Inception, page 20
part #1 of The Defiants Series
It was like they were in an Old West movie. They were fleeing town before the sun came up. Officials would be looking for Charlie, and if he was found, he’d be hanged for his actions. Only this wasn’t fiction. This was really happening, and she couldn’t stomach the idea of being separated from Charlie. If they got separated, it would probably be the last time she ever saw him. She would assume he was dead and desperately attempt to get on with her life, even if it was in the new world they were living in.
“You know I don’t mind driving. I bet your arm is killing you.”
Charlie shook his head and lifted his good arm off the steering wheel. “I’m good driving with one arm. If it starts hurting too bad, I may take you up on the offer.” He paused and sighed. “Are you okay?”
Annie lifted her head off the window. She was exhausted, and her eyes were sore like she had been crying for days. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” He glanced over his shoulder and back at her. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I guess it doesn’t matter.” She shrugged and looked ahead. They were driving on the highway, in between towns. Would they be stopped for suspicious activity? There weren’t any other cars on the road, and she felt like they had a huge red arrow pointing down at them, signaling that they were Defiants attempting to get out of the country.
Charlie arched his eyebrow, looking at her for a few seconds before focusing back on the road. “I had to do it. What other option did I have?”
“I know you had to. No matter what you did, they were going to arrest you and either kill you or lock you up for good. I get that.”
“Then what? Talk to me.”
She looked in the back seat. Ryan was sprawled out, sleeping hard. She envied him the rest he was getting. She couldn’t remember the last time she had gotten good sleep. “Do you think we’ll get caught?”
“Last time I checked the GPS on my phone, we were about four hours from the Mexico border. We don’t have enough gas to get us that far, but I’m assuming once it hits midnight, it’s a new day, and we’ll be able to purchase more gas. Just five bucks’ worth, but every mile we get closer, the better off we are. The route we’re taking is pretty rural. I figure Millstone’s people are watching bigger cities, but honestly, I don’t know what to expect.”
“You’d think they’d be chasing us.” Annie took a sip from her water bottle. She had to remind herself to ration everything they had. She would drink just enough to keep from getting dehydrated.
“Once the sun comes up and they realize John’s dead, they’ll be coming for us, which is why it’s important that we keep moving.”
“Shouldn’t they have Millstone people watching the highways?”
“They probably do, but all Defiants have caseworkers. With no caseworker who’s reporting issues, they probably aren’t too worried about every car that passes by. Right now, they don’t know John is dead. To them, John’s caseload is okay. There’s no need for them to worry.”
“Are you sure?” That explanation seemed too neat and clean to ease Annie’s tension. Any minute now, she felt cars would box them in, forcing them to stop. Then it would all be over. Their desperate attempt at a normal life would fall short.
“Stop thinking about it all. Look in front of us. Look at all the miles we’ve covered. Think about that.”
Annie took a deep breath. How could Charlie be so certain? Maybe he was trying to be the strong one in the family. If they were both panicking, they would definitely stick out, and just like he had said after killing John, it would all be for nothing.
“It’s after midnight.” She glanced at the clock on the dashboard.
“I’ll stop in the next town. We’ve used up about a quarter of a tank. I’d like to go as far as we can before getting our daily allotment, but after the sun comes up, there’s no way we’ll be able to stop again until we hit the border.”
The tension in Annie’s neck was so strong that she’d likely feel whiplash the next day. With every passing headlight, she gripped the armrest on the door, waiting for a vehicle to make a quick U-turn, cross the median, and come after them. Once John was found dead, they’d get into his files and learn everything they could about who he had been responsible for.
They would know Charlie and Annie’s names and physical descriptions, and they’d even have pictures of them. They’d know the license plate number, make, model, and year of her car. If she thought their family was sticking out now, it would mean an even bigger red arrow pointing at them when what they had done came to light. She would be guilty by association, an accomplice, and likely hanged along with Charlie. What would the Millstone administration do with Ryan? He would be brainwashed into a Millstone disciple, inflicting the harsh rules and laws on the rest of the United States and maybe even the world once they molded him into their beliefs and morals.
She shivered at the thought and continued to watch the few cars that passed on the other side of the highway. On the horizon were the blinking red lights of towers as well as a blanket of streetlights spread out for several miles. They were coming up on a town. Her pulse quickened, and she sat up, becoming more alert since they would be around people again.
