Keep Busy

20.

"Well, that was exciting," Emily said suddenly slapping the steering wheel after they'd been riding in silence for fifteen minutes.

Frank was startled out of his near-comatose state.

The green digital read-out on the rearview mirror said they were heading south east. Frank wasn't sure it really mattered but felt vaguely reassured that they were going the right way.

After leaving the conflagrant Fill and Feed, as it was quickly consumed by flames, the three travelers decompressed—letting the adrenaline recede and be replaced by a sludgy torpor. Emily looked enervated but maintained enough focus to keep them on the road. Even Jane was feeling drowsy, though she knew it was just a trick in her slowly decaying brain matter. But after all the loud noises and explosions, she was feeling pretty content lounging across the back seat, idly counting the seconds between telephone poles as they whizzed by outside.

Frank wasn't feeling so good.

The ringing in his ears was finally fading—supplanted with another headache. The flip down mirror in the visor showed him the ugly facts of the situation. His forehead looked like a twisted balloon animal with several bumps and welts creating taut, tightened topography. There was also a cut above his right eyebrow and his left eye was blackened though he couldn't remember how he got that one. Nevertheless, considering the events of the night, his injuries were relatively minor.

Things could have turned out a lot worse.

With all the insane crossfire, he could have easily taken a bullet.

Frank turned in his seat to face Jane. "Hey, you were shot."

"I know." She pulled down the army blanket she'd wrapped herself in and examined the damage—there was a little hole just above her left breast, near the armpit. "I don't think it hit any bone. It just went right through." She put her finger in the hole.

"God, don't do that!" Frank exclaimed, not sure if he should be repulsed or aroused. "Does it hurt?"

"Not at all. It's a little wet though."

Again, Frank battled mixed messages.

"What's that mean?" he asked.

"I don't know. It's not normal blood," she looked at her finger. "Well maybe there's a little blood in there. It looks pinkish."

"Well, that's a good thing, right?"

"I... I really don't know," she admitted.

"Hate to interrupt the examination but where exactly are we going?" Emily asked.

"South," Jane said.

"Okay," Emily replied. "Specificity be damned." Her face was serene. Her eyes floating out over the road but somehow also looking inward. A tiny smile played at the edge of her thin lips.

"Emily?" Frank said and she looked at him as though she thought she was alone in the car. "Are you alright?"

"Fuck yeah," she answered brightly.

"You've been through a lot tonight. Do you want me to drive?"

"I've been through worse," she said and turned back to the road.

"Worse than that?" Frank asked.

"Yes. Fuckin'... yes." Her tone shifted dramatically, draining the life out of the Suburban. "Thanks for killing that fucking monster back there," she added.