Collision

Chapter Fourty One

~ Chapter Fourty One ~

Carl's P.O.V.

"Dad, are we really staying here to look for Judith?" I asked, a pang of ache tugged at my heartstrings.

Dad shrugged his shoulders with his face in his hands. He was sitting on the chair, thinking things through. "You should be happy that we are. She is your sister, Carl."

I wanted to scream at him that there wasn't any hope for her anymore. He saw the same thing I did. There was blood in her car seat, and where she should have been, she wasn't. "But who knows if she's still alive or not?!"

"Carl," his voice got low. He was probably getting angry with me. "She is alive and we are going to find her."

"But where do we start?" I was trying hard to keep my voice calm so I wouldn't anger him any longer.

"We start where we can and find our way from there. Trails will lead us."

I sighed and raised my hands as I backed away from him. Although the bar seemed tiny from the outside, it was spacious. Big enough to hold the nineteen of us with space for all to lie down and sleep. I found my way to Ellie, who was currently holding up two bottles of Gin and Tequila.

"What're you doing with that?" I asked, taking a seat on the bar stool as if I were a customer with her as the bartender.

"Looking to see what's clean and what's not," she informed, her eyes still surveying the clear bottles.

"And if it were clean, would you drink it?"

"Maybe." I raised my eyebrow at her response and she chuckled, "I'm just kidding. I don't have the tolerance for this kind of stuff. And neither does Glenn," she pointed at him in the corner of the bar with Maggie. "He's as red as the rotten tomato we found earlier on the road."

I softly laughed at his cheeks, fired up from the alcohol, and turned to face Ellie. Who knew if this would be our last night together. I wanted to make it last. "So, Ms. Bartender, what have we got on the taps today?"

Ellie grinned, playing along with what I started. "I can whip up some nice gin and tonic for you, Mr. Customer."

"Put it on my tab," I stated. I usually heard this term in the movies that mom and dad used to watch together. While she 'made the drink', I asked, "So, what's a lady like you doing at a town like this?"

"Nothing. I just like serving drinks for a living."

I tilted my head slightly to see her face a little bit better from the lighting, "got a serious relationship I should watch out for?"

Ellie smiled, mustering up the best western accent, "there's this one guy."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow and tucked my chin on my hand. "And what about this guy?"

This took her a while to answer, as she was probably thinking of some appropriate terms to name me. "Well, he's very bossy, short tempered, stubborn and most of all - a complete dickhead when you say the wrong thing." I cringed at her very specific terms. "But when you get on his good side, his amazing personality just seems to outweigh the bad. He's very observant, protective, adventurous and the best? He's all mine."

I wanted to crush her in my arms at that instant. "Damn, I don't think I can compare to your guy."

"Believe me, no one can."

I grinned and took the can of 'gin and tonic' that she held out to me - which was basically just water - and took a drink. She came around from behind the stand and sat on the bar stool next to me.