Reclaim

Fugitives

                                          Aslan
                   Illinois
           12/23/26
Me and Hernando made our way out to look for a town, and after a good few grueling hours, we found one.
A simple small town that seemed mostly friendly.

Trees planted in big concrete pots in sidewalks, lightly colored buildings with colorful murals in alleyways, and a large square with a fountain, a Commerby war memorial, and some benches along with nice flowers and a gazebo with a water fountain.

There were couples walking around, a Jehovah witness handing out fliers about the Gospel, and a few kids and adults, walking with their dogs, or friends, or both. The town was cozy and peaceful, the type of place I'd like to live if I was free.

We made our way to a water fountain to get a nice long drink after being out without purified city water for so long, then sat down at a bench and tried to make a plan.

"We need a place to stay before it gets too cold out here, I'm not dying from frostbite after escaping prison and being on the run for four days."

Hernando seemed to already have ideas. He was eyeing a car that was parked by a coffee shop, a grey pickup truck.
"Stick shift. Easy to hotwire."
"You know how to hotwire?"

He looked at me as if he was shocked that I didn't know this. "Surprised?"
He smiled, then got to his feet, ready to steal us a car. He did the usual, look around nonchalantly, with a stroll.
The window was slightly down. It was low enough for him to reach his arm into and unlock. I walked up to the car as he unlocked the passenger door and got in with him.

He closed the door gently and then got to work.
"He left his window down. He'll probably be back very soon. We gotta be quick."

He put the parking brake on and pulled out the ignition wires like they did in the movies. He nicked them, then started rubbing them together, at least from what I could see, I was focusing more on the coffee shop with the guy who owned this truck. Must've been ordering heavy to be waiting this long.

"Uh oh."
The one thing that I didn't wanna hear at this moment in time.
"What?"
"This idiot's low on gas. We're not going anywhere far in this hunk of junk."
Great, just our luck.

He kept trying to hotwire it regardless, and after a good minute, I heard the truck hum to life. The guy inside the coffee shop just got his coffee and was about to come put when he saw his truck turn on. He came running out, ready to give us the beating of a lifetime.

"STEP ON IT!"
The truck jerked forward, flying off, but before we got too far, the glass of the window behind us exploded as something whizzed past my head and through the windshield. I looked back, and sure enough, he had his big iron pointed our way, blasting hot lead at us. I heard a boom and a second one just barely missing my head, put another hole in the windshield.

"HE'S CRAZY!"
"TURN, HE'LL FRIGGIN KILL US."
Just then, another bullet put the windshield out, blowing it to shards of glass covering the dashboard and my lap. The truck pulled to the left harshly, nearly throwing me out the window that had been broken.

Another bullet flied past, and people started screaming and running away from the lunatic sprinting after a truck, firing his gun at it. All I could think was why he brought a gun into a Starbucks? We pulled a corner, granting us momentary cover.

Cars were swerving to avoid us, crashing and spinning out of control. Bullets started flying again, which made me remember I had a gun, too.

I pulled it out of my pocket and cocked it back, ready to shoot back before realizing I only had three bullets left. There wasn't a good reason to waste a precious opportunity to escape trouble on a chancey shot.