Colorless

Chapter 13

Back in the car. I've spent way too much of my life in this seat, I'm beginning to think it might have shaped itself to match my butt already. I glance over to Elijah and as always, he is just blankly staring out to the road.

"Stop staring at me," he says quickly.

"I'm not," I say turning away from him, "I was just wondering how much longer we had."

"Some hours. Why?" He takes a quick glance at the dash and sighs.

"Oh nothing, it's just-"

"Dear god Tyler, don't tell me you're hungry."

"Just a snack!" I whine.

"Tyler, no. You need to cut back. We don't know how vigorous these trials are going to be." I punch him in the arm and he gives me a death glare.

"Stop calling me fat, and buy me some chips."

He chuckles, but doesn't say anything. I turn the radio up and sing along to some songs. At first I sing lowly to the songs I only know pieces of, but then I get really into it and I don't even realize I'm singing at the top of my lungs and dancing around.

  "Darker than the ocean, deeper than the sea," I sing happily. "You've got everything, you've got what I need. Touch me, you're electric babe. Move me, take me from this place." I sing the whole song and when I'm done I gasp in surprise and look at Elijah. He is smiling and taking glances at me. "Don't make fun of me!" I pout because I can already hear all the jokes he could possibly come up with circling my mind.  

"No, it's just-"

"Just what?" I interrupt.

"It was nice," he says with a smile. I smile too, and blood rushes to my cheeks. We keep silent the rest of the way, aside from me humming here and there but it isn't long before we are pulling over again. I don't know where we are because all these places look the same. Nothing but fields and rocks, dusty roads, and randomly placed cross lights and I swear I'm going insane. But as soon as we pull up to a random gas station I light up. Food.

"Get me some Twinkies too!" I scream at Elijah as he exits the car. He laughs and walks inside. I fiddle with the radio for a while but there's not much to listen to anymore, but then the driver's side door opens. "So that last song wasn't all that bad, it-" but when I look up, it isn't Elijah.

"Loris."

"Demos," I say breathlessly. He smirks and it sends a chill down my spine. "What do you want?"

"Oh, you haven't heard? We want you." I reach for the door handle, but he locks the door. "No use for that now okay? Now here is what's going to happen, you are going to come with me willing or not. Then I am going to take you to the Petro descendant."

"No, Elijah-"

  "No no no sweetheart, he can't help you right now because he is just a tad bit preoccupied at the moment. Fighting a room full of people who are heavily armed isn't exactly a walk in the park. Even for him." Demos starts the car and at the same time Elijah comes storming out of the store, blood staining his clothes and some cuts on his face. There is something about him that terrifies me; it's in his eyes. He pulls a blade out of his pocket and launches it at the car with a scary amount of accuracy and power. It breaks the windshield and goes right through Demos' shoulder.  

Demos slowly pulls the blade out while Elijah walks towards the car. He punches through the glass of the driver's side window and drags Demos out. I am in complete shock. They fight, throwing blows left and right at each other at high speed. Blood seeps from Elijah's nose and Demos is smiling. It's easy to see that this isn't a fight Elijah can win. I reach over and unlock the doors, then jump out of the car. Demos has Elijah pinned to the ground and he just keeps hitting him again and again. Each hit Elijah takes makes my stomach turn and I can't watch it any longer. I run up to Demos and jump on his back. I throw blind punches and he stands up.

"Stupid girl," he says with a laugh. I have no idea what I am doing, but I had to do something. Demos tosses me off and I go flying through the air. I hit my head pretty hard on the concrete and everything meshes together in a blur. But it gave Elijah just enough time to get up and push a blade through Demos' calf and he falls to his knees groaning in pain. Elijah looks at me and runs over, lifting me to his lap.

"Tyler?"

"My head is pounding." Elijah touches the back of my head, and when he brings his hand forward it is covered in blood. "That's not good huh?" I say with a weak smile.

"Tyler, we have to get you to the hospital." His voice is shaking slightly.

"Yeah, I'm sure even the closest one is too far." Elijah shakes his head with a sad smile.

"You aren't dying Tyler, you just need a few stitches alright? Now hang on to me." I wrap my arm around his neck and he lifts me up. He manages to hotwire a car and place me in the back seat. He gets in the driver's seat and looks back at me. "Thanks, Tyler."

"For what?" I say closing my eyes.

"For saving my ass back there." I smile.

"So I can do something right?" Elijah laughs. 

"Don't push it." He throws something at me and when I open my eyes I see a pack of Twinkies and a bag of chips on my lap. I smile and I can feel the car backing up, and then I am out cold.