The Facility

Maggie continued her drive southeast, keeping to the speed limit. She did not want to take any chances to draw attention to them.

The rain kept up for several hours, then finally broke. They sky began to clear of clouds, as the day began to break. The blackness slowly changed to a plum colored sky, then transitioned to pink and orange hues before finally changing to a washed out blue.

Cass was awake and watched the colors change as everyone slept and it was not until the sky was as azure blue that Maggie noticed that she was up.

Maggie had yawned while looking in the rearview mirror and saw Cassidy looking out the window. “Morning,” she said quietly to the girl.

“Good morning,” Cass replied quietly back.

“What do you say to getting this bunch up? It is about time to get gas and we might as well pick up some breakfast as well.”

Cass was hungry and nodded her head in agreement.

Maggie reached over to nudge Lyle while Cass shook Gemma who was beside her. Looking over the seat, she used her telekinesis to shake Rudi awake. She looked to her right and saw that Harley was already awake and looking at her.

“Good morning,” she said to him. He stood and stretched, yawning a huge yawn. His mouth opened, pulling back lips and skin to expose a mouthful of sharp teeth.

Gemma let out a whimper, as she still did not care for dogs in general, although she was not really afraid of Harley. Except when she had to look at a mouth full to what looked like fangs to her. She watched as Harley closed his mouth, then moved towards Cassidy.

Gemma was worried that he might bite her and let out a little squeal as Harley got close to Cass’s face, then licked the whole side of her face.

Cass laughed and ruffled Harley’s head and ears, mistaking Gemma’s squeal as being grossed out instead of fearful until Rudi said, “He will not hurt us Gem. Especially not Cass.”

Gemma replied, “Shut up. You do not know what you are talking about.”

Rudi did not reply to that, he simply blew out a sigh.

They stopped for gas across from a donut shop, and after getting gas, drove across the street.

Everyone piled out, except for Cass, who took care of Harley before joining them inside. They took turns ordering, then each disappeared into the restroom to relieve themselves and freshen up before heading back to the van.

Lyle switched places with Maggie, and Cass and Maggie watched as he seemingly swallowed donuts whole, washing them down with coffee, before starting to drive while everyone else ate.

Cass was not sure about giving any of it to Harley, but she opted to offer him a small piece of a plain cake donut, knowing that chocolate was not good for dogs.

He sniffed at it, but did not seem interested, instead he licked her hand.

The sky had cleared overnight, and it was now a pale blue, dotted with high, small white puffy clouds.

Cass wanted to roll down a window, to see if the earthy smell was still in the air from the rain fall. She had always liked that smell. The smell of wet dirt and the mineral tang.

Living in a swamp, that smell was always there, along with the underlying fetid smell of something decaying. Cass had long since learned to ignore those smells and focus on the more pleasant smells: earth, plants, and water.

Rudi interrupted her thoughts, asking, “You doing okay?” into her head.

She looked over at him and smiled, opening her mind, and replying, “Okay as can be expected. I guess. How about you?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes I feel a little helpless. You and Gemma can do things to help protect us, but I cannot offer much.”

Cass put her hand on his, which was on top of the seat. “This isn’t a contest,” she directed at him. “If it were not for you, we would still be locked up. We each do what we can. What does Gemma say?”

“She’s been quiet lately,” he said.

“Well, include her in our conversation,” Cass told him.

“This is not an instant messenger, where I can add as many people as I want.”

“How do you know, have you tried?”

Rudi looked at her and made a face. Cass had to suppress a giggle. Rudi closed his eyes and concentrated. After a minute or so Cass heard, “Cass, can you hear me?” in her head.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Say something Gem,” Rudi said inside Cass’s head.

“Like what?” Gemma replied.

“I can hear you!” Cass thought, excited. “You did it Rudi. See, I knew you could.”

“This is weird,” Gemma said. “Our own secret way to communicate.”

“It could come in handy if things go bad,” Cass told them both.

“You never know with Hugo,” Gemma said.

“Yeah,” Cass agreed. “How you holding up Gemma?”

“Okay, I guess,” she replied. “I just wish things could go back to like they were before all this. Not that it was much better.”

“I wish it could go back too Gemma,” Cass agreed, “but for you, things will be better. You will be with me.”

Lyle spoke, interrupting them. “I think the van is know now, so we should probably see about switching vehicles.” He saw Maggie’s look and quickly added, “We will park it somewhere safe, so you can get it later. Unless you want to drop us off and then head back home.”

Maggie now stared daggers at him, Cass could see, and her lips were pressed into a thin, hard line. “We are not having this conversation again Lyle Clark.”

“Oooh, now you are in trouble,” Gemma said. “She used your whole name.”

“Be glad she does not know your middle name, or she would have used that too,” Rudi added.

Lyle sighed. “I just want you to be safe,” he said glancing at Maggie.

“That means staying with you. If I leave, it is possible that they will pick me up and I will just disappear. They will take me to wherever they take people, get whatever information they can from me, and them either use me as a guinea pig or kill me. No way.”

Lyle shrugged and said, “Okay then,” leaving it at that.