Animal

.:8:.

"Girl." My eyes shot open. I was met with a fuzzy figure a few inches away. My vision began clearing and I blinked a few times to hasten the process.

"Wh.." I murmured, sliding to my feet and rubbing my eyes. "W-where am I?" I yawned and shook the sharp pains from my head, or tried, but failed.

The bus driver frowned down at me. "We've arrived to my last stop," he said.

My jaw dropped and I slid up shakily, my knees feeling weak and wobbly. "We .. We did?" I breathed out.

He ran his fingers through his ragged white hair and nodded, pointing outside. It was dark, very very dark out side.

What the hell?! Was I seriously asleep all freaking day? That's unlike me, even I was exhausted! My internal alarm clock always knew to wake me up after seven hours of sleep.

"H-how long have we been on the road?" I demanded him.

"A little over eight hours," he replied, frowning behind his beard. "Isn't this where you wanted off?"

I blinked and grabbed my bag, sliding it onto my shoulder and giving him a nod. "Y-yes. Thank you for waking me," I murmured.

He eyed me, as if contemplating on stopping me. I wouldn't blame him if he took me to some hospital; I was sort of a big mess. I probably seemed insane to him,  which, again, I wouldn't blame him if I did.

I shuffled past him and rubbed my eyes, wishing the pounding in my head would disappear. At least the bloodlust was gone.

My stomach twisted at the thought, and I quickly pushed it away. The last thing I needed was another episode of bloodlust and losing my mind in front of this poor man.

I sucked in a breath and released it, turning my back to the bus driver and walking towards the front slowly. I reached out to Shark, but she was, again, still unconscious.

My head swam. I felt like I was going to throw up, but then again I had not eaten or drank anything in a few hours. I needed water and I needed food pronto.

I thanked the man one last time then stepped off the bus, my legs feeling like jelly. I saw that I was in the last town of the state. Soon I would be crossing over to Wyoming and I'd have a whole other transportation to find. I felt around in my pocket and pulled out the slip of paper, unfolding it and reading it over a few times more.

Story is where I was going. I had nowhere else to go anyhow, and I needed all the help I could get. I stuffed the piece of paper back into its safe spot and glanced around as I gripped the straps of my bag.

Thunder rumbled overhead. My hands suddenly shot up to cover my ears as the sound pierced my eardrums. It sounded louder than it usually seemed to be, and I wanted to curl up in the middle of the sidewalk to wait for the agony to end.

This must be what Shark has to go through all the time. Everyone knows that a dog's hearing is way more intense than a human beings, which is why they can hear dog whistles and we can't.

"Hey." I felt something gentle wrap around my elbow and jerk me a bit off the slightly crowded sidewalk and onto the green grass.

At this point, whoever was trying to get my attention was my last problem. The thunder tumbled over and over, each time sending a spasm of pain through my head like no other. My ears pounded with echoes of the thunder, and I resisted the urge to cry out. I wish Shark was conscious, I needed her.

Fingers snapped in front of my eyes, causing me to snap out of my panic attack. I gazed fearfully at the person who was only inches away. It was a girl around my age, her beanie covered the top of her head and her black hair rolled down in waves to her chest. "Hey.. Snap out of it."

"W-what .. Who are you?" I demanded, taking a quick step back away from her. I heard no thunder rumbling currently, which was good. It stopped for now, but it could restart any second. This thought made me stiffen slightly. "Why did you grab me?"

The girl gave me a weird look, one of her perfect black eyebrows cocking. "You were having some sort of break down in the middle of the sidewalk. I pulled you away to get you some space from the crowd and so I could calm you down."

My heart leaped slightly, a feeling of gratitude rushing through me. Though my untrusting side wanted to ditch her without so much of a thank you, the good part of me knew she was only helping me. "Thank you," I sighed.

"Let's get out of this storm and inside, okay?" the girl said, putting her hand on my shoulder. I allowed it.

She led me to a gas station that only had two working overhead lights, both of which were on the verge of death based on it's flickering.

She led me to a table and sat me down. She then said, "What do you want to drink? It's on me."

I didn't try to offer her my money. I was still trying to get over my attack, and the last thing I could be doing is counting money even in wrinkled dollar bills.

"What's the most caffeinated drink here?" I questioned back, being completely serious.

Despite my tone and expression, a small smile tugged at the end of her lips and she shook her head slightly. "That would be Bear's homemade coffee with ten scoops of sugar and a drop of energy additive."

"I want that," I said immediately, not caring that the drink sounded like it would make my nervous system run on overdrive.

"You're tiny. Are you sure you can handle it?" she asked, raising her eyebrows again as she smirked challengingly. "It might make you jittery."

"I can handle it," I confirmed, narrowing my eyes at her and folding my arms over my chest. "Trust me."

She put her hands up in surrender and winked at me. "If you're sure. Yo, Bear!" she yelled, jerking her chin to a door that had a sign reading, "STAY OUT OR DIE."

The door opened and a large man covered in tattoos and a scruffy beard poked his head out. "I thought I told you to stay away from here until the Gina thing passed?"

"Gina can suck my ass," the girl snapped, rolling her eyes. "Besides, I'm not here because of that. I have a friend who needs your help."

"I don't like your friends. They're mean."

"Please?" she begged, walking away from the table and towards the man, who had just noticed me. He studied me, but his eyes seemed to soften. "She really needs something to drink."

"Damn it, Jada, okay okay," he reluctantly agreed, making the pale girl grin and kiss his cheek. "Don't touch me," he grumbled, though his cheeks turned pink.

"She wants your homemade brew," the girl who's name I knew as Jada stated, rocking back and forth on her heels. "She claims she can handle the amount of energy it has."

"We'll be the judge of that," Bear grunted, shuffling over to the coffee stand and beginning to make the requested drink.

Jada returned to me and slid into her chair. "So, stranger, what's your name and where are ya from?"

"I'm Mckenzie," I murmured, blinking blearily at her and rubbing my eyes. "I'm from Oregon."

"Oregon?" she repeated thoughtfully. "Huh. That's a long way from here," she said, leaning forward. "Where are you going?"

"Story."

"Story.. Wyoming?" Jada asked slowly, placing her chin on top of her hand.

"Uh .. Yeah." I mentally slapped myself for revealing my location, but decided what the hell. "Yes."

"Why are you going there?"

"A friend of mine told me that's where I should go if I wanted to get lost."

"Lost," Jada repeated, her eyes meeting mine. "When you say lost, you mean the type of lost where you don't want to be found?"

I tore my eyes away from hers and fiddled with the ring on my finger. "Yes. That type of lost."

--

Be totally honest here, is the plot going well? Does it make sense?