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Not real.
They’re not real.
The echo of the horn faded, leaving me in the wide wild wood alone.
“No!”
I kept on in the same direction, not altering my path. So focused on keeping my body moving, I didn’t notice the steep drop in the terrain or the break in the trees before it was too late. I sailed over the edge and slid on my knees over a bed of sharp gravel, my body flung against a hard iron bar.
Pain exploded in my rib cage and I curled in on myself, feeling the vibrations of the hit deep, deep down.
No. Not the vibrations of the blow to my ribs.
I gripped the iron track I’d landed on, feeling the rattle of the oncoming train a second before the horn blared again. The great metal beast charged from around a bend in the track, coming at me head on.
“Fuck!”
I ducked and rolled out of the way, scrambling backward over the gravel just as the train sped past, making my hair lash against my cheeks.
I tipped my head back, laughing up at the sky. The next curse out of my lips a much softer one. I fucking did it. And what was more. I knew these tracks. The train passed and I stepped into its wake, staring after it until its tail vanished around the next bend.
These tracks carved a path through Lennox. I caught movement from the corner of my eye and I fell back, whirling to see my father, pale and ghastly, crouched between the tracks.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Opened them again.
He was gone.
Jesus Christ.
I was losing it.
I shook my head, trying to get my rational brain working again. If I followed the tracks, they’d lead me to the trailer park on the outside of town where I’d lived with both my parents before Mom took off and Dad bit it.
And if I followed them a little farther, they’d take me past the spot where I’d taken my first life.
The night that set this whole goddamned mess in motion.
But I wasn’t going to be taking a trip down memory lane today. Fuck no. The past was finished and I had too much to live for—too much todo—in the present.
I stepped off the tracks to the west, climbing the short bank back up into the woods on the other side, picking my way toward the road I knew wasn’t more than five more miles away.
I peeledthe wrapping from a fresh pack of cigarettes, putting one to my lips as Grey turned onto a dark backroad we’d already driven down three times since this afternoon. Just like every other road within the thirty-mile radius Diesel marked on the map for us before we left.
“She has to be here,” Grey muttered to himself. We’d already searched every nook and cranny of Lennox, tempting fate by crossing into King territory even though Diesel expressly told us to keep a low profile.
We were relying on the older model two-seater Jag with the super tinted windows—Pinkie’s prized possession—to keep us concealed and so far, it’d been working.
There was only one instance where I might’ve been seen, during a quick in and out at the local pub under the guise of taking a piss.
Kind of disappointing that they hadn’t noticed us yet. I hungered for pain. Thirsted for blood. I wanted them to find us, maybe then I wouldn’t need the poison burning a hole in my pocket to keep me going. I could inhale their souls instead.
“Unless you want to start knocking down doors, Bro, this is what we’ve got to work with.”
He didn’t answer, and I knew he was thinking that knocking down some doors might not be a half bad idea.
“Where was that service road again? We should go back and check out that way. Maybe there’s a dirt road we missed? A trail?”
“We already looked.”
