Chapter One
"He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise."
-Voltaire
2005
Ann stared through bleary blue-green eyes at the monster that stood over her. She had taken a number to the back of her head, and the world around her was spinning. The room was dark, adding further confusion to her befuddled mind as she struggled to think through the haze of fog that was descending upon her.
"Davies!" She heard Tim call her name as she struggled to sit up leaning on her hand for support. Her fingers spread through something warm and sticky. The sticky substance smelled like iron she realized.
"Tim..?" She called for him and felt herself being lifted out of the sticky substance into strong arms supporting her back and underneath her legs.
"We gotta get out of here," She murmured as she leaned her head against her savior's shoulder. She was so tired; and the fog seemed so cool in the heat of the summer, the gray and black colors seemed so comforting as she started to slip into it.
"Ann!" She heard her name distantly as her eyes slipped closed. And then the arms beneath her disappeared and she was falling. Ann landed on something hard, her head knocking back against the hard surface as she landed, something heavy landing on her stomach. But she didn't care anymore. The fog had almost entirely engulfed her now, and she wasn't going to try to resist it anymore.
~&~&~&~
2009
Ann pressed a hand to her mouth as she yawned tiredly. Her eyes bleared for a moment making the windshield in front of her hazy and slightly out of focus as her eyes watered. The wind shield wipers moved at their highest speed. Whip-whap, whip-whap; they were barely making a dent in reducing the amount of water that was pounding against the windshield of Ann's baracuda.
"Damn, it's late." Her passenger managed past a yawn.
"Tell me about it." She said, absently pushing play on the stereo. Bob Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone' came through the speakers.
"Bob Dylan…Seriously?" Tim questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Hey, driver, which would be me, picks the music; which includes genre, decade, etc., etc. And passenger, which would be you, shuts his pie-hole or gets to walk to the next town." Ann glanced at her friend just in time to see him roll his eyes.
"Wow, someone's in the happy time of their month." He intoned, slumping down in his seat resting his head against the neck rest.
"Shut up, Timothy."
"Love you too, Ann."
Ann shook her head and turned her attention back to the road in front of her…or at least what there was to see. It had been raining heavily for two days now, through Oregon and most of Washington State, and the water levels were getting deep in most places. At times she had to back-track through to another road to avoid getting washed into a ditch by the raising water…
"Hey Ann," She was torn out of her revere and turned her attention to focus on the young man next to her.
"Yeah?" She asked, stifling a yawn.
"You know I could always drive if you're getting tired." He offered, it was a nice gesture, and she would have gladly taken him up on it if it weren't for the fact he had done most of the driving that day.
"No, I'm fine. Besides, I have better reflexes then you." The last part was a lie. He was the one that had the better reflexes despite his vision problem…
"What? Think a one-eyed man can't steer this baracuda?" He joked light heartedly. Ann forced a smile; she didn't like it when he joked about his eye like that. She knew that he was trying to make her feel better, but the attempt was backfiring miserably. It was her fault he had to wear that stupid eye patch in the first place, and while he didn't blame her for what had happened; she felt responsible all the same.
"No, I don't trust anyone with my car when they've had only 4 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. Now catch some ZZZ's, hunter. We've got a case to hit in Montana!" She shot a good natured smirk in his direction before turning her attention back to the road and turning up Bob Dylan, putting an effective end to the conversation as Tim rolled his eye and slumped down in the passenger seat.
It was going to be one hell of a long drive.
