Daniel

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Madison sighed, leaned over the opened hood of her car and inspecting the smoking engine.

“There’s no fixing that…” Gabriel’s voice buzzed from her phone sat beside her.

“Not now Gabriel…” she muttered, leaning over to get a closer look.

“You should have pulled over an hour ago when I told you.”

“And since when were you the car expert?”

“It doesn’t take a genius to hear that engine begging to be put out of its misery…”

Madison groaned, slamming her head against the hood.

“…ow”

“Sorry…” she rubbed her forehead and by proxy the back of Gabriel’s head.

“Come on, Gabe,” Sydney spoke up, stepping out of the car with a bottle of water, “it’s not like we could have just stopped, we’re in the middle of nowhere.”

That’s true, stopping your car in the middle of nowhere is one thing. Stopping it in the middle of nowhere when you were a bunch of wanted criminals was another.

It had been several months since Gabriel’s awakening and the ensuing bloodbath that followed as they took revenge on those who wronged them and cut down anyone who stood in their way.

Madison had regained her control over them, stopping their rampage, about to seal them away once again. But her twin, practically wailed in fear at the thought of being trapped in the darkness again, cold and alone.

Madison couldn’t find it within her to hate them despite everything they had done. They were still their sibling, their twin and literally a part of them. Gabriel didn’t ask to be born this way and they certainly didn’t ask to be mutilated and cut up like a tumor. So, here they were, on the run, sticking to the remote country roads where no one would find or recognize them.

Madison told Sydney she didn’t have to come along, that this blood was not on her hands. She could continue to live a normal life. But Sydney refused, insisting on coming with them. It was actually Sydney that formulated their plan for life on the run; picking the remote routes to take, getting them burner phones even pulling all nighters to drive them across state lines.

As much as Madison didn’t want Sydney sacrificing her future for their sake, she couldn’t deny the help Sydney’s been.

Sydney turned up, hand to shielding her eyes from the blazing sun.

“We probably picked a bad time to drive through these parts though.”

Indeed, the Louisiana heat was unforgiving in the summer. Madison had changed into a black tank top and tied her hair into a bun, as no doubt the heat would be getting to Gabriel as well.

As Madison went back to looking over the engine in vain, Gabriel eyed Sydney chugging down her water, the blonde taking notice.

“What’s up Gabe?”

“Give me some of that,” they ordered bluntly.

But Sydney took no offense. “Oh I’m sorry Gabe, you thirsty?”

She went and retrieved a straw from their things, coming back and delicately pushing away the strands of hair in order to allow Gabriel to drink from the bottle.

That was another new development, Sydney overly doting over Gabriel. Despite everything, and especially despite them trying to kill her, Sydney still tried to make an effort for them. Madison didn’t know what Gabriel felt about the constant coddling but they hadn’t voiced complaints, and for Gabriel that’s saying a lot. Gabriel didn’t sugarcoat things, if they had an opinion, they’d say it. They were about as blunt a rock being bashed against your head.

After Gabriel had finished drinking, Madison slammed the hood with a defeated sigh. “Welp… we’re not going anywhere…”

“We’re especially not going anywhere in the middle of nowhere…”

Sydney sighed, closing the cap on the bottle. “According to the map, the next town is still 5 miles away. And I specifically picked this route because it’s the most remote and longest, meaning most people will definitely not drive down this way.”

“So what? Do you expect us to start walking?”

“Oh please, like you’re gonna be doing any work,” Sydney smirked, lightly jabbing Gabriel.

Gabriel let out an annoyed grumble, making Madison chuckle.

“Okay you two, settle down,” she crossed her arms, “we still have a lot of food and water packed with us. We could camp here for, give or take a couple of days, see if any cars drive by during that time.”

“And when no cars pass by? Then what?”

Madison smirked. “Then you can start pulling your weight and start walking.”

Sydney laughed as Gabriel caused the static to kick up and screech from the phone, clearly annoyed.

“I will walk us both into traffic!”

“Sure you will,” Sydney giggled, patting Gabriel’s forehead.

“Don’t chastise me brat!”

Madison shook her head, smiling to herself as her siblings bickered behind her.

It was then, she heard something.

“Hey guys…” she called, getting their attention, “can you hear a-?”

“An engine!” Sydney exclaimed, dashing to the other side of the car.

Sure enough, driving down the highway road, approaching them at a leisurely pace, was a beat up old truck.

“Looks like we didn’t have to wait long at all!”

