Human Batteries

~~~~~Chapter 5~~~~~

~~~~~Chapter 5~~~~~
After finally getting to the super store, I buy some cheap sneakers, and a pair of jeggings using the money that's left over from Cali.
When I spot a bus station at the far end of the parking lot, I sigh with relief.
I have enough money for bus trips or food. Not both. And a nice little bus ride sounds pretty great to me.
I glance down at my dirty ripped t-shirt, new jean leggings, and new sneakers. I also remember that my face and arms are scratched up.
I slip on my hoodie that was in my back pack so no one gets suspicious about the cuts and bruises on my arms.
I casually board the bus. Hopeflly, I can get just past the border of Montana in this bus. Then I'll have to walk some more, and find another bus.
All the front seats of the bus are filled, so I take a seat on the left hand side, second row from the back. I notice that the back row, right behind me is littered with granola bar wrappers, and has an army camo back pack in the right seat, but is otherwise abandoned.
I rest my own back pack against the window, pull up my hood, and try to get a little rest. The last passengers get on, and the bus pulls out of the station. I begin to relax a little.
Then, a young guy takes the seat right behind me and started rummaging through his back-pack. There must be over a hundred granola bar wrappers in there. It sounded like he was trying to be noisy. I'm tired. It's been a long, hard day. And granola kid back there is crinkling away. I just want peace and quite. Oh wait. This is a public bus. Duh. So I just try to rest. As I feel I'm starting to fall asleep (which didn't take me very long considering my exciting day) a voice behind me says "Hey, you hungry?" I look up with that look you give some one when they wake you up to ask a stupid question, because he just did. Apparently he knows that look.
"Oh, sorry, were you sleeping?" He asks.
"No, I was pretending to be in a coma." I say looking all the way up at him. He's resting his right forearm on the back of my seat and gives me a side ways smile and I realize he's kinda cute. He's wearing a plain, dark grey T-shirt, and has tan skin. He has a dimple in his chin, and freckles scattered across his face. His brown hair is messy like he hasn't brushed it in a while, but it doesn't look bad because it's short cut. As I notice how his eyes are light hazel is when I also notice I'm staring.
"Well, you hungry?" He asks again. "I've got a bunch of protein bars. You look like you might be here a while."
"Um, no thanks." I lie, but really I'm starving. I haven't eaten in forever.
"Okay. And if you don't mind me asking, what happened? To your face."
"What happened to your face?" I say in defence. He chuckles.
"No, I mean the cuts." He said. I had forgotten about scrapes on my face from running last night.
"Oh, right. I, uh- my pet hamster doesn't like me." I lie again.
"You must have an evil hamster. By the way my name's Alex. I'll be here a while too."
"I'm Katherine, everyone calls me Kat, though."
"Nice to meet you. You can get back to your Kat nap now." He says with a smile, then he leans back into his seat.
"Ha. Ha. I haven't heard that one before." I say with a smile. With that I settle back down, and drift off.

I wake to a voice over the inner com, saying some thing about the next stop. I jump when I see a face peeping over the back of my seat.
"Were you watching me?" I ask.
"Not for long," replies Alex. "You're his sister, aren't you?"
"What? Who? And you're really starting to creep me out."
"Daltin. Daltin Fletcher. Your hoodie says 'Fletcher' on the back, and you look just like a girl version of him."
"Well, we are twins but- Wait, how do you know him? Is he okay?"
"I don't know, honestly. I've never really met him but, I know where he is. I can get you to him safely if you cooperate, and we leave right now." He says glancing up to the front of the bus nervously.
"So you expect me to just trust that you're not some creepy freak, and go with you?"
"Well, yeah. We don't really have time for me to gain your trust. You can decide to not trust me, and do what ever you were doing before, or you can just trust me, and find your brother."
"Gee, thanks for all the options."
"You have two seconds to decide," he says. He looks me straight in the eyes. "Please. Trust me." Now he looks more nervous. I feel the bus come to a stop. Alex ducks down, zips his back pack then slings it over his shoulder.
Something in my gut says go. Without thinking I grab my bag too. Just as I stand, to walk down to the bus' doors, a hand full of men board the bus. Alex grabs my arm ,and we duck behide the very last row of seats. He opens an emergency exit window, then jumps out of the bus. He looks around and signals me to do the same. So I do, even though I have no idea where we will go. I'm just hoping Daltin will be there. I know I don't look as cool as Alex did when I jump, but hopefully no one sees us anyway.
