The Hunt

2. Night Drive

There was a fleeting moment after Max opened the door that she was paralyzed. As Moxie bolted out down the drive way Max was taking in every aspect of the front yard. She noted that for some reason their across the street neighbors had left their front lights on when they never usually did: the moon was a crescent, and the night was clear skied and you could feel the slight chill of moisture in the air: there were slugs congregating at the edge of the driveway and the lawn: the grass was getting just a bit too overgrown. All of these facts disappeared just as suddenly as they had come, and she realized that Moxie was already half way to the car. 

Max slammed the door behind her and took off, and she thanked anything listening that she had taken soccer in high school, for when Moxie reached the car she was nearly there herself.  Moxie had her hand on the door handle and looked to Max, who had lost her grip on the keys and couldn't find the right one for the car anymore.

"Max! Jesus, I think somethings moving." Moxie shrieked, and Max, panic rising in her throat, hissed "I'm trying!"

By the next second Max was in the drivers seat and had leaned over to unlock Moxies side from the interior. Moxie flew the door open with all of her strength, but just as she had one leg in the car she was pulled out all too suddenly. With a shriek she was yanked backwards by something unlit by their house lights. However just before Moxie herself disappeared from view, she struck out with the kitchen knife in her left hand towards whatever had grabbed her. Max only heard a whimper before Moxie had launched herself back into the car, she slammed the door behind her and shrieked 'Go, go!' at her sister before locking her car door. 

Max, quicker than she had been before, stuck the correct key in the ignition and slammed the car into gear. The girls were pressed into their seats as the car shot off, Moxie gripped her arm rest as Max made sharp turn after sharp turn around the neighborhood. Max watched as they passed the local deli where she would drive Moxie to get lunch after school. She sped past the intersection bordering their local shopping center, and only slowed from her eighty mph pace when they drove by her old high school. She had a habit of imagining Moxie, all grown, exiting that school every time she passed it; but now it only bought up the thought of Moxies recent struggle. 

Just as she was about to ask her sister how she was doing, Moxie spoke up. 

"What the hell was that?" She questioned, her exhaustion taking away from her fearful and mildly angry tone. 

Max scrunched her brow together. "Look, I didn't mean to freeze. I'm sorry, I didn't even think anything was out there."

Moxie shook her head. "No, not that." She said. "The thing that bit me."

Max' slight anger faded into confusion. "Wait, bit you? I thought someone grabbed you."

Moxie slid her skinny jeans up to her mid calf and raised her leg onto the seat. There was a bubble of blood the size of a football on the side of her leg, it dripped down her leg and hid most of the wound underneath. But the slight crimson undertone could be made out from small holes in her skin, showing that the wound went at least a small bit deep. Max looked back to the road and quickly found a patch of dirt outside of a closed smoke shop to park in front of. Then she tuned back to her sister. 

"Here, I think I packed some bandages from the medicine cabinet in my bag." Max pulled her leather backpack up from its place by her feet and pulled out a string of ACE bandages. "We'll have to get it washed up before we can actually start taking care of it, so for now I'll just tie it up tight so the bleeding will subside."

As Max began to tie the bandages around her leg so tight that she thought she would loose more oxygen to her leg than blood, Moxie began to look around. She had never been in her fathers old car before, although she knew Max had. When it came time for Max to begin driving this was the car he had taught her in, and he had promised to do the same for Moxie when she turned sixteen. The interior walls were made of a soft brown fabric material, and all of the seats save for the driver seat were made of a brown leather. The drivers seat had a covering of cheetah print on it. The entire car smelled like laundry freshener, which Moxie didn't particularly mind. But she could see it on Max' face that she wasn't too happy with the old thing. Moxie, however, found it oddly charming. Especially since it had been their fathers when he was their age. 

Moxie sucked in a breath, suddenly desperate for conversation. "So." She started off. "What do we do now?"

Max finished tying the bandages, and began to pack the left over med supplies back into her bag with a concentrated face. "We'll drive a little bit more." She said. "I know there's a town a little ways up, this part of Indiana doesn't go too far without one. I packed enough money for gas, and we can sleep in the car or something until morning. Then we'll head back to the house and check things out, maybe call the police while we're there and ask for some information."

Moxie raised her eyes to the sky and thought Max' plan over. When nothing in it seemed flawed, she nodded. "Alright, but if we sleep in the car I'm getting the back seats. I packed a blanket." To this Max huffed, rolled her eyes, and pulled the car back into drive again.

It was only ten minutes later when the car became stuffy and both girls craved for conversation, or at least a word acknowledging the last hour. Unusually, it was Moxie who broke the silence. She had watched Max tug on the strands of her shoulder length brown hair, and it bought up a memory which she couldn't contain.

"Mom really wanted you to grow your hair out, you know." Max turned slightly to her sister and raised her eyebrows. "After school when you cut it, she would always tell me how she wanted it to be the same length as mine. She thought it looked better like that." Moxie continued. She looked down at her own chest length brown hair, exactly the same color as her sisters with all the same natural highlights and texture. Both girls had the same basic face, soft features with a long nose, puckered lips and dimpled chins. The only thing really differentiating them other than age were their eyes, while Max had warm hazel eyes that sparkled in the sunlight; Moxie had steely grey eyes that had no change in sunlight and seemed to glisten when she was angry. While Max had their mothers eyes, Moxie had gotten her fathers. Such a little memory made both girls go silent, and it was a moment before either moved or talked again. When they did, it was Max who broke the silence this time.

"She never told me that." Max said quietly, she then reached over and put her hand lightly over her sisters. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be on about that once we're reunited."

For a moment Moxie felt frozen, unsure of what reaction to have next. Of course she didn't believe her sister, she prided herself on seeing the worst in a situation while everyone else was content with happy little fantasies to distract themselves. But she also felt that hurtful pang in her stomach and the back of her throat that made her feel angry and pathetic, much like she felt when she first saw her parents' car on the news. So while she fought a war inside of herself, she breathed in and nodded on the outside. 

"Yeah." She murmured halfheartedly. "Can't wait."