This chapter is a little shorter. Just keeping the story moving. Enjoy and please review. Please make me happy.
Chapter Four – Move or Die
The two went to bed quite early. Wesley actually got another eight or nine good, solid hours of sleep. Snuggled up next to a warm body did wonders for his sleep patterns. Dawn seemed to relax even more, falling asleep before he did. It's when she awoke in those pre-morning hours, thrashing around in her sleep. He held on tight to her, murmuring that she was safe with him. She finally settled down enough for him to go back to his slumber.
All he could do to help her was comfort. He didn't know how to make it better other than time. That man's face would be etched in her brain for quite some time, maybe forever.
Leaving the door open had bothered Dawn somewhat, but they had no other way to see when it was time to leave.
Wesley shook her awake when he saw that the sun was ready to rise over the mountains. His watch said 5:05 a.m., but he wasn't sure whether it was accurate.
"Rise and shine," he whispered to her. They both had decided the night before that they would both take showers to be clean before they left the inside world. Who knew when they'd be able to again?
All the supplies were ready to load near the door. Wesley just had to gather their sleeping bags and other meager belongings to put by the door. He also did a little scoping out of the outside. No lights anywhere.
By the time Dawn was finished, which seemed to take forever, everything was ready to load. They knew the drill, load as quickly and quietly as possible. Watch for any movement on the horizon. Keep a weapon with you at all times. He'd given Dawn one of his guns. She already had the knife in her boot.
He quickly took his shower, and then dressed in amazingly clean clothes. Dawn in all that had happened in the last two days had given him renewed hope about the future.
The two met at the door Wesley had entered days before. Dawn had not been out it in over two weeks. Her face was a bit pale, but he felt certain she could keep it together.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Yup."
"You have your things?" He knew she did. "Bathroom. Because you never know when the next one will appear."
"Check."
"Let's go."
Wesley took her hands in his to wish her luck. They looked into each other's eyes. Dawn pulled his head down to hers, locking lips hard and fast. Where in the hell had she learned that, he thought?
He pulled her into an embrace as she kept kissing him like they were the last two people on earth. It surely felt that they were.
Dawn eased away. "For luck."
"Yes. For luck."
Wesley opened the door and scanned the area for what seemed like the hundredth time. Going to the car cautiously, he checked the exterior before opening up the door. He could still feel the spell in place, which meant that Dawn couldn't enter just yet. But she could stack things while he loaded. One word would break the spell, which meant the entire world could see the SUV. He just wished he could perform the spell for while they were moving also. Not enough raw power to accomplish that.
They worked efficiently and quietly. It took them no more than an hour to load and be off. Nothing moved but them.
Wesley had painted every piece of chrome on the car black to match the paint job. Less chance of reflection, he thought as he looked across the barren landscape of the semi-desert.
The next town would be Lone Pine. There was a great possibility that there was demon activity. He didn't know whether to creep through town or fly through going ninety.
At first, Dawn was downright terrified about the whole being outside thing. She reached over several times just to assure herself that this was all real.
"We'll have to scope out the town first before we drive through."
"Can't we drive around?" Dawn asked, eyes firmly planted to the rough road ahead of them.
"There isn't any way around this town. It's too small. Bishop, maybe. But all of these small towns were built around the road. Not much else to them.
"I know, I know," she whispered.
Wesley found a place to pull over off the road to get a look at the main road in and out of the small town before them. He could see burned out buildings and cars. It looked as if a major battle had taken place. But something seemed a bit off. He swept the area again with his binoculars.
There were barricades at the beginning and end of town. Erected by whom?
He finally spotted a human patrolling the perimeter, with an assault rifle at the ready. Some group of humans had taken a stand and held, for the time being. How the hell were they supposed to get around that?
"Dammit. Stupid, stupid, stupid prats," he muttered to himself.
"What? What is it?" Dawn tugged at his sleeve, eager to know the outcome of his surveillance.
"It looks as if you may get your wish after all. There are barricades erected at each end of town."
"Let me see." Dawn took the binoculars from him. "There are humans there. Maybe we can ask them for help."
"I'm not so confident that such a great idea. We don't know them. Dawn, I hate to say this, but what if those men who attacked you were from here? What if they hurt your sister?"
Dawn swallowed hard. Her look of realization hurt him. Her train of thought concerned him a great deal.
"We need to talk to them," Dawn called as she walked back to the car. The look of determination scared him. It was the same look that her sister had given him many times before when he was her watcher.
"We'll approach them, but cautiously." Better to dispel the attitude than to ignore it all together.
After the two of them strode back to their vehicle, Wesley drove to the first barricade and started to climb out.
"Stay here, Dawn. Do you hear me? I need for you to back me up."
Dawn shook her head in agreement. He'd see how long that would take to change.
He stepped out onto the running board on the driver's side. "Who's in charge here?" he yelled to anyone in shouting distance.
Two males approached from the far side of the barricade, both armed to the teeth. He'd have to play it really carefully.
"What do you want?" one of the burly guys yelled back as the other leveled his gun in Wesley's direction.
"I just want passage through. That's all." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dawn flinch. Did she trust him?
"How do we know you're not a monster?"
Wesley say two more men appear from behind one of the still standing buildings.
"You don't. All I can do is assure you I'm not. I'm human, just like you."
The two newcomers whispered to the speaker. "Come out of the car without any weapons and we'll see." Now that was not acceptable. Wesley never let his guard down.
"Sorry. I can't do that." Might as well be polite about it. Did they think he was that desperate?
"Where are you from?" one of the newcomers asked him.
"Originally or right before this mess started?" Involve them in conversation, he thought. At least they might trust him enough to let them through.
"Funny accent? Just want to know who we're dealing with."
"I'm from England originally. I lived in Los Angeles when this war started." A few more people trickled out of the buildings.
"Were you there when LA was taken over?" another inquired.
"Yes, I was. It started off slowly. Then, there was nothing you could do but run. But why are you all still here?"
The man with whom he had been speaking with at first puffed up, proud. "Because this is our home. They'll come for us. I know it."
"No they won't," Dawn yelled from the other side of the car. "The government has contained it. Since they don't know what they're dealing with, no one will ever come to get you. I sat in an abandoned building for three weeks because I thought that my sister would come back to get me. Well, she didn't. You need to get the hell out of here. The demons, they'll come for you. And no matter how much firepower, muscle, or begging you do will make them stop. They have no souls. They live to survive, to kill others to be able to live. Run as fast and as hard as you can. Because if you don't they'll find you. And you'll die."
The men looked at Dawn suspiciously, but with many nodding their heads in agreement. They started talking among themselves.
"I thought I told you to stay in the car."
"It looked like you needed a speech. I learned from the master," Dawn smiled.
"Who?"
"My sister. I swear, if I'd heard one more speech from her, I'd strangle her. I just wished I'd gotten that opportunity to tell her one more time. Wait, Wesley. I have to ask them one more thing?"
About her sister, he was sure.
"Hey, can you ask whoever is in charge if we can just go around. That's all we want."
Several men shook their heads. That they could deal with. One of the men yelled for them to take a left and to head parallel on a dirt road until they were through town. That would take them back to the freeway. And it did.
Wesley stopped the car just at the edge of the town. "They'll all die you know."
"Maybe, maybe not. They've been alive this long. I think I've given them some things to think about."
TBC
I hope this continues the story. Happy reading.