"We need to switch out the car! How do you know that they aren't tracking us right now!" Screamed KL's naggy, annoying male companion.

"Don't you think I'm aware of that by now? But what other choice do I have? I mean, sure we could all jump out and leave the car running until it drives off a bridge, but what would that solve?"

" The fact that we wouldn't be tracked anymore!"

" I already told you that I took out all of the cameras!" I screamed as frustration took over me.

"But how do you really know that?" He asked.

I took a deep breath in and tried to calm myself. " This is the only car that's available for me to use right now, so I will use it until I can manage to get another. Until then, I would highly advise you to keep your mouth shut. If you're that uncomfortable in staying in this car, please advise me at anytime and I'd be more than glad to pull over and leave you stranded walking in the middle of the street."

"C'mon guys," KL groaned from the backseat.

"Sorry, but it's the hardcore truth. I can't deal with whining the whole time. My job was to find you and that was it."

"What job? It was your job to find me?" She replied, sounding like she was annoyed but even more like she was in a saddened state in shock.

Looking through the rearview mirror, my eyes met with her amber eyes. " I was told to come find you."

"By who?"

I sighed. Here I go, telling this girl that her parents basically sent me to grant their dying wish. There was no way to break this lightly, and suddenly I felt my heart begin to pace with nervousness. Bracing myself for an outburst of female hormones, I tried to approach the subject very, very delicately.

" Well, I was on my way to California...."

Her amber eyes were intently locked onto mine through the mirror. "Mmhmm," she responded.

" I was taking a flight to California...."

"Alright," she said.

" And I just so happened to be on the plane that crashed a few days ago," I blurted out. She covered her mouth with her hands and gasped. Looking at her reflection I could see tears beginning to well in her eyes. Wrong button to push Kratos. Why would you just blurt it out like that?

" And?" She asked as she began to lose her composure, her voice cracking.

" And on that plane, I met a very nice couple. A couple who sent me to go find their daughter and make sure that she would stay safe." I took a short pause so that she could soak in the information I was giving her. " This couple had told me that they loved their daughter very,very much and wanted the best for her, but while they were on the plane, she was on land. The girl's father gave me his wallet, which oddly had everything I needed to find the girl. And here I am, making sure that she stays safe."

Looking to my side, I noticed that Seth was staring out the window in silence. Better enjoy this. This might be the only silence I get from him throughout the whole car ride.

Between everything that I had told her, tears began to roll from her eyes and she began to sniffle.

I felt my lips purse, " I'm so sorry things had to be like this KL. I tried to use my powers to save them, to save them all, but it was just too much. I had never been in such a life threatening situation before and I freaked out. My powers froze up on me. But you have to believe me when I said that I tried. I tried so hard to save them. I nearly died in the process."

As her body quivered back and forth from her cries, a knot formed in my stomach. Part of me wanted to comfort her, and the other part of me felt no tie to her at all. I wanted to feel emotionless, feel nothing towards her but something kept pulling me toward her, wanting to know more about her.

At this moment, I made a promise to myself that I would not allow my curiosity to take over me. You would think that someone like me would know not to get attached to anyone, let alone be curious to know more about this random girl I just saved. Besides, she seemed too moody to be my type. I wouldn't be able to handle her drama.

"The wallet," she sniffled.

"What wallet?"

" My dad's wallet. Do you still have it?" Her voice shot up to a squeaky octave as she finished her question.

" Yeah, here" I replied, keeping one hand on the wheel and the other to get the wallet out of the back pocket of my pants. I passed the wallet back to her and she grabbed it. Looking through the rearview mirror, I saw her looking through the objects inside of it.

She began to sob, her chest heaving up and down. "It smells just like like him."

"KL," her male friend said, trying to calm her. As she began searching through the wallet, crinkling noises could be heard.
She was beginning to unravel the notebook paper that had the address on it.
"Wait a minute," she said as she sniffled again. "What is this? Why would my dad have a piece of paper that had our address on it?"

