As we walked along the road, Ashley didn't relent on questions. She pestered me over and over on my family, my history with Linus, etc. I rolled my eyes, sighed, and gave her the usual answer.
"I don't want to talk about it."
She pouted and huffed and we walked in silence for a few miles. Luckily for her, I loved the silent game, because it gave me more time to think. Inside my head, I needed to seriously consider our options. Being on the border of New Jersey and then being asked to head for Utah was some pretty tough business. I had to think of a safe and quick transport to the West. I pushed her out of my mind and zeroed into reality again. Right on time too, because right in front of us?
An abandoned car.
I held my arm out and approached it, hand on sword. As I got to it, I immediately triple checked for signs of life and smiled.
"What are you smiling about?"
Oh, I guess the silence game was over at that point. I turned to Ashley.
"This, my friend, is our ticket to the West."
She snorted. "Yeah, because you know how to drive. Isn't that breaking the law?"
I gave her a classic "Hermes kid with a crazy idea" look. "What I'm doing isn't illegal. Hop in."
She gave me an intrigued look, popped into the front seat, and buckled up. "There's no key in the ignition and I don't know how to wire a car."
I laughed aloud. "Relax. Everyone's a little tense on their first time."
She yelled. "What fir-"
I pushed my hands on the back of the car and started to pick up the pace.
By her screaming, I could tell she was still a little tense as we took off. I put my mind into space again. As I pushed random thoughts away and searched my memories, I finally pulled up my file on Linus. I stared at it for a second, opened it, and extracted any useless information that could endanger me. I didn't need anyone knowing about the past. I threw the papers away just as Ashley screamed, "Car!"
I snapped into reality and swerved in time to miss a honking Toyota. I could see more plants growing around us as we sped on the highway. We must be around Oklahoma, I thought, judging from prior experiences and factoring in time and stereotypes. As I heard a hissing noise, I stopped. Ashley opened the door, clambered out, and vomited, right on the highway.
"You know, it's common courtesy for those who need to puke to do it off the road. That way, community service guys will be happier."
She wiped her mouth. "Shut up. Maybe you should go slower." She grinned.
I rolled my eyes. "Come on. I want to get this quest over with so we can go home faster."
We stopped and looked at each other, staring into our eyes. "We've changed, from the beginning, haven't we?" She whispered.
I shook my head. "Maybe you have. I just revisited some memories." The moment I said that, I punched myself in my mind face. That statement would mean more questions. Strangely though, she was quiet. I checked the tires.
"Huh, that's weird. I thought I heard a hissing sound."
"So?"
"So the tires are intact."
Ever been surprised before? Maybe you were watching Paranormal Activity or playing Five Nights at Freddy's? Well, people underestimate what some people take for surprise. I grew up not being surprised by much, since I knew what people's tendencies were. Nevertheless, I was extremely surprised when my body started to flare up in pain.
I screamed and fell to the ground as I felt something hot pass by me, along with a shriek and a sizzle. I looked through half closed eyes at Ashley, hands glowing and at the burnt skin in front of her. I closed my eyes.
Great, I thought, we're going into this blind. I opened up some files and tried to access my ears. No sound. I was losing control of my body. I couldn't move or speak. I could barely do anything. I stood in the field of my mind, trying with all my might to restore functions. I managed to get my sight back, only to find a blurry image of pure light in front of me.
As I kept working at it, I felt some changing in me. I started to work less efficiently. My head stopped having as many pop ups. I began to forget my purpose. I watched the field slowly deteriorating and floating into a black abyss. Oh gods, I thought, my heart rate. I rushed to some of my last functions: my lungs and my heart. My lungs were slowly taking less air in and my heart was pumping less and less oxygenated blood. I again tried to make my body cooperate with my mind, but it continually would not respond.
I eventually stopped and sat there staring into the darkness I would go into. I thought about her. She would know what to do, she always knew. I thought of Ashley, of how she would have to stop the quest and to go home.
And then, miraculously, the darkness stopped spreading. In fact, it started to spit out my functions again. I stared in awe of what was happening. Slowly, but surely, I could feel again. I could breathe again. I began to hear ragged breathing and woke up...
To her giving mouth to mouth to me.
I sputtered, sat up, and tried to get a hold of myself. I could see my left arm bandaged up and when I moved it, I could feel the pain again. I stared at her as she checked my breathing and sighed with relief. I coughed and choked out.
"That's twice today you've saved my life."
She laughed. "If it makes you feel better, Will taught me everything I needed to know about healing. You should thank him instead."
I nodded. "Ok." I looked up at the sky and yelled. "THANKS WILL." It felt good to be alive and to make her laugh again. As night fell again, I took first watch on the highway. She couldn't' tell why I was smirking so much and slid into her sleeping bag. I made sure she was asleep before jumping up and down, silently yelling my head off.
She kissed me! Maybe it was for resuscitating purposes, but she still kissed me! YEAH! Finally, a chance to escape the friend-zone. I told myself to play it cool for the next few days and to not screw up the moment. After two hours of nonstop self-congratulation, I woke her up, slid into my bag, and went to sleep.
