Natural Disaster
Disclaimer: I have been told I do not own these characters, who would have thought?
Chapter Eleven: The Pursuit
Ben and Gwen sat at a table in a small doughnut shop, a few half eaten pastries between them. A TV mounted in the corner had spent the last hour reporting on the mysterious fire at the R.V. Park. The current theory was that it was caused by a buildup of gas but for some reason the fire continued to burn so the police hadn't been able to investigate yet.
Gwen was still in shock, she hadn't said five words to Ben since he had pulled them into the store. The teenage girl behind the counter had noticed this and was throwing them glances every time there was a break in customers. Ben noticed her attention. "We should probably get out of here soon; I think they're getting suspicious."
"Where? Where can we go?"
"I've been thinking, back when I was fighting Jenny she mentioned a place called Rockcreek. I don't know if they had anything to do with this, let's face it we've got to many enemies and it could have been someone after Max but it's the best we can do right now."
"Where is Rockcreek? And how are we supposed to get there?" Gwen asked.
Ben looked out the window. "How about the bus?"
Wildmutt ran through the desert, ignoring a beeping from its shoulder. When ben changed back he didn't miss a stride, Gwen and Jenny's scent had been straight since the rock outcropping and he could see a town ahead.
The communicator in his pocket buzzed. Ben grabbed it "Did you find Gwen?"
"Sorry Ben, something's brought down most of the alien tech on this side of the country. I did catch something on the news though. An R.V. caught fire in a city near you. Security footage I got of the explosion shows, well it looks just like the Rust Bucket."
Ben looked along the horizon, there was a pillar of smoke rising off towards the side. "I see the smoke."
"I'm heading there now. I'll meet you at the R.V. Park. And Ben, we'll find Gwen."
Ben and Gwen sat in uncomfortable plastic seats at the bus station. As it turned out Rockcreek was two hours away. The bus going there would leave in just a few minutes.
While they were waiting Ben got them each a water, Gwen took a small sip of hers then set it aside. Her eyes were dull, looking beyond reality. She barely stirred when Ben set his hand on her shoulder. "How's your ankle doing Gwen?"
The shock of the last few hours had made her completely forget about her own injury's, but now that he had mentioned it a dull thud returned to it. Mimicking her heart beat. "I'll live. Ben, it doesn't seem real. How can grandpa be gone?"
"We don't know he is. Maybe he got out before it went off. Or something, who knows what kind of tech he had in there. He could have teleported to safety." He was trying to reassure her but even she could tell he didn't believe any of it.
"I'm kind of surprised the explosion wasn't bigger with all that alien junk in there." She said.
"Looked big enough to me." Ben said in a joking voice, hoping to get a smile from Gwen. Not even a twitch.
When the bus pulled up they found seats in the back, getting a few odd looks because of their dirty clothes and disheveled look. Once in their seats Gwen leaned against Ben and fell asleep before they even reached the freeway.
The seats around them were mostly empty so Ben decided to take a small chance. His hand slid down her hip until the tips of his fingers were resting inside the waist of Gwen's pants. Slowly, so as not to draw attention or wake Gwen his fingers moved towards the front. There was no hurry, the bus ride was just getting started, and the real Ben was miles away. At least as far as Jenny knew.
Ben leaned against a fence at the RV park, the smoldering haul of an RV rested a few yards away. When he had first gotten there police officers had been everywhere, but over the last few minutes they had cleared out leaving one security guard to look after things. The guard was snoozing in a lawn chair.
The Rust Bucket pulled into the park. "Ben, did you find anything?"
"Yea, Gwen and Jenny were defiantly here. I sniffed around a bit as Wildmutt. But the explosion scattered their scents. Grandpa, I don't know where they went."
"Well I might." He pulled out a device that looked like an old portable T.V. "I managed to get this old thing working."
The screen flickered showing a black outline of the burnt out RV. He adjusted a knob and streaks of color crossed the screen until two settled in. one blue, one purple. "Got them. Looks like we can track their mana."
"Mana?"
"Never mind. They went this way." Max handed the device to Ben while he drove. The trail lead them to a donut store, then the screen went completely white.
"Grandpa."
"I'm working on it; something's bleached out the signal."
Ben sat at one of the tables watching the traffic. Every second Gwen was with Jenny could be some new horror. Even with the greatest piece of tech in the universe he couldn't stop a couple of punks from taking Gwen. He couldn't even tell Gwen apart from Jenny.
"Miss your bus kid?"
Ben looked up to find a middle aged woman watching him. "Uh?"
"You and your girlfriend bought tickets to Rockcreek remember? That bus left almost an hour ago."
