Chapter 18: Ivory, Nylon, and Running Water
"A flat white and a mocha latte for Joe!"
Clark gave the barista a polite smile as he picked up his order, holding the cardboard cup carrier in one hand while he browsed the shelves of the gas station's tiny hygiene section until he left with a small bottle of aftershave.
The walk back to the motel was short and uneventful as almost no one was outside at six in the morning during the early drizzle, except for the occasional truck that drove past. He reached the inn, removing the hood of his coat as he entered the warm reception and made his way down the hall to Room 5. He opened it and stepped inside to see Darcie had finished her shower and was diligently flipping through some maps on the table, her damp hair tied up in a messy bun.
"There are bagels and cream cheese if you're hungry," she said, nodding to a grocery bag beside her on the counter. Clark handed her the mocha latte before opening the bag, which besides the cream cheese and bagels also contained some toiletries, a backpack, and two travel blankets.
"You want me to make you one?" he asked as he retrieved the food and she shook her head.
"I'm fine. I have a knife if you need one."
She slid a hunting knife across the table to him, calmly sipping at her coffee as he picked it up. Where she got it and how she had had it hidden on her person he didn't know, but it would work for spreading the cream cheese.
"Sleep okay?" he asked, glancing around the small apartment for a toaster and not finding one. Darcie shrugged. "I slept for about an hour, so yes, I guess you could say I slept pretty well."
He paused, wondering how on earth she could sleep so little and call it good, but decided not to say anything. Looking back at his bagel, his eyes glowed red with a solar fire as he made a clean cut lengthwise through the bread, the heat toasting it immediately. Clark picked up her knife again to add cream cheese when he noticed her staring at him in amazement. He smiled in nervous embarrassment and went back to making his breakfast while she tried to figure out what exactly she'd seen.
"We're effing aliens." she murmured and he sighed in annoyance. "Language."
Darcie frowned and ran a hand through her dark hair. "Wir sind verdammt außerirdische."
He bit back a chuckle at her misunderstanding, taking another bite of the bagel and washing it down with coffee as he dug around in his duffel for his razor.
"Let me get this straight," Darcie was saying, "We are not from this particular planet. Simply put, we are extraterrestrials. Because of our extraterrestrial origins, we can do shit other people can't-"
"Language," he called again, swallowing a bite of breakfast and she glared at him. "Stuff like hearing well, picking up two-ton logs, cutting things with lasers from your eyes, and from what you have told me quite a lot more. This is not normal, Clark, this is really not normal! If he was not already after me, I can almost guarantee you someone else will be soon."
There it was again, her mysterious abuser, though he had to admit she was right. They weren't normal and it had caused quite a lot of people to be suspicious of him while he was growing up. Sooner or later someone would have found out and come after him, just like someone was after Darcie.
He finished his bagel and went into the bathroom to shave, contemplating their situation as he dabbed the foam on his jaw. From every angle he looked at it there was only one solution to their predicament.
"We have to keep moving," he said finally.
"But where to? We cannot stay in roadside motels forever."
An idea was forming in his mind, a hazy one, but it had a direction at least and a direction was what they needed.
"There's rumors of an anomaly up north on Ellesmere. We could maybe check it out," he suggested and she appeared in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. "You were listening to the CFs, weren't you?"
He nodded, remembering the two lieutenants at Cassidy's Pub and Darcie pinched the bridge of her nose to clear her head. "I don't know, Clark. It-it's isolated up there and white… But I understand where you're coming from and it intrigues me as well."
It was strange, he thought, the way they both felt compelled to find this 'anomaly'. Maybe it was just wishful thinking or was it something more, something like them that wasn't from Earth? There was only one way to find out.
"Darcie, we-"
He realized she was no longer in the doorway and was about to call her name again when she suddenly reappeared back in her spot with the backpack slung over her shoulder and his duffel in her hand.
"There is an airport in the next town over that can get us a flight north," she explained and he smiled. "When do we leave?"
"Soon as you finish up and get your boots on."