That’s when I noticed how close they were seated, and that Dana’s one leg was draped over Melanie’s at the ankle. Sure, we were all scrunched in the tiny car together, but something about this felt different. It was almost intimate.
I wondered if I was reading too much into it.
Melanie put her hand on the headrest of my seat, her cold fingers touching mine. “I’m sorry I let that girl hurt you,” she said.
“You saved my life,” I told her. “You saved all of ours.”
“Does me saving you from danger really count if I’m the cause of it?”
I wanted to argue with her, but I really couldn’t. Anything I said wasn’t going to change that they were after us because they wanted Melanie. It was flat out a fact. She just needed to know none of us resented her for it. “We’re in this together,” I began as I placed my hand on top of hers. “And we’re not going anywhere.”
There was almost a smile growing on Melanie’s face.
“Try to start it!” Max yelled from outside. I reached across the seat and turned the keys in the ignition. I fully expected this moment to go full horror movie with me shakily inserting the keys and weeping when it didn’t start, but it started up just fine. Thank God. Max slammed the hood shut and promptly returned to the car, and we backed out of the apartment building driveway faster than we had any right to given these snowy roads.
Because of Max’s crazy driving, the four in the back were jerked back and forth, and Priscilla’s face slammed into the glass. “Slow down, Flash Gordon!” she shouted.
“Where are we going?” I calmly asked.
He reached into his pocket for his phone and attempted to get a signal. “We have to lose this car and get a new one.”
“You think they saw the car?”
“If they sent Tiffany to check out the apartment building, it means they recognized my car. We’re a big moving target right now.”
Daggett leaned forward in between our seats and said, “You can rent a car not far from here. Lincoln did side work on their vehicles all the time.”
“It’ll be open?” I asked.
“Yep. It’s open till midnight and it’s—” He checked his watch. “It’s only around seven now.”
“Seven?” Priscilla repeated. “Shit, it feels like we’ve been out here for a hundred years.”
It really did feel like the longest day ever. It didn’t help that we were in the thick of winter and it got dark in the afternoon as well. It was hard to tell the difference between the morning and night.
“Okay, good, we’ll hit up the car rental and dump this one in the woods,” Max said. “But that means we’re gonna have to walk there.”
“What the hell was the point of fixing the car if we’re not using it?” Priscilla asked.
“You’re right, we should walk these fifteen miles in the snow instead. If Molly doesn’t kill us first, there’s always frostbite.”
I looked back at Priscilla, who was already staring at me. “Your boyfriend has an attitude problem.”
I shrugged and replied, “My boyfriend has a not-wanting-to-die problem.”
Max glanced over at me, almost smirking that I beat him to a sarcastic response.
Once we were five miles away from the car rental agency, we ditched the car. Max tried to get it as deep into the nearby woods as he could, but there was too much shrub, trees, and snow to form an easy pathway. We settled on using these things to cover the car and our tracks. Then, we headed off.
Walking five miles through the snow was about as much fun as you’d expect it to be, which, of course, was none. The snow soaked through my shoes and drenched my feet, my nose and ears were red and stinging, my legs were aching, my teeth were chattering, and to really amp up the fun level Priscilla complained the entire time. I was also painfully aware that we could get jumped at any moment. I had hoped that them losing Tiffany and their trio being dwindled down to two would make them rethink attacking a group of six. We at least had numbers on our side. Even with two pathetic humans like Priscilla and me.
It may have taken us a long time, but we arrived at the car rental place in one piece. I think we were getting better at maneuvering through towns trying not to die.
While we took a seat in the waiting room and had some water, I could hear Max talking to one of the desk clerks about a good place to stay for the night. It hit me that we really were coming up with our plan as we went along. Was staying at another hotel the right idea? Hell if I knew.
As we left in our rented minivan, I brought my thoughts up to Max. He shrugged and said, “They’re gonna be looking for us. We’d be insane to lead them back to our homes.”
“So we’re really gonna run forever?” I asked.
“Until we kill them.”
I swallowed. Having to end someone’s life was sadly a concept I had grown familiar with, but it was usually done in the heat of the moment to defend ourselves. Actually plotting to kill someone, and someone we had a history with on top of it? I didn’t know if I was ballsy enough for that. I knew they were dangerous and needed to be stopped, but all I could think about was that we were planning to kill Owen’s sister. My stomach felt rotten.
We were recommended to a log cabin style hotel deep within the woods. It was a luxurious two-floor building with all wood interior, a big crackling fireplace, a wraparound porch on each level, and it
