Subject #013 | ✓

Chapter 36

The next few days pass in a blur. As soon as Alix and I arrived back in Durango with the car, we grabbed Liz and our road trip began, taking us down the long, middle-of-nowhere highway called North Street. And sure enough, we were headed south.

Along the way, we stop at numerous gas stations and hotels. At first I was worried that there might be a problem with money, but each night Alix would disappear for a few hours and then arrive again with something of value. He never explained where he got them, and Liz and I never asked.

Over the days, our disguises fade. Alix's natural light brown color is coming back at the roots slowly, infiltrating the blond. Black streaks are starting to work their way back into Liz's temporary platinum hair. As for me, I look like a disaster. My normal fiery hair is coming back slowly, making the blue seem more dull.

As for clothing, I've given up wearing my clingy black dress and have switched back to my normal clothes. Alix and Liz also haven't been as strict about what they wear and how they act because we try to avoid going out in public anyway.

Every night since we got on the road, we'd stop at a hotel every night and check in, making sure to ask every single person at the front counter if they'd seen a black car pass down the road. We got vague answers from every single one of the staff, and though I know I shouldn't give up, I can feel my hope leaving me.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Liz's voice causes me to pull myself back to reality, lifting my head from my hands. I'm lounging on the queen sized bed in the hotel we're staying in tonight. We've reached Albuquerque, New Mexico, and if we continue going at this pace, we're going to end up in Mexico, and eventually the Pacific Ocean.

"Yes," I lie. She sees right through it.

"I know what it feels like to miss someone." She says, crossing her arms across her chest and staring at the ground. "It isn't fun. I'm not going to tell you that I'm sorry, because it's not something that just you as a person goes through. Everyone goes through it. That you have to deal with it in this way makes me sympathetic."

I look at her. "I know. I guess that I just wish my life never changed."

"Everyone changes. It's a part of life." Liz says. "You just managed to get hit with it in the head harder than everyone else." I cough out a laugh. "It's not a bad thing that you've taken some hits. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, yeah?"

I nod after a time. "Yeah."

"What are we talking about ladies?" Alix's voice joins the conversation, and I can't help perk up at his constant upbeat attitude. We haven't been butting heads nearly as often these past few days, and a fool can see that being partners has changed something in both of us.

"Mangoes." I lie, rolling my eyes.

"Oohh, mangoes are good. I bet I could steal some for y'all." He says, puffing his chest out slightly in that 'I'm the boss' type manner.

"No, thanks. We were talking about how the two of us actually don't like mangoes." Liz joins in.

Alix frowns. "You don't like mangoes? Now that's just depressing."

"Not as depressing as the fact that you like mangoes." I say. I'm pretty sure he knows we weren't talking about mangoes before he came in, but obviously we don't have to tell him everything. Everyone deserves to have secrets.

Liz and Alix continue to fight about the strange fruit while I'm drawn to the window. None of our hotel rooms along the road trip have been quite as nice as the one we got first, but they've been good enough to suit our needs, including the fabulous thing called a washer and a dryer.