Chapter 26: Trapped

The sun descended on the vast desert and Claire could barely keep her eyes open as Laurel continued to speed down the highway into the great unknown. Claire had remained silent for the majority of the time, keeping her thoughts to herself as they left the only home she had known. She didn't want to talk to the priestess, feeling conflicted with the decision she had made and wondering, not for the first time, if there was something else going on. The priestess was resourceful and their escape from the city limits had been mostly uneventful. Easy, in fact.

It dawned on Claire a while ago that she really had no idea what the people of Helena were like, other than her brief encounters with the priestesses. It was said that the settlement was purely matriarchal, with the children hidden away and the men with barely any societal standing.

So much was unknown about their society. But the thing that was nagging at her, the more important question really, was why would the high priestess of Helena leave Arika behind? Wouldn't Helena's own be more important than a political player of Vega?

Claire rubbed her cheek absently, feeling parched and mildly clammy. She had been staring out of the window for hours now, hardly seeing the passing scenery. Lost in thought, she had barely glanced over at the blonde woman. Claire knew that being in this woman's presence was probably the wrong decision. The cramping in her lower abdomen had disappeared and the adrenaline was no longer rushing through her body, leaving only exhaustion and hunger in its wake. She tried to remain hopeful that she had made the right play, answering Laurel when she asked her how she was doing.

"I'm okay." Claire said quietly. She knew she was still strong and wanted to keep her aches to herself, preserving what little appearance of strength she had left after such an ordeal.

"You must be hungry, yes?" Laurel broke through her thoughts, making Claire wonder absently if Laurel could read her mind.

"I am. I really am." Claire sighed, not turning from the car window. The moon was large on the horizon, as the sky slowly got darker and the sunlight disappeared.

"We will have food soon. There is a place not far from here," Laurel said quietly as she continued to speed down the road.

Not long after, abandoned cars began to populate the stark highway. Laurel cautiously navigated through them and then pulled off to the right, aiming for a squat little building with several parked cars just outside of it.

Slowly, Laurel approached the diner, parking close to the entrance. She turned off the engine and turned to Claire. "We must be careful, but I think we can find food here. Hopefully, not everything has been spoiled."

"What if there are eightballs?" Claire said quietly, looking at the darkened building. "We have no flashlights. No weapons."

"This truck must have supplies or something we can use," Laurel said quietly, slipping out of the truck and heading towards the back.

Not wanting to be alone, Claire immediately followed suit and found the priestess already opening the back of the truck. A few cases covered in tarp sat in the truck bed. The blonde woman carefully opened a few of them, only to find small boxes of textiles. The last one that she opened held a shotgun with shells as well as various electronics. Pulling out a radio with a walkie, Laurel studied the device for a second before putting it back.

Claire glanced around, trying to keep an eye out for any movement behind her. Glancing back, she noticed Laurel as she pulled out the shotgun and ammo. The small blonde woman looked awkward as she held it out from her body and slowly climbed out of the truck.

At times like that, Claire believed that she was just a high priestess of Helena. But then the woman would do something strange and Claire would rethink her position on the matter. It was probable that the blonde lithe woman had some other agenda.

After scanning the skies and glancing about to get their bearings, the two of them walked into the diner, only to find it empty and deserted. There was not even a rotting body to overwhelm the place with its stench. The place was not pristine, however. There was a table with a fork on it covered in what probably was blood and a brown red stained next to it. Empty sundae bowls sat next to the fork and Claire wondered what had occurred there.

Laurel immediately went to the kitchen with Claire tailing not far behind her. The kitchen was quite clean and orderly, which struck Claire as odd and out of place. It was as if the place had been cleaned recently. Gingerly placing the shotgun on the counter, the priestess grabbed a pan and filled it with water from an unopened water gallon sitting on the counter. She put it on the stove and turned it on, waiting for a second for the pilot to start.

"What are you doing?" Claire asked, feeling strangely out of place.

"Making tea, Lady Claire," Laurel said calmly as she pulled out two mugs and found some tea bags in one of the cupboards. It was as if she had been there before, knowing where everything was. It struck Claire as peculiar and suspicious.

"Shouldn't we be looking for food? We should hurry! Shouldn't we? In case the eightballs show up?" Claire said, alarmed.

"It is dark outside and we need to rest for a while. We will be alright here," she said without looking at Claire. The shotgun was still sitting on the counter nearby and Claire felt suddenly helpless and vulnerable. This woman was starting to freak her out.

"How far is Helena?" she asked, trying to keep the sudden panic that was rising into her throat from overwhelming her.

"It is a good distance. When day breaks, we will be on the road again. In the meantime, we will drink tea and eat food. You have to feed your child, Lady Claire." Laurel smiled at her and walked over to her.

