She was there all along

by Thunder Light

Chapter 2

You were packing some spare clothes, tools and some gears with a map and a torch in your camping backpack as this wasn’t meant to be a holiday in the first place. You also brought some extra battery and water bottle in case of emergency, especially travelling very far.

Already you were sitting on your couch waiting for your best friend to arrive as the clock shows its 5:50am on your phone. To past the time, you decide to watch the early morning news as there wasn’t anything else interesting to watch at this hour.

“Breaking news, a wanted fugitive has recently been on the run from police for shooting a police car and he has been mugging unsuspecting victims. He also manages to steal someone Lamborghini from a person's garage.”

You fixed to the screen as the person wanted was actually the same age as you and was doing crimes you wouldn't expect a teen would do something and you question yourself on how would he steal a Lamborghini in someone's garage.

BEEP BEEP

You jumped as the horn was louder than you thought, you turn off the TV not knowing the name of the person and you grab your backpack and head outside as you lock your home door.

The car you were going in was the one the 4x4 off-roader that's mainly used for camping trips or especially farm work, you can already tell that it has been recently used a lot due to the dirt and mud marks left all over the place.

“Isn’t this Big Mac car?” you ask curiously.

“Nope, he allowed me to use it unless he uses mine instead.”

You open the trunk and start placing your belonging inside beside Applejack’s then closing it and you sit beside Applejack as she was busy looking at the map to notice you coming in.

“Ok, let’s go.”

“Hold on, I need to plan first before we’re gonna get lost a few times” you wait patiently as you lean back in your seat. Until you notice something odd in the rear view mirror, there's a man wearing a black hoodie with his hands inside his pockets oddly walking towards your direction.

“Applejack you might wanna look behind you,” she looks at her rear mirror and see the man as well, but however he's starting to run towards the car. You start to see him fiddling about in his pockets for something.

“Shoot, better go quick, I think he wants my car!” Without warning the man started running with a gun out pointing at you as Applejack put her foot to the metal and the car end up speeding off dangerously as the man fires shots at the car rears and even nearly hitting one of the tires.

You were holding onto your seat as Applejack drove as fast as she can and makes a sudden right towards the freeway as quick as possible, ignoring the road rules as you feel your life was a danger as your heart was beating at a really high rate.

The man was now out of sight, but Applejack continues to speed up until slowing down after making a turn on a ramp into the traffic on the freeway as it was the beginning of morning rush hour.

“Who was that guy?” you ask while still be shaken by the event that had occurred in seconds.

“I have no clue who he was but why would he shoot at me, but I think it could be related to job unless...he”

You can already tell what she was about to say as you know there weren't any other farmers at the time which you start to get more nervous thinking about it.

“I think I know,” you look a Applejack as she turns her head at you but still keep an eye on the road.

“Should we warn your family?”

“They know already and he’s not after the farm workers or my family,” Applejack starts to look down.

********

After a few moments of silence and some chats along the way discussing on all sorts of thing you and Applejack did together. You and Applejack arrives in a small town just an hour outside the city and Applejack decided to drive into a gas station and park next to the café which was unusually next to a place you wouldn’t wanna be. There weren’t many people around except cars being filled up nearby and the place was quieter than you expect.

“I go check the damages to our car while you can go in and get some breakfast for us both.”

“Sure, any request on what you want.”

“Just some pancakes would be enough”

You walk off and go into the café which the interior was completely wild west theme with wooden chairs and tables laying in on a straight line. You see almost everything in here is made out of wood and the lighting was barely around, only a few classic light bulbs were on but enough for you to see around. You see, no one around except a waitress who just came out of the kitchen after she notice you standing there oddly looking at the place.

“Can I help you?”
You walk towards the counter and look at the menu place on another wooden board and you scan down looking for pancakes until you see the price was reasonable but not too expensive as you expect.

“Yeah, I would like to order two stacks of pancakes please,” she takes your order and you sit down by one of the tables nearby.

“It will be a moment,” the waitress goes back in the kitchen.

Applejack walks in a few moments later and sits opposite you as you were admiring the view outside.

“No tires blown and nothing to worry about, but at least we're on our way there now.”

“So we're gonna take a break at the next town and refuel the car and have lunch and keep going then?”

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna drive the whole way as it is a very long trip, you know,” said Applejack. Luckily you already had a driver license for a while, even you had no car, but it doesn’t mean you don’t learn to drive in case something like this happen to come up.

“What about that man again, should we contact the police already,” you spoke as the thought of the man comes up in your head.

“I already have and they will be keeping an eye out for him.”

Just a few moments later, pancakes start to arrive in stacks of 3 with maple syrup and butter block place on top as it's dripping down the stacks. You both start eating peacefully as you both enjoy the moment of the quietness and the taste of the pancakes.

“These pancakes are really good,” you say as you finish the second pancake.

“Quite amazing, well we better get going we got another 12 hours to go,” Applejack said.

After finishing your last pancake, you and Applejack hop back in your car and the two of you were off again back on the interstate freeway. You decide to turn on the radio as boredom hits you again, as you tune slowly for some good music Applejack spoke.

“I know a good channel to listen to,” you move your hand as Applejack turn the knob to her favourite radio channel playing country music which sound really nice to listen especially while driving.

“Now that’s one of my favourites,” Applejack spoke in a cheerful tone.

Then soon later Applejack starts to sing along to the music that was coming out of the radio and soon later you join in even not knowing the song you were listening to. You both continue to sing as you admire the view outside as the car continue to travel along the road pasting by farms and rolling hills goes by with the scene being beautiful to admire as the mountain you can see in the background was pretty as it was on the pictures you seen before when you're in photography class.

“So... why did you want to come along?” you ask

“Well, I just wanna repay you after you help me back at the farm plus you don’t much ways of getting there as you don’t have a car, so I’m repaying you the favour by coming along to help you get to your girlfriend's place.”

“It’s gonna be a long trip you know,” you smirked

“All well, let’s hope it's worth it after all this travelling,” Applejack chuckles.