“Bring me something to wedge against this door,” she called out. Her voice sounded muted to her ears, absorbed by the drifts of snow.
The clown banged hard against the door, knocking Jadine back an inch. Forcing her shoulder tight to the metal, she muscled it closed again. The clown continued to bang and push, but his efforts weakened in heat.
Trevin and Stacy dragged a tower of nesting totes over and snugged them up to the door jam, all three scooping and piling snow tight around the base to hold them in place. For a strained moment the door continued to shake in its frame, then the pounding grew lighter and less frequent. Cautiously, Jadine moved away from the door.
“It’s going to hold,” she said with confidence. “Go, go, go.”
Plowing through the thick snow, moving almost in slow motion, they ran for the parking lot. Stacy dragged her keys from her coat pocket and popped the locks. All three piled into her van. With practiced precision, Stacy jammed the key into the ignition and cranked it over. The engine ground twice then caught. There was a collective exhale of relief.
“Crap,” Stacy groaned, flipping the wiper switch up and down. The wipers didn’t budge. Someone needs to clean the windshield. Trevin?”
“Me?” Trevin grasped from the backseat where he sat shivering in the cold. “Why me? I don’t even have a coat.”
“You can wear mine,” Stacy said, struggling out of hers. Jadine stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“I’ll do it,” she said. “Do you have a scraper?”
Stacy fished around beneath her feet and pulled out a battered country music case. She handed it to Jadine with a shake of her head. “Best I got.”
Jadine took it. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d cleared a windshield with a CD case. Looking warily through the side window, she opened the door and stepped back out into the snow. Eyes on the exit door, watching for any signs of approaching clowns, she made her way to the front of the vehicle and began to dig her way down to the glass. When she’d removed enough of the snow to see the wiper blade, she used the CD case to chip away at the ice holding it captive. She could hear the grinding as it desperately tried to do its job, but until she cleared the driver’s side, it was stuck in place.
From behind her, she could hear the clown banging away at the door again. Spooked she hurried to the driver’s sid of the van to work that blade free. From there she hac a clear view of the door.
She’d nearly finished when she hear the scrape of the red containers being shoved away from the door. Fear took hold of her heart, sending it galloping in her chest. Snapping the blade back against the window, she waded back to the passenger door.
“It’s out,” she reported, climbing onto the seat, and locking the door behind her.
“Buckle up, we’re out of here,” Stacy said, dropping the transmission into reverse.
The van bucked and slid in drifted snow, the wheels struggling to gain purchase. Pumping the acceloator, Stacy rocked the van until the wheels cut the snow and they cleared the parking space. She eased on the brake and shifted into low. The wheels spun and van jerked to one side.
“Are we stuck?” Fear saturated every word. Nervously he glanced around.
“Don’t worry. I have all-wheel-drive, it’ll catch in a second.”
Trevin let out a howl that made both women jump.
“It’s there, it’s there!” He pointed out the side window. “Hurry, Stacy.”
The shambling jester moved through the snow, gaining momentum as he went, reinvigorated by the cold. Teeth bared, eyes glowing menacingly, he raced forward. His body thumped the passenger side door, gloved hands tearing at the window. The glass cracked beneath the attacking fists. Jadine screamed.
Stacy tromped down on the gas pedal. The van jerked violently, knocking the clown to the side. The caught and van rocketed forward in a loud of burning rubber and flying snow.
“Where is it? Where is it?” Stacy screamed.
They careened across the parking lot, the bumper plowing snow as they went.
“You hit when we jerked sideways. I lost it under the tires,” Jadine said, craning her neck to catch a look at the downed clown. Seeing nothing but flying snow, she hoped the creature was in pieces behind them. Remembering the outcome of clown pieces, she retracted the thought.
“Is it dead?” Stacy asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t see it,” Jadine said.
Foot hard on the pedal, Stacy didn’t slow down when they reached the road. The van shot forward, lurched across the sidewalk and bounced into the intersection. She cranked the wheel to the left, sending the vehicle into a terrifying slide. Jadine braced herself for a crash. To her amazement, Stacy expertly straightened it out and continued on, headed for the interstate. Above them, she could see the yellow flashing lights of the snowplows, clearing the interstate lines headed the opposite direction.
They’d nearly reached the on-ramp when red and blue lights appeared in the distance behind them.
“I think the cops just showed up at the Full Stop,” Stacy said, eyes on the rearview mirror. “Should we go back?”
“No!” Jadine and Trevin said in unison.
Jadine leaned over the seat to see out the back window. Sure enough, each patrol car swung into the parking lot they’d recently vacated. The lights kept coming.