Runaways- Runaways 1

Chapter 5: Peyton

Oh gosh. Was I really going through with this? There was no way. But I'd already sent Marcus the email. It was all or nothing now. I didn't think we would actually do it until we turned seventeen, but I wanted to see if he was on board, at least for now.

My phone dinged with the reply. Yep. He'd said exactly what I'd expected him to say. For what seemed like the zillionth time since quarantine started again in March, I asked him if we could Skype. Of course, he said yes. He sent me the link a few minutes later and I jumped in the meeting.

"Peyton you are insane. What kind of idea is that?" Marcus already seemed defensive.

"Whoa, calm down." I couldn't help laughing. I always did when I was nervous. "And be quiet while I explain myself please. By the way, I'm super happy for you and Luke. I thought I should tell you face-to-face. Or, well, as close to face-to-face as we can get these days." He just nodded and rolled his eyes.

"Now please explain your crazy plan. I'm quite curious to hear about it."

I took a deep breath and started speaking lower. "Our lives have been nothing but huge problems it seems lately. Mainly, those problems involve one of our friends and our parents. Am I right?"

He rolled his eyes again, clearly frustrated. "Peyton, you're implying that I'm not happy with where I am, again. I am happy being bi. I thought we agreed you would stop badmouthing it." He was starting to raise his voice and I had to make a motion with my hand to get him to lower it.

"I know you are. Give me a second. Now, what if we ran away? You, me, Aaliyah, and Luke. It probably wouldn't be that hard with the coronavirus going on. Well, actually, I take that back. It might be harder. We'd have to wait 'til summer." I paused and let him think about what I'd just said. It turned out he didn't need long. He immediately started pointing out why it wouldn't work.

"Do you realize how hard that would be? Surviving would be hard enough, much less actually travelling the distance we'd need to go to stay out of the way of the law. I don't have any clue how it'd work, and right now, I'm going to say I do NOT want to do it."

"Marcus, wait. I have a plan. Each of us carry one backpack of supplies. We could carry enough food, clothing, and water purification tools in four backpacks to last us several weeks. We could use that time to try to get to Florida, where it would be warm enough to survive outside all year round. If we went to a more remote part of Florida, we'd probably even be able to find an abandoned shelter."

He seemed to be taking in everything I said but with a mental block to all of it. "Peyton, this is crazy. Why are you assuming we'd all agree?"

"Think about it. It actually wouldn't be too hard to survive. Especially if the economy continues to deteriorate; in a few years, it'd turn into more of a Darkest Minds scenario."

"Minus the superpowers. Now if we had those, I might consider it." He ran his hands through his hair thoughtfully. "But what about after those few weeks?"

"You can fish. I know you can. Your dad has taught you I'm sure. I'm also sure you know how to cook them. And there are plenty of wild berries throughout the state. We could always break into drug stores and different places too; it wouldn't be too hard." My idea was developing itself as I spoke. I didn't even believe the words I was saying. It sounded nothing like me. 

"Are you saying we walk the whole time?"

"Yes, I am. But what I'm also saying is I don't think we should go until we're seventeen and Luke is eighteen. Probably the summer after junior year. I think it'd be fun."