Purple | Cole Stewart -VERSION DISCONTINUED

Chapter Eighteen: Roadtrip

I woke up in a bed.
Well, at least I know I’m not dead.
You know you’ve reached rock bottom when a sentence like that is a comfort to you.
It was dark, and it was really goddamn cold. I tried to roll over and get a better view of where I was, but I was stopped by something big and warm.
“What? Oh, sorry Carter,”Ruby mumbled.
I let out a relieved breath. Just Ruby. Just my friend- the others were probably somewhere else in the room, but it was too dark to see them.
Nothing else to do but fall back asleep, I guess.
•••
I wake up again a few hours later- there's a bit of light coming in through the windows now. According to the clock on the other side of the bed- the other side of Zu, who was still sound asleep- it was 5:13 a.m. 
My first thought was to take a shower- it would be my first in over a week- and that was what I did. I probably spent twenty minutes in there, just trying to get all of the layers of dirt and sweat off of my skin.
By the time I got out, Chubs and Zu were both awake- Chubs was still laying on a pile of blankets on the floor reading one of his books, I assumed he had slept there last night. All of our bags were still almost fully packed close to the door, aside from the toiletries that were still in the bathroom. Liam was standing next to the crappy hotel coffee machine, and Ruby was sitting on the single bed in the room, next to a half asleep Zu.
“Hey, Cara. I was hoping we could get going pretty soon, you almost ready?” Liam asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, whenever you’re ready, I’m good to go.”
“Great. Let's head on out gang.”
•••
Liam went through his regular routine of checking all the mirrors, adjusting his seat, and buckling himself in before turning around to look at Ruby. “Can you read a map?”
“No. Sorry.” Ruby replied.
“No problem,” Liam patted the passenger seat. “I’ll teach you later, but for now I just need someone to watch the signs for me. Come on up to the copilot chair.”
Ruby jerked her finger at Chubs, then myself, questioning why neither of us could do it.
“Are you kidding me? Yesterday he thought a mailbox was a clown.”
Huh. I must have been asleep at that time. Too bad- if I wasn’t broke, I would have paid to see that.
Ruby was looking at me now. “Oh, I’m not sure if you remember, but I took a few kicks to the stomach yesterday, so I’m afraid I’m not really in the mood to sit upright for a long time- hope you understand.”
“Okay Cara, take it down a notch,” Chubs muttered.
“Is his eyesight really that bad?”
“Worse.” Liam said. “So, right after we got the hell out of Caledonia, we broke into this house to spend the night, right? I woke up in the middle of the night hearing the most awful noise, like a cow dying or something. I followed the wailing, clutching some kids' baseball bat, thinking I was going to have to beat someone’s head in for us to make a clean getaway. Then I saw what was sitting at the bottom of the drained pool.”
“No way.”
“Way.” he confirmed. “Hawkeye had gone out to relieve himself and had somehow missed the giant gaping hole in the ground. Twisted his ankle and couldn’t climb out of the deep end.”
Both Ruby and I burst out laughing. “You have no idea how much I would have paid to see that.” I gasped, then took a sharp breath when I felt a sharp pain in my ribs. Right. Boot, back, still in pain.
“You okay, Car?” Liam asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, just- the bruises- I don’t think any bones are broken though, so it's all just temporary.”
We were all silent after that, and I found myself falling back asleep to the quiet sounds of the radio.
•••
“...to inform you that initial reports indicate that four separate explosions were set off this morning in Manhattans subway..”
The radio announcers voice cut off for a second before coming right back.
“-though confirmation has been slow to come out of the city, we believe these explosions were not nuclear or biological in nature, and were concentrated around midtown, where President Gray was rumored to be in hiding after the most recent attempt on his life.”
“League, West Coast, or fake?” Chubs’ sleepy voice floated up from beside me. I sat up and stretched my arms, focusing back onto the words on the radio.
“Our sources indicate that President Gray and his cabinet believe this to be the work of the Federal Coalition.”
“Federal Coalition?” Ruby repeated.
“West Coast.” Chubs, Liam and I spoke at the same time. Chubs elaborated. “Based out of Los Angeles. They’re the section of the government that survived the D.C. bombings and weren’t too crazy about the idea of Gray disregarding he whole two-term limit they had set up. They’re mostly talking heads since the military sided with Gray, obviously.”
“Why is Gray in New York and not Washington?” Ruby asked.
They’re still rebuilding the Capitol and the White House, only it's not going so well since, you know, they defaulted on all of their debt,” Liam said. “He spread the government out between Virginia and New York for its protection. To make sure none of the fugitive Psi groups or the League got any ideas about wiping it all out at once.”
“So the Federal Coalition… they’re against the camps? The reform program?”
Chubs sighed a little. “Hate to break it to you, Green, but something you’ll learn pretty fast is that we’re not exactly a priority to anyone right now. Everyone’s more focused on the fact that the whole country is broke as a joke.”
“Who do we like then?” Ruby pressed.
“We like us.” I cut in. “And that’s about it.”

Word count: 1021

Me; writing the title: 🎶now that interstate is paved with memoriessss🎶