Desperate Measures ~ 3/?

[hemrage]

Masterpost for the verse: here.

Chapter 2

“Want a ride?”

Ross stared at the man in the car, the same man who’d sat in the diner for the last two mornings keeping himself to himself. Only this time, because there was the hint of a smile on his face, he seemed far less threatening.

He’d given himself two days. Two days to rest and heal and give his elusive memories a chance to reappear – they hadn’t – and he was still uncomfortably aware of how much it had taken out of him to even walk the short distance he had. In an ideal world he’d have holed up a little while longer, but he was sure it wasn’t just paranoia telling him it wasn’t safe to stay in one place for too long.

He considered the offer, berating his own willingness to accept the possibility that he’d climb into a car with a complete stranger rather than say no and struggle onwards on foot.

He had no set destination in mind, no idea if he was running from or to something. He just knew he had to move on and, though walking was undoubtedly the safest option, it was not the preferable one. Hell, part of him doubted, as he shifted his weight from side to side, that he’d be able to get much further under his own steam, anyway. “Where you headed?”

The guy’s smile grew, blue eyes lighting up. “Just into Lebbenstock, to begin with. Then I’m heading east. Got an appointment in New York, but I’m not in any hurry to get there. Can do a detour if you want to go someplace else?”

He once again weighed up the wisdom of accepting the offer before realizing that he’d probably end up hitching a lift or two once he got tired, anyway. It was a risk. Hell, he could be in this situation due to accepting a ride off the wrong person, but life was full of risks, what was one more?

Before he knew it he was sitting in the passenger seat holding out his hand. “Ross Johnson.”

“Michael Collins. Mike. Pleased to meet you.”

As the car pulled back out onto the road Mike didn’t try to engage him in any further conversation, but the smile gradually slipped as the road flowed under the wheels and he began to resemble the haunted, unapproachable man from the diner once more.

The silence quickly became unbearable. The air infused, not with the threat of danger, but with sorrow. “What’s in New York?”

Mike glanced his way and then changed gear, focusing on mirrors and the empty road ahead. His lips pinched together momentarily before they relaxed. “A job.”

Not being evasive then? Ross considered not pressing further but, in for a penny, in for a pound, or so the saying went. “Not one you’re too keen on starting, if you’re not in any hurry to get there?”

Mike laughed, though there wasn’t any humor in it. “You could say that. I’ve been on the road two weeks and I’ve passed through seven states. Admittedly, I’ve passed through a couple of them more than once, and I’ve spent as much time travelling north or west, as east, but like I said, I don’t mind detours. Speaking of, where do you want to go?”

He held back the frown. He didn’t want this stranger to know the intricacies of his situation, the amnesia or the fear that there was someone out there looking for him that he didn’t want to be found by. Mike had done nothing to earn that kind of trust. “I’m expected in Texas.” A blatant lie, but it was far safer to suggest that there was someone out there waiting for him than to admit to being alone. It was comforting to think there was at least one person out there missing him, even if he was kidding himself. The idea of Texas seemed right even if he couldn’t work out why.

“Looks like I’ll be travelling south for a bit then. You sure you don’t need to see people in California?”

Mike was joking, and he returned the forced smile with one of his own. “Am I allowed to ask what kind of job it is you’re avoiding?”

Mike checked his mirrors again to keep them from colliding with non-existent vehicles. “It’s a job I inherited when the previous incumbent died. Obtained through family connections and nepotism, not because I actually wanted it.”

Ross bit his lip. He shouldn’t press for more, though Mike’s apparent candor made him consider it. The man was a stranger and, when all was said and done, he was keeping his own secrets. The next town, or the one beyond it, they’d probably end up parting ways and then whatever was going on in Mike’s life really would be none of his concern.

“You get in a fight?”

The blank look on his face was enough for his company to feel the need to elaborate. “The bruises. That cut on your head. Looks like you had a run in with someone.”

