The Getaway #2

"My hands," Nadeena's voice was raspy with crying and exhaustion.  "No, my fingernails, they're still so goddamn dirty."
Eli's heart twisted like a churn through something hard and nearly dried at that.  A tear ran silently down his face as he, deliberately now, stared out the windshield into the grey sheets of rain.  He threw his head to the side slightly and blinked it away impatiently.  She could cry, wail and carry on, but he had to be made of stone.  One of them had to, or they were completely and utterly fucked.

Nadeena moaned a little and took a deep, hiccupping breath.
"Okay, we have to stop somewhere and get some goddamned... baby wipes, or something."  She shook her head at this, a laugh mixing in to a sob.  "And a Dr. Pepper."

Eli laughed despite himself, and the situation, and the rain.  "Yeah, I guess we should.  I guess we fuckin' should."  He laughed again, louder, suddenly filled with warmth and gratitude for the circumstances that brought them together, damned as they were.

"I wiped my nose on your sleeve," Nadeena giggled a little.
"Okay.  Phew.  Okay, baby.  I think we're nearly out of these mountains.  Canton should have a place.  We need gas, too."
"You go in and pay.  I'll pump gas.  Can't be paying for baby wipes with blood all over me."  She laughed once more, abruptly, ironically, and straightened up off of Eli's arm.
"After that, we gotta drive east.  All night.  Hell, even maybe to South Carolina.  Myrtle Beach, maybe.  Beach sound good, baby?"
"Yeah, that sounds pretty good.  Baby."

They lapsed into silence as the cartoonish curving of the mountain highway began to straighten out, and the lights illuminating the road began to strobe regularly through the cab of the truck.

"Canton, 2 miles."  Eli absently read the sign aloud, but Nadeena didn't stir.  She had fallen into a deep nap, face against her own shoulder.

"Nadeena, Nadeena baby, wake up.  Do you still want a Dr. Pepper?"

Nadeena awoke instantly with an uncanny alertness.  "Yeah.  And chips."

Eli cracked a smile at that and made a right into a brightly lit gas station.

"Don't forget the wipes, babe."  Nadeena kissed him and nuzzled the roughness of his cheek.  He turned his face to kiss her fully on the mouth.  He couldn't help himself and brought his hand up into her hair, pulling her up into him.  He wanted her now, he felt his heart beat in his hands are he ran his fingers through her curls.  She rose up and gripped the back of his head.  She pulled away for a brief, painful second.
"Drive over under that tree, baby."  And her hand was slipped under the band of his boxers.

They made love like warring tribes that night.  It was brief and brutal, and any illusion of secrecy was destroyed by the squeaking of the pick-up truck's axles, and the slow hoot of Nadeena, releasing the clock's spring of tension that had been winding for the last 36 hours.  She lay her head back against the fogged window and grinned at him, lighting a cigarette.
"Now we both need baby wipes."  She watched him pull up his jeans and thrilled a little in the coolness of the leather seat against her naked thigh.

The gas station was empty, save for the attendant, who had very little reaction when the door's bell jingled at Eli's entrance.

He could smell Nadeena all over himself, but smelling like pussy was better than smelling like blood.  Or gore.

As Eli headed towards the drink cooler, he felt the hairs on his neck go up suddenly.  There was someone in here looking for him, he knew it.

Hands shaking, he looked blindly at the colorful soda bottles and shut the door without taking anything.  The shelf at the end of the aisle had a shelf of bug spray.  He grabbed a can and bit his lip.  He sprung around he corner of the aisle and immediately knocked over a life-sized cut-out of Dale Earnhart, Jr., holding a Mountain Dew can.

The clerk looked up slowly from the glossy magazine he was sleeping over.  Eli opened his mouth to form an explanation, but nothing came out.  He shrugged, the bug spray can still in his hand.  Shaking his head, he replaced the can where he found it.  He got their snacks and some water, pausing briefly before the small condom selection.  He grinned and pocketed a box of three.

Baby wipes, sodas and food.  He put down a twenty.  "Whatever's left, put it on pump-number-three."