The Long Haul

Chapter 31

Jay continued to stare at the truck, all his options swirling through his mind like a destructive tornado. He still wasn't fully convinced there was a solution to all of this, but he didn't really have a choice - he had to move forward in some way.

"We should get back to the district," Jay announced to Erin as he took off walking back to his vehicle.

Erin paused for a moment, taken off guard, before she quickly stepped into pace with him. "Jay? What are you going to do?"

Jay stared straight ahead, his jaw set firmly. "I have no fucking idea."

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The drive was exceptionally quiet except for a few discrete kicks as Alex shoved her foot into the fold of front seats. She was honestly too afraid to speak at this point, because she didn't want to set Jay off or make this any worse for her than it already was, but she wanted to make sure they still knew she was pissed.

Jay was solely focused on getting back to the 21st as he white-knuckled the steering wheel. As he got closer to their destination, his mind started slowly forming his plan. It wasn't one he was proud of, but he didn't have many options at this point.

Finally, they pulled into the district garage, an entrance that Alex had never seen. The garage was large and dirty, and had a door that led inside the precinct and one that led outside to the parking lot.

Jay closed the garage door before jumping out and opening the back door. "Get out," he commanded, his voice firm but not quite as intense as it had been previously.

"Jay, come on, please," Alex practically begged without moving as tears pricked her eyes, threatening to spill. He couldn't go through with this! She couldn't really get arrested and put in jail. The crushing weight of what she'd done was suffocating her, and she was getting even more desperate by the minute. She was wracked with guilt.

Her brother didn't bother speaking again, and reached in and yanked her out of the truck. Erin hopped out of the passenger's side and watched it all unfold, unsure what he was going to do as he'd been completely silent the entire ride. She had hoped that she'd gotten through to Jay, but she was now second guessing everything.

Jay dragged his sister over to the other side of the garage and opened a large fenced door. Seeing that her brother was trying to shove her inside some sort of human-sized cage, Alex immediately shoved her feet into the ground and made her legs stiff to keep from moving.

"I'm not going in there!" she screeched, back in a full panic mode.

"Like hell you're not," Jay seethed, effortlessly lifting her up and dumping her inside.

He pulled out his key as he harshly turned Alex around to face away from him. In one swift movement, he unlocked her right cuff and then immediately re-cuffed it to a piece of the railing along the wall, so she now had nowhere to go but to sit on the bench inside the cage.

Alex instinctively tugged at the cuff, her head swirling with what was going on right now. Was this what jail was like?!

"Don't leave me here!" she yelled, clearly in a heightened panic as her brother stepped outside the cage and shut the door, making sure it locked behind him.

He turned his back and headed toward the door that led into the district. Alex felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach while watching Jay walk away.

"Erin, please!" Alex begged as a last ditch effort to the person now standing closest to her.

Erin's heart went out to the teen - even she hadn't expected Jay to do this, but she was trying to keep her cool right now. She gave Alex a sympathetic smile before she jogged after Jay who was about to open the door to go inside the district.