M, Tom! I can read my name and my address."
"That's awesome, Tommy!" She grinned at him in the rearview mirror. "Okay, watch Nick. He's going to show you how to spell your name in sign language."
Nick turned in the seat and offered Tom a smile. He grinned back and waved. Nick formed each letter with his hand, and Kai said them aloud.
"Now you try," she said. "Start with T. Then O. Then M."
"Like that?!" he said. He was so excited he was bouncing in his seat. Nick nodded and gave him a double thumbs up. "Tom got it right! Tom knows sign language, laws yes!"
"That's so great!" Kai said. "Do it again!"
He and Nick kept practicing until Tom had it down cold. "Now teach me how to do you and Nick! I wanna know your names!"
Kai signed his request to Nick, who nodded. "Okay, let's start with mine. It's just three letters, like yours. K-A-I."
They went through the steps again, then they taught him Nick's name. They circled back through all three, then she left him to practice on his own for a bit before she randomly called out a name to quiz him on it. She went through them in different order several times, and each time he got it right. Nick gave him a high five and Tom looked like he was about to bust from pure joy.
"Wooo! Tom Cullen knows sign language! K-A-I, that spells Kai! N-I-C-K, that spells Nick! T-O-M, that spells Tom!" He signed as he spelled, and they both applauded him in ASL.
Suddenly Nick's head turned in mild alarm as something caught his eye. He batted her arm and pointed out his window, and she ducked her head to see what he was looking at. "Wow," she said. "That is a dark cloud."
Tom leaned over in the backseat to get a look, and he drew in a sharp, high-pitched breath. "Pull over!" he cried. "Kai, stop the car, stop the car!"
"What? Tommy, what's wrong? It's just a storm; we'll be fine."
"Over there!" he said and pointed over her shoulder. "That barn, go there! Go now, Kai!"
Nick was looking from her to Tom in confusion, but something about the expression on Tom's face made him agree. "I think—listen to him," he signed.
She nodded, because Tom's tone was urgent and terrified. She couldn't see a road to get to the barn Tom had indicated, but the car had four wheel drive. She turned the wheel and bumped into the field, which luckily was fallow at the moment. They bucked and bumped their way across it, and she slammed on the brakes when they reached the barn.
"Come on!" Tom cried. "Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
She and Nick exchanged frightened, baffled looks, but they both jumped out of the car. The moment the door opened she was struck by how odd everything felt.
The sky was an alarming green-black, but the world around them was perfectly still, like it was holding its breath. There was a roar in the distance, like a freight train bearing down. Nick was staring off to his right, frozen by something he saw there, but Tom grabbed first her and then him and dragged them into the barn.
"Twister!" he shouted over the sound. "Twister comin'!"
Kai's heart stopped, then resumed at double time. "The girls!" she said.
"No time!" He wrestled open a hatch in the floor and shoved them both down the rickety steps. They looked back and watched in horror as, in the distance, the roof was peeled off a farmhouse as easily as you might peel an orange.
Tom slammed the cellar door and ushered them deeper in, and Kai reeled back from the smell. They weren't alone.
Nick groped for her hand, and she caught it and squeezed. Tom wrapped his arms around both of them and they stood huddled in the pungent dark, clinging to each other for dear life. The tornado pounded against the cellar door and the entire world shook. It was so loud Kai wondered if she'd ever hear again. She buried her face against Nick's chest and he stroked her hair. He couldn't hear it, but the vibration was so strong he felt it—it seemed, to him, like a sort of hearing, like when he pressed his knee against the car's speaker and felt Kai's music.
He wished he could hear it, because then maybe it would distract him from…the other thing. The dark. The smell. But the smell was just a smell and it was natural and normal. The dark was different. Kai shuddered in his arms and Tom trembled against his back.
It felt like they stood in that stygian hole for hours, half a day at least, but when the terrible shaking stopped and Tom bolted from the cellar, Nick's watch told him it had only been fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes stretched to eternity by the thing that stalked them in the black.
The barn's roof was gone, as was the top half of the barn. Sunlight streamed in and they stood basking in it like escapees from Hell. Tom was white as a sheet and looked like he might wretch. His breath whistled in and out.
