"What's your favorite movie?" Vanessa asked.
"My favorite movie?" Merlyn pondered aloud. "Probably The Avengers."
"The Avengers?" Vanessa sounded surprised. "Not like, The Dark Knight or Spider-Man?"
"Those are both excellent choices," Merlyn agreed, "but personally, Joss Whedon's take on The Avengers is too perfect a film. I have no complaint with the movie; from start to finish, the premise of the movie - established superheroes from prior films teaming up to beat the bad guy - is captured and realized in a way that no studio has really managed to recapture since then. The Dark Knight is an impressive film, filled with great performances and excellent filmmaking. And certainly, there may be an argument for why The Dark Knight is a better film, but that doesn't make it my favorite. As for Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, I do enjoy them a lot, but Tobey Maguire is not exactly the Peter Parker from the comics, and while that's a trivial thing to be hung up on, it does take me out of the movie somewhat."
Nodding, Vanessa said, "Alright, fair enough."
"What about you?" Merlyn asked, looking away from the road for a moment. "What's your favorite movie?"
"I don't know," she said. "It changes a lot. I like a lot of movies. The Lion King, The Wolverine, some of the older Bond movies, Les Miserables and High School Musical are all personal favorites."
"Interesting choices to be sure," Merlyn chuckled. "The Wolverine is an interesting choice. Most don't regard that film very well."
"It's an underrated gem."
"Because of the ninjas?"
Vanessa glared at him.
"Just asking," he replied.
"Are we almost there?"
Merlyn rolled his eyes and looked at his phone, currently clung to a holder that was attached to the windshield. "We left thirty minutes ago. So yeah, if you consider over twenty hours left of ride, we're almost there."
"Jesus, I have to be stuck in a car with you for twenty more hours? Listening to Taylor Swift?"
"I don't know if there's twenty hours of Taylor Swift left to listen to," Merlyn confessed. "I'll put on something else when we've exhausted her catalog of musical prowess."
"You're irritating," Vanessa said.
"You're irritating," Merlyn snapped.
"That was mean!"
"That's literally what you just said to me."
"But I said it lovingly."
"You certainly did not!"
"Oh, so you know the tone of my voice better than I do?"
"I'm going to go ahead and say probably."
"Probably? But not definitely?"
Merlyn rolled his eyes.
"Nothing to say, magic man?"
"I will fire you."
"You wouldn't fire me," Vanessa said. "You brought me to Alaska with you."
"As bait," Merlyn joked. "If we encounter a monster, I can throw you to them and escape."
"You couldn't throw me if you tried."
"I'm a magic man, remember."
"Yeah but mages can't move living objects," Vanessa said. "I'll just strip quickly and you won't be able to move me."
"Bollocks," he said. "First you'd never get naked fast enough. Second, we're in the freezing cold, you'd be miserable. And third, you don't like being naked anyway."
"You don't know if I like being naked or not."
"I'm reasonably confident."
"Whatever. Also, I'm not outside. I won't go outside if I think you're gonna use me as bait."
"And have me throw the entire car?"
"No, you couldn't."
Merlyn pursed his lips. "Alright, that's true, I couldn't."
"As for your first point, I'll just strip right now."
"No!" Merlyn shouted, his face turning red. "Don't do that."
Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "What, you scared of a naked girl?"
"I am not scared of a naked girl," he hissed.
"You have seen a naked girl before, right?"
Merlyn rolled his eyes, his grip tightening on the steering wheel of the rental car. "Yes."
"I don't think I believe you."
"I was married."
"I'm sorry, what? When? To who?"
"To whom."
"Don't correct me, who were you married to?"
"Her name was Becky."
"Becky?"
"Well, Rebecca. But Becky."
"And you two aren't married today?"
"No, we're not."
"And you saw her naked?"
Merlyn glared at her this time. "This isn't really your business, is it?"
"I know that building walls is popular at the moment, but you're not really supposed to do that. Walls don't work."
"Physical walls don't work."
"Mental walls don't work," Vanessa said. "When did you and Becky get married?"
"October 3, 2014," Merlyn said. "It was a small ceremony."
"Why?"
"Because most of my family was dead," Merlyn said bluntly. "Most of my friends refused to go. And she only had a few people come."
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine," Merlyn muttered. "It's not really a part of my life anymore."
"When did you two divorce?"
"April of 2017."
"That was like not even two years ago."
"And?"
"That's just not a long period of time."
"Noted."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why did you two divorce?"
"Do we have to talk about my personal life everytime we're in a confined space for long periods of time?"
"I mean, kinda," Vanessa said. "I like asking questions."
"The journalist in you."
"Kinda."
"I don't like discussing my personal life."
"Why not?"
"Because it doesn't need to be discussed."
"Sounds like you need therapy."
"I do not."
"That's exactly what someone who needs therapy would say."
"Shut up, that's ridiculous."
"Therapy is a super useful tool," Vanessa said. "It helps a lot of people."
"But I don't need it."
Vanessa shrugged. "If you say so, bud."
"Why are you so worried about my mental health?"
"Because it's important."
"Is it?"
"I mean, you wouldn't be saying, 'Why are you worried about these bullet holes in my chest?' No, you'd just go see a damn doctor."
Merlyn sighed. "It's not that serious."
"Yeah, but you shouldn't bottle these things up, Sheffield."
"I'm not bottling anything up."
"You're basically a soda company, all the bottling you've been doing."
A small smile crept on Merlyn's lips. "A soda company?"
"Like, yeah, soft drinks and stuff."
"I know what it is," Merlyn said. "We always just called it pop, growing up."
"Wait, what?"
"Pop?"
"Pop is a midwestern thing. We, from the Midwest, we call it pop. You're not allowed to call it pop."
"Why not? We've been saying pop my whole life."
