ENDS

Hunter got down from the car and so did Diane.

Then I followed next. No one’s leaving me alone.

The men had come with cars, all tinted black by the way, that either blocked the road or flanked by the edges

” We were asked to give you this” one of the men with a weirdly orange skin hue said as he handed an envelope to Hunter.

Diane just walked straight to one of the other men and showed her whatever she had on her laptop. He keenly read or inspected whatever it was she was showing him and gave a sign for another of his colleague to come over.

There had to be at least fifteen men present. If this wasn’t enough for a bystander to alert authorities, I don’t know what was.

I quick reminder to how lonely this path was again.

And how you could get murdered and no one, not a single soul would be able to find you.

The thought was a lot more frightening as you keep reminding yourself.

Hunter opened the envelope and retrieved a letter which took him at least a minute to read, unless he read it twice and he looked up to the man in front of him who nodded in response.

I don’t know if that was a sign for something, but the man began leading Hunter away and he followed diligently to one of the cars. I wanted to come along but one of the men stood directly in my front to halt my movement and began introducing himself.

“Miss Jules, it’s finally a pleasure to meet you. I’m Damien.” He said with a pure smile.

He looked well into his fourties and had touches of white hair all over his beards, which is odd for his age.

It actually felt nice to see such smile after a while, I returned the smile happily.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

” Its nice to meet you too Damien.” I replied and tried to peep Hunter with squinted eyes, as the sun had become scorching and was making me grateful that I had actually forgotten to carry a cardigan. “Is everything alright?” I asked as I managed to see the man who had led hunter away show him a little tube containing a red liquid and Hunter’s face looked a bit pale.

Damien turned to look in the direction I was facing.

At least he’s part of the team, maybe he could brief me a lot more than anyone has.

Not like anyone actually has.

Damien turned back to me and gave me a sad smile. ” I can only hope so”

I released a short snort before speaking up again.

” hope? You’re on the team. At least you can tell me how my daughter is, I promise I won’t scream”

Damien actually laughed and it reflected a youthful presence in him that I found comforting.

Im really glad to be around someone who isn’t so uptight.

” Of course you won’t scream. Louisa is well”

” Should I be bothered that you know my name and my daughter’s?” I asked with a little smile.

” You’re really a light Miss Jules. It’s only part of my mission, you should be a lot bothered if I didn’t” he responded with a smile.

” please call me Iris”

He was about to say something when Hunter came back to our midst.

” we’re leaving now” he said to me as he acknowledged Damien with a brief nod and a curt smile before walking away.

” Next time dear” Damien said as he turned around.

“Wait” I gently called out and got him spinning around.

” Can you at least tell me what’s going on? Or at least what has happened so far”

He thought for a while before releasing a sigh. ” It’s not in my place to tell. You might do as well and ask Brooks junior, he may provide the answers you need”

I understood and nodded as an indication and he reacted with a smile before heading away.

I stood rooted in my spot waiting for Hunter to come back so we could head back into the car, but he didn’t.

Rather the horn of a Jeep blew a few feet from me and the drivers window was lowered.

“Come on” it was Hunter and he gestured for me to come along.

Although confused, I did as told and walked to the back seat of the car.

” Come sit here, Diane isn’t driving with us anymore” he said and only heightened my confusion the more.

I entered beside him and he started the vehicle immediately and hit reverse.

” why isn’t she driving with us?” I asked, even if I was a teeny weeny glad.

He chuckled briefly before saying anything.

” I thought you’d be happy she isn’t”

” I am, but at least I should know why”

” Its part of the plan. At least you wouldn’t be bothered about anyone strangling you” I don’t know why a smirk was on his face, but it was.

” Well you’re still here”

The statement was meant to be funny, or at least I thought it was. It sounded funny in my head.

But not to Hunter. His demeanour changed again, this time to an uncomfortable one and he gripped the steering wheel a lot tighter as we continued heading down the straight, lonely road.

A few seconds passed between us and it was laden with silence, but I had to break it cause I wanted to ask questions.

” why did we change cars?”

He stayed silent for a few seconds more before deciding to grace me with a reply.

” To clear off our trace if anyone is following us”

” we’re practically the only people in this road, anyone following us would surely know it’s the same people.”

” People ply this route too, you just haven’t seen anyone yet. It’s a longer road connecting New york to East Indiana”

I ‘ohh-ed’ quietly and realized that he’s in the mood to take questions, so I let them out.

” Why isn’t Diane riding with us?”

” I told you its part of the plan”

” A plan I know completely nothing about”

” Im sorry about that, I should’ve found an opportunity to brief you”

” Yeah, you should have”

More moments of silence passed between us and this time, he broke it.

” I would never do that though”

” Do what?”

” strangle you”

Ohhh… That.

I looked out of the window and thought of a good yet simple reply to give to him.

” Good to know”

Simple enough I guess.