"Are they gone?" Avery asks. I approach the group, the breeze from the night settling in. If feels good on my sweat drenched face. I separated from everyone as soon as we hit a town. My first thought was to separate so the cops would lose us faster, it worked.
I don't even want to know what would happen if we stuck around long enough for the cops to catch us.
Now we're standing in a random neighbor hood park.
"You shouldn't have taken off like that..." Sawyer says.
"I knew what I was doing. Besides, it worked. We lost them." I shrug Sawyer off.
"You can't just..."
"Leave her alone." Jospeh cuts in. "We need to find someplace safe."
"Thanks a lot, Opal." Avery states. It's both our faults, screaming. It grabs anyone's attention.
"It's not her fault." Jospeh says.
"Obviously it was, I'm sure Sawyer can agree." Avery pats Sawyer on the chest waiting for him to agree with her, but he never does.
"Look, I'll take the blame, so everyone can we just focus, please?" I stand in the middle of all them, my arms raised.
"She's right. This is serious. We have to focus and stop our stupid bickering." Joseph states.
"What?" Avery cuts in.
"No bickering means no insults, no baiting, no provoking." Sawyer cuts in, turning to Avery. "Which means we won't be hearing from you for at last a few days." Sawyer taunts at Avery. She rolls her eyes.
"Since I took the blame I'll help get food.." I look around and back at everyone. "Stay here and I'll be back." I tell them. I start walking when I'm being held back.
"You still have a pissed off uncle and a huge reward on your head. Stay here with Avery. We will find something." Sawyer reminds me.
I watch as Sawyer, Evan, Daniel and Joseph all start to stroll away. They don't get that far when Sawyer turns to look at me.
"I mean it, Opal. Stay here." His voice stern.
"What if the owners across the street get suspicious and come out?" Avery asks but Sawyer ignores her.
"Watch her." Sawyer demands me. And Avery huffs out.
As soon as their out of sight Avery turns to me. "Why do you let him get away with that? He treats you like a puppy. Having to listen to every command."
I say nothing and start walking the opposite direction.
Avery smiles, "See, that's what I'm talking about."
We walk a few blocks and find ourselves between two large buildings. I squat down, "This should be safe. And we're not too far."
Avery stares at me, "I knew it. You just to listen to what your owner says."
I rest my head against the wall,
"I can't believe you're actually listening."
"He has a point. Stay safe. That's what I plan on doing. Out in the open like that isn't safe." I shrug.
She towers over me, " So you're just going to sit on your ass while the guys do everything?"
I look around and get comfortable, "looks like it, yeah."
"Well I'm not. I'm not okay with just sitting on our asses while the guys do all the work. I'm going to show them a girl can do just as much."
I close my eyes and lean back against the wall. I hear her stomp off. I squint one eye open and watch as she walks further away.
