The next thing I heard was even worse than the sound of Andy's bones snapping.
It was the sound of the excavator dumping a solid ton of dirt on top of the truck.
They were going to bury us alive.
41
Tess
I'd never been in a cavalcade before, but I was leading one now.
Hooray for town text chains!
I drove my car, with Uncle Mike riding shotgun—carrying an actual shotgun.
Charithra and Phin were behind us with Deputy Underhill.
And behind them? Easily a hundred Dead Enders, and most of them were probably armed. Mrs. Frost had even loaned me her crossbow.
I patted it and glanced at Uncle Mike. "It's going to be unpleasant crossing the magical barrier, Alejandro said."
His face was grim. "Jack isn't answering his phone, which means he's in trouble. I'm not letting anything happen to him until after we build that dang garage."
"Garage?"
He frowned. "Forget I said that."
The UltraShopMart site came into view, so I shoved the garage comment away to think about later. Aunt Ruby was back in town calling in the National Guard, the Army, the Navy, and probably the Forest Service.
Mr. Craven and his thugs were going to regret ever stepping foot in Dead End.
"Here we go," I yelled out the window, and then I floored it.
There was a brief feeling of vertigo, a bout of what felt like severe motion sickness, and then we were through. I raced up to the edge of the pit where Craven, Chuckles, and a few others stood, guns on their shoulders, watching while somebody dumped dirt down into the hole.
Then I slammed the car into park and leapt out, pulling the bow up in one smooth motion and pointing the bolt at Craven's center mass.
"Stop that machineright now!"
Chuckles raised his gun, but my uncle called out to him. "Better not."
I glanced over to see that Uncle Mike's gun was aimed at the thug's heart.
Craven started to say something, a sneer on his ugly face. But then my cavalcade poured through the barrier and surrounded us. Everybody jumped out of their cars and pointed dozens of lethal weapons at the UltraShopMart people, who stared around in shock and then put their guns on the ground and raised their hands.
The guy driving the excavator shut it off, hopped out, and started running. Deputy Underhill chased after him and tackled him, which raised a cheer on our side.
I could tell the bad guys knew we'd beaten them.
All except Chuckles.
He roared something, jerked to the side, and shoved Craven, knocking him into the pit. Then he started running toward the truck parked on the other side of a trailer, aiming his gun back at us over his shoulder.
Craven screamed, and then the scream ended with an ugly thump. I ran forward, my heart in my throat. I didn't want to see his broken body, but I needed to know if Jack and Andy were down there. Before I reached the edge of the pit, though, Jack leapt out of the hole with Craven's unconscious body under his arm.
"Is he—?"
"He fainted," Jack said in disgust. "We need medics for Andy. I think he's going to be okay, but he has a few broken bones. I clawed my way out of the roof—they didn't reinforce the steel there."