" How should I know?" I replied. " I just followed it, and lucky I did because it led me to you just in the knick of time."

"What do you mean?" Her friend asked, directing his question towards KL.

" There's literally a piece of paper in here that says 'This is all you'll need along your way' with my address after it. Why would this be in my dad's wallet?"

"Almost makes it sound like he anticipated all of this," Her friend said.

"Why would you anticipate all of these events? Or even willingly put yourself in that position?" I asked.

Her friend shrugged, "I don't know. Just a suggestion."

"I'm so confused," said KL, sounding like she was beginning to calm down. "There was no reason for my dad to have this in here. He obviously knows where his house is."

" Maybe he meant to give it to somebody," I said.

" Or maybe it was intended for you," said her friend, looking straight at me.

" Yeah, but how would he have known that all of this was going to happen?" I asked.

"That's where I get lost. It just doesn't add up," said KL.

I sighed. " It has to be just a coincidence. There's no way this was intended for me."

"And why would it be? That was the first time you met them,"she said.

"It was. They didn't know me at all so why would they intentionally leave this for me?"

Her friend spoke up, " Did you see them put anything inside of the wallet?"

" No, I didn't," I replied.

Simultaneously, we all sighed.

"I don't know," I said.

"Me either," said KL and her friend in unison.

"So where are we going?" asked her friend.

" Right now, to a gas station. I have a little less than a quarter tank. Maybe I can switch cars there. After that, we're heading to New York."

His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "New York? I told my parents I was going to be at KL's house all weekend, not in New York!"

" Well sorry about that," I said.

He began to grumble things.

"Look Sal-"

" It's Seth!" He screamed.

"Look Seth, I had no idea this was all going to happen. None of us did. So for both your safety and mine, just shut up! I can't deal with you for much longer."

Seth continued, " I just don't know how you expect me to-"

That was it. I immediately pulled over and stopped the car, sending him and KL flying forward in their seats. Walking out and to the passenger side, I motioned my hand for him to get out.

" After you," I told him.

" What?" He asked, his eyes widened in shock.

" Kratos, what are you doing?" KL asked.
Looking sternly at Seth, I spoke. "I wasn't lying when I said that I would let you out. I don't work well when people are always being naggy and whiny. So since you seem to have such a problem with my plans, here's the door. Help yourself out," I said while motioning him outside.

" What is your problem dude? You talk a lot of gibber about people with powers, you beat up some dudes with red eyes, and now you steal a car and drive it around like it's yours?"

Cutting his question off, I said," Are you going to get out or are you going to stay? I mean, after all you did say that you were going to stay by KL's side. Then again that's really none of my business."

His eyebrow furrowed in anger. " You're right, it isn't your business." Then he sighed. "But you're also right because I did make a promise to be here for her:" After a brief moment of silence, his eyes peered up at me with a slightly saddened expression. "You're right Kratos, I'm sorry for being so difficult."

" That's what I thought," I said as I slammed the door on him and got back in my seat. I turned on the car once again and continued to drive down the road.

"Now let's look for a gas station before we're left stranded. Let me know if you see one," I stated.

It took a good twenty minutes of silence for me to speak up again.

" Any gas stations yet? I'm almost on E." I asked, while looking at my gas gauge again.

" Not that I've seen," KL said.

" I haven't seen any either.....so what's the story behind the car? Like I know you stole it from that dude and all, but how? And why?"

"Well, it all started after a long night sleeping in the woods. I had walked to the convenience store by a gas station and as I was buying food, my mind kept crossing to the beautiful Camaro I had just seen outside. I saw keys dangling out of the back of this man's jeans, and I desperately needed a ride to go and find KL. So, used my powers to obtain his keys and it just happened to be the keys to this beauty. Of course you know that he managed to track me down once. I fought him a bit, and then found KL, and now we're here."

Seth's mouth opened in shock. "How'd you manage to keep this thing in such good shape through all of that?"

Shrugging, I replied, "Pure luck, pure luck."

