Tell me what we're running from.

[Erin]

Day 1, 02:15 a.m.

The night was cold, dark. Stars glittered across the sky, framing a bright half moon. The freeway was quiet, and cars were scarce. The Range Rover barely hummed, the engine utterly silent, but the car vibrated slightly, a softly comforting feeling under the palms on the steering wheel. Fifteen minutes ago, the rain had lashed at the windows of the car, heavily blurring the wispy reflections in the glass. The light of the blue glowing buttons on the dashboard had thrown their faces into a half, ghostly light. Later the rain had frozen into snow, which had stopped only a few minutes ago. Frost lined the sides of the road, glimmering when the headlamps of a car fell across them. Frost had been parted over the road in two parallel lines that the cars had driven over, glittering slightly under the lights as it passed.

Silence had fallen across the early morning, the heavy sense of slumber had settled upon the roads. Nathan sat back in silence, hands on the leather steering wheel of the Range Rover. Erin lay asleep in the passenger seat beside him, her head resting on the car window, mist-blue eyes occulted by azure-lidded slumber.


"Come on, we need to go!"
Erin hadn't argued. Nathan knew something she didn't and since he couldn't explain to her exactly what was wrong, Erin trusted his intuition. Something was serious. She'd flung the rucksack on her back, seen Nathan holding his Police service Glock 17, and followed suit, grabbing the Smith and Wesson from it's mounted bracket above the spice rack in the kitchen. She'd ducked under Nathan's arm as she left, ran down the stairs of their Minnesota apartment. She'd pulled herself into the passenger seat, fastened her seat belt, watched Nathan climb into the Rover and key the ignition. Then they were off without another word.


Nathan took one hand from the steering wheel, heating up the air conditioning to warm up the interior of the car. As if this very movement had disturbed her, Erin's eyes flickered open and stared through the windscreen.
"Where are we?"
"Frederick, South Dakota."
"And where are we headed?"
"Montana."
Erin let her head fall back against her headrest. Nathan had family in Montana, but his parents lived in Minnesota. Hers did too.
"Why Montana?" she asked.
"It might be safer, and we have somewhere to go."
"Safe from what?"
"I don't know."
There it was again, that cursed 'I don't know'. If he didn't know how to explain something he should at least try. All this unknown, mysterious danger was making her feel sick with worry. Erin just couldn't handle the anonymity that made her imagination do overtime and her gut expect the worst.
"What time is it?" she croaked.
"Check the BlackBerry."
Erin leaned forwards, unplugged the handset from the charge cable and plucked it from its cradle. She keyed off the screen saver and groaned, "Quarter past two. Have you had a rest from driving yet?"
Nathan mutely shook his head.
"Nate, come on, you've gotta get some rest. Pull over, or we can find a hostel to stay in overnight."
"We don't have time."
"We have all the time in the world! Pull over, Nathan."
"No."
"Pull over! I'm not having you fall asleep at the wheel!"
"I'm not tired."
Erin stared at her roommate. Something had come over him, and it freaked her out. "That's not the point. I can drive if you want, Nate. Just tell me why we can't stop. Tell me what we're running from."
"I can't, Erin!"
"Nathan, you're worrying me! Now f*cking pull over right now, and dammit- I mean now!"
Finally he obeyed. He swung the Range Rover onto the sidewalk, stuck his foot down on the brake. The car lurched to a halt. Nathan applied the handbrake. He looked at her, and Erin unfastened her seat belt.
"We're changing sides, I'm driving," she said, and shouldered open the car door. She stepped down into the night, and both of them walked around the front of the car, their shadows fluttering through the headlamps. Erin climbed into the driver's side, closed the door, buckled herself in. Convinced that Nathan had done the same, she indicated and pulled back out onto the road. "Right," she said, running her tongue along the retainer inside her mouth. "You're gonna tell me what the f*ck is going on here, Nate, because I swear to God, you are scaring the holy sh*t outta me and I can't take it anymore."
There was silence. Erin glanced across at him as he found his words. "Please..." her voice was softer this time, "Just tell me."
"Erin, I don't even know where to begin."
"Let me start you off. It obviously happened yesterday... so you woke up at half seven as usual, got dressed, went to work. Then what?"
"It's not as easy as that."
Erin sighed, eying a shining sign of a capital 'M' over a McDonald's. "Fancy some food? I'll pay."
"I'm starving," Nathan moaned, sounding more like the man she knew. Erin grinned, pulled into the parking lot and looped around to head through the Drive-Through. Nathan seemed petrified of staying in one place for too long, so she was staying in the car to please him. Indeed, having food handed through the open window seemed to soothe him. He could get fed without stopping. Unfortunately, they would need to stop the car for a toilet break. Erin turned the car around and headed into North Dakota. Aeons passed with silence filled the car along with the smell of fast food and as time passed they turned off the major roads and headed onto the smaller roads without street lamps or pedestrians.
"So Nathan," Erin began, passing the sign reading 'Welcome to Brenshaw', "Tell me everything."

