A/N: This is my first story for The Good Wife fandom. The first chapter is short, but the chapters will become longer. I will say this now, there is no character death involved in this story. Happy Reading!
Blood Lines
The car is packed up and the girls are en route to Indiana University in Indianapolis to visit her brother for the long weekend. Her mom only agreed because her dad was out of town on a business trip and she was going to be working late hours preparing for a court case that starts after the long weekend. What her mother didn't know was that she wasn't going alone. Two of her friends from school were in the care with her, singing along to the music that blasted through the speakers of the car. Leah was in the front passenger seat playing "co-pilot", with printed directions on the dashboard.
"Leah what exit do we take off I-90?"
"What?"
"What exit?!" she says trying to be louder than the blasting music.
"Ah!" Leah reaches forward, grabbing the sheet of the dash, "17."
"Thanks." The driver responds as she tried to take some deep breaths to calm her nerves. She knew she wasn't supposed to have friends in the car while she drives, but she didn't want to go alone. She wasn't used to driving with other people in the car—other than her mother, brother and occasionally her father. Thankfully, they were already in Indiana and it was a straight shot on I-65 to Indianapolis. She smiled and joined in with the singing and giggling with her friends until it started getting darker. Grey clouds had covered the sky and shielded the late afternoon sun.
Leah turned down the music when Shannon's phone continued to ring. Shannon who was sitting in the middle of the back seat with the belt loosely buckled, so she could lean forward to be part of the conversation, she leaned back to converse with her mom; telling her mom that she was staying at Leah's dad's house for the weekend, outside of Chicago. The girls in front were mildly concerned that they would get caught but then heard Shannon tell her mom off since her mom was going to be working the weekend. All the girls released sighs of relief when she hung up the phone and gave them the thumbs u, indicating that everything was okay. The girls' smiles and the driver turned up the music, singing along with renewed enthusiasm and energy.
As they continued on, the sky continued to darken, the clouds now completely covered the sky and raindrops started to fall on the windshield. Turning the wipers on, the driver turned the music own a little bit to help her focus better. They all rolled up the windows trying not to get wet.
It's strange at how dark it gets when it is cloudy and grey; especially when the sun starts to set. The driver thought.
"Leah, how many more minutes?"
"Uhh, about 50 minutes left, depending on traffic."
"50 MINUTES?" Shannon whines, popping her head between the two front seats. "Can we stop at that rest stop ahead to grab some food?"
Leah agrees with her, so the driver starts to take the off ramp.
After chowing down on pizza slices and soda, the girls use the restrooms and head back to the car, with a steady stream of rain falling from the clouds. "I'm going to fill the gas tank here before we continue." As she's filling the tank, she looks around at the surroundings and starts to worry about the limited light and the slick roads. She shakes her head and climbs into the car. Once back on the Interstate, Leah turns on the stereo to a different CD. Instead of singing along, the girls start chatting over the music, ragging on Shannon for almost getting them caught. The girls gossip and laugh about boys and other classmates. The driver turned to the side to make a comment to Leah when she heard a string of honks from behind her. Whipping her head straight to stare out at the road, she saw the car that was half in the shoulder, half in her lane, with the hazards on. She slammed on her brakes and swerved into the middle lane, barely avoiding hitting the back fender of the broken down car, when she heard a screeching sound then crunching metal. She couldn't move, she could only stare straight ahead at the woods in the median of the highway. That's when a car in the far left lane collided with the driver side of her car.
She heard people yelling and screaming.
Someone was touching her neck.
"Grace!" two terrified voices yelled.