On the run (For salio)

[elementsofchaos]

Back in Ohio again. He's not in Cincinnati this time, maybe an hour or two east, but it's far enough from his previous stopping point in Michigan that he feels as close to safe as he ever does. The further from the Thermopolis compound he gets, the more he can breathe, though he never dares to hope for a full deep breath. He parks on a suburban street near a small brownstone apartment building, sliding open the Grotto's side door to enjoy a little night air. If he smoked, he probably would've lit up, but as it is he simply sits on the floorboards and hangs his legs out the open door. Maybe he should take off his sneakers, feel the grass between his toes for a bit. But no, he always has to be ready to leave at a moment's notice when he's in civilization. There's no telling who could be an agent of his family, willing or unwitting.

Jovan heaves a sigh, turning his attention up to the sky. It's cloudy, he wishes he could see the stars. There's a heaviness to the air, something ominous, but it doesn't feel like a storm. Hard to tell if it's all in his head, but he stills himself and his breathing to listen.

There are sirens in the distance.

Comments

[salio]

It's hard to explain how Sal was feeling. He remembers everything he'd just done in gruesome, graphic detail. He can't hear Larry's voice anymore. At the sound of the approaching sirens, red-eyed Todd darts into the forest. From that moment on, everything is a blur. He runs, not knowing where he's going but knowing that he can't be caught--that the cult can still pick up its pieces.

Exhausted both mentally and physically and already losing adrenaline, Sal can't say how far he goes or how long he runs. Nockville is such a rural town, Addison Apartments a lone building along a stretch of road and forest and little else. All he can tell is that he's running on fumes, and with only one working eye and breath suffocating him from within his mask, he's suddenly falling without any clear idea of his current surroundings.

Crumpled around his guitar like its the only thing grounding him to reality, all he finds himself able to do is break into a round of inconsolable sobs.

[elementsofchaos]

The only thing saving Sal from the future he was meant to experience is where and when he collapses. Jovan hears the stranger running, hears struggling breath, feels both on the air currents. He senses the jagged edges of light and darkness in the fringes of the approaching aura, feels the waver of the Pinnacle in every cell. It's inducing what promises to be one hell of a migraine. He jumps up, instinctively ready to do... something, he's not sure what.

And then the person collapses, sobbing, and Jovan closes his eyes for a moment with a sigh. "Fuck...," he mutters, before slowly approaching the stranger. He can't ignore the smell of blood. What the hell happened to this... wait, is it a kid? The person is small, fragile-looking. What the absolute fuck...?

"H-- hey, what happened? Are you in trouble?"

[salio]

At the sound of a voice, Sal flinches. Somewhere along the way, he'd dropped his knife, but instinct wouldn't have even had him brandish it. He just slides back on his feet, bloody hands still tight on his guitar as he pushes away in the dirt. Staring through the holes in his prosthetic, heart pumping in his ears, Sal slowly makes out the question and an involuntarily, miserable bubble of laughter escapes him.

"Trouble...yeah. I'm in deeper than ever."

He swallows thickly, misery still stuck along the inside of his throat, gut, and skull. He doesn't recognize his own voice, it's so small and lost, but no matter how shaken he is he realizes that he can't stop here.

"I need to--"

Needs to what? He can't even find the wherewithal to stand.

"I have to go."

[elementsofchaos]

"Wait, are you hurt? You're covered in blood...."

Jovan reaches out a hand to help the stranger up. Maybe if he gives this poor kid a towel, bags up the bloody clothes, lets him shower so Jovan can dress any wounds... shit, he's trying to stay out of trouble, why does he have to be so soft-hearted?? But he can't bring himself to ignore someone in distress. Maybe this is testing his karma, to see if he deserves continued luck in avoiding his family. Thinking that way and still wanting to help could be selfish, but no being is completely selfless.

"Let me help."

[salio]

Sal watches the stranger. He seems kind, honest in his want to help...and Sal knows that as much as he'd love to accept it, he can't. It wouldn't be right, not after what he did. After a hesitation, he accepts the hand, though he nearly seems to wobble right back over as soon as he's on his feet. With that, though, he shakes his head.

