“Come on,” he says lifting me off the ground and into his arms. He slings me over his shoulder. While upside down, I realize that one of Ray’s flip flops is gone.
“Shit, my shoe!” I cry.
“That shoe is now property of the mud. It’s a goner.” Nine opens the door and plops me into the seat.
“Yeah, I know the feeling.” I mutter.
Nine gets in and starts the truck.
“Why did you kiss me or sort of kiss me back in the RV? Was that just part of your plan?” I ask, without properly thinking it through first.
He backs the truck out from the clearing onto the road. I don’t think he’s going to answer me because several minutes pass and I forget to even ask where he’s taking me. He keeps his eyes focused on the road. His hands grip the wheel hard. He finally answers.
“Kissing you was the exact fuckin’ opposite of the plan. And that wasn’t a kiss. You won’t use the words ‘sort-of’ when I kiss you.”
When I kiss you. Not if.
“Cocky asshole.”
Headlights approach from behind. It’s the Hummer.
“It’s back!” I shout.
“Yeah, I fucking see ‘em,” Nine mutters. He turns into another field in an attempt to lose them. Tall corn stalks swipe over the truck like some sort of weird organic car wash. The sound almost the same as that of a heavy rain. Nine turns left and right then left again expertly like he knows his way around the field. We come out on another road. Nine turns so sharply that I think we might flip over. My guts are in my heart, and my back is plastered to the passenger seat. When we’ve straightened out, the Hummer appears from behind us once more.
The sound of metal colliding with metal makes my entire body jump as bullets bounce off the truck.
“Motherfuckers,” Nine spits. He reaches into his waistband and pulls out a gun.
“Drive!” Nine orders, without waiting for me to answer. He climbs out of the driver's window until all that remains of him inside are his long legs.
I have no choice but to lean over and grab the wheel, shifting my ass over to the part of the driver’s seat not taken up by the half of Nine’s body still in the car. I keep my head down as low as possible while Nine returns fire.
“Get back in here. You’re going to get shot!” I shout, pulling on his belt with one hand.
Nine ducks back in, and I think for a second that he’s listening to my warning, but when he reaches over me into the center console and grabs a black sleeve, exchanging it with the one already in his gun, I realize it’s only so he can reload.
The side view mirror shatters. My shoulders jump, and my heart stops for a few beats.
“Breathe, Lenny,” Nine orders. “Just keep driving, and breathe.” He climbs back out the window and fires off several more shots.
“Where am I supposed to be going?” I ask.
“Nowhere. Just drive. We’re waiting for reinforcements.”
“Reinforcements?” I ask. “Who?”
Nine continues to shoot round after round, sometimes ducking in to reload or to dodge a bullet. His arm is bleeding, and he either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.
Suddenly, he leaps across my lap into the passenger seat and yells, “Hold the fuck on!” He grabs the oh shit handle over his head just as the Hummer careens into the back of the truck, jolting us forward. My head hits the steering wheel, and my vision blurs. I don’t realize I’m pulling the wheel to the side until Nine reaches over and straightens us out before we dive headlong into a ditch. The thought sobers me, clearing my thoughts, but my head is pounding.
“You alright?” Nine shouts, looking frantic yet calm at the same time, and I realize he’s not upset for himself but for me.
I can only nod as I try to keep us on the road.
“Here they come!” Nine warns, and I brace myself for yet another impact when an older, black Cadillac spins out onto the road from within the tall grass of the neighboring cornfield, speeding in the opposite direction. It slams on the brakes and spins into a full turn until it’s beside the Hummer.
A bullet cracks the back windshield, and I duck, pressing the gas so hard I won’t be surprised if my foot breaks through the floorboard.
I look into my rearview and watch as a hand appears from the passenger side of the Cadillac…holding some sort of green fruit?
“What the fuck?” I mutter. “Who is that?” I ask.
Over the sound of bullets and speeding tires I hear someone laughing. No, they aren’t laughing. They’re…singing?
“That, would be our reinforcements.”
“Why are our reinforcements singing “Boom Boom Pow” by the Black Eyed Peas?” I shout.
“You’ll find out. Just whatever you do, don’t stop. No matter what.”