Thicker Than Blood

Chapter 13: What do we do?

It was now the middle of summer, and as requested, we moved our lab stuff into the school's lab – my office. We left the specimen's where they were, they weren't going to fit. Not to mention, how do you explain moving a bunch of seemingly dead bodies across campus? I wasn't interested in explaining that, and I'm sure Park wasn't either. So, they stayed in the warehouse.

Rachel was checking up on me a lot, preparing me for my final break from this nightmare. She was my salvation, but only if I could safely get us both out. I was beginning to think I might not. Tonight, we were getting one more specimen, then I was completely done. I hoped our plan worked, but I wasn't sure. I needed to get out, I needed my family to be ok, and I needed Rachel to be ok too. I had lost all hope of Mitchell and Liam being ok. Mitchell had been acting jumpier and Liam, well he's a Park through his mom... he'll be ok.

I sat staring out of the door to my garage. It was opened waiting for Mitchell to pull up so I could just go and close the garage door. He was, of course, running late, but this was later than usual. The darkness was starting to envelope me in it's cold embrace, making me shiver. Summer wasn't hot enough to keep the feelings of dread from wrapping its cold fingers around my body. As the sun continued to set, I watched as the porch lights of my neighbors popped on – one-by-one - down the street. I stayed in the dark hallway looking for the headlights to my doom afraid to turn the lights on in my house, lest anyone know I'm home. I didn't want them to see me leaving my house, nor what car I entered.

Finally, as my outside house lights started to come on, Mitchell parked in my driveway. I ran to the car crouched low to avoid detection and hopped in. "Hey," I said. Mitchell didn't even turn his head, he just stared out the windshield waiting for me to buckle up, it was like I was being driven by a corpse. The screeching tires and his movements are what told me he was still alive, that and his chest was moving. I wasn't in a horror film, but it sure felt like we were. The loud silence filled the car's cabin, making me wish I was at home, but the quietness didn't last long.

"Hey, sorry, I'm just out of it..." Plops of rain began to fall on his car, making an ominous melody.

"No problem... you ok?" The darkness surrounded us, I knew something bad was going to happen tonight, but I didn't know what.

"Yep!" The dashboard didn't light up Mitchell's features, but having been around him, I knew that was a blatant lie.

"Ok..." I made a silent prayer as we pulled into Liam's neighborhood. I sunk down in my seat more, I knew others that lived on this same street, I didn't need them to see me. "Why are we here? Doesn't Liam normally drive himself?"

"Yes. Today is different." His knuckles were turning white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly.

I waited, slumped down in the passenger seat – just in case – and watched for anyone coming. Liam tapped on my window, making me jump, and hopped into the back laughing. Mitchell just grabbed the wheel harder and shot him a look through the rearview mirror – the laughter died fast in Liam's throat. As we pulled off, I noticed within a few minutes that we were driving aimlessly and weren't going directly to our spot in the back of the parking lot at whichever place we were going. It seemed as if Mitchell was trying to get rid of someone following us, although I couldn't see anyone as I watched the sideview mirror.

Thirty minutes passed by, but it felt more like 30 years. My body was cramping from the slouched position, and eventually, our destination popped up in front of us. Mitchell made sure to park alongside the left of the building, where the streetlights didn't dare go. Although his car was 4 doors, it felt more like a coup, specifically those tiny Honda Civic Del Sols - the ones where you'd have to get good at origami to fit anything. Liam was the first to venture out of the small car, stretching his arms. I followed behind him, stretching and shaking my legs as well as my arms, hoping that the feeling would come back. Without my limbs, I'm useless, or worse, dead.