His phone rang. He dropped it under the seat by accident and had to dig for it. It’s hard answering on a touch screen device when your hands are drenched in blood. He was hoping it wasn’t their mom when he answered it. It was Yue. She had him put the phone on the dash with the speaker on so they could talk while they drove home.
“How much longer you think cell service is going to last?” Drew asked.
“That’s more of a LeBron question but I’m thinking at some point whatever makes cell towers work will run out of power like everything else.” Yue said back.
That reminded Drew that LeBron had been texting them like crazy. He opened up the texts and was relieved there was nothing bad. Their dad was still breathing, and no mobs had attacked the house yet. Their mom was still sound asleep. Drew texted LeBron they were going to be rolling in with a U-Haul full of goodies. A set of bubbles appeared and sat there for a few seconds. Drew was impatient to get going. He wasn’t going to try driving this U-Haul through an apocalyptic event like this while reading text messages though. If LeBron had thought of something that they hadn’t it could save their lives.
“How the hell are we hiding this thing?” Drew asked Yue over the speaker phone. LeBron had come up with that question right off the bat. Drew had just been excited to have been able to snag so much stuff at once. Stuff that people were willing to kill for. Now they were going to dangle it like candy in front of a horde of opportunistic well-armed trick or treaters on the way back to their house.
“I have no idea. We just drive and hope nobody cares enough to try and stop us.” Yue said. She was planning on taking a different route back to their house. She didn’t trust the people she’d seen in the Publix parking lot. She definitely didn’t want to drive back by the Walgreens. If that riled up little mob was still in the area, they’d know what kind of treasures the U-Haul held.
Yue drove down the road and Drew followed. The whole drive home was a real butt clencher as Bart liked to say. Drew felt like a diamond might fall out of his boxers if this got any more tense. People stared hard at the U-Haul as they drove past. The shattered windshield and random bullet holes weren’t even the interesting part to most of the people standing along the streets. The only part those people were curious about was what was in the back of the truck.
They made it almost all the way to the main entrance to their subdivision without anything happening. As they were getting ready to turn in a cop car pulled out behind them and turned its flashers on. Not knowing what else to do Drew pulled over. He didn’t want to lead the cops to their house, and it wasn’t like he could outrun them. Yue kept right on going skipping by the entrance to their neighborhood.
“Make sure to talk really loud so I know what the cops are doing.” Yue said over the speaker phone.
“He’s probably pulling me over to see what’s in the back and take what he wants. That’s if he’s a bad cop who’s already given up. If he’s a good cop who still thinks he’s protecting people, then he may have some questions about the bullet holes and the blood covering the seats up here. It could just be some freak who found an abandoned cop car and is just going to shoot me and take the truck once he walks up here.” Drew responded nervously.
“So, it’s a lose-lose scenario pretty much then. Ok. Let me know if it’s one cop or two and what side of the truck he’s walking towards you on.” Yue said.
Suspicious of why that information was relevant Drew watched as the cop opened his car door and got out. He appeared to be alone although it was hard to tell using the U-Haul side mirrors. He let Yue know. The cop didn’t even pretend this was a normal stop. He disappeared from view in the back of the truck. Drew felt the vibration of the back door being slid open. A minute later the cop reappeared in the side view mirror with his pistol dangling from his hand. He looked excited as he walked towards Drew. Drew kept up the play by play over speaker phone with Yue.
“Put your hands on the steering wheel where I can see them.” The cop said once he reached the front of the truck.
“Why?” Drew asked. The simple question seemed to throw the cop off.
“Shut your mouth and open the door nice and slow or I’m going to open it for you. You’re not going to like how I open it.” The cop said holding up his pistol. Drew had his own pistol in his lap ready to go. He reached for the door handle right as he saw Yue driving towards them. He hesitated on the door handle wondering what she was up to.
“Did I do something wrong officer?” Drew asked. It was completely out of place to ask. The cop took his eyes off the approaching truck and looked back up at Drew with a grin.
“It looks like you either robbed a drug store or killed the guys who robbed a drug store. Either way you’re a criminal with a truck full of stuff my family can use to survive. I’m taking it. Whether you live or die depends – “ The cop stopped talking when Yue pulled up and called out to him.
“Excuse me officer do you
