Tic Toc

Twelve

Helloooooo!!! I've done a fucko! For some dumb reason I thought I was supposed to be publishing chapter thirteen, totally unaware that twelve wasn't up yet. So here I am writing fourteen when y'all haven't seen twelve. SMH.
In other news, my readers should have a name. So how about NightCrawlers?
Ya know, based off my username.
Drop yes or no in the comments!

Chris
Nevada
Hotel

I couldn't sit still. All night I kept getting up to pace around in the dark. After awhile Ricky turned the light on and started reading a book. Hours later the sun was coming up and I was still cycling through.
Sit down. Stand up. Walk to the window. Walk to the bathroom. Sit down...
It was torture. There was nothing I could do but wait for Ryan to pull through.
Ricky looked up from his book and watched me walk across the floor again. I knew by the look on his face that he wanted to tell me not to worry but he wasn't going to. He only stared. When I turned to cross the room a second time, he looked back down at his book.
I checked the time: 7:58am.
The clock was ticking. In the back of my mind I was vaugely aware that it meant danger for me. But the worry I held wasn't for me, it was for Remington.
I shuddered. Even thinking his name consumed me with fear and longing. He was going to die, and it was all my fault. Ultimately, I was killing my match.
A knock made my heart jump. I was across the room and unlocking the door before Ricky had even put his book down. Ryan and Vinny stood there with smiles on their faces. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"We got you all fixed up, don't worry." Ryan said as I let them in.

Ricky jumped up off the bed and tossed his book in his bag. He zipped it up and tossed it next to my bag. We were totally ready to go.

"What did you find?" I asked.

"Well, we got his address and phone num–"

"What's his number?" I cut in.

He shifted from foot to foot.

"It's not active." He said. "But that's okay. We've set you up a— well let's call it a GPS. Look here."

Vinny took a case I didn't realize he was holding and set it on the table. Out came a device that looked like a bitchin' version of a tablet.

"Don't worry about it dying cuz it won't. Just set it on your dashboard. Show the man how it works, Vinny." Ryan said.

"Tap." Vinny tapped once on the screen and it came to life.

"Look." He pointed to the map that was automatically there.

"Aaaaand follow.” he turned and the map moved with him. A green arrow followed a red flashing dot. "You're the arrow, he's the dot. Real simple."

I took the tablet from him.

"Is he in... But that's... Seriously?" I found it hard to believe that he was in Illinois.

"Yeah that's where he is. Hauling ass too cuz last night he was just crossing over the Indiana border." Ryan said.

"How do you know that's still his phone?" Ricky walked over to us. He looked so unconvinced. "You said it wasn't active. How do you know it's on him?"

Ryan and Vinny looked at each other.

"Well..." Vinny trailed off.

"We can't tell you. It's not exactly... It exceeds the boundaries of ticking Exemptions. Let's leave it at that." Ryan cut in.

"Don't forget the keys." Vinny said.

"Oh yeah." Ryan dug in his pocket. "Thought you'd need something fast."

Unexpectedly, Vinny leaned forward and hugged me.
I don't like to hug. I don't like to cuddle. I don't like to shake hands. Hell, I don't even like sitting close to a person. Only occasionally will I volunteer to touch somebody. I knew I would have to when (if) I found my match, and honestly the thought made my skin crawl.

"Good luck." Vinny said.

"Thanks, I'll need it." It was a struggle to give him a tiny Pat on the back before I pulled away.

They left Ricky and I alone. I turned to him and shuddered.

"Ya alright?" He looked amused.

"Shut up."

In just a few minutes we we're loading up the military grade SUV that we were loaded. It looked like all the ones you see on TV. Big, green, huge tires, and lots of lights on top. There was a large banner on the back of it that said EXEMPT. Similar to an Oversized Load banner you see on lumber trucks.
With a full tank of gas, we were off.