42nd Country Road

There Are More

I entered the store, not knowing what to expect. I walked down the almost empty aisles occasionally grabbing the rare find of canned peanuts and Spam. I heard voices outside. I moved a bit to where I could see the car. I gripped the gun on my hands. I slipped the food into Mark's bag and slowly headed out of the store. I got to the car and unlocked it. Jack and Mark were awake now.

"Morning," I said

"Morning," They both replied.

"Why did you go in there?" Mark said

"For food," I said.

"We have some," He said

"No, we don't," I said showing him the half empty bag.

"Oh," He said.

"You know you could have stayed in there longer," Mark said

"I couldn't, I heard voices, I don't want to kill someone today," I said putting the keys in the ignition. The car murmured then stopped. I put my forehead on the steering wheel. This car could not be dead. It just couldn't. I didn't have time for this.

"Hey Ev," Mark said lightly shaking me.

"What is it?" I said, lifting my head off of the tattered steering wheel. There was a man at the front of the car. I squinted to get a better look at he. He was young. He was dark.

"What do you think he's doing," Jack said resting his arms on the front seats.

"No clue," Mark responded. All of a sudden he stabbed the front of the car with a large dagger. The metal seemed to bend at his will. I grabbed the gun and I walked outside. My dark side crawling into my head.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" I yelled at him. Mark and Jack came out and backed me up.

"I'm thirsty, pet," The man said creepily touching my face.

"The pretty's taken," Jack said

"By who?" The man said. Mark stepped in front of me.

"By me," He said. The young man seemed to look confused. He grabbed my waist and pulled me close to him. Mark grabbed the gun and shot him in the shoulder. The man stumbled backwards as blood spilled out.

"Like he said, She's taken," Mark said. I looked at him and smiled. I kissed him. He bit my lip again.

"Now handsome, No need to do that," I said, the crazy in my voice, "You already know I'm yours,"

"Correct pretty, and you will always be mine," He said. The dark left and I fell to the ground weak. I couldn't move.

"Mark, what is this?" I asked assuming he was back, but a dark voice came in return.

"Your purpose," Mark replied. The world around me faded to black and I was out once again.

I woke up... in the same spot. I sat up and saw Mark and Jack next to me also asleep. Our car was gone and the man who Mark shot was gone with the car. The pain in the back of my head was unbearable. I sat up and looked around. Mark's leather bag was still here, surprisingly. I crawled over to Mark's limp body and put my head on his chest. The soft beat of his heart filled my head. I breathed out in relief of what I heard. I went over to Jack and did the same thing. The beat of his heart filled my ear. I sat on the curve watching the boys and inspecting our gun. Mark's breathing sped up. I quickly crawled over to him. He started mumbling things in his sleep. I laid on his chest to try and comfort him. He must have felt the pressure on his chest because his breathing went back to normal and his arms wrapped around me. I was tired, but I couldn't sleep. I heard Jack behind me sit up.

"Where's the car?" He asked

"That guy took it," I replied

"Well shoot," He said standing up. I crawled out of Mark's grasp so his arms were resting on my arms. I sat up and looked at Jack.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"I have a plan, but I feel like you're not going to like it," Jack said in a grim voice.

"Tell me, I'll take anything at this point in time," I replied.

"We stay here and wait for another car to come, kill them then get the hell out of here," Jack said. I looked at him. I've never seen this side of him before. He was always so loving and kind.

"Jack..." I said

"Ev we have no choice right now you are the most wanted person on the planet. We need to protect you," he said to me and gesturing to Mark. I didn't want to do this, but we had to.

"Fine," I said reluctantly, "Help me drag him into the store,"

"Okay," Jack replied and grabbed his legs. We pulled him back to what looked like the employee's break room or what was left of it. Places like these had been picked apart months ago. I sat next to Mark so he wouldn't have nightmares. I had a feeling he still would anyway. Jack started to say something when I heard voices in the shop. I put my finger to my lips and shushed him. I grabbed my gun and slowly peeked through the door. There was two young men, they were scanning the aisles for supplies. One of them laughed and I backed down so they wouldn't see me. I looked out the front doors. No car. I looked around the room for a sharp object. There was a knife in the back in one of the old lockers. I grabbed it and ran it across my unstitched hand. I stifled my pain. I smeared the blood onto my stitched side wound.

"What are you doing?" Jack whispered harshly.

"I want to see what they have," I whispered back, "If you want to kill them, go dark,"