"Tommy?" Kai said, gently. She rested a hand on his thick forearm. "You okay, sweetheart?"
"He was there," he said. "Down there. With us. You felt it, right?"
She signed it and glanced at Nick, whose expression was grim. He gave a curt nod. "He can't hurt us, Tommy. We're okay now."
Tom bent double and rested his hands on his knees. He shook his head back and forth, back and forth, and his face was creased with terror and anguish. "No no no no! He was there he was close he almost touched me! He almost got us he almost got us I couldn't stop him!"
Kai knelt in front of him so that they were eye to eye. "Hey. Tom, listen." She took his face in her hands and smiled at him. "It's not your job to stop him. Not by yourself. There are three of us, right?"
He looked unsure for a moment, but at last he nodded. "Nick, Kai, and Tom."
"That's right. Nick, Kai, and Tom. We're friends. And you know what friends do?"
He shook his head.
"They take care of each other. All of us. We protect each other. And that's what we did down there, wasn't it? He didn't get us, because we held on tight and we didn't let him in."
Nick patted him on the back and dropped down next to Kai. He pointed at himself, then at her, then at Tom. Held up three fingers, then clasped his hands together.
"Nick, Kai, and Tom," she said. "All three together. You're the one who knew about the twister, Tom. We would be smashed flat now if it weren't for you."
That seemed to perk him up a little. His expression slowly smoothed into a smile. "Tom saved the day?"
"That's right. Just like Superman."
His grin widened. "M-O-O-N, that spells Superman."
"It sure does." She pushed to her feet and Nick did the same. After a moment Tom straightened and swiped the back of a big hand across his eyes.
"Tom didn't mean to act like a baby."
Nick frowned and shook his head. "It's okay to be scared. I was scared, too."
"Me too," Kai said. "But I knew I had my two best guys lookin' out for me."
Tom stood taller. "Me and Nick?"
"Yup, you and Nick."
He ducked his head and scraped his boot against the barn's dirt floor. "Tom's glad Kai and Nick came to May, Oklahoma, laws yes."
"So are we," Nick said. "I would hate to be smashed flat in a twister."
Tom threw back his head and laughed, then punched Nick on the shoulder. "Laws no! You'd be like Dorothy flyin' off to Oz! 'Cept mama told me that was just pretend. Twisters don't really take you nowhere fun." His brow wrinkled. "I sure am sorry we didn't have time to grab the gals."
Kai had wandered a few steps away, but now she turned back with a grin. "I think they're okay, Tommy. Look."
The tornado, in the fickle way they had, had taken the top off the barn but completely skipped their car. It stood in the yard where they'd left it covered in bits of hay and scraps of wood, but otherwise it was unharmed. Not even a cracked window.
Tom bounced on his feet and clapped his hands. He grabbed Nick's arm and hauled him toward the car. "Come on, Nick, we gotta check on the gals! They probably got scared, didn't they jus'!"
He looked back at her with a nonplussed expression, and she just waved. She cut a look over her shoulder at the gaping maw of the cellar and shuddered. Just like back at the drug store, only worse. She took a step that direction, almost without meaning to, and she swore she heard a high, coaxing whisper: Edie…
She froze. The sunlight seemed to turn thin and the day chilled around her. She wrapped her arms around herself and took another step. Sweet Edie…
"Kai!"
Tom's voice was like a life preserver in a storm-ravaged sea. She jerked away from the beckoning dark and spun toward it. "Sorry!" she said. "Coming!"
She joined them at the car, and Nick gave her a questioning look. She shook her head, quickly. "Tell you later."
She still trembled. He took one of her hands in his and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm. She smiled and felt the last clinging bits of shadow melt away. The sun was hot and bright on her face, and Nick slipped his arm around her as Tom chattered about the chickens. She leaned against Nick's shoulder and sang along with Tom's chicken-soothing song. It did seem to help: they stopped their fretting and settled down in the coop. Even Kai felt calmer after a few verses, but maybe that was just the sunlight and the breeze and the warm, familiar feel of Nick next to her.
