"Rose...Rose...ROSALIND!" Rose awoke with a start to see Jesse standing over her fully clothed. She rolled over to look at her solar alarm clock. " Its only 6:15," she croaked, her voice hoarse from sleep. "I know," Jesse said, " but there was a visibility zero zone reported four miles from here we have to get going." Rose rolled out of bed and onto the floor, " I'll be out in a minute she said and got on her way.
Rose strapped all of her belongings to the walls and floor of their mobile home, and then walked over to the door to pick up the clothes she had worn the day before. She put on her favorite Twenty-one Pilots t-shirt, her well worn shirt, her father's army green work jacket, and her mothers boots. she smiled sadly and though of how ridiculous it was that all she had left of her family was an oversized jacket and a pair of mucky boots that had only come to fit her this year.
"Jesse, exactly where was the visibility zero zone?" Rose asked. " A small town called Ash-Fork Valley, why?" Rose looked troubled, " How small?" She asked " Very," jesse replied, " Only 796 people. Rose turned away looking troubled.
"Do you need breakfast?" Jesse asked " No," she said, " I have a granola bar around here somewhere, those people will already be in transport now, theres no reason to waste time cooking." With that, she left the room leaving Jesse alone.
He was confused. Why did Rose care so much about a small town of people. Of course she cared about them, and she knew what it was like to be near Vapor, she had seen the effects of the brainwashing gas when they took her family, he didn't know how she had escaped Vapor, or even how he had for that matter, all he remembered of the day that their families had been taken was falling asleep on Rose's couch, and waking up to Rose jumping on his legs trying to wake her up. Apparently they hadn't searched houses yet, but they had gassed everyone who was at the market. He remembered running with a bag of clothes and his shoes in his hand, through the woods. The next few days were blank in his mind, he had blocked them out... On purpose. He was sure Rose knew more than he did, but there was no reason to ask. They were running from Vapor, just like everyone else in this country. They were running and so far that hadn't done badly. The had been through 6 states, 18 cities and 24 towns. They had a car, a place to sleep and a steady supply of food, which is more than some people could say. They hadn't had any further run ins with Vapor, so in his mind, they were doing pretty well.
Jesse turned his mind from Rose, and decided on their next location. It needed to be rural, but semi populated, Vapor would suspect a random car in the middle of farmland, and it need to have access to gas, food and clean water, which was harder than you would think to find. He decided on another town in Arizona; Blue water, population 1,267 people.
Rose went in search of her granola bar, "how small is that town" oh cause thats not a weird question now he knows somethings up. I mean he's got to find out at some point anyway, she paced back and forth across the kitchen how do you tell your best friend a secret you have kept for yourself for years. "Rose? Would you grab me a granola bar too?" Jesse called from the front of the truck. Rose jumped when she heard his voice. "Sure, I just gotta reach them first!" she yelled back. She stood on her tiptoes trying to reach into the cabinet that had sat open since she first went into the kitchen. She glared at the boy of Almond Chewy Bars. Jesse walked in the door behind her. "Do you need help with that?" He asked. "No I was just trying to look stupid and not reach those granola bars." "Welll you were certainly doing a pretty good job of it then." With that jesse pushed past her and grabbed the box of granola bars with ease. "What would I ever do with out you?" Rose quipped. "Probably starve."