“From the way the news made it look, you’d think there’d be more people out on the highways, trying to get away,” Annie said, trying to kill the silence in the car. It wasn’t productive discussion, only a fear-inducing discussion, but what else could they talk about? This was their life now. There was nothing else to discuss.
“We’re taking a rural route down south. And remember, what the media was showing was likely an overexaggeration. Are there people fleeing? Of course. They’re just running in more inventive ways than the government is showing so they don’t give people ideas.”
“You’ve thought about all of this, haven’t you?”
Charlie glanced at her from the corner of his eye, a smirk parting his lips. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about. The one detail we miss could mean life and death, so yeah, every possibility is crossing my mind. We’ve got both of our bank cards with us. I was also thinking we can use them at different gas stations. Right now, they’re set up for five bucks each. I’ll use my card now and get my allotment, and just before day breaks, I’ll stop again, getting your allotment. One way or another, we’ll make it. We’ll do this.”
She reached for his arm and wrapped her hand around him. She hadn’t thought about the two different bank cards they would use for gas. That was another detail she had let slip as worry overtook any rational thought she might have. “I’m glad you’re my husband. I’m glad you care so much about protecting me.”
“Always. No matter what happens, just know I’ll never stop fighting to protect you.”
Annie felt calm, even if it was just for a second. Knowing she had Charlie by her side gave her the confidence that they could do this. They could make it to Mexico and forget everything they had recently gone through.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Charlie took note of the town they were approaching. It was a rural West Texas town he had never heard of, but the population was over 1,000, so it had to have a functioning gas station. The smaller population meant the possibility of not as many eyes watching. It could also mean that since no one would know who they were, they’d stick out and raise suspicion.
A Shell gas station sign was lit up, towering several feet above the other businesses lining the main street through town. Everything else was closed, including the inside of the convenience store, which proudly advertised that the pumps were open twenty-four hours a day with the pay-at-the-pump feature.
Pulling the car up to a pump, Charlie looked at Annie, forcing a smile. With each mile they got farther from their home and closer to Mexico, he found it harder to hide his frayed nerves. He had a nagging feeling they might get close only to have hope ripped away just a few feet from crossing the border. Looking over his shoulder was not how he wanted to live—none of this was how he wanted to live.
Ryan was still snoozing in the back seat. The more the child slept, the less he would remember about having to leave his comfort zone, and the fewer questions he’d be asking. They were questions Charlie had no answers to, including Ryan’s questions about his mother. Ryan still didn’t know she was gone for good.
After sliding out of the car, Charlie was about to insert his card into the machine but stopped. When officials started looking into him and Annie, their purchases would leave a paper trail of where they had been. Patting his pockets, he realized he had only a few dollars in cash, but that was a moot point—there was no attendant to take his money until the morning, when the sun was up, when they could be miles down the road.
To hell with it. The bank card was the only form of currency they had, and if he didn’t go ahead and get gas, there was no telling when they would run across another gas station. Inserting the card, he felt his heart thump, and surprisingly, the screen lit up, asking what type of gas he would be purchasing.
Choosing the cheapest unleaded option, he inserted the spout into the car and squeezed the handle. As the pump dispensed the gas, he monitored his surroundings. Making a 360-degree turn, he watched for any other person. A car drove down the main road before slowing down as it neared the gas station. Charlie gripped the gas handle, sweat forming under his palms as he watched the midsize pickup truck pull into the station and park on the other side of the pump.
He tried to will the pump to go faster. Why was getting five dollars’ worth of gas taking so long? He must’ve found the slowest pump in the state of Texas. The driver of the truck hadn’t gotten out yet. Was it a Millstone person, calling in the suspicious activity and waiting for backup to arrive?
Sweat poured down Charlie’s brow, stinging his eyes. Licking his lips, he tasted the salt on his skin. This was how it was going to play out. They would get picked up all because he was being greedy with his gas purchase. They had enough in the tank, but no, he had to stop. It was his fault.
The truck door swung open, and all Charlie could see were someone’s legs swinging out—blue jeans and dark cowboy boots that were pointed at the tip. It was a man in a large Stetson cowboy hat, not someone dressed like any of the Millstone people. The man lifted his index finger, putting it over his mouth and making a shh motion.
