REM

Out Of Mind & State

When my brother and I headed south on a road trip, we really had no idea what to expect. We took my car, leaving first thing after breakfast so we did most of our driving during the daylight.

The plan was to stop as little as possible in places we had no interest in visiting, then on the way back we would make pit stops at places we had passed by, or heard about. On the way down to California though, we stopped at what looked to be a castle. I assumed it was some sort of government building, so I took a few photos and then settled in for a quick nap.

Before long, a security guard knocked on the passenger window, startling my brother, who nudged me awake.

"Stay there, I'll be right back," ordered the man.

"What the heck for?" Looking at my brother, he was wondering the same thing based on the shrug of his shoulders.

As far as we knew, we hadn't done anything wrong. If we weren't allowed to park there, then we would have left, it was as simple as that – or so we thought anyway.

Hovering my hand over the ignition, I waited to see if the guard was coming back. He didn't appear for quite some time, so I started the car and began to pull out of the parking spot. The guard appeared out of nowhere with a unit in his hands, running toward the car.

He held up his hand, but I wasn't in the mood to deal with the guy since I wasn't from the State, or even the country. As I drove past him, the car suddenly steered right, driving between two large trees and onto the grass surrounding the parking lot.

"What are you doing?" exclaimed my brother.

"It's not me!" I explained, pulling the e-brake and turning the car off.

I looked back at the security guard, realizing he had bugged the car and was now somehow controlling it. Even as I went to dial 911 on my cell phone, the thing started ringing before I even turned it on. A phone acting that strange could only mean one thing.

Leaping from my car, my brother followed me toward the security guard. He slowly backed up, realizing we weren't in the mood to be fucked with.

"Turn that shit off, right now!" I barked.

He turned to run, but since he was overweight, my brother and I dove on the bastard and put a knee on either side of his chest. The device was still grasped in his left hand, a joystick and other switches visible on it.

"What the fuck is that thing?" asked my brother, pointing to the unit.

"It's for security purposes," the man trembled.

"Why the hell are you using it on us? We didn't do anything wrong." He stared up at me as I added, "We're not even from around here."

"I know, that's why I used the device so I could detain you."

"Detain us?" raged my brother. "What the fuck for? For fucking napping in an empty parking lot during our road trip? Fuck you." He turned to me. "Let's fuck this guy up."

His eyes were intense, full of anger. I knew what he had in mind.

"Listen carefully," I began, peering down at the subdued guard. "If you don't turn that device off and let us go, my brother here is going to kill you. And that's not a threat, it's a promise."

"I can't," shaking his head. "I can't turn it off. I have to wait for backup."

An evil grin spread across my face as I laughed. "You'll be dead before they get here."

His mouthed sagged as all the colour drained from his face. My brother kicked the man in the side to give him a sample of what was to come, but the man didn't make an attempt to turn the unit off.

"I guess you want to die." Quickly raising my eyebrows, I stood up and began booting the man in the side as well.

"No no, stop stop!" he finally pleaded, holding up his right hand. "I'll turn it off, but I can't remove the bug."

"Turn it off then," I insisted, scanning the parking lot for his backup that was supposedly on the way.

He entered something into the keypad, flipped some switches and pushed some buttons before announcing, "Okay, it's off."

"Good, now give me the device."

I saw his throat move as he gulped, contemplating the order. Before he reacted, my brother stomped on his face, knocking the guy out cold.

"That really wasn't necessary," mildly scolding my brother with a shake of my head.

"Like hell it wasn't," he argued, bending down to snatch the device from the unconscious man's hand. "The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can figure out what this is"—holding the unit outward—"and find that bug."

I rolled my eyes and sighed as I sauntered over to the car and got in. Once my brother was seated next to me, we drove back to the main road and continued our drive toward California.