Seeing Red

Chapter 3

The girl in front of me smiled and there was no doubt about it; it was Becky Oz, a girl who I thought for the last year had died to save us all. I started moving towards her, but Becky was already taking the initiative. Before I even realized what was happening, Becky caught me in a tight hug.

"You... you're alive." I said it like it was the most simple thing in the world, but for me, it seemed like the impossible had happened. The last time I had seen Becky, she had locked herself alone with a group of werewolves to buy Brandon and I time to escape. I thought she was never going to get out of that alive.

"I've missed you, Scarlet." said Becky.

"I... how?" I said, "Becky, I thought you were dead?"

"Not yet." said Becky, "Look, we need to get to a safe place. I have a car out in front and a place to lay low for a bit. Is this woman with you?"

It was at that moment that I realized Courtney was still in the room, cowering against the wall looking like she wanted to run off into the street screaming her head off.

"She is now," I said, "Courtney, this one's an old friend of mine. We can trust her."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Courtney screeched, "Are you one of those things?!"

"No," I said, "But... look, ma'am, it's a long story, but we can get to a safe place, please, just trust me?"

Courtney looked suspicious and afraid, but she stepped over to the two of us, mostly me.

"Let's get to the safehouse. Your boyfriend's waiting for you."

"Boyfriend?"

It took me a moment to realize who Becky was talking about, and I started going a little faster to get out of the building.

"I thought so." I heard Becky say as she went to catch up with me, and Courtney lagged a little behind, clearly still out of it emotionally. I didn't blame her, since I wanted to sit down and cry back at Camp Packington.

Outside of the building was a big, familiar-looking black SUV with tinted windows. Just seeing a vehicle like that caused me immediate pause, which Becky noticed.

"Sorry for the trip down memory lane," said Becky as she hurried past me and opened the door, "It's a good car, and I needed a good car."

"Clearly." I said as I climbed into the back of the car. To my surprise, there was a man in the driver's seat who watched as I put on my seatbelt. Courtney, hesitantly, followed me into the car, and flinched when Becky closed the door and got in the passenger's seat.

"So, this is the famous Scarlet Reithaube?" the man asked when Becky closed the door and the man started the car into gear, "I can only guess."

"This is Scarlet," said Becky as she motioned to me, "And the other woman is some random that was in the building with her."

"My name is Courtney." Courtney sounded indignant that Becky was rather dismissive.

"Since we're sharing names now, my name is Lloyd." said the man who was driving the car out of the town, now heading onto an empty road in the middle of nowhere, "As you can see, I'm the driver."

"And we all appreciate it, Lloyd." said Becky. Courtney gave me a sour look, but I tried to ignore her since my mind was on other things, which I needed to address with Becky immediately.

"So where are we going?!" I asked, "And how long is it gonna take to get there?!"

"You really want to see him again, don't you?" Becky asked.

"Yes."

"I thought so," Becky turned back just so she could smile at me, "He really wants to see you too."