[Erin]

Day 1, 02:50 a.m.

For the longest time there was naught but the inexorable, insufferable silence. This time, however, Erin nearly got the feeling that Nathan was going to tell her, merely struggling for the words and the courage to do so. Erin unconsciously held her breath, semi-afraid of exhaling and with it blowing away her one chance at knowing what had gotten Nathan so uneasy.
In the end, Nathan hung his head. Try as he might, it seemed he simply couldn't find the words. Her sense of great unease intensified, and a pang of fear lurched in her lower gut. Nathan, steady and reliable, easy-going, well-natured, gentle, and so likable, was aware of something that was beyond her understanding, imagination or both. Her Nathan, with his broad smiles and ringing laughter, with his strong assurance that told all those around him that he could be relied upon like a rock, had been shaken, and in turn it shuddered Erin's own foundations that relied upon his steadfast demeanor. Where Nathan cracked, she too, would crumble.

Erin could say nothing. Her wide-spaced, misty blue eyes checked the rear-view mirror, finding no traffic behind her and none ahead. She'd never been as aware of cutting the umbilical cord than when she moved into their shared flat, but now, across strange states, nearly alone and completely unknowing, Erin felt more alone than ever.
"What did the sign back there say?" she whispered. In the dark, blue-lit interior of the car, their Shadow Sanctuary, there was little need to raise her voice any more than necessary. Her own whisper, however, shocked her with just how afraid she sounded.
" 'Welcome to Brenshaw.' " Nathan quoted.
"D'you have any idea where we are?"
"North Dakota I think," he responded, leaning forwards to unfold a map from the glove compartment. There was a few seconds where Nathan thumbed through the road map, the quiet punctuated only by the papery legato of turning pages. With a nod, he confirmed their location, passed the map to Erin. She pinned it against the steering wheel as she drove, eyes fluttering between the road and the unfurled geography before her.
"There should be a town up ahead. We can refuel, buy some food, and I don't car what you say, we're finding a motel for the night."
Erin was never normally one to give out orders. She took them, waited for someone else to act before following. At the head of a group, she was unsure and unsteady, dreading that a wrong decision on her part could result in more harm than good. For that reason, she generally stuck behind Nathan, playing follow-the-leader as it were, but as Nathan was weakening before her very eyes, she had to step up, she had no choice but to be a guider... or else Nathan may snap altogether.
Nathan sank down into his seat, seemingly happy with Erin's decision, receiving the map as Erin passed it back. He folded it, pressed it back into the glove compartment, leaned back on the headrest. Time passed in silence, even within their ageless cocoon of shadow and impervious night, with only the dashboard clock to make Erin aware of the existence of the universe revolving without them. She felt as if the same stretch of road was repeating over and over again, and she was trapped outside of reality with no choice but to watch the world move on, living and laughing and loving without her there alongside the rest of mankind. Unloved, unmissed, unneeded. A watcher.

It wasn't a particularly long journey, but it seemed arduous nonetheless. With the passing of time the cluster of lights in the distance grew closer. The settlements of humanity were close. Neither of them had spoken since Nathan put the map away. It was now half past three, and Erin was glad to pull into a service station. She pulled up alongside the petrol pump, applied the handbrake. In the passenger seat, Nathan was asleep, his head resting peacefully against the window in placid slumber. Erin didn't want to wake him- he deserved his rest. She unplugged the BlackBerry from the cigarette lighter, and plucked it from the handset cup holder. Pocketing the console, slipped out of the Range Rover, quietly closed the door behind her and circled the vehicle. It had been raining recently, and there was still light drizzle, the light mist of water scintillating in the air like flecks of powdered mirror. The concrete floor glistened with a slick of moisture, the dim yellow lighting tossed long shadows into the damp night air. The air smelled of petrol and smoky rubber. She popped off the fuel cap and quickly filled the tank with diesel, watching the digits roll up on the pump. Eventually she put the pump down, and went to pay.

Erin stepped into the shop with the discordant jangling of the store bell. She plucked out a couple of sandwiches from the cooler - a BLT for herself, and a salmon and cucumber for Nathan- along with a couple of bottles of Lucozade. Dumping them all on the counter, she paid for the food and the diesel together, received her stuff in a plastic bag and put in back in the car. She closed the door again, leaned against it as she drew the phone out of her pocket and switched it on, making an impatient wordless sound as she waited for the phone company logo and the preliminary data to fade. She waited for the BlackBerry to catch its signal, and dialed her parent's number, put it to her ear. It rang once, twice, cut to the answer phone. They were probably asleep.

