The Prince of Arc - Part II

Chapter 18 - The Loyal With A Pistol

18.

Skylar and I managed to stay up just a few minutes after we passed the forest. We slept for the rest of the night, but when Henry woke us up the next morning I was still exhausted. He had driven all night, wanted to rest, and insisted that we stop. He pulled over to the side of the road.

"Why stop? One of us could drive while you sleep in the back." Skylar replied to Henry's request. I didn't know about her, but both Henry and I knew I couldn't drive anything to save my life. I would've learned how, but the riots and uprisings somewhat got in the way.

"Can you drive?" I asked. Henry looked doubtful.

"Yeah, I mean come on, how hard could it be?" Skylar said, trading glances with Henry and I. She paused and realized that that wasn't enough. "Just trust me, if we die you can kill me." She smirked. Still, she didn't get Henry to give up his seat. She began to get annoyed. "Okay, I don't think anyone wants those Rebels to catch up with us, right?"

"She does have a point there." I said, looking over to Henry.

"Hell yeah I do. You guys do not want the rioters to find us. And I bet they're watching us right now. I was one of them you know," Skylar said, almost bragging. "Just let me drive,"

"Okay fine, but if you screw this up..." Henry said, unbuckling his seat belt.

"Look, if you're that worried just have Blake stay up with me. He can sit in the passenger's seat."

"Alright," Henry responded, as we all got out. "Just keep following this road until you reach the next town. By then we'll need gas." Henry gave instructions to both Skylar and I. "Don't drive into the town though, wake me up and let me decide what to do. It should be about two hours ahead. Don't do anything stupid and if you have any questions wake me up." He said, his last direction being more for me. I could tell by his tone.

"We got it, now sleep. We'll be fine," I said, sitting down in the passenger seat. Skylar smiled at Henry, whose only response was to open the door to the back seat. She then got in, buckled up, and after a short hesitation, began driving.

Besides having a rough start, Skylar was a decent driver. She only had to go straight and occasionally curve, however. As she started driving, I realized I was hungry, but knew there was nothing we could do about it. I choose not to bring it up.

A few minutes of silence passed as we let Henry fall asleep. He must have been exhausted. He probably had been up and busy most of the time since the press conference, and he deserved to sleep. Thankfully Skylar could drive.

"I've never driven before this," Skylar admitted, interrupting my thoughts. She let out a quiet laugh, but stopped once she realized I wasn't joining in.

"What?!" I asked, my volume just above a whisper. "You could kill us!"

"Oh relax, it's actually easier than I thought it'd be." She began, "It's not often that normal people in Borders get to drive. Not only are we not allowed to, it's kind of pointless considering we can walk everywhere. Relax, we'll be fine."

I choose to trust her. After all, she did have the chance to kill me a few days ago but choose not to. Skylar stopped talking and I tried thinking of things to talk about. Should I bring up my dreams, or would she think that's weird? Instead, I asked questions to get to know her better.

"So how was life in Borders?" I asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Not the best. Not only is the rivalry within the city definitely dysfunctional, Loyals treat themselves like Gods and they refer to people like me as dirt." Skylar replied. She paused for a second, and I realized she wanted to talk about something too. "What do you think will be the next card? The 5 of spades?"