Yes, I was once Corsets and Guns.
This is very revised and very edited: I forgot my other account login otherwise I'd delete it.
Dedicated to replanetes for being awesome.
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The drive between Albemarle and Pertwilla took three hours on a good day, and with the rain hammering down like an angry diamond storm it was well into the night before the battered Chevy even made it into Albemarle county. The last rays of evening sank beneath the horizon of corn and a violent wind picked up, howling into the young night.
Red wasn't paying attention to the storm. She hated driving in the night, especially in the corn counties. It was so easy to see how so many horror movies had been built around corn fields; even with no breeze the golden ears seemed to twitch and shudder as though some invisible force was shifting through them.
The silence in the car wasn't helping. On the way to pick Ben up the car had been filled with idle chatter, but now that Lou was preoccupied with her boyfriend's tongue and Milligan had no-one to argue with the journey was mostly placid. Everyone seemed content; Lou and Ben were making out in the back seat and Milligan was slouched back with her booted feet on the dashboard and music blasting out of her iPod headphones.
The only person freaked out was Red, but she reasoned that it was because she had to focus on where they were going.
"We might have to stop if the storm gets any worse." she said out loud, breaking the silence to appease her growing unease. "I think there's a town coming up, we could see if they've got an all night diner or something we can wait the weather out in…"
Milligan turned off her music and stretched luxuriously. "Nah let's head through it," she yawned. "I'll drive if you don't want to."
Red ignored the other girl's roguish grin and shook her head. "I don't mind driving. And we already agreed that you're not getting in the drivers seat of this car-"
"It's my car." Milligan pointed out.
"- while I still have my breath." Red continued, pretending not to hear her. "You drive like a complete lunatic and I don't know which idiot gave you a licence."
"You seem jittery. Scared?"
Red scoffed, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. "Scared of what, pray tell?"
"Serial killers." Oh Lord here she went. "I'm serious!" Like hell she was. Milligan would say anything and everything if she thought it would get a funny reaction out of someone. "There are so many missing people out here you wouldn't believe. No BS, I swear."
"Uhuh. Well if I see a serial killer, I'll run him over."
After ten or fifteen minutes the storm started to die down and Red relaxed. She was always nervous when she was out at night; God alone knew how scared she'd be if she was on her own right now. Milligan was joyriding at night all the time, speeding through Poho with her gang of juvenile delinquents in a stolen car, but Red just couldn't shake the feeling that there could be something or someone watching from the shadows.
A truck overtook them and she jumped, brought out of her reverie by the sound of it's souped-up engine.
"Sweet." Milligan whistled, sitting up in vague interest. "What's the bet that whatever he's got under the hood isn't legal…"
Ben broke free of Lou and snorted. "Dude, that truck looked like it belonged to a fucking serial killer. It's probably powered by dead fucking people." he sneered.
"Shut-up you big girl."
"Guys!" Lou snapped. "Let's not, shall we? Red, how long until we get into Pertwilla?"
Red exhaled as Milligan settled back into her seat. The last thing she needed was to have to pull the car over in the middle of a dark country road to stop her best friend and her other best friend's boyfriend from killing each other. "About three hours, I'd say. We're still on the wrong side of Albemarle." she sighed.
"Fuck. My mom's gonna kill me if it's Wednesday when we get back." Lou whined, resting her head against Ben's shoulder. "Can't we go any faster?!"
"If you'd let me drive-" Milligan began, running a hand through her short hair. The breeze coming through her open window had ruffled it and it was now sticking up in odd directions, but Red reminded herself that Milligan's hair rarely lay flat. It was messy, but it had sort of grown to suit her.
"We'd be dead." Ben interrupted bluntly. "You drive like my old man."
"Oh really? Ben, do you even know how to drive?! The only reason you even go to car garages is to check out the guys, isn't it?" Milligan countered angrily. "All oiled up and ready to-"
"Shut the hell up Milligan, you're-"
"Both of you shut-up!" Lou yelled. Silence fell - she had twisted around in her seat and was staring out of the dark back window. "Red, you know that truck that passed us a few minutes back?"
"Yeah?"
"It's coming up behind us."