Hell Flower

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He traced over the bite wound quickly before grabbing his sweatshirt from the bench behind him. After pulling it on, he flipped the hood over his head.

The bus finally shuddered to a stop on the side of the road. I held my breath, my heart pounding against my ribs. Why were we being pulled over? Was it possible the cops knew something about what happened back in Minneapolis? Someone had seen us headed in exactly the wrong direction—fleeing the scene of the crime—and word had gotten back that we were on the run. It was suspicious.

I thought about our stop at the gas station, and a lump formed in my throat. What if we'd been spotted there? What if they figured out what happened? I couldn't go to prison. I couldn't spend my life rotting away like that.

"Why are we being pulled over?" I asked compulsively. Sweat dripped down my back and beaded on my chest. My teeth chattered like I was freezing.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Alex walked towards the door to the bus, but before he could reach it, it swung open.

My heart skipped a beat, and I froze.

"Can I help you?" Alex blocked the doorway with his body. He extended his arm and pressed his hand firmly against the wall so the entire passageway was blocked.

"Yes, do you mind moving?" a deep, gruff voice said.

Alex kept his footing firm for a second before slowly stepping to the side.

A tall, heavyset police officer climbed the steps onto the bus. He took off his hat and sunglasses when he reached the main section of the bus, his eyes scanning over us.

Jake climbed into the bus behind him, looking like he'd seen a ghost. He and Alex exchanged pointed glances. Were they communicating something telepathically?

"What's the problem?" Alex crossed his arms over his chest as he addressed the officer. "We weren't speeding."

"Take your hood off, please," the officer told him.

Alex hesitated but did as the officer said, flipping his hood down and shaking his hair slightly, like he was trying to use it to make the bite less obvious. Unfortunately, his hair wasn't quite long enough to hide it, and the attempt only drew attention to it.

The police officer narrowed his eyes when he saw the bite on Alex's neck, but he didn't say anything about it. "We had some reports from a gas station about some suspicious activity on your bus."

"Like what?" Alex's tone made my heart race. I didn't know why he was being so aggressive. That would only make us look more suspicious.

The officer glanced around the space, pursing his lips. The floor creaked beneath his heavy footsteps as he paced across the floor. My eyes traveled to the gun in its holster on the side of his belt, and I swallowed down a dry lump in my throat.

"May I check the rest of the bus?" he asked.

"Of course," Alex replied, giving him an overly sweet, fake smile. "We have nothing to hide."

The cop headed to the back and pulled open the door. Alex followed him, and they both entered the sleeping area together.

The sudden thought to make a run for it now came over me, but I pushed it down. I needed to escape an exorcism, but I also couldn't get myself caught for murder doing it.

"What's going on?" Veronica whispered.

"Just stay calm, babe," Reggie said. "Alex is taking care of it." But from the look on his face, I got the idea he wasn't any more convinced than I was that Alex was handling the situation the right way.

Before any of us could say anything else, Alex and the police officer returned to the main section of the bus.

"A girl," the cop looked directly at me as he said it, "apparently ran out of your bus and into the woods while you were stopped at a gas station. She was barefoot, and she was allegedly chased down by two other people from your bus and then escorted back onto it."

We were all silent as he looked us over.

"It's suspicious." His brown eyes flickered as they landed on me again.

"What about it is suspicious to you?" Alex asked.

The officer turned his attention to Alex and frowned at him.

Alex didn't seem to know when to shut the fuck up. I didn't understand why he was provoking the police officer like this. He was acting like a dog chained to a pole watching another dog piss on his lawn. He was trying to defend his territory, but all he could do was bark.

"It was me," I cut in before Alex could say anything else. "I ran off of the bus because I had to puke. I get motion sickness really easily."

A heavy silence filled the bus. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as I waited to see what the officer would say.

"I've told her to stop puking in the bathroom on the bus," Veronica suddenly broke the silence, picking up on my lie quickly. She fidgeted with the black choker she had around her neck, twisting it back and forth between her fingers. "It makes the whole fucking bus smell." She paused. "Sorry, pardon my language, officer."

He narrowed his eyes at Veronica and then turned to me. Sweat slicked the back of my neck as I held my breath.

"Maybe it was just a false tip, then," he said, making his way towards the door. He glanced back to Alex before leaving the bus. "You should get that checked out, kid. Wouldn't want it to get infected. What the hell happened? You get bit by a wolf or something?"

"It was a dog." Alex narrowed his eyes at him.

"Must have been one hell of a dog." The cop paused near the doorway, glancing up and down the room again. "I don't see one around here."

"Yeah, that's 'cause it wasn't our dog," Alex said. "We don't have a dog. And, I don't appreciate your cryptic mind games, frankly. Are you playing traffic cop or detective today, officer? I'm going to have to ask that you leave now, considering you have no valid reason for pulling us over."

"I'd watch my mouth if I were you," the cop told him. "You in a rock band or something, kid? I wouldn't be surprised if there were some illegal substances stashed around here somewhere. I'm sure I could find a reason to get you into some trouble . . . if I wanted to."

"We're sorry for troubling you," Liz interrupted before Alex could say anything else. She got up and stood next to him, placing her hand on his arm. He flinched when she touched him.

"It's been a long day of driving for all of us," Liz continued. "We just want to get back on the road again. We have a gig we need to get to tonight."

The cop nodded. "Fine," he said. "I'll send in the report that everything checked out okay here." He swung the door open, pausing a second before stepping off the bus. "Good luck tonight."

My heart skipped a beat. It took me a second and a half to realize he was taking about our show, not the exorcism.

As the door closed behind him and he walked back over to his car, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. That was close. Too close. I only prayed that word didn't somehow get back to Minneapolis that we were spotted in the fast lane headed in exactly the wrong direction—fleeing the scene of the crime.