Either way, she was glad to be out of that cellar, and glad they'd passed through May, and glad Tom had passed out in the middle of main street. She was glad to be alive with the man she loved and their friend and these ridiculous chickens. She looked up at Nick and he smiled down at her, and she saw the same thought written in the familiar lines and planes of his face.
"We're gonna be fine," she signed.
His head tilted in a question. "Of course we are. M-O-O-N, that spells teamwork makes the dream work."
She huffed out a sigh. "I'm breaking up with you."
He smirked. "Liar."
Her lips twitched. "Tomorrow."
"I'll look for your letter," he said and bowed his head.
She elbowed him in the side and went to help Tom with the chickens' blanket. Nick stood rubbing the spot with a faux grumpy expression, but soon gave it up when she ignored him. They got the ladies settled and climbed back into the car, and soon they were back on the road, the darkness and fear of that storm cellar left far behind.
Tom did, as Nick had predicted, slow them down. He got cranky after too long in the car, and he needed pee stops more frequently than either of them did, but they didn't mind. His sunny presence and natural enthusiasm for nearly everything was more than worth the trade off.
They stopped a few hours after the tornado to stretch their legs and refill the gas tank. Tom helped Nick unload one of the gas cans from the back and refill the tank, then he gestured for Tom to wait by the car while he and Kai went to refill the can. He grabbed the hose and pump from the back and they headed down the road toward a small snarl of cars a dozen or so yards away.
Newer cars were harder to siphon from, but they'd learned the trick of it after a few false starts. The pump made it go faster; relying on gravity took way too long. Kai gestured toward a big black SUV and Nick nodded. She pried the tank open with a flat head screwdriver and took the hose from him. It was cut on an angle, to be sharp and pointed, and she used it like a corkscrew to get past the anti-rollover valve that was designed to prevent this exact thing.
The hose popped through and she gave him a thumbs up. He worked the pump with his foot, and after a moment gas started to flow into the can. She leaned against the car to wait her turn at the pump and raised her face to the sun.
He tapped her arm to get her attention. "You want to talk about what happened back there?"
"In the cellar?"
"Sure, but I more meant after. When you stayed in the barn."
She frowned and wrapped her arms around her middle. Then, "I don't know. It was probably just my imagination."
He lifted a skeptical brow. "What we felt down there wasn't just the creeps, Kai. It was real. It was like the dreams, when he's stalking us through the corn."
"It was like what happened to me at the drug store that night." She'd told him about her trip into town the night he fell sick. She shivered. "Only worse. Heavier. He's…I don't know. Stronger, maybe?"
"He probably has some people now. The ones who accepted his offer." He studied her face with a careful eye. "You went back."
She sighed. "I heard…my name. A voice whispering my name. Like I said, probably my imagination, but…I couldn't stop myself. I don't know what would've happened if Tom hadn't called me when he did."
"I wouldn't have let you go back down there. You know that."
"Would you have stopped me in time? You were busy with the chickens."
His head tilted. "I guess another thing we have to thank Tom for."
She nodded agreement. "He's—more than he seems. Don't you think?"
"Much more. He can't read, but he understood my drawings of the chicken coop immediately. And he's good, Kai. Deeply good. I don't mean because he's disabled and disabled people are all saintly angels who can do no wrong. It's just him."
"I know," she said. She knelt beside the gas can and gave it a few taps. "I think that's got it." Together they unhooked the hose and pump, and he screwed the lid back on the can.
"Maybe I couldn't have stopped you in time, but I would've gone in after you," he said.
She smiled. Leaned in and kissed him. "My hero. I know you would have."
"Though probably by the time I got in there you would've done some kinda witchy thing and had him running for cover, tail between his legs."
"I'm not a witch!"
He just grinned and picked up the can with both hands so he couldn't reply.
"It isn't that heavy, you big faker."
His eyes widened in exaggerated apology and he gave a helpless shrug. She rolled her eyes. Fell in step beside him and grabbed the handle, and in the end they carried it back to the car together.
July 22 - Pratt, Kansas
They spent the night in an old apple orchard, and that morning Tom and Nick found one tree still producing fruit. They returned with armfuls of hard, unripe apples, and Kai gave them a skeptical look. She ate two, Nick ate four, and Tom ate about ten—despite Nick and Kai's efforts to stop him.
