One Bite

Chapter 4-2

Six hours, six protein bars, two red bulls, and one bathroom stop into our night drive, Cole was dead-to-the-world exhausted. His swollen eyelids drooped and shoulders cracked as he rolled them. Every few minutes, his head tipped down, then snapped up when his chin hit his chest.

I swear he's going to nod off and slam his forehead into the steering wheel.

A bright flash erupted around us, illuminating the mangy grasses dangling over the road on both sides. It was followed by a loud, vibrating boom of thunder that jolted both of us on our seats. The faint pattering sound of rain hit the car's exterior and Cole's windshield wipers activated. They squealed to start but the raindrops increased in size and frequency. Soon he had to increase the wiper speed.

"Great," he grumbled. "Fucking great."

"You know..." I squinted my eyes at his obviously exhausted state. "I could drive while you rest."

"Yeah right," was his scoffed response. "If I wanted the car to go into a ditch, then I'd drive it into one myself."

"You might do that if you're tired enough." I frowned at his lack of enthusiasm.

After a few minutes of silence, he mulled over the idea since he asked, "Do you know how to drive?"

"Nope," I stated the obvious. "My father wouldn't let me learn."

"Wait..." His brown eyes flicked sideways while his head faced ahead. "You can shoot a gun, but can't drive a car?"

"I never said any of his decisions made sense." The words came out bitter and felt sore to my throat, as if I choked on something distasteful. "You act like I had any choice. His house was as much of a prison as the one I slept in the Northern territory, with five star dining and designer labels."

He didn't respond and we fell into another round of silence. I settled back against my seat as my irritation settled into my stomach. As my eyes slid half-closed, I looked over at Cole and found his eyes drooping, so I reached over and flicked my finger into his cheek.

"What the!?" His lip curling back, he sneered at me, but flipped open his eyes.

"If you aren't going to let me drive, then you have to pull over to sleep because then you will put us into a ditch," I clipped.

"Sorry." He scrubbed one hand down his face and pinched at the inside corners of his eyes with his thumb and index finger. "I need to go four more hours before we can stop."

"You're not going to make it at this point." My eyes dragged out the window on my right. There wasn't much to see other than darkness but the long, unkempt wild grasses on either side of the road were replaced with underbrush. A few blinks of my eyes later and I realized we were headed into a forest.

As dark tree forms appeared overhead, the light rain turned heavier. The silence between us was engulfed with the splatters of rain against the car's roof and windows. The incoming forest view blurred.

"Fabulous," Cole grumbled as he turned up the windshield wiper speed. "Wasn't supposed to rain. This is the last thing we needed."

For possibly the first time since we'd left the Eastern territory, Cole and I were in complete agreement.

Rain battered the windshield with sounds loud enough that I swore hail fell from the sky instead of rain over the next hour. It pounded through the silence, taking away any chance for sleep. After an hour with no visibility, I let out another loud, frustrated sigh.

Cole interrupted our silence with, "I can't believe I'm saying this but maybe if you talk to me, it'll help me stay awake."

"Aww, you love my company," I cooed and turned my head. His frowny-face expression showed that was the last thing on his mind. "Admit it, tough guy."