Anora nearly bumped into Ahllasta when the beastly woman stopped. She looked up from the ground for the first time during their walk, for a moment fearing speaking had been a worse idea than trying to attack.
	She blinked, surprised, and took a step away from the woman as Ahllasta instead broke into a short, grinding bout of laughter. Another thing Ahllasta and Darsby seemed to have in common, if for different reasons: both were borderline insane. The blood soaking into the woman’s shirt only enhanced the crazed effect.
	[i]More like desperate,[/i] she thought bitterly, swallowing and looking back to the ground. Her heart sunk. The woman hadn’t taken the bait.
	Her attention returned to Ahllasta as she walked around a car, making Anora notice it for the first time.
	Her brows rose as she took in the sight of the two-door Mustang. [i]Definitely[/i] nicer than that mini-van. From the opposite side of the car, she watched through the window as Ahllasta shoved Darsby into the backseat like little more than luggage.
	She cringed in empathy. Lifeless or not, it couldn’t be good to be treated roughly in his current state.
	Once Darsby’s attacker had settled inside, she reached for the door handle with a shaking hand. The thought of a road trip sitting scarcely a foot from Ahllasta made her stomach churn. But even if she thought she could get away, she wouldn’t leave Darsby behind.
	She released a breath she had not realized she had been holding and opened the door. Dwelling in a tense silence, she shrugged from her backpack then ducked inside the car. Her gaze lingered on the buttons on the center console.
	[i]Just don’t push the red one,[/i] she thought. Despite the situation, she couldn’t help but smirk as she dropped her backpack on the floor then reached for her seat belt. It was a small and uncertain expression, but there nonetheless. [i]Looks like the aliens won after all. Rest in peace, Agent J.[/i]
	Ahllasta’s voice drew Anora’s glance. She tried with minimal success to keep both her fear and enmity from showing.
	[i]Wouldn’t want to disappoint you with less, would we?[/i] she grumbled silently. Her mouth pulled down in a frown, but she kept her comments to herself. Door still open, she paused in buckling to glance back to Darsby. She bit her bottom lip uncertainly.
	“Should we… stop his bleeding?” she asked quietly, her voice cautious as she closed the door. She kept Ahllasta in her peripheral view, watching for even the slightest sign of aggression.
	Anora’s attention snapped forward with a gasp when Ahllasta started the car and the wheels drifted for a moment. Her eyes widened when they turned translucent, but she didn’t have time to think on that little detail; Ahllasta headed straight for the trees lining the road.
	In the short instant it took for them to go from the road to the trees, barreling toward the trunks, she shouted, the sound echoing in her ears, and threw her hands in front of her in an X. A barrier sprung instantly to life as she turned her head and scrunched her eyes, bracing for impact.
	An impact that never came.
	Wondering if her heart was going to make it through the next few minutes or give up on life entirely, she tentatively opened one eye. She gasped, as a tree passed straight between her and Ahllasta. She flinched as another went through her and her barrier.
	She swallowed and let her barrier dissolve. As the realization she wasn’t going to be tied up in the middle of a car-and-tree bowtie, she melted back into the passenger seat.
	She cast Ahllasta a discrete glare for her lack of warning. To avoid the eerie sight of trees and other obstacles floating through their ghostly forms, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her frayed nerves.
	When her heart at last slowed by a couple beats, she dared to open her eyes again. She breathed a sigh of relief; they had reached an expanse of barren farmland, the road a winding ribbon ahead of them. Though not smooth-going for the car, it was at least less bumpy than back between the trees.
	She ran a hand through her hair. Her stomach grumbled softly, making her frown at it and scold herself for having only a single can of soup. She sighed. There wasn’t much she could do about it now.
	Anora adjusted her backpack, debating on pulling out one of the energy bars inside. She felt tired, a bit on the exhausted end, but there was no way she would let herself rest now.
	With the road drawing closer at an alarming speed, she tried to not focus on the surrounding land. She glanced back at Darsby’s broken form again, worry in her eyes.
	Before, he had had some aid from the hospital. This time, he had no such luck.
	[i]This time.[/i] She wondered what it must be like to come back to life just to die again. Brutally, no less. Did he feel pain like everyone else? She had seen him struggle, but had he actually felt the hurt? Was he in pain now, wherever he was, or was he resting in blissful obliviousness?
	She forced her gaze away from him with a shudder. She needed to think of something else. As they reached the highway, her mind wandered to the farm and the minivan. So much for returning the van to its owners… and then there was going to be explaining the damage to the house.
	[i]Sorry, Grandpa Jack,[/i] she thought with a sheepish, apologetic look out the window. Her list of ‘Illegal/Damaged Things to Deal with Later’ was growing at an alarming rate. 
	With a heavy, shaky sigh, she looked to Ahllasta when the woman opened the window, her own hair billowing about her face. Then she did a double take. Though they had solidified, the woman was driving [i]with her eyes closed.[/i] 
	Anora inhaled through her teeth and reached toward the wheel. With a glance out the windshield, she paused, hand hovering between them. They were staying perfectly between the lines.
	Breath held, she glanced between Ahllasta and the road. Swallowing, she slowly returned her hand to her side of the car. She barely managed to resist the urge to shout at the woman to keep her eyes on the road. 
	“S-so,” she began, in part to break the thick silence, but mostly hoping conversation would make the woman open her eyes again. Without potentially angering her. “Are you some sort of Winchester-style bounty hunters or something?” She spoke just loud enough to be heard over the whooshing [i]whump[/i] of the wind in the car.