The Second

Chapter 12: Return

Hours ticked by as Clara and Mitch stayed hidden under the thick shrubbery of the park near Narcladea Industries. Luckily for them, another layer of strangling fog enveloped the city like a blanket, rolling through the streets in the evening and shrouding the city in white. However, unluckily for them, it also brought with it the cold to add to an already freezing night.

Mitch crouched silently behind her, but the temperature was quickly becoming an issue. His dew-tipped skin relinquished his body heat to the frigid air. The cold air billowed beneath the fog, it's appetite insatiable as the frost bit Mitch's skin until he'd had enough and insisted they began to move. Clara agreed, and began to trudge ahead with Mitch in tow.

Sticking to the bushes and abandoned, dingy side streets they ducked for cover when an evening jogger or rolling car came into view. They were both on edge, nerves heightened. They didn't want anybody to see them or stalk them as Clara lead the way.

"Where are we going?" Mitch finally asked after minutes of following her blindly. He was getting impatient, and cold, and shoved his numb fingers into the warmth of his pockets.

"Back to my place," Clara replied plainly, her head on a constant swivel as her eyes scanned the desolate streets.

"Wait, what?" Mitch halted in his tracks, dumbfounded. "You can't be serious."

"It's the safest place to go."

"That's the first place the Professor will look!"

"Nobody would think we're stupid enough to go back there so they won't even bother looking," Clara said with a wry smile. She'd had a lot taken from her since she'd been thrust into this world, but her confidence was one thing not on that list.

"Haven't you seen, like, literally any movie before? The protagonists always think that's the case and the villains are always waiting for them and one is captured before the climax. It's a dumb plan."

"Well, I'm not a big movie fan," Clara shrugged stubbornly as she continued walking, smirking at the frustrated expression creeping onto Mitch's face.

"What do you mean you're not a movie fan? Everybody likes movies!"

"I don't really watch movies."

"What about Star Wars?"

"Nope."

"The Avengers?" Clara shook her head. "Jaws? Jurassic Park? Toy Story? The Godfather?"

"No, uh-uh, definitely not, that sounds fun, but nope."

"I can't believe you. How can you not be a fan of any movie? Wait, no, that isn't important right now. My point is we need to go somewhere else," Mitch tried to focus.

"Well, I'm going home so you can either come with me or find another place to hide out."

"You're impossible sometimes," Mitch groaned loudly with a roll his eyes. When she showed no sign of stopping for him he jogged up to join her defeatedly.

"Look, if I'm wrong then you can say 'I told you so.'"

"I won't have time to when we are running for our lives!"

"I'm sure you'll find a way to slip it in," Clara giggled, her laughter turning raucous when an embarrassed blush appeared on his face. She noted down his prudeness cheekily. 

Tiredness and temperature begin to take effect and Mitch turned to conversation to distract them. However, it was mostly one sided. Mitch asked if Clara had seen certain famous movies, she'd shake her head, and he'd bemoan and argue about how she had no childhood.