Runaways: The Journey Home

Chapter 25

Quiet stillness hit the sleeping Brooklyn's ears the next day. His eyes fluttered open when he saw sunlight filtering through the roof, close to late afternoon, around 3:30. The storm and his belly cramps had really exhausted him to sleep that long, still seeing himself in the old barn.

A little yawn and a smile of relief filled him, for it had stopped raining. Rubbing his eyes, Brooklyn sat up, stretching. He also felt dry, as well.

Glad the storm has ended. I can finally keep going, Brooklyn thought since he was now close to the border of North Dakota hence it being a small state. He had really lost time in getting home from this storm. He would travel all night to get to the border if he had to. As much as he wanted to travel during the daylight hours, he didn't want to risk being spotted. He would rest up for the rest of the day for his trip tonight.

But Brooklyn then felt his stomach growl, putting a hand over it and flinched, especially from his cramps affecting him too. Sadly, his bag was practically empty, which had Brooklyn decide he needed to unfortunately go into the next town to get some more supplies, which made his nerves jumpy at the idea.

Swallowing, he kept up his pace, finally flying over the border into Minnesota.

.....

St. Paul was another few miles' gliding, but Brooklyn thankfully had the wind on his side, soaring over the flat lands, even spotting a mountain from some distance, making him smile a little, never having seen a mountain like it before.

It was well close to 10:50 pm, but Brooklyn finally spotted the lights of St. Paul, making him sigh a little in relief, but his belly fluttered with nerves as the buildings got closer.

Will have to stick to roofs or the shadows. Can't handle the idea of running into... adult humans, Brooklyn thought to himself, cringing a little. There was no way he could trust anybody in any town, for they would see his mark and call up Anthony to nab him again. It made him sick at the thought of going back to that devil of a human.

He spotted a roof close by after flying above the apartments tall enough for him to fly over, landing quickly and finding a hiding spot under a roof on the building, panting from exhaustion, but taking a look out at St. Paul. It was rather beautiful, even having a chapel building far off in the distance. Brooklyn sat to catch his breath against the wall, happy to be able to rest again, but knew he couldn't stay long hence needing to resupply. But Brook knew at least two days ago would suffice him enough time to try and enjoy himself, deciding to settle in his hiding place on the building to rest until the next night since he arrived late.

The next night he woke around 11 pm, yawning from his tiredness without his stone sleep, seeing the city lights again.

Brooklyn glanced around to find a closed store with food from the roof, until he saw one with darkened windows but having little dimmed lights, a small grocery store. He didn't fancy stealing, but gargoyles usually never had the need to carry wallets which he didn't like about, but knew he had no choice in his situation.

Quietly gliding along, Brooklyn couldn't help but be awed at the lights and some tall buildings around. He liked the sight of the St. Paul cathedral, too. He figured it couldn't hurt to wind down and take a look around. Maybe this town had a theater, too. It would do Brooklyn good to see a movie again after so long. It would be rather nice to slow down his time on the run from Anthony. But after he restocked, of course.

Brooklyn managed to find a back door at the store that thankfully had no security cameras. He grunted a bit and managed to force it open but made sure it didn't alert anybody. He snuck around, managing to grab food and drinks that didn't need refrigeration and even took some candy off the shelf near a register, knowing he could eat something sweet to cheer himself up if it was necessary. He made his exit afterward, returning to his hiding spot so to not draw attention until he wanted to venture into the streets again, already feeling tired again from all that searching, taking a quick nap.