Madison jogged over to Sydney, grabbing her phone and apologizing to Gabriel as she had to let down her hair in order to hide them.

The girls wasted no them flagging the truck down, the car pulling up beside theirs.

Out of the driver’s side popped a scruffy, filthy looking man, eyeing the girls over with a toothy grin.

“Well I’ll be, what’s two purdy ladies like you’s doin’ out in a place like this?” He asked, his southern accent heavy.

Sydney stepped forward, always the more social one. “Hi, uh- sorry… we’re having car trouble, the damn piece of junk broke down on us. Can you give us a ride? We have money, we’ll pay you for your troubles.”

The man tipped his cap. “Hey, it’s no worries, my brother, Bo, he got a mechanic shop in town. He can get ya fixed right up.”

“Really? Are you sure it’s no trouble?”

“Eyy it’s no problem, just headin’ down that ways myself,” he waved his hand dismissively, scratching the back of his head.

Sydney smiled. “Thank you so much, you’re a real life saver!” She was about to turn, “oh wait-… I uh- didn’t get your name?”

The man grinned, a wide toothy smile. “The name’s Lester little lady.”

Sydney gave a soft smile, nodding. “Nice to meet you, Lester.”

Just as Sydney was about to run off to grab her things, Madison caught her arm. “Wait Sydney…” she lowered her voice, “are we just going to hop on a car with this guy? He seems a bit… shady.”

Sydney frowned. “Maddie we don’t have a lot of options right now, and also it’s not nice to judge someone based off appearances. Besides…” she nudged Madison playfully, “I’m not scared, I got my 2 in 1 guard dog with me.”

“You’re delusional if you think I’ll be bothered saving your ass,” Gabriel muttered, voice low so as to not be heard by the truck driver.

Sydney ran off, calling over her shoulder; “You know you love me!”

Madison shook her head, smiling as she followed after her sister.

As Madison leaned into the passenger seat, collecting her things into her backpack, Gabriel’s voice buzzed over the phone.

“Get my dagger…”

Madison blinked. “What…?”

“I have a bad feeling. Just take it. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”

Madison didn’t think long on it, since she too had a bad feeling. Opening the glove compartment, out fell Gabriel’ signature dagger, make-shifted from the trophy Dr Weaver earned from the research and suffering subjected onto them.

She quickly shoved the weapon into her bag.

In no time, they were piling into the truck. Sydney hopped in first but Madison hesitated upon seeing the interior of the truck. It was as worn down and rusted as the rest of it, with various suspicious looking stains, torn seat cushions, strings of bones, shells and feathers hanging from the dashboard and if the smell outside was bad, the inside was another story. Imagine a bunch of animals squeezing into a clown car and dying at once, that was the best way to describe it.

Sydney was well aware but being the ever polite and friendly one, she made a face Madison’s way, a face that said; ‘Yes, I know just please bare with me and don’t make a big deal out of it.’

Madison sighed, hauling herself up. She could practically feel Gabriel squirming in the back of her head. Even they were bothered by the smell.

The truck then took off, driving down the road.

“I gave you’s mah’ name, but I don’t thinks I got yours…?” Lester asked nonchalantly, trying to start conversation.

“Oh uh…” Sydney and Madison exchanged a look. They couldn’t give their real names they were in hiding after all.

“You can call me…Sunny, and this…uh…is my sister…Emily!”

Madison felt a wave of smugness from Gabriel and she had to cover her mouth to hide her smile.

“So, what you ladies doin’ around these parts?”

“Oh,” Sydney perked up, “ya know, just a road trip with us gals, driving around parts of the country unexplored. Really, though, we were real lucky when you drove down this way. I thought this whole route was remote and empty.”

Lester grinned over at her, posture relaxed, one arm on the steering wheel and the other resting on the window. “Ain’t no luck about it, I work around these here parts.”

“Oh? What’s your job?” Sydney asked, genuinely interested.

Lester stuck a thumb over his shoulder. “That’ back there.”

The girls turned and Madison felt like she was gonna throw up. So that’s where that smell was coming from.

In the back of the truck was a rotting deer carcass.

Madison slapped a hand over her mouth, her face going pale, nausea traveling over to Gabriel who, with all the commotion and out of curiosity, peeked through her tresses of hair and saw what had upset her. Lo and behold, both May twins became nauseous.

“Maddie, are you okay?” Sydney asked, concerned.

“No-…they-…I-!” She aggressively pointed to the back of her head then to her mouth.

