Max-

I shut the passenger door, then walked round to the side of the rv, climbing in.

The luggage had already been loaded up, Jean's , Macie's, mine, and yes, even Terrence.

We had a map of the state park, and a list of items to find. Stuff like a Nollworm claw, and a terrabis bug...we were gonna be busy.

When I stepped into the home on wheels Macie was already chilling on one of the couches and Joyce had finished loading food into the fridge.

This quest was starting to feel a bit like a summer vacation, road trip to save the world anyone?

Terrence came up the walk, Todd limping behind him.

Macie's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Tell me you're not bringing the zombie."

Terrence raised an eyebrow. "His name is Todd, and yes, I am. You're seriously underestimating the usefulness of having a brainless dead guy around." He commented.

"No, I just figured you counted." Macie smirked. "That, and I'm not sleeping on a couch that's stained with zombie juice."

"Oh but you would be so disappointed if I was dead." Terrence retorted. "You'd have no one to shoot arrows at. Besides I'll just leave him on the back porch thing." He promised.

My brow furrowed. "Won't people see him?" I wondered.

Terrence shrugged. "Not if they don't have milk or some other magical properties, they'll probably just think he's a really gross homeless guy hitching a ride. Oh, speaking of milk." Terrence pulled out one bottle of milk and a small tub of what looked like homemade butter. "These are for our adventures. Wallace gave us some of his supply so we could spot mythical creatures."

Jean-

The RV was huge, which was really nice, especially now that we had Terrence with us. I was positive that if we still had Joyce's other car, we would all go crazy being so cooped up together, and I didn't want to be near Macie and Terrence if they were squished shoulder to shoulder.

When Terrence mentioned Todd I laughed, sitting across from Macie.

"He sure looks like a hobo," I commented. "A dead one."

Max smirked. "Well I for one love to advertise my dead hobos and freak out traffic."

We stowed the milk and butter in the fridge, and we were finished loading up.

We hadn't had butter or the milk on hand since we found Macie, I couldn't recall ever having either of the substances.

I know Max doesn't need any because he has The Sight, but why didn't I need it? Maybe I did? The only real magic I'd seen was the snake from the gas station, that and the storm demons. Who knows at this point? I was getting used to not knowing things about myself.

We said our goodbyes to Wallace and Vanessa, Wallace gave Terrence a hand shake and Vanessa gave him a quick hug. Was she family too then?

Shadow the puppy was especially sad to lose his new friends, but he still had Wallace, and Vanessa scratches him behind his ears so I imagined he would be alright.

"So are they just going to stay there and keep researching?" I asked she the car pulled away from Wallace's house. I hadn't heard that part of the plan.

Max-

Terrence stretched then sat down with a flop. "Vanessa's going to go talk to some friends about the threat, and Wallace is gonna contact some other people who might know more about the demons." He explained.

I had another question on my mind however. "Joyce, when did you learn to drive an rv?" I asked looking up at her in the driver seat.

Joyce actually broke into a smile. "You don't know everything about me." Came her response.

I raised my eyebrows hand in my pocket. "Apparently so."

"Thanks for getting this for us Joyce." Macie said stretching. "It's much nicer then that cramped car."

I walked over to the fridge opening it. "Anyone want a go-gurt?" I asked.

Macie raised her hand.

"Yogurt me." Terrence agreed. I tossed everyone a gogurt then noticed the back porch. "Uh, Terrence..." I spoke. "I think we're about to loose Todd."

Terrence rose and walked over to where I stood to see what I was looking at.

It was Todd, dangling like a rag doll over the banister and flapping in the wind.

I couldn't help it.

I started laughing.

Jean-

Well hopefully whoever Wallace and Vanessa we're getting help from would know a thing or two more than we did.

"Yeah thanks Joyce," I chipped in. I slurped my gogurt and leaned over to see what Max was talking about, there was poor Todd, about to fall off.

I set my yogurt down and ran to the platform, swinging open the door and pulling Todd back away from the railing.

And yes, I touched his icky, dead, disgusting skin.

"Do we have any rope?" I asked, trying not gag at Todd's smell, trying to get the memory of Todd's skin out of my mind.

Max-

I didn't realize what was happening until she was already out in the open. "Jean!" I called. "You're not supposed to be out there when the cars moving!!"

I held my hand out to pull her back in.

