"Emerson."
Michael rubbed his eyes, trying to push away the bone tired exhaustion eating away at him.
"Emerson."
He couldn't do this much longer. Sleeping away his free time during the day and staying awake all night.
"For god's sake, Michael! I'm talking to you!" His coach snapped at him, clapping a hand on Michael's shoulder and giving him a good shake, "you used to be one of my best players and this season I haven't seen you hit one damn ball right all month. Spring break is starting tomorrow, can I trust you to show up to practice on time next week or are we going to have to call it quits?"
"Sorry," Michael replied, half-heartedly. He just couldn't be bothered to care much. The whole summer before and the school year from August to now was one long blur to him. Baseball just didn't matter anymore.
His coach sighed, "go home, get some sleep, and be back here on Tuesday for practice. You better bring your a-game."
"Sure," Michael replied, half aware of what he was even agreeing to, "yeah."
In the locker room, Michael sleepwalked to the showers, distantly aware of his friends talking about some party or movie date or something. They hadn't really bothered trying to get him to go out with them in months. He bailed every time. He feigned a smile at Ronnie and Lance when one of them said something that might be a joke. Or a funny story. He hadn't even been able to go out with his girlfriend, could she still even be called that? He hadn't spoken to her in weeks. He didn't even want to think about what his dad was going to do if he was kicked off the baseball team. Not that it mattered. She hadn't outright said it yet, but mom had been packing things for days. For all he knew she was going to spring it on them both that they were moving out over spring break.
Michael finished showering and headed to the sinks. Steam clouded the mirror, so he used a hand towel to clear it up enough to see his face. His eyes were playing funny tricks on him. For an instant he thought he saw a blurry image of someone standing behind him in a black coat.
He closed his eyes and calmly counted to ten, opening them again to reveal it was just him in the mirror. He'd gotten used to the weird shit he saw these days when he didn't sleep. This was getting bad. He would have to do something to get some rest tonight; his mom had some Valium; maybe that would help. At the very least give him an hour or two to rest his eyes.
"Is it supposed to hurt this much?" Marko whined. They were barely twenty miles outside of town and his head was killing him. It was like a migraine taking physical form and trying to shove his brain out of his skull.
"It'll get better if we just push through," Dwayne insisted, none too sure himself. Max had always said they couldn't leave him, the boys never really understood the threat on a surface level. It was just something they felt. An inner voice warning them something nasty would happen if they tried.
Marko groaned and shook his braids wildly to push away the pain, "fuck, this is stupid." He shouted, he was not happy. A slew of other curses flew from his mouth just so he could have something to focus on.
"Suck it up buttercup." David snapped, the ache was building down his spine. Burning. Digging into his muscles and bones.
Paul let out a howl that very well could have been a war cry, pushing his bike to go faster, "no pain, no fucking gain!"
"That's the spirit!" David's voice was nearly a scream as the pain doubled. He would get through this, push through it, they all could. They were old enough to be without Max, strong enough to be away from him, they didn't need him or want him. "Fuck Max."
It wasn't worse than dying. Staying in Santa Carla would only get them killed. They had to do this. David just hoped it was over sooner than later.
"Max will notice those comic geeks tonight, he'll be too focused on them to worry about us," Dwayne pointed out, "if this is his doing, if he's making this hurt on purpose, it won't last the night." They'd made sure to force feed the Frog brothers a few days ago, so the two would be causing a mess in Santa Carla right about now. Between them they'd downed two whole bottles of Max's blood. There was no way they'd be able to hold back from killing for long.
The pack made good time, but because of a late start they would have to find a place to rest for the day sooner rather than later.
"Keep an eye out for shelter, we don't want to be forced to dig a hole for the day." David ordered.
"How about a storm drain?" Marko suggested.
"Or a cave?" Paul chimed in.
"Paul, you see any fucking caves around here?" Dwayne said, too irritated by the pain to humor him. He might not have anyway. Paul's bullshit ideas took more patience than any normal creature could muster. Even Marko's pigeons got irritated at the blond rocker when he said something stupid enough.
"Yeah, well, ummm, shut up!" They were all sure Paul was going to blame his lack of a comeback on the pain they were all experiencing.
A few hours later, once the pain had dulled enough to a soft throb, Marko gave a shout of excitement, "look!" He pointed towards a boarded up gas station so old the pumps had to have been taken out years ago.