Claire stared at the blonde woman, feeling suddenly delirious. Not eating or drinking for so long was starting to make her feel crazy. Laurel reached for her and Claire froze, suddenly aware of her own behavior. Looking down, Claire found herself clutching a knife that she must have pulled from the nearby cutting block. The priestess cautiously took the knife from her hand and put it back in the chopping block. "All will be well. Why don't you sit in a booth and I will bring you the tea when it is ready."

Claire didn't respond at first and the other woman slowly turned her around and gave her a small push towards the dining area before returning to the stove.

It was eerily quiet in the diner. Not even the click and whirr sounds of a refrigerated display case or the hum of a jukebox. All of the booths looked dirty except for one. Claire sat down in it, feeling heavy and exhausted, as if gravity was pulling her down. Her head felt like it weighed like a ton of bricks, and she wanted to rest it on the table. Nothing made much sense, but she could tell that drinking something would help her immediately. A few moments passed and Laurel showed up, standing in front of her. She set a cup of tea on the table along with a box of V crackers and a pudding pack.

"I found this so far, but I will go and look in the back for anything more. Just relax and drink. You must be exhausted, Lady Claire." Uriel said quietly, looking at her with sympathy.

Claire was grateful, sitting up taller and trying to shake the sleepiness. "Thank you. Really. Thank you."

Laurel smiled down at her and then walked back towards the kitchen, pausing for a moment, as if she were listening to something. Something had caught her attention, but then the blonde woman disappeared before Claire could say anything more.

Drinking the tea was a nice relief. The warmth seemed to spread through her body as she munched on the slightly stale crackers. It was food and she was grateful for it. The delirious feeling from earlier seemed to clear for a moment as the hunger haze subsided. She sat there listening to the overwhelming silence and wondered what had happened to Laurel.

And then something strange happened off to her right. Something clicked as if it were a gun being cocked.

Alarmed, Claire turned to find herself staring down the barrel of a AK47. And down past that barrel was a set of very familiar eyes. Blue eyes. Alex's eyes.

Claire stood up immediately, "Alex!"

"Claire?" Alex looked at her with confusion, as he lowered the gun and stepped back, further away from her. He was wearing full tactical Archangel Corps gear, and looked like he did back before everything started. Back when they used to meet in secret.

Claire felt confused. Why did he move away from her?

Alex moved slowly and carefully sat down across from her. She slowly sat down, feeling disappointed that he didn't hug her or greet her in any other way. He put the gun on the table between them. "So you trust them now?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"You're here with them," he said matter-of-factually.

"Who do you mean? Who is 'them'?" she said, trying to make sense of his words. Pleading with him to understand, she added, "I had to save myself. To save our child."

"Our child. Our child? But you left our child. You left our city. You left!" Alex spat out, angrily.

"No! I had to leave Vega, for us. For our baby." She protested, now really confused. What was happening? "Wait, how are you here?"

"Listen to me, Claire. They only want our baby. They don't care about you. They don't care about any of this," Alex said, cryptically.

"Alex…"

"I did this for you, Claire! For us! I did everything for us! And then you left Vega? Why would you do that? I can't protect you like this!" he yelled at her, causing her to shake in confusion.

"Alex… this isn't you…" she protested, again confused.

He grabbed the rifle and stood up. "What do you think I'm doing, Claire? What do you think this was all for? How could you marry him? How could you do it?"

Claire stood up, hands out, itching to go to him, to touch him, to hug him. "I didn't want to, you know I didn't. It was for Vega. It was for my father."

He paced and then threw the rifle on a nearby table and pulled out his handgun, staring at it. "You didn't care about me. You didn't care how much it hurt. How much I did this all for you."

Claire slowly moved closer. "Please…Alex put the gun down."

He looked directly at her. "You can't trust them. Claire you can't trust her."

"Who, Alex? Who are you talking about?"

"Don't trust them!" he yelled at her and put the gun to his head.

"No! NO! ALEX!" Claire lunged forward, hoping to stop him.

He stared at her with hurt blue eyes and yelled, "WAKE UP!"

A gun went off, echoing throughout the diner with the remnants of his voice…

~~~**D**~~~

Claire jerked forward, blinking.

The room was quiet and empty. And Claire was sitting at her booth with an empty mug and an empty box of crackers. Alex was not there, but his lingering voice was echoing in her head. And the image of his anguished eyes was still burned into her mind.

She sat up, rubbing her arm, which had fallen asleep from lying on it. She cringed at the thought of Alex pulling the trigger and the idea of him killing himself or putting himself in danger like that. It made her feel ill and her hands shook as she struggled to calm down. It had felt so real. As if he really was only an arm's length away.

She shuddered for a moment and then stood up, wondering where Laurel was and why she had fallen asleep for what felt like a long time.

