Chapter 2- Benny
I wake up before Kamryn, the only thing on my mind our conversation last night. The horrible things those scientists did to her, thoughts of the war. Thoughts of my sister…. I shake my head. Don't think about it, I chide myself. I look at Kamryn. I can't help but notice how pretty she looks right at this moment, with her wavy blonde hair and fair skin. She looks a lot less hostile and guarded in her sleep.
"Kamryn," I whisper. "Kamryn, wake up." She stirs and opens her eyes a crack.
"Hmm?" She mumbles sleepily. "Wha's going on?"
"We should keep moving. Who knows when the scientists will catch up? We need to get back to the rebel camp quickly," I say. Kamryn frowns and rubs her eyes, yawning, then sits up.
"Okay. Where is this rebel camp anyways?" She asks.
"It's in Florida. Seminole, to be exact," I answer as I pack up my stuff and stamp out the remains of the fire. Kamryn stares at me with disbelief on her face.
"Florida? How are we going to get to Florida? That's halfway across the country," She says. I extend my wings.
"Well, I was thinking flying?" I say. She barks a sarcastic laugh.
"Right, you'll just carry me halfway across the country. Good luck." Man. She really is a smartass.
"Well what do you suggest?" I ask.
"A car?" Kamryn puts her hands on her hips and gives me a 'duh' look.
"Yea, and where are we gonna get a car?" I argue.
"Where's the nearest civilization, besides the Institute?" She ignores my question. I would be annoyed if I didn't think that meant she had a plan.
"Gas station a couple miles back. Why?"
"Perfect, let's go," She says. I furrow my eyebrows.
"What're you thinking?" I ask suspiciously. Kamryn just looks at me with her piercing blue gaze.
"Just trust me," She says, using the line I had repeated over and over yesterday. I roll my eyes, but then I nod.
"Fine. Let's go."
I carry Kamryn to the gas station as fast as I can. I still don't understand what she is planning, but I quit questioning her halfway through the flight because she ignores me every time I try asking. We touch down at the gas station.
"Now, can you please explain to me what the hell you're planning?" I beg. Kamryn scans the place and nods.
"We need a car, and a gas station seems like a good place to find one," Kamryn shrugs. I stare at her with my eyebrows raised.
"You mean you want to steal a car?" I ask in surprise. She nods frankly. I grin.
"Cool," I say. She flashes me a quick half smile. Man, this chick is cooler than I thought.
"Now, we just need to find a car," I say. The place is empty. Kamryn nods her head towards a small store.
"While we wait, I bet that place has some food. I'm starved," She declares, and begins to walk towards the store. I pull my wings through the slits in my jacket and fold them so they align my spine, so you can barely even tell that they exist. I jog to catch up to Kamryn. We open the door and a little bell sounds. Kamryn was right- this place is chock full of snacks. Perfect.
Behind the counter is a guy that looks around sixteen, with red hair and a pale, acne ridden face. He sits on a stool reading comic books. Other than Kamryn and me, he's the only person in the store that I can see. He doesn't look like much, but in this crappy, messed up world anyone could be a threat.
Thank god I thought to bring some cash. I shovel as much non-perishable food and snacks into my pack as I can, along with half a dozen water bottles. I look to see that Kamryn is grabbing a pair of flip-flops, and look down to see that she is barefoot. Convenient that this place happened to have shoes. Kamryn also grabs a pair of sunglasses, and tosses a pair to me. I grin and put them on. She flashes a grin and grabs an energy drink, looking at it with a strange look. She ends up taking four and I can't help but let out a laugh, which I stifle at the look she gives me.
"What?" She challenges. I shake my head, laughing again.
"You look like my mom used to when I went shopping with her. What were you doing, looking at the ingredients?" I tease. She crosses her arms.
"I've never had an energy drink before. Hell, I've never had caffeine before, or any of this snack food. I was just looking," She defends herself. I smirk, but don't say anything else. We go up to the counter and lay our merchandise on the table. The teenager looks up at us with wide eyes, presumably because of the large quantity.
"You guys going on a road trip or something?" He asks. I glance at Kamryn.
"Yeah, something like that" I reply with a quick smile. The teenager nods and begins scanning our items with the price scanner thing.
"I thought so. We get lots of couples in here around this time of year going on road trips," He says. I and Kamryn begin to protest at the same time.
"We aren't couples!" She argues, her face reddening.
"Yeah, we're just friends," I agree.
"More like acquaintances," She continues. I shoot her a look and she shrugs. The boy just holds up his hands.
