July 19, 2016
Ozark-St. Francis National Forest, Arkansas; 5:32 pm
"Shoot," Max said. "I forgot to stock up before we left town."
"How bad is it?" Ben asked. "I can make a quick run back if you need me to."
"I appreciate the thought, but there's a lot that I need to grab."
"It's going to take a few hours to get there and back," Gwen said. "We should have enough supplies until morning."
"Well, I have plenty of muskrat jerky and roach milk. We could also forage for some wild mushrooms."
Gwen looks at her cousin, noting how pale he looks. She is sure she doesn't look much better. "Take all the time you need, Grandpa. We can get the tents set up while you're gone."
Max smiles to himself and then hands them the camping equipment. "Try not to go in too deep. I need to be able to find you when I get back."
The two waved their grandfather off and waited until he was out of view before making their way through the forest. A few RVs and campers were parked at the entrance, but they'd hardly seen any campers since they arrived. The sun was setting fast, and after a short hike, they found a decent clearing to set up.
Ben was quick to start setting them up. Gwen helped where she could, but she ended up sitting to the side watching him work. He didn't seem to mind; if he did, he hadn't said anything about it. Soon, the three tents were up, and the sun had set.
Gwen placed a hand on her grumbling stomach. "How much longer until Grandpa gets back?"
"No idea," Ben said, twisting the dial of the Omnitrix. He slams it down, and in a flash of green, XLR8 appears. "I could run and grab us something."
"You're not leaving me out here alone, are you?"
Ben raised his visor and gave her a curious look. "You and I both know that you can more than take care of yourself."
"Come on, Doofus. Just take me with you."
He didn't try to hide the concern on his face. "Running that fast puts a lot of g-force onto the body, and it's a long way out of the forest."
A mischievous grin was on her face now. Gwen lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Then just be gentle with me." The next thing she knew, she was speeding through the forest with the sounds of her screaming and laughter in their wake.
It didn't take long for them to arrive at a restaurant a few dozen miles away. Ben let the Omnitrix time out and looked to Gwen. "Were you always such a tease?"
"If you don't remember," Gwen said with panted breath, "then I didn't do a good enough job."
The two walked inside and gawked at the cabin-themed interior. They wondered if they had accidentally wandered into a sporting goods shop, but an older woman with a southern drawl appeared with menus and led them to a booth in the back. The menu was filled with classic country dishes, and they joked about how the owners would react to Max's cooking.
"Are you ready to order, darlin'?" The waitress asked. The two gave her their orders, and not even fifteen minutes had passed before it arrived. "There you are. Is there anything else I can do for y'all?" They shook their heads. "I'll leave you two to it then. Holler if you need anything!"
There weren't many other patrons in the restaurant, so despite her words, the waitress frequently approached their table, gushing about how cute of a couple they looked. Ben did his best to hide the sad look on his face, but Gwen could read him like a book. When the woman appeared for the eighth time in the last ten minutes, she joked about giving them the special couples discount.
Gwen took the opportunity to interlock her fingers with Ben's. "That would be amazing," she gushed. First, there was surprise on his face, then pain, and then delight. Ben gently squeezed her hand, and Gwen took that as permission to continue their little charade. "Are there any dessert specials?"
The woman left to get the dessert menu. Gwen tried to pull away, but Ben held firm. "If we're going to do this, we may as well go all the way with it." He hoped that with enough confidence, he could convince her to comply with his unreasonable demand.
She looked hesitant. Gwen knew that she had been pushing things lately. No lines were crossed, but it was becoming blurry and razor-thin. Still, she couldn't deny that his hand felt nice in hers. She dared to look at him and felt her breath catch. She could see the pleading in his eyes and pulled away because that was the responsible thing to do. But then, instead of keeping the familiar distance between them, she got up and slid in next to him, making sure he felt her shoulder bump against his.
"Oh my, don't you two look all cozy?" the waitress said with a cheeky grin. Here's that menu for y'all. The apple pie is a real treat, if I do say so myself."
"Do you want to share a slice, babe?" Gwen asked, thoroughly enjoying how tense Ben was becoming. "Look, it even comes with ice cream."
"Y-yeah," Ben's voice cracked, and his face reddened slightly. He quickly cleared his throat. "Uh yeah, that sounds great." The waitress took the menu, silently giggling to herself as she walked away. "Seriously, Gwen, don't you think you're taking the teasing too far?"
"You're the one that wanted to go 'all the way.' Besides, this is more fun." She gave him a sly grin. "For me at least." Ben's eyes narrowed. He firmly grasped Gwen's thigh, causing her to jump in surprise. "Ben, what are you-"
He leaned in, his warm breath against her neck, and then he whispered, "Don't start something you can't finish."
"Hey now, just because you're cute doesn't mean you can get all handsy in my booth." The waitress scolded the two as she placed the plate in front of them. Ben pulled away and took a large spoonful of the apple pie.
"H-hey!" Gwen pulled the plate to her side, blocking him from getting any more. And while the two playfully fought over the dessert, Ben's hand had never left her thigh.
