Seacrets

Chapter 4

He collapses face-first onto the pavement. She puts a leg out to rush to his aid but Adrien holds on to her jacket and steps on the gas. The door slams back in as he speeds out of the parking lot.

Two faint pops echoes as they drive away. Sonia doesn't dare turn around to look. Solène crumples into the front seat and can't move a muscle. Adrien is the only one who dares take a glimpse in the rearview mirror. Still holding on to her hoodie.

Sonia rummage through her sweatpant's pockets.

-We should call the police. They might think we did this ...

She sniffed back her tears. Adrien slammed on the breaks, screaming.

-No, don't!

-What!

- Did you tell anyone you were at the hotel?

-No, only the detective!

-Then how did they find you?

Sonia was flabbergasted ...

-Are you saying the police sent them?

-Unless you did... What do these guys want from you...?

-From me? ... How do we know they did not follow you from the apartment?

-Stop it!!!

Solène's tears were finally running and this shouting match in the car wasn't helping.

-Both of you could be right! So stop it, someone is dead. Just stop it...She stepped out of the car... Sonia call your stepfather. He is in the police, isn't he? He will know what to do ... I think they are after me...

They needed a breather. Adrien stepped out of the car after they had calmed down. He sat next to her on the sidewalk.

-What makes you think they are after you?

-First, they went through father's shop, then my apartment, now the hotel. It is not that complicated.

-You have enemies? I don't believe it... he joked

- Me neither, said Sonia coming off her phone call. My dad said not to return to that police station but to take the bus to his station. It's three hours away.

-What about the car?

-He said drop the car a block away from the station and get on the bus. He will send for it because it might have some bullets on it or evidence and whatever. He said he would reimburse us for the tickets too.

So the three of them followed her stepfather's direction to the letter. First, abandon the car then head to the bus station. The roommates sat together and Adrien took a seat a row behind. The dimly lit bus filled to about two-thirds of its capacity and departed. Slowly they dozed off one by one as the sky darkened for the night. Solène's mind filled with worries for her father. He'd been raising her alone since high school. A strange illness at the beginning of the school year took her mother away before Christmas. He even took on Adrien when his mother passed away too a couple of years later. Now both of them were running for their lives while he was left alone.

Tires screeching woke them. The bus barely managed to come to a full stop without toppling over. Small luggage pieces and belongings flung around. Even passengers were thrown out of their seats.

-I think a creature might have jumped in front of the bus, said Adrien who was barely resting his eyes.

Panic slowly takes hold of the girls, tightly holding on to each other. Solène's attention was elsewhere though. There was something up ahead on the road.

-Adrien... she whispered. I think there are cars in the middle of the road.

-Is it a traffic accident?

Sonia lunges over Solène's thighs, trying to get a peek out the tinted window.

-Oh my God, they found us, she screams. We need to get out of the bus before they get here.

The three scramble but manage to hoister themselves out the back window just as the first gunman is climbing onto the bus. He goes through every row one by one with a flashlight.

-Dorsainvil, Sir, they aren't here.

-Impossible, the device says it's here. I am clearly reading its energy. The Dorsainvil character screamed at his henchmen. Find them.