The Defiant

Settling in

Levi

After what seemed like five hours, the vans stopped in the parking lot next to a Walmart. Delta removed their hands from the steering wheel with a sigh. "Fucking hell."

Dakota's hand was only now loosening its grip on my own, but we didn't dare let go of each other.

We all sat in silence until Dr. Jeralynn came up to the driver's window. Delta rolled it down and took off their seatbelt. 

"Here, take this card," The doctor said, shoving it into Delta's awaiting hand. "It has an account for the Fighting Injustice causes. Get a hotel room or two, and buy whatever you need. Buy some phones as well. Get rid of those tablets as soon as you can- they might have tracking on them."

"Thanks, doctor," Delta said, clutching the card tightly. "We'll keep in touch."

Dr. Jeralyn smiled despite the circumstances. "It's no problem. And all of you stay safe."

She then rattled off the address of FI headquarters located in Canada and hurried back to her van. We watched as the vehicle pulled out of the parking lot and drove down the street, out of sight. 

"Alright chumps, let's go," Delta said, opening their door and getting out hurriedly. We all left the van behind and started walking toward Walmart. 

It felt strange being in the common store again. 

Only a few people milled about, oblivious to what was happening— Who we were. It felt too normal, and I half expected someone from the facility to pop around the corner and detain us. 

"Ha! You thought it would be that easy?" They'd say.

Metal clanged as Hattie grabbed a shopping cart. "Let's grab some normal clothes, phones, and snacks first," She led, "Then we can search for a hotel and get an Uber."

I looked at our attire. We probably looked like we came out of a facility with our matching grey sweats, black shirts, and white shoes... 

"Maybe we should split up a bit," Lyla suggested. "So we don't look like we came from... where we came from."

Delta nodded and started walking away. "I'm going to look at clothes. Finally, I can look good."

Lyla followed after them, looking a bit excited.

Hattie pointed to Atlas, Dakota, and me. "You three can go get snacks. We'll change in the bathrooms, so meet us there. 

She walked away to join Lyla and Delta. 

We stood there for a moment and then gave a collective sigh. 

"Do you think he has woken up?" Atlas asked quietly. 

"Maybe," Dakota said, grabbing his hand and beginning to walk towards the food aisles. "He'll make it out though. He has to."

We all picked out an armful of a variety of snacks, then began walking back towards the entrance where the bathrooms were located. 

Lyla stood outside in a large grey sweater and blue jeans. She looked much more comfortable in the clothes than she had been in the attire the facility gave us. "They're almost done," she said as a way of greeting. 

We put all the food in the cart that contained some extra bags of clothes they had all picked out and waited for a minute till Hattie came out in a blue and white striped T-shirt, white jacket, and black leggings. Both she and Lyla had kept the white shoes that the facility gave out. 

Hattie leaned against the wall and sighed. "Delta is going to take a while. You guys can go ahead and get some clothes. We'll buy the food."

I resented the spark of excitement that surged in my heart. I shouldn't be getting happy over new clothes; Roan was stuck in a dreamscape, Grade B was dying, and More than half of my boyfriends were now driving across the Canadian border to escape from a war we were being forced into. Not to mention my regular attire looked like what I was wearing anyway.