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  "Where are we going to go?" She asked, as she stood herself up without the use of her hands. He was actually impressed with her maneuver. Yet, she was right, he hadn't thought it out that far yet, and he was getting hungry. He needed to get into his house and eat, but right now that seemed to be a problem. Plus, in a normal situation like this, he would have just went home and hid. With all the cops crawling about, he doubted they would let him just stroll across the street, grab his supplies, and just mosey on his way. No, this was going to take some thought.

  "I'm not sure, Heather, just not here. Now, are you coming, or would you like to stay here and explain all this?" He pointed at the officers again.

  "No." She said sheepishly, "I don't understand what's going on. They're...supposed to be the good guys." She nodded down at the men.

  "Apparently they missed the memo on that one." Brian said, as he started rummaging through the men's pockets.

  "What are you doing? I thought we were leaving?"

  "Do you really want to go looking like that?" He nodded toward the handcuffs. "There should be a key here on one of them, but damn if I can find it."

  "Brian..."

  "They always have one on them, at least in all the shows I've seen." He continued to frisk them

  "Brian!"

  "What?"

  "Freeze!" A man's voice shouted at him from the doorway. Brian turned and to see that a lone officer stood in the doorway, his revolver drawn and held in both of his hands pointing right at him.

  "This isn't what you...think?" Brian stood up slowly with his hands held up just a little past his shoulders.

  "I said freeze!"

  "Okay, Okay, I'm freezing, but this has been a terrible mistake."

  "Walk over here!” The officer yelled, “Away from the others." Brian moved toward the man, until he was several feet away from Heather and the two unconscious officers.

  "Now, on the ground, and keep your hands where I can see them. Now!"

  Brian hesitated for a second before the officer began to order him again. What he did for love? How old was that song? Right now it was playing in his head, and no matter what he did, he couldn't shake it. Lets see, how did that go? The things we do for love...The things we do for love.

  The smell of the carpet said that it hadn't been cleaned in a while, which was surprising, as he had been sure that Heather's mom was one of those women who were really into cleaning, but the smell of it, with his face down in, clearly said her carpet wasn't on her list of priorities. Maybe he should have rushed the man. It might have worked. He may just have made it to him before the officer could pull the trigger. The problem was that he had been standing in the doorway, and that was literally flooded with sunlight. It would have taken a lot out of him, and he was already feeling his strength at an all-time low. No, he was sure he was doing the right thing.

  The officer put his knee in the small of his back, and he could hear the sound of opening handcuffs.

  "Put your right arm behind your back," the man ordered. When he didn't immediately comply, the officer grabbed his arm violently, and pulled all the way back, pinning it in what he supposed would be painful for most. The things we do for love.. He wondered if that song would haunt him for the rest of the day. Just as the handcuffs locked onto his wrist, and he felt both of the man's hands, Brian spun on the ground so he was facing the officer that was on top of him. Grabbing the man by the throat, he squeezed, and heard a satisfactory gurgle as the man choked and tried to gasp for breath. The thought of squeezing just a bit harder did play around in his mind for a brief second, but no. He hadn't killed any of these police yet, so why start with this one. Besides, he was sure Heather was watching everything, and the last thing he needed right now was for her to think he was some kind of monster.

  The man's body left an imprint in the sheet rock where Brian had flung him. He expected the man to get back up after that, but surprisingly, the officer remained where he had fallen. The other police, on the other hand, were now starting to move and rouse themselves. This was not how it went in the movies. They should have been out for hours, but of course this was the real world, and he just hadn't hit them hard enough.

  "Brian, how did you do that?" She was staring at what he thought was the officer he threw, or it could have been the imprint in the wall. Either one, he didn't have time to explain right now.

  "Turn around, Heather." He grabbed the handcuffs and snapped the chain that that held the two cuffs together. "That should work for now. Where's your back door?"

  She pointed. "This way. How did you...?"

  "Vitamins." He answered. "Are we going?"

  She nodded, and took off running. When they came to the door he stopped her before she opened it.

  "Let me look first." Cracking the door open, Brian peered around at the backyard. He was surprised there was no one guarding it. He supposed he had either already gotten all of them, or maybe they had gone to the front after securing the house. Either way, he wasn't going to complain about his good fortune right now.

