General Lee's Revenge--Karma

Chapter Six: "The Ice Isn't Floating"

They continued to follow Hughie's car north out of the county, remaining on the highway for most of the trip. It was then that Luke started to notice something as they drove. The world was no longer completely dark, in fact, he could see flashes here and there. Guessing them to be the headlights of oncoming cars, he tried looking to the right to see if they would stop, however, they didn't. One lasted long enough that he could make out the figure of a tree as it passed by. However, once the tree was out of sight, he was back to square one. He tried to turn in his seat to see if he could find the tree again, but to no avail. It was gone, and so was the rest of his vision.

"You alright there, cousin?" Bo asked, Luke guessing that he'd probably been watching him do this.

"Yeah, I just... I thought I saw somethin'," Luke replied.

This immediately caught his younger cousin's attention. "You... saw somethin'? Like what? What'd you see?"

"It was a tree, I saw it as we were goin' by, just a flash of it. Where are we?"

Bo shrugged, looking around past the sides of the freeway and at the urban lights surrounding them. "Somewhere just outside of Atlanta, sure is pretty this time of night."

Luke nodded and sighed. "Yeah, sure wish I could see it. You just keep track of where we're goin', don't let us get lost, just in case we need an easy escape route."

"No different from runnin' from cops, we should be fine. Even still, we've got Thunder."

"In the case we get separated from the Defects, I want you to be sure."

"Fair enough."

Once again, the ride was silent, until they saw Hughie's car drift towards an exit, to which the General Lee followed. Feeling the momentum of the car shift, Luke sat forward in his seat, growing anxious.

"Where're we goin'," he asked.

"We just turned off, I'm just followin' Hughie for right now," Bo explained.

"What exit?"

"Uh..."

"What exit, Bo?"

"I don't-"

"Fifty-three, turnin' left under the overpass," General replied. "I'd write it down for ya, Bo, but I'm afraid I don't have thumbs... or fingers... that and I can't read."

Bo nodded. "Right, thanks."

General's engine rumbled as he turned to follow Hughie's car, the two of them venturing on up the street until Hughie suddenly turned off onto a dimly-lit side street. General quickly slowed down and stalled out at the intersection, looking down the street. The pavement was cracked and full of potholes, the sidewalks withered away. Dull and broken neon signs hung from a few of the buildings, half of them with their windows boarded up or broken. A lone page from a newspaper skittered across the street on the Fall breeze, Hughie's car nowhere in sight.

"What're we stopped for?" Luke asked.

"It's too sketchy, I don't think I can go through with this in good conscience," General said.

"You sayin' you're scared?" Bo asked tauntingly.

"I am."

"Has that ever stopped you before?"

"Well, no, but that's--"

"What? Different?" Luke asked. "Why? Because you had Christine?"

General grew quiet, knowing it was true but not willing to say it. It was then that he heard an engine behind him, cold but familiar.