"So? It's a Midwestern thing, give it back."
"It's an English thing, you give it back."
"No."
Merlyn stuck his tongue out at her.
Vanessa, a little flustered, smiled. "Nice tongue."
"Thank you, I wash it before bed every evening."
"Weird flex, but okay."
"I flexed nothing," Merlyn replied quizzically.
"Dude, you need to just get on the internet once," Vanessa groaned. "Like, I know you have a smartphone. I used it that time to order pizza."
"What does the internet have to do with flexing?"
"Have you never heard of a meme?"
"A what now?"
"A meme. They're like, I don't know. Usually pictures, they spread throughout the internet like wildlife before kinda vanishing."
"I'm not sure. Give me an example?"
"I've given you several, but I don't know. Like, John Cena was a meme for a minute. Or that gorilla, Harambe."
"Oh God," Merlyn grunted. "The damn gorilla."
"Yes!" Vanessa shouted. "You know the damn gorilla!"
"How could I not?" Merlyn rolled his eyes as he spoke. "The whole thing goes down and months later, it's plastered on my feed, every dumb teenager is ranting about a gorilla none of them knew about til it was dead."
"Right. So Harambe was a meme, admittedly one that was bigger than most."
"So it's pronounced like that? You stretch the E-sound in the middle."
"Please tell me you've been calling them 'me-mes'."
Merlyn's face flushed red.
"You're so old."
"Don't remind me."
Vanessa shrugged. "Not my fault you're old."
"I'm not that much older than you."
"What, five years?"
"There are only five years between 1989 and 1994, yes."
"Well, either way, you're an old man," Vanessa said. "And you do need therapy. Even if you do a good job distracting me."
Merlyn rolled his eyes. Turning the music up, they spent the next several minutes just enjoying the drive. As Vanessa looked out the window, she noted that there was almost nothing to see except trees and snow. Focusing on the music, she closed her eyes for a second before a sudden BAM!
Jolting up, Vanessa and Merlyn both looked to see a small mound of snow had hit the passenger's side window. Merlyn slowed the car to a stop.
"What was that?" Vanessa asked. "I don't see anyone outside."
"I fear that may not be a person," Merlyn whispered, looking out the windows with a certain amount of fear present in his features.
Another BAM as something hit the rear window, causing Merlyn and Vanessa to jerk around to see what had happened.
"What's happening?"
"There are a number of snow creatures," Merlyn said.
"Like what?"
"I'm going to be honest," Merlyn mumbled, "our fantastical creatures course was never my strength."
Vanessa gave him a wild-eyed look. "Great time to bring that fact up, Alistair Merlyn!"
BAM! This one seemed to hit the roof of the vehicle. Both Vanessa and Merlyn swallowed before Vanessa whispered, "I think you should probably drive."
BAM!
"Yeah, I think you're probably right." Without hesitation, Merlyn stomped on the gas pedal; however, instead of the car moving forward as it should, only the smell of burning rubber seemed to result in Merlyn's stomp.
Looking behind them once more, the two passengers saw a giant, serpentine creature behind them, two large pink eyes glaring forward while it's tail seemed to have wrapped around the back of the vehicle.
"What's the play here, bud?" Vanessa whimpered.
"Uh," Merlyn muttered. "Good question."
"Ghate Lock?"
"It doesn't have arms," Merlyn noted. "Don't know if pinning its non-limbs together will work."
"Where's my bow?"
"Backseat."
Vanessa unclicked her seatbelt and reached into the backseat, fumbling for her bow while also looking at the serpent dead in its bulbous eyes. Finally, she grabbed something and pulled it towards her before realizing it was just Merlyn's suitcase.
"You couldn't put this in the trunk?" she shrieked.
"Good thing I didn't," he muttered. "I remember what this is."
Vanessa reached forward again with a grunt. "Oh good."
"It's a bullworm," he said. "They only live in extreme conditions."
"Well unless you're gonna teleport it to Kentucky, we need a way out of this."
Her hand hit something and she pulled it forward. It was her bow. She gave a small sigh of relief before she heard a loud crunch. The bullworm was squeezing the back of the car.
"Roll my window down," Vanessa ordered, grabbing an arrow and nocking it. "Do it now, Sheffield!"
Merlyn nodded and slowly rolled her window down. The brisk air hit Vanessa, but she ignored it; she wiggled through the open window, planting her butt on the door and giving herself just enough space to pull the arrow back.
"Where should I aim?" she asked.
"I'd say an eye," Merlyn guessed. "Might kill it, might just make it angry. I don't remember."
"Oh you're just a wonderful help," Vanessa grumbled. Sighing, she pulled the arrow back, aimed and let it fly.
The arrow sunk itself deep into one of the bullworm's eyes. The serpent screeched loudly, shattering the windows of the car and causing Vanessa's ears to bleed. Vanessa quickly retreated back into the car as Merlyn hit the gas pedal. The bullworm unwrapped itself from around the vehicle and the car sped forward like a bullet from a gun.
As they drove, the newly shattered windshield allowed an increasingly intense, sharp wind to hit Merlyn and Vanessa in the face, causing both of them to wince in pain.
"This is going to be a cold drive," Vanessa grunted.
"It looks that way," Merlyn agreed. "At least we're not worm food."
"Small victories," Vanessa said with an awkward laugh.
"What?"
"My grandpa used to say that after doing something reckless, I guess," Vanessa explained. "My dad told me the stories when I was little. Grandpa jumped off a roof once and broke his hand. When the doctor said it was at least a clean break and would heal quickly, he said, 'Small victories'. He wanted it written on his gravestone."
Merlyn chuckled. "Fair enough. What an odd family, you Morelands."
Vanessa nodded. "Yes. Let's just get this adventure over with, magic man."