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( 27 一 OLD FRIENDS. )
The drive to catch up with Ruby and Jude took a good few hours. Judging by the speed they were travelling Clara and Vida assumed they'd found some kind of transport.
Vida made sure to park far enough away from the Stewart residence that if Ruby and Jude were there they wouldn't be spooked by the engine. They'd make the rest of the 100 metre distance on foot.
They were in a small neighbourhood with a classic American-suburban-minivan-mum type of feel to it. Clara had always resented places like that, envious of the nuclear families that resided there. She'd never known that kind of peace, even before IAAN.
Vida indicated with her hand that they should come from behind the house, using the surrounding bushes as cover. Clara nodded, taking the lead around the back. The ground was dry, sticks snapping occasionally as they walked which always made Clara's heart skip a beat.
Clara and Vida were stood right behind Jude and Ruby, close enough that they could hear the two conversing about the possible inhabitants of the home they were crouching behind.
"Maybe they just ran out to do some errands?" Jude suggested.
"At four in the afternoon?" Vida questioned, stepping out from their hiding place.
Clara followed suit, revealing herself to the other two. "Seems sketchy," Clara shrugged. She had to bite back a laugh at their reactions, Jude actually fell over.
"Leader, Judith," Vida said, nodding as she pulled Clara by her arm to crouch down next to them. Ruby was looking at them incredulously, stuttering out the usual questions. "What are you doing here? How did you find us?" She asked before cutting herself off.
Clara knew Ruby like the back of her hand. After years of observing her in Thurmond she knew what every twitch and furrow meant. So when Ruby tired her head to the side and clenched her jaw slightly Clara knew what she was thinking.
"The collar of the undershirt, Rubes," Clara told her with a smile.
"Next time you decide to cut and run, make sure you get all the damn trackers," Vida snarked.
"Trackers?" Jude asked, looking between them all. His naivety was going to get him killed one day.
"But Jude fried the car, and everything electric inside of it," Ruby told them as she pulled at Jude's shirt, shuffling along the hem until she found a small bump.
"Yellow's have a rubber coating on all the trackers. God, you didn't know that?" Vida asked with a smirk. Clara hit her lightly on the arm, indicating for her to knock it off. Vida rolled her eyes but didn't make any further comments.
Ruby laid the tracker on the floor before smashing it with the hilt of her swiss army knife. Clara pulled the GPS from her back pocket, turning to face Jude, "Do you think you could fry this?" she asked, holding the device out to him. Jude nodded, grasping it in his hand before it started to smoke before finally dying with a loud pop.
Jude was looking completely lost, obviously unaware he was being tracked. "Why would they put trackers in our clothes, that's like so creepy," he said.
It looked like Vida was about to burst into a particularly cruel bout of laughter when her expression changed, narrowing.
Vida pulled her gun out of its holster, Clara and Vida's following suit. Clara started scanning the area behind them for threats, trusting Vida and Ruby to handle whoever was in front.
When Clara felt the air around her move she turned around. Ruby had started sprinting full speed towards a figure. Clara couldn't make them out, Ruby's body blocking them from view.
"Oh for the love of... it's just me, you dumbass."
As the voice reached Clara's ears it felt like the world had tilted on its axis. She'd know that voice anywhere, from their endless rants about car safety to their lectures on personal hygiene. Clara stumbled upwards, dropping her gun to her side before bursting out from the bushes.
Ruby was wrapped in his arms, tears pouring freely down her face. "C-Chubs?" Clara asked weakly in disbelief. His head snapped up to meet her eyes and his smile widened even further if possible.
Clara choked out a laugh before sprinting towards him just as Ruby had done. "Chubs, it's you, it's really you," she laughed as she crashed into his arms. She clung onto him as though if she loosened her grip for even a second he'd disappear again.
"Hey Clara," he said with a laugh. "Long time no see, huh?" Clara nodded against his chest, not ever wanting to pull away. The last time she'd seen him he'd been drowning in a pool of his own blood.
Ruby was questioning him in disbelief, "How are you here?" she asked. There was a rustling of trees behind them which Clara knew was Jude and Vida.
"Oh, come on, Lee- I know you want a hug too," Chubs called out with a joyful expression. But that expression dropped off his face in a second, pushing Ruby and Clara behind him, his hand pulling a long hunting knife from a holster on his pants.
Vida was in front, her gun aimed right at Chubs, there was the distinct click of the safety being turned off. "Who the hell are you?" Chubs demanded.
"Not the person who brought a knife to a gunfight," Vida shot back.
Clara pushed her way out from behind Chubs, coming to stand directly between the two. "Vi! Put the gun down. Chubs drop the knife," she demanded. They both continued to glare at each other, not sparing a look at Clara.
"Drop them now," Ruby shouted. Reluctantly, they both began to lower their weapons. Chubs staring at Ruby in dismay while Vida does the same to Clara. Jude chose that moment to emerge from the bushes.
"Not Liam," he said, pointing to himself. "Not Liam either," he said pointing to Vida before pointing towards Chubs unsurely. "Also not Liam...?"
Vida looked at him baffled, "In what universe does this tool look anything like Cole Stewart?"
"Vida!" Clara reprimand. Vida just shrugged at her before turning back to Jude. "I don't know. Brother from a different mother? There is such a thing as adoption-"
Looking back at Chubs Clara could see him working through each possibility as to why Liam wasn't with them. Each one more horrifying than the last. "Oh my god," he whispered, aghast.
"No, no! He's not dead," Ruby rushed. Chubs looked relieved for a second until realising he still had no idea where Liam was.