'Hi, you've reached Jared and Bryony Carter. We can't take your call at the moment, so leave a message. Thanks.'
Her mother's clear, cut glass accent came through the mobile, flawlessly articulated as Erin had always remembered her. A dance instructor, even her voice was elegant. It would have been reassuring to hear her father's voice too, but Bryony would have never let his sense of humor anywhere near the recording.
The message beeped. She was free to talk.
"Hi mom, dad, this is Erin. Listen, I'm not gonna be able to make it to the dinner on Thursday. Something came up and me and Nathan are in North Dakota now. Everything's fine, we're safe." Erin paused. She wanted to say something more, something reassuring for her parents to hear, rather than simply having the knowledge of their only daughter scarpering to North Dakota thrust upon them. Erin wished she could say something else, anything else, but Nathan had given her no explanation, so there was nothing she could pass along to them. "So, um, I'll give you a ring soon, or you can call me on this number, and I'll ring when we get back to Minnesota. Bye." Erin ended the call.

Suddenly fatigued, she let her arms droop, her head lolling back against the car window. Erin let loose a sigh, swept back her straight bangs from a freckled face. She pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping she couldn't feel a headache coming on. After a glance into the car she saw that Nathan was still fast asleep. Not even a nuclear explosion could wake him now.
Feeling listless, Erin didn't want to climb back into the Range Rover. Not just yet. She felt like there was something she had to wait for first.

(Thread open to any replies.)

[Michael]

Day 1 2:50 am

Lucas read the magazine he had laid on the counter. He never bought magazines anymore, simply reading from the ones he plucked from the stand while he worked. Gus had now been keeping the store open 24/7 for a month, and it seemed Lucas always ended up being the guy working into the wee hours of the morning. He hadn't really minded, he had already swithced to taking nightclasses to get his last few credits. Besides, the store was never very active at night, and when he felt inclined he could get in some studying. He remembered Gus' words upon handing him the set of keys that come with the title of Assistant manager, "You been here a long time kid, I'm makin' you my second in command." So, Lucas had received a slight pay raise and the ability to boss others around, something he never felt comftorable doing. He also became the man trusted to run things when Gus wasn't around, for example, in the middle of the night.

Lucas yawned as he overheard the crackling transmissions of the police scanner. He had turned it down earlier as it seemed the city was full of action, and the radio jargon endless. He decided in the midst of his boredom to turn it back up and distract himself from his remaining time at work in yet another fashion. This time the call was apparently aimed at catching some looters who were at large. Lucas had heard of mini riots and looting in the northside of Brenshaw several times during the day. It was surprising as he didn't know of any one group in Brenshaw known for rioting. Oh, well hometown rock hero Matt Johnson had come back to do a show, a show many of Lucas' friends were attending without him, maybe some overzealous fans.

Lucas looked up as he heard the dinging sound from the top of the entryway, indicating a customer. It was a man in his late fourties early fifties. The man wore a cap with the number of some racecar driver Lucas had never heard of. The guy didn't say much, just bought some coffee, paid for his gas, and took his leave. Lucas had instinctively turned the scanner back down, as was the custom upon the entry of a customer. He perused the magazine again, looking up to notice a girl at the register. She had laid a couple of sandwiches and two bottles of lucozade on the counter and paid for it along with some diesel. Lucas bagged her items and she exited the store. As Lucas watched her leave he questioned himself. He was always the nice guy. I should've talked to her he thought. It's just been a long night and she didn't seem particularly talkative anyway. She had had a look on her face hard to describe, maybe forlorn. Lucas watched as the girl put the items in the Range Rover, and closed the door. She stood on the outside and made a call on her cell phone. As she put away her phone she remained outside the vehicle, just standing there. Lucas couldn't help but feel sympathetic to the girl. He took a look around, no customers. He put on his jacket and exited the store and approached the girl.

Lucas walked up to the pump the girl had parked her car at. He spoke up, "Not from around here, huh?" The girl simply nodded. "Well I'm Lucas, welcome to Brenshaw" He smiled, extending his arms to sarcastically present Brenshaw as some majestic land. Not really getting a reaction from the girl, something caught his eye. A passenger, asleep inside the vehicle. Lucas caught himself, and then felt like an idiot, peering into someone else's car. He looked back at the girl again. She may have been about to answer him, but stopped as he looked into the car. Lucas again spoke, "Well, if you guys need a place to rest. There's a hotel right up the road. Take a left out of the parking lot, and then the first right you see. Keep going down that road and you can't miss it. It's owned by the same guy that owns this place, it isn't the Hilton but there's always vacancy."

They were both suddenly startled as the approaching sounds of sirens were heard. Then an ambulance followed by a police car passed traveling at top speed. Lucas looked back at the girl, "It's been crazy all day. I got a scanner in the store. I'm gonna go see if I can find out what's going on." He noted that the man in the passengers's seat was still sound asleep, he must have been extremely tired. "You're welcome to come listen in if you're not in a hurry."

OOC: Sorry. I contemplated doing several different things, but in the end they all seemed rather 'Road Warrior.' Feel free to just have Erin leave and continue your thread if you want. My feelings will not be hurt.