Predator

Chapter Twenty-Seven

---///---

"We're what?"

Will sighs. "Here, let's sit down for a second," he says, gesturing to the risers.

"Go away, as in, run away?" I ask incredulously. "You're asking me to go on the run with you? Like a fugitive?!"

"Just let me explain," he begs, "I have it all planned out. There's this place in Tennessee I used to go to as a kid-"

"Tennessee?!"

"My aunt used to live there," he furthers. "And anyway, there was this abandoned cabin hidden away in the woods behind her house. Me and my cousins used to hang out there all the time."

I gape at him. "A cabin?! This is your master plan, our only option, to go hide out in the middle of the wilderness? In a cabin?!"

"I know, I know," he relents. "But just listen to me, Rach. We need to get away somewhere for a little while, and this is the only place where we can stay completely undetected. We just can't roam around the country without someone picking up on it. If we're gonna go away, this is the only place we can do it."

"Will, who ever said anything about going away?" I exclaim. "This is the first I'm hearing of it, you never even asked me if I wanted to go in the first place! What about my life here? My family? Hell, this baby's coming on July 3rd, what do you expect me to do? Go squat out in the woods and give birth like some caveman?!"

"No," he says. "There's a town nearby. Look, I figure I can get us some fake I.Ds, and when the time comes-"

"No!"

He looks surprised at the forceful way I say this. "What?"

"No, Will!" I continue. "This is absolutely crazy! Do you honestly think you could even come close to pulling this off, without being arrested?"

"Yes!" he pleads. "I have everything planned out, Rachel. Your parents won't be back until Sunday night, that gives us more than a 48 hour head start before an Amber Alert goes out."

Amber Alert?! "I have to sit down," I mumble, pressing two fingers to my forehead. I feel a killer headache coming on.

"I'll change the license plates on my car so people won't know," he goes on. "We'll have to change our appearances, too. Maybe dye our hair. I'll go down to the bank tonight and withdraw as much money as I can, and we'll load up the car and leave."

"This is crazy!"

"Crazy enough to work," he replies. I throw my hands up frustratedly.

"No, Will," I repeat. "This is crazy! Is running away together even necessary? Is it really the first thing we should jump to?"

"Rachel- I was caught. Staying here means one of two options, turning myself in or waiting for the police to come get me," he says. "It's over. And the only way we could possibly stay together is...this."

I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

"Okay, so say we do make it to the cabin," I say after awhile. "Then what? I have needs! I need two showers a day to function, Will! I need air-conditioning! And electricity!"

"It's not so bad," he tries. "There's an old bathtub in the cabin and a well out back, so it's not like we can't bathe. And I'm pretty sure my cousins hooked up a lantern to the ceiling. We used to spend the night in there all the time, it's perfectly functional."

"Will, how do you even know if the cabin's still there?" I ask.

"Well, it was five years ago when my aunt moved back to Ohio," he says. "I don't think anyone could find it, let alone tear it down. C'mon, It'll be perfect for us!"