Operator (A Hat Films Fanfic)

-One-

As soon as we were out of sight from the complex, Trott pulled over to the side of the road and shifted into park.

"What are you doing Trott?" Ross asked, looking towards the the driver, "We have to get to the bank, don't we?" Luckily, since we all worked at the same place we all shared one bank, but Trott wasn't even pointed in the right direction at the moment.

He turned around in his seat, his gaze pointed at me. "Okay listen," he sighed, giving me a sympathetic look, "I know she's you're girlfriend and everything, but are we really going to go along with this half-backed scheme of theirs? I mean, no offense, but they sound like complete nutters!"

"Chris, you heard what that man said on the radio," Katie muttered gently, placing a hand on his arm, "People are actually looting." She said it with a fearful expression plastered on her face, and you could tell she was the most afraid out of all of us.

"All the more reason why we shouldn't be out here," he said softer this time, returning the gesture by placing a hand on her shoulder, "I have to make sure you're safe before anything else."

Ross and I exchanged a look, and suddenly we felt as if we were intruding on their private moment. Of course Trott was skeptical, he had a duty to his girlfriend to protect her and keep her out of danger, and bringing her into the middle of a heavily populated city during a blackout went against those standards he had set for himself. I absently thought about America; should I be acting as protective? Sure she had her brother and we hadn't been dating nearly as long as Trott and his girlfriend, but even if that wasn't true, I still didn't think I would be trying to keep her safely out of harms way like that. She was strong, physically and mentally; it was one of the things that initially drew me to her. America doesn't let anyone push her around, and she had a sort of reserved confidence and attitude that only made an appearance when her standings were threatened. There was no question she could hold her own during an emergency like this.

Trott turned back to us, pulling me out of my thoughts. "I think we should just go back, lay low for a few days, and wait for everything to calm down," he offered.

"Trott, even I know that those stores will be cleared out by tomorrow morning," Ross scoffed, surprising me by his willingness to follow America and her brother, "We've all played too many video games and watched too many movies to be that ignorant. I know I don't have enough food in my kitchen to last me even a week, and I'm sure you don't have a months worth of food stashed in your tiny refrigerator." 

"He's right Chris," Katie said quietly, looking over at her boyfriend, "Maybe we should listen to America and her brother, they seem to know a lot more about this than we do. She's three years younger than I am as well; if she can do it than you shouldn't worry about me."

"I don't know anything about her or her brother," he insisted, "They're not... normal." He looked over at me apprehensively, but I ignored his comment to avoid another ten minutes of arguing. I could imagine the shelves of the store getting cleared out the longer we sat here, and I knew America would soon get worried about where we went and maybe even leave to look for us.

Trott looked around, realizing he was loosing the debate. "You're all serious? Fine, but at the first sign of trouble we're out of there, got it?" he asked, looking at Katie more than the rest of us. It took a moment for the car to start, but it finally roared to life after he angrily turned to key and we managed to take a side street that lead on us onto the main road, driving towards the bank.

There were a considerable number of people walking, all giving us hungry looks as we slowed crawled past them. The others started to sense it too, and Trott even reached over to check that the doors were locked. There was no way we could go any faster than running speed with all the stalled cars littering the road, so the anxiety that permeated the car only seemed to get worse the closer we got into the city.