mellifluous (life is strange 2)

EPISODE THREE / daffodil

Juli kept a watchful eye out as Finn tried his best to fiddle with the lock on the gates. They were outside of Big Joe's yard, about half a mile down from the campground. None of the other drifters were any wiser to their plans, and so for now, it was just the two of them.

Finn let out a frustrated sigh and turned to Juli. "Alright, sweetie, you think you got this?" he asked. Juli looked at the lock and pressed her lips together. Finesse was, ironically, more Daniel's power than hers, but...

"Take a step back."

He nodded and came over to stand by her side. She took in a deep breath and let it out in a silent scream. Pressure built in her chest, and with a metallic clank, the gates burst open. Finn looked over at her with an expression of awe as bits of the metallic chain flew around.

"Holy shit," he breathed. "Good work. Let's move."

Before they fully crossed over the gate, Juli tensed. She looked up and saw a security camera high on a wooden pole, the red light blinking. She grabbed Finn's arm and pointed. He grabbed her arm, guided her well out of the camera's range, and they crouched near the front bumper of one of Big Joe's trucks.

"How'd you know that was there?" Finn asked, his voice as quiet as a gentle breeze.

Juli watched the house as she spoke. The lights were off and she couldn't hear Big Joe's dog at all. "Dad always said the workers are the most paranoid, and security cameras are usually placed so they can see the largest area possible."

"Well, I'll be damned." Finn stood up from where he crouched once he was certain that they were all alone. "Keep an eye out on that house. I'll get to work on that truck." He pointed at a beat-up pickup truck with scratched blue and white paint. "From now on, we're ninjas. No light, no sound, no nothing."

She pretended to zip her mouth and toss the key. Finn smiled at her and they split up. Juli crouched near a collection of metal barrels and alternated between watching Finn work and the house in the distance. It didn't take long before Finn came over and started shifting through Big Joe's workbench.

"Any luck?" she whispered.

Finn shook his head. "Ol' Joseph's a smart cookie. All the doors are locked."

She looked over at the truck that Finn had pointed at earlier. She wasn't very good with cars and models, but she knew for a fact that the truck didn't have the locking mechanisms that newer cars had. A lightbulb flickered on in her mind.

"I think we only need that truck. If we can get in there, I can probably get it started."

"What?" Finn's jaw went slack. "Talk."

"My dad showed me how to start up the older trucks and cars," she explained. "Just in case ours ever broke down, or I lost the keys, or something like that. If we just had a...a string, or something, then..."

Finn snapped his fingers and undid his bandana from around his neck. He grabbed a loose end and began unraveling the material. "Like this?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's perfect." Juli grabbed a pair of scissors from the workbench and snipped the string off at the length that she needed. "Sorry we needed to sacrifice your lucky charm. It was good while it lasted."

"I don't think you and I are gonna need luck tonight, sweetie." He patted her shoulder and got up. "Let's move."

They made their way over to the truck. Juli looked inside and saw that there was a protruding lock on the door. She made a loop out of the string, shimmied it between the door frame and the door, and began sliding it down until the loop caught on the lock. After a few tugs, she made a quiet noise of victory as the lock undid itself.