Page 28 of Protecting Kelli
Flash couldn’t hold back the bark of shocked laughter that left his lips.
“Sorry, was that too gross?” she asked. “It’s true though. I’d rather die with you than have to be here by myself. So we’ll investigate this box and whatever’s in it together.”
Flash couldn’t stop himself. He turned and unerringly found her cheek with his free hand. “We aren’t dying,” hesaid, the thought completely unfathomable, now that he’d gotten to know Kelli a little better.
“Well, I hope not,” she said with a shrug he felt.
“Right. Okay. Let’s sit. Might as well be comfortable while we check it out, yeah?” he said, tugging on her hand, pulling her to the metal floor with him.
She situated herself right next to him, her thigh touching his. “For the record, even though I said I’d rather be blown up with you than sitting on the other side of this bus, that doesn’t mean I’m brave enough to touch whatever’s in that box. There could be mice or something. So I’ll leave that up to you…if that’s okay.”
It was more than okay. Flash didn’t mind that she was relying on him.
Moving slowly, he reached forward, finding the edge of the box. From what he remembered, it was about the size of a medium shipping box. Maybe a foot square.
Taking a deep breath, he reached in.
The first thing he touched was small and soft. He turned it over in his hands, not sure what he was holding but guessing it was some sort of cloth. He brought it up to his nose and sniffed. A little musty, but no alarm bells went off in his head. This could be useful.
“Hold out your hand,” he told Kelli.
“This isn’t one of those times you put something gross or scary in my hand and laugh at my reaction, is it?” she asked.
Flash laughed. He couldn’t believe he was finding anything funny about this situation, but he was. “No, promise. This feels like some sort of towel or cloth. I want you to hold it to your head.”
“I think the bleeding has stopped.”
“Even so. You can probably use it to clean your neck, if nothing else.”
He felt her fingers brush against his as she took the cloth from him.
“It’s tiny. Like, smaller than a washcloth. Whatisthis, and why would it be in the box?”
“Not sure. But I think it’s a torn piece of T-shirt. Probably their way to mess with us by not giving us an entire shirt. Hang on, let me see what else is in here,” Flash said, as he reached back into the box. He picked up something that felt somewhat heavy. Running his hands over it, Flash’s heart rate sped up. “Holy shit!”
“What? What is it?” Kelli asked, sounding a little alarmed.
“Sorry, nothing bad. I think it’s a radio.”
“A radio?”
“Yeah.” Flash turned a knob but nothing happened. No static, nothing. “Damn. It doesn’t work. But…hang on…” Turning it over, he found the compartment on the bottom that should’ve held the batteries. Opening it, he smiled. “It has batteries.”
“But it doesn’t work,” Kelli said, sounding confused.
“Yeah, but depending on what else is in here, we might be able to get some juice out of them anyway. Maybe even make a light.”
“A light?” The hope in Kelli’s voice had Flash realizing he’d fucked up. He shouldn’t have said anything until he was sure. But the thought of having some sort of light was too tantalizing to keep quiet about.
“Maybe. I’m no MacGyver, but I’ve seen him use wires with batteries enough that I think I can do it.”
“I have no doubt. What else is in there?”
The more stuff he found, the more Flash was sure that Heckle and Jeckle were fucking with them. They’d put things into this box that they probably thought were completely useless. That would demoralize them more than help.
There was water, which he recognized by the shape of the bottle—and was relieved the safety seal was still intact—but only one. That sucked, but it would’ve sucked more if there’d been no water at all…or additional captives in this bus, as it sounded like they’d planned.
A ballpoint pen, what felt like a conch shell, a couple of coins, a thick candle—but no matches or lighter—two cans but no can opener, a key—which was especially ridiculous, considering they were underground and Flash was certain there was no engine in this piece-of-shit bus—a Band-Aid, a bullet, a condom, a handful of what felt like uncooked pasta noodles, and a spoon.