I follow as we dart past the bus stop, through a shopping center parking lot and to front of a shoe store. Right before we go in, Alex stops so abruptly I run into him. He looks me in the face and says
"Act natural. We're just kids shoe shopping, so be cool." I nod and we walk in. And, I'm not gonna lie, I have no idea what the heck is happening right now. But I follow his lead and casually walk through rows of shoes to the back of the store.
We see an employee bent over restocking some flip-flops. Alex turns around, looks at me, then bumps right into the employee.
"Oh, my bad!" He says. As soon as we turn down the next aisle, he turns to show me a key ring with about three keys on it. I just grin and shrug, because I still have no clue what's going on. He leads me to the back of the store and uses a copper key to unlock an 'Employee's Only' door. Inside, every thing is gray and cold. There are rows of metal racks stocked with various shoe boxes. We continue to the farthest right corner of the back room, where he searches along the wall for something.
"Do you want to tell me what's going on, or do I get three guesses?" I ask. "Ah-ha!" He exclaims. He pushes in part of the wall, right in the corner where the side wall and the front wall meet. When he lets go, a small key pad pops out side ways and he starts punching in numbers with his callusted fingers.
"Um, what are you doing?" I ask. I feel my heart thumping in my chest. I don't trust this guy. He knew who I was right off the bat, he knows my brother. Maybe he is contacting some one who wants us. If he's not on my side, I have to get out of here. Fast. I try to see what he is typing into his little gadget. I have to think fast. How can I get out of here without him catching me? I don't want to draw attention. I know I don't have a good shot at out running him. Then an idea hits me.
"Hey, uh, I really have to go to the bathroom," I say.
"Um. Okay, hurry. I'm almost done."
"I'll meet you out front then." With that, I walk back out into the store. I calmly walk out of the store, but as soon as I'm out the door I pick up the speed. I realize I had been holding my breathe. I inhale and exhale slowly, and keep going. My heart is beating faster and harder now. I'm not sure where I am, and barely have any money. But I keep going, I have to find my brother.
Once I'm past all the store fronts, I follow along the side of the building. There's a gas stop and small restaurant behind the shopping center. Once I can get some directions or a map, I can plan more. My thoughts are cut off when I run past the edge of the shopping center and something jumps out and grabs me from behind.
My heart does a belly flop against my rib cage and I try to scream. But a hand clasps over my mouth. I don't know what to do, so I pull my feet off the ground in an effort to throw my attacker off balance. I try to scream again, and start kicking my legs. I feel the person press their back against the brick wall of the building. Then they say in my ear
"Stop it, already! Okay, okay. I'm letting, go don't run." 'Yeah right' I think. But they do let go, and I push away. It runs through my mind to not even look at them, but they did let go, and who am I kidding, I can't out run anyone that strong.
So I look.
"Alex. What the heck?! How did you- "
"You're not as good a liar as you think you are, Kat," he interrupts. "What do you think you were doing?"
"I don't trust you. I didn't know what you were doing and you wouldn't tell me. I thought you were talking to your Ant boss."
"Boss, yes. Ant, no," he slings his back pack over his shoulder and nods toward the side wall leading to the gas stop.
"Can we walk and I'll tell you why I'm here?" I nod, and we start toward the gas stop.
"Well, where should I start? You already now about the Ants, obviously. I was in the same position as your brother. They got me early, and asked me to contribute. I'm not good at much, so they placed me under cover as a normal teen on the streets. Which isn't much different from my life before. So, yeah. I normaly just check stuff out in random places. And like that key pad in the store back there, that's where I report what I observe. For example, those guys on the bus. Ants. That's what I've been doing until they started needing my help getting some people safely back to the Rabbit Hole. My first request for that was last night. When a bunker in Montana got over run. I had to get to Daltin Fletcher's twin sister. That's all the info I got though. So I did, and now it's up to me to make sure you get back to your brother. That was the only thing he asked for in return." He keeps walking with his hands in his pockets and a blank face.
"So, he is okay?" I ask.
"As far as I know." I feel like a small weight has just been lifted off my shoulders. He's not only the famliy I have left, but the only person in general that I have. He's okay. And he's waiting for me.
Just as we are about to enter the gas stop I say,
"Thanks."
"Trust me?" he asks.
"I guess I'll have to for now," I reply. He could still just be a good liar, but I doubt it. He seemed so sincere about helping me get to my brother. My heart has slowed down some, and I'm more comfortable. Nothing in me wants to get away, everything in me wants to find my brother and help our cause.