Somewhere To Run To || Lunch Club AU

all this time

They drove for the whole night, then the whole day, taking turns for a few meagre hours of sleep. Fear of the monsters, fear for Charlie, simple desperation to get somewhere safe, kept them going even when Ted began to doubt his ability to drive straight.

All of that was worth the rush of relief when they saw a town appear on the horizon, though. It was the same one Ted had marked on his map, the same one where Charlie would be waiting for them, their safe haven. In the driver's seat, Schlatt grinned at him, and Ted grinned back.

They parked the car at the edge of town. As the glow of the setting sun shone through the windshield, shining off Ted's glasses, they sat in the silence for a moment, neither willing to make the first move. Anticipation and excitement buzzed in Ted's veins, but nervousness and fear blurred together with them. They hadn't had contact with Charlie for almost twenty-four hours. Neither knew exactly what to expect.

Eventually, Ted exhaled sharply, sat up and moved his hand to the car door. "Shall we?"

"...yeah." Schlatt grabbed his baseball bat from the floor of the car, and they opened their doors simultaneously.

They moved slowly through the deafening silence of the town, jumping at even the slightest noise. Even now, Ted couldn't quite get over the wrongness of seeing the empty streets and lifeless buildings, the stillness in a space that should have been bustling with activity. There were no cars kicking up dust on the roads, no groups of people lost in conversation on the sidewalks, nobody sitting in the warm glows of cafes or moving in and out of busy stores. Their only company was the disappearing daylight and the forlorn whistle of the wind.

As they walked, something strange caught Ted's eye. It was a flower, growing by the side of the road. Large, bright blue, and utterly out of place in this climate. He looked away, dismissing it as unimportant, but as they continued he couldn't help but notice more strange plants around the town. Shrubs, clumps of blossoms, and even a succulent here and there. Always planted nearly the same distance apart. One would be small enough to avoid notice, but once Ted started noticing the patterns, it couldn't be anything but deliberate.

Mulling over what that could mean, Ted almost missed the building that matched the address Charlie had given them. He only looked up when he almost bumped into Schlatt, who had come to a sudden stop in front of the convenience store.

It was dark.

One of the windows was cracked. No light shone through it, no movement was visible from inside.

It was quiet.

Ted and Schlatt shared a glance. Ted saw his own fear reflected in his eyes.

"Charlie?" he called tentatively.

There was no response. They waited a moment longer with bated breath, the weight of the silence feeling as if it would crush them. Nothing.

Schlatt exhaled shakily. "Now what?"

"He... he must be around here somewhere. We need to go look for him."

"Maybe we should split up."

Ted turned to Schlatt with a glare. "You're still injured, you can hardly walk properly. We're barely recovered enough to take on a monster between the two of us, definitely not by ourselves, and if something happens we have no way to call for help."

"No, Ted, listen."

He stood for a moment, but couldn't hear anything besides the wind. "Listen to what? There's nothing."

"Exactly, there's nothing. We're completely alone out here. If we split up we can search faster, then we'll meet back up here when we find him." There was an unspoken if in that statement, but neither of them wanted to admit it.