"That's really kind of you...but it would be wrong to get you involved." He looks around, finding the direction where the faint glow of flashing blue and red lights can be seen on the horizon. "You should...get as far away from here as you can. Get outside of town, if possible."

[elementsofchaos]

It's impossible to miss the way the stranger glances around, pausing at the sight of those familiar flashing lights. Police, blood... but there's no visible weapon, no prickle of hostile intent.

What are you running from?

Jovan knows too much about running.

He doesn't let go of the other's hand, but his strong grip is reassuring rather than demanding. "I know what it's like when you need to escape. You can't think straight at first, you'll put yourself in danger without realizing it." He's not even sure what he's saying, but something in his gut is screaming at him that he has to convince this person to keep going. "Once you calm down and you can be logical, then you can turn yourself in or whatever, if that's what you want. But I get the feeling you don't deserve whatever they'd do to you."

[salio]

Sal can feel his whole body shaking as he turns to look at their joined hands. He can't explain how, or why, but even after all that he's been through he doesn't feel as if he should be distrustful or uncertain of the other young man. But how? Here he is, looking like a psychopath. Blood aside, he's an unsettling presence to run into on a brightly lit day. Seeing him in the middle of the night like this? Sal wouldn't have blamed him if he'd started screaming.

I wish that were true, he thinks. I do deserve it, no matter what my intentions are.

There's no way that Sal could ever forgive himself, not for this. Even if it saved Nockfell. Even if it saved the whole world. The cost was so, so terrible.

But he can't bring himself to accept punishment, either. Maybe it makes him pragmatic or maybe it makes him a coward. Either way, the tears start up again as his resolve breaks.

"I don't know what to do. There's nowhere I can go from here."

[elementsofchaos]

Jovan knows this sort of hopelessness. He felt it more and more acutely with every day that passed between learning of his destiny and the night he finally fled the compound. Even now, a little over a year past that fateful deadline, the gloom of it lingers. Any day could be the last taste of freedom he ever knows.

"... stay right here. Take off your shoes and your outer clothes so you don't track blood into my van. I have a shower in there, you're going to wash up and I'll get you some clean clothes, okay? Nobody will find you."

He lets go carefully, making sure the stranger isn't about to fall over before he rushes the short distance back to the Grotto. Grabbing a large black trash bag from an outer compartment, he hurries back as fast as he can. "Everything in here. We can clean it up or toss it, but you have to move fast."

[salio]

Sal nods. His whole body trembles, but he manages to do as he's told. Unslinging his guitar from around his shoulders and setting it aside, he steps out of his shoes and socks and then his shirt and jeans, leaving him in his mercifully-bloodless boxers. He looks just as small, if not smaller--thin-framed and clutching onto his messy clothes--all the possessions he currently has to his name.

The whole scenario is beyond surreal. Here he is with a perfect stranger, stripping down despite his inherent issues with his own body and putting bloodstained clothes into a trash bag. If he wasn't in such a state of shock, Sal would make a quip about how going into a stranger's van is the exact kind of thing he's been taught not to do.

Instead, here he is, nearly completely naked and shaking far more visibly than before, ready to go use a stranger's van shower and hide out like a--no, as a fugitive.

[elementsofchaos]

So far, so good. Quickly, Jovan leads to poor shivering kid to the open van door and ushers him inside, setting the bag down. He slides the door shut and goes to the bathroom cubicle, converting it from toilet and sink to shower mode with practiced ease.

“Here, go clean up. Don’t freak if you feel us moving, I’m going to drive to a different area. Wet yourself down, push that knob to temporarily stop the water, and soap up everything at once. Then rinse off. Water’s pretty limited right now without a campground hookup.”

With that, he heads to the cab to start up the van. He won’t peel away, gotta be cool and casual so they don’t draw attention. Just a work van heading home, nothing to see here.

