The Ones that Follow

Chapter 3- Johann

   I am still extremely confused. We left the jail a month ago. But it seems like it was a million years ago. Like a few seconds ago feels like a few weeks ago. Time is going by so slowly. Especially when you've been on the same train for a day and a half. Zahne and I are in a train, yes. So far, we've met three other people, but they all turned out to be cops in the end. So we made a rule. Trust no one except each other. I kind of hate it, but I would rather stay in the outside world other than in jail for the rest of my life. I thought that was the plan in the beginning, though. I still don't know what my parents were in jail for. Every time I ask Zahne, he shrugs it off and changes the subject. 

    So on the train, Zahne paid for us to have our own car. Oh! I forgot to mention, Zahne is rich. He can pay to have a lot of things. That's why he has a helicopter. And he has a mansion and twenty cars. Just kidding! He's sixteen. He has no cars and no mansion. He's only sixteen, but he has a giant credit card and a giant ego, just like you would expect.

   So in our car, Zahne has been teaching me how to read. I've learned English grammar and he's increasing my vocabulary. Back when I was little, in my parent's cell, they tried to teach me how to read but it's kind of hard when you don't have any books. I've almost got it. It's kind of easy when you're sixteen and already have a pretty big vocabulary. By the time we were in Saint Louis, Zahne said I could win the national spelling bee. I was pretty impressed with myself too.

   When we got into Saint Louis, Zahne rented a car without a top, I thought it looked pretty cool, then I realized it was ego that chose this car. I wanted to slap him and make him take it back. For a couple people running away from the cops, wouldn't you keep a low profile? Why would he get a car people would stare at in awe? It's a big way to get yourself in trouble. His big ego is going to get him in trouble, I think.

   Realizing his mistake, he went back to the rental building and asked if he could switch out cars. He came back with a big van car. Big for two people. "This is the car we will be living in." He says.

   Ugh, a hot car. To sleep in. "Why can't we get a hotel room?" I ask him, eyeing the car in disgust. 

   "It was risky enough, going into that building to get the car. People could recognize us." He replies like it was obvious.

   "Then what are we going to eat? If I eat another pop tart, I might go crazy." We've been eating pop tarts all month long. At first, they were good compared to the jail chow I ate my entire life. But now I would rather have that then another pop tart. 

   "We're going to wal-mart," he says. He scrunches his nose and says, "You smell like a pig that ate an entire herd of cows, pooped it out then rolled around in it, you need new clothes. And you're going to have to take a bath in the Mississippi River." Ugh that was offensive. I've been on the run for a month. He doesn't smell much better.  

    When we are in wal-mart, He see some cops and Zahne shouts, "Run!" So he runs out and I run farther in the store. The cops see me and start chasing after me. I run straight into a stack of Kraft mac n cheese cups and they topple over right on to me. I can feel my right leg burning with pain. The cops are getting closer and I can't get up, so I use my  hands and left leg to crawl as fast as I can into the women's restroom, clenching my teeth as I drag my leg behind me. The women cops go into the restroom only to find I have hidden in a stall with the door locked. Luckily, I hid in a stall far from the entrance to the bathroom.

   They start banging on the doors of all the stalls loudly yelling "Come out of this bathroom this instant." It was super scary, then I had an idea. 

   When they knocked on my door, I use a British accent saying, "Oh! Why does it happen every time?" I try to think of clever ways to get them to leave me alone. "Why, every time I travel to a different country, when I use the bathroom, there is always someone knocking on my door telling me to come out in the middle of my poo," I try to hold back a snicker. "Why can't I ever poo in peace?" I try to sound irritated. I think it works. The cop lady says, "Sorry, mam. We are looking for someone in this bathroom and..-"

   "You don't think it's right to let me poo in peace?" I am silently laughing my head off. "Now can you please let me poo in peace?"

   "yes mam." The lady says. She starts banging on other doors.

   The door to the bathroom opens and then I can see feet on the floor in the stall next to mine. Then I see a face. It's Zahne! I think... He's wearing bright red lipstick and a wig, and as far as I can see, his clothes are ridiculous.

   He climbs under the stall into mine and points to the ceiling where an air vent is. I see, he wants to climb through the air vent to escape. He stands on the toilet, unscrews the bolts holding the vent together and climbs into it. He looks down at me and I'm trying to stand but I can't with my right leg broken. 

   He gives me a look like, what's wrong? I point to my swollen leg and he nods and comes down. He picks me us and pulls me into the vent. We crawl and crawl with my crippled leg dragged behind us. Finally we reach a point where we decide we need to rest. So we are resting then the floor creaks then falls. Us and a bunch of air vent come down on to a giant pile of messy Kraft mac n cheese cups, and when I get up, my leg is fine. Like it was broken and then it healed. So we start running, we run outside and hop into our van and start driving. Then we realize the cops are following us, so Zahne makes the stupidest choice I have ever seen or heard of, and I used to live in jail. 

   He drives straight into the Mississippi River.

   The cop cars all stop and look in question. Then I can't see them anymore. I realize that Zahne turned the car into a submarine, and we are driving at the bottom of the Mississippi River.