He shook his head vehemently, looking down to his wrists to make sure the bruises there weren’t on show. He couldn’t do much about the ones that peeped out from below the collar of his shirt, or graced his cheek. “No, no fight. Car accident.”

Mike nodded. Didn’t ask for more information, but Ross was almost certain he could see through the lie.

It took less than a half hour to get to town. Once there he let Mike go and take care of whatever business he was involved in while he went to the largest store he could find. The air conditioning was a welcome relief. He bought enough clothes to more than replace the ones he stood up in, some toiletries and a bag to put them all in.

Stepping back out into the oppressive heat he unconsciously pulled down the zip on his jacket. How he ever thought he’d have been able to continue walking through the heat of the day was beyond him. He called into a drugstore on his way back to the car. His ankle wasn’t complaining as viciously as it could have been, but there were still the angry drums beating inside his skull to appease.

Throwing a couple of pills back as he left the store, he was surprised to see Mike already waiting for him. Part of him had thought, had hoped, Mike would’ve reevaluated his offer. That he’d not waited and had driven off instead. Ross had no idea where that desire sprang from, but he took it, like everything else in his current situation, as a warning. “You want to grab something to eat before we get back on the road? Got to be better than where we ate breakfast.”

Ross nodded, “Got to hope.” Though he didn’t know whether Mike was referring to the food or the other clientele.

He noticed Mike’s friendly smile slip as he caught sight of something that gave him cause to wonder. His wrists, the bruise on his neck that his collar, now undone, didn’t even partly conceal. There was something in Mike’s eyes that suggested he wanted to say something, but it was fleeting. The mask was replaced as soon as their eyes met.

Adjusting his cuffs and doing up his jacket he followed Mike across the road and into a diner.

---

Sam didn’t even bother to end the call before he threw his cell phone against the wall, barely missing Jared’s head as he stepped back in with breakfast.

He stared at the broken pile of debris and cocked his head, “Who was that?”

“No-one for you to worry about.” Sam snapped back.

“Look, if it’s about Jen…”

“Not everything is, Jay. Okay?” Sam took a deep breath, tried to center himself. It wasn’t fair to take out his frustrations on Jared, but the world didn’t stop because Jensen was missing, as unjust as that seemed. He dropped onto the bed, sat on the corner, looking up at a man he had come to consider a friend. “Just had some bad news. Sorry.”

Jared placed the food, MacDonalds by the look of it, on the table in front of the window, and pulled off his jacket. “It’s hot as hell out there.”

He sat in the chair and attempted to hand Sam something that looked about as appetizing as the worst rations he’d ever consumed. “I’ll just take the coffee, thanks.”

Jared dropped the paper wrapped parcel back into the bag and handed him a cup. “You want to talk about it?”

Sam wasn’t sure if he did, but Jared had been making noises about helping the cause for a while now and he had to know how dire things were getting. Had to be made to see that the best option for him was to remain the family man fate had made him. “Someone died today. No one you know. Just one more death amongst many.”

There was silence as Jared bit into something Sam didn’t want to identify, and swallowed. “Executed?”

Trust him not to let it drop, either. There were frequent reports, even in Canada, of arrests and trials and executions. Even if it was mostly the government propaganda machine at work, the deaths were real even if any evidence of guilt was not.

“May as well have been.” Sam rose to his feet, stood with his back to Jared and stared out the window. There weren’t very many signs of life out there. A motel this close to the Canadian border and you had to ask yourself how it managed to get enough business to stay in operation. “The media plays us off as murderers and terrorists, because that’s what the government wants them to do. Paint a picture of us as merciless and inhuman and then no-one’s going to complain if something happens to us.”

“It’s not true though. Some people have to be able to see that.”

