I awoke to Sam shaking me roughly. I groaned and rolled onto my back. Sam quickly covered my mouth with his hand, silencing me. Suddenly I was wide awake. His eyes were wide in fear and they were staring at the door. I glanced in that direction and saw movement through the crack in the curtains.
I could see two men outside our door talking but it was muffled. I couldn't understand them. They were waving their arms and using their hands when they spoke. They sounded mad. One of them pointed at our door and I physically flinched.
I didn't know I was holding my breath until I watched them leave. Sam and I both sighed in relief. Sam removed his hand from my mouth. We laid in silence for a few minutes.
"What was that about?" I ask quietly. Sam shrugs and grips my hand. "I heard them yelling and it sounded really close. That's when I woke up."
I laid back down, allowing Sam to tangle his legs with mine and for him to press his body against mine. We eventually fall back asleep. When I woke, Sams head was resting on my chest and his eyes were glued to the muted tv.
"What's the time?" I whisper. Sam checks his phone, "4:29," he said. I bolt up in bed and stand up.
"We slept through the alarm?" I question, my voice raising.
"No, I let you sleep longer," Sam said. I looked into his eyes. I could tell he was just as tired as I was. Dark bags lined the underside of his eyes and I'm sure mine looked the same. So much for being well rested.
"An hour and a half longer. Sam, we've got to go, we've been here for too long," I sighed.
"But the sun isn't gonna set until 8, I checked. It's too light out right now," Sam said. He was right. We didn't want to risk going out too early and for someone to recognize us. We would have to wait.
He's now sitting up in bed. I go to the little fridge in our room and take out a water bottle. It was nice and cold now and I took a long sip. The cold liquid slides down my throat easily, smoothly. I then throw the bottle to Sam and he takes a drink too.
"Well what are we going to do for 3 hours?" I question.
"Eat... make a plan," Sam suggested.
We haven't had a full meal in six days. We've been living off of granola bars and dried cereal. I could really go for a hamburger and fries or a pizza right now.
"Let's order pizza?" I said it like a question but I knew Sam would agree.
I picked up the hotel phone and after searching for the local pizza place phone number, I call them. I order two pepperoni pizzas and tell them I'll pay once they get here. If we don't eat it all, we can save the rest for when we're on the move.
While waiting for the pizza to arrive, we pack up the things we got out. We take the extra shampoo and conditioner bottles from the bathroom and the box of tissues. I take my phone off the charger and shut it down, hoping to preserve battery life. We talk about what those guys at the door could've been fighting about.
Then there was a knock on the door. The pizza man was here. Sam and I looked at each other and somehow decided that I would answer the door though neither of us spoke. He handed me $20. I put my hood from my jacket up.
I checked out the peephole first to make sure it was the pizza guy. It was. I opened the door enough to grab the boxes. I handed him the money and mumbled, "Keep the change."
Once he was gone, we sat on the bed and scarfed down one whole box. It was delicious, cheesy and greasy and probably not very healthy. But it was so good.
"It's gonna take us forever to get home," Sam said. After we ate the first box we were sprawled out on the bed. My stomach was full for the first time in a week and I was enjoying the feeling.
"Home? We can't go home," I said. Sam turns to look at me, confusion written all over his face. I sighed and rolled onto my stomach.
"They'll find us if we go home. We can't ever go back. We have to start all over," I mumbled to him.
It was kind of sad to think about. Never going back home to LA, never seeing our friends again, never talking to our roommates. They were probably all worried sick.
"Where are we going to go? They're going to find us eventually, they're not going to stop looking for us Colby," Sam said, his voice was raised slightly, something he does when he's scared. I rubbed his arm to calm him.
"I know and that's what scares me," I reply.
If we somehow do get caught, we're probably going to go to prison for forever. We won't ever be allowed out. But if we don't get caught, we'll be living in fear, always looking over our shoulders.
"We need to find a place to stay low for awhile I guess," Sam suggests.
"Here?" I whisper, pointing to the bed.
Sam shakes his head, "No we've got to move on. This town is to small."
I nodded but didn't say anything because I'm not familiar with Nevada. This is the first time either of us has been here. If we had to leave, I wouldn't even know what direction to go in.
I hear Sam sniff a few times. He's breathing heavy. I lift my head to see him holding back tears. I sit up and ask, "Sammy, why are you crying?" My voice was light and gentle. A loud sob escaped his lips once he realizes I found him crying. I pull him into my lap and he cries on my shoulder. I just hold him and rock back and forth.
"We-we don't even know anything. L-like we don't even know any secrets about it. We found n-nothing," he stutters through sobs.
I understand his point. We entered Area 51 with little knowledge of what was in there and we left with nothing more. We still know absolutely nothing about Area 51. But we escaped and authorities believe we know something.
"I know babe, but they think we know something because we escaped."
"B-But we don't," he continues to cry.
"Well maybe they want to know how we escaped," I whispered. The thought just came into my head and I realized it made sense. They want to find out how we escaped so it won't happen again. But that doesn't explain why they want us dead.
I hold him until he stops crying, rocking and running my fingers through his thin hair. His head is buried into my chest, his ear pressed against my heart.
I glanced at the hotel clock, 7:18pm. We should be leaving soon. When I mentioned it to Sam he said, "No, let's just stay here." I agreed with him, we were both too tired to do anymore walking, anymore running.
"If we wake up in the morning and we're still alive, we'll leave," he whispers. It hurt my heart to hear him talking like that.
We were still wide awake from our previous nap, so we turned the tv on. We skipped over the news channels and found cartoons. After brushing our teeth and stripping to our boxers, we laid under the covers. We watched cartoons for hours, not saying a word. Under the covers, Sams hand finds mine and intertwines them. I rub my thumb over his skin softly. Then finally my eyelids started drooping.
"Wake me if anything happens," I whisper to Sam as I fall asleep. But he was already asleep and I was too lazy to turn the tv off. The last thing I remember seeing was SpongeBob.
——
Maybe if we hadn't fallen asleep, or if we had left like we said we were, we would've been prepared. Instead we were jumping around at 4am trying to put some clothes on. Bright lights were shinning through the thin fabric of the curtains, illuminating the room. We quickly grabbed our backpacks and locked ourselves in the bathroom. Our heart were beating out of our chests and our lungs ached. We clutched onto one another like our lives depended on it. And I was scared for my life.
—
(Part 3 coming soon. It'll be the last part)
