Curious Thoughts (Part VI)

Rachel zipped the hoodie up and looked at her surroundings. There was a path that lead towards the east, and another that lead towards the west. She assumed that they came from the later, and so silently decided to continue from there.

Her eyes wandered up at the sky, full of clouds that covered the sun's bright light, announcing the coming of rain.

Peaceful rain. Yet also inconvenient.

Ray pursed her lips as she walked, a thousand of questions twirling within her mind. Everything went by so fast, she had no clue on what to do... or exactly what to think.

All that she was aware of, was that Zack had done something completely out of character, and had dragged her into this hideous mess.

'That idiot..' she thought to herself, 'what on earth happened while he was outside yesterday? For him to come back drunk, and with the police tailing him nonetheless...'

She bit her thumb in thought, feeling her brows furrow in concetration and displeasure. What exactly was the problem? How did he get into that situation? She didn't know, but she was definitely going to interogate him once his mind got clearer.

She kept her pace for a good 30 minutes until the sounds of car engines caught her ear. From her position she was quite able to notice a road about 200 yards away.

A road meant she was near to a city of some sort.

Good.

Looking up, the young teen walked along the road while silently hoping that it wouldn't rain so soon, at least not until she goes back to the cabin.

She walked long enough to reach a small gas station and thanked the skies for that. It meant that she didn't have to go so far and reach a city anyway, thus not bringing anymore clues to their location.

Mindful of her face being pretty much everywhere in the news and papers, Rachel tied up her hair and covered it completely with the hoodie, hiding all of her blonde locks securely. But as she was about to go in she suddenly realized of how useless it all was, considering the hoodie in itself would be a dead giveaway-

'Great.'

A bit embarassed at her lack of thought, Rachel settled with taking it off and wearing it back inside out, so the shop clerk wouldn't freak out.

It still smelled pretty badly though.

Whatever.

Rachel stepped foot in the small store within the gas station and gave a quick nod at the clerk who greeted her, letting her eyes scan her entourage for the items she needed. First things first, they were in need of food; so she was going to start with that.

She took a basket and filled it with canned foods that could help them last for a while, as well as water bottles. Taking in pretty much half of an entire isle of canned beans.

It was all there was in that small gas station store when it came to edibles, the rest was all chocolate and sweets, much to her annoyance, but she had no right to be picky.

Then, Ray looked around for painkillers and thankfully found some. She took two then ran towards the clerk, who was surprised at hearing her ask for a first aid kit.

"Why would you need that, little girl?" Was the man's surprised answer, she was definitely a minor.

"...My mom is hurt, she asked me to get one for her. I need it." Rachel lied, figuring he was already being suspicious of her.

"We don't sell first aid kits, little one."

Rachel looked at the very obvious first aid kit on the man's right; set nicely on the counter. He followed her gaze and shook his head sadly, "this one isn't for sale. It's our one and only kit, used for emergencies."

Her eyes furrowed, "this is an emergency. My mom is in pain! And I'm more than willing to pay..." she said, hopeful that he would be gullible enough and believe her.

He sighed as he thought for a moment, Rachel simply pursed her lips and slammed the basket on the counter, making him scan the stuff so she could win some time. He did so.

"... Where is your mother?" The clerk finally asked.

"... Home." Came the reluctant answer. If she had spoken about a car or anything similar, the clerk would probably have volunteered to 'come help' and realize that everything was a ruse.

It still felt awfully suspicious though, "and where do you live? There isn't a single house in miles." He said as he finished scanning. Rachel saw the total price on the computer screen and quietly handed him the money.

"East from here," she said vaguely, "pretty deep in the forest. A quiet house, I had to walk for a long time."

"Why not call for an ambulance?" The clerk spoke slowly as he gave her the change.

"It isn't that bad, but still... I don't want to risk her getting an infection. If you would be so kind to sell me that first aid, we would be eternally grateful."

The clerk thought for a long moment before finally sighing in defeat. He took the first aid kit and gave it to her, shaking his head when she was about to pay.

"No need, just take it, little girl." He spoke softly as he gave her a warm pat on the head. "Take care of your mom, its okay."

Rachel warmly thanked the clerk, despite having stressed her out a little. It was good to meet some decent human beings for once, not that there weren't any, but still; they were a rare kind.

She and Zack were definitely scums, unworthy of any type of kindness due to their sins. However, survival of the fittest it was, witty and clever they must be.

XxX

'Fuck fuck fuck fuuuuuck!'

Zack paced around the cabin while firmly holding his head; trying his mightiest to remember anything from the night before. His memories had been scattered to pieces, leaving only confusing bits to flash every now and then within his mind.

He had no clue at what was going on, how he got that weird, freaky-looking device attached to his neck; and more importantly, how he managed to blow his cover and bring the cops straight towards their hideout.

"Damn it, remember, remember!" He urged himself, knocking on his head to try and... stir something, earn a piece of his scattered memories. He never thought too hard about things, never! But this was different, this was about both his and Rachel's safety...

"Alright, think... thiiiiiink!"

