**Emma – The Bed & Breakfast**
 
When it was late, Emma found herself contemplating a way of escape. The situation, as she began to conclude, was next to hopeless. One of Enrique’s men was stationed in the front parking lot of the hotel, constantly keeping watch. Trey had been stationed outside her door, but she didn’t know if he would trade out with someone during the night.
 
Precariously, she crept to the door and looked through the peephole, but she couldn’t see Trey outside. She silently lowered herself to he floor, and stuck her ear to the door. She mentally cursed as she her a light breathing; Trey was asleep, but he was sitting against the door. There was no way she could open the door without waking him up.
 
Abandoning the task, she sighed. The girl unzipped her coat and let it fall to the floor. Beside the desk was a tall mirror, and Emma sauntered to it. She examined her thin face, an ever-so-thin layer of dirt. It had been almost 2 weeks since she’d had the chance to even remotely wash up. She pulled off her black, long-sleeved shirt, discarding it to the bed. She proceeded to remove her over shirt, exposing her lower torso. It was cold but, even in her undergarment; it didn’t bother her very much. She’d always been rather resistant of the cold. She laughed silently and whispered to herself. “The cold never bothered me anyway…”
 
She turned her hip so to look at her back. Her smooth skin was halted by a scar, the affect of a bullet wound, just left of the small of her back. She carried another scar, on her right arm; one she’d attained by poorly jumping a fence, receiving a 4-inch gash on her forearm. She hated how scars brought back memories. She looked on the thin ridge on his arm and remembered her encounter with Alec Wyrde. It surprised her that she remembered his name; their encounter had barely lasted 2 hours. She remembered that day when Tyler’s men had kidnapped her and the woman by the train tracks- what had her name been? She searched her mind rapidly. Lori – no… Leah- no, no, no… Lynn. She placed the name in her mind, relieved that she hadn’t been unable to remember it – It would have plagued her all night.
 
The memory of Lynn sparked thoughts of Jess in her mind: Jess and her adorable baby boy, Benjamin. She had initially felt jealous of the girl – She got to experience such a happy event, but Emma had just watched her brother die. She found herself hard pressed to get Jess and Abram off her mind… he’d told her that the two of them planned to leave and look for their friend Floyd… she wondered if they ever ended up leaving…
 
She glanced over to the door, Trey’s face popping into her head. What had he been through? Why did he always look so conflicted? What had any of those men been through to develop such a sadistic attitude – Especially Enrique and Burkley?
 
Enrique… heavens… She’d never met someone who’d scared her like that since she was in the catacombs with Brad. She’d not been afraid of Tyler – he was just a desperate father trying to provide for his daughter. Even Hex had frightened her – but in a way that wasn’t normal. She’d feared him, but she also despised every cell of him for what he’d done to her.

In the morning, Trey found himself rather refreshed, despite his uncomfortable resting position. As to not disturb the girl he stood and peeked through the whole, to see that she was still asleep on the bed. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, stretching the muscles in his back.
 
The girl confused him. He expected someone her size to be frightened of everything. Trey was twice her size, but she stared him in the eye with an irritating defiance. He shook his head and dismissed the thought. Just then, Enrique appeared around the corner. “Enrique!” He turned to the man as he attained his attention. “What are we supposed to do with her? We can’t just keep her locked forevermore; it’s useless. What do we do – kill her, let her go?”
 
 
 
 
***



**Andrew and Zoe – The Road – Scouts/Danny/Shannon/Alex/Etc. **
 
“Yoga pants…” Zoe said with a laugh. The girl glanced at her young husband through her peripherals, seeing him flash a smile with his perfectly straightened teeth. He was only twenty-one, but his trimmed beard gave him a mature appearance.  Zoe’s face was opposite, looking about seventeen instead of twenty years old.
 
“Yeah… I miss your yoga pants too…” He muttered, sputtering a laugh. She joined him and shook her head incredulous.
 
“Don’t be creepy!” She laughed again, gazing back out the passenger window.
 
“Hmm… I miss my phone…”
 
“Me too- my drake collection is forever lost now…” She said with a bit of disdain in her voice. She propped her head of black hair on her palm.
 
“I’ve never understood your obsession with that dude…” Andrew observed. “He sounds like a girl… And he sounds like he’s high, 24/7…”
 
“Well, Baby, that’s because you’re white.” She raised an eyebrow, giggling lightly. “Have to have my healthy dose of sexy voice now and then” She opened the glove compartment and produced the small collection of CD’s, flipping through them. Andrew reached out and snatched one of them. “Mom’s Celine Dion CD!”
 
“Oh God.”
 
He laughed as he slid the CD into the slot. He skipped to a soft song with heavy falsetto. “[It's a cover song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1m5h7d_bcA), it’s great – The original is in Italian, but the cover is English.”
 
He looked over at her and smiled at her obvious irritation. Only to add to her misery, he began singing along. “A world where pain and hunger will be mended!”
 
“No, Andy, please no…” She groaned, but cracking a tiny grin and rolling her eyes. She laughed and thanked the heavens that he wasn’t too awful a singer. As the song picked up, Andrew raised his voice as well. She leaned her head back and gave him an exaggerated groan.
 
“And we’ll remember that we are AAAALLLL God’s children, reaching out to touch him!”
 
“Enough of that.” She announced, and clicked the power button on the radio. “If we’re all God’s children, you’re the ‘wanna be famous’ brother…”
 
“And you’re the wanna be funny sister. That was the lamest burn ever! E-V-A-R! Ever!”
 
Zoe’s grin slowly faded as her eyes spotted something down the road. “Andy, slow down, up ahead!” She pointed past the window-shield. “It’s a truck!”
 
“I see, it, hold on.” He said, staring intently towards the vehicle. “Do you think they need help?” He saw that a group of people was cramming into the back of a pickup. “I’m gonna pull over, it looks fine, but stay in the car until I tell you come out.” He began to slow down, opening the console between the seats and produced a small, black handgun. He pulled to the opposite side of the road, maybe about 30 yards away, as a young guy, maybe a year or two younger than Andrew, looked back at them. He carefully got out of the SUV and was alarmed to see that the young man produce a very intimidating rifle.
 
Andrew jumped from behind the car, blocking a possible shot at Zoe. “Wait! Wait! I’m a friendly!” He yelled. “Wait…” His breathed heavily and his heart pounded at the fear of possible death. He quickly glanced back at Zoe, silently conveying for her to duck down. Andrew returned his attention to the strangers, slowly lowering his pistol to the ground and holding his hands in surrender. “Please, don’t shoot! It’s just me and my wife!”