[salio]

Sal nods numbly, quiet even with his tears now. He's thankful for the explanation, having never been inside any kind of RV before, but doesn't find the excess energy to say anything. Managing to make his way into the little shower, Sal takes a moment just to catch his breath in the privacy that the space provides. The cold, solid wall helps him uncover a temporary sense of stability, enough for him to remove his underwear and his mask--luckily, that should come clean easily once the water's running.

He follows the kind stranger's instructions, hosing himself all over, lathering his body, and then rinsing in sequence. His hair's going to stay a wet mop for now, but at least any traces of red have been squeezed out of the blue strands. Once he and his mask is suitably clean and he has it secured behind his head, he tentatively peeks out from the cubicle door, towel wrapped around his small body underneath his arms.

"Where should I...um..."

Sit? Or change into clothes that don't belong to him?

[elementsofchaos]

“Hang on,” Jovan calls from the front. He pulls over onto a side street and parks at the curb. The electric engine shuts off. So he’s really doing this, huh? He must be losing his mind after all.

Going to the steps up to the loft, he pulls out a drawer built into the side of the steps. With a quick look over the options, he takes out a clean t-shirt, a pair of sweatpants, and (after a moment’s hesitation) a pair of slim fit boxer-briefs from a fresh pack. All these he passes to the masked youth. “I’ll try to clean up your shoes, at least. Might need new ones, though.”

Time to give his guest some privacy. Jovan returns to the bag he left by the door, opening it up to take out the bloody shoes. Ugh, these probably are a lost cause. What the fuck did this guy go through? It must’ve been horrible, between all the blood and the obviously distraught mental state. Sighing, he’s about to close the bag when he notices coppery and white hairs clinging to everything.

“By any chance, do you have a dog or cat?”

[salio]

"Oh, thanks."

Accepting the clothes, Sal ducks back into the bathroom to pull everything on. The boxers are a little big but they work fine. The sweats and T-shirt are huge on him, but with the drawstring pulled tight it'll do. Sal's looking extra casual as he shuffles out, finding a spot to sit so he can roll up the pant bottoms enough so they won't drag.

"Yeah, actually. An orange cat named Gizmo. I, um...I had to leave him behind."

Which he immediately feels an immense pang of guilt for. But...it's for the best, isn't it? Gizmo deserves a stable home, and not whatever he can provide. Trying not to sound like he's just lost his emotional rock, Sal clears his throat.

"Guess my clothes bear the telltale sign of cat ownership."

[elementsofchaos]

“Yeah.” There’s no mistaking the pain in the other boy’s voice. Looks like Jovan’s about to pick up another passenger. “Where’s he at right now?”

Without waiting for an answer, he makes his way back to the cab and starts up the van again. He glances back at his guest, clearly not accepting any protests. He might be imagining the voice cooing praise for his kindness in his head, but it might actually be that fucker teasing him.

[salio]

"...my place." Sal answers slowly, swallowing thickly. "Not...not where I was running from. That's Addison Apartments. The house I stay in is a bit closer to the rest of town."

He rattles off the address, taking a deep breath as he leans forward to hold his head in his hands. Each second, the reality of his situation weighs more and more heavily down on him. He feels like he's going to throw up--not that there'd be anything in his stomach to heave.

"It should be empty, right now, but the cops will definitely come to look for me at some point tonight."

[elementsofchaos]

"Got it." Jovan opens the nav app on his phone, enters the address, and pulls away from the curb. They drive in silence, and the entire time Jovan wonders when he started feeling confident enough to pick up a bloody stranger who might've been involved in something horrible. He really hopes this guy escaped from harm and the cops only want him as a potential witness. But he doesn't feel any shift in the other's aura, other than the slow wobble of distress and sorrow. Malice is vastly different. He's felt that before.

