Hacker

Chapter Twelve

Alison stalked through the junk yard resembling an angry cat that had just had it’s tail stepped on. Scouring every inch of rubbish for a suitable place to settle down, Alison found little to her satisfaction. She viciously chewed the inside of her cheek. Her stomach rumbled obnoxiously but she ignored it. This was a pitiful hunger that only gnawed holes in her belly. Alison had felt hunger that made her keel over in pain. Right now she was far from that.

"Um, what are we looking for?" the boy asked catching up to her for the third time in the hour.

"A safe place" Alison said scathingly, thinking how much quicker she would be moving if he was not here. That was a lie and deep down Alison knew that if she was alone progress would only be a little faster. A hobble was her maximum speed in her current, downtrodden condition. She frowned up at the dark foreboding sky and just knew that it was going to rain.

"Yeah, okay" he said and obviously unsure as to what qualified as a safe place the boy looked at her with a puzzled expression. He kept doing that a lot-looking at her as if she was about to sprout wings and take off. It made her uncomfortable. Stupid she thought, glaring down at a mangled aluminium can and kicking it savagely. It skidded noisily across the hard packed earth to batter some black rubber almost concealed by plastic. An obtrusive mound of trash jutted from where the can lay. Heart jumping in her throat Alison limped as fast as she could towards the mound. Her legs and shoulder seized up with the swift motions.

Innumerable shopping bags and other discarded objects littered the lump. With curiosity piqued, Alison trudged forward and brushed away a sheet of cardboard to find a dirtied, tenebrous window. A leaden sword manifested in her right hand as she wiped the window clean. The car was an old four wheel drive and looked, miraculously, to still have most of it’s interior intact. Instead of wasting energy by smiling in relief Alison started dragging rubbish away. The boy helped, still hesitant but asking no questions. Once it had been sufficiently cleared enough that Alison could reach the door handle they stopped. Swaying gently from exhaustion Ali pulled on the handle roughly, it didn’t move. The door was jammed. Alison yanked persistently and grunted with the effort. An ache ran along her arm and her shoulder protested. She stepped back in defeat. Giving it a good kick should loosen it up she thought through a cloud of fatigue.

"Let me" said a quiet voice behind her. She squinted doubtfully at him, the fading light making it hard to see his face. He was probably laughing at her feeble attempts. Fine, let him try she seethed and distanced herself even more to give the lanky boy access to the door. Long fingers curled around the metal handle as he tensed momentarily and then with one great tug the door flung open. Alison "harrumphed" her appreciation before pushing past him and climbing in with her sword held in front of her. A musty, stale smell bombarded her. Trepidation caused goose flesh to rise on her arms- strange things were rumoured to live in The Dump and she may not be the only one thinking that this would be a nice place to settle for the night. Alison’s eyes swept the car as scrutinising as a hawk hunting mice. Both the front and back seats looked undamaged and the once rich chocolate coloured leather faded to dun was the only sign of age. Cracks created a spiderwebbed effect on the windscreen and held the towering rubbish just at bay. The boot was buckled inward but the rest of the car appeared habitable. To top things off nothing had jumped at her.

"Looks alright" She said poking her head out the door to find him craning his neck worriedly.

"Shut the door after you" Alison ordered, ducking back in and triggering her sword to flow around her wrist. She heard him clamber up and a muted slam of the door. Alison started to arrange her things in the front seat. Glancing back she saw that he was doing the same in the back. Fiery hair grazed the bowed roof as he positioned himself more comfortably. He raised his head and caught her looking. Alison fought back a blush and returned to organising the contents of her satchel. She did not draw out the cures, in no way trusting the boy. A small quirk lifted the corner of her lips as she pulled two energy bars from the bag. Macy must have smuggled them in when Alison wasn’t looking. Her anger ebbed away at the prospect of food and all she felt was drained and depleted.