Within a few hours he was sick, and after stopping several times to let him out of the car, they decided they'd get him some medicine in the next town they passed through. It turned out to be Pratt, Kansas, and Kai pulled the car up to a local drug store and cast Nick a look. She hadn't been in a drug store since the night he got sick, and she didn't want to change that now.
"I'll go," he said. "Do we need anything else?"
"Get something for the dehydration. Pedialyte or, if you have to, Gatorade or whatever."
He nodded and they got out of the car. She escorted a groaning, protesting Tom to a bench, and he stretched out on it with a moan.
"You were right, laws yes," he said. "Tom shoulda stopped at two apples."
"It's okay, Tommy. Nick's going to get you something for it now."
He patted Tom's shoulder, gave Kai's hand a squeeze, and went inside. The first thing he noticed was the smell of perfume, which was definitely better than smelling corpses. The place seemed empty at first glance. He paused at the front counter to grab some mints and pop one in his mouth, then wandered toward the stomach aisle.
He passed the beauty section and paused. Since when did they have mannequins in drug stores?
The mannequin dropped the bottle she held and her hand flew to her mouth. Nick blinked at her. Not a mannequin: a real human person. A girl. Alive.
"Are you real?!" she said. She hurried around the counter and stopped in front of him. Ran her hands up his chest and and down his arms. Startled, Nick shrugged out of her hold and took a step back.
"What's with the eyepatch? You a pirate or somethin'?" She smirked. "I like pirates."
She was pretty, green-eyed with long cotton candy pink hair. She wore a long, flouncy pink skirt and a sparkly tank top with no bra, along with half a dozen heavy, expensive-looking diamond and gemstone necklaces. He had a feeling they were real. A tiara perched on her head, but that was probably paste. Who in Pratt, Kansas would have a real diamond tiara?
Her eyes narrowed. "If you're real, say something."
He pressed his hands over his ears and shook his head. His palm over his mouth and shook it again. She frowned a moment before understanding dawned.
"You're a deaf-mute!" She laughed so hard her whole body shook and slapped her hand against her thigh. "Just my fucking luck! First living person I've seen in weeks and he's a goddamn deaf-mute! Jesus fucking Christ!"
Nick's brow quirked and he pulled his notepad out of his pocket. "My name is Nick Andros," he wrote. "Yes, I'm deaf & mute. I'm traveling with my friends Tom Cullen, who is developmentally disabled, & Kai d'Arnaud." He debated clarifying his relationship with Kai, but decided that could wait. "We're headed for Hemingford Home, NE."
She took the note and read it with an increasingly incredulous expression. "Developmentally—you mean he's a 'tard?! A mutey and a 'tard?!"
Nick scowled and gave a sharp shake of his head. "Don't call him that," he wrote, and underlined it twice.
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever. Sorrrrry." She cut him a look and her eyes twinkled with mischief. "My name's Julie Lawry, and I've been all alone way too long." She pressed in closer, so that her breasts were snug against his chest, and gave him what she probably thought was a winsome smile.
"You're cute. I've never banged a mutey before." Her hand snaked up his arm again and around the back of his neck, and as she tried to pull him down for a kiss he jerked back.
Suddenly she jumped away like she'd been burned, and she spun on her heel so that her back was to him. He looked up, confused, and his good eye widened when he saw Kai. He shook his head and took a step away from Julie, but Kai just gave him a knowing smirk.
"I wondered what was taking so long, but I see you're in here making new friends," she said.
"You must be Kai," Julie said. She sauntered a few steps closer. "He didn't say you're a girl. A hot girl." She paused. Frowned. "Is he gay?"
Nick angled himself so that he could read her lips, and at that he rolled his eyes.
Kai's gaze darted to him a moment. Her brows flicked upward and he could tell she was fighting a grin. "No, he's not gay. He's just a little shy," she said.
He scowled at her and scribbled a note. Julie ignored it, but he tapped her on the arm until she took it with an annoyed glower.
"Ohhh. You two are—well, if I'd known that, I would've invited you to join us," she said with a suggestive half-smile.
