mad as daisies ᵗⁱᵗᵃⁿˢ

02 | the motel of dreams

"I still can't believe you traded in the Porsche for a minivan," Gar spoke as they pulled up in front of a motel. Eleanor elbowed the boy, shaking her head. He held his hands up in defence.

"Least we can all fit in."

They had all fit into Porsche, but it had been a rather tight and somewhat uncomfortable fit. Whilst the teens had sucked it up and dealt with it in as close to silence as they could — minus the odd mumble or elbow — but Dick had decided it was best to swap vehicle to make sure they were more comfortable.

"I like the van."

"To be fair we'd probably get robbed if we pulled up outside this motel in a car that isn't less than average."

The three teens stared at the motel and its empty car park.

"We're not actually staying here, are we?" Rachel voiced the others thought.

"You know, there's probably a nicer place down the road."

"We're being hunted by sociopaths. Nicer places draw attention." Dick pointed out to the woman beside him, loud enough for the teenagers to also hear.

"As someone who's commonly in a spot of danger, nicer places are better places to die," Eleanor spoke, moving her head side to side to try and make it feel less stiff.

Being sat in a car was not her thing. She liked freedom and movement and not being stuck in one singular spot without choice for more than ten minutes — even that was pushing it. But she always sucked it up as much as she possibly could.

"Here, here!" Gar muttered, faking a toast as he held up an imaginary glass.

Eleanor laughed, before mimicking him, letting out a quiet 'clink' noise as they taped their invisible glasses together.

"Yeah, and nicer places also make it easier to sleep." Kory agreed with the eldest teenager, slightly amused at Gar and Eleanor's antics.

"One road in, same road out." Dick pointed out, literally pointing at the road. "Only one point of access we have to watch. And also, it's quiet."

"Sorry I think you miss-pronounced sketchy."

"Maybe it is sketchy." Dick agreed with Eleanor, turning his attention to the teens with different coloured hair. "But, trouble comes out way, we should hear it first." He unbuckled his belt. "And who said anything about sleeping?"

The other four were not impressed. They wanted to sleep, not play lookout.

It took persuasion for the teens to get out of the car — which Dick had to agree to get them all a takeaway, and would not make them pick cheap options — but when they had, they had all rushed to the doors to avoid the rain.

Dick handed them their keys and they each pocketed them before gathering in one room.

Eleanor had come to the dreaded realisation that she was stuck with only a small collection of clothes (and only her heeled boots) and doubted she could get herself back home to pick up more. She hoped the emergency bags had good clothes, otherwise, she was going to have to find a local thrift store.

"All right, guys. Listen up. We're all in one piece, more or less."

"We need to figure out where we stand and determine what's mission-critical."

"Mission-critical?" Rachel repeated in amusement, holding a slice of pizza in her hand.

Despite them being told he wouldn't make them choose the cheap options, all three teenagers had said they simply wanted a plain pizza, so in the end, his pockets weren't to hurt.

"Is that a cop thing?" Gar questioned, equally as amused as the others by Dicks wording. "It sounds like a cop thing."

"Bless," Eleanor spoke, grabbing a silence of pizza from the box in Gar's hand. The girl was sat on the table, cross-legged holding chips that she and Gar were sharing. She didn't particularly like pizza, so he offered to go half and half with her.

"I had some combat training when I was younger."

Eleanor raised a brow.

"And he's a cop." Rachel stage whispered to Gar and Eleanor.

"He was a bit more than that," Eleanor whispered to herself in amusing.

"What?" Teens questioned.

"Nothing."

"I'm sorry, you are referring to 'we'?" Kory questioned leaning against a teeny tiny wall with a fur coat and shiny purple dress. Kory was the kind of girl that reminded Eleanor there was no way she was completely straight — in a sexual aspect, under no circumstances was she attracted to people romantically.

"We, as of right now, are a group of people who share a common enemy."

"Which makes us what?"

The four stared at Dick. Their interests have become the same as they wondered exactly what their relationship was supposed to be. Eleanor believed it was going to be far more complicated than whatever he described it as.

"Let's call it an alliance. One born of mutual need."

"And what is that?"

"To stay alive," Dick told Kory, a snort of disagreement left Eleanor's lips. "We have no idea how long we have until they find us." 

Eleanor and Gar shared a look. The two had no idea what Dick was talking about or who the enemy was, they were just there to get away from their old life.

"You just said 'they'. Who are 'they'? What do 'they' want?" Gar voiced for them. He offered Eleanor a slice of pizza as she poured some more chips onto the pizza box he was holding. The girl shook her head, before nodding for him to sit next to Rachel, or at least near the poor girl.

"We don't know who they are. But they want me."

"It's because of her . . . abilities."

"They make violence look like an art form."

"The people that attacked us fought in unison. They were perfectly coordinated, we're not. We can't fight like that unless we learn each other's moves."

Eleanor blinked at Dick. She couldn't tell if his words were basic, inspiring or both. She had heard an alteration of those words on so many films, that she had become numb to them.

"Inspiring," Kory spoke, a small smile on her lips. "And how do you suggest we do that?"

"We stick together." He looked away from Kory and over to the three teens. "And we train."

"No, thanks."

"Yes. Thanks."

"I hate you."

Dick chuckled to himself. "No, you don't."

"Kinda do."