Night fell too quickly over the North Dakotan Mountains. Bowbells was indeed the tiny nothing town he figured it would be. But it had a McDonald’s thankfully, because if she had said ‘Ahm hungry’ one more time he was going to ram some damn McClaws down her throat, something he of course mentioned to her. His own hunger, paranoia, and lack of sleep made him less than patient and understanding.
For a while he was worried they’d be spending more time in Bowbells than he could afford or wanted to. But just as they reached the edge of town a gas station miraculously appeared behind one of the *many* truck storage warehouses.
When he told her gas was four-fifty a gallon he was afraid he was going to have to lock her in the car by the look on her face. For a moment he could tell she was actually deliberating if she could take out each person there. To his relief, though, she let him pay the teller with cash and even thanked him when he bought a couple of bottle waters. Which startled him for a second.
It was about four hours later and they still hadn’t passed another town since. It got dark a lot quicker than he thought it would and he considered driving without the headlights on to stay hidden. But he had a feeling that if he hit a buffalo too not only would the car not be able to take it but he’d never hear the end of it.
The early night did bring one good thing. As soon as the sun fell the girl almost instantly went to sleep. He had to give her credit for lasting that long, since she had less sleep than he had. But mainly he was just glad to have some quiet again.
She always had something to say. Every damn tree, sign, or rock they passed she had a comment for it that made absolutely no sense to him. He wasn’t sure if it was the accent or the culture difference or if it was just because she was not right in the head.
But with her asleep he could finally think. Then he realized he didn’t want to think. Because when he thought he kept asking himself why he was still traveling with her. Why didn’t he just hop out as soon as they were in Bowbells? Or why he was thinking of what ‘they’ would do. Where ‘they’ could stop to sleep. Or if she liked Mexican food or not. Fuck, he was even keeping an eye out for somewhere they could get her new gloves.
Once he realized he was thinking about her god damn gloves he didn’t want to think anymore. Worse more when he stopped himself from thinking about her gloves the next thing that popped into his head was always how angelic she looked sleeping there. The luminous moonlight made her pale skin almost iridescent. And her dark hair that even slightly stuck down to her head with dirt and oil managed to look luscious and soft.
Sooner or later, though, those milky white locks called his attention. Those brands of death reminded him that this was no angel beside him. It was unclear to him how long ago this kid fell off the cloud she was made to sit on but it was definitely a while ago. Death now had a firm grip on her and stripped away all the innocent holiness she should have been worshiped for. Now she was just a crazy kid traveling with a hunted monster and he figured neither one of them had much chance of righteousness anymore.
Well, unless God made a set of twisted angels just for assholes like him that didn’t deserve the real thing. He glanced over at her again and decided that couldn’t be it. Nobody would make that on purpose, even as a sick joke on him.
Again his mind went to her gloves. Maybe they shouldn’t try finding her new ones. Maybe he was just trying to fight the inevitable, that dirty, stained gloves was really what she deserved to wear. Not that he was any better, of course.
Suddenly he was blinded as all the mirrors were flooded with harsh yellow light.
“Fuck!” He swore and squinted, trying to save somewhat of his night vision.
“Lo..an..” She mumbled still half asleep. “What’s goin’ on? Is it mornin’ alr..dy...?”
“No, someone’s behind us,” he answered keeping his eyes on the on the side mirror. “Several someones.”
That woke her up and she shot up straight in her chair. She turned in her seat to look out the back window. Her hair blew around her face from the wind coming through it and she couldn’t see anything but the bright lights. “Can ya tell who it is?”
“No.”
The word was immediately followed by the loud explosions of gunshots surrounded them. As loud as the ruckus was it wasn’t enough to drown out her scream or his swearing.
“I think I know who it is,” He stepped on the gas, pushing the trashed sports car to one-hundred and twenty miles per hour.
“No shit, ser’lock.” She huffed. She sat back in her seat and had to brace her hand against the roof of the car from the speed and his continuously zigzagging across the road.
“I told you!” he yelled. “I told you they’d find us! Because you didn’t just want to fucking pay for clothes!”
