The Corruption

Chapter 23 - Put the Fire Out

"Don't touch me, I probably reek of Squid liver," Liam said to Nate. Nate looked at Kaleigh and Derek who were looking at the fire trucks to see if they had any gasoline in them by opening their hoods.. Two didn't but one did. Derek would miss the old van they used, it being the most comfortable thing he's ever sat in, but he still didn't know where the van came from. Kaleigh was about to get in the driver's seat until Derek stopped her, saying, "Let me drive." Kaleigh replied with a shocked expression, "Are you kidding? Not with that bruised shoulder." "I already told you, I'm fine. I want to drive and a shoulder won't stop me." Derek flashed a smile to prove his point and, without hesitation, climbed into the driver's seat of the firetruck. "But I will," Kaleigh thought to herself, not saying a word. Little did Derek know there were no keys inside of the truck, so he had to hot wire it. Luckily, he knew how; he's done so millions of times before on the battle field in Blackwell. Kaleigh quickly got into the passenger seat next to him while his bandaged shoulder was facing her, getting less red. She thought about touching it, and her thoughts became actions, feeling to see if it was swollen. It was, but barely, making her feel calmer when Derek turned to look at her. "I'm fiiine," he repeated, flashing another smile. Kaleigh still wasn't convinced but she acted like she was, smiling back. "Okaaay," she said, kissing him as he kissed her back. Derek looked out the window behind him and Liam and Nate were gathering weapons that they found in a chest, loading them into the back of the firetruck. Derek didn't notice until now. Fortunately, Nate didn't see the couple kiss or else he would be showing signs that he was angry, but right now he just felt jaded, expressionless. Liam on the other hand was humming a happy tune while emptying the chest and loading the truck, like delivering a pizza. By the time they had finished, they got in the back seats of the truck and Liam hit the back of Kaleigh's seat twice, saying, "Let's move." Derek had no idea what kinds of things the two troublemakers just put into the back of his truck but he wasn't feeling too good about it. Still, he forgot about what mischief they were up to and he slowly started exiting the garage. The firetruck instantly beeped as they were exiting backwards, and Derek quickly searched for a "sound off/on" switch, because he obviously didn't want people to hear them or else they'd be exposed to rogue agents and corrupted. No one understood how, but Derek found the switch and the firetruck fell silent. Soon enough they were on the road when Kaleigh started to feel paranoid, wanting to take out her rifle and be ready if something else tries to explode on them, but she didn't say a word. More than an hour passed and they were still on a boring, plain road, with nothing to look at except deserted cornfields. Kaleigh looked out the window and got lost in deep thought. She had two memories trapped in her brain as if they were paused movie captures, one of the explosion, and the other of Derek falling to his knees after the sound of a loud bullet shot. She forced herself to stop worrying and tried to find something else to think about while Liam and Nate were looking at some sort of paper, which Derek saw in the rear view mirror. "What's that?" he asked. Nate looked up and back at Liam, who looked at Derek and then at Nate, and Nate said, "O-oh this? This is the uh.. the map of that firestation, were just seeing what there was that we missed.." Liam finished Nate's sentence, "and what could of been there." Derek nodded, almost completely sure that they were lying, but he kept his mouth shut and continued driving for only a few more minutes until a large building started appearing in the midst of the orange fog.