  "It looks clear. Let me go first." She didn't respond, so he guessed she understood. Stepping out into the back, it appeared he had been right. No one told him to freeze, or even asked him who he was. He waved for her to follow him, and as she did, he headed for the back fence. It only took him a moment or two to help her over it, then scale it himself. Now, all he had to do, was get to his intended destination. The idea had started forming as he had broken her handcuffs. It had occurred to him that if the agents had taken Heather's family away for questioning, then wouldn't it be so with...say, Chuck's family, as well? If his hunch was right, then they had a ready-made hideout just waiting for them to happily break and enter it.

  -----

  It took them longer than normal to reach Chuck's home, what with taking all the back roads and alleyways. Sirens had been in abundance ever since they began their little adventure, and he was sure it was all because of them. The entire police force was up in arms and looking for them, he was sure. Not that it really mattered. Life had been getting a little too boring these last few years. The only thing he could find to take the edge off his boredom were his little flings with Heather each night. That really was all he had. To be honest, it wasn't enough any longer. Sure, he loved her and he needed to be with her, but he was finding himself constantly looking out over the town each night, contemplating if he should go out there. The idea of maybe hunting sent shivers of excitement through him even now, as he thought about it. Not that he would have actually hunted anyone, just the prospect of doing what just might be natural for him to do. The call of the wild was there, and it was getting stronger each night. It wasn't strong enough to overrule the caution his mother and aunt had taught him, but it was growing, and he was sure given enough time, it would.

  But now, the thrill of the hunt was with him anyway. Well...sort of. He was out, and even if he wasn't the one doing the hunting, he was involved in the hunt. That counted for something. The unknown, the uncertainty. It was enough to make him feel alive. Really alive. He liked it, so much that he wasn't sure he could go back to his old life, not that it would ever be possible after knocking out half the town's police force.

  "There." He pointed. "That house is where we're going to hide."

  "Chuck's house?"

  He nodded.

  "Why Chuck's?"

  "Because I'm betting they took his family as well?"

  "Why would they..." recognition flared in her eyes. "This is about the old Warren's place last night?"

  "I believe so. After all, the agents did come up out of the basement right after Chuck went down there."

  She stared at him for a second. "How do you know that?"

  Well...that was a mistake. He was going to have to be more careful about his secret. He had forgotten that she didn't know the whole story, or at least what approximated as the whole story, since he had no idea what was going on, either.

  "This is about breaking and entering? That's all?" She st
ood up from their hiding place behind a hedge of bushes across from Chuck's home. "Well, this is crazy then, I'm going to go right downtown and fix this right now.”

  The sound of a pickup or something similar turned on somewhere across the street from them. A black SUV gunned its engine, and rode up the street toward them, slamming its breaks to a screeching halt when it got to where they were. Two agents dressed in black jumped out of the SUV, and rushed to grab Heather. To her credit, she turned right before they reached her, and tried to kick one in the shins, yelling 'No!' as they grabbed her. The crazy part of this whole scenario wasn't the fact that they were lifting the kicking screaming girl up off the ground and trying to take her to their vehicle. No, the strangest part for Brian, was that he swore he had just killed these exact same men the night before. Now, he understood that the way they dressed made their appearances predisposed to looking just like each other, but these two really looked like the two he met last night.

  Here we go again. Brian leaped over the hedge, using his right hand to balance him on it as he did so. He felt his hand sink into it somewhat from his weight, but he was moving too fast for it to have enough time to off balance him and send him sinking into the bush. The first Agent went down like a rock from the rabbit punch he gave him in the back of the head. His collapsing dropped Heather's legs as he did so, and allowed her to get her feet back on the ground. The second one typically went for the gun in his shoulder holster, getting it all the way out just as Brian knocked the wind out of him, by rabbit punching him in the gut and taking the gun from his flailing hand as he did so. The agent bent down, grabbing his gut, and sucking in air in great gasps. He glanced around quickly to see if there were any witnesses about watching this spectacle, and finding none, Brian quickly cracked the still conscious agent over the back of the head with his own gun, causing him to fall flat on his face on the ground.

  "How do you move so fast?" Heather gasped, as she looked from one agent to the next.

  "Clean living?" He shrugged and smiled. "Oh and I watch the carbs, as well."

  "Here, help me get them in their car."

  "Why? I thought we were going to Chuck's?"

  "Well, we can't go there now, after this, they're going to know we took their agents out, won't they? And besides, I thought you were going to go downtown and turn yourself in now?" He directed a goofy smile at her.

