Chapter 28 - Part III

                                    

                                          
 Lizzie watched Duke staring at the roadway, speeding south, pushing triple digits on the speedometer. Snow fell outside. The new flakes stuck immediately to the frozen ground and the ice and snow from other recent weather. Why was he helping her? And more importantly why did she trust him? Her brain made the logical connection again—he didn’t feel like C.J.
                          
Glen called back and Lizzie gave him a thumbnail sketch of the last few days. He was hiding out in a janitor’s closet with a bunch of computers monitoring the campus cameras. But no food. He was grumpy and hungry, but not that angry. He had planned for this contingency and made it look like he headed north when the campus was invaded. Maybe they would give up and move on.
                          
About 15 minutes later, Duke and Lizzie pulled into the Hoagies Corner station. Lizzie jumped out before the truck stopped. Zach and Nev ran out to meet her, mashing her into one giant hug. Rachael and Saj, Charley and Spike came out, standing in the light dusting of snow. Everyone talked at once as they reunited.
                          
Duke came around the side of the truck and the conversation died. Spike spotted him and dove for him, going for his throat. Rachael screamed.
                          
Lizzie jumped on Spike’s back. “NO, Spike. He’s okay. Zach, help!” With Zach’s help they pulled Spike off Duke. Charley was hugging Spike’s leg. Saj howled.
                          
Duke jerked his handgun out.
                          
“Please, Duke, no! He’s protecting me.” Lizzie hollered. To Spike she spoke in a soothing voice, “Hey, big man. It’s okay. Lizzie’s okay.”
                          
Duke breathed heavy, his cheek bloodied and dripping where Spike had scraped him. “I’m okay.” He wiped his cheek and glared at Spike. He got back in his truck without another word.
                          
“Duke!? That’s Duke?” Zach flipped out. “What are you doing with Duke? This is the guy hunting you down for revenge? Half the reason we left Bellingham. And now you are all cozy?”
                          
Nev put a placating hand on his arm, but she looked as hurt and confused as Zach.
                          
“It’s not what you think.” Lizzie blushed. “He saved our lives.”
                          
“You almost got me killed, Lizzie.”
                          
“What the hell are you talking about?”
                          
Zach’s phone rang. He glared at it and handed it to Lizzie.
                          
Lizzie grabbed it. The screen said Jess. “Jess?”
                          
“Oh, my god, Lizzie. We thought you were dead.”
                          
Her friend’s voice made her happy. “I almost was.” Lizzie laughed. “How’s my dad?”
                          
“Uh. He’s sort of passed out. I don’t think he’d had a drink in a really long time. Kind of overdid it when he heard.”
                          
Oh, god, Mama was right. “Where are you?” Lizzie asked.
                          
“Just north of Provo, northbound on the highway.” Jess gave her the mile marker number.
                          
“Okay. We’re on our way.”
                          
Lizzie helped Spike back into the Tank. She wanted to ride with Zach and Nev to explain, but she didn’t want Duke to feel deserted. She gave Nev and Zach hugs. “Please don’t judge me. At least not yet. We can talk. Right now, I’ll ride with Duke.”
                          
“Whatever,” Zach said and turned away.
                          
It hurt to see Zach so angry with her.
                          
Nev gave her another hug. “Let’s go get your dad.”
                          
Lizzie nodded, knowing that if she spoke she would probably break out in tears. Saj and Rachael were already in the truck when she climbed in.
                          
“You all right?” she asked Duke.
                          
“Yeah.” He dabbed his face with a red handkerchief. “Guess he owed me one. Sure is protective of you.”
                          
“Zach or Spike?”
                          
“Both.”
                          
Zach pulled out and Duke shoved the truck into gear and followed him. They hit the freeway headed south.
                          
“You okay to drive?” Lizzie asked. The snow spinning, flying at the windshield was hypnotic.
                          
“Yeah, I’m not going to fall asleep.”
                          
Duke’s eyes pulled away from Lizzie and returned to the road. What was he thinking? His scruffy beard made him look younger than she thought he was. He must be about 25. Would they have ever connected back in the day? Lizzie shook off the direction her brain was going.
                          
“What you said back there. It wasn’t the whole truth. When I saw you at the house, I wanted to hurt you. When I started following you from Bellingham… Well, my dad…” He stopped talking again and drove, staring ahead into the night. “Came a lot of miles with only my own thoughts for company.”
                          
“So when did you decide you didn’t want to hurt me?”
                          
He laughed, a quiet single chuckle. “When that guy had his gun pointed at you. If anybody was going to kill you, I was.”
                          
Lizzie couldn’t decide how she felt, so she sat and pondered, watching the snowflakes spin. Duke wasn’t the villain she imagined. But she hardly knew him. “So, what about you? What did you do before the uh…? What do we call it, the plague? Sounds stupid.”
                          
“I dunno. Plague sounds good to me. Pandemic sounds too quiet.”
                          
“Yeah, too quiet. That’s it. ‘The Quieting.’ I didn’t even know the word pandemic a year ago.”
                          
“Well, before the plague, ‘The Quieting.’” He smiled over at her. “I took classes at Whatcom Community College. Wanted to be an electrical engineer, but we didn’t have the money. My part-time job as an electrician’s assistant got in the way of the classes. I was stupid.” He smiled at her. “Not ‘cause I couldn’t do the schoolwork, but the pay was good for a poor kid, so I stopped going to classes.” He sighed.
                          
“I skipped a lot of classes for no good reason.”
                          
“Yeah, well, high school’s free. After a while, the job sucked; I could hardly stand the guy I worked for. He was a friend of my dad’s. Not that I liked my dad, either. He was a lot like C.J.”
                          
“I’ve never seen my dad. Not since I remember. Mom kicked him out when I was three.” Lizzie couldn’t believe she was telling him about her dad. She hadn’t talked much about her dad with Zach or Nev or Jess. “I hope he’s worth this trip. Better not be the asshole mom said he was.” The trip had seemed like the most logical thing to do.
                          
Duke glanced across at her. “I’m sure he’s worth it.”
                          
“Weird thing is, if you hadn’t scared me, the box might not have gotten smashed and I might not have found his number.”
                          
He tossed her a quizzical smile. “That is weird. I don’t believe in religion or fate, but sometimes… Things like that make me wonder.”
                          
Lizzie saw headlights coming toward them through the softly falling snow. Her heart leapt. The road sign said the next exit was Bountiful. Lizzie smiled. She felt pretty bountiful. Now that she was almost with her father, she realized she wanted that more than anything.
                          
They were driving on the wrong side of the highway. Zach’s idea, of course. It made sense. Then they couldn’t miss her dad and Jess.
                          
“Oh, shit.” Duke slammed on the brakes, the truck slid sideways, threatening to go over on its side. “Look at that.”