The Waitress

5 - Knowing the Guys

"Nothing happened in Perth," he muttered darkly, not looking up again.

"Don't worry about him," Eliot murmured in Kaely's ear as she looked back to him, clearly shocked. "Perth is... something he's not talked about for a long time. We had to find out on the news; he only told us after we saw. Broke him, actually. Not said a word about it since."

Kaely nodded her head unsurely, casting a sheepish glance at him from the corner of her eye. He was reading again. She avoided speaking for a good amount of time.

Until the radio was tuned up.

"You guys'll wanna hear this," Leo called grimly, the radio's volume turned all the way up now so everyone could hear what was being said.

"–officers down at the scene say a Miss Kaely Monsford was broken out of her holding cell in the Adelaide Police Station where she was supposed to be staying overnight to be transferred to the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre after her trial. From the evidence left on the scene, all in the police station were accounted for and alive with few minor injuries, but the whereabouts of Miss Kaely Monsford are unknown. Detectives say the security cameras were busted to hide the men who did this, but they have a clear theory that the wanted four of Australia were behind this break out, in order to retrieve their fifth companion. From this point forward, if you have any news on the whereabouts of Australia's five most wanted, please call your local police immediately. This is Amanda Krienal, seven news."

Leo turned the radio off and glanced back at Kaely.

"It's official," he announced reluctantly as he glanced around at the others. "You're on the run, now. For good."

Kaely didn't say anything after that. She sat back in her seat, which had been pulled up now, and she was facing the window with her knees tucked up beneath her chin. Her hair had basically fallen out of its ponytail, so she had taken the hair-tie out and slipped it around her wrist. Apart from that, she hadn't moved in a long time.

She hadn't noticed that they had entered a town until the van came to a slow and steady turn before stopping completely. Kaely looked around, eyes wide with curiosity.

"Why have we stopped?" she asked, watching as Jared and Eliot moved past her.

"We're here," Leo called over to her. "Pinnaroo. Our stop. We need to sort a few things out, so we're staying overnight here."

Kaely scowled.

"Easy for the rest of you," she muttered. "You came prepared. I have literally none of my stuff, except a stupid book and some mints." Dex, in the middle of her sentence, had dug something out of the seat behind him and chucked it down the isle into her lap.

"We took the liberty of sorting that stuff out for you while you were in the police station," he called over. "Just thought we'd pack you a few stuff before... to set you up," he finished as Kaely unzipped the bag to take a look inside. A few changes of clothes with the necessities a girl would need had been chucked in the bag, so Kaely just sighed and slipped out of the van. She stayed leaning back against the van beside Leo and Dex as Eliot and Jared moved in to the small building to get them a room. The whole waiting time, Kaely looked down at her fingers and twiddled them together, looking around with another heavy sigh.

"What?" Dex asked, glancing sideways at her, and she shrugged.

"Nothing," she replied uneasily. "It's just... nothing."

Kaely turned her head away so she didn't know if Dex was frowning at her or had dropped the matter without a second thought. She didn't care, of course. All she wanted was something to eat and somewhere to sleep. Her head ached, her shoulder throbbed and her chest pounded with a weight that wouldn't go away, no matter how hard she focused on something else. She didn't tell anyone that she felt this way, though. She could tell they were uneasy about her; there was something about her they just didn't trust, and although she was clearly just some girl they'd saved from a lifetime of prison, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it than that.