Zack leaned on the wooden wall and began to seriously try to remember. The last memory he had was of him sitting on top of a building... watching the crowds of people to see if a few would wander off in unpopular areas. He recalled that he had been disgusted but also intrigued at a few couple interactions he had witnessed... and he probably had been following a few too.

"A... couple?"

Yes, suddenly it started coming back.

He had been awfully focused on couples that day, for some suspicious and unknown reason. He had looked at them with the eyes of a young curious boy that was just learning something new and fascinating. He remembered that there was this one couple that stood out from the others, because they were louder, less discrete and funny-looking. The woman had been clad in clothes that were so skimpy, that he had practically seen her underwear a handful of times. The guy though, looked like a typical bad guy that would take advantage of girls, but for some reason, he had been staring at that weirdly-clothed girl like she meant the world to him... and it was annoying.

They had wandered off to go towards a dark and empty alleyway. Zack had taken it as an opportunity because double-murders were twice as fun. When he jumped from roof top to roof top, he had finally gotten close enough to see what they were doing ... and he wanted to barf.

Disgusted, Zack had readied his scythe and sliced the couple in half without caring for their reaction, thinking that this time he wouldn't really want to see any emotion from two adults who were humping publicly on an alleyway. Disappointed at the lack of fun, he had been ready to retake his spot on that rooftop to see if he could find better victims...

But a man had approached him, a man that somehow hadn't freaked out when he saw that scene.

And then-

"And... and then?" Zack knocked on his head, "come on... recall, goddammit!"

Everything became a blur again, and Zack cursed even louder than before.

He kicked the cabin violently, making it shake in an alarming way. Just a bit more abuse on his part and it would probably fall down and shatter to pieces... Ray would definitely not want that.

Zack groaned and decided against further exploring his mind for now. Another headache threatened to resurface if he kept going at it, letting him wonder if he should sleep some more before Rachel's return.

He sighed and looked at his wounded leg... then at the stained piece of cloth wrapped around it. It was a ripped sweater, Rachel's, tied neatly in a way that would keep the blood from flowing out too much.

He felt a twinge of guilt for letting the petite girl do such a thing; getting rid of her comfy sweater for his sake. He had always wanted to be her protector, because she idolized him so much... it eventually became more of a duty, however, when they both became 'fugitives'.

Zack didn't know how to cope with their new companionship. He had promised to kill her, and he would, if that annoying voice in his head would ever stop screaming at him to wait, to wait until she becomes seasoned and more mature.

Zack snorted at that thought, 'seasoned, what is she, a fucking salad?'

His vocabulary had certainly increased since meeting her alright. Not that he would admit it in front of her, openly... or anything... no.

Maybe he should learn how to read.

Or maybe not. He didn't need to, since Ray was around to read and often times, think for him.

But would she be there all the time?

"Please kill me."

"..."

"I. Hate. Liars!"

"...ugh, what did I get myself into?" Zack quietly muttered to himself while running a hand through his hair. Had he been a bit more careful with his ideology and quick, but mindless thinking, then maybe he could have avoided that promise. Sure, he wanted to kill her, the thought was very exciting in itself but... would it be worth it? A quick death, painless, with only a smile for a reward... would it be that great?

Maybe, just maybe, there could be more before the day when he would ultimately end her life?

A sudden memory flashed before him-

"Didn't you ever think that there could be more to it?"

"Wha-!" Zack rubbed his closed eyelids then smacked his head, "what was that-"

"You've had curious thoughts concerning this matter before, no? Didn't you want to learn more about it?"

"Agh! My head!"

"Pfeh, no way! I don't need to know more about 'that'!"

"Make it s-sTOP!"

"The... (?) And... (?) expressions with ... (?) It's really beautiful."

Zack firmly held his head as the headache became more violent, givinf him the odd feeling that his surroundings were blurry and made out of mush. Fragments of his memory were slowly coming back, broken and barley making any sense. He had trouble remembering the face of the man he had been talking to for some reason, and it was frustrating enough for him to pull at his scalp, almost leaving angry red marks on his skin...

He tried yet again to recall, because he knew that it was important..!

"I can help you... (?) You just have to... (?) You agree on this, yes?"

He then remembered that there were drinks... lots of them, they tasted funny, they weren't like soda. He also remembered that his head started throbbing after a glass or two... then everything went black.

His headache suddenly stopped, leaving him panting and sweating in uneasiness. Those small flashbacks had been mighty helpful and also very worrying... just... just what on earth?!

"I need... *pant* to sort this shit out!"

Zack had felt determined to fill in the blanks from his memory, until the alarming sounds of footsteps getting closer caught his attention.

He got close to the window carefully and leaned down, trying to listen more closely... those were definitely not Rachel's footsteps, they were careful... slow... mindful of their surroundings. The person getting closer knew that there was danger nearby, and they intended to be as quiet as possible.

Zack already missed his scythe... but worst case scenario; he had his fists, and they were more than able to break a skull.

When the footsteps halted, he heard a voice:

"This is where we last read the signal; sir." A man spoke, "subject no. 2 shouldn't be too far. We will begin our investigation immediately, please monitor the area."

'What the fuck?!'

To Be Continued...