Divagate

Chapter 10

                                          Darwin
                                             •••••
    I climbed back into the truck and whirl around to face Lincoln. "Lincoln, what the hell was that for?"

   Lincoln looks at Lia, his face expressionless. I expected him to at least look ashamed, but his face is blank. Based on his lack of emotion, him and Lia must've had another argument.

   He dealt with the stress from it by resorting to what the motherfuckers at Myer Labs taught him to do. It's the only way he knows how to cope. I suddenly feel kind of bad for getting mad at Lincoln.

   "Shit." I mumble into my hands as I rub them over my face. "Look, I know you don't always have control when you're overwhelmed, but that doesn't mean you needed to knock her out. You could've filled the car with that stuff and put the rest of us to sleep."

   Lincoln continues to stare blankly at Lia.

    "You wouldn't be mad at him if you didn't like Lia." Siggy says, pulling his door closed with a thump. Charlotte and Vince get into the truck, giving me concerned looks.

    "Give it the fuck up, Siggy. I don't like her!" I yell. With a little too much force, I jam the key into the ignition.

    I speed out of the gas station parking lot, making everyone press back into their seats from the force of the truck lurching forward.

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What did Lincoln do?" Vince asks, cracking open a bottle of water that I bought.

   We sit in a moment of silence. I'm way too pissed off to answer right now.

   Lincoln has stopped looking at Lia and gazes out of the window at the cornfields that fly by.

    "He can change what he exhales. Instead of carbon dioxide, it was nitrous oxide. Lincoln kissed Lia, she inhaled nitrous oxide, and was knocked out." Siggy explains with some irritation.

    "Laughing gas! That's so cool!" Charlotte says excitedly as she looks at Lincoln. He keeps his gaze on the view outside. Charlotte turns back around, mouthing "okay."

   She takes the map I also got from the plastic bag at Vince's feet. Siggy leans forward to peer over her shoulder at the map. He bends his body at a weird angle just so he's not touching Lia, as if touching her is going to give him the plague or something,

    "So where are we going to stay next?" Charlotte studies the maze of different colored lines and markings.

    "Umm... when you come to the next intersection, turn right. That'll take you onto the highway." I nod. My knuckles are white as I grip the steering wheel. I'm still mad. I hope that everyone stays quiet during the ride. I really need time to think and calm down.

   We arrive at the intersection and I follow Charlotte's instructions. "Now just keep going until I tell you to take an exit. There's not much where we're going. It'll be easy to find an abandoned house since a lot of them are too close to the edge of the dune." I nod again. I don't know what she means by that, but I don't bother asking.
  
   Vince leans his arm on the passenger door, seeming satisfied with Charlotte's plan. Siggy, on the other hand, doesn't seem so sure,

    "Where are we?"

    "Michigan."

    "Oh." Siggy falls back into his seat with a huff.
   
    We drive down the highway. Thankfully, everyone does stay quiet. I'm feeling a hell of a lot more relaxed than I was before.