Sydney quickly rummaged in her bag while Lester looked on, confused and a bit concerned. “Ya’r sister doin’ okay there?”

“Yeah! Just-… a weak stomach!” Sydney carelessly dumped the contents of her toiletry bag, handing the empty item to Madison who wasted no time emptying out the contents of her stomach into it.

Gabriel didn’t really need to eat, sustaining themself on whatever nutrients Madison took in. Sadly, that also applies to expelling nutrients.

Madison could feel the waves of guilt wash over from Gabriel’s side at putting her through this.

Sydney rubbed her back, surreptitiously patting the back of her head as well to give Gabriel comfort.

Lester furrowed his brow at them, pulling over by the side of the road but when Madison went to open the door, she found there was no handle.

“Sorry, thin’ fell off a while ago. Here, lemme get that for ya’…” he hopped out of the truck, walking to the other side and opening it for them.

Madison practically leaped from the car, gaining distance in order to communicate with Gabriel without rousing suspicion. She hunched over, gasping and wheezing. “Gabriel… what the hell? Of all things, I didn’t expect you to be phased by rotting animals…”

“I don’t kill animals…” Gabriel huffed, “they’re better than people anyway…”

“…

you got me there…”

Sydney hopped out of the car, sheepishly looking over at Lester who stood by with his hands in his jacket pockets. “I’m so sorry about all the trouble…”

“Ain’t nothin’ to worry about missy’,” he waved her off, “seems like yu’r sister can’t handle a little bit of roadkill.”

Sydney perked up. “Roadkill…? You mean… you didn’t kill it?”

Lester let out a laugh, shaking his head. “No! Whatchu’ take me for? That right there’s mah job, I go around collecting roadkill offa’ the roads.”

“Huh…” Sydney looked down, “I didn’t realize that was a job…how long you been doing it for?”

Lester seemed taken aback by the genuine interest in his work. “Well uh…” he cleared his throat, “picked it up while back when’s I was still a teen. Ya don’t need no special trainin’ to be doin’ the work. Money was tight around the home so I’d figured I pull mah’ weight around and help out likes mah’ brothers .”

Sydney frowned. “And you’ve just been doing it ever since?”

“Well… mah’ brothers still be livin’ in our hometown and I cant’s just leave em’. They… still need mah’ help…” he trailed off.

There was a distant look in Lester’s eyes.

Sydney frowned, reaching over and setting a hand on Lester’s shoulder.

Lester jumped at the contact, not expecting it, looking at her with wide eyes.

Sydney smiled, eyes soft and caring. “I think it’s sweet you want to stick around for your brothers.”

Lester’s face went red, quickly turning away and clearing his throat. “W-well- thank’s you very much!”

Sydney recoiled back, her own face turning red at realizing how close she’d gotten to him.

“Uh…you just work by yourself-? Y-your job I mean!” She stuttered , trying to change the subject.

Lester immediately nodded, suddenly too shy to make eye contact with her. “Y-yeah! Just long hours patrolin’ the roads around these parts…” he scratched at his neck.

Sydney chuckled awkwardly. “And I thought I had it rough with my job…”

“O-oh? What d’ya do?”

Sydney’s face got even redder, shaking her head. “It’s-…it’s really stupid really…”

Lester finally looked back over to her, giving a goofy grin. “Ey no worries, I ain’t one tah’ judge.”

Sydney gave an embarrassed smile.

“I…dress up as a princess…and go to kids birthday parties…”

Lester stared at her long and hard before he burst out laughing.

Sydney looked offended, swatting at him playfully. “Hey! You said you wouldn’t judge!”

“Sorry! Sorry!” Lester wiped a tear from his eye, snorting, “that just ain’t what I was expectin’ at all…”

Sydney crossed her arms, pouting.

As Lester settled down from his laughing fit, he grinned her way. “I wouldn’t mind seein’ ya all dolled up, little princess…”

She perked up, turning to him with wide eyes and a blushing face.

Lester realized what he had said, becoming awkward as he tried to back step. “I-I mean-! I think you’d look real nice-! …B-b-bein’ a princess and all!”

“Uh…th-thanks…” Sydney was finding it really hard to make eye contact right now.

“A-anyways! Ya shud’ probably go check on ya’r sister over there!” Lester was literally pulling his cap over his burning face by this point.

Sydney nodded dumbly. “Y-yeah! Right! I should do that!”

As Sydney ran off to Madison’s hunched over form, putting a hand on their back and checking on them, Lester watched the girls from a distance.

None of them noticed the guilty look in his eye…

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