"Wait are you sure it was me? And a girl. Blue shirt stupide cat head on it?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
Ben jumped from the table and told his grandfather about the bus. Three minutes later they were a blur on the freeway following the bus. "Remember Ben, you need to be smart. Just get Gwen."
"Smart, I've got that covered." In a flash of green Greymatter stood on the windowsill as they pulled ahead of the buss. "Let's see, at this speed, wind, angle. I need to jump right about no-"
The Rust Bucket hit a bump and Greymatter was tossed from the vehicle. He slammed into the busses windshield.
The bus driver made a face at the giant bug, turning on the windshield wipers. Greymatter grabbed onto them and ducked inside the engine through the busses grill. He worked his way through the fan belt and removed a panel to the air-conditioning.
Ben popped his head out of a vent in the ceiling and checked the bus, it was only half full, there was no sign of Gwen or Jenny.
Beep Beep Beep, Greymatter dropped out of the vent into an empty seat just as he turned back into ben. A sleepy couple looked around at the flash but no one else took notice. He got up and made his way to the front of the bus. "Excuse me."
"Behind the line and no talking to the driver, what the hell! How'd you get back on?"
"You've seen me?"
"Hell yes, you're that punk ass who used the emergency break to stop us at that mud pit. But you and the girl got off, did you sneak back on?"
"How far back did I get off."
"whu? About twenty miles."
"Thanks." Ben grabbed the emergency break and slammed it. The bus skidded to a stop and he jumped off.
Grandpa Max had been keeping pace with the bus and stopped just in front of it. Ben dove through the door. "They got off twenty miles back."
Gwen looked around the mostly deserted tourist stop. A faded sign advertised 'Aunt Edna's desert hot springs'. It was mostly a mud hole though. "Ben are you sure you saw Jenny here?"
"Yea, she's defiantly here. Maybe we can find her if we blend in."
"How are we supposed to do that?"
Ben opened a side door to a closed souvenir stand. "I'll show you."
She followed him inside; there were boxes of unsold clothes. Ben pulled his shirt off. Gwen blushed at her half naked cousin. "Ben."
"What? Come on Gwen it's not like there are a lot a places we can change in. Besides we've seen each other like this before."
"It's embarrassing."
Suddenly Ben was kissing her; she let herself slide into it. They hadn't been like this since the night before at the firework show. It felt like so much longer though. Ben put his hands on her hips and slowly raised them. Pulling up Gwen's shirt as he went.
He broke the kiss a moment to pull her shirt over her head. Gwen raised an arm to cover her chest. Ben smirked at her. "Well you weren't going to do it so I had to help."
"I was to." She grabbed an oversized shirt to put it on.
Ben stopped her, he gently moved her arms away from her chest and gave her lips a fluttering kiss, then her chin. He planted feather light kisses along her jawline to her ear then down her neck.
Gwen's skin was burning, her heart racing. Ben kept kissing down her neck towards her chest. At the last second moving back up and kissing her neck hard, she involuntarily moaned at the sudden change.
Then ben pulled back looking at the red mark he had left, soon to be a very visible hicky. He smirked at Gwen's dazed look. "So do you want to keep going?"
"Yes, but we have to find Jenny." It took every ounce of will from Gwen to keep from shoving ben into the boxes so they could keep going.
Ben sighed, disappointed. "Yea, you change and I'll keep watch outside."
Gwen quickly finished changing, stuffing her old clothes into a backpack she found. She cracked the door open an inch and looked out, no one was looking her way but she couldn't see Ben either. "Ben?"
"Here." He said running back towards the building. "I found them!"
Ben led Gwen to a small cliff overlooking a bubbling pool of steaming mud. Even from several feet up the heat was scorching. "They jumped down there. It's some kind of illusion."
"Are you sure? The heat feels real to me."
"Well we could go back to the shop and have a little fun if you'd prefer. I wouldn't mind. We know where they are now."
"Ben, can't you think of anything else."
"Nope just you."
"We can do that stuff later." She blushed thinking about what that stuff could be.
"Alright then, if you're sure lets jump on in."
"Just jump in?" Gwen asked.
"Yea, trust me would I ever put you in danger?" he rested a hand reassuringly on her shoulder.
"No, you wouldn't"
"Right." Ben shoved Gwen over the edge. As she fell Gwen saw the sadistic smile on his face, and knew, it wasn't Ben.
(A/N: I hope everyone liked that, ah I do love the evil cliff hangers. As I write this I can think of several different ways I can do the next scene, some not so nice to Ben and Gwen. The question is should I go with what I already have or roll with my new idea? Guess you'll just have to wait till the next chapter to see. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. Keep them coming, because I enjoy them.)