That wasn't at all what he'd been expecting, and he almost dropped his pen. Kai was unfazed. She stepped closer to Julie and looked down at her with a lifted brow. There was probably a bigger height difference between Kai and Julie than Kai and Nick, and he swallowed around a suddenly tight throat.
After a moment she ran a lock of Julie's hair between her fingers and her lips curved. "I like your hair."
She beamed and drew in a deep breath to ensure Kai had a view straight down her top. "Thanks, sugar," she said. Her eyes flicked to Kai's chest, then back to her face. "You got gorgeous…skin." She darted a quick look to Nick and moved so that she and Kai were nearly pressed together. "We could have some fun, all three of us," she murmured and skimmed a palm up Kai's arm. "Tell me somethin', just between us girls: is it true what they say about muteys?"
Kai's head tilted, and only Nick noticed the subtle change in her expression. "I don't know. What is it that they say?"
Julie cast Nick a coquettish look and rested a hand on Kai's hip. "That they got a few extra inches below the belt to make up for what's missin' upstairs."
Kai's mouth quirked. "Go get Tom's stuff," she signed to Nick. "I'll keep our new friend company."
"I don't think she's going to fit in," he signed back.
"No, I don't think she is."
"Hey, no fair!" Julie said. "I don't understand! That's rude."
"Sorry," Kai said as Nick slipped away to find the medicine. "You said just between us girls, so I thought it would be better if he made himself scarce."
Julie snickered. "So is it? Big?"
"Big enough. How old are you?"
"Twenty-three. My name's Julie, by the way." She tossed her pink hair over one shoulder, fully aware of how her body moved against Kai's when she did it. "My friends call me Angel, or Angel Face because I'm so pretty. They're all dead now, but whatever. They were bitches anyway. I go to the cosmetology school a few towns over—or I did, before. I did my hair myself."
"Good job," she said, but she was only half paying attention.
"Sorry you had to walk in on that. He didn't tell me you guys were a thing. We were talkin'—or, ya know, he was writin' and I was talkin'—and suddenly he started comin' on to me. I mean, he was all over me! Grabbed my ass and told me I have nice tits. Which is true, but I was sorta surprised."
Now Kai's gaze zeroed in on Julie's face. "Then why'd you ask if he's gay?"
She blinked. "Huh?"
"You asked me if Nick's gay. I assumed it was because he rebuked your advance, but now you're saying he came onto you—so I'm confused."
"Oh!" She laughed and tossed her hair again. "Just after he grabbed my tits he wasn't hard or anything, so I was wonderin' if he was doin' that thing gay guys do, where they act all over-the-top straight, but really they're gay."
"He grabbed your ass and your tits? Wow, he works fast."
"Oh, uh—one hand on my ass and the other on my chest." She lowered her voice, as though Nick could've overheard them. "You know how men are. They can't control themselves." She smiled and looked up at Kai through her lashes. "Not like girls. Girls know how to take their time and really have fun."
Under different circumstances—Nick notwithstanding—Kai might've been interested. But this girl gave off dangerous vibes, and her lies about Nick (in addition to her casual use of the term mutey) were major red flags. She heard the squeak of Nick's boots against the linoleum, and he appeared from the next aisle over to join them. He waved the bottle of Pepto and nodded toward the front of the store.
"Someone got a sad tummy?" Julie said with a little moue to her full mouth.
"Our friend Tom," Kai said as she stepped away.
She rolled her eyes. "The 'tard. Figures."
Kai's lips parted and she glanced at Nick, who grimaced in acknowledgement. He wrote a quick note and waved it at Julie.
"Right sorry I forgot! Not supposed to call him that," she said to Kai. "Not like he's in here to hear it anyway."
Kai gave a tight, brittle smile. "Well, Julie, it certainly was nice to meet you. We'll be on our way now."
"Hey wait!" she said. "What the hell?!"
Nick couldn't hear her and Kai ignored her as they walked out of the store and left her behind. They exchanged looks, Nick's sheepish, Kai's mostly amused.
"Nothing happened," he said. "She shoved her tits in my face and tried to kiss me, but I stopped her. That's when you walked in."
