Read Frankenstorm: Survivors for Free Online

Just drive back to Sacramento. She didn’t get the money, she’d nearly been killed, the whole thing was a waste of time and energy and money and it was all because she’d needed the money for that sick little fucker who was probably sitting on his ass in comfort right now while she risked her goddamned life to scrape up some money for the fucking tingling and numbness in his leg and arm and—
    “You little shit box!” she shouted as she pounded a fist on the steering wheel repeatedly. “I’ll be home soon, fucker, and then we’ll see who gets to be comfortable, you goddamned waste of space!”
    Memories flitted through her mind of the days when she had only herself to worry about, before she had children, when she had so much time and energy. She pressed harder on the gas pedal, telling herself she would have that again. Very soon.

    “That looks like the end of the road for us,” Andy said as he stopped the SUV. He peered through the windshield at the mess up ahead. “In this direction, anyway.”
    Just ahead, the road disappeared in what looked like a large pond. Just beyond that, a huge tree had fallen across the road.
    “What are we gonna do, Dad?” Donny asked.
    Andy was struck by how calm Donny was, while his own heart was still beating too fast and he was jumpy with tension. He put the SUV in park and it idled as he looked all around them through the windows.
    The wind was still blowing detritus over the road and tossing the trees in what looked like throes of agony, and the rain was still pouring hard enough to decrease visibility, but the storm had lost some of its intensity.
    “We passed a side road just a little bit ago,” he said as he put the car into gear again, made a U-turn in the road, and headed back.
    “Where do you think it goes?”
    “I don’t know, but it would be a good place to park for a little while. What do you think? Shall we park and wait for the storm to die down a little more, then we can go back the way we came.”
    Donny’s back stiffened and, with a note of alarm, he said, “You mean back to that house?”
    “No, not there. We’ll go home.”
    The boy slumped in the seat and smiled a little, relieved. “Oh. Yeah. That’d be nice.”
    Up ahead, a set of headlights was driving toward them, with another set right behind it. The first car crossed Andy’s lane to turn onto a side road, followed by the second. They were two large, black SUVs, luxury gas guzzlers.
    “That’s the road,” Andy said. “Where those two SUVs just turned in.”
    Andy slowed as he approached the road. He turned right and his headlights passed over a road sign that read OGDEN PASS. He was just in time to see the two SUVs turning left up ahead and driving into the woods.
    “Maybe they live here,” Donny said.
    “There are no homes in those woods. There use to be an old mental hospital somewhere in there, but it’s been abandoned for a long time. I don’t even know if it’s still standing.”
    “I wonder why they’re going into the woods.”
    “I’m sure they have a reason.” Andy made a U-turn on Ogden Pass before reaching the road the SUVs had taken, then pulled over onto the shoulder. He turned off the engine and killed the lights. “Okay, we’re just going to sit here for a little while.”
    “Why don’t we just keep driving?”
    “Well, to be honest, I’m a little nervous about passing by that house again. Ram is going to be coming out of there, if he hasn’t already. I’m probably being too cautious and a little cowardly, but I’d rather wait here. For a little while, anyway. The storm is receding, and if we wait awhile, driving will be easier and safer. Okay, buddy?”
    “Yeah, sure. Can I turn on the radio?”
    “Yeah, let’s find some music.”
    Donny found an upbeat song that he knew and sang along to. But Andy didn’t know it, and he didn’t feel like singing, anyway. He didn’t want Donny to know, but he was still feeling quite nervous. No, that wasn’t