A/N: Part of the scenery in this chapter was made up by me. Also there will be coarse language. And, uh, sorry.
While they had been out, Caitlin and Sierra had acquired a pair of walkie-talkies so that while they were split up in their own cars they could still communicate with each other. Caitlin had the new car with Ryan and Gerard but Sierra was the one to take the calculator because she had a sub standard memory.
When they got out on the flat desert highway, Caitlin was in the front.
"Celine," said Sierra innocently. "Could you please go through my playlists and hit 'Motivating' and then 'Car Chase'?"
While Celine did this from the passenger seat, Caitlin's voice issued from the speaker overhead. "You're joking. I'm way better at driving than you."
"Is that a threat?"
"It could well be."
After briefly checking that there were no other cars on the road, Sierra put her foot down. Abbie squealed in delight. It was true that Caitlin was a better driver than Sierra, but the latter had the advantage of a familiar car. After a reasonable effort, involving many swerves and lots of laughter, Sierra was in the lead. She hardly had time to whoop before Ryan's voice told her to slow down because there was another car approaching.
"Yes, Mum," sighed Sierra.
The other car was getting closer.
"That's weird," Caitlin's muttered, barely audible in the first car. "We're at the speed limit ourselves, right?"
"But they're not..."
Elliot switched on his video camera. "I'd be guessing it's Seekers, personally."
"That's fine," Sierra's voice was unfazed. "Put those contacts in that I gave you."
"Ryan, give Gerard some too," Caitlin said in a hard voice.
Ryan obeyed, but Gerard didn't put them in. The car was getting closer. It was easy to see two more of the distinctive mirrored vehicles behind it. Ahead, a sign said, 'Cliffs approaching. Drive carefully.'
"Gerard, come on."
"There's no point," he answered calmly. "I'm too old to be a soul. And I don't have a scar on my neck."
Sierra must have heard as well, because Caitlin's ears were suddenly filled with every swear word that came to mind, and more. Behind them, another voice was coming through a megaphone on top of the front Seeker car.
"Please stop and exit your vehicle."
"Put your foot down!" Caitlin yelled, while doing so herself. Sierra's car sped ahead in response.
"Haven't done this in a while," Sierra commented while their two cars edged away from the gang of Seekers. What sounded like Eye of the Tiger crackled through the speaker alongside her voice.
"Be careful at the cliffs," Caitlin replied, noticing that her friend was getting to the danger zone of the road.
"Yessir."
The danger area had cliffs on their right and a deadly drop to the left. Caitlin had hoped that the aliens would chicken out at this point, but Gerard (who was looking straight out the back window) reported otherwise.
"Their cars are a lot more powerful than this," he added darkly.
"Yeah?" Caitlin spoke through her teeth. "Well, I'm a better driver."
"Not gonna be much help if you run out of petrol, darl."
Ryan checked the screen that showed the amount of kilometres that they had left at the rate they were at, and then swore loudly.
"What? What?" Sierra returned through the walkie-talkie, her tone frantic.
"We have twenty kays left," he said. Caitlin's stomach dropped. Ryan continued saying what they all knew already. "That's seven minutes of driving at this rate. If we slow down, we'll be caught. If we keep going, we'll break down and be caught."
"Shoot them all," Sierra yelled, like they couldn't already hear her. "I'll help."
"No!" Caitlin protested. "Don't you dare turn around, Sierra Margaret Maple."
"What other choice do I have?"
"Keep going, and let me handle it." To her relief, Caitlin's tone did not waver, though she could almost literally feel her heart tearing itself to pieces. "I'm sorry, Ryan."
Ryan stared at her, but he realised what she was planning before Sierra did. He turned to face Gerard. "We have six minutes left."
"Do what you need to," the old man sighed. It was impossible to tell whether he knew the enormity of what Caitlin was going to do, until he raised his voice and said, "Elliot, keep in mind that this will never, ever be your fault."
"NO!" The screams issuing through the communicator were almost loud enough to leave one's ears ringing. Everyone in the other car could be heard: Celine's constant gasping, Abbie's wailing, Elliot's words of attempted comfort and Sierra's answer. "Let's try the shooting thing! Don't be an idiot-"
"I'm not being an idiot. You and I both remember lesson twenty nine of driver's training." Caitlin could feel the tears cascading down her cheeks, but she was still speeding along so there was no point in bothering to wipe them away.
"FUCK LESSON TWENTY NINE! IT WAS BULL SHIT ANYWAY, THERE'S NO WAY I'M LEAVING YOU BEHIND!"
"Yes there is, Sierra!" Caitlin wailed. "Coming back means death for all of us, and then the potential betrayal of everyone at the safehouse. You're going to get to the transit house, whether you like it or not. And don't start blaming yourself: I've made my decision."
"But I'll be all alone," Sierra's whimper was more cutting than her screams of defiance.
"Three minutes," Ryan said quietly. Gerard leaned back luxuriously.
"Bye bye, SiSi," Caitlin murmured. "Let me do this before I chicken out."
She slowed down slightly, so that the Seeker's cars could catch up a bit more. Taking comfort in Ryan's whispered words of affection and love and marriage in heaven, Caitlin jerked the steering wheel as far to the right as possible, with all her strength.
One second was all it took. Ryan pulled himself into her lap and kissed her with a thousand tears*, and then the head Seeker smashed into the driver's seat side of their brand new car. There was a terrible cracking sound, but Caitlin kept hold of Ryan's life-like body in her arms while her foot shuffled to the reverse pedal. A collision with that much force had to work both ways and hopefully the Seeker's car would be too damaged to go on. Maybe the others would stop and help their leader out.
Billions of thoughts could have passed through Caitlin's head in this moment. Something along the lines of shame on the souls, I'm sorry Sierra, or anything to do with her dead boyfriend that lay in her arms was likely...
But as the car plummeted into the abyss below, all she could think was Thank God I'm such a good driver.
A/N: I said I was sorry! I really am. Please don't hate me. I sort of hate me. There will be more story. Tell me if you want a happy ending for Sierra... that won't come for a while but lemme know. And, yes, the scene was very similar to that part in the movie but I did not realise that until after I had written it and if it bothers you then I am sorry about that.
But still I feel bad.
I'm really sorry.
Yes I did like Caitlin and Ryan but hey...
*Quoted from a Nick Cave song, "Do you love me?"