Fire Summoner

Chapter Thirteen: Vervain

"Drive, Nick! Drive!" Connor was yelling as Nick whipped wildly around the corner, the wheels of the truck screeching as Nick brought the vehicle out of the slight fishtail. If Alice wasn't already nauseous from the throbbing in her brain, the rancid smell of rubber burning on asphalt as the car slid slightly before Nick got the steering wheel back under control would have certainly done the trick.
   
Up ahead, a traffic light was beginning to switch from green to yellow. The ramp to the highway was just beyond it. "Step on it! You can make it!" Emily assured Nick as she hurriedly twisted in her seat to put on her seat belt. Again, if Alice wasn't so preoccupied with the building headache she was dealing with she might have laughed at the way the seat belt refused to be drawn out past a few inches. Emily swore as she yanked on the buckle a few times before she said, "Fuck it", and rolled into the back seat.
   
Connor shoved Alice to the side so that Emily's feet didn't bounce off of Alice's head. "Damaged cargo back here y'all."Alice groaned as she closed her eyes. She just wanted the world to stop spinning.

Emily landed in the middle seat smoothly. She turned to Connor on her left and said, "Do you have the med kit?" Alice peaked an eye open to peer at her two friends. She could tell by the sheepish look on Connor's face that he did not, in fact, have the med kit. Emily must have given him an incredulous look because Connor immediately began to defend himself.

"How was I supposed to know that they would find us so soon? I thought we would have had at least another day of travel before we would need that stuff." he stressed while shaking his hand in infront of his face at Emily.  Emily scoffed at him, "With this lot? I'm surprised we actually made it out of their hometown.", she said before she twisted around in her seat again to wrench open the back window that led out to the bed of the truck.

"Oh shhhiiittt!" Nick yelled as he floored the accelerator to get through the light as it turned red. The truck had just barely made it into the intersection, horns blaring around them as the other drivers had to slam on their brakes to avoid t-boning the truck as it tore through the intersection and veered sharply right to merge onto the highway ramp.

Alice was about ready to cry from how much her head hurt. Everytime she closed her eyes, stars would flash on the inside of her eyelids. Keeping her eyes open wasn't any better, her world swam around her as the truck careened around the other morning commuters driving along the stretch of highway.

A sound like nails on a chalkboard came from the roof of the truck causing Alice to wince and let her tears roll down her cheeks. "Em! Ease up on the paint job!" Nick snapped as he sped around a minivan that was cruising leisurely in the right lane.

"Ease up on the gas, dipshit!" Emily countered from where she had wedged herself halfway out of the window. She had been sitting on the ledge of the window getting ready to slide onto the bed of the truck when Nick had sent them flying onto the highway, leaving her no choice but to balance herself by sinking her nails into the roof of the truck.

"You told me to step on it, this is me stepping on it!" Alice heard Emily call Nick another foul name as she slid out of the truck fully. The sounds of the highway were too loud for Alice to hear Emily rooting around their luggage for the first aid kit, but not loud enough to cover Missy's discontented hiss at Emily as she shoved the giant cat's paws out of her way. To Alice's surprise, Emily hissed right back. Alice whirled around to stare out the back window to make sure her cat didn't maul her friend, an action she quickly came to regret as stars flashed across her vision. Missy must have been too shocked at the outright challenge to retaliate, because she blinked somewhat stupidly back at Emily as the much smaller of the two finally found what she was looking for, a lunchbox sized cloth bag with purple designs all over the material, and shouted in triumph.

Emily clambered somewhat gracefully into the back seat with Connor and Alice and slid the rear window shut. She set the cloth bag in her lap and undid the ties that cinched it closed. Instead of Band-Aids and disinfectant, things that you would usually find in a typical first aid kit, Emily pulled out a small, clear spray bottle with purple liquid sloshing around inside it.