Hollow Veins

Chapter Seventeen; T is for Tramua

Alice watched through a tattered hole in the cardboard. Eventually, the earthy dry ground got more and more grassy. She was thankful. Alice preferred overgrown places to dried up ones. The seats were torn up leather. Fluff stuck up out of them, and she could have sworn, there was a bloodstain on her seat. Ren fingered a ripped strip of leather, staring blankly at the seat in front of her. Every now and then, Jaden would look back at her, looking a little concerned. Alice thought that Ren had probably not seen all the horrors the rest of them had probably all witnessed. Poor girl. Only about sixteen. Then again, Alice was only seventeen. None of them should have had to deal with this kinda thing. She put a hand on Ren's shoulder, "You ok?" She looked over at Alice, "Yeah, it's just," She shivered, "Awful. Why didn't they just infect them." Ari spoke up, "Sometimes they need food." Jaden elbowed her. Ren looked at the dirty floor, "Oh. Do they... do that... often." Ari looked back her, "They're are used to running on a very small amount of energy most of the time, so no. They don't." Ren looked a little less scared but still sad, "I hope it was quick." Alice remembered Jasper's Mom screaming and grit her teeth, "It probably was." Jasper looked in the rear view mirror at her. Alice could tell he was remembering his Mom, too. She met his sad gaze. For a minute, Alice didn't remember the rotten things he'd done. All she felt was a shared sense of grief and something else, their past. He gave her a sad smile. They'd made it, despite all the death that plagued their history. The wind coming through his open window ruffled his brown hair. Alice felt an odd happiness, completely out of place with their situation. She looked into his bright green eyes and felt a small smile tugging at her lips. Out of the corner of her eye, Alice caught Aaron's glare. She dropped Jasper's gaze. "Ignore him," Aaron muttered, "Remember what he did. We can't trust him." She looked down, face red. "Yeah, I know, Aaron," she mumbled. But Alice wanted to trust him. Their friendship had meant everything to her and more. But Aaron was right. Alice couldn't let down her guard. You can't trust Jasper, you can't, you can't, you can't. She it repeated over and over again in her head. It didn't stop a tear from running down her face.

Hours later, Jasper watched the map on Jaden's laptop. That, along with the GPS device he had, would keep them going in the right direction. That, and the added bonus of keeping Jasper's mind away from her and the fact that he'd, once again, made her cry. If it hadn't been for the city, he would have explained everything to Alice. But he had to put her safety over his feelings. Jasper didn't care if she hated as long as she was safe. At least he tried not to care. Safe... that's all he'd ever wanted, to be safe and happy with the people he cared about. Jasper grinded his head into the seat. Alice had clearly dropped any feelings for him the day he'd left. But he hadn't. Couldn't. "We still on course?" Prince's accented voice broke into his thoughts. "Huh... uhhh, we're..." He checked and cursed, "Off course... sorry." Prince slowly and gradually veered to the right until they we're back on track. Jasper focused his mind on getting as far as they could before they ran out of gas. They'd gotten lucky, with Alice's fever going away quickly and the car both working and having enough gas. Jasper guessed the fever had been stress induced. Alice had all the reason to be stressed. They all did.

Jaden kicked his legs. He still had his fingers clenched around one of his backpack straps. Ari hugged hers, resting her head on it. Jaden looked back at the others. Alice was staring out the front window. Aaron was glaring at the passenger seat. Ren had her eyes closed and was lying her head against a bunched up blanket, pressed next to the window. Jaden could tell she wasn't asleep. There were tears clinging to her long eyelashes. She really couldn't forget those two bodies. Jaden had gotten used to stuff like that. Not that he didn't care, but he had to focus on the main goal.

Jaden hadn't bothered to buckle before, so he turned in his seat. Ren lifted her head and smiled a little. "You alright? That was no picnic," Jaden signed. She nodded, then looked around at the others and, so that she wouldn't disturb them, she signed, "I can't stop thinking of... those people. And..." She paused and glanced around again, "Jasper left Alice to possibly die the same way." Jaden looked into her light green eyes and slowly nodded. "I know. That was pretty awful of him. But, once we get there, we don't have to stay with him. It must be a pretty big place. You can live far from him." She nodded, "I know, but it's... creepy and sad." Jaden signed, "Yeah he seems... nice." "Yeah... are you going to do that? Move far away from the rest of 
us?" Jaden looked at her for a minute, "Depends where we all stay. If I can, I'll live away from certain people. But not from you." Ren smiled, and Jaden felt his face burn. He signed, "You should try and sleep." She nodded, then rested her head back against the van wall. He watched her a minute, making sure she'd actually gone to sleep. After a while, Ren's breathing slowed, and Jaden turned back around. Ari's sharp eyes were still open, staring mindlessly at Prince. Jaden pulled a water bottle from his backpack. He drank then nudged Ari, and she looked up, "Hmm? Oh, thanks." He nodded and glanced out the single intact window. Trees flew by. Jaden started. He could have sworn he'd seen a man standing in the trees. Jaden craned his neck, but he didn't see anything. He looked around, but no one was looking out. No one else had seen the guy. Jaden closed his eyes. It was just man... standing in the middle of the woods, watching their car. There had been something in his hand. He pulled up a mental image, straining to remember. Bloodshot eyes, scruffy hair, and short ruff beard. A screw driver. That's what he'd been holding. A chill went down Jaden's spine as the car jounced. It wasn't a huge deal. Maybe the guy was fixing something or had it to protect himself from the Infected. But there was something eerie about it, and the man's piercing gaze didn't leave his head.