“Um, sugah, ah seriously doubt this is mah fault. Whatdaya say we ask ‘em? Hmm?” She snapped back.
He was about to retort when bullets shot off his side mirror and he had to serve to the other side of the road to keep the damage to a minimum.
“We’re fucking screwed! There’s no way to loose them out here!” He could now tell there were only two of them but that was two more than he could handle in this open nothing of North Dakota.
“Oh mah gawd!” Her hand shot out and grabbed his arm. “Ah got it!”
He wanted to knock her hand away but couldn’t risk letting go of the shaky wheel. “What? The only thing we’re gonna get is caught!”
She giggled at he swore a nerve in his forehead erupted.
“Jus’ try an’ keep from gettin’ me shot.” She used his shoulder to push up out of her chair and again turn to the back. He turned his head to tell her to sit back down but instead gawked at her rear end in tight jeans bluntly stuck in his face. More gunshots shattering the window on her side snapped him out of it and he swerved again, knocking her around between the seats.
She grunted but made no complaint, which completely shocked him. So he concentrated on the heavily armed beams of light that were quickly growing closer and closer to them. Not only was there no way to loose Them out here but their vehicles were evidently a lot better supped up then the battered, stolen mustang.
When she turned around and sat back in her seat she had something in her hands he did not expect. He didn’t know what it was he was expecting but it definitely wasn’t a shotgun.
“Where the fuck did you get that?!” He looked from the weapon in her hand to the road several times, now a lot more nervous with everyone around him toting firearms.
She giggled but he was so stressed out it didn’t sink into him. “Logan, let me intraduce ya ta Miss Betsy! ...Wait, no that ain’t right... Old! Old Betsy. Yeah, that’s it. Old Betsy.”
Gunshots shot through the open back window and went straight into the front windshield. They both ducked, and the car pulled back to the side of the road when he let go of the wheel to cover his head. He quickly recovered and grabbed the wheel before they completely fell off the side of the road.
He looked down at her girl, who was still ducked and covering her head, her body wrapped around the large gun.
“I’m gonna ask you again, kid, and I want a god damn straight answer. Where the fuck did you get the gun?!”
“Tha old man at tha store. Its what ah went back for,” she answered, though her words were muffled because she talked to the floor.
That eased him a little bit. At least she wasn’t carrying it around the whole time just waiting for the perfect time to kill him. Although, now that he thought about it he guessed she didn’t really need a gun to kill him. “So what are you waiting for? Get rid of the bastards!”
She sat up and turned to face him. “Ah don’t know how to shot a gun!”
“What?!” His head snapped around to her. “Then why’d the fuck did you take it?”
“Because! Ah figured it’d come in handy! And look howdy, it did.”
“God damnit,” he swore and checked the rear view mirror again to see how far away They were. “Fine. Where’s the extra ammunition?”
She blinked at him a few times, gathering her chaotically flying hair in her hand. “What ammunition?? Sugah, ah jus’ grabbed tha damn gun.”
“You took a fucking gun but didn’t think to take any fucking extra ammunition?! You mean you only have two shells??”
“Ah don’t know shit ‘bout guns! Its betta than nothin’ ain’t it?”
“Fuck!” He looked behind him again to remind him to focus his anger and frustration on the shit-heads chasing him and not just releasing the claws on the girl beside him.
“Alright. Here’s what we’re gonna do. Listen to me and listen good, got it?” He raised an eyebrow at her and she nodded.
“Good. I’m gonna push my seat all the way back and I want you to climb over into my lap.” He started, grabbing the gun from her and using just his brute strength to steady the jerking wheel with his free hand.
“Sugah, ya fahne as hell n’ all, ah’ll give ya that, but ah don’t think now is tha time for--”
“Shut the hell up and just listening to me,” he snapped at her.
“Fahne, geez.” She put one leg over the center console trying to keep herself from grabbing the steering wheel for balance.
He held the gun as far back as he could. Watching her stretch out towards him the comment she made finally registered in his brain and he decided he better clear that up now. “Facing the wheel, kid.”
“Ah know,” she rolled her eyes and finally got across the car without getting shot and moved down onto his lap.