~~~**D**~~~

The breeze was crisp outside and the desert critters were chirping and rustling away into the night. Uriel stood in the middle of the street right outside of the diner, not far from where they had parked the truck. She was irritated with the angel standing in front of her. As usual, someone was second-guessing her and it was starting to grate on her nerves.

Furiad was just the messenger, of course, but Uriel could tell what he thought of the whole situation. The red-armored angel hadn't bothered to take his helmet off as he stood still with his sword in hand. As if they were going to come to blows. He kept eyeing the diner, which also annoyed the blonde archangel. She knew he was itching to take the woman inside directly to Gabriel and end all of the back and forth, but Uriel knew that was not part of the arrangement.

"It is going as planned. You may tell my brother that things are progressing as we had discussed," she said loudly, trying to direct his attention away from his straying gaze.

Furiad growled his response. "It better be. Gabriel has his doubts about the loyalty of your followers."

"You can assure him that they have done as they were told. That the Chosen One's progeny will be safe." She sighed. "I've told him before that my followers are his as well."

Furiad stared at her blankly for a moment and then put the sword away. "Be sure to fulfill the rest."

Uriel nodded as Furiad's wings appeared and lifted him into the air. Within moments, the angel disappeared into the clouds, leaving Uriel to turn back to the diner.

~~~**D**~~~

Walking inside, Uriel took a moment to look around, wondering why Claire's booth was empty. Where had she gone? Panic zinged through the angel as she started to search for the woman.

"Lady Claire?" she called out and moved to the back of the diner. Stopping at the bathroom door, she listened for a moment and then walked inside the small multi-stalled room.

Inside, she noticed that one of the stalls was occupied. "How are you feeling, Lady Claire?"

A moment passed before Claire's voice responded, "I'm here… I'm fine."

"Did you want me to make some more tea?"

"Oh, yes. Yes, please! More tea would be lovely!" Claire's voice sounded a little odd to Uriel, but the angel dismissed it. The poor woman had gone through a lot in the past few hours. "I'll make some more and join you in the booth."

"Ok!"

Uriel stood still for a moment, as she listened to Claire's irregular heartbeat. It was faster than before, but perhaps she had given the human a bit of a fright when she came into the bathroom. Dismissing it again, she opened the door and left the room, set to make more tea.

~~~**D**~~~

Standing frozen inside the stall, Claire attempted to keep calm, stilling her breath and relaxing her shoulders. Her heart raced and her hands were trembling. She needed more time. Time to think.

Laurel was part of Gabriel's army? Was she an angel, too? Why hadn't the Powers angel taken her? What did they have planned? And where was Alex? Claire took another deep breath and then flushed the toilet, in case Laurel was listening. She concluded that they must know that the Chosen One would come for her if he knew of her disappearance. That they had been lovers.

She went to the sink and turned on the faucet but nothing came out. Looking in the mirror, she noticed how ashen she looked as she tucked her hair back. Her hands shook as she took another deep breath.

Damn it! she thought. The attack on Vega was probably part of the plan. And she had willingly left with Laurel, fearing for her child's life as well as her own. Internally chastising herself, she schooled her features and attempted a look of serenity before going back out to the booth.

She opened the bathroom door and found Laurel standing in the hallway, waiting for her.

"Are you feeling ill?" The blonde woman eyed her, clearly keeping track of Claire's every movement.

She paused for a second and then continued walking past her. She remained calm, responding, "I had to use the restroom, Laurel. That's all."

Laurel nodded. "I was worried when you weren't by the booth. We should stay close by each other. You never know when the angels may show up."

"Yes. You never know." Attempting to placate the blonde, she turned to her with a small smile.

Laurel walked ahead of her and started for the door, pausing only to see if she would follow. "Perhaps we should move on? It is quite stressful, but the more distance we put behind us, the better it will be, Lady Claire."

Claire paused and then smiled a little more, remembering to rein in her emotions. "You're right. We should be on the road."

Laurel nodded and held the door open for her. She waited for Claire to walk past before following her out to the truck. Under the guise of aiding her, Laurel made sure to open the passenger door for Claire, waiting till she was secured inside before going the driver's side.

Claire sighed as her smile slipped. She watched the blonde woman through the windshield and wondered what plan she had hatched with the archangel. Exhaustion seeped into her body and she knew that the pretense of ignorance would eventually wear thin. How was she going to get away from this woman? If she were an angel, why wouldn't she reveal herself? Claire chastised herself once more for not seeing through the guise.

She stared out of the window again as Laurel started the truck and pulled back out onto the highway. Looking at the side mirror, she watched the diner slowly disappear out of sight, shrinking into the distance.

And she wondered if her last bit of freedom was vanishing along with it.