The Coyote and what happened after

Chapter 8

The morning ran with a sense of oiled efficiency. Alfred quickly made breakfast: reheated dinner and coffee (or tea). Dixie cleaned up the place while everyone ate. 30 minutes after they all woke up they were on the road again.

"I figure," began Alfred, "We'll drive down to Houston by way of 81, 40, 75, 59, 20. That'll take us through to Mississippi. After that it's a hop to 59 again, then 12 to 10 to Houston."

Dixie nodded and started the car, he was driving that day, "Affirmative. Do you mind if we stop for boiled peanuts on the way?"

Prussia and England looked on with confusion, "Where are we going exactly?" queried England.

"We're taking interstate, actually all of them are interstates, we're taking interstate 81, then I-40 to I-75 to I-59 to I-20 back to I-59 to I-12 to I-10. Then we'll hit Houston, where we'll probably stay the night." explained Dixie.

"And what are boiled peanuts?" asked Prussia.

"Boiled peanuts," answered America. "They are what they say they are."

They were well on their way by the time all of England and Prussia's questions had been answered. At some point (the author got lazy and decided that a brief overview of the whole trip would be fine) America had put in another CD, and began singing along to Motown. Halfway through Alabama Dixie pulled off to the side of the road next to an old shack. There was a large sign advertising boiled peanuts, and America quickly jumped out of the car and bought 4 bags of the delicious treat.

The four continued on their way, eating peanuts. America and Dixie provided a running commentary on the state of the country once the CD ran out. Eventually, they had all agreed to a basic plan of attack and were relatively secure with what had been agreed. Dixie and Prussia would go in through the back to get Texas and California out and back to the car. The car would be parked about a mile away so that they could leave quickly. While Dixie and Prussia were retrieving the states America and England would be at the front of the house to distract and/or disable Mexico so they could all get away quickly. America would be at the door providing the main distraction while England covered his back with a sniper rifle. Surprisingly, England was a good shot, not as good as America, but still very competent.

Round about the state line between Alabama and Mississippi Alfred's phone began to ring.

"Yello, this is the great U.S. of A. speaking. Whadda ya want?" He said, answering the phone.

"Yes, hello Alfred. I was just wondering, how long will it take you to get back?"

"Well, considering the fact that this is just the second day of being gone, I don't really know. I figure 5-6 days? We're just about to hit Mississippi."

"Please come back soon. I don't know how you stand it. Being the center of attention all the time. It's exhausting, eh."

"Oh chill Canada. It's not that bad." laughed America, "Besides, I'm sure you're doing a better job keeping the peace than I am."

"I wouldn't call this peaceful. Russia is plotting your demise or something. He's just sitting in a corner and everyone is afraid he's going to murder us soon. Papa is very upset. He wants his 'Angleterre' and has resorted to drinking wine and pestering everyone. Germany is also worried since none of us know where Prussia is, or England for that matter. ... Wait. What do you mean 'We'?"

"Umm. Well, you see. Uh."

"Just spit it out. Who are you with?"

"FINE!! Jeez Mattie, you'd think you'd be a little more polite huh, I'm with Prussia and Iggy right now. Don't worry about it."

"Why the hell are you with them. Wait, if you're on the phone who's driving? Since I know for a fact you won't let either of them drive your cars."

"Look, Canadia, I love you and all, but I really gotta go right now. Chiao. Oh, and tell France that Iggy's with me, and he doesn't have to worry about someone making moves on his man, ok? Bye." with that Alfred quickly hung up.

England spluttered at the last statement, "I am most definitely not France's man, as you put it."

Prussia and America both burst out laughing, "Nope. You and Francy-pants have so much unreleased sexual tension, I could cut it with a butter knife." smirked Prussia "Do you know how many times I've had to awesomely comfort him when he felt everything was hopeless with you?"

Alfred looked to add to the conversation, but paused suddenly. There was a look on his face of confusion and a bit of pride. Turning to Dixie he said, "Didja feel that?"

"What? The kinda warm feeling, like when you step out of a cold room into the sun?" replied Dixie.

"Yes, Yes! That! Do ya know what that means?!" responded Alfred, like an eager puppy.

"Considering your expression, you're just going to tell me in a few seconds anyway." deadpanned Dixie.

"Tex and Cali made a compact together! Oooh, I'm so proud. Maybe they'll get together after this. You know how they've both been wanting each other since the twenties!" gushed Alfred.

"Why don't we focus on getting them back before you start playing matchmaker? Hmm." sighed Dixie. Turning to address the Europeans he said, "Sorry about that, Jack just really doesn't want them to keep destroyin' his property whenever they see each other. It's also kinda upsetting that they don't realize the fact that they both actually feel the same."

"I'm sure it's fine. Don't worry about it." sighed England. "How close are we to being done? We've been driving for close to 6 hours now."

"We're just about in Mississippi. We're gonna go through to Louisiana and Texas. End of the road is Houston. We're 'bout halfway done." responded Alfred.

England nodded in response and turned to stare out the window, he didn't often travel in the states, since he was here mostly for business. The south so far had been an odd mash of vibrant, lush, forest and fields of peanuts, corn, and some cotton. It was very different from home. Much warmer, and very sunny. The changing scenery also provided a distraction from Prussia and his guilt. Guilt that he had accidentally hurt France. He wasn't sad that France was hurt. No, of course not.

Most of the trip was uneventful. 2 hours later everyone stopped after crossing the Mississippi (through Baton Rouge) to stretch their legs and admire the river. 10 minutes after that they were back on the road.

When they finally arrived in Houston everyone was exhausted. They had been traveling nonstop, except for the buying of the peanuts and the stretching of their legs, for roughly 15 hours. There was a cheap motel on the west side of Houston that they decided to crash at. There was nothing special, actually, it was kinda sucky, but it had beds and free breakfast. So it had all they needed, it just wasn't comfortable.

"Well, the awesome me is gonna sleep on the bed. The rest of you losers can figure it out on your own," said Prussia, quickly claiming a bed for himself.

England sighed and moved to take the chair, while Alfred and Dixie were left to sleep on the floor. Rather quickly, despite the poor sleeping arrangements, they all fell into a somewhat comfortable sleep.

AN:

Hey guys. Sorry this is rather late. I'm kinda hoping to get another chapter out this month, but we'll see how it goes. I hope you enjoyed it anyways. Thanks for getting this far down the page. The song at the top is just random. I like it though.