Sam smiled, amazed that Jared could still have such faith in humanity. “They’d never suspect that most of the casualties attributed to us are our people. Ours, Jared. The rest, those that get caught in the crossfire, are just as likely to have been killed by the authorities as by us. We’re about saving lives, not taking them. And the public gets tricked by smoke and mirrors. As for those that have doubts? They believe what they’re told because it’s easy. It’s safe. ”

“There’d be witnesses…”

“Who would do themselves no favors by contradicting the official story.”

Sam sipped his coffee. He watched a young woman climb out of a beaten up SUV and enter the motel’s office. Long red hair, slender body. From this distance she looked just like …

“Did you know him?”

Startled out of his reverie, Sam turned, “Who?”

“The guy that died. You know him?”

Sam closed his eyes. Wondered when he’d allowed himself to get so soft that things could get to him so keenly. “Met him a few times. Chris’ had more to do with him than me. Sarah knew him. He was a good guy.”

“How’d he die?”

“He’d been arrested. Word is he tried to escape.”

The red headed woman climbed back into the SUV and pulled it up into the parking space next to theirs. She looked nothing like Sarah when you saw her up close. The red hair probably wasn’t even natural, but for a moment, a brief one, it would’ve been nice to think she was still around. Nice to think he could’ve talked everything through with her and listen to her telling him to grow a pair when everything started to get too much.

“He wouldn’t’ve tried to escape though, Jared. He would’ve been looking forward to having his say in a courtroom. Which is, I guess, the reason he won’t be doing that.” He turned away from the ghost in the parking lot and looked back at Jared.

“Sorry.”

Sam shook his head. “Don’t be. You didn’t sign up to join the ranks, Jared.”

Jared smiled thinly. “No, I didn’t. Me and Jen, we kinda got drafted.”

Sam nodded. “I guess you did.”

“Is there anything you can tell me then? To get me up to speed since I’m back in enemy territory and all?”

Sam knew Jared was only partially joking. He’d sensed an increase in tension since Jared had climbed into the truck with him and it wasn’t all because of Jensen’s abduction.

Sam’s stomach growled and he reluctantly pulled the burger from the paper bag where he’d left it. Screwing up his nose he took a bite. When he’d been a kid this stuff hadn’t tasted all that bad, but trade embargoes, economic decline and a fall in acceptable standards meant there was very little actual beef in beef patties these days. Whatever the mystery meat was, it tasted like shit. “They’re getting desperate, Jay. Do you really think they’re waiting ‘til kids are what, twelve before they’re screened? They’re not, not anymore. They’re testing them now as soon as they’re born. Cataloguing them as possibles and definites and then keeping track of them. Waiting until they can legitimately lay claim. Probably won’t be too long before they just start taking them as soon as they can, with the number of Gestates that don’t survive giving birth they’ll probably end up getting them to breed younger. It’s only a matter of time.”

Jared frowned. “I didn’t think screening was that advanced. You’re not supposed to be able to tell us all apart until we hit puberty.”

“Yeah, well doctors like our old friends Metcalfe and Johnson love a challenge. Them, and others like them, are in a race to increase fertility. Fuck. Johnson’s supposed to be working on a way to increase the percentage of Gestates within the population by replicating Anders original experiments. And they don’t do it for money or humanity. They do it for the recognition, for the chance to be first, the best.”

Jared shook his head, “Anders experiments took eighty years to produce people like Jen. Will they really wait another what? Four, five generations?”

“They’re desperate Jared. They’re probably hoping that every child born of a Gestate is fertile, and maybe they are. I don’t know.”

“Sarah and Jamie?”

“I don’t know, Jared, but I sure as hell hope not.”


Next

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A/N: Aiming to post one or two chapters every week. Not sure which days yet, though.

Comments

[hemrage.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was on a roll. Would you believe this story was born from the other one? I mean, other than Jensen being held against his will can you see any similarities at all? I'm not sure I can, but then I think I'm too close to these guys. I see the 'Jensens' having something in common, but not any of the other characters.

Oh - and thanks for the great comment... More's just been posted.