Shifters

Chapter 27

Damian was not amused by her complaining at all. He rolled his eyes, jumped out of the car, and forcefully ushered her into the passenger side. When she was sitting in there, scowling at him for being so rude, he revved the engine and drove the rusty old car out of the lot for good.

When they got on the road, he pointed the car south and took the freeway out of the city. They were stuck in traffic for over an hour, and the radio didn't work. Kayla sat low in her seat, people were staring at them and laughing at how ugly the car was. She was ashamed of being in there, but moreover, she was ashamed that she couldn't take care of herself. She couldn't go two hours on her own without being attacked!

Damian happened to be thinking the same thing. He shook his head. "What's with you getting yourself surrounded and outnumbered all the time?" He sniggered.

She rolled her eyes.

"What I find crazy," He continued, "Is that you had a chance to get away when you hit him across the face, but you stayed right there! Why would you do that?" He laughed in disbelief, unable comprehend her cluelessness.

"Here's a question!" Kayla snapped, "How'd you know where I was?"

He gave her a look as if it was obvious. "I was never far away."

She paused, a bit surprised and intrugued. He hadn't ever really left? Then something else came to her, "Then, why didn't you stop him sooner!? My nail wouldn't have been broken if you would've acted sooner!"

The traffic began to move again slowly, like a beast that had just woken from a deep slumber. He gently pressed on the gas and inched forward with the flow.

"I was waiting for you to get out of it yourself. I thought you'd at least be able to handle some humans."

She was silent. He was surprised that she had nothing to say. But what could Kayla say? He was right, they were humans, she should've been able to get rid of them easily. Yet, she could not.

She sighed deeply. "I guess, I was waiting for someone else to finish them off for me." She admitted quietly. "I've never really had to deal with that kind of thing on my own."

He glanced over at her curiously. "Look, if you want to survive, you need to learn how to do things for yourself. When we get back, we can't forget all this happened like a bad dream, the hunters know of our territories now." He didn't add the horrible possibility that they could very well have attacked the valley already. They still needed some form of hope to cling to in order to get home.

Out the windshield, traffic had picked up and now the freeway was running normally.

She knew he was right, the way she was accustomed to living would get her killed. She knew she owed her life to him, but she refused to acknowledge that at the moment. So she changed the subject instead. "Where are we going?"

"South." He replied, keeping his green eyes on the road. "It's the last thing they'd expect."

"How far south?"

"As far as this ugly bastard will take us." He changed lanes and entered the faster one on the left. "When the day ends we'll take a rest stop and continue in the morning."

They didn't talk at all after that. Damian had never driven on a freeway before, so he was plenty distracted, watching the traffic and maintaining his speed. Kayla was terribly missing the radio, but she managed by humming her favorite songs to herself and listening to the sound of the sputtering Altima. It reminded her of a little old man.

When the gas was getting dangerously low Damian would exit the freeway and find a gas station to refill. He'd made $500 on his own after he left the Dragonian's house, so together they had $2000. They set $300 aside for airfare, and preserved the rest as best they could. They snacked on the beef jerk when they got too hungry to function, and drank the juice boxes when they were thirsty.