She Needs Rock N' Roll (On/And The Wild Side)

Chapter Twenty

Vince's POV

The walk was actually a whole lot longer than it seemed. As we walked, Tommy asked aloud, "You wanna know something I just realized?" I raised an eyebrow, and Nikki asked back tiredly, "What?" Tommy laughed and mused, "We've been through all this shit, and nearly died more than once, but we never got to use a gun." Mick laughed in relaxation and nodded. "True," Amy responded. "So unfair." I laughed at that one, but no one else said anything as we traveled. Thankfully, we weren't that far away from where we needed to go.

"A quad rental? It's a fucking quad rental in the middle of nowhere?" Grace asked in disbelief. Mick looked at the dirt trails left by quads driven away and laughed. "Yeah, babe, it is. This is a great place for quad riding. Besides, you gotta have a place in case the thing breaks down." Grace blinked in shock, but then rolled her eyes. "Ridiculous!" However, she continued to walk to the rental and repair place. I, on the other hand, ran like hell to it. I was sick of walking, and was pretty damn desperate to get the hell back home. Well, to our home town anyway. I wasn't sure if it really was home, or if I had one anymore... if I ever did.

I was the first to get to the place. I darted straight in to find a pretty tired looking guy kicking back in a metal chair watching the news. He seemed to be real calm, but his eyes were fixated on the television completely. Suddenly, his eyes flickered in my direction. "Let me guess," he said boredly, "You're the distraction so your little friends can come and steal my vehicles. Well it's not gonna happen, boy." I had no idea what in the hell he was talking about, but I didn't bother to question it. There was more important shit to do. "Actually," I responded, "I was gonna buy a few of these. Ya know, permanently." Instantly, a smile grew on the man's face and his town immediately turned kinder. "Why didn't you just say so, kid? C'mon in." Once our whole group was in, we did, following the guy back to the warehouse where the quads were.

There were a ton of quads, new and old, with tons of designs. I saw Pamela yank money out of her purse, keeping it hidden, though, so the man wouldn't think to charge any more than the real price. "How much?" Saul asked with a crack of his knuckles. The man smiled kindly. "Well, since you're just kids..." He mused, "A hundred fifty each, with a full tank of gas. Take your picks." I knew we were all used to the couples system, but Grace suggested, "How about we get our own this time?" Trying to shake off the tone, she added afterward, "Ya know. So we can make quicker getaways when we leave. Hah."

No one argued.

Everyone got different colors. Bayley got lime, Pamela got a sky blue, Grace got pink camouflage, Kat got a candy apple red, Alice got an eggplant purple, Amy got regular camo, Saul got a bold orange, Duff got yellow, Steven got a dark green, Jeff got coffee colored, Nikki got blood red, Mick got jet black, Tommy for down reason chose white of all colors, and I took an electric blue one. All in all it cost two-thousand and one hindered dollars, but it was worth the money. According to Pam, we had a whole hell of a lot left too. We additionally got chocolate bars, shoving them in our mouths like we hadn't eaten in ages. Once we had our goodbyes to the man, we all hopped on our new quads and drove the hour-long trip back to where it had all started. We made sure to hide our quads in the woods before we left them.

Deserted; the town was deserted. The school wasn't filled with our old classmates sitting through boring lectures or running along the track while the coach yelled at them. The shops weren't buzzing around with people, nor were the restaurants. I would have thought everyone ran away except for one key factor: everything was still there. The store shelves were intact, fully stocked. The bars and restaurants still looked as if they were completely ready for business. There wasn't a sign of distress a mile away. Lastly, an eerie, powerful silence filled the air, and I felt paranoia set in as he hairs on the back of my neck stood up.