My thanks to those of you who have read and have reviewed -
The seat was hot from being in the sun. It was black leather with white seams spaced about two inches apart. Melanie forced herself to memorize everything she could about this car. If she got away, no, when, when she got away she'd need to be able to describe it. If was no longer a word in her vocabulary, it couldn't be. If meant doubt and there couldn't be doubt. She had to keep it together. They could have killed her back in the office and they didn't, although, that might not mean anything. Sam, the one she'd though of as being so genuine, had pointed a gun at her. She shut her eyes at the memory and opened them to watch the town she'd lived in for most of her life fly by. They were headed west, toward the old highway which was now no more than a back-country two-lane road with very little traffic.
She alternated between taking in details about the men in the front seat and the car to focusing on landmarks and mile post signs. Melanie looked down at her watch; they'd only been driving about a half hour. Something in the background caught her attention and she realized it was music, old rock and roll being played at an almost mute volume. She looked at the console between Dean and Sam. There was a tape player. She looked back to the window. The doors had manual locks. Melanie stared at the one on her door in wonder. The locks weren't electronic; they couldn't be controlled by the driver. She could pull it up, yank the handle and get out. Right now the car was moving too fast and the area they were in was too desolate. The best she could hope for if she bailed now would be that she didn't break every bone in her body.
Melanie checked her watch again. They'd been driving for 37 minutes. By now Joe was back at the office probably with several Sherriff's deputies. She prayed Joe would find the note she'd put on the counter top. She had quickly written it out after writing the note for the door. Melanie had managed to lay it on the counter top on their way out the door praying that Dean and Sam hadn't seen her. Once Joe saw it he would know immediately that she was in trouble. It was a small hope but it was something to cling to as they got further and further away from town.
Dean was taking old ranching and logging roads as Sam helped navigate with a map. They acted like people who had done this before. Melanie put her head on the back of the seat and kept her eyes out the window. There wasn't much for land marks this far out. Everything looked the same and was becoming blurry through tears she was trying to keep at bay. She was suddenly so very, very tired.
They had been driving for close to two hours. Melanie hadn't said a word since her "please" to Sam before she got into the car. Dean glanced at her reflection in the rear view mirror. Her head was against the back seat and she was looking out the window. He could tell she was fighting against the fatigue that usually followed an adrenaline rush. He put his attention back on the road in front of him. They'd made a series of turns and were back on a two lane highway this time headed south.
"We should stop soon," Sam said quietly from the seat next to him as he flipped through the photocopied documents from the Registrar's Office.
"Couple more hours," Dean responded. He wanted to try and get as much distance as he could from the town. He glanced back at Melanie who was still maintaining a vigil out the window.
Dean's thoughts drifted to his father as he drove. They still didn't have a clue where he was. Every few weeks he'd send one or the other of his sons a text message that contained coordinates and they'd go to wherever they were led. Dean couldn't help the twinge of hope he'd feel that they'd finally catch up to their dad at one of these places. It hadn't happened yet. He was frustrated. He wasn't used to the amount of research they'd had to do for their jobs lately. It took up way too much time. Dean glanced over at his baby brother who was still flipping through the documents, a pencil tapping lightly at the page he was looking at. That research had not only cost them a lot of time already but now they were holding a hostage because of it. He hated not being able to just get to a job and take out whatever the problem was and move on to the next. Sammy was good at this kind of stuff. Dean had a suspicion that he almost enjoyed it though Sam would never admit that to Dean.
Dean wasn't new to frustration and had developed many ways to cope with the potentially dangerous emotion. Drinking, sex and taking out evil were among his top favorite choices. Loud classic rock that had the bonus of driving baby brother nuts was another and right now his only choice. Yes, annoying Sammy was quickly going to become a top favorite way to fight off frustration, he thought as he cranked the stereo.