"You don't have to explain yourself to me. I wasn't worried."
Behind them Julie burst out of the store in a cloud of cotton candy fury. "What the fuck?! Are you leaving me? I thought we were gonna have some fun!"
Over on the bench Tom craned his neck their way, curious despite his sorry state. Nick ignored Julie and went to Tom, opening the bottle of Pepto as he went. He held it out, but Tom, who seemed enthralled by Julie, gave a distracted shake of his head.
Julie noticed his regard and sauntered his way with an extra swing in her hips. Kai rolled her eyes and followed.
"Hey, big boy," Julie said. "I heard you have a tummy ache!" She put on a pout. "Poor baby. Now mean ol' Nick here's tryin' to make you drink that nasty medicine."
Tom's face scrunched. "It—it don't taste good, but Nick's smart. He's my friend."
She leaned toward him, her top clinging on for dear life, and took a deep breath. "You know what I heard, honey?"
Tom, wide-eyed and tongue-tied, could only shake his head.
"I heard that stuff was poison! It's got ground up cockroaches in it!"
Tom yelped and shoved himself back on the bench. "Poison?! Tom Cullen don't drink poison! Daddy said if it'd kill the rats it'd kill Tom!"
Nick and Kai gave her matching looks of pure loathing. Kai grabbed her arm and pulled her away while Nick tried to reason with Tom through pantomime.
"You need to go," Kai hissed. "Take your tits and your bullshit and go find someone else to harass."
Julie let out a high, nasty laugh. "Nice try, sweetheart, but your pretty little boy toy likes me a whole lot. I lied earlier: he grabbed me and was hard as a rock. If you hadn't come in he woulda fucked me right there on the floor!"
Nick caught part of that as he spun away from Tom in frustration. He jammed the cap back on the Pepto and yanked his notepad from his pocket. "We don't need you," he wrote in all caps. He held it out to her, and she took it with a sneer.
"Fuck you!" she cried. "Fuck you and your tiny dick! Your retard friend and your butch girlfriend! I don't need you either!" She gave them the finger and took off down the street. When she disappeared into a shop on the corner they let out sighs of relief.
Kai glanced at Nick, a frown creasing her brow. "Am I really that butch?"
He grinned. "Only compared to a pink-haired brat in a tiara. I think she was just mad because you're tall. And you didn't want to fuck her."
"Yeah, well, you're taller than me, and you didn't want to fuck her first."
"Are you saying if I'd wanted to, you'd—?"
"No. I try to avoid crazy." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Dropped down on the bench next to Tom and offered him a smile. "Tommy, didn't you just say Nick's your friend?"
He nodded. His face was red, and tears tracked down his cheeks. She wasn't sure if he was more upset by his illness or what was happening around him, but the two combined weren't helping. "Nick's my best friend, I think. You and Nick."
"Okay, then, do you think Nick or I would ever try to give you something that would hurt you? We care about you and just want you to feel better." She kept her voice low and soothing, but when she reached for the bottle of Pepto he shook his head.
"I know you wouldn't, I know you're my friends and you're smart, but Tom don't like medicine, no siree! And he don't drink no ground cockroaches!"
She looked up at Nick. He knelt in front of Tom and patted his knee. Took the bottle from Kai and took a big swig.
"See?" Kai said. "It's safe. It tastes kinda minty."
Tom squeezed his eyes shut and rocked in place. "She called Tom a bad word. A real mean word. We don't use that word. It's a mean word."
Kai sighed, softly, and cast a furious glare down the street in the direction Julie had gone. "I know, honey. She was mean, and that's why we told her to leave." She motioned for Nick to put the Pepto away; clearly they weren't getting any into Tom any time soon, and if they kept trying they'd just upset him more.
Nick pulled a bottle of cherry red Gatorade out of his pocket and tapped Tom's knee with it. He opened his eyes a crack, then wider. "Is that for Tom?"
Nick nodded.
"I like the red kind."
Nick pointed at Tom's suspenders, then at the bottle. Tom's face lit up. "Red like Tom's 'spenders! Laws yes, that's right."
Nick opened the bottle and handed it over, and Tom took a long drink before giving an exaggerated sigh, like in a soda commercial. "That's good stuff!"