"Don't worry about Todd he'll be fine!" Terrence promised shouting over the wind from the freeway like I was.

Jean-

It hadn't occurred to me that I was be putting myself in danger for a dead guy...thing.

With the wind whipping everything around, I let Max pull me back inside, letting go of Todd. The door shut, the wind stopped, everything was quiet.

"Sorry," I managed, not daring to look at anyone. I felt so dumb, I had made a huge mistake. Thankfully no one was hurt, but that didn't change how unintelligent I felt. My eyes got misty, but I forced the tears away, hoping no one could see.

Max-

Soon as her hand was within reach I yanked Jean back, Terrence shutting the door behind us.

I grabbed her by the shoulders and examining her real quick gently moved her hair out of her face. "What were you thinking?" I asked with a gentle smile.

Terrence folded his arms looking amused after her apology. "Hey, you just risked your life to save my zombie, you're alright with me kid." He fist bumped her shoulder.

Macie gave her a hug.

Jean-

I could feel my cheeks grow intensely warm as Max moved my hair. He had never been this close before, except that time I accidentally fell asleep on his shoulder.

I will forever live in embarrassment because of that.

"I thought he was in trouble." I admitted sheepishly. "I forgot he was dead."

I hugged Macie back then made my way to the couch, curling up against the window.

I could still feel the shadow of Max's hands on my shoulders.

Max-

She walked away and I didn't like it. Had I done something wrong?

Terrence stood with his hands in his pockets, his expression was still slightly amused, but also...impressed.

Macie sat down next to Jean and shot her smile. "Hey, anyone who rushes to help without a second thought is a pretty good friend." She encouraged with a smile.

"Not a good battle partner though," Terrence mused, almost to himself. "If someone was in danger and she rushed in head first without checking her surroundings she could get both of them killed."

In unison Macie and I shot him a dark look.

"What?" He asked.

Jean-

I sighed, trying to become one with the wall, but I managed a giggle at Macie and Max's glares at Terrence.

"I'll try to remember that," I nodded, being honest but still feeling like an idiot.

It was dumb of me to do that, and Terrence was right, I had be be aware of what the risks were before I rushed into a situation.

"So where are we headed first?" I asked Ready to change the subject.

Max-

She was upset, and to be honest I was a little nervous because of it, I didn't like not being able to help.

Throughout this whole thing Jean has always, talked to me, I knew how she was doing and what she was thinking for the most part.

I rubbed the back of my neck at her question. "Well we've got our supplies and the gear Wallace gave us, which is better quality than Darrin's weapons, so we're headed straight to the caves."

Joyce glanced at her gps then spoke up. "We should be there in a couple hours if traffic is light." She promised.

Jean-

Well that was good news, even though I the thought of going into those caves made my stomach churn and my breathing short.

"Alright cool," I pretended at nonchalance.

I glanced over at Max again, realizing he seemed slightly upset about something. Like, not mad upset, not sad upset, but, a unsure/sad upset. I couldn't describe it, but either way, I didn't like this look on him.

It made me upset too kind of, I didn't want him to be upset, was he worried about my stunt from earlier? Maybe he thought a girl who ran out from the back of a moving vehicle shouldn't be on an epic quest...and he was probably right.

I deflated, hating myself even more, not only had I messed up, I'd made Max worried too, and I wanted to fix it.

I leaned over to Macie, clearing my throat.

"What are the chances that I could beat y'all in an arm wrestle?" I asked mostly to Macie, but also to the boys because I wanted this to be fun, even though I knew I would lose to them.

Max-

I raised an eyebrow at that, she wanted to arm wrestle did she? Macie raised her hands. "No thank you, not my kind of thing. I'll watch though." She offered.

"Pfft, typical party pooper." Terrence scoffed sitting down at the table and holding his arm at the ready.

Macie rolled her eyes and pulled out headphones from her backpack, plugging in her phone and turning on music.

"Well Jean looks like you got a taker." I offered looking over at Terrence.

He wiggled his fingers.

Jean-

I was a little put out that Macie didn't want to join me. Truth be told, this wasn't my thing either, I just wanted to lighten the mood.

I was probably going to lose, but I'd have fun doing it, I decided with new resolve.

I set my arm on the table and grabbed Terrence's hand. I found myself relieved to find that his skin felt alive and normal, not dead and clammy like Todd's. Honestly I didn't think it would, but I was still new to this Blix thing.

