Dead On Arrival~ Season 2- Episode 8: Trust Gotta Start Somewhere (Part 2)

Episode 8: Trust Gotta Start Somewhere (Part 2)

Back at the gas station…

I lifted her up grabbing hold of her under her arms and Madison took hold her of her feet. We carried Audrey into the rest stop. She remained unconscious as we sat her on the floor behind the counter.

“I hope she’ll be ok,” Madison said quietly.

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Well, Matt and Nate should be back soon with Aaron,” she said leaning on the counter facing me. “So…this place. It’s nice.”

“It’s a dump.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve seen worst.”

“Look lady I don’t want to talk. I just want to get this over with”, I snarled feeling agitated. Hunger pangs worsening my mood by the minute. My stomach suddenly growled quickly giving me away.

“Well your tummy seems pretty talkative”, she said grinning. She reached in the pocket of her jacket and excitedly pulled out two bars of chocolate. “Candy bar?”

“No.”

“Aw come on. You’re hungry. Take one. One for me. One for you”,  she said gleefully unwrapping hers.

“No. You could’ve poisoned it for all I know.”

Oh yeah. I came all the way here to knock your friend out and hand you a poison candy bar. All part of my evil plan as an evil genius" she said jokingly rolling her eyes. “Where would you find poison even anyway? A poison factory?”

I scoffed. “Yeah, you’re an evil genius alright.”

“Come on. Take it. Trust gotta start somewhere. Why not with a candy bar?”

“Fine,” I said taking it begrudgingly. I unwrapped it and took a bite. I ate half if it without even realizing it. The sweet-savory taste tasted like gold. I covered up the rest of it and put it in my pocket for later for Audrey. I smirked watching Madison. “Thanks.”

“Oh, now we’re getting somewhere. You’re very welcome,” she said beaming.

“Don’t push your luck.”

“So you and Audrey? Are you a.. um…a thing?”

“You know. You talk too much.”

“So that’s a no or yes?” she asked coyly.

“It’s a no! I have a girlfriend and kid out there somewhere! I’m going to find them! Them and her dad!, I said feeling even more irritable. "We met after this shit anyway and she’s like an annoying sister. A total pain in the ass.”

“Well, it seems like you sure care about her a lot and I was just asking,” she said cheekily. “But whatever you say.”

“You know. You’re becoming a pain in the ass!”

I looked down at Audrey who seemed to stir and bent down to confront her. Madison looked over the counter with a concerned expression on her face and quickly turned back around to look out at the landscape. An unmistakable sound of a motorcycle engine could be heard in the distance and getting closer.

“So you get much company out here?”

“Other than corpses? No. Never. Not till today anyway and we saw how that worked out.”

“Well you have company again and it’s definitely not my company,” she said alarmed.

I raised up peeping over the counter and saw a woman headed for the store. A slim and bald black woman in biker gear. Her motorcycle parked near the car.

“Get down!” Madison whispered. “I got this.”

“What?”

She entered the store and Madison positioned herself in front of me. Like before with the brothers, I hid on the floor with my back to the counter and laid Audrey across my lap. I wasn’t sure what Madison was up to, but I just stayed down and watched what I could.

The woman walked in looking around suspiciously. Not saying a word as if Madison was invisible.

Madison slid her left hand in her pocket and cleared her throat. “Hi there. Looking for something?”

That seemed to get her attention and she looked over at Madison coldly. Her deep corse voice matching her demeanor. “You’re the only one here?”

“Yep. Just me. Gets pretty lonely here. You bring friends?”

“Nah. I’m just passing by,” she said plainly. “That your car out there?”

“Yes. Sure is. Pretty little thing ain’t it?”

“It runs?”

“No, but uh I’m working on it. Basically just chilling and working on my ride,” Madison said sounding nervous as the woman began to wander around.

“A woman all by herself? Doesn’t seem too safe to be just ‘chilling’ out here all alone?” the woman said bluntly. She wandered back over to Madison and came closer to her. “Are you sure you’re alone?”

“Yes. I am and I can handle myself just fine,"  she responded boldly. "How about you? You’re alone.”

“Yeah, but I’m not most women,” she chuckled sounding almost sinister. “Look like your shelves are bare. Don’t look like you’re handling yourself too well.”

"Oh, I’m doing fine. I just need to go shopping. That’s all.”

“Guess so,” she said unamused.

She touched the counter gliding her hand across it and stopped in front the of the cash register. “This thing work?”

“I…I never tried it,” Madison stuttered. “Well I did, but it makes a lot of noise. I wouldn’t touch that,” she said grabbing hold her arm.

The woman snatched it away eyeing her. She stepped forward with her face inches away from Madison. “You’re lying. It feels like you’re hiding something. Are you hiding something?”

“No. Whatever would give you that idea? I’m just being friendly.”

“Friendly?”

“Hey. Where are you? Need an update on your location stat!” a voice suddenly rung out.

It was coming from a walkie talkie. The woman looked down and grabbed it. It was the first time she seemed caught off guard. She answered turning her back to Madison distancing herself. Madison looked back at me and we exchanged nervous glances. I crawled to the side of the counter and peeped out watching the woman.

“I’m at the gas station. I’ve encountered a freshie. A woman. Seems to be alone,” she whispered.

“Is she hot? Is that why you taking so long?”

“Stop playing around. I’ll be there in a minute. Out!”

She ended her conversation with the man on the other end and turned back to Madison.

“What’s your name?” she asked regaining her cool composure.

“Mary” Madison lied resuming her confident front. “You?”

“Jade,” she said holding out her hand. “It was nice meeting you…, Mary.”

Madison hesitantly shook her hand. “It was a… pleasure.”

“I’ll see you around. I’m sure we’re cross paths again.”

“I doubt that. I’ll be moving on soon. Far from here.”

Jade stopped at the doorway and turned around smiling. “Oh, I have a feeling we’ll see each other again. You can count on it.”

We watched her walk over to her bike and jump on. She took one last glance at Madison and the rest stop. Then she took off down the road.

When she was out of sight, Madison let out a sigh of relief glancing back at me and I stood up feeling equally glad she was gone.

“You ok?” I asked as I joined her leaning on the counter.

“Yeah. I think so. That woman just gives me the creeps. She… something about her felt like bad news,” she said looking back at me completely frazzled. “I have a good intuition about these things.”