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Man Down | Shook Chapter 24 Part 3
There's only one more bridge to cross to get to the truck and regroup with the Blue children. They just have to make it past the bull moose on the bridge. Dyan heard a scrape and then a “HEEELP!” from behind her...
Dyan and Navy turned to see Wild Yonder had slipped. The moose was quickly closing the distance between them, its head down and antlers flying toward them. Without a word each of them grabbed one of his arms and yanked him to his feet, and ran like heck for the final stretch.
Azure grabbed Navy’s hand and yanked him up when he came. Dyan slowed down a bit so Wild Yonder could get on first, and then zipped up the truck steps as soon as she could, Wild Yonder lifting her up as possible. She slammed the door closed and just as the moose was two skipps away, Maya yanked a string on the roof of the truck twice and two loud honks blared, stopping the moose in its tracks.
“Yeah, stay away ya’ big scaredy cat!” Maya yelled as the moose backed up and eventually fled the scene.
Dyan leaned her hand on the passenger seat. While they caught their breaths, everyone chose spots for the ride. Navy sat on the bottom sleeper next to Royal and baby Teal, and Wild Yonder had climbed to the top sleeper. He stretched his legs out and pulled his hand-held console game out of his coat pocket. In a few seconds he was smiling. “I call top bunk!”
“Wait, You can’t just call a bunk, there’s only two!” Azure said between huffs.
“Yeah, I was here first!” True yelled, staring at Wild Yonder with scrunched up lips and a wrinkled forehead.
Royal closed her eyes. “Not now, please,”
Dyan shook her head and laughed. She had missed this family so much.
Bear’s dog collar tags jingled as he walked across the truck to lay at Dyan’s feet. Dyan rubbed his coarse brown fur. “Hey buddy. I missed you a lot.” Bear looked up at her.
Maya flexed her fingers on the steering wheel. “Great! We’re all here! Now we start the first day of our new lives!”
“Mom and Dad can’t shove us off to boarding school!” Azure yelled boldly with a deep voice.
“Yeah, and they can’t split us up either!” True yelled.
Bear barked from the floor.
“That’s right, Bear!” Maya rose her hand in the air. “To the free Blues!”
The rest of the children rose their hands in the air as well.
“To the free Blues!!!” everyone yelled, and with that, Maya backed out of the bridge and drove onto the road headed to the more busy side of Augusta.
Dyan was absolutely amazed at Maya’s driving skills. She had to sit at the edge of the seat to reach the gas pedal and brakes, and she had to lean out to slide the stick-shift that stemmed from the floor, but she was doing really well.
“How are you doing this?” Dyan asked, leaning towards Maya.
“I’ve been watching Dad do it since first grade.” Maya smiled. “He even let me drive once when I was younger. In an empty parking lot.”
“That’s really cool!” Dyan gushed.
“Can’t talk now. We’re getting into traffic.” Maya slowed down. Square buildings lined the road and they made it to a four-way street.
A high-pitched HOON-HOON was heard from behind and all the kids turned to the windows in the back.
Wild Yonder leaned his head back and looked out the top window. “Uh, were being followed.”
Dyan looked out the bottom back window to see that about four cars behind them was a big green-colored hippie van. Dyan couldn’t mistake the orange flower painted at the bottom of the driver's window. That was the Blue family van.
Dyan blew back into Navy. “It’s Mom and Dad! I mean, your Mom and Dad.”
“Oh crap! We’ve got to lose them! But how!? Quickly, I need ideas people!” Maya talked at a mile a minute, her eyes never leaving the road.
The truck filled with a chorus of “Um’s’ and ‘Uh’s” as the children thought.
“The highway! Try the highway Maya!” Navy yelled. “There are thousands of cars driving down that thing and we’ve got to mix in with the crowd there!”
“Good idea! And since that’s the only idea we’ve got, I’m goin’ for it!” Maya yelled and drove as soon as the light turned green.
The kids passed under a bridge, sending them in a wave of darkness for half a second. They passed a huge church, and all buildings disappeared. With less cars behind them, the hippie van sped up and got closer to the truck, honking once again.
“They’re getting closer Maya!” True yelled and turned to her older sister.
“I know, but I can’t go any faster unless you want us over the speed limit where we’re bound to crash,” Maya said, her voice wavering.
Maya turned onto a lone road that had forest on each side. but soon the trees on the left gave way to a road with three lanes where cars zipped by at speeds higher than cheetah’s. A big green sign in the grass read ‘Interstate 95’.
“Tell me when to merge!” Maya yelled. The kids then all zipped to the back left windows.
When the coast looked clear and the patch in front of them was empty, they all yelled “Now!”
Find out what happens next in the next part!
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