After they finished their dinner, Ben carried Gwen back to the campgrounds. They stopped a little ways away and waited for the watch to time out. Gwen had insisted that he drove back to town to get food for them, so she felt more than a little guilty about eating without him. Ben, on the other hand, was feeling guilty for a different reason. No matter how you looked at it, they had just gone on a date, and he wasn't ready for it to end. So, if hiding the fact that they had dinner meant he could spend more alone time with her, then he'd take it.
The sun had set, and once the watch timed out, they collected firewood and began the trek back to camp. Ben had grown accustomed to traversing through the dark, but Gwen found it much more difficult. "Come here," Ben said, taking her hand. Gwen considered that she could have made a light to guide them, but this wasn't so bad. With Ben leading the way, they came upon the familiar light of the Rustbucket.
"Grandpa," Ben called out, "we're back!" The two dropped the wood into a pile and entered the RV. "Grandpa?"
"Ben, look!" Gwen pointed to the back of the RV. Max was on the ground, his legs being the only thing in view. Ben rushed to his side, checking his pulse. "Is he…?"
"He's alive," Ben said, but his voice didn't sound reassuring. He examined the body, looking for any injuries, and found a pin prick on his neck.
"Watch out!"
Ben turned around just as a masked man stepped out of the bathroom behind him. Another man snuck up behind Gwen, quickly injecting her with a syringe. Ben slammed down onto the Omnitrix, but it was still recharging.
"No need to make this difficult," the man said, pointing a gun at him. "Give us the Omnitrix, and we'll let your family live."
"D-don't do it," Gwen said. Whatever they had injected into her made her body numb and her head fuzzy. Still, she was coherent enough to understand how bad the situation was if they were after the Omnitrix.
Ben was confident in his close-quarters combat, but he knew it was too dangerous to fight them. The one holding Gwen down pulled out a gun, pointing it to her head. With gritted teeth, he removed the Omnitrix from his wrist.
"Set it on the bed and turn around." The man ordered. Ben wanted nothing more than to beat the shit out of him. Still, he did as he was told.
Gwen watched in abject horror as the man injected her cousin with the same drug they gave her. Ben slumped over, and the man carefully tied him up and hauled him outside. She felt herself being lifted up, but the man stopped before going outside.
"Leave her," one of the men said. "They only want him and the watch."
"Are you sure it's safe to leave them alive?" another man asked.
"That drug will keep them knocked out til morning. By the time they wake up, we'll be long gone."
The man dropped Gwen, her head smacking the floor. Her vision was fading, and she could barely see the men tossing Ben into a black van before falling unconscious. "B-ben…"
Gwen's head was throbbing when she finally regained consciousness. She wasn't certain how long she'd been out, but the moon was still high in the sky, meaning it couldn't have been more than a few hours. She quickly purified any remaining toxins within her body and scrambled to the back of the RV and onto her bunk. Her eyes immediately focused on the sticker of a dog and cat above her, and she jammed her thumb through it. She peeled away the sticker, revealing a hole no wider than a couple of inches. Her slender fingers barely managed to fit inside as she pulled out the bag hidden inside.
Her thoughts drifted back to the night she regretted the most—the night her mother had walked in on her and her cousin about to do the unthinkable. After their family accused Ben of the worst, he ran away, leaving the adults to frantically search for him. Her Uncle Carl eventually called Max to help look for him, and Gwen took the opportunity to hide in the only place left where she felt safe.
Laying in the bottom bunk of the Rust Bucket, Gwen watched the GPS on her phone as Ben's blip sped across the map. She knew that once her aunt and uncle gave up on their search for the night, Max would chase after his grandson and bring him back. But something about seeing him running away, even if it was just a jumble of pixels on a screen, made her feel sick. She'd lost the right to do this when she let her mother blame him for what had happened. But she also couldn't stop feeling the way she felt. Not wanting to lose the last thing connecting them, she hid the phone under his bunk before her mother could take that away from her, too.
Her focus returned to the present as she stared at the phone in her hands. It was so much smaller than she remembered. She tried to turn it on but was unsurprised to see the battery was dead after six years. After plugging in the charger, she typed in her code and brought up the GPS, thankful it still worked. Ben's blip was far, more than a couple of hours by car, but it wasn't moving. If she's lucky, she could catch up to them before they move again.
Gwen tried to wake up her grandfather, but even after purifying his body, he remained unconscious. She could only assume his older body needed more time to recover. She pulled him onto the bunk With the little strength she had left and started up the engine, ready to go after her cousin's kidnappers. But within seconds, the engine shut off. She tried again to no avail.
Panic was setting in. She didn't know how to fix the Rustbucket and had no idea when Max would wake up. Gwen steeled her nerves and left a note for her grandfather explaining what had happened. Throwing on her bag and plugging her old phone into her portable charger, Gwen conjured up her mana and propelled herself into the sky. "I'm coming for you, Ben."
