Permanent Vacation // 5SOS

02. Cody

It's been around two hours since we ran out of fuel. It's nearly seven o'clock and it's getting darker. I hate how much I've been crying, and it's times like this where I'm a little jealous of my sister's control over her emotions.

I know she's scared too, and that she's just trying to keep a level head. I get that. I mean, one of us has to think logically about this and it certainly isn't going to be me. Everyone back home thinks I'm really smart, but it's Tess that has the real genius.

"Tess, I'm hungry." I say, trying to distract myself from my own thoughts.

"There's only a packet of Doritos left and we should probably save it. Have some water." She tells me. Shit. We've already eaten most of the food and my water bottle's got maybe a quarter left. I sigh and take a single mouthful of water, then leave my bottle on the driver's seat before climbing onto the roof of the car to join my sister.

"I wonder what Mel and Tony are doing right now." I say, looking up at the pink sky.

"They probably don't even know we're out here." Tess says quietly. I can see how tense she is without even looking at her.

"Maybe that old guy's not so mental after all and he's getting us help." I say with a light chuckle.

"Nah, he was completely off the rails. Couldn't even drive straight." She smiles. An old man drove past in a rusty pickup truck not too long ago. He stopped to chat but there was no way he'd help us, even if he'd had room in his truck. He was like Tess said; completely off the rails. He's the only one that's come past so far, but at least he helped us lighten up a bit.

Then we'd remembered that our cat was in the car and we had to feed him. He kept us company for a while, but he was too lazy and so we ended up just leaving him on the driver's seat to sleep. Sleep. Wow that sounds good right now.

"Should we sleep in shifts?" I ask. Tess is quiet for a few seconds.

"I guess that's safer." She says. "And it means there'll be more of a chance to see a car if it comes up the road."

"Who's on first shift? I can if you want to sleep." I offer.

"No, I'll go first. You've been driving and I slept a lot earlier. You need it more than I do." She says. I smile slightly.

"Okay. I'll go to sleep now since there's nothing better to do." I tell her. She gives me a side hug.

"I'll wake you up in an hour and a half. Turn on the headlights when you get down there." She says. I nod and climb down off the car. The headlights are bright when I turn them on, but I don't notice it so much once I've gotten comfy in Tessa's chair.

I close my eyes and it takes a while, but eventually I fall asleep.

* * *

"Cody." Tess pokes me. "Cody, it's your shift." I groan slightly and try to cling to the dream I'd been having.

"Shhh I'm sleeping." I mumble. Sleep is good. I like sleep very much.

"Dakota, get your ass up. I found an electric lantern in the emergency kit so you've got some light. You brought a book with you, right?" Tess asks. I sigh and get up, heading towards the trunk because that's easier than climbing up onto the car again. There's already a space cleared and the lantern sits on top of a book, so I guess Tess was in here too.

I try to get comfy, using one of our bags as a shelf for the lantern and Tessa's book. Luckily, the bag I had with my books in it is right next to me so I dig through until I find a book called Waterfall. I've already read this, but it's a good book so I start again from the beginning.

* * *

About half an hour later, I'm getting uncomfortable and I have to pee. I put the book down and get up, carrying the lantern as I walk up the road a bit. I should probably tell Tess where I'm going but I really have to pee and I don't want to wake her up just for this.

I make my way into the trees but I keep the road in view. I don't have to hide really since nobody's around except Tess but we're sisters and she wouldn't look anyway.

I do my business behind a tree - which is hard because I'm not a male - and head back to the car. I look at my watch and it's nine o'clock. Shit. I thought we would've been a lot closer to California by now. I guess my shortcut wasn't so short after all.

I'm just about to sit down and go back to reading when something bright catches my eye. My head shoots towards the source and I find headlights that are growing. Someone's coming towards us. We're saved.

"Tess!" I scream loudly, running towards where she is but not taking my eyes off the lights. "Tessa, someone's coming!" I shout, shaking her. She wakes up and jumps out of the car.

"Holy shit! Cody, wave the lantern around so they can see it!" She yells urgently. She runs around to the other side of the car and starts to flash the headlights on and off. I swing the lantern around and start screaming.

"Hey!! Hey, pull over!!" I shout as loud as I can. "Hey!!" I can hear Tess yelling with me, and the lights are getting closer. I stay close to the car so that I don't get hit, and soon enough I can make out the shape of a bus.

The bus gets closer and closer, and both Tess and I are still screaming while giving them a lights show. They start slowing down, but they don't stop. They pass us.

"What the fuck?! Get back here you dickface! Help us!!" Tessa screams at the top of her lungs. For some reason, the bus lurches to a stop. It's about fifty meters up the road. I try not to cry because of how happy I am. "Cody, some people got out. Let's go see if they can help us."

I walk to the front of the car with the lantern and wait for Tess to join me, then we slowly walk towards the bus. I can just make out a small group of silhouettes coming towards us and I'm a little scared.

"Tess." I say quietly, clutching her arm. She doesn't look at me and that's when I know that she's scared too.

"Hello?" Both of our heads shoot up in the direction of the voice. It's a guy... A guy with a voice that sounds very familiar.

"Um, hi." Tess calls.

"Are you guys okay?" That's a different voice. I think they're all guys. We can't really see them since they're about ten meters away from us and the lantern's light is pretty weak. Why don't they have a light?

"We ran out of gas a few hours ago." Tess says. She's the most confident out of us, and even she's got a slight shake in her voice.

"So you need a ride?" That's the first voice again. Why is it so familiar?

"We don't know who you are." Tess says cautiously.

"Well that's easy enough to change. What're your names?" That's a new voice, but it's still familiar. Why? It's right there on the tip of my tongue but I can't get it out.

"Therese and Dakota. Now who're you?" Tess says loudly. It's clear now that there are four of them and they all step closer to the light. Holy shit.

"We're 5 Seconds of Summer."