Just after she got over a high pitched whistling flooded the inside of the car followed by muffled ‘puft’ noises from the bullets riddling through the passenger’s seat before embedding in the glove compartment. The two looked at each other, wide eyes on both their faces.
“Go..good plan, sugah,” she giggled nervously.
“Yep. Alright, take the wheel.” He instructed. As soon as she had her gloved hands wrapped around the leather bound wheel he moved his hand off it and onto her waist.
“Okay. I’m gonna take my foot off the gas and you better have yours on in half a fucking second, you got that?” He waited for her to nod. “On three, okay? One...two...three!!”
He moved his foot off the pedal and the car lurched back hard from the loss of momentum, tailing off closer to vehicles chasing them. She screamed along with the tires and he yelled at her about the damn pedal. Galvanized she slammed her foot down over it, forcing it to the tattered carpet floor. The sudden increase of the speed made the car spin over its own tires for a second but she managed to keep it under control until it once again got a grip on the asphalt.
Shaking his head he opened the gun. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her watching him and he snapped at her to keep her eyes on the fucking road. He thanked whatever deity that sent this crazy chick to him at least had the gun was loaded and took one of the shell out of the barrel.
“Here, hold this,” he dropped the extra red shell into her hand. If it was even possible her pale skin whitened more. He locked the gun closed again.
“Don’t. Move.” He spelled out in her ear. He moved the gun in front of her body to switch it to his other hand. Pulling the leaver on the side of the chair he let the seat slid all the way back and pushed against her lower back until she got the message and scooted up to the very edge of the seat.
With the extra room he moved as far back into the seat as he could and lifted his leg out from under the steering console. He planted his foot over the ruined radio and cup holders, using it as leverage to push off of and turn his body towards the window. There was no extra space in the tiny confines and his massive shoulders shoved her upper body practically on top of the steering wheel but she was able to keep her bottom on the seat.
With only the two shells there was absolutely no room for error, he had to make perfect shots. And out of all the things he was good at, this wasn’t one of them. He never needed guns. Hell, the last time he could even remember holding a damn gun was during WWII and that was a fucking long time ago. It wasn’t exactly still sharp in his mind, either. But he wasn’t about to tell her that.
Leaning out the window he managed to get the gun, his head, and his shoulders out until her body blocked him from leaning any further. The bright headlights of the oncoming vehicles blinded him for a second but once his eyes adjusted they needed up helping. They lit where he wanted to aim for him and with his shot lined up he pulled the trigger.
The backlash on the shotgun was stronger than he expected and ended up making his elbow jerked back, colliding hard into the side of the girl’s head. She yelped in pain and her whole upper body went flying down and to the right from the force, taking the car with it.
He steadied himself as the car lurched but was too distracted by the explosion caused by the bullet going into their engine to worry about her. He had hoped that it would take the second car out as well, but the tank-like SUV served out of the way, barely missing the wreck.
Turning his head he looked in the car and her head was still down, facing away from him, even though the car amazingly stopped drifting. “Hey, kid, you still with me?”
Another minute went by before she finally lifted her head up and he was meet with tear-filled eyes that he could tell she was trying her damnest to fight. He had to give her credit, even if she did stay conscious an elbow laced with indestructible metal to the head could not feel very good.
“Can you hand me the other shell?” He opened up his hand but there was no expression on her face and her eyes seemed to look past him, starring off into the distance.
“Come on, darlin’,” he reminded himself not to yell. “The other shell, were you able to keep ahold of it?”
She nodded, the action made the trap tears finally escape and roll down her face. He wanted to apologize to her or something, but they didn’t have time for him to feel sorry for her.
“Give it to me.” He repeated although in her state he was really sure he wanted her to take either hand off of the wheel. A small, shaky gloved hand dropped the other shell into his palm before returning to its post and he sighed in relief.
He slipped the shell into the empty barrel and locked the gun shut again. As soon as he leaned out of the window bullets scorched past the side of the car. Several ripped through the skin on his forearm before he could duck back in. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized in his quick jerking he knocked her into the steering wheel again. But she made no sound and the car kept moving so he didn’t worry about it.