Eventually he parks in front of the house, leaving the engine running silently this time. "Stay here, I'll be back." Without waiting for acknowledgement, he takes off into the darkness toward the house. He circles the place first, checking to see if anyone is home. That done, he walks up to a back window and touches it, feeling the resonance of the glass. He syncs with it, the elements combining to make it, and coaxes them to remember what they were like in molten form. The glass glows hot and spreads open like a wound, wide enough for him to slip inside using a jump and a burst of wind. Still glowing, the gap seals itself and cools, leaving no trace behind. Jovan has to stand there for a moment until the mild vertigo subsides. Combo spells are always harder than straight elemental manipulation. He's just going to unlock the door and leave that way.

Slowly he makes his way through the first floor, a quiet string of "pspspsps" coaxing the cat to hopefully appear. "Gizmo? C'mon, buddy. Your friend needs you, okay?"

[salio]

It probably would've been helpful for Sal to have said where his bedroom was or where Gizmo's favorite lounging spots where, but he had seemed completely useless in terms of conversation, far too wrapped up in the wake of whatever events had led him to Jovan's proverbial doorstep.

Fortunately, Gizmo is a friendly and sociable cat--if lazy--and likely not having been fed yet is particularly eager to make his presence known to the stranger. A gravelly, rolling meow sounds before the faint tinkle of a belled collar as a head pokes out from one of the downstairs bedrooms. The notable large and somewhat rotund orange cat comes padding over, not even hesitating to begin smelling at Jovan's pantleg and rubbing his side against it.

[elementsofchaos]

Wow, this cat's an absolute unit. Adorable, too. "Hey there, Gizmo. Look at you. Friendly guy, huh?" Jovan leans down to offer his fingers for sniffing. "You smell your friend? He needs you, okay? You come with me and I'll bring you to him. Make sure you get dinner, too."

They can pick up supplies on the road. If all of Gizmo's stuff vanishes, it will look suspicious. This way, it'll appear the cat simply wandered off to find his owner. So once he's sure Gizmo has got his scent and is cool with it, Jovan will carefully pick him up and head to the front door. He'll leave it unlocked and open a bit to make the "lost cat" look even more likely.

[salio]

After giving Jovan an appropriate amount of sniffing, he allows himself to be picked up without protest or struggle. His tail swishes without agitation, seeming comfortable at being held. This is clearly a house cat--and one that has a lot of experience being handled. A nice and easy job for the detour that it is.

It isn't far to the car, but even expecting the kind stranger to return, Sal sinks back and away where he's seated when he hears the door to the van open once more. His knees pulled up to his chest, he seems to be instinctively trying to disappear--or bracing for the very worst. For hands to grab him and haul him out.

Instead, Gizmo leaps out of Jovan's arms at the sight of his owner, padding his big soft body all the way over to bully himself into Sal's lap.

"Gizmo...you really got him."

Sal had thought, by the time he was out of the shower, that he had run out of tears. Being able to wrap his arms around his best friend, however, triggers a whole new wave of gratitude. There's fear, there, too--the realization hitting home that he'd nearly lost this forever. That he wouldn't have ever had the chance to say goodbye and would've likely never seen Gizmo again...just like he'd never see his parents again, or Larry again, or any of his other friends. His body wracks with sobs as tears flood the inside of his prosthetic and he holds the big cat close.

"Thank you so, so much."

[elementsofchaos]

Jovan watches the guy and the cat cuddle for a moment, feeling… something… tight but warm in his chest. He did a good thing, something selfless, made another life a bit better. For once, his abilities had value to someone not his family.

“No problem,” he murmurs, heading back to the driver’s seat so they can get out of there. He tries not to think about anything but getting out of the state, programming his nav to guide him to a state park in Pennsylvania that allows free camping. They can hide out there for a day or two before heading to upstate New York. On the way, he’ll stop at a thrift shop and a dollar store for supplies for his new passengers.

Hopefully said passengers can get some rest on the way.

[salio]

More than anything else could have, Gizmo's purring presence sends rumbling waves of calm through his small, shaken body. Eventually, the sound of his tears fades to silence as Sal lays back on the floor of the RV, giving Gizmo maximum room to sprawl on his chest. Between the soothing weight and warmth of the cat and the steady movement of the car, exhaustion kicks in.

