Page 34 of The Chase

“But I’m just saying man, I’d back him.”

“Well, unfortunately we’re meant to find him and kill him.”

“As I said, we don’t even know what we’re looking for.”

“Just look for signs-”

“What signs?”

“I don’t fucking know!”

The pair continued to bicker as they kept walking, continuing out of earshot. Colt stayed stock still. She wanted to breathe a sigh of relief but Colt didn’t move. She focused on her breathing. On his breathing. Then she heard their voices again. Of course they looped back. She hadn’t thought. That’s why it was good to be on the run with him and not by herself.

“You wanna wait until morning? Wait by the entrance to see if they come in or out, or keep going up the highway?”

“Screw this, man, let’s go, nothing outta the ordinary here.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go. Wish we’d gone to that bar back on the highway.”

“Yeah, there’ll be another - hey, tomorrow night we’ll check out campsites, then hit up a bar…”

Their footsteps faded as they walked off to where they had left their bikes. April continued to breathe shallowly. In and out again. In and out. She heard Colt’s breath, too. Longer, slower. Then bike engines started up. And began to fade. They were gone.

“Tonight, we’re wild camping,” Colt said firmly, as he steered the van out toward the exit early the next morning. It was just after dawn, they were back in Oregon again. They had both waited under the van for what had felt like hours to April. Her legs had gone numb with the cool predawn air. She thought she could feel damp from the ground seeping into her skin. Her muscles and limbs stiffened and she felt like she was made of clay.

Finally, Colt moved. He’d been stock still the whole time. She had become intimately familiar with his beautiful burning bright eyes, every hair of his beard, every pore of his skin. But then he’d moved, urging her to be silent with a finger to his lips and an imploring gaze. She followed his lead, feeling like a little girl, clinging to him, relying on him to make meaning from what happened. She was reminded of the seriousness of the game they were playing. This chase wasn’t just a question of hide and seek, of a fun, carefree road trip and camping. They wouldn’t all laugh and pat each other on the backs if they were caught. She and Colt might end up dead. She could be dragged back to the clubhouse to be raped.

They had crept into their van, in the bushes. After a shower and a silent breakfast of an apple and a banana each, they’d set off. The sun was just rising, the sky was a milky blue. April felt like she’d been up all night and it should be lunchtime already. She had her chin propped on her elbow as she watched the trees roll past them in the window.

“We’re wild camping, and we’re heading back down the highway,” Colt repeated when he got no response from her.

She blinked, raised her head and turned back into the cab, toward Colt. She took a breath, forced her teeth to unclench and tried to relax. She risked a glance at him and could see stress in the lines around his eyes, in the white knuckles on the steering wheel.

“What’s wild camping?” she asked.

“No campsite, no facilities.”

“Huh... isn’t that illegal?”

Colt blinked. “Do you think I give a fuck?”

“No facilities... no toilets, no showers?” she suddenly realized.

“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d be happy,” he said with a wry grin. She took a breath, about to protest out of habit, about to insist on a basic level of comfort, she could hear her shrill voice now in her head. It felt like her old self. She wasn’t that person anymore. She expelled the breath forcefully.

“Good idea,” she heard herself quietly agreeing.

“That’s it? No pushback from my little pampered Kitten?” He smirked now.

She raised her eyebrows. “Oh, you want an argument?”

“I like your spirit, I told you.”

“Well fine, you want me spitting like a kitten, here we go, brace yourself…” She took a big breath.

“I’m braced.” He smiled.

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