House Guests

Chapter 4: 6 More Hours Till Texas

When I awoke, I was deeply confused. I was in a car, with a seat belt across me, and my head lolling down to my chest. I heard English accented yelling- Jake- from the passenger seat.
"WHY ARE WE GOING TO TEXAS!" He roared at Dirk, who was driving.
Dirk spoke, "she saw Karkat, she can't be allowed to spread the word aliens are real! We won't kill her- I promise."
We were on a freeway, so I chose the best course of action. I snapped my head up and lunged toward the window, shoving Karkat over in the process. I heard a ping and he jerked, twitching away from the window. Oh. One of his horns must have hit the window. I slammed into said window, pounding my fist on the glass, trying to call out to one of the other drivers. Karkat slammed his elbow into my skull, effectively silencing me. I slumped against him, much to his dismay. He shoved me upright, where I tilted and leaning heavily in his direction. He was supporting me with his arms, which were quaking heavily. Dave was awake but, delirious beside me, blinking slowly and warbling his words.
-SEVERAL HOURS LATER-
I woke up, hearing Dirk say, "6 hours till Texas."
I slowly lifted my head, blinking at the bright light streaming through the windows. It was about noon, and we were passing through some desert in the middle of nowhere. I shivered. Dirk, Dave, Jake and Karkat all seemed warm, but they had pants and jackets and shit! Karkat and Dave noticed my shivering. They both wrapped their free arm around me. I flinched away from Dave, jerking into Karkat- again. He snarled at me. I jerked away from the both, sinking deep into the seat. I bared my teeth, and Karkat made the executive decision to shut me up. He elbowed me hard on the temple. Again. A small red lump began to form, but at least I was quiet.
-TWO HOURS LATER-
I heard a voice. It was a song. My favorite song. I also felt a pounding in my head. A throbbing aching pain. I decided to focus on the music. It was Limelight Girl. God! I loved that song.
I was still unconscious, but forms began to swim in my sleep vision. I was dreaming. I didn't know it.
I was on my couch. My tv blasting music. I smiled, finding it exceedingly difficult. All I could manage was a tiny grin. I began to mumble the lyrics to the music playing. I tried to move to get up and get water, but all I could do was twitch a bit. I couldn't move my arms or legs. I thrashed in a panic, a splitting headache blooming. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a loud groan. I peeled my eyes open and found the rest of the car staring at me. Even Dirk was looking in the rearview mirror at me.
I blinked, still groggy, "Eeah?" I warbled. I found I still couldn't move my arms. My gaze moved slowly around the car. Karkat was glaring at me- shirtless. I looked down and saw I was wearing his sweater. It was gigantic on me, but they had tied it in a straight jacket fashion. The long sleeves were tied tightly behind my back, my arms trapped in the  cloth.
Dirk spoke, "We're coming up on a gas station, if any of you need to do... girl stuff."
I peered out the front window, we were deep in a forest. And then we weren't. We were in a clearing, with a gas station right on the edge of the woods. The trees were tightly packed together, with lots of fallen branches around each base. I examined the station. It was a shell station with no store, just a single person bathroom and six pumps. Dirk pulled up at a pump and everyone climbed out. Except me. I had the seatbelt across me and Karkat's straight jacket.
I was totally immobile. God dammit.