"Okay, okay, I get it. My bad," He says with a chuckle. "Okay, your total is forty two twenty eight, cash or credit?"
"Cash," I reply and lay two twenties and a five dollar bill on the counter, and shove all the food and drinks into our bag. The boy gives me my change, and Kamryn and I leave the store, her in her new flip flops.
"It's weird, I've never had shoes before, or sunglasses," She says, reminding me that she grew up in some science facility. We sit on the curb to wait for a car to come. I pull out a packet of powder donuts and hand her half of them, then dig in to mine. When I look over at Kamryn I see her hesitate, and then takes a tentative bite. Her eyes widen and I have to stifle a laugh.
"These are good! Donuts, they're called?" She asks, biting into it again. I nod, grinning.
"Don't tell me you've never had a donut before," I say. She shakes her head.
"Man, for the past seventeen years all I've had every day is oatmeal, stale bread, and carrots. I've never had a good tasting meal, forget sugar," She says, popping the rest of the donut into her mouth.
"I have much to teach you, young grasshopper," I say. She laughs and turns to me, mock bowing.
"I have much to learn, sensei," She replies, and we both laugh. I wipe my eyes.
"Man, I haven't laughed like that in so long," I say, grinning. "Where'd you learn this stuff?" I ask.
"When you're locked up for your whole life, you learn to observe things, listen. The scientists may be evil sons of bitches, but they are regular people, granted regular people who apparently hate mutants," Kamryn tells me. I nod thoughtfully. Suddenly, she hits my arm and points. I look up and see a silver sedan pulling in to the gas station.
"Jackpot," I mutter. A man gets out and puts a gas pump in the side of his car, then walks past us into the store. Kamryn and I get up and run over to his car. It's unlocked. Perfect.
"Sorry, sucker," I say, pulling the gas pump out of his car. I get into the driver's seat and hotwire the car, and Kamryn climbs into shotgun seat. I throw my pack into the backseat and look to see if the guy is leaving the store yet. He isn't. Good, he won't see us then. I Step on the gas and drive away.
"That was cool, where'd you learn to do that?" Kamryn asked me.
"What, hotwire the car? Logan, one of the old professor's at Xavier's school who escaped, taught me. Of course, he's better known as Wolverine," I tell her. Kamryn giggles.
"Wolverine?" She asks.
"We all have nicknames based on our mutation, I don't know why, don't ask. Mine's Hawk, 'cause of the wings. But you can just stick to Benny," I answer.
"Why is Logan's Wolverine?" Kamryn inquires.
"His mutation is he has claws, actually, more like talons, which he can sheath and unsheathe in his knuckles. Apparently, his entire skeleton is lined with some metal called adamantium. Also, he doesn't age and he heals crazy fast," I say. Kamryn whistles.
"That's some mutation," She says, sounding impressed.
"Yea," I agree.
We ride along the road in silence. The damn thing seems to go on forever, and we haven't found any signs of civilization since the gas station.
"Do you know where you're going?" Kamryn asks suspiciously.
"Vaguely," I answer, and before she can argue, I continue. "But I mean, it's not like we can go anywhere else, there hasn't been a turn or intersection for miles. Our only way is forward." I imagine Kamryn is rolling her eyes.
"Okay, fine, but what about when we get to an intersection? Then what do you do?" She says. "We need to get our bearings, figure out where we need to go." I make a frustrated sound, but I know she's right. I stop the car and turn to her.
"Okay, I admit it, you're right, but how're we supposed to get directions if there's no one to get directions from?" I ask. She thinks for a moment, looking at the dashboard of the car for who knows what. Then she points at a screen in the middle.
"I bet you a box of donuts that's a GPS of sorts," She says.
"What makes you say that?" I challenge. In answer, she presses a button underneath the screen that says GPS on it. She smirks at me, and I roll my eyes.
"Nice job, Sherlock," I say.
"Don't mention it, Watson," she replies with a wink. I grin, and then look back at the screen. On it is several options. I press the one that says 'enter your destination.' A keypad pops up, and I type in Seminole, Florida, along with the address of the base camp. A digital hourglass takes up the screen, and in a moment the screen shows a map with a highlighted route. A feminine robotic voice says 'turn right in six point three miles.'
I grin at Kamryn, and she flashes back a half-smile.
"Drive on, genius."
Authors Note: Hey guys, I finally figured out how to do this stuff. I just wanted to say: sorry for any mistakes I've made/will make, I'm trying my best. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy it so far!