  "Brian, I'm all confused. I don't know what I need to do." She sobbed, and started crying again. He had thought they were past that point already, since they had a chance to bond in the adventure. Yet here she was, starting all over again. Well, he couldn't wait, things needed to move faster. Tossing both the men into the SUV, he climbed into the driver's seat. "You coming?" He shut his door, "Hurry up, this bus is leaving." Yet, he smiled at her to lessen the strength of his words.

  She did pause in her crying as she looked at him. He almost wondered if she would go and turn herself in after all. He really didn't want to see her do that. He was enjoying these moments with her, even if they had all the law in the town searching for them, and apparently the CIA as well.

  "Come on, Heather. These aren't the good guys. Do you really think they're going to play fair or by the book?" He patted the side of the door with his arm hanging outside. "It's now or never." He hoped he sounded confident, he really did. Because he wasn't, not even a bit. Sure, he was excited and happy, but that didn't mean confident. What he had was a plan forming in his mind, and right now he needed her to complete that plan.

  "Well?"

  She nodded, then ran to the other side of the SUV and opened the door and climbed in. "Where are we going?"

  "You keep asking that. Did you know that?" He hit the gas hard. Smoke rose from the SUV's tires as it tried to send itself flying down the street, quickly picking up speed then screeching as it sharply took a right turn. Brian felt a little like Bonnie and Clyde.

  Chapter 7

  The brown station wagon was the first car that Brian had seen since the two of them had reached the small highway several minutes before. He had no intention of allowing this one to pass by, even if normally he rather die than ride in the old thing. He wasn't sure how many cars would be passing down this road, especially since the sun was now starting to set, so he had to take every opportunity that presented itself. Just to make sure that this one didn't pass them by, Brian went out into the street, waving them down. If they were going to ignore him, then they would have to go completely around him. The last thing he wanted to do was leave Heather out here on this deserted stretch of the highway by herself.

  Luckily, the car slowed and came to a stop. A middle-aged man with glasses and a strong smell of onions on his breath rolled down his window as Brian walked to the car's driver side.

  "What's the problem?" The man asked.

  Brian bent down and looked in the man's eyes, as he did so the man visibly flinched.

  "No problem, you're just going to give us a ride." Brian smiled and waited for the man to reply.

  "That's right, I'm just going to give you a ride." The man repeated and nodded his head.

  "Oh, and one more thing, you're not going to remember us or this conversation after you drop us off. You got that?" The man nodded and smiled stupidly. It almost looked as if he was happy to obey Brian. Now, the real question was, would it actually work? He knew it did in all the movies and shows he had watched lately about vampires, but he himself had actually never really tried this little stunt himself. If it did work, then this little stunt would create all new possibilities for the two of them. That little thought actually cheered him up some. A wave of weakness flashed over him, and Brian had to grab the edge of the car door before he collapsed. It only lasted a second, but it reminded him that he was getting weaker each time he did one of his little tricks. He needed to eat, and it had to be soon.

  "Heather." He called to her. The blond came running to the car, and ran around to his side of it.

  "This nice man has offered to give us a ride."

  "Really?" She smiled. He'd forgotten just how beautiful she looked when she smiled. After all, it had been a while since he saw her do it. Certainly not since she came to his home, and never for him. It was always for someone else. Granted, he never ran with her crowd, so it really wasn't a fair observation, but the smile she now had, it was just for him, and that meant it was all his. That little fact in itself made him smile back at her, and all it took was for them both to become fugitives. Not that high of a price when everything was considered.

  "Go ahead and climb in the back Heather, I need to check something real quick."

  "Are you sure? We don't even know him."

  "Trust me, he's the least of our problems." The man behind the wheel turned and nodded in agreement.

  "Hi, I'm Bob."

  Heather smiled and reluctantly answered him. "Hi, Bob, I'm...Alice."

  "That's okay, you don't have to tell me your name, I'm not going to remember you anyway." He smiled matter-of-factly then turned back to look out the front.

  "I'll be right back." Brian said, ignoring her wary expression. "Trust me."

  Before she could answer him, Brian ran back up the little dirt road they had hidden the SUV in. It had been a good mile up the road, but now that Heather wasn't slowing him down, he was able to cross that distance in just a quick minute, if that. The feeling of dizziness welcomed him as he came to a stop at the black SUV, and just as he suspected, the two agents had somehow opened the locked door and were now half out of the vehicle. Still handcuffed together, mind, back to back, but most of the way out of it.

  "I thought I told you to stay put." Brian asked them, as he wagged his finger at them. The closest one to him looked up at him and actually bared his teeth. The very sight of it was bizarre. If it was meant to intimidate him, it failed badly.