When the burning in his arms stopped he knew he was healed and he leaned out the window again. He didn’t want to wait and give Them a chance to get anymore close shots in this time around so he immediately pulled the trigger, although he remember to lower his elbow and brace himself before he did.
They were able to dodge his second shot; either that or he just missed its target of the center grill. Luckily even with Their veering the bullet went through Their front tire. It busted with a loud pop as all the pressure rushed out of it. The instantly deflated tire caused Them to spin completely around before the heavy, square SUV finally fell over on its side. They probably were still alive but he was satisfied. It would at least buy the some more time to pack distance between them.
He threw the gun down onto the road. Instead of watching it bounce and shatter he turned back into the car. Reaching down he pulled the side lever and pushed the seat up while wrapping and arm around her waist and hauling her onto his lap at the same time. She let him and made no move or sounds what so ever.
“Hey, kid...I mean...um...Rogue. You alright?”
Again no response came from her, not even a nod. Slight panic began to grow in him and he considered the possibility she wasn’t really conscious at all. That maybe her body was just running on autopilot or something from the adrenaline. If that was the case he wanted her hands off the steering wheel. Now. It could startle her if he just took it from her, though, and fuck knows she could send them flying off the road.
Slowly he wrapped one hand beside hers around the wheel while keeping the other one around her waist. “It’s alright, darlin’. You can let go now, I got it.” He said as softly as he could, although it came out as more of a growl.
Her hands obeyed and fell limply to her lap but her foot remained pressed down hard on the pedal. Deciding it was best not to push her he just eased his foot onto the corner of it and slowly moved it over until he was able to shoved hers all the way off.
A few seconds went by and it felt like an eternity of silence to him. He tried to look at her face go see if she still had that vacant, distant look in her eyes but her hair blowing around both of them made it impossible. He gathered her wild hair the best he could with one hand and pushed the massive bulk over her left shoulder.
“Shit.” When he could see her face he was greeted by a thin trail of blood slowly coming from the purple and blue split skin at her temple. He was no doctor but a gash like that meant she had to have at least a concussion, if not much worse.
He pulled her back until her body was flush against his, tightening his grip on her to steady her flaccid body. A quick glance to the review mirror, one of the very few parts still unmarred on the car, revealed nothing but peaceful nothing behind them. At least They hadn’t been able to call the cavalry in on them. So they’d would make it through another night. Well, he would at any rate.
Suddenly her head fell back against his shoulder and his hand around her waist immediately came up, keeping it from rolling off. He looked down at her face and her eyes were half closed. Her hooded eyelashes were weighted down with the tears that were now mingling with the blood, thinning it out and make it slid easier down her cheek.
“Fuck, come on.” His hand returned to her waist and he tried to make her seat up a little bit more but she barely budged. He nudged her head with his shoulder but it only just rolled over to the other side of her face.
“Stay with me, darlin’. I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to wait an hour or something before falling asleep with a concussion.” He wasn’t real sure that the medical advice was true or not, he never needed any. But it sounded like something he had heard in the ring before.
When he checked down at her face again her eyes were completely closed and he seriously began to worry. What the fuck kind of place do you go after you die if you fucking kill your own ‘guardian angel’? He really didn’t want to find out.
Then a soft mumbling voice reached his ear. “What was that?”
“Ya..touchin’ me. Ah..don..like ta be…touched,” she stuttered through so quietly he wouldn’t have heard it if she hadn’t been right by his ear.
“I ain’t touching you, darlin’, just relax. But you have to promise to stay awake for a little while longer, okay?” He was slightly reassured by the sound of her voice but glancing to her from the road revealed her eyes were still softly closed, which was not staying awake.
“Just give me an hour, kid. Then I’ll get you a nice soft bed and a warm shower, we got a deal?”
“Ah ain’t tha one that smells…” she whispered even softer but he took the small victory. Evidently she still had enough brain function to give him lip. That had to be a good sign.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
This is the second time I wrote this. I wrote it the first time and I accidentally deleted the whole fricken thing! So I rewrote it and I’m blaming any errors on my inability to type through the tears... *falls over exhauted*