Att.\ Disclaimer: I do not own the name Saint Dane or the names of most of the places mentioned in this FanFic.
Chapter 3 – Road Trip
Walking onto the side of the highway, Daniel stood next to the rusted, chain link fence and stuck out his thumb, the universal sign of a hitchhiker. He stood there for what seemed like hours but was in fact only about five minutes. Starting to feel stupid, Daniel wondered what he should do next. It was a good idea but I guess not many people are into hitchhikers.
Just then, a brand new, red, Ford Mustang pulled to the side. A young, maybe twenty year old, man stepped out of the driver's side. He was wearing dark sunglasses and as he walked over to Daniel he took them off. "You need a ride, kid?" he asked. "Um, yeah." muttered Daniel. "Where ya headed, kid?" Daniel hadn't thought of that. He answered with the question, "Where are you headed?" "I'm going upstate New York, maybe Ithaca or some place like that. What's your name?" "It's Daniel and I wouldn't mind upstate New York." "Cool, I'm Andrew. Hop in!"
They sat for a while in silence. At least he's not a bad driver. He has an interesting accent, some type of western speech. Maybe Montana..., thought Daniel. As an attempt at conversation, Andrew asked, "Is this your first time hitchhiking?" Daniel looked at him for a minute, wondering if there could be any harm in answering his question. "Yeah, why? Do I look new at this?" "I just thought you looked a little nervous. I remember my first time. Felt kind of stupid. After a few times you'll feel better about it."
After a few more minutes in silence, Andrew said, "How old are you anyway?" Daniel realized just how young he must look to this guy. "I'll be thirteen in three weeks!" he said indignantly. "Really?" Andrew glanced at Daniel for a moment, probably wondering if he was lying. "What are you doing hitchhiking anyway?" "I ran away." Daniel said. At least it was partly the truth. "Tough family life?" "Not really. I felt overwhelmed. Too much school work, sports, and important stuff happening. I just couldn't take it anymore." Andrew nodded. "My Pa died when I was younger and my Ma had to take over all the responsibilities and I started to feel a little useless and depressed. I decided to leave and I never went back. Instead of Andrew, you could call me Andy if you like." "Daniel thought for a moment and realized how nice he was being to him. "Okay, thanks."
They traveled all day, stopping once for a pit stop and another time for dinner. Daniel insisted paying for his own food. He felt it wouldn't be right letting someone he had just met buy him something. Around eleven Andy pulled into a small Bed and Breakfast. Again Daniel insisted on paying for his room, it wasn't a lot anyway, and they headed for their rooms. Daniel counted how much money he had spent so far, less than a hundred fifty. At least I have enough to go around, he thought just before falling asleep.
In the morning they ate breakfast and headed off. At around noon, Andy announced that they had only a few hours left to the trip. They drove straight through and made it in two and a half hours. As Daniel got out and stretched he noticed something on the side of the rode. It was pretty large and had some type of horns on its head. He motioned to Andy and they cautiously walked up to the animal. It was a deer.
"Is it alive?" asked Daniel. "Do you think we should call animal control?" "Well," Andy said, "I think it's alive. See its side is moving. I don't know the animal control number for up here. Do you?" Daniel thought for a minute. What had happened to it? It didn't look like it had gotten hit."No, but what do you think happened to it?" "I don't know. He looks fine to me."
All of a sudden a huge car came up the road, driving extremely fast. It stopped behind Andy's car, just missing a fender bender. Somebody jumped out of the front seat. As the person came around the car, Daniel knew something wrong. The person's walk was hapless and scattered. Daniel saw as the man came around the car that he was carrying a game rifle and didn't look to happy. "Leave my deer alone!" he yelled, spit flying from his mouth. "I shot him. That means he's mine." He glanced at the license plate of Andy's car. "Massachusetts. I thought as much. You people know nothing about hunting. The key rule is: LEAVE ANOTHER MANS GAME ALONE!" he began yelling at the top of his lungs.
Daniel glanced at Andy who was staring at the gun. "Come on," he said, "Let's go. It's time to find a place to stay." Andy didn't move. He just kept staring at the man's gun. Daniel pulled Andy up from where he had been sitting on the ground examining the deer. "Andy, snap out of it," Daniel said shaking him slightly. "Oh, sorry. You're right let's go." After a few minutes back on the road, Daniel asked, "Are you okay?" "Yes. I'm fine. It's just…I haven't seen a gun since my father died."
They soon pulled into the driveway of a large, antique looking house. "This is the main directory of the city. We should go in and find ourselves a place to stay. They got out of the car and walked inside. There was a man sitting at the front desk reading the paper. "How may I help you?" he asked with a tired smile. "Do you have any information on places we could stay at" Daniel said. "Sure." He searched through some of the pamphlets and brochures on his desk. He handed them a few of the best ones. "Anything else?" "We would like to report a man in a large, black SUV who confronted us about a mile down the road." Andy had been looking at a sign that said, "NO HUNTING WITHIN A TWENTY MILE RADIAS OF THE CITY." "He had a game rifle and there was a shot deer lying nearby." The man, who had been writing this down said, "Did you see a license plate? Can you describe what the man looked like?" Andy told the man at the desk the whole story and everything they knew. He thanked them and became busy dialing phone numbers to local animal protection and hunting violation offices. Daniel and Andy picked a decent place to stay at and with the directions, drove to see the place.
