We Were Strangers in the Dark – Chapter 9
By MyNameIsCAL
I sat on the edge of one of the beds, watching Fang pull out a first aid kit.
"There are some clothes in the other backpack." Fang pointed to the backpack Gazzy was carrying. "They should fit you. Change and put your wet ones into the plastic bag. The bathroom's sort of small, but at least we have our own."
Gazzy nodded, rummaging through the bag now.
Fang turned his attention back to me now. He removed his jacket from me slowly, and then started to remove the bandages slowly. The bleeding had stopped for the most part, unless I moved my shoulder. I stole a glance at it, and to my surprise, it looked like the wound was already beginning to heal.
"You heal faster than I do," he said, noticing my expression. "I guess that makes sense though. They experimented on me first. I'm still going to have to stitch it. I think by the time we get to Arizona, your shoulder will just be sore."
I closed my eyes. "I hope it's warm there."
"Yeah, me too." He cleared his throat. "Iggy, come here for a minute."
"What's up?"
"I need to stitch Max's shoulder," he explained. "Hold her hand."
"What?"
Fang grabbed him by the wrist.
"Alright, alright, Jesus." Iggy grasped my hand awkwardly.
"Don't look."
I closed my eyes again, taking in a sharp breath, squeezing Iggy's hand. It seemed like hours had passed, and when Fang told me to open my eyes again, he was already bandaging my shoulder.
"Thanks, Ig," I said, letting go of his hand.
"Don't mention it," he chuckled. "I feel like you broke my hand."
Fang scowled at him, which made it fortunate that Iggy couldn't see him. I managed to let out a small laugh and Iggy shook his hand, telling me not to worry about it before taking a seat on the opposite bed.
I awoke to the sun flickering on the floor as the train moved along. Fang had his arm around me, and I rested my hand over his for a moment.
He stirred shortly afterwards. "How's your shoulder?"
"Feels better than last night," I said.
He sat up, leaning back against the wall. I wondered if he had slept at all. The others across from us were still asleep. I could hear Iggy's snoring from across. Nudge was curled up against him.
I started to sit up, but things started to spin, and I found myself falling back against Fang.
"Careful," he muttered, arms coming around me. "You didn't really eat much last night."
Closing my eyes, I rested my head against his chest.
"We have to switch trains around noon," he said after a while. "We can get some food for you then before we catch our next one."
"Do you think they'll come after us?" I asked.
"Who?"
"My father and Ari," I answered. "Or any of those crazy scientists. Surely my father must know what my mom is up to. It can't take much to connect the dots that we're heading to Arizona."
"We're only trying to buy ourselves time." He rested his chin on the top of my head. "Don't worry about that right now."
It wasn't long before the others started to stir. I was reluctant to let Fang move to sit on the edge of the bed, but he found my hand under the blanket and squeezed it as he started to talk to Iggy.
"So exactly what's the plan now?" Iggy questioned.
"We're going to find Max's mom and see if maybe she can help the rest of you. If not, I'll find somewhere else…"
"If my mom isn't going to help everyone, then I'm going where you're going," I cut in.
Fang let out a sigh. "We'll figure things out when we get there, but yeah, that's what we're running on. Maybe we can crack that laptop."
"Nudge can do it," said Iggy.
"What do you mean?" Fang asked.
Nudge was awake now. "I can sort of, I don't know, who's been there. Then I can sort of feel them typing the password and maybe we can hack into your laptop."
They were all engrossed in the laptop, but I closed my eyes, letting the movement of the train lull me back to sleep.
Arizona wasn't nearly as cold as New York City. And it was beautiful. The red rocks and the desert. The sun felt good, which I hadn't seen in a long time. We took a minute to stand outside the train station, eyes closed, taking it in.
"Why are we just standing here?" Iggy cut into our silence.
"Iggy, do you know how long it has been since we've seen the sun?" Nudge explained. "Can't you feel it?"
He closed his eyes too, and we stood there for another moment longer.
There was a fast food restaurant across the street from the station. Fang and I went up to purchase orders separately for all of us. The idea was to be inconspicuous, but we could eat a lot, and we were starving, so it seemed better than order a ton of food all together. Once we got everything, we crammed into a corner booth and began to eat.
"Did you find anything on that laptop?" I asked Fang.
He nodded, swallowing before he spoke. "There's some stuff about your brother and minimal information about us. I'll let you look at it when we find somewhere safe."
My appetite was back because I ate three hamburgers and a whole thing of large fries. The others were just as hungry, or probably more. Fang and I had done a pretty good job at feeding ourselves after escaping. Angel and Nudge had just gotten out.
"We'll find a hotel after this," Fang said, picking up a few fries and dipping them into the ketchup. "Then we'll figure out how we'll get to your mom."
We stood outside my mom's veterinarian office. It was closed for Sunday.
"Let's try the back door," Fang said. "C'mon."
I glanced around. Except for a few cars passing, there was no one around.
"Here, I can pick the lock." Iggy dug his hand into his pocket and produced a paper clip and a pick. Within seconds, the door was open. We stepped inside and Nudge turned off the alarm.
Isn't that feeling great when you realize that you and all the people you're with could have made great thieves by breaking and entering?
It smelled like a hospital in here. I shivered and Fang took my hand, leading through the hallway. Rounding the corner, we found and office door that had a metal plate.
Dr. Valencia Martinez.
"Shall we?" Fang asked, putting his other hand on the doorknob.
I nodded.
Inside on the walls hung her diplomas and certifications, a poster that was some kind of campaign against animal abuse, and a bulletin board that had pictures of animals pinned up on them. Pets she probably cared for here.
Fang let go of my hand and I walked around to the other side of her desk. There was a desktop computer and some pictures on her desk. I sunk into the chair, staring at the pictures.
There was an old one of just her and me. I had grown up a lot since then. Probably taller than she was now. There was another picture of her in a wedding dress with a man I didn't know. Then another picture of her with a baby. She had moved on. She had a new family.
I felt betrayed.
"Max…"
I tore my eyes away from the pictures and looked up at Fang. He had seen them too.
"We should see if we can find your mom's address," he said quietly. "If not, we'll have to find a phonebook somewhere."
After rummaging through the drawers, we came across an envelope not addressed to the office. I copied it down on a sticky note and Fang put it into the backpack. After putting everything back as we had found it, we left. I pushed the pictures out of my mind. There would be time to be upset later.
Stay tuned for more. Working on a new story and other stuff too. I'll try to update my other stories over the next week. Thanks for reading!