Nick and Kai both grinned, and Nick ruffled Tom's hair. "You feel like getting back in the car? I think maybe we should get away from that mean girl."
Tom nodded and slowly pushed himself to his feet. "I feel a little bit better now."
Nick offered Kai a hand and pulled her up from the bench. She fell against him with a little laugh; he dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose, and they turned away toward the car. Tom glanced down the street the other way, and a flash of light caught his attention. His eyes went wide, and he grabbed Nick and Kai with both hands and yanked them to one side.
The shot echoed up and down the street. Kai let out a yelp, but Nick just looked confused.
"Gun!" Tom cried. "She's gotta gun! Run, run!"
Nick stared at him, then turned his head the other direction. Julie Lawry stalked down the middle of the street with a shotgun in her hands, her face contorted with fury and malice. He watched in horror as she pumped another round into the chamber and swung the barrel their way.
Tom shoved them at the car. Nick split toward the passenger side and Tom scrambled for his spot behind the driver. Kai was right behind him, and as the second and third shots rang out, she gave a cry of pain and stumbled.
"You better run!" Julie screamed. "Stupid bitch! How's that feel!? Get the fuck outta my town!"
Tom spun toward her and watched with mouth agape as she fell to her knees. "Kai!" He ran back and lifted her off the ground with one arm and carried her like a football to the car. "Kai, you okay? Can you drive?"
They both ducked as Julie fired again. The driver side window shattered. "Yeah, I'm fine, get in!" She threw herself into the driver seat and hit the ignition button, but they'd left it running for the chickens. She cursed a blue streak and hit it again. Nick's eyes went wide when he saw the bloody handprints she left smeared across it and the steering wheel.
"What happened?! Who's hurt?" he signed, frantically.
She shook her head and put the car in reverse. Slammed on the gas pedal and peeled out. She spun the car in a circle when they were at a safe distance and kept her foot heavy on the gas until she physically couldn't anymore. She hit the brakes, put it in park, and slumped back against the seat.
"Fuck," she signed.
"Kai, you hurt?!" Tom said. He leaned forward from the backseat and patted her arm. "She hit you?"
"It's okay, Tommy." Her voice was weak, her face pale and coated with sweat. "You didn't get cut, did you? When the window broke?"
"No ma'am I'm fine. Laws but you look awful, Kai, don't you just!"
"I can drive," Nick signed. "We have to get you flat. Where did she hit you?"
She pointed at her leg, the one further from him, and he gaped at the blood on her jeans. He got out of the car and hurried around to the other side. Opened the door and caught her as she nearly tumbled out.
The denim was torn all to hell and coated in red where the shot had hit. It was like a horizontal version of his own wound, but luckily she wouldn't have to wait a full day before getting hers treated. Now he just had to make sure she didn't go into shock before he got her someplace safe.
He looked up to find Tom standing next to him, his own face contorted with fear and worry. "That don't look good! Nick, what do we do!?"
Nick pointed at Kai, then at the back seat. He held his hand flat.
Tom frowned, but after a few moments' thought his expression cleared. "Gotta lay her down in the backseat?"
Nick gave a fervent nod. He pointed at Tom, then mimed wrapping his arms around Kai.
"You want me to hold on to her?"
He nodded again, then shooed Tom back into the car. He helped Kai around to the other side, and together he and Tom got her into the backseat, her head and shoulders braced in Tom's lap. Nick got a blanket from the supplies in the back and wrapped it around her, then jumped into the driver seat. They needed somewhere safe, a place they could keep secure if Julie came looking for them.
There was a house they'd passed a few miles back, on their way into Pratt. It had been a big white farmhouse, rambling and welcoming. Kai had pointed it out and mentioned it was the exact type of place she'd always imagined having for herself.
He glanced back at Tom in the rearview mirror and gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.
He hoped the house was as empty as it had looked. He didn't have the energy to deal with half-rotten corpses, and he didn't have time to find them somewhere else. He reached back and Kai grabbed his hand. Squeezed.
Nick put the car in gear and headed toward the farmhouse.
that Julie. what a troublemaker.