David motioned for them to stop, pulling his bike in behind the building. "Let's take a look." He got off, heading for the door. They'd made good time. Tomorrow night they'd easily be in Phoenix with hours to spare.
The building was dark. Whoever had boarded up the windows had done a good job, there was no real way to see inside. No cracks where painful slivers of light might cut through the boys while they were sleeping. The person who'd done the boarding, however, failed to lock the back door, or maybe an unlucky dinner was waiting for them. There was a faint scent in the air. Sluggish heartbeats. The boys exchanged silent thoughts of joy. Blood would heal them from the pain of their journey and leaving Max behind.
David went inside first, where he found a small battery powered storm lamp just beyond the back door, illuminating a pair of sleeping squatters. They didn't smell terribly appealing, but neither did they easily wake to greet their guests. The mountains of beer bottles strewn about the building were a testament to that. Perfect. The bodies worked for simple door stops after they managed to bring their bikes into the building.
"I guess we're dogpiling tonight, huh?" Paul asked after they'd eaten and settled together on the ground, casually reclining or sitting around the storm lamp. Dwayne had conjured a blood-stained deck of cards from one of his pockets and was already dealing them out to wile away the remainder of the night.
David smirked at Paul, "not really a place to hang and you know you can't sleep on your own. Last time you tried you cried like a little baby."
They were all feeling much better after a meal, the last of the pain seeming to have subsided. Poker would be a nice change of pace.
"Seventy years ago, asshole, give me a break!" Paul shouted dramatically, feigning offense.
"Oh? Then you won't have a problem sleeping by the door tonight to keep watch then, will you?" David examined his nails as he spoke, picking a fleck of dried blood out from under his index fingernail.
"Why me?" Paul whined, "Marko's the one with the creepy bug eyes. He'll scare anyone away with one look at him." If that were really true, then the catalyst to this whole trip would never have happened. His memories of their deaths were no longer fresh, but the image of Marko falling to the ground with blood streaming from his chest would never fully vanish from David's mind.
"Stop whining," Dwayne said with a not-so-subtle eye roll, "we'll trade off."
They played cards for about an hour, cheating and hiding plenty in their sleeves respectively. A clean game between the boys was something unheard of. Not for the first time, Marko won with a full hand of aces. He had an extra deck in his own pocket, David supposed. With the last round of poker done, and Marko in one of Dwayne's headlocks, the sun began to rise outside.
David stretched, kicking off his boots to let his claws comfortably grow out, "get some rest, we'll head out as soon as the sun sets," He ordered, ignoring Paul's whine and settling down in a corner with his coat folded up as a makeshift pillow.
The day would pass quickly once the sun rose and pulled them into peaceful sleep, but until then as he relaxed on the ground amongst his brothers, scenting his pack, he thought about Michael and the days that had ceased to be. Their meeting was short. So short that the finer details of those few nights escaped him. It had almost been a year, after all. The human wouldn't remember any of it. Sort of bittersweet, really. They would create new memories, ones that would stay forever. It would be fun to explore a new place, even if it was known for sun and heat. After they had Michael maybe they would move on, find somewhere with a little less sun to make their playground. Somewhere with a nightlife and plenty of tourists.
The morning brought relief from the pain of their bond through Max's blood. The old bastard must be busier with the Frog brothers than they thought. He probably didn't have the energy to sustain whatever power he had over the rest of them now. It would be easier to finish their journey without the constant thrum punishment racketing around their skulls.
Night fell again instantly, revitalizi ng them all, "rise and shine boys!" David shouted. He couldn't help but feel a sense of giddiness, excitement for the days to come. They should've left Santa Carla years ago.
Marko gave a loud groan, stretching clawed hands above his head until his back and elbows cracked. "How much longer we got?" He asked, stifling a yawn. They'd ridden fast. Faster than any human could.
"A couple of hours to Phoenix," Dwayne replied, looking over at David as he climbed to his feet. "How do we find him once we're there, though?"
"I can feel him, I'll know where he is." He wasn't actually sure that was the case but he knew they would find him. Too many things were going right for that not to be true. All of this was meant to happen.
They shook off their remaining sluggishness from the day and immediately took off into the growing night. Only a slight sting of the early evening's final brush of blue light signaled the time. It was earlier than any of them really liked to wake, but just past the threshold of danger.
"We gonna party tonight when we get there?" Paul asked hopefully, thoughts cutting directly through their collective minds.
Marko grinned, replying with what the words they all felt, "fuck yeah!"