Cognizance (Hetalia)

Chapter Five

Matthew had barely heard what Tariq said, but followed Ludwig's wide-eyed gaze past the cars and towards the group of rioters.

It felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. A group of about 10-15 people had broken away from the main mass of rioters and were now running towards the cluster of Nations.

"Everyone into a car, now!"

That was more than enough prompting Matthew needed. He slammed the trunk of the car closed, not even caring anymore if the luggage was in a position for it to be able to actually latch. He scampered to the driver's seat of the car (thank god he had left the door open). His heart pounded like it was trying to leave his chest as he slammed the door shut and very clumsily tried to start the car.

"Wait," Arjun said from the shotgun seat suddenly, nearly startling Matthew out of his skin. It took him a few seconds to recuperate from this, but eventually realized Arjun had continued with "Others are still trying to get into the cars."

"Okay," Matthew muttered through not-quite-calming breaths. They needed to hurry up. The rioters were still probably around a hundred meters away, but Matthew was not about to take any chances. He managed to get the car on, and had his foot on the brake. He was ready to go as soon as he could.

"That's the last person," Ludwig radioed from one of the other cars, "let's get out of here."

"Rodger," Matthew radioed back, putting the gear stick into drive. "Buckle up everyone, we're gonna floor it."

"Matthew, do not fucking floor it!" Miguel pleaded from the back seat. He braced Alfred with his arm. A rock bounced off the windshield.

"Too late!"

To his credit, Matthew didn't actually floor it, but he did go a solid 30 mph over the speed limit (the speed limit was only like 20 mph anyway). The other cars were right behind him. Also, they only sped away for a short time, until they were out of view of the rioters. They continued to drive the speed limit for a bit, taking confusing backroads to escape the rioters.

"We should stop and regroup," Ludwig radioed after a few minutes of driving. "This is a relatively remote area. We could figure out where we're going."

"It's DC. There's no such thing as remote," Jett radioed back. He had a point; there were more trees than there had been earlier, there were still plenty of buildings where people could easily see them.

"Let's just get out!" Lovino shouted angrily over the radio.

"Okay, god," Jett replied.

Matthew started to slow down, eventually pulling over to the side of the road. He parked underneath the shade of a tree, because while, realistically, that wouldn't provide them much cover, he still felt better about not being out in the open.

He got a weird feeling of almost deja-vu as he looked out the window. Had he been here before?

Matthew opened the car door and peered out. He swore he could remember this. Not as someplace he went frequently, but something he's seen in passing. But he's also been to D.C. a bunch of times, so did that actually mean anything?

He needed to get to the safe house. That was the objective. If he could figure out how to get to a place he knows from here, then they might be able to navigate from there to the safe house. That was the plan.