Purple | Cole Stewart -VERSION DISCONTINUED

Chapter Fifteen: Tears and Fears

I woke up rested for the first time in days. Finally.
We were stopped, and as soon as Liam saw that I was awake he informed me that we were in Kingwood, West Virginia- where there just so happened to be camping grounds by the name of East River. You can probably see where I’m going with this.
Liam, Zu and I hopped out to stretch out legs while Chubs woke up Ruby. Once all five of us were ready, we split up- Liam and Chubs, Ruby and Zu, and me-by myself. I set out quickly, glad to have a little space to myself for a while. Don’t get me wrong- I love my friends, but it was really hard to spend all day cooped up inside Betty.
I walked along the row of RV’s I had picked, my hands in my pockets, peering through windows to see if there was anything useful inside. Liam had probably come to the same conclusion I had already- This wasn’t East River.
Jenny would have loved it here, I thought. The peace and quiet, the random trinkets- all of it. And I could have loved it with her.
A flash of color on the ground caught my eye, and I crouched down to get a better look, tears welling up in my eyes as I did so.
It was a ribbon, probably the kind a little girl would wear in her hair. And it was blue. A deep, vibrant blue. If I had to give it a name I think I’d call it-
Jennys blue.
I sat down fully on the grass, bringing the ribbon up to my chest and cradling it there. I was rocking back and forth now, crying silently to myself. I was truly grateful I had chosen not to team up with anyone.
My mourning was interrupted by the sound of Bettys horn, blaring all the way through the camp.
I wiped my eyes as I scrambled to my feet, clutching the ribbon in my fist, and hauled ass back to Betty as fast as I could, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
That meant running through all of the potential outcomes of the situation- who had hit the horn, and why. None of my guesses were things I wanted to deal with. Maybe it was a skip tracer, and I was about to run into a trap. Maybe it was some rando stealing out only transportation and all of our supplies.
I saw Chubs running down another row to my right and just ahead of me. He reached Betty first, and stopped. I stumbled in next, just seconds after him, breathing heavily. I saw Ruby sitting in the front seat as I saw Liam reach the clearing out of the corner of my eye.
Really? I ran all this way for nothing?
“What the-”
“We have to go-now!” she interrupted.
My annoyance slipped away at her tone- I nodded and climbed into the back seats as the boys went to the front.
“What? What’s wrong?” Liam asked, also out of breath.
Ruby pointed to the nearest trailer. “They have cameras installed in every one of them.”
Chubs sucked in a breath. I did the same.
“You’re sure?” Liam asked calmly as he fumbled to put the keys into the ignition. I was sure we could all see through his facade, but I wasn’t going to point it out- even if I had wanted to, I became preoccupied with righting myself as the van went flying forward.
“Oh my god,” Chubs was saying, “I can’t believe it. We got Hansel and Greteled. Oh my God- do you think it was her?”
My thoughts caught on his words. Could she have found us again?
“No.” Liam said. “No. She’s sneaky for a Skip Tracer. But this- this is something else.”
My heart rate slowed by a fraction as I realized he was right.
“They could have been here for a while,” I rationalized-though I wasn’t sure if it was more for my benefit or theirs. 
Ruby jumped in, adding on to my theory. “They could have been spying on the people that lived here. Maybe that really was East River…”
Not exactly the words I wanted to hear.
We were back on the highway now, which helped ease my anxiety even more. “Just keep your eyes open and let me know if you see anyone or anything acting suspect.” Liam said.
“I knew we should have waited until it was dark,” Chubs said, tapping his fingers on the passenger side window. “I knew it. If those cameras were on, they probably got the licence plate number number and everything.”
“I can take care of the plates, Chubs- you know that,” I sighed. Why couldn’t all of these near death experiences just be a little more spread out?
“Should I be looking for PSF’s?” Ruby asked as we went over a set of railroad tracks.
I opened my mouth to respond, but Chubs beat me to it.
“Worse,” Chubs sighed. “Skip tracers, bounty hunters.”
“The PSF’s are stretched pretty thin, by all accounts,” Liam explained. “Same with the national guard and what’s left of the local police. I don’t know that they’d send a unit all the way out here on a tip. And unless they just so happen to have a resident bounty hunter in this neck of the woods, we’re going to be fine.”
I squeezed the ribbon that was still clutched in my hands. With our luck, those would be Lee's famous last words.
“The reward for turning in a kid is ten thousand dollars.”
Chubs turned to Ruby. “And the whole country is broke as a joke. We are not going to be fine.”
Way to lighten the mood, Chubs.
“You okay, Green?”
The car was silent with the lack of Ruby's response, but she didn’t really have to say anything for me to know that she was far from okay, and I could only guess half of the reason why.

Word count: 1010