Despite all the stress and the horror, despite how on edge and alert he's been, his consciousness fades into a deep blackness as his body gives up. It may be the very best sleep he's had in ages--and that he'll be afforded in the weeks to come. Sal won't stir despite the discomfort of his prosthetics, nor will the ultimate parking of the van coax him back to the waking world.

[elementsofchaos]

While Sal sleeps, Jovan acquires cat food, a stable bowl, a spill-proof water dispenser, and a lidded litter box that will fit in one of the lower cabinets. He’ll work on improving the setup later if necessary, but for now he takes out the few things stored there and props the door open. As big as Gizmo is, he should fit comfortably. Next comes a few sets of clothes and a pair of sneakers from a secondhand store. He has to guess sizes but he’s good at estimating. His guest can pick out more of his own stuff later.

Hours later they’re pulling into a remote part of the woods. Popping the top of the Grotto turns it from a work van into a camper, not that anyone is around to notice. When Jovan goes to check on the other guy, he finds him passed out with the cat purring away. At first, he considers carrying the stranger up to the loft bed, but in the end he converts the seating area at the back into the secondary bed and lifts the sleeping kid and cat onto it.

“I must be out of my mind after all,” he sighs. Kicking off his shoes, he climbs up to the loft and flops into bed fully clothed to sleep off what remains of the night. Hopefully the guy downstairs doesn’t scream himself awake too early.

[salio]

Sal sleeps like a corpse, his mind mercifully black...at least for much of the night. Gizmo ends up sprawling out at his feet, and maybe it's the lack of weight settling him down against the extra bed that rouses his repressed subconscious. It's just before sunrise that he jolts awake, sweating and shaking and gasping for breath. He never usually sleeps with his prosthetics on, and the pressure is suffocating.

Maybe it's just that he's so used to nightmares, but he doesn't scream. Just sits there disoriented and frantic, struggling to undo the bottom strap of his prosthetic so he can shift it up toward his forehead, giving himself a bit more air.

"Where--"

No, he remembers. And his nightmare wasn't just a nightmare. Not this one. Gizmo stirs sleepily, meowing comfortingly as he stretches his front paws toward Sal and yawns, but Sal only has a second to orient himself before a new wave of sickness crashes into him with the weight of his new reality. As the echoed words of his father's pride bounce between his ears. As he remembers how it feels to plunge a knife through skin. As he remembers each dying face of every friend and neighbor and family and loved one--

He barely manages to remember the little van restroom, clambering out of bed and into it just in time to heave into the toilet. Empty. Bile and emptiness. That's all he has left inside. But the shock is gone and now there's only painful clarity.

[elementsofchaos]

The sound of retching rouses Jovan from sleep. It’s too early for this, but he can’t be mad because the other guy clearly has been through hell. After making sure his disguise hasn’t slipped during the night, he comes downstairs silently and goes to the kitchenette area. BRAT diet for nausea: he dishes out a small cup of room temperature applesauce since it’s what he has right now, accompanied by some unsweetened green tea that he waters down and warms to just above body temperature. He pours cold brew for himself and sits down to wait for his guest.

They need to make plans. He was going to ask what happened last night, but hearing the other being sick makes him hesitate. Reliving trauma so soon could make the kid shut down. At the same time, Jovan needs to know where all that blood came from so he can figure out what to do. He doesn’t want to imagine his guest is a killer, especially not with the genuine stress reaction he’s seen, but the possibility isn’t off the table.

Fuck. Why is his life so complicated?

[salio]

Sal has to give himself a minute for the worst of the cramps to settle. He rinses his mouth out with a couple quick handfuls of water after the bile is flushed. As his head clears further and the shakes subside to a gentle tremble, he hears the sound of movement in the RV. Shit.

Feeling guilty as he re-fixes his mask, Sal shuffles out, clearing his throat. "Hey, um...sorry, if you had to hear that. I didn't mean to wake you."