" I have to say, it sure is a beautiful car."

" I can only ride in style," I said as a smirk grew on my face.

"Hey!" KL screamed. "There looks like there's a gas station at the next exit."

"Alright!" Exclaimed Seth.

"Great because we were about to have to travel on foot soon," I replied.

KL chuckled at this.

Getting off on the exit, we stopped to get gas. As I parked, my head had started to feel woozy. I had had a slight headache earlier, but I figured it was just because Seth was talking my ear off and annoying me. It was odd that all of a sudden the pain began to worsen. As I opened the door of the car, I began walking forward but before I knew it I felt my knees fall on a hard, concrete surface. There was an excruciating pain in my head followed by a loud screeching sound .It didn't sound like someone screaming but it had the same effect, if not worse. The pain was like hearing nails down a chalkboard combined with a buzzing sound that was not pleasant at all. I clutched my head and just kneeled there, hoping and praying that it would just go away. The more I tried to force it away, the worse both the sound and pain got. Pictures of memories from my past flashed in my head, and out of all of the pain that I was going through they were the worst of it. I couldn't focus on anything around me other than the fact that these memories felt like they were almost causing me excruciating physical pain.

My outside vision became blurred, and my eyelids grew heavy. The ringing and buzzing floated all around my head. I felt my lips open to say something, but I could not hear anything come out even when I knew that I had said something. Suddenly, the pain began to lessen and lessen until the pain in my head finally stopped. My eyelids fluttered open and right in front of my face I saw bright, beautiful amber eyes. KL's hands were on my temples. When I noticed how close we were, I winced back in shock.

" Oh. I'm sorry Kratos. I didn't mean to get in your personal space," KL said while standing up.

" I-it's alright," I said. Looking down at my hands, almost every vein was visible in them.

" Kratos, you look really pale. Are you feeling okay?" She asked in a concerned voice.

I sighed and stood up. " I'll be fine." I turned around to walk away, and when I did Seth was standing there.

" Are you alright? What happened?" Seth asked.

" Just a mini migraine," I said.

" That was no migraine. You were screaming for it to stop. And you kept repeating for it to stop over and over again," Seth replied.

" Yeah, it was really painful. Anyway, let's go," I said.

Suddenly, at the gas pump next to us pulled up a man in a black, 2005 Explorer. He had left the keys in the ignition as he went inside to pay. He had made my job too easy.

Looking at KL and Seth, they looked at me with concern written on their faces. "Guys, I'm fine. Just tell me that you didn't leave anything in the Camaro."

" I didn't. Why?" Asked KL.

" Car swap. Let's go," I motioned my head toward the Explorer.

" Okay, but Seth is driving. You can't drive after what just happened," said KL.

" But-" I began to protest.

She looked at me, a sternness covering her face. "No buts. Let's go before he comes back."

"Um, did you not think this through? What if that car is empty too?" Asked Seth.

Kratos devilishly smirked, "It's a risk worth taking. Hurry, let's go!"

Seth had already hopped in the driver's seat. I left the keys to the Camaro on the floor by the gas pump, and went to jump in the passenger seat. As soon as I realized that KL had went into the passenger seat, I know I had no choice but to go into the backseat. As soon as I shut the car door, Seth sped up and drove off.

"Lucky us. We have a little less than half a tank. At least we'll get somewhere," Seth said, excitedly.

"Yeah, hopefully to another gas station," KL joked.

Struggling to pull myself up from the force from the car I groaned, " Why do I have to sit back here."

" Oh, look who's whining now," Seth replied teasingly.

"Shut up," I mumbled.

As the sound of pop music filled the car, every noise in the background disappeared. I looked at my reflection in the of the back window car. You could make out my blue veins. It was almost as if the memories had actually managed to suck the life out of me. As I watched my face in the window the words in my memories played over and over in my head. They hurt more than a sword piercing my soft skin, than the fact that I had almost died in that plane crash.

" You are a monster, something that no one will ever accept."

© Lightning_Stryker 2015