"Last chance to back out," I told him, trying to sound like I would win, and silently hoping I wouldn't make a fool of myself trash talking.

Max-

Terrence grinned. "I don't back out." He promised. "Max, you ref."

I nodded. "Alright then. On your marks, get set, go."

It was back and forth, at first there was a standstill, then Terrence looked like he was winning then Jean. In the end, Jean won, clapping his hand down.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Don't get me wrong Jean was an excellent fighter...but Terrence arms were bigger, I guess Jean had more fire than I thought.

Terrence shook his head. "Impressive. I'm usually more on my game than that." He admitted.

Macie grinned. "Terrence was just having a hard time focusing, it was his first time holding hands with a girl after all."

Terrence's eyebrows went up and he turned to her. "Excuse me?"

I started laughing and Macie giggled.

Jean-

I slammed his hand down then pumped my fists in the air.

What the heck just happened?

I started laughing, I had not expected that at all. I managed not to gloat anymore however. "I didn't expect to win if that makes you feel better," I offered.

As soon as I said so, I realized that it probably wouldn't make him feel better. Great.

I cleared my throat. "Anyway, what should we do now? Do you want to try Max?" I asked, feeling good about my last win.

Max-

I shook my head. "I've already learned what happens when I try to take you on." I assured her taking a seat with my gogurt.

Terrence sat back, the energy of the car was relaxed now, and...I liked it.

Sure we were tense about what we had to do, but all things considered, this was pretty chill, even Terrence had fit into the group well enough for us to be at ease.

My brows furrowed. "What are you gonna do about Dar-...whats his real name?" I asked again.

"Jordan, Jordan Damascus." Terrence replied with a tired sigh, the exhaustion seemed almost out of character for him. "He's obviously working with the Storm Demons, and the demons need to be stopped, so I figure I'm killing two birds with one stone here. We continue on this course, I'll run into him eventually."

Jean-

I leaned back with a satisfied smile, enjoying my victory and now calm feeling in the air.

I leaned against Macie and listened to Terrence, the sting of Jordon using us returning. "What has he done exactly?" I asked, too curious to contain the question. Once I figured out, I'd probably just feel the sting more sharply, and if I did, I was determined to use that as more motivation to put him behind bars.

Max-

I hadn't thought of that before, what Jordan was guilty of, Kinda wondered if I even wanted to.

Terrence looked guarded a moment then sighed.

"He used to be apart of a top secret group, one that helps people and fights for everyone's well being, but he was a double agent."

Terrence's eyes took a dark cast. "I was on a mission with him, we were supposed to find and move an important relic...he stole it, killing two of our other team members to do so."

Terrence shut his eyes a moment then exhaled. "I was assigned to bring him back, I guess my boss thought I would take it personal and be more thorough...he was right."

I was silent, trying to picture Darin and realize...he killed someone.

Then again...if the snake in the gas station was planted by him, he tried to kill us.

"Oh she's sweet but a psycho, a little bit psycho,-"

I looked up, thrown off and spotted Macie singing softly, her eyes were closed and she was obviously enjoying her song.

"-Oh shes hot but a psycho, so left but she's right though-,"

I glanced back at Terrence and found he watching her too, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. Some of the tension was leaving his eyes, and something told me he wasn't going to make fun of her this time.

Jean-

When Terrence said Jordon killed someone, I shared a look with Max, and I knew that we both came to the realization that he tried to kill us too.

I frowned as I listened to the rest of the sad betrayal story, but I asked for it. I asked to know what happened.

Then the singing began, and I smiled at Macie, a little jealous I not only left my headphones at home, but how well she sang.

"Well on that happy note," I said, breaking the silence. "Wake me when we get there." I found a pillow and flopped it on Macie's lap, curling up and going to sleep.

Max-

"Wait hold up." Terrence turned to look at me. "Is she already asleep?" He sounded incredulous.

I laughed. "It's one of Jean's many talents. She's usually out the moment her head hits the pillow."

Terrence shook his head. "Well alright then."

I wanted to speak, knowing that pleasant as Macie's interruption was, I never got the chance to reply.

"Hey Terrance?" I managed.

He looked over.

"I'm sorry about your team man."

Terrence clenched his fists, and for a second I could've sword his eyes were misting.

He just nodded and looked away.

I decided to leave him with his thoughts.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

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