“Rest easy, son. I have the same agenda as you.” The man was older, his voice deep, his skin wrinkled and tan from too much sun. He looked like an Old West outlaw with his bushy, dark mustache and sly smile.
Charlie nodded, and the gas pump stopped right on five dollars. That had given him a couple of gallons more, and he put the spout back in the holder, forgoing a receipt.
“Is that your family in there?” The man pointed at his car.
Charlie was reluctant to share any information with the man. What if he was undercover? Opening his mouth to speak, Charlie hesitated, backpedaling to the driver’s-side door.
“It’s okay, son. You don’t have to tell me a damn thing. I’m like you. I’m trying to get to the Mexico border as soon as I can. This country has gone to hell. This is about all we can do.”
“A rugged man like yourself doesn’t think he can overthrow Millstone? I’m sure there’s plenty of men in this area just like you who can handle a gun. What does Millstone have that we don’t?” Charlie asked, gauging the man’s reaction. If the man was undercover, he would hate that assumption.
“We will. We just need to buy some time. Getting to Mexico will allow it. Not to mention the coordinates. I know you know them. The only problem is, they’re in a completely different direction than Mexico. They’re in the Texas Panhandle.” The man pointed north. “And we’re in the Permian Basin right now, going south.”
The coordinates. Charlie hadn’t forgotten about them, but they were also on the back burner. There was no way he was going toward the Texas Panhandle. That was too many miles away, and there weren’t enough nighttime hours to even consider it. Whatever the coordinates meant didn’t matter, at least not at that moment.
“Good luck to you, sir.” Charlie opened the car door. “I need to keep moving.” He was still unwilling to say much. He didn’t trust people outside his family.
“Good luck to you. We’ll make it. We’ll get through. The United States will be the land of the free again.”
Charlie nodded, his gut instinct telling him the man was on his side. He got into the car and cranked it, his pulse settling as they merged onto the street and onto the highway, leaving the small town behind.
“Who was that?” Annie asked. “He had me on edge when he pulled into the gas station.”
“Some old cowboy from this area. He knew about the coordinates.”
“The coordinates,” Annie repeated. “What is to become of those coordinates?”
Charlie set the cruise to seventy-five miles per hour, the speed limit for the highway they were on. “I really don’t want to stick around to find out.”
“Me either.”
“We’ll be in Mexico soon. We’ll be safe, away from the Millstone people. No longer Defiants. And then we can get our lives back on track.”
Charlie had to believe it. They were going to get there, and his family would be out of harm’s way. It had to happen. Otherwise, everything that had already transpired would be for nothing.
This was for Mia. This was for the other Defiants who had already been killed for standing up for what was right, for standing up against the evil attempting to take over the world. But most of all, getting to Mexico was for the three of them.
Charlie increased the car’s speed to eighty miles an hour. The sun would be up in a few hours.
Grabbing Annie’s hand, he smiled and said, “We’ll be there soon.”
Acknowledgments
This is the first book I have published since 2017, and I wanted to bring my best effort forward for everyone. I had originally taken a hiatus from writing for some personal reasons, and then during that time I conquered graduate school. I graduated from Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas in December 2019 with a Master of Education in Guidance and Counseling degree!
I am glad to be back, and I hope you enjoy this new series. I am currently working on Book 2 and will have a pre-release set up for the book soon.
I want to send a huge thank you to my mother, Patti Tate, for always encouraging me to keep going. Also, to my sister, Lizzy Gryder, for seeing me as a “real” author. And lastly, to my writing friend, Mary McDonald, who participates in writing sprints with me so we can get our work out to you faster. Working together provides us the desire to keep going, encouraging each other to write even when we don’t feel up to it.
Thanks to all my readers! You keep me going!
About the Author
J.R. Tate resides in Texas. In her free time she likes to hike, escape to the mountains, read, and write. She is a school counselor within the prison system, guiding men to make better decisions and stay free, a calling she never would have imagined when she was a kid.
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Also by J.R. Tate
Captive - The Defiants Series Book 2 is being worked on and will have a preorder available soon! Check back with J.R. to find out when it will be available.
Here is J.R. Tate’s Amazon author page for the rest of her books that are available now!
J.R. Tate’s Amazon Author Page
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