"We can't stay here," I said, trying to figure out how we were going to get anywhere else. "They may not notice I'm gone just yet, but it won't take them that long."
"You're right," he nodded, taking my hand and pulling me to the south.
"Zach," I demanded. "Where are you taking us?"
"The interstate. You have a better idea?"
"We're going to hitch all the way to…where exactly are we going?"
"Let's worry about that later," he answered. "Right now we just need to get away from here."
After ten minutes of plodding through the thick goopy mud and driving rain, we found ourselves at a truck stop. Just about the most obvious place for us to be. Which meant we'd better make this fast.
"That one," Zach said, his eyes focused on a tall, bearded man in his fifties who was climbing into the cab of his truck. He grabbed my hand and pulled me after him, moving quickly toward the driver who was now in his truck and trying to shake the water off of his slicker by waving it out the truck window.
"Wait," I pleaded, as he hauled me after him. "What if he's Circle?"
"He's not." Zach shook his head. "And if he were, I think the two of us could take the one of him."
"Mind if we tag along?" He yelled up to the driver in a way that wasn't really a question. I mean really, he might as well have just said, 'We're tagging along,' for all the choice the driver had in the matter.
"Where you headed?" The man called back.
"Wherever you're going."
"Well, com'on then."
Zach moved to the other side of the cab, practically lifted me up (even though I was more than capable of getting into a truck by myself), and sandwiched me between himself and the trucker.
"Thanks," he smiled, pulling out all the stops for our newest travel companion. "It's wet as hell out there."
"That ain't no lie," the man drawled, shifting the truck into gear and guiding it back up the ramp. "Where y'all from?"
"Up north a ways," Zach answered, and I continued to let him speak for both of us, crafting a cover for the trucker. "Just south of Boston."
"Funny. You ain't got no accent."
"I actually didn't live there that long. But Callie grew up there, so hers is a lot stronger than mine. Right Baby?"
"Mhmm," I mumbled, pretending to be sleepy so I wouldn't have to fake a Boston accent. I wanted to hit Zach. Leave it to him to pick the one accent I had never been able to perfect. Although I doubted if the trucker would have noticed a flawed accent, even if it was more than a little off.
But my plan had its advantages too. So I leaned against Zach and pretended to be tired. And he put his arm around my shoulders and rested his head on mine. And at that moment, it didn't feel like a cover.
"Callie huh? What's your name, son?"
"Matt." My insides twisted at his response. He would pick that name. But his fingers moved in circles on my shoulder, and I took it as a silent apology. "And thanks for driving us Mr…."
"Peters. Bob Peters."
The man turned and looked us over, and for a moment I thought I was going to have to reach over and totally break my cover to keep him from running the truck into the next lane of traffic, but he moved his eyes back to the road just in time and corrected his steering.
"Y'all are runaways, ain't ya?"
Zach was silent for a moment before muttering, "Yes, Mr Peters."
"Figured as much. I was one too, long ago." His eyes moved to us again, and I found myself wishing he would just watch the road. "You kids've thought this through, though, right?"
"Yes," Zach nodded.
"Know how you're gonna support yourselves, right?'
"Yes, Mr. Peters."
"Good, that's all good. Otherwise ya end up like me. But y'all seem too smart for that."
"Thanks, Mr. Peters."
"Wasn't a compliment, kid, it was a fact."
"Well thanks for driving us. Most people just don't understand."
"Ain't no matter. Hope y'all like Iowa. Though I guess if ya don't y'all can tag along 'till I get somewhere else. Ain't no matter at all."
And with that Mr. Peters turned his face to the windshield and I pressed my head into Zach's soaking shoulder. And despite the journey I was setting out on, despite the fact that I'd just left all my friends and family, despite